Eddie Howe could hardly have been surprised that Jay Rodriguez made the most of his opportunity to show he is capable of shouldering the goalscoring responsibility in the absence of the injured Charlie Austin.
Howe helped nurture the forward’s talent at Burnley and was in charge at Turf Moor when, having scored 21 goals during the previous season, Rodriguez attracted the interest of Southampton who paid £6 million for the then-22-year-old. It was understandable then, that the Bournemouth manager admitted to mixed feelings after Rodriguez strengthened his bid to re-establish himself in Claude Puel’s starting line-up after two injury-scarred seasons. His two goals built on Ryan Bertrand’s equaliser and completed Southampton’s recovery after falling behind to Nathan Aké’s early goal.
Rodriguez’s career was on an upward trajectory after moving to St Mary’s but the forward suffered a knee ligament injury five months after winning an England cap under Roy Hodgson in 2013. After missing an entire season, Rodriguez’s efforts to re-establish himself last year were stalled by a foot injury but, after making only his third Premier League start of the current campaign, his goals helped end his side’s woeful recent scoring run that had brought just three goals in their previous seven league games.
His first, scored three minutes after the interval, was a close-range finish after Steven Davis had opened up the home defence and lifted the ball over Artur Boruc, the goalkeeper, while the second was altogether more spectacular. Reacting well to move onto a loose ball, Rodriguez turned and shot from 25 yards out to complete Southampton’s deserved victory.
The forward’s contribution was particularly welcome to Puel, the Southampton manager, who has lost Austin for four months to a shoulder injury. “I am happy for Jay,” said Puel. “It’s fantastic and it’s a good thing for the team. Jay has done strong work for three or four games after the injury of Charlie. He shows a good attitude, good work good movement and good pressing every time.
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“Today he deserved it and this is fantastic for him and for the team. All this gives him confidence for the future. The first goal gave him the confidence to try the second and it’s a fantastic goal and it was fantastic as well the first of Ryan Bertrand. I am happy because we saw spontaneity and quality on the pitch in the final third and it was important to give this good answer.
“I hope he works harder now in every training session and now it’s important he continues this work. He always has a fantastic spirit and confidence. The goals arrive now after the good work on the pitch and he gives all the possibilities to help the team. He has been deserving this.”
As disappointed as he was that his side appeared to run out of steam after the midweek victory against Leicester City, Howe admitted he was also pleased for his former player. “On a personal level for the lad I wish him every success in his future career,” said the Bournemouth manager. “It’s a real shame he got the injury when he did because I think he was on the verge of playing for England and having a really exciting time in his life. Obviously today we were trying to keep him as quiet as we can but I do think he had a good game today and probably deserved the goals.”
The game had started promisingly for Bournemouth, who have demonstrated an impressive resilience at home this season, but they never looked likely to overcome Puel’s side once Bertrand had equalised in the 14th minute.
The home side took the lead after just six minutes when Aké got in front of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg to head past Fraser Forster from Jack Wilshere’s cross. Southampton’s response came swiftly with Bertrand bursting into the penalty area and moving past Simon Francis before drilling an angled shot across Boruc and inside the far post.
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From that moment Southampton never looked like letting Bournemouth back into the game and Puel’s decision to rest José Fonte, the centre back, ahead of the holiday programme was vindicated by the performance of Maya Yoshida and Virgil van Dijk in the heart of the defence. “Since the beginning of the season we played 26 official games and more for the international players like José,” said Puel, who made five changes to the side that drew with Stoke City earlier this week.
For Howe, the game raised questions about his squad’s ability to deal with a similarly testing schedule. “It’s a very disappointing day for us,” he said. “Southampton deserved to win, I thought they were the better team today. We weren’t at our best physically today for sure. I thought they looked sharper than us. We struggled to put pressure on the ball which is really unlike us — especially here. Technically just to round it all off we were below the standards we’ve set ourselves.”