STEVEN Davis believes that Saints are reaping the rewards of buying into Claude Puel’s football philosophy after four straight wins in all competitions.

Davis reckons he’s seen an improvement in every game and, after a slow start, Puel’s style is starting to click with the players.

Saints have now won back-to-back Premier League games – their latest a 3-0 win at West Ham – and won consecutive cup matches in the Europa League and EFL Cup.

“It was always going to take a bit of time, but whenever you get off to a slow start of course you question things,” Davis said. “But it was important that the manager showed us his philosophy and showed us how he wants to do things.

“It’s important that the lads bought into that and you can see that now after the four wins on the bounce and we can seeing everyone’s believing in it.

“There’s confidence in the team and we’re getting back to where we should be.”

“We’ve seen an improvement in each game. Obviously it was going take a bit of time to get used to the new system and I think we’re adapting to it well now and understanding our roles and responsibilities a bit better.”

He added: “Every manager’s different, everybody’s got their own philosophies, how they want to play and their own personalities.

“The new manager is no different from that. He’s his own man, he demands certain ways and we are reaping the rewards of our work on the training ground.”

One of the trademarks of Puel’s tenure so far has been squad rotation, which according to Davis is keeping everyone sharp.

“It keeps everyone on their toes,” he said. “Everybody’s done well and it goes for the same in the league. Everybody put in a good performance.

“There’s good healthy competition. Everyone wants to play but that’s not always possible.”

The upturn in fortunes in the Premier League means Saints can now fully focus on their Europa League campaign.

After a 3-0 win in their first European Group K game against Sparta Prague, Saints prepare to travel to Hapoel Beer Sheva, the Israeli champions, on Thursday.

“We worked so hard to get into the Europa League, we want to go and enjoy it now,” Davis said. “We’ve made a good start against Sparta and it’s important we build upon it again.

“We want to progress through group stages and progress from there.”