Saints goal hero last night was Matthew Oakley While he no doubt possesses a lethal finish, we hardly ever see it as he only comes up when Saints are really, really, desperate for a spark up front.
The reason for this is that Matt is the Saints holding player in midfield.
It's Matt's job to break up any attacks from the other side. If he's too far up the park, then he will be caught out and bypassed.
Additionally he has the responsibility of not only getting the ball from the defence, but also of starting off many of Saints attacking moves. Again, if he's too far upfield he's going to severely limit his passing options as well as the chances of providing a link to the strikers.
Now taking the last two paragraphs in mind, why is that these tasks invariably fall to Matt, when Gordon Strachan makes no distinction between attacking and defensive midfielders.
It says a lot about Matt's character that he's willing to put in a lot of this kind of work at the expense of going upfield to grab the glory. You only have to look at Anders Svensson to see the differences in approach. While Anders is more creative, he really isn't that good when it comes to stopping the opposition. Some would argue that in order to offset this, we should be seeing a lot more of the final product up front. Regardless, Anders' style of play practically forces Matt into the role he has.
Ideally we'll see a return to Rory Delap, who offers, and is starting to deliver, a far more versatile box to box style of play. Between the two of them, we should see Oakley push up a bit more.
A couple of seasons ago some fans were rightly criticising Oakley for not dominating games enough and for drifting out of them. I think that he has overcome that failing. You only have to look at a Saints side without him to see all the things he brings to the team. While he's not an on the field leader he's fairly selfless in his approach and willing to learn. There's no doubt the likes of Chris Marsden have helped his progression.
Gordon Strachan says Oakley is good enough to play for England. Technically, I'd say definitely.
While Saints fans can see his ability though, it's his lack of attacking presence which will undoubtedly put off others. Matt is developing into a top notch holding player, but at international level you really have to show more versatility. Until the Saints team is solid enough defensively in midfield, then you're not going to see that side of Matt too often.
Still, as the Saints team continue to improve there's no reason to suggest that Matt won't get those opportunities. Perhaps we'll see him in an England shirt yet.