Vegard Forren has been at St Mary's for nearly three months yet has not played one minute of first team football, is it time to give him a chance.

If rumours are to be believed Saints paid somewhere in the region of £4 million for the player, a fee that a year ago would have made him the club's record signing and indeed even now could make him in the top three expensive aquisitions for the club, yet here we are some three months and 10 games later and we have yet to see him kick a ball in first team anger.

Its not as if he is playing in a position that is not a problem area, to be blunt neither of the other three contenders for a central defensive role has been completely convincing and indeed we are still prone to lapses as was shown at Reading on Saturday where poor defending could have seen us two or even three down before we had got out of first gear.

That makes it all the stranger as to why Forren hasnt been given at least a run off the bench at some point, indeed most weeks he hasnt even been able to get on that bench.

 I do take the point that Saints have been involved in a relegation battle and its maybe been hard to throw him into that with no experience in the Premier League, yes some would say its no difference than the arrival of Yoshida, but that being early in the season made it easier to do, since Forren's arrival there has been no room for error.

Yet errors have been made in central defence and continue to be made, the two games against Newcastle and QPR saw central defensive errors a plenty, yet still Forren wasnt thrown in, there was talk of his fitness on arrival in that he hadnt played a game since the end of the Norwegian season six weeks earlier, yet surely he had still trained given that he was negotiating moves to England and had a trial at Liverpool lined up, im sure he wasnt going to roll up for that one having not broken sweat for well over a month.

Indeed Jose Fonte was carried off against Chelsea and couldnt kick a ball and train for a period, yet he was able to return to the team by the start of March, the point being that a professional player can generally be got up to match fitness in around a month, really Forren should have been ready to play two months ago.

As is documented Saints seem to have a transfer policy where the signings are made by a committee rather than by only the manager or coaches choice, this has its advantages and I am actually an advocate of this system, but to run it properly the manager/coach must have a dominant role in proceedings as at the end of the day its his job to get the best out of the team, its no use giving a manager a type of player that doesnt fit in with his thinking, he just wont play him. Coaches see players play in training day in day out, my fear is that Mauricio Pochettino doesnt think that Forren is any good, whilst as I have already stated its hard to throw players in to tense situations untried, a manager will know whether a player is up to it or not, it seems MoPo doesnt feel Forren is good enough.

But as they say the proof of the pudding is in the eating, with safety being nearly achieved perhaps its time to throw Forren in and see if he sinks or swims, perhaps West Ham isnt the game to do it in given their direct aerial threat type of play, but after that certainly.

You never know perhaps Forren will step up to the plate and prove himself up to the task, but equally perhaps he will be another Mayuka and clearly not be up to the task, Mayuka of course was thrown in to a game and sadly showed that he isnt suited to Saints type of play, perhaps Forren will be the same, but without trying him we will never know.

One thing is for sure, if we want to take that step to the next level, we have to get the transfer committee working in tandem with the manager, clearly last summer that didnt happen, with Pochettino seemingly the man to take us to the next level then perhaps those running the transfer committee will feel confident enough to let the manager have significant input, if they do that can only bode well for the team.

I really dont know how good or bad Vegard Forren is, I hope its the former rather than the latter although I suspect that his lack of appearances is down to one thing and one thing only and that is that Mauricio Pochettino does not think he is good enough for this level.

Photo: Action Images

Whatsforpud added 09:51 - Apr 9 It would be a bit awkward if Forren was a Cortese/Les Reed signing, and the manager doesn't rate him. Surely the manager should dictate the signings and departures, finance permitting.Forren was signed in the period when Poccettino was waiting in the wings, and would have been informed on what was happening. You cant have separate upstairs and downstairs agendas
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SonicBoom added 11:09 - Apr 9 Perhaps Adkins wanted him...
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tiptop added 11:12 - Apr 9 The 'Forren' issue is a bit strange.. considering fans consensus that this area was the most obvious in need. Saints defensive play has improved, but without further additions at this stage (apart from SHAW and his quality!) Ponch obviously sees enough in Jos and Yosh at this stage to carry us home as #1 choice center backs. Maybe bringing in a new player at this stage is too much of a risk in MoPo's mind as Jos&Yosh have built up and understanding. More recent defensive mistakes eg the mess preceding Le Fondra's chance were not just down to those two..Cork failed to clear and kicked the ball into Jos (I think it was). Much like Fox did for the OG a few weeks back. Thats not to say there isn't room for improvement! Ponch has improved the side all round and its either as you say nic; Forren is not up to it. Or he will need time to bed in and form a partnership when we will be aiming to get as high as poss. Q. Actually had a look but couldnt see what the rewards table look like for the prem this year? ie how much for finishing, say 10th as opposed to 17th?

