Ramirez lured by Saints' desire

Uruguayan star Ramirez joined the Saints in a club-record deal from Italian side Bologna over the summer, but he only made his first start at the weekend - inspiring them to a 4-1 win over Aston Villa.

The Fray Bentos-born winger is now more than happy with his decision to have moved to St Mary's.

"The only concrete, real and direct offer was the Southampton one," he told Tuttomercatoweb. "They wanted me strongly and this convinced me to accept.

"I wanted to play in England, a league that I always liked. Here I have had an interesting opportunity, Southampton believe in me.

"We are a young team, we want to do well and we have the potential to do it: we are experiencing slowly, we need time but I am confident."

Ramirez says he is quickly settling into life in England.

"My life in England? I don't speak the language yet, so I do have a little problem but I have team-mates who speak Spanish or Italian like Do Prado, so I am well integrated in the group."

He says he has no regrets about the way in which he left former club Bologna.

"I was fine in Bologna: people cuddled me and I thank them so much: I gave all my best for Rossoblu side and I carry their fans in my heart," he said.

"But there are situations that you don't know. [Bologna President Albano] Guaraldi called me 'unfair', but the truth is that he lied to me twice.

"He never talked to my face, he did nothing to make me stay. He didn't keep his promises."

Jay's brace sends Owls packing

Team Name	Southampton	Sheffield Wednesday
Possession	56%	44%
Goals	2	0
Shots On Target	5	3
Shots Off Target	8	6
Blocked Shots	1	0
Corners	5	7
Fouls Conceded	10	6
Offsides	0	0
Yellow Cards	0	1
Red Cards	0	0

Crosby hails Rodriguez impact

The 23-year-old has had limited opportunities since his 6million summer move from Burnley, with manager Nigel Adkins using him out wide when he has featured.

Against the Championship side, Rodriguez was played in his preferred role as central striker and shone in a much-changed Saints side, scoring his first goals for the club in their 2-0 defeat of Wednesday.

"He had a massive impact," Saints assistant manager Crosby said. "I thought his movement was excellent against two centre-halves that perhaps wanted him to come short.

"I thought his movement in between and down the side of them was really good.

"He is one of many players who have taken their opportunity.

"He has had to bide his time and wait for his chance but he has been a great character around the place and wants to improve.

"He is at a good age for the club and has taken his opportunity.

"We know he is most comfortable in a central role but he has good compet ition in front of him at the moment.

"Whenever you get an opportunity, you've got to take it and he did that tonight. Whenever he is needed, we know he is more than ready."

Rodriguez's first goal came on the half-hour mark when he expertly turned his markers to rifle home past Stephen Bywater.

The Wednesday goalkeeper did manage to get to his penalty 12 minutes from time, but it trickled home to ensure Southampton's progress to the last 16.

"I think the way we set about the game made it a comfortable night," Crosby said.

"I think we were excellent first half, moved the ball really well and applied pressure to them high up the pitch.

"We controlled long periods of that game. At half-time the main thing was could we improve our quality in the final third. It was a great night's work."

The only negative for Southampton was a late knock picked up by Jack Cork on his first match back from an ankle injury sustained in pre-season.

"We don't know the extent of it at the moment," Crosby said.

"His studs got stuck in the turf a little bit so he has come off so we will assess that."

Crosby also revealed that several players have minor injuries that prevented them from taking part on Tuesday evening.

"Luke Shaw has been ill and we can't risk him on the back of that," he said.

"Tadanari Lee has unfortunately got an elbow injury, which may keep him out for a week or so.

"Emmanuel Mayuka when he nearly scored against Villa on Saturday hurt his ankle a little bit but nothing major. They will all be back in the next few days."

Wednesday have had their own injury problems to deal with but manager Dave Jones was more concerned with his side's defending tonight and in recent matches.

"We had chances but we have to defend," the former Southampton boss said. "We can't keep giving the goals away that we are.

"They are stoppable and you need a base to work f rom but at the moment we are just finding it, for whatever reason, a little bit hard to keep a clean sheet.

"We had a couple of good chances in the first half and again in the second half, but you can't give away the goals we are week in, week out and then say it is okay because it is not.

"There are some good players in there but at the moment maybe one or two are not doing what they should be doing."

