Victor Wanyama is reported as having suffered a hairline fracture to the leg which could keep him out until the New Year at least as the list of walking wounded lengthens.

Victor Wanyama is set to be out till next year with a hairline fracture of the leg but isnt the only other first team regular set to miss the visit of Man City on Saturday, Morgan Schneiderlin is set to be missing again with Jose Fonte rated only touch and go, which beggars the question why we risked aggravating his injury further on Wednesday by bringing him on at right back when we had Callum Chambers on the bench.

It's hard to feel sympathy for Mauricio Pochettino's plight given that on Wednesday Chambers on paper looked a better bet to replace Clyne, both in the fact that he is a natural right back as well as his pace would have offered more going forward at a time when as statistics prove we werent under the cosh defenisvely. Not that Fonte played badly, indeed creating the cross for one of the goals, but its folly to have used him when he clearly wasnt 100%.

This harks back to my article earlier this week prior to the Villa game when I highlighted the fact that we only seemed to use a core of 12 players for the 10 outfield positions, now the folly of doing that looks set to come back and haunt us with a growing injury list not helped by the fact that the players we need to come into the side do not have the match fitness that is needed, you would not expect a player who had been injured for three months to be up to speed in a Premier match despite the fact that he had been training for a month, so why should we expect any different from Jack Cork or Yoshida on their returns from the wilderness on Wednesday, the problem is now we have missed the chance to keep their sharpness ticking over and have to throw them in cold.

Saints can still put out a decent squad that can compete though, last season we beat Man City without Wanyama so there is no reason why we should not do it again, hopefully the manager has learnt a lesson from the past few weeks and that is not to get complacent and that substitutes need to be used with more consideration.

On the plus side Gaston Ramirez is back and should figure on the bench, perhaps his career here isnt destined to run much longer but in the meantime lets utilise him, it might mean adapting the way we play at times, but we have to use the players we have available in the best formation that suits them, rather than blindly trying to play a formation that clearly won't.

This season has seen many get carried away and predict heady heights for Saints, that may come in time, but at the moment we need to realise that this is a learning curve not just for the players, but the manager as well, perhaps we wont finish in the top six as many were heralding, but if we learn from not only only our mistakes but the situations that can happen, then we can continue on our upward path and make steady progress as good football clubs do, the Championship and even League Two (Pompey) is littered with clubs who thought that success in the Premier league could be bought or sustained by simply following a formula, that isn't the case as we are now finding out, however if we use our experience we can built something we can sustain.

Photo: Action Images

slynch added 14:54 - Dec 6 You got your wish about more squad rotation, then!?!
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richardmdcooper added 15:27 - Dec 6 Good article. The fonte over chambers decision on weds was very puzzling (why is chambers on the bench if he's not a replacement at right back?!) as has been the under usage of cork this season. I rate poch very highly but one of my few criticisms of him is he often comes across as if we are hard done by- whether it's a result that we didn't deserve (every time we lose) or now the injuries. Every team has them but we'd be in a better position now if he'd used the squad more. How's the big test for him.

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richardmdcooper added 15:28 - Dec 6 Now's
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Zambucco added 18:19 - Dec 6 Well his hand has been forced now, to include the other squad members, I'm sure they're up for it, bit it would have helped having more match time together. As you point out we managed without Wanyama last season, Cork, Davis, Ward Prowse, Ramirez are all capable of turning in top performances. Chambers should be given a chance over Fonte as he is a natural right back. So it's all stacking up that our game tomorrow is possibly the pivotal moment in our season, it will show whether we are worthy top 5 contenders (my prediction) or we need to keep building and to learn from our lessons. I still have faith COYR

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Whatsforpud added 11:28 - Dec 7 I agree about the Fonte/Chambers issue, but when we were winning, the manager would have been criticised for rotating players, as the cry would have been 'if it aint broke, don't fix it'. This is where clubs in general miss being in a proper competitive reserve league, which at least give everyone proper match time.
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