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St_Beano added 11:38 - Apr 9 I'd rather see him given a run out after we've reached 40pts, hopefully after this weekend. Our defence found it a steep learning curve to start with and I think MP will get slaughtered if an untried Forren comes in and cocks things up before we hit safety.
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NorwegianSaint added 11:46 - Apr 9 Though I would add my pennies to this thread as I know Forrens game well. We have purchased a diamond! He is a class LEFT sided defender who is very natural on the ball, tackles well, can head it... and WILL score goals! Voted player of the year here and has to be worth a start. He probably will make a nervous start but most defenders do, hoover and fonte were shocking in the first few weeks as was Maya (mistake against Swansea) but give him a go MoPo!! He will be our best defender for years to come. Norwegian Saint

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ThermosNBlanket added 12:27 - Apr 9 So we keep a clean sheet...limit Chelsea and Liverpool to 1 goal and you want the defence changed...can see why you run a website and not a Prem manager :-)
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bstokesaint added 12:32 - Apr 9 As with NorwegianSaint above I've only heard good things about Forren from various sources. I suppose it's possible we heard the same and seized the opportunity to purchase him before anyone else but have been scared to change the dynamic of the current team. It's hard bedding in a new player when you're under pressure. I think if we hit 40 points we might get to see him. It took Billy Sharp a couple of months to become a first team regular, but once he was in he stayed there. That might have been because of an injury to Tadanari, but he made the place his own. Come to think of it where is Lee..? He was a great attacking option off the bench.

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Scummer added 13:33 - Apr 9 Lee is at FC Tokyo on loan. I read a couple of articles and it looks as if he will look for a permanent move. I noticed Jack Cork slash at the ball a couple of times, which is a little out of character for him as he normally looks so controlled. I do feel sorry for Jos; he must have thought that yet another team mate was going to crack the ball into the goal off him for own goal number four.... PS. I agree with St Beano. Get to 40 points first and then try Forren out. PPS. And Jos has to be on the team sheet for Saturday to help negate the aerial threat that West Ham carry. Boxhead has been awesome in the air at times this season.

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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 13:59 - Apr 9 West Ham isn't the game to throw Forren in. We need Jos to compete in the air with Andy Carroll. The following game away to Swansea could be a good one for Forren to start as Swansea look to play football. Listen to NorweigenSaint; Forren will be quality for us. Liverpool were close to signing him as a replacement for Skertel. There just hasn't been an ideal time to try and bed him in yet. Yosh and Hooi have been better recently and do have an understanding. Poche seems to be happy with that at the moment. If Forren doesn't start in the next few weeks though then I'd be surprised. You would've thought Pochettino would prefer a ball playing centre back, who's probably a much better defender than those currently playing.

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richardmdcooper added 15:29 - Apr 9 I don't like the commitee approach to signings. Mayuka and forren as well as gaston perhaps are prime examples of it not working. Conversely, I got the impression that S Davis, Cline and J-Rod were NA's men (I may be wrong here though). Hopefully, they'll have more trust in Poch to bring in the players he wants.
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thegeneral added 17:06 - Apr 9 I reckon the prize money gap between 10th and 17th could be an 8 figure sum, enough to buy a very good CB at least. So perhaps its better to keep playing a winning team despite the defensive frailties and look to next season for a Forren start alongside hopefully a european if not world class CB. The way the team is playing and with so many good young players we won't need to bring many in in the summer. 1 or 2 CB's and a bit of bench strengthening, the more important and telling thing will be that we keep our young talent and prove we are no longer a selling club and if we're not SFC will become top 5 within 2 seasons

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stmichael added 19:26 - Apr 9 First of all we could not have the record we have over a period of 20 odd games if fonte hoovield and yosh were a problem position. They are not a problem and they have proved that over a period of time. No reason whatsoever to make any change. Secondly like gaston we may have to wait for forren. It's an absolute credit to the team that 2 major signings can barely get in or side. Certainly nothing for any of us to be concerned about.

