Saints Still Need Another Central Defender
After two soft goals conceded at Liverpool, Saints still need to strengthen the squad in the middle of the back four.
Ronald Koeman intimated pre Liverpool game that he was not in the market for another central defender that he felt Florin Gardos completed the picture, Im not sure i agree after witnessing a display at Liverpool that although was in the main highly acceptable for most of the game, ultimately fell down due to our inability to defend on two occasions when we really should have.
The problem is in the centre of that defence is that we truly only have one proven Premier League level player and that is Jose Fonte, obviously Ronald Koeman rates Gardos, but the truth is at this moment we don't know whetehr he will be another Dejan Lovren or whether it will be another Vegard Forren, if it is the former than things will be fine, it is the latter then we are in big trouble !
I suspect that it may be somewhere in between, that Gardos will be pretty decent and will be OK, but even if that is the case we still have no one truly putting pressure on either him or Fonte once they are ensconced in the back four.
Yoshida showed on Sunday that although for long periods he can look good, too often he will get caught napping and although you can get away with it sometimes, you do not want to rely on Yoshida too often.
Jos Hooiveld just isnt up to it im afraid and Jack Stephens completely untried, although I would like to see him given a run out against Millwall or in the league off the bench if the situation allows it.
But even after the arrival of Gardos it is quite clear we still need that extra bit of strength in central defence should there be an injury to either Fonte or Gardos.
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