WINGER Ryan Fraser labelled Russell Martin a genius after Southampton bounced back with a 2-0 win at West Brom.

The retired defender made several tweaks to the Saints tactics, including tasking Fraser with playing like a wing-back when in possession.

Fraser, who opened the scoring on 14 minutes, explained how the players' trust in Martin is what allowed them to perform so well, despite having very little time to practise the new system.

Speaking to the Daily Echo, Fraser said: "It was something different.

"Ryan Manning goes a little bit higher, but with the manager being the genius that he is, we have dropped Jack back in to make it a three vs two when building up.

“That allowed me to come a little bit deeper. Everyone knows what needs to be done when the gaffer changes things.

"The whole squad buys into his ideas because we trust him one million per cent - that is huge in football.

“We didn’t have much time to work on it but the gaffer gives us so much info. From what I’ve been told, the information he gave to the lads in the first few weeks is why we have been able to go out and do what we have done.

“I can give him all the praise because that is what he does. We can’t always praise one-dimensional football. We changed it on Friday night and it worked."

Southampton became just the third team to beat West Brom at the Hawthorns this season.

The win also ensured Saints bounced back having tasted defeat for the first time in 26 games against Bristol City on Tuesday evening.

“We were just saying that was probably the perfect away performance," Fraser added. "Everyone was hoping that we would fail on TV.

"We have come back in what was a massive game for us. To get a clean sheet and put in that level of performance against a really good team that are aiming for promotion was amazing.

"We all ran and fought for each other, which is what you need to do in games like these. They had the ball for more than we wanted in parts of the game, but we never really felt like they were going to score. 

“I thought everyone was amazing, but for Jack Stephens to come in, having not played much this season, I thought he was absolutely unbelievable. 

“That is what the skipper does and that is why he is the skipper. He is unbelievable in the changing room every day. He keeps all the lads focused on what we need to achieve.”