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LennyJam added 20:47 - Apr 9 in answer to the question - NO
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SaintDavo added 22:41 - Apr 9 Utter nonsense. why 'throw him in' ????? are you stupid enough to assume we are safe ??? as a previos post said, if forren came in and made a few mistakes he would be slaughtered and the manager would be as well for changing a winning side. yes the defence looked dodgy at the start, but it has improved as has the whole team. i for one was not overly impressed with JRod but he is performing well now to be fair to him. Forren will wait his turn and i am sure he will get a chance to shine, even if it is in pre season/next season...lets not get cocky and throw away all the hard work just to please a few sideline commentators who really know little about football management.

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Scrooge added 04:06 - Apr 10 My boss in Norwegian, and apart from being a Liverpool supporter he does know his stuff. His comments were very similar to NorwegianSaint's above.
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SaintNick added 08:47 - Apr 10 Sometimes I think people only read headlines rather than articles, much as some seem to read only league tables rather than whats behind them, yes we kept a clean sheet on Saturday and yes we limited Chelsea & Liverpool to a goal a piece, on paper that looks good, but those who were at the game know different, both goals mentioned were sloppy and lapses in concentration and at Reading we could have been 2-0 even 3-0 down before we scored due to sloppy defending, two free headers from close range, a shot blazed over from close range and nearly a penalty conceded due to a sloppy challenge. Strange how people talk about moving to the next level, but cant see the need to do it on the pitch, some of our defenders have improved, but have they improved up to the next level, sadly I don't think so

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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 11:23 - Apr 10 Sadly Hooiveld, Fonte and maybe even Yoshida aren't good enough centre backs for a top 8 team. Next season this is what the club will be aiming for so I expect them to invest heavily in this position in the summer. Fonte might be sold to a Championship team; maybe Adkins will come in for him. I agree with 'thegeneral' that we don't need to bring in many players in the summer. Poche prides himself on developing youngsters so I don't think he will replace the likes of Cork, Lallana, J-Rod, Ward-Prowse etc. He will continue with these potentially great players. I expect Guly will go back to Brazil in the summer, as he said in an interview a few months ago that he would like to finish his career there. Lots of fringe players are out of contract and will be let go, but most will prob be replaced by our youngsters graduating from the youth teams. The key thing for the summer will be to hold on to our best players. We certainly don't need the transfer money so its all about not letting our players get thier head turned by the big club and big money offers.

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bstokesaint added 12:30 - Apr 10 For all of his faults Nick I take exception to Jos' "sloppy challenge". How can a challenge be sloppy if it's legitimate and saved a likely goal? Risky maybe yes, but sloppy no. Zamora, now that was a sloppy challenge. There seems to be something of negative campaign about our centre backs, but you can't argue with the fact that we have improved defensively, looking at goals conceded anyway. I'm not saying Fonte or Jos are shoe-in's for this future team as it improves, and indeed I feel we need to strengthen here (or use Forren). What I am saying is it doesn't hurt to give a little credit where it's due. Fonte was improving and growing into the role with Yoshida before he got injured and Jos has been better since his second stint in the first team, after the turbulent time he had initially. I think some fans need to look at the bigger picture and understand that after playing a season in League 1, and the next in the Championship it takes a little while to adapt to playing the likes of Tevez, Aguero and Van Persie in the Premiership and form a decent partnership.

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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 14:59 - Apr 10 Credit to Hooiveld, Yoshida and Fonte for putting in 100%, not giving up and improving over the season. Without that improvement we'd be in the bottom 3 right now. But they are not the guys to help us on to the next level. In every other position we have very capable players with great potential. We don't have that at centre back.
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thegeneral added 22:04 - Apr 10 Cork and Spiderman contribute massively to our defence and offer protection to our centre backs, cork especially made a huge impact when he regained fitness and our CB's are flattered by their presence. Its not just us though, Arsenal, Liverpool, Sunderland among others have poor CB's, there does seem to be a lack of decent CB's around at the moment so Forren might just be a very astute buy, he has been endorsed by Hangeland an excellent defender in my view and our own Claus L. Timing has to be right which by all accounts is pre-season 13/14.

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