Rodriguez craves central role

The 23-year-old striker joined the Premier League new boys for 6million in the summer but has predominantly been used on the left flank since leaving Burnley.

Rodriguez last night started in attack for the first time since joining Saints as Sheffield Wednesday were comfortably seen off in the Capital One Cup third round.

The summer signing was the star of the show as he netted both goals in a 2-0 victory that not only helped Saints progress to the last 16 but boosted his chances of becoming a regular in his preferred position.

"It was really good for us to get through to the next round and put on a good show for the fans," Rodriguez said.

"Also for ourselves it builds confidence heading into the game on Saturday [against Everton].

"To get on the pitch is great and to get that amount of minutes is great. I just want to play and to get the two goals was brilliant so I am really chuffed.

"It was nice to get my first goal for the club. It's a nice feeling to score, especially at St Mary's.

"I love playing up front. I felt really good playing that role and getting in behind and trying cause the defenders as many problems as I can.

"It is a good feeling to play up front and that is where I like it. It is where I've grown up and learned to play, but I will work as hard as I can for the team and play in any position.

"I will try my hardest in any position but, yeah, I do enjoy playing up front."

Not only has Rodriguez been used out of position by Saints, but he has found playing time limited due to the influx of new players.

After starting against Manchester City and Wigan, the Burnley-born player has found himself on the bench but knows the competition for places will only help him.

"It has been very frustrating but in the same sense you are really happy in how the last result was," he said, referring to Saturday's 4-1 defeat of Aston Villa - Southampton's first Premier League win this season.

"The lads deserved it and there is great competition for places. It is a healthy competition and it makes you improve as a player and that is what you need as a team.

"We've known how good we were deep down and it was proved in the game on Saturday.

"Now we need to look forward to the Everton game and carry on what we have been doing."

While Saints will be looking to continue the momentum brought by two wins in four days, Wednesday will be hoping to end their poor run of form at Wolves.

The Owls have lost their last five matches in all competitions and manager Dave Jones has pinpointed defensive frailties as the reason behind that.

Such was the Wednesday boss' frustration after last night's game that he threatened to bring in reinforcements if his players did not buck up their ideas.

"We have to get back to keeping clean sheets and then, when we know we can't lose a game, you have a far greater chance of winning," Jones said.

"I think we just have to keep working at it, keep doing the right things and making sure it is sinking in.

"And if it isn't sinking in at the end of the day to the players we're asking it to, then you bring in others that are going to do it.

"That is the harsh reality of football because there is a lot of good talent in that room, but defensively at the moment we're not sure in what we're doing."

Rickie relishing Toffees tussle

The 30-year-old was born in the Litherland district of the city and grew up supporting Liverpool, where he was once on the books as a schoolboy.

And Lambert is relishing a return to his home town to face the Reds' great rivals as Southampton aim to claim a second straight Premier League victory.

"It's another one that all the lads are buzzing for, and for me as a scouser it's definitely one I've been looking forward to," Lambert told the Saints' official website.

Everton currently sit third in the table after a fine start to the season which has seen them win three out of their five matches so far.

Lambert is wary of the form the Toffees have been showing but says Southampton will take a lot of confidence from their 4-1 victory over Aston Villa last weekend.

He added: "They're flying at the minute. But even when they're not flying it's a hard place to go so we know we've got a hard game on our hands.

"Hopefully the Villa win i s going to give us the confidence to go there and get something."

New injury blow for Cork

It has been a difficult time of late for Cork, who picked up an ankle complaint shortly after returning from Olympic duty with Great Britain.

The 23-year-old made his return from the pre-season blow on Tuesday, but limped off nine minutes from the end of Saints' 2-0 Capital One Cup third-round victory against Sheffield Wednesday.

The former Chelsea midfielder was seen at St Mary's on Thursday in a leg brace and confirmed on his Twitter account that he faces another spell on the sidelines.

"Another 4-6 weeks, with my left knee," Cork said on the social media site.

"Lucks just not going my way this season. Could be worse, but was so close to getting back from the ankle."

Southampton manager Nigel Adkins concurred with Cork and, while he feels sorry for the midfielder, backed him to return strongly.

"It has been a stop-start [time for him]," he said.

