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Caceres Likely To Make Debut Against The Cherries
Tuesday, 28th Mar 2017 10:13

Martin Caceres could finally make his first team debut for the club when they take on Bournemouth at St Mary's on Saturday.

Martin Caceres looks set to make his first team debut six weeks after arriving on a short term deal to the end of the season, in that time he has built up his fitness and played two full games for the U23 squad and now looks ready to play his first competitive game in over a year.

Claude Puel stated that Caceres was in contention to play at White Hart Lane in the last game, but probably decided to stick with Yoshida and jack Stephens for a couple of reasons.

Firstly it was a tough game to throw Caceres into with so little match sharpness and secondly he might have felt that the pair deserved the chance to keep their places and play for the shirt.

The reality is that both have given 100% for the club over the past two months or so since Virgil Van Dijk was injured by Albert Steptoe in the game against Leicester City in January, but the fact is we have conceded too many soft goals in that time.

Since they first played as a pair at Swansea they have played 5 games together, in that time we have kept only one clean sheet and conceded 10 goals in the other four games.

Some say I am hard on Yoshida and Stephens, that they are playing well, yes they do play well for 88% of games, but there are two many lapses in concentration in that other 2% of games that have cost us dearly, the stats speak for themselves an average of 2 goals shipped in 5 league games is just not good enough, a look at the league table shows that only Hull City have a worse ratio than that over the season.

Add to that the three goals let in at Wembley and the stats are not acceptable, changes need to be made.

Something has to change and it is likely to be this Saturday that it happens, Puel will obviously feel that Bournemouth will be an easier game than Spurs to ease Caceres in, then there is the matter of three games in seven days and to add to that Yoshida is returning from playing for Japan in Thailand and is not scheduled to arrive back in England until late Wednesday.

All of this adds up to a debut for Caceres, the only real question being who will he come in for.

Yoshida would normally be the obvious partner for him, the Japanese International is a good squad player, but is not a leader of men, he needs to be lead in a back four and not to do the organising, nothing wrong with that, just that it doesn't help when you have an inexperienced youngster alongside you.

But will he be tired from his trip across the World it is a 12 hour flight from Thailand, he will need Thursday off and then Puel will have to see how he is on Friday.

Usually Yoshida has not played after returning from International duty, but usually he does not start this many games for Saints.

So it could see Caceres partner Jack Stephens in the centre of defence, Stephens has impressed some with his displays, but he has not been outstanding, but put him alongside a truly quality defender and it could bring out the best of him and that is something that Saints and Claude Puel need to find out.

Stephens career at St Marys has stalled and up to this injury crisis it looked like that at 23 he would soon leave the club for a career at best in the Championship, he has grasped this opportunity well, but like Yoshida seems to have lapses in concentration, till we see him alongside the likes of Caceres or Van Dijk the jury must be out.

Photo: Action Images



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dixiefrog added 11:59 - Mar 28
I've said before that I think Caceres is on a relatively low weekly wage which would jump substantially if he actually starts a game, so for the club who only brought him in as cover, it becomes both a tactical and financial decision when he plays. With Yoshi's busy schedule of internationals and travel fatigue, I think on Saturday we just might see Caceres first game chaperoning young Stephens.
2

wibbersda added 13:20 - Mar 28
"Albert Steptoe" - Nice touch Nick!
0

EasternSaint added 13:52 - Mar 28
Japan were at home, not away in Thailand. Yoshida captained the team tonight and lead them to a 4-0 win and nodded in the fourth himself for good measure. Though to be honest, apart from the goal he didn't have that great a game. They played their other World Cup qualifier away last week in UAE, so he's packed in a load of air miles over fortnight!
2

SanMarco added 16:19 - Mar 28
It will be good to see Cacares. Ideally I would have Yoshi beside him (well ideally VVD of course) but the travel will seemingly rule that out.
3

SaintBrock added 18:51 - Mar 28
Nick, Nick for heaven's sake stop digging before you disappear.....

"the Japanese International is a good squad player, but is not a leader of men"

As I have pointed out to you before, Yoshida is the Captain of Japan for goodness sake and they won 4-0 the other night!!!!!!!
3

bstokesaint added 13:03 - Mar 29
Got to say I’m a little confused about the “not being a leader of men” comment. I’ve never considered a national captain to be the sitting back kind. Maybe when there are a number of leaders he just seems to have less of a presence.

I also think your comment Nick about “concentration lapses” is unfair. By all means criticise Yoshi for mistakes in the past, but this season I’ve seen little evidence of these lapses and I’ve felt much more confident in him. For me personally this was the side of his game holding him back previously and since he seems to have worked on that, surely it must be time to give credit where it’s due?
1

SaintBrock added 17:33 - Mar 29
As for Carceras, bring him on!
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