The big question for Mauricio Pochettino on Saturday will be who to play in the centre of midfield, Jack Cork or Wanyama ?
Last season Jack Cork was a close runner up to Morgan Schneiderlin for player of the year, in fact most Saints fans would have concurred that their central pairing was as good as most in the Premier league outside of the top four and that it was perhaps the biggest single reason why we survived.
Therefore it was a shock that Victor Wanyama was signed, in that there were plenty of other areas that needed strengthening in the team before this one.
A bigger shock though was how Jack Cork was ostracised from first team duty, he usually sat on the bench, but up to Wanyama's injury at Chelsea in the 13th Premier League game of the season, Cork had got off that bench for only 9 minutes Premier League football, less than every other genuine first team squad member, including Guly.
This struck me as very strange I could understand why Wanyama got in the team ahead of Cork, don't get me wrong I rate Wanyama as a player, but I could not understand why Cork was not used more as a sub given his ability to play in several other positions, indeed even when Wanyama was off form and substituted it was not the obvious replacement of Cork that was used, up until that Injury to Wanyama, Cork had yet to start a game and had only come off the bench 4 times, playing a minute against West Brom, Liverpool & Fulham to run the clock down, with his only meaningful contribution being 6 minutes against Hull City, made even more strange in that Wanyama himself in that game had been subbed off as he was having a bad game on the hour mark, but it wasnt Cork brought on but Steven Davis.
Make no bones about it Jack Cork was out in the cold at St Mary's for no reason that could be seen.
But there was no moaning in the press from Cork, he just got on with it, till his chance came, since then he has been probably one of our best players in what has been a very difficult period culminating in a great display against Arsenal last Tuesday where he and Schneiderlin showed why they were one of the best midfield pairings last season, Cork got the man of the match awards but his reward would be to be dropped for the following game at Fulham.
This was a strange decision by the manager on several points, firstly there was the fact that he had dropped a player who had been the star turn in the last game, secondly Wanyama was clearly not match fit, it was a strange decision and one that could have cost us dearly, thankfully he rectified it and made the swap at half time, with Cork again putting in a tremendous performance to help turn the game in Saints favour.
So what now does Mauricio Pochettino do on Saturday for the visit of Stoke City, clearly he wants to play Wanyama ahead of Cork in any given situation, but after what happened up at Fulham surely he has to have a re think, firstly a manager has to send out the right signals to his team, players want to know that if they play well they keep their places, this is important not just for the regular first teamers but also the squad players, who have to have the motivation to get into the first team knowing that if they play well they will keep their place and not be dropped whatever.
In the first half of the season we just didnt do that, up till that Chelsea game we played the same players to distraction, there was rarely any variation unless in a position where there was no choice ie Full Back or central defence, other than that we were predictable both in team line up and substitutions made.
This was not good for team spirit and not good as we found out in that players were played too much and not nurtured and this made them more susceptible to injuries and when they got those injuries we were having to throw players in that had barely played all season.
But the situation with Cork was all the stranger even despite that and cannot even be covered up by the old excuse about not showing it in training, Cork is an action player and as he has proved he doesn't have many bad games.
The only reason I can think for his ostracising is that having paid £12 million for Wanyama they wanted to give him a free run to show his talents, they didn't want the fans on his back and the embarrasment if he should be outplayed by Cork, I could see why they might do that, but firstly if you need to coccoon a player like that then why pay big money for him and secondly the Cork Wanyama situation is the exact opposite of the Osvaldo/Lambert one, in the former the Manager appears to make a tough decision, in the latter he seems unable to decide who is his number 1 striker an we have a situation develope as we have seen.
So what happens on Saturday, if Jack Cork is dropped again for Wanyama he might as well start talking to other clubs now, clearly whatever he does Wanyama is going to play before him in every circumstance, I worry what messages this might send out to the rest of the squad, several of whom made clear points after the game on Saturday to the press about the role that Cork played.
It would be nice to see firstly the manager pick the player who is in on merit and there are games where you would perhaps prefer one to the other as although they both play the same position as such, they play it in a different manner, but secondly surely there has to be a way to have both in the side at times, given our problems in the centre of defence at the moment and Wanyama can play there and did do for Celtic, surely we could utilise him there till Lovren returns, this would make us a stronger team in the short term and enable Wanyama to get games under his belt ready for the time when the manager has to make a decision again.
We have a good team spirit which seems to be strengthened by what has gone on lately, we dont want to see that broken up, I don't want this article to be seen as a pro Jack Cork article either, as i said I rate Wanyama, this is about the situation not the individuals, there has been much talk about the relative lack of depth in the squad, but supporters can't complain about having to use Guly in Premier league games when a player of the quality of Cork has been left on the bench