"Obviously he has been away with GB through pre-season so he has not had a pre-season with ourselves.

"He comes back, he didn't play any games really and he picks up an injury at Bristol City.

"He recovers from that and he has gone and picked up another injury so what it will do is make him stronger.

"It is a good place at Southampton so we'll keep his spirits up, he'll work harder and then when he comes back he will be raring to go."

Adkins, himself a former physio, added the player would not be available "for the weekend or the next couple of weeks".

He added: "He is going to be in a brace for a couple of weeks.

"Who knows if four to six weeks is realistic? I know the diagnosis of it with the history I've got and the experience I've got of these injuries as well. We got a good idea of what it is going to be.

"We have a great medical team here and they will work through the rehabilitation process in the diligent order."

Cork's injury will see him miss Saturday's Premier League clash at Ever ton, where he will be joined on the sidelines by Tadanari Lee.

Adkins confirmed the Japan international will be unavailable with an elbow injury, but was coy when asked if Luke Shaw or Emmanuel Mayuka could return from illness and an ankle complaint respectively.

"Well, last week our goalkeeper (Paulo Gazzaniga) went on Facebook or Twitter to say he was going to be in the team," Adkins said.

"You don't really want to mention the team until it is announced on Saturday.

"We've got one or two little ailments and people we need to just get quite right and on Saturday when the team is announced you we'll know about it."

There was also some positive team news out of St Mary's today, with Adkins revealing captain Adam Lallana would be available to feature at Goodison Park after his girlfriend gave birth to their first child, Arthur Michael, yesterday afternoon.

"Great congratulations to them both, or rather the three of them and the whole f amily," Adkins added.

"The family has had a baby and he has a smashing young son and he can look forward to playing against Everton."

Adkins relishing Goodison clash

The Saints boss grew up on Merseyside and was a schoolboy at Liverpool, before moving onto Tranmere and coming through the youth system there.

Adkins - like talisman Rickie Lambert - supports the Anfield club, making Saturday's Premier League trip to Everton all the more intriguing.

The Southampton boss, though, was quick to downplay his connections to the red side of the city in the build-up.

"Whoever we play against we want to go and win a game of football," Adkins said.

"There are three teams on Merseyside: Liverpool, Everton and Tranmere.

"Obviously I played for Tranmere as an apprentice and a professional and I used to stand behind the goal and run onto the pitch after the game to try and get Ronnie Moore's tie-ups.

"It is great to see Tranmere Rovers doing so well with Ronnie in charge.

"I was actually a schoolboy at Liverpool but before I signed for them I had a couple of weeks at Everton.

"I decided to go to Liverpool and then I want to Tranmere after that.

"Goodison Park has a great atmosphere. They are passionate football supporters there so I am looking forward to it because there will be a great atmosphere."

While excited about the prospect of Saturday's match, Adkins is wary of the challenge that awaits them in the north west.

The Toffees have bucked the trend of recent years by starting the campaign well and the Saints boss is impressed with the way the club has developed under David Moyes.

"It is a tough game and one we are looking forward to," Adkins said.

"Goodison Park is a real challenging place to go. I am from Merseyside, I've been there on numerous occasions and you know that the supporters there are very passionate.

"They demand the players do well and Everton are probably having the best start they've had for many, many years.

"I think David Moyes has done a great job there if you look at it. You talk about sta bility, he has been there for over 10 years now.

"There is a stable, good working relationship between the chairman and the manager.

"There is stability and continuity with the players. They know how they want to play and I must say that they are very, very effective with how they play.

"I think they are going to be right up there come the end of the season. They play good football and very effective football.

"Over a period of time they've been able to learn, to evolve and keep improving and that has been demonstrated by the start they've had this season."

Southampton will have to do with Jack Cork on Merseyside after the midfielder injured his left knee in Tuesday's Capital One Cup third-round victory over Sheffield Wednesday - his first game back after sustaining an ankle complaint in pre-season.

Japan international Tadanari Lee will also miss out with an elbow injury, while Emmanuel Mayuka and Luke Shaw are both doubts with an an kle problem and illness respectively.

Adam Lallana is available after the birth of his son and new signing Artur Boruc could be involved in the squad for the first time.