Why do you think people liked him Tommi? Because he had a fun name? Its not because of his goals, people were raving about him way before he scored those.
Now I can't say I have seen him play for Southampton but from supporter reports on here as well as the radio commentary on the Saint he was the best player on the pitch on a number of occasions. If he had a shocker once or twice that can happen, especially in a team that had not been playing well at all and in a team that didn't have a proper right or left back.
Besides that, if he was as poor as you say he would have never played that many matches in the Dutch PL or have been on of the most important player at Roda JC for quite some time.