Ronald Koeman has backed Graziano Pelle after the striker ended his goal drought in Southampton's 2-0 victory over Hull City on Saturday.
Pelle's Premier League goal drought stood at 1245 minutes before he scored with nine minutes remaining to add to James Ward-Prowse's penalty and secure the points at St Mary's.
The win sends Southampton fifth in the table to keep their hopes of Champions League qualification alive, and Koeman believes Pelle will find the net more regularly after his latest strike.
"[His] last goal was in December,'' Koeman said. "It's a long time ago. It wasn't a discussion, it wasn't a question how he is playing because he showed his qualities to be a strong target man, but if you are a striker you like to score and you need to score and it will help him a lot.''
The opener here came from England Under-21s midfielder Ward-Prowse, with the converted penalty representing his first-ever league goal.
It was an impressive finish from the 20-year-old substitute and an opportunity Sadio Mane attempted to deny him, claiming the ball only to see it wrestled away from him.
"I was surprised because everybody knows if Proswey is on the pitch and normally Dusan [Tadic] and they are the first and the second choice to take the penalty," Koeman said. "I had to shout to Jose [Fonte] to change that because it looks that Sadio was taking the penalty and Prowsey accepted that.
"I don't understand that because he knows the first choice. It was a difficult situation, a difficult situation, but I had to do it.
"That's the problem about Mane. The rules in the team are more important and nothing else."
Information from the Press Association was used in this report.