Ronald Koeman has praised Saints’ central midfielders after their phenomenal goalscoring start to the season.

Morgan Schneiderlin, Jack Cork and Victor Wanyama have already netted seven goals between them in the first eight games of a remarkable Premier League campaign, writes Simon Carter.

That is compared to a central midfield goals total of just four in the entire 2013/14 season under Mauricio Pochettino.

Both Cork and Wanyama grabbed their second goals of the season in last weekend’s record-breaking 8-0 destruction of Sunderland at St Mary’s.

Prior to Koeman’s appointment, Cork had not scored in 125 league appearances for the club while Wanyama had never netted for Saints either.

Cork has also scored once in the League Cup. Schneiderlin has also taken advantage of the extra “freedom” Koeman is giving his central midfielders.

He netted three times in the first four games of the season, including his first ever two-goal haul in one match against West Ham.

“We gave the midfielders the freedom to go up and to score goals, because we can’t live from one player who scores all the goals,” said Koeman.

“We need more players scoring goals, because that’s a quality of a team, and we work on that every week.

“It isn’t a surprise that now Cork is scoring, Wanyama is scoring, (Morgan) Schneiderlin is scoring, because we like that and they get that freedom to do that.

“If you have a good rotation in the midfield it’s always difficult for opponents to have a good defending on that, and that’s important.”

With Sadio Mane and Dusan Tadic breaking their league ducks for the club against Sunderland, Saints now boast eight different scorers in the Premier League this term.

Only leaders Chelsea, with 10 different scorers, have had more.

In addition, both Saints full backs have also found the target in the first eight games of last season.

Nathaniel Clyne struck on the opening day of the season at Liverpool while Ryan Bertrand netted in the home win against QPR.

Neither player scored in the Premier League last season, with Clyne goalless in 25 appearances and Bertrand in 17.

Before Koeman took over, Clyne had only netted once in 59 league outings for Saints while Bertrand’s only other senior league goal had come while on loan to Championship club Reading in March 2010!

Clyne has already scored twice this season, as his sensational long-range strike gave Saints a famous League Cup win at Arsenal last month.

Saints only need one more strike from central midfield to beat that department’s Premier League goals tally in 2012/13, when Schneiderlin (5) and Davis (2) provided the goals.

In recent times, Saints have never had a regular top flight goal supply from central midfield.

In 2003/04, the likes of Anders Svensson, David Prutton, Rory Delap and Matt Oakley provided just two goals between them in over 90 combined appearances.

The following season, when Saints went down, Svensson was top central midfield marksman with four goals while Delap’s two both came in the same game (a 2-2 draw at Arsenal).

And even in 2002/03, when Gordon Strachan’s side finished a club record eighth in the Premier League, Svensson (2), Chris Marsden (1), Rory Delap (0) and David Prutton (0) provided only three goals – less than half what Schneiderlin, Cork and Wanyama have managed this term.