Southampton FC fans will love what Maya Yoshida has just posted online | OneFootball

The former Saints defender has reaffirmed his love for the club on social media

Southampton FC supporters will love what their former Japanese international defender, Maya Yoshida, has posted on social media following their side's latest victory in the Championship.

Indeed, the Saints continued their recent resurgence under the newly-appointed permanent boss, Tonda Eckert, with a high-scoring 3-2 success over a struggling West Bromwich Albion outfit at St Mary's on Tuesday night.

The aforementioned German was handed the vacancy on the South Coast on an initial interim basis after Will Still lasted just over five months in charge following the club's second relegation from the Premier League within a three-season period.

However, after sparking a quick change in momentum despite the fact that under-fire ownership group, Sport Republic and the club's sporting director, Johannes Spors, continued to conduct a lengthy managerial search which covered a whole manner of bases, it seemed inevitable that the 32-year-old would see his temporary position converted into a permanent one.

Such circumstances transpired ahead of Saturday's impressive and dominant 3-1 success over Birmingham City on the South Coast, and Southampton made it six wins within their last seven games against another of the division's West Midlands-based clubs, although the scoreline doesn't fully reflect the overall dominance which Eckert's men enjoyed against the Baggies, particularly as they raced into a 3-0 lead at the interval courtesy of Leo Scienza and a brace from former Albion loanee, Adam Armstrong.

It is glaringly obvious that Southampton, as a club, are far from being in the same position which they found themselves in throughout Yoshida's spell in Hampshire between 2012 and 2020.

The Japanese international was recruited by the South Coast club in the summer of 2012 after Nigel Adkins masterminded back-to-back promotions from League One, through the Championship and into the Premier League for the first time in seven years, joining from Dutch side, VVV-Venlo for a reported £3m.

During an eight-year spell with the Saints, Yoshida would go on to become a fairly regular fixture in the side under a plethora of managers which included Mauricio Pochettino, Ronald Koeman, Claude Puel and Mark Hughes.

Throughout his individual record of 194 appearances, nine goals and three assists during said timeframe, Southampton would finish inside the Premier League's European positions and were rewarded with fixtures against the likes of Inter Milan, as well as reaching the EFL Cup final in 2017 under the aforementioned Puel, where they suffered a dramatic 3-2 defeat to Manchester United at Wembley courtesy of a brace from Zlatan Ibrahimović.

Unsurprisingly, there are very few remnants of the squads which Yoshida featured in, given the mass amount of player and managerial turnover which has occurred at St Mary's in such a short period of time.

However, that certainly changed when it was confirmed that defensive midfielder, Oriol Romeu, would return to the club on a deal until the end of the season, some three years after the 34-year-old departed for La Liga outfit, Girona.

The former Barcelona figure has since featured in all three of Saints' most recent outings against Millwall, Birmingham and West Brom, although a total of 27 minutes played has been the result of three minor substitute cameos, as well as playing 45 minutes of an Under-21s defeat to AS Monaco in the Premier League International Cup on December 2nd.

Yoshida and the Spaniard shared the pitch several times during the club's Premier League era, and it is clear that the duo struck up a close bond.

As such, the Japanese, who is now contracted to MLS outfit, LA Galaxy, posted a picture of him and Romeu in front of the nearby Winchester Cathedral with the caption of "We still march on🔴⚪️🔴⚪️", which has received plenty of responses from the club's official account and a plethora of happy supporters.

Southampton can now sense a potential promotion bid under Tonda Eckert

A few weeks ago, it was hard to envisage that Southampton would enjoy such a strong run of short-term success, winning six out of seven and scoring 21 goals throughout.

Due to the congested nature of the Championship table, a remarkable transformation now sees the Saints within touching distance of the play-offs with over half of the campaign still to play.

With the quality at Eckert's disposal, opponents will no longer be viewing the German's side as a wounded animal, as they have showcased what they are capable of when fully confident and firing.