In the next of our season reviews we take a look at Jack Stephens part in our Great Survival.
A lot of what I wrote in the previous review on Yoshida could also be levelled at Jack Stephens , Stephens is comfortable on the ball and can carry and use it well, but his problem is he just can't seem to keep concentration and read the game at key moments and that costs us goals that see an opponent unmarked when he really shouldn't be.
He put in several good performances but his consistency was never good enough nor was the quality in enough situations I'm afraid.
No one can question Jack's commitment to the cause, it pain's me to have to be scathing about both him and Yoshida, they are both 100 X the man that Virgil Van Dijk is both in terms of their commitment to this football club and as people with moral's and ethics, sadly in football morals and ethics count for nothing and no one would claim they are anywhere near Van Dijk as a player.
Again if Saints are to challenge for a top 10 position in the Premier League and above next season then Jack Stephen's may be a decent back up player, but you would not want him as first choice, we need two central defenders of the calibre of Fonte, Alderweireld, Lovren and dare I say it Van Dijk.
Wesley Hoedt may well be one of them, perhaps even Jan Bednarek however I don't think Jack Stephens will be, again I reiterate it pains me to say it, he is a committed dedicated professional, but that is not enough, good back up perhaps, but in the medium term he is not part of the solution.