Saints’ decision to focus on the negatives after their 8-0 win over Sunderland helped power them to victory over Stoke, according to Jack Cork.

After the record-breaking victory against the Black Cats, the players arrived at training last week to find Ronald Koeman armed with a video of the opening 20 minutes of the match and a list of complaints.

Despite the famous scoreline, Koeman had been unhappy with how the team had started the game and did not want a repeat of that when Stoke visited St Mary’s.

Sure enough the squad responded, as Saints came flying out of the traps on their way to a well-deserved 1-0 win.

“We had to sit through the whole first 20 minutes. We expected it anyway,” said Cork, who revealed the players were as keen as the manager to focus on what they had done wrong.

“It’s weird, because after 8-0, any little thing that you do that’s not normal everyone sort of jumps on.

“You take notice of little things you don’t usually pick up, because you won 8-0 and you don’t want people to get carried away.

“We just wanted to let everyone know that we need to be bang on it for the next game, so that was the main thing for this week, just making sure everyone was ready and had their head on it.”

Cork added: “We didn’t want to get carried away.

“They say after you win 8-0 it is nice to enjoy it, but you’ve got to get ready for the rest of the season.

“You can’t win 8-0 and then lose every game for the rest of the season and be in the relegation zone, so it’s nice for us to keep on top of things and keep making sure we’re getting the right results the next week, even if it is straight after such a convincing win.”

Cork, whose contract expires at the end of the season, is still waiting to see if the club will offer him a new deal, and, as yet, no discussions have taken place.

But the 25-year-old says he is just pleased to be featuring in the side right now, having started the last two games.

“You never know when you could be out of the team,” he said. “We’ve got great strength in centre midfield.

“For me, I wasn’t sure how many games I would play and it’s good to have a little run at the minute, and I’m enjoying it.”

Cork also praised the influence of Saints’ match-winner Sadio Mane, whose well-taken first-half goal separated the sides on Saturday.

“He brings something different,” he said. “He’s a quick winger, he’s got good skill, good flair.

“We haven’t really got a player like that in our team – Sadio is direct and pacy, but we’ve got forwards that all bring different qualities and the manager’s got a good selection, and a hard selection choice, with four or five different attackers that he can use, and it’s a good option for him to have.”