Matt Targett was given a hard time by some of the crowd early doors this season, but this was not justified and Targett remains a great prospect for the future.
There is a theme that recurs when we look at the Saints squads of the past few seasons and that is a section of the crowd always has to have a whipping boy who they verbally abuse at games, there seems to be no reasoning behind this, some players are cheered by this section whatever they have done whilst others are villified despite as in the case of Pelle being leading scorer.
Matt Targett was one of those unfortunate individuals in the early part of the season.
Those fans took no account of the fact that in the first half dozen games of the season Targett was a 19 year old with only 3 Premier League starts to his name, one of those seeing him carried off unconscious after only 20 minutes at QPR, add another 3 appearances as sub to his stats and when the season started we had a prospect rather than a seasoned pro ready to step into a defence and goalkeeper with only Jose Fonte with any real class or experience.
Five goals shipped in the opening two games saw some turn on Targett, it did not matter that in the next few games we kept clean sheets, for some nothing he did was right and they let him know it.
This was certainly unfair, he was a different type of defender than Bertrand relying on using the ball rather than pace, but in the slow back four of those early games that lack of pace was exposed however he could rightly have asked where was his cover.
But once Bertrand returned although his chances were limited, Ronald Koeman could use him in different roles and with cover in front of him and at points the Bertrand/ Targett partnership on the left was very profitable both in defence and attack.
Indeed in that six match shutout after Fraser Forster's return a run that saw no goals conceded and five wins, Targett started four of those games and came off the bench n another.
The hep that Bertrand gave him was crucial to his good form and he also put in some great crosses going forward, one in particular set up Shane Long for a goal against Watford.
The reality for this season that in his 13 games plus one off the bench, Matt Targett continued his football development and in doing so made a very good contribution to Saints season.
Going forward he is going to be another in the line of great Saints left backs, most Saints fans can see that in him, some i'm sorry to say cannot and will not ?
See What Nick, Clive And Freddie Have To Say About Matt Targett By Clicking On The Link Below.