The big talking point ahead of kick off against Huddersfield Town was the absence of Virgil Van Dijk, the Dutchman not even being on the bench.

Mauricio Pellegrino was very elusive about why he had not even picked Virgil Van Dijk for the bench for what was a vital must win game not only in terms of Saints league position but the manager's own future with the club.

This suggested that all is not well in the Saints dressing room and that the problem is Van Dijk.

Speaking after the game Pellegrino refused to confirm the exact reasons.

“I decide it is the best for this moment.

“This is the reason.

“I am responsible to pick the 11 players and I try to pick the best for the team."

“I think around him will be a lot of speculation and we have to wait what happens.”

When asked whether Saints fans have seen the last of van Dijk, Pellegrino replied:

“I don’t know.

“We have to wait but I will repeat there will be a lot of speculation around him.”

Pellegrino was then questioned as to if the speculation was the real reason behind his decision to leave out van Dijk, and said:

“I don’t have nothing to say about that. I choose the players because I think it’s the best for today.”

The last words perhaps tell most, clearly Pellegrino has a problem with Van Dijk although whether that is a direct issue or only that he feels that the Dutchman's attitude is not right and his commitment is not there is unclear.

Saints fans rightly feel agrieved at Van Dijk, although he might be upset that he ws not alllowed to join Liverpool back in the summer, he is a professional and should honour his contract and earn his not insubstantial salary rather than sulk and in doing so endanger his current club's Premier League position.

So it looks like Van Dijk has played his last for the club, it looks like he is going to continue along the lines that he appalingly did back in the summer and try to force a move from St Mary's by his behaviour.

Certainly his attitude and commitment has not been there of late and from that viewpoint Saints fans will be glad to see the back of him.

However it does show the supporters that in this day and age trying to force a player to stay once his head has been turned by another club is very difficult, Saints have sold more players than most clubs in the past 4 years, but that has been the secret of their success, the ability to make money an reinvest and repeat the process, that has been something many supporters have been unhappy to realise, perhaps one thing that can be learned from this sorry saga when it is over, is that Saints are quite capable of standing firm to players demands, but that may not always be the right course of action.

Photo: Action Images

brownk added 10:18 - Dec 24 Shouldn't have picked him so quickly after the summer and stuck with Stephens. He has no class whatsoever as a professional footballer and shames his profession. I suspect that when he leaves he won't achieve as much as he thinks as he is grossly overrated. Get the money and reinvest, but don't sell to LFC couldn't stand the scousers gloating!
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saintjf added 10:32 - Dec 24 He should be played until he goes. He is the best defender in the squad. Neither Stephens who is certainly better than he was or Yoshida are in the same class. MP problems seem so much more than just Van Dijk. We are just looking for one person to blame for some deep seated problems at the club.
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AirFlorida added 10:49 - Dec 24 For me it's not a discussion on individuals. He's proved beyond doubt that he is unable to shape and inspire a team. We're defeated before we even start using a formation and tactics which physiologically sets the players up with a 'here we go again' frame of mind.
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AmericanSaint added 11:01 - Dec 24 There is obviously something happening in the background. I think there are issues that the club are trying to hide. Besides his absence, VVD has not been looking that good. My biggest issues is that MP has made some horrible choices on the team selection. Yesterday, why are Oriel and Boufal on the bench? Davis should not be starting. Same with JWP. What the hell is going on in the backroom right now.

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DPeps added 11:15 - Dec 24 I’d assume that a deal has been struck and his new club has demanded that VVD doesn’t play for us again to prevent injuries etc
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saintpp added 11:33 - Dec 24 Those comments that he doesnt care based on his laid back style which was considered an attribute previously are bit skewed. Id have him even at 75% over Yoshi whos errors cost us games,outjumped v arsenal,gave the foul away needlessly v chelsea . i didnt see the game yesterday but someone was outjumped in the box and it wasnt VVD. Seems to me to be another example of Mps incompetence with players that he didnt feature,playing your best players in the right positions isnt too hard to do. The fact he wasnt even on the bench suggests to me there has been a falling out between them.Or there is a plan to sell him in place so not risking him if so lets hope it is to man city.and surely he would prefer to go to a club that wins things than liverpool. Selling him doesnt free up so much money as we need to replace him or have only yoshi jack and hoedt to chose from. More concerning is Austins hamstring which could be a month out leaving with only Gabbi so money from any sale of VVd would be available,but i wouldnt sell him unless there is major problem with him. He maybe thinks like the rest of us that Mp doesnt know what hes doing and hes wasting his time with saints under this guy.

