Wesley Hoedt has been talking to the Spanish press about why he had to leave St Mary's in the January transfer window. "It was complicated" according to the Dutch defender.
Ralph Hasenhuttl is a manager who knows what he wants and how he wants to do things, he stated when he arrived that everyone would have a chance to show what they could do and either get on or off the bus, but it seems that Wesley Hoedt did not have that choice according to an interview given this week in Spain.
Hoedt has given an interview to Spanish newspaper La Voz de Galicia explaining why he had to leave Saints.
The defender was asked as to why was it difficult for him at St Mary's after Hasenhüttl took charge.
"I really don’t know."
"I was playing every game, but there was a change of coach and the new one made it very clear to me that he didn’t like me, that he didn’t want me.”
"It was complicated for me, but I couldn’t do anything about it, so I’m lucky I could find a solution by coming to a club like this (Celta Vigo).”
Certainly Hoedt does have a point, Hasenhuttl declared it was a clean start for everyone when he arrived and showed that by not only giving all those in the first team squad the chance to show what they could do for the cause, but also players in the Academy squad that had previously not been that close to a first team call up.
But Hoedt did not get his chance to show what he could do, with not even a minute's game time under Hasenhuttl, suggesting that the Austrian had been briefed against him by those already at St Mary's before the new managers arrival. Certainly Hasenhuttl did not give the Dutchman the fair crack of the whip that others got.
So the question that we will perhaps never know is whether Hoedt could have improved under Ralph as several other members of the squad have, yes the Dutchman had become the latest whipping boy on social media, but not all of that criticism was entirely fair and after he was dropped the defence did not improve and indeed still continues to make errors week in week out.
Some will disagree but they have short memories, Hoedt was certainly a centre pin of the last few weeks of last season and he has had several games this season where he has been man of the match including Bournemouth and Palace away where we kept clean sheets, something we have done only once in the 13 Premier League games since he was dropped after the defeat at Fulham.
In those games we have conceded 20 goals a ratio of 1.54 per game, slightly better than the 13 that Hoedt had played in, but in fairness those games included 9 goals in two games away at Liverpool & Manchester City and trips to those two will distort any defences stats, take those two out and it's 15 in 11 games .
Hoedt was part of a defence in total disarray under a manager who seemed unable to coach it or give it any real tactics and who Hoedt apart seemed to chop and change the members of it both centrally and at full back.
No one is claiming that Hoedt has played brilliantly this season, he has been patchy, but when Hasenhuttl arrived he looked to be the defender who could benefit most, he had more raw talent than any of those who have remained, yes he was a part of the problem, but he was also definitely the best chance we had of being part of the solution.
Certainly where two injury time errors in the last two games have cost us 3 points and with those 3 points we would now be level with Palace in 13th with 27 points and four points above the drop zone with a two team buffer between us, there is a fine line between failure and success.
That is why I'm surprised that Hoedt was allowed to go without a replacement being signed.
There are many who seem to have taken a personal dislike to Hoedt, but since he has been dropped the individual errors have continued from those who were their before Hoedt and now remain after him, the question is why they still remain, Hoedt who supposedly is so bad had no problem finding a club in the top flight of another League in Europe, yet others have never been in demand even when they were nowhere near the first XI or even the bench.
I am a big fan of Ralph Hasenhuttl, I believe in what he was doing and trust his judgement, however even the best managers make bad judgement calls from time to time and I just have that feeling that letting Wesley Hoedt go is a mistake, that feeling has worsened after the goals conceded in the last two games.
I still think that we will stay up, I have confidence that we can pull clear, but the central defence is suspect, Bednarek is young and raw, Vestergaard looks to have enough but is still finding his feet in the Premier League and Yoshida and Stephens have been the mainstay of the worst central defence I have seen in the top flight.
Hoedt was the best of a bad bunch, but that would perhaps mean he had the potential to be the best of a better bunch !