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January Transfer Window Mixed Bag For Southampton

Saints fans will be divided on the January transfer window which saw two depart and two arrive in the first team squad, but what is the overall verdict, read on for the TUI viewpoint.

The good news is that the window slammed shut without any truly major departures, Che Adams & Kyle Walker Peters were still Southampton players when all was done and dusted and more to the point, there didn't appear to be any serious interest shown.

This indicates that any club interested and there were certainly a few were rebuffed at an early stage by either the players agent or Southampton FC themselves, usually serious rumours only emerge when one part of the selling process, ie agent or club shows encouragement to the potential buyer.

So January has seen Mason Holgate and Charly Alcaraz depart the latter on loan and coming in the other directions two loan signings from Bournemouth, Joe Rothwell & David Brooks.

Thus Saints haven't had spent any transfer money and have kept their transfer kitty intact for the summer.

On the face of it the squad hasn't changed much we have exchanged one attacking player in Alacaraz for another David Brooks and then brought let a defender go in Holgate for a midfielder in Rothwell.

For me we have upset the balance of the squad a little and this could be a worry.

The signing of Rothwell essentially a central midfield player could be justified on one hand by the fact that he is an experienced Championship player and will bring that to the squad, but on the other we have a plethora of experienced players in this position, Flynn Downes, Will Smallbone, Stuart Armstrong, Joe Aribo, plus the potential of Shea Charles means that Rothwell is the 6th candidate for 3 positions, yes we have strengthened, but probably only in the fact that we have more options.

The departure of Mason Holgate for me could be a potential problem, there are some who will disagree and point at Holgate as a failure, but I have looked at it with a bit of perspective.

In his first two games, Sunderland & Middlesbrough he did not shine, no one can argue with that, in his third an 89th minute substitute at Stoke, he played a part in a long period of injury time to ensure we didn't throw away a 1-0 lead.

His 3rd start at Preston perhaps wasn't pushing him forward to permanently replace the missing Taylor Harwood-Bellis, but again it was about being in a team performance that saw a 2-2 draw against a Preston side who were then in the play off spots.

His fifth and final Championship appearance saw him given the man of the match accolade as he helped Saints to a win over West Brom, again another difficult game.

His only two appearances after that came in the FA Cup, one an easy win over Walsall saw him do little wrong, at Watford he was poor at times, but overall no worse than those around him in what was essentially a reserve side.

But my point here is that in this transfer window we have strengthened two areas, but we have weakened another the defence.

Holgate was a good squad player, I am not sure why he was ignored so much by Russell Martin, who didn't seem to feel the need to give Holgate minutes on the pitch to keep him sharp, but showed no such hesitation for a fit again Jack Stephens, who was almost shoe horned into the side at moments where it was not needed.

Now we have just 3 experienced central defenders, Jan Bednarek, Taylor Harwood-Bellis and the aforementioned Stephens, after that it is fill ins Shea Charles and James Bree.

With Bree having been out injured since mid December and not yet back in training we now have just 5 fit specialist defenders for 4 positions and more to the point no experienced specialist full backs fit as back up to KWP & Ryan Manning, that leaves either youngster Jayden Meghoma or Jack Stephens as back ups in this position and in the centre just Stephens and Shea Charles in the centre of defence.

Letting Mason Holgate go was a mistake in my opinion, it is easy to criticise him but hard to defend him due to the fact he was strangely so overlooked by the manager.

Holgate could play as a central defender and full back, he was versatile and more to the point he was experienced and I think our now wafer thin lack of both quality cover and quantity of that could come back to haunt us, whereas in the midfield and up front we have two players in every position.

The problem with letting Holgate go was that we were never going to be able to replace him with a player of the same quality, with partnership of Harwood-Bellis and Bednarek so strong and the managers admiration of Jack Stephens well known, we could get neither experience, no out of favour Premier League central defender would come just to sit on our bench nor would a promising youngster whose club wanted game time.

We mismanaged Holgate and now we are wafer thin at the back.

So although I don't think it was a bad window for me it has been unbalanced.

Hopefully neither THB or Jan Bednarek will suffer any injury or suspension, but the chances of that are slim, but if they do we do not have adequate cover.

Anyway it is what it is now, going forward i think we have one of if not THE most potent attack in the Championship, we have a lot of midfield options and as long as they all stay fit the strongest defence, but later in the season we might well have to outscore a few sides on the road, rather as we do now and manage a slender wins away from home.


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