THERE'S been more than an air of Jekyll and Hyde about Saints this season. But in the words of manager Paul Sturrock, the players came to the show on Saturday.

And somehow you just knew they would.

There's been quite a few below-par performances. It's even happened twice in a row a few times.

But seldom three times.

For whatever reason, Saints have rarely been down in the dumps for long this season.

The other side of the coin, of course, is that they've never really sustained a run of form beyond three or four games.

This inconsistency is exactly why they have remained smack bang in the middle zone of the league for so long.

How Sturrock can make an assessment of some of the players he has is anyone's guess.

Take Anders Svensson and Fabrice Fernandes, for example.

On Saturday, they played in what have arguably been two of Saints' weakest positions this season out on the left and right of midfield.

But both were excellent, especially Svensson.

In December, the writing did appear to be on the wall for the enigmatic Swede, but he has kept plugging away and looks to be benefiting from playing more regularly.

Whether he will ever consistently make a truly top-class Premiership performer in the centre of midfield remains to be seen.

He certainly has great touch, great vision and a good range of passing, but he also likes to have more time on the ball than is often permitted in the Premiership.

But just as he did in the 4-0 drubbing of Tottenham back in January 2003, Svensson excelled from the left of midfield.

He frequently looked capable of splitting the Aston Villa defence with his cute passing and also looked dangerous cutting inside on his right foot to twice go close to scoring.

So what explains the drastic improvement in Svensson's performance from the previous week against Chelsea?

As already suggested, he has certainly benefited from playing in successive weeks.

There might possibly have also been the incentive of pending contract negotiations, as well as the extra space to be found away from the middle of the park.

But most importantly, the style of his own team helped Svensson.

They were less direct than at times this season under both Gordon Strachan and Sturrock and, consequently, Svensson saw plenty of the ball at his feet, rather than just over his head.

The same can probably be said for Fernandes, who gave a typically exciting St Mary's performance without ever quite finding the decisive pass or shot.

As ever, regularly repeating their displays on Saturday is the challenge for both Fernandes and Svensson.

Manager Sturrock admits he has already identified areas in which the team must improve.

The wide areas have been a glaring weakness all season and it seems pretty safe to assume that these will be positions of priority to strengthen over the summer.

But on Saturday, Fernandes and Svensson showed the situation on the flanks is not necessarily so bad.

Looking ahead, the good news is that Sturrock says he has now had time to make an assessment of most of his squad.

The bad news is that the more you watch some of these Saints players, the more confused you can become.