Soccer-Show-stopping goal start of things to come, vows Osvaldo
By Ossian Shine LONDON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Southampton's record signing Dani Osvaldo single-handedly stunned Manchester City at the weekend, and now the Argentine-born Italy centre forward is warning there is more of the same to come. Snapped up from Roma for 15 million pounds in August, the 27-year-old could not be accused of settling into Premier League life quickly, with only two goals to show from his first four months in the English top flight. But his third, scored on a dark December afternoon, showed precisely why Mauricio Pochettino so readliy emptied the coffers for him. In front of a spellbound St Mary's crowd the striker twisted this way and that, mesmerising and bamboozling City skipper Vincent Kompany before lofting a curling lob over 2.03m goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon and into the visitors' net. "An amazing goal," was how Pochettino described the strike following the 1-1 draw. Uncharacteristically for English football, this comment owed as much to accuracy as hyperbole. If the goal left defenders and goalkeepers shuddering, they are likely to find no comfort in Osvaldo's assessment. "I'm feeling much better and from now on I can show how much I can do and how well I can perform, he smiled. "I'm feeling very positive. I don't think I have 100 percent adapted to playing here, but overall I am feeling very happy and content with my performances." Osvaldo's burgeoning confidence was not restricted to his own show-stopping performance, but extended to that of his team who stopped a run of three defeats with the creditable draw. "Beyond the result, I think we showed a very positive image of ourselves. We showed that we can keep on playing the way we know how to play. I think we were superior to Manchester City and we could have won the game," he told Southampton's TV service SaintsPlayer. "As Mauricio said before the game, we are a team that keeps on believing," Osvaldo reasoned. "It's all very well having belief when you are winning games, but when you start losing it's harder to believe - but we've stuck together. "The most important thing is that this team keeps growing and keeps believing." (editing by Justin Palmer)
