Wesley Hoedt was an unused sub against Huddersfield having signed only days earlier, should he go straight into the team now though ?
Probably the first answer from most Saints supporters would be yes, they would say that having been at the club for a couple of weeks now he could go in, however the reality is that straight after that trip to Yorkshire he was off to join the Dutch International squad and with so many of his team mates away on International duty it is likely that the full squad wil not be back together till Wednesday at the earliest meaning that he will have little more time to integrate than he has had so far.
The other issue is whether either Yoshida or Stephens deserve to be dropped, after all we have kept w out of 3 clean sheets in the Premier League so far this season, do they deserve to keep their places ?
To answer that I would say we need to bring in Hoedt now, although we kept those clean sheets the fact of the matter is that in both of those games chances were presented to both Swansea and West Ham were slack marking meant that they had free headers close to goal not to mention a few other occasions, from this point of view the clean sheet doen't tell the full story, only poor finishing saved us not good defending.
Against West Ham the writing was on the wall long before they actually scored, they had three clear chances were they had players left unmarked who really should have done better, not to mention the free header for their second goal where Forster pulled off a decent save only to see the rebound swept in.
So the reality is that we have paid £15 million for Hoedt for a reason, that being the case he needs to be straight into the side, there is no room for sentimentality and a good manager notices problems and deals with them before they cost him dearly.
In the medium term you would think that Hoedt would partner Virgil Van Dijk assuming that VVW returns to the fold completely, I don't think there are too many Saints fans who would argue that these would normally be the best partnership, but I dont think Van Dijk will play Saturday so we have to look at Hoedt first.
But who will be dropped ?
Will it be Yoshida ? I would think not, Yoshida is a player who gives you 100% but over the years he has shown he is prone to the odd mistake or two and despite his wholehearted performances both last season and this he is not a truly first choice Premier League player, good back up yes ! first choice no, but in the meantime I think he is best suited to partnering Hoedt on Saturday so I would keep him in the side.
That means that it would be Jack Stephens for the chop, that again is harsh, but thi is reality, Stephens undoubtably has a talent for carrying the ball forward and this perhaps glosses over the fact that he cannot seem to keep concentration and mark his man, too many times this season there have been free headers in the box and to be blunt its usually been Stephens not doing his job.
There are those who would say that I have always criticised him and that I have something against him, that is completely wrong I would love to see him succeed, but in every game this season he has let his man get away from him, sometimes a goal has resulted sometimes it hasn't I would say if you don't believe me, have a look at the highlights and then tell me Im wrong.
So that being the case I would bring in Hoedt alongside Yoshida on Saturday, it will be contrasting styles and certainly Yoshida would benefit from playing alongside a player who has more experience.
In the coming weeks though I think it has to be a Dutch combination of Hoedt and Van Dijk, they are the best in the club and on a different level to either Yoshida or Stephens, a strong central defensive partnership aligned with our strong holding midfield duo will allow us to pus forward more which will lead to the goal scoring problems being solved.
if we are setting our sights on breaking back into the top 7 and getting into Europe again then we have to set our standards higher than Yoshida and Stehens in the back four, I applaud their commitment and what they have done for the club, but going forward there can be no sentimality in football.
So who would you pick on Saturday in the centr of our defence against Watford? Cast your vote in our online poll using the link below !
https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/forum/208595/should-hoedt-sta