Pundit Thompson talks of “dominant” Southampton

Sky Sports pundit Phil Thompson was fast to applaud Southampton over their comfortable 1-0 victory away at Sunderland on the weekend, describing The Saints’ performance as “dominant”.

Southampton earned a crucial 1-0 victory against The Black Cats on Saturday afternoon thanks to an excellently taken penalty from Dusan Tadic just before the 70th minute mark.

Thomspon, who commentated over the game on Saturday’s Gillette Soccer Special for Sky Sports was particularly impressed with Virgil van Dijk’s performance at the heart of the Southampton defence, describing the Dutchman as “tremendous”. Van Dijk had yet another outstanding, man of the match display next to captain Jose Fonte.

Speaking of the match-defining moment, Thompson also stated that he “didn’t know what M’Vila was thinking” as the Frenchman scythed down Ryan Bertrand in his defensive penalty area after the English full back was played in by goalscorer Dusan Tadic, who converted the penalty that Bertrand had won for him.

Southampton were by far the better team.

The Saints now head into the international break sitting on 20 points in 7th place.