There is no doubt that Gaston Ramirez is extremely talented, but is the way that Saints play suited to that talent.
Gaston Ramirez has played in most of the games since joining the club back in August, out of a possible 20 games he has started 15 and come on as sub in 3, the first of those off the bench being his debut at the Emirates, but although in some games he has been magnificent, in others such as our last two games at Manchester United and Wigan, he has been taken off at half time, indeed he rarely finishes a game that he starts.
So the big question has to be is Ramirez a player that in many respects is a luxury that Saints cannot afford in many games, on Saturday he was inneffective and lets be blunt if there is a selection of away games that he should be able to shine in then Wigan would be one of them.
There almost seems to be no middle ground with Gaston, he is either brilliant or a passenger which suggests that the problem isnt the player himself but the way Saints set themselves up to play against various teams, in the position that he seems to be preferred in ie in the hole behind the lone striker it will always be a case of who the opposition is and indeed where the game is home or away, in some games its not about guile its graft and when you are a play maker, sometimes you dont get many opportunities to make the play, so you have to take them while you can, the Premier league is a squad game and the danger is that sometimes you play players when you really shouldnt.
At home Gaston usually has more time so is able to not only conserve his energy a little but he has more time on the ball to pick his passes, but its not only about picking passes its about hitting a pass that creates a chance, Ramirez is the man we have in the side to do that, but if we are on the back foot you might as well play Steven Davis as he is as good as anyone in getting the ball and moving it out wide quickly, we dont play Gaston to do that though we play him to create.
So Gaston Ramirez is an enigma at Saints and needs to make that jump from being a player that turns it on sporadically to one who contributes week in week out no matter who the opposition, if he doesnt then perhaps the new manager might not consider him to be the automatic choice that he has been so far, playing him at Old Trafford was always going to be a gamble, it didnt pay off and we looked a better side second half with him not in it, that was perhaps understandable, but what wan't was his display at Wigan, where again we looked better balanced after his departure.
I have often stated that for a side in Saints position, ie one that needs to graft to drag themselves clear of relegation that players like Ramirez and Lallana are luxuries and to play them in the same team in most away games and indeed probably home games against teams above 8th in the table is a risk, the last two games have shown that if we are to have one luxury then the man that should be is Adam Lallana on current form.
So for now Gaston Ramirez remains an enigma, a player that we should really have bought at the start of our second season in the premier if we were still there rather than one who not used to English football is put into a team that even now clearly doesnt have quite the right balance, hopefully in the next few weeks we will pull ourselves clear of relegation and then we can start building for next season, one that Ramirez could well come of age in if he is still at the club, but for now we still remain too close to the bottom three for comfort, undoubtably we would be in a better position now if we had spent the money splashed out on our marque player on a defender or two and a genuine winger, having done that and got a balanced side we could have pushed the boat out for the likes of Gaston, but you have to walk before you can run and our transfer policy clearly hasnt reflected that this season.
We will find out in the coming weeks what Mariccio Pochettino's preferences are, will they include starting Gaston Ramirez ?