Sometimes Saints fans seem to take against certain players in the squad and that seems to be the case in regard to Wesley Hoedt with social media rife with demands he be dropped for Yoshida ! But that is a very short sighted move.

I'm not quite sure why Wesley Hoedt has started this season as the whipping boy, indeed against Leicester most pundits agreed he was the better player in the partnership with Jannik Vestergaard at one stage making a superb tackle when the Dane had sold him short with a pass.

But some on social media have been demanding that he be dropped for Yoshida for Saturday's trip to Crystal Palace, in fact some seem to be frothing at the mouth demanding that this happen.

"I have no idea how Yoshida isn’t in squad, I would start him with the big Dane"

"For the love of God, can we PLEASE start Yoshida over Hoedt!?!?"

These are just two of the comments on twitter after the Leicester game and they re representative of others with Hoedt being roundly condemned despite having a reasonable start to the season.

In fairness to Hoedt he was thrown into the dog pit last season having to try to form partnerships with Van Dijk who didn't want to know, Jack Stephens who just can't seem to mark players, read the game and lacks pace and Yoshida who up until 18 months ago was the very image of your loyal squad player.

Hoedt was the youngest of the lot, yet was given no slack for this, he might have hoped for an experienced defender to play alongside and bring him on and teach him what the Premier League is all about, but he got no help whatsoever.

Some complained about him getting caught out of position, but was that entirely his fault ? often he would have to try and cover for a colleague who had lost his man.

Now the clamour amongst some is for Yoshida to be reinstated, but the reality is that this would not only not be justified but would be a step backwards not forwards.

Last season Yoshida was hardly outstanding several times being at fault for letting his man get away from him and score an unmarked header, Sam Vokes in Burnley's 1-0 win and Olivier Giroud for Arsenal in the final minute being two examples, those two goals alone costing us 3 points that would have kept us well clear of the relegation zone.

But in his six seasons so far Yoshida has been a great club man, but his first season aside never a regular till 18 months ago, Mauricio Pochettino barely played him in his one full season, indeed under Ronald Koeman he had fallen to 4th choice central defender and barely played in the second half of the season 2015/16 when we finished 6th.

Up until this season in those six seasons he has started 112 league games with another 17 as sub, last season's 23 Premier League starts being his highest since his first season.

So why is Yoshida seen by some as the saviour of the club ?

The World Cup is one answer where some point to one poll where he was voted in the team of the tournament, but that doesn't mean anything, indeed in their 4 games the Japanese conceded 7 goals and out of those games only Belgium who scored 3 of them were a side considered anywhere near decent.

Having just turned 30 Yoshida is certainly not the future of the club and in his only performance of the season so far against Brighton he was far from impressive, he is not the leader that Jose Fonte used to be, if he was that might have been a good reason to put him back in the side, but he is what he is and has been over the past six years, reasonable back up, if he was more than that he would have been snapped up by someone else in the Premier League at some point during thetime when he was barely getting a game.

So Saints have to look towards the future, Hoedt and Vestrgaard have to be given the chance to show they can form a good partnership and in the two games they have played together so far that has been the case, indeed against Burnley they showed signs of that as they did against Leicester as well, some won't like to admit it but Hoedt was the better player on Saturday, certainly Vestergaard should have done better on the winning goal, but few seem to be taking that into account at the moment preferring to give Hoedt abuse as this season's first whipping boy.

This sort of attitude has to stop, we have to be positive and look forward, Yoshida has never been the answer in the past and at 30 years old is not going to be in the future, give both Hoedt and Vestergaard time to bed in as a partnership and then judge them in a few months time not after two games.

They have to be given this chance because we have no option, the future is Hoedt and Vestergaard with Bednarek as back up, Yoshida and Stephens for all their commitment and loyalty are not the answer.

It pains me to have to effectively criticise either Yoshida or Stephens, I have nothing against them personally and Yoshida especially has played a big part over the last six years, however this is football and their abilities have to be put into perspective, neither would get into any other Premier League team, so that should tell us something.

On Tuesday at Brighton neither did anything to suggest they should be in the side on Saturday and they really should have.

It's time to move forward not back !

Photo: Action Images

underweststand added 13:24 - Aug 31 Yoshida has been second choice for many people (managers and fans) but for my part I think he's always given 100% in games, even if he has made the occasional mistake that sadly cost points, he's not alone in that part. Koeman's insistance on using him as an emergency RB blackened his name in some people's eyes and he rarely got a good run of games for several seasons when LOvre, Alderweireld and VvD were at saints. Maya did a lot to help Jack Stephens mature at the back end of last season and deserves credit fior that alone. Hoedt, (and Bednarek for that matter) still have a bit to learn before they become "the finished article" and talented as they may have been in their foreign clubs... the Prem. is "quite another ball game in comparison". Until we stabilise the back line we need experienced players and for that reason alone I'd play Yoshida from the start....for a while at least. We still have one of the youngest squads in the Prem. and it's unfair to young players with minimal experience to shoulder the burden of a Prem.defender and have to live with their mistakes, too. At thsi point intime I'd start Yoshi with.. (whoever you want) at the back and help them grow into the role preparing for the time when he does eventually leave the club.

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