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Bednarek Major Doubt For Palace Trip ! Who Should Replace Him ?
Tuesday, 21st Jan 2020 09:08

Jan Bednarek is the only major doubt for this evening's trip to Selhurst Park to play Crystal Palace but who will replace him.

Jan Bednarek has played every minute of Saints 23 games so far this season, but is set to miss this evening's game at Crystal Palace, that is a blow in itself, but who will Ralph Hasenhuttl select to replace him if he doesn't pass muster.

Jan Bednarek has been the only constant in the Saints defence this season and is the only defender who has come through the trying times of the first third of the season with his reputation relatively intact, so it is a major blow to lose him for a vital game that could see us pull well clear of relegation should we win or be drawn a little too close to comfort should we lose.

Ralph Hasenhuttl has plenty of options, but few of them would get in any other Premier League teams.

Yoshida would be the obvious replacement, but he more than anyone has paid the price for that debacle against Leicester City back in October, in the three months since despite being almost ever present on the bench, he has played just 5 minutes of Premier League football, that a brief cameo appearance against Norwich City at the start of December some 7 weeks ago.

Indeed he was not even on the bench against Wolves on Saturday although Vestergaard was, his time at St Mary's looks almost up and it was unclear on Saturday whether it was injury or otherwise that saw him left out.

Jannik Vestergaard would be the next option he too has paid the price for the Leicester game, but he has played a little more than Yoshida since in the Premier League suggesting that Hasenhuttl prefers him to Yoshida these days, but his two PL 90 minutes in the last three months were 2 1/2 months ago and like Yoshida his only game since then was the cup tie against Huddersfield and neither player gave any suggestion in that game that they were up to the task in the Premier League.

Perhaps Ralph will look outside the box to replace Bednarek, he still has Kevin Danso, but he appears unwilling to use him in any capacity, despite the problems we have in the back line, Danso has few Premier League minutes in total, his last being at Manchester City at the start of November, but he looked OK against Huddersfield and Ralph likes a surprise or two so could he find himself thrown in to the fray this evening.

The Austrian could also look to non specialist players like Oriol Romeu or even Ryan Bertrand to slot in.

Either way Bednarek's potential loss is a problem and illustrates our need to get in a central defender in this transfer window.

Photo: Action Images



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halftimeorange added 09:38 - Jan 21
Whoever plays we'll be lucky if we manage a shut out. I'd probably go for Yoshida as he's likely to play wholeheartedly, although prone to at least one game-changing error. He is 6'2" whereas Romeu is 6'0" and Bertrand a mere 5'10" and we are generally short of height on the pitch. Danso should've been blooded more than he has been and is hardly likely to form an instant partnership with Stephens and Vestergaard's shortcomings in respect of pace and inability to jump are well documented. What Ralph needs to do is keep morale high. A bad defeat tonight and a thrashing by Liverpool could well see the start of a slide back into the mire. If we can get a point that would do but, after the effort expended on Saturday it's no gimme. Another thing, Djenepo ran Palace ragged in our home game during the last quarter and with him we should have won. If the first half is a low-scoring battle he should be introduced early in the second half. I hope Ralph doesn't go all defensive and replace Armstrong from the start with Romeu. We need all the creativity we can get.
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LoisDeem added 10:40 - Jan 21
Whoever stands in might be rusty, though it's not that long since we had 27 people playing centre half! It would be Maya for me, as he is more than capable of a good game!
To those obsessed by height, Vestergaard is 7'12" or so, and Shane is 4'13" or something but the stats do say he wins more aerial duels than any other striker.
Worth noting that if Jan doesn't play, our normally lower average age might increase somewhat.
(All stats provided by the Southern Daily Echo)
1

LordDZLucan added 11:26 - Jan 21
I don't think Jan is that big a loss for tonight. Whilst he's got good potential I'm afraid he's still got to develop composure on the ball. I've lost count of the number of times he's aimlessly kicked the ball forward to an opposition player when he had time to do so much more with it. And of course he dived in on Trainee for the first goal when he really should have stood him up to buy time for the other defenders to get back into position. That composure will come with experience but it's not there yet. If he can't play tonight then it has to be Maya.
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LordDZLucan added 11:27 - Jan 21
Traore not Trainee. Bloody autocorrect!
0

highfield49 added 11:32 - Jan 21
Knowing that neither of the available central defender options is reliable why not play Stephens in the middle of a back three with Danso and Romeu as holding midfielders? Get stuck into their short tempered creative players and cut off the ball supply before it gets to the danger area. That would give us three additional mid field players and two up front. Other than that it has to be Yoshi who at least will give his usual 100% .
3

redandwhitedee added 12:26 - Jan 21
We do not need yet another new CB this window. We have 3 in reserve plus Alfie Jones doing really well again out on loan. That’s the point of reserves.. they might not be your 1st choice but they are willing to be a squad player and will step in when required. Time to use the squad not spend more money.
People seem to forget how easy it was to slip into administration even though we were selling players for vast sums - Walcott, bale, bridge, Richards..

It’s not worth that price.

Have faith in our squad players. Stephens & Maya together managed something like 13 clean sheets when played as a pair under Puel. But I am also not against vestegaard. They can both do the job. Even danso.. why not.
-1

SaintPaulVW added 14:03 - Jan 21
In an ideal world Danso.

In the real world Yoshi.
1

underweststand added 15:19 - Jan 21
If Bednarek isn't fit, then the real question is ..do we stick with 4-4-2 ?

If so we have to play Yoshida ..(sorry Nick), but in reverting to a 3-5-2 would (theoretically) give us more bodies in midfield and some extra flexibility in defence. Everyone hasa bad game once in awhile and saturday was probably Stephens' but for the last month he's been near MoM every game.

If Ralph still wants to see Danso in action , he has to play him in the position that he was bought for (namely CB) as most of his apps. have been all over the place, but not CB.
0

Saintaxidriver added 17:45 - Jan 21
Yoshi is the man for me. Also Ithink you will find that Yoshi and Vestergaard are usually both on the bench with one occasion each where it was just one of them. Of the two I think Ralph favours Yoshi for good reason as he is far sharper than Vestergaard and has the odd goal in him.
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