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SanMarco added 13:43 - Dec 24 We don't know what is going on (didn't the club commit to transparency a while back?) and the article + all of our comments can only be speculation. I believe we were right to keep him and back in August I was saying that that had to mean a year and not just January. But things have changed - we are looking pretty woeful at the moment and could enter the new year in the bottom three. Added to that the new owner borrowed heavily to buy the club so we may need to sell VVD simply to have any funds for the key surgery that needs to be done to our unbalanced, confused and demoralised squad. If we don't want a relegation scap we need to sell several players in January and buy better and/or more suitable ones - that will mean we need the VVD money. It's not good, in fact it's a shambles, but that is where we are NOW. Only 4 winnable home games left and only 19 pts on the board....

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SaintBrock added 16:36 - Dec 24 Since we fans are told nothing at all these days there really isn't any point in speculating any longer about anything at all that goes on at this club. To be perfectly honest I am well past caring what goes on behind the scenes, in the dressing room or anywhere else in SFC for that matter. What does matter to me is that we play decent football, are competitive and that given a fair wind we stand a reasonable chance of getting a good result from every match that we start. Within these conditions I can take the usual ups and downs of a match and a season in my stride. By and large throughout my now long supporting career these conditions have been met but during the last couple of years changes have taking place at the club that are beginning to alienate me from it in a way that has never happened before. Never has it become more apparent that fans have been entirely disenfranchised by rich individual owners who have no historical connection to the club, little interest in its heritage and culture or of its importance to the local communities that support it. The feigned interest of the Liebherr successors has been proven to be exactly what it always was an asset building and stripping exercise. They have long gone with their hoards of cash and now we are owned by an anonymous and invisible Chinese magnate and managed by puppets who have no independent voice or power to bring about change. They don't care a jot about us so why should we care about them. Many of us are clinging on to our memoirs of better days and hoping and expecting that normal service will be resumed one day soon but probably it won't be and as more realise this unpalatable truth and their voices go unheard so the drift away will happen. It is happening have no doubt maybe only a trickle now but more and more are skipping matches and apathy is setting in. We are not part of the problem and it is pretty clear that we are not being invited to be part of any solution. Our views have no currency and that hurts.

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dovif added 05:39 - Dec 25 As I said back in August. When someone hands in a transfer request and said they want to play in the champions league. It was always going to end badly in today's players world. Question is how many others in the squad actually supports van duck, because they might want the same in the future. Add to the fact that only a blind fool would think that we did not need a lot of help up front and we ended up with the disaster we have ATM and only 3 points clear of relegation. As I said back then. Heads should roll if we are in this position

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Cjay80 added 10:23 - Dec 25 Can't disagree more with comments about unprofessional attitude. Whenever we wait for autographs after a game, VVD is the model professional, posing for photos, talking to the kids. You could see how angry he was on the pitch after the Burnley defeat but he still came and gave his time to the fans afterwards unlike many other players you would expect to.
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underweststand added 18:08 - Dec 25 The bottom line here is that Saints can do more with £70 million in the bank now, than we can trying to hold onto a player who clearly doesn't want to be here. It may be a long time until we have another player who can be valued at that sort of fee, and the way we (historically ) can pick up bargains then..the money can go to better use than it can continuing to pay a player who has Little, or no interest in our future. Clearly MP has been told not to commit to any questions and it will stay that way - until further notice.

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ashley007 added 09:10 - Dec 26 Psychologically Van Dyke left in the summer so we aren't seeing the best of him now on the pitch, but he has still been a very good player to have on the pitch. I believe the board's main reason for stopping him going was to make a point to Liverpool (and Van Dyke) that their arrogant and devious approaches to poaching our players should be addressed. Having kept him and in order not to totally waste our investment and devalue him, he had to be played, but he is now being lined up for sale to Man City in January and that is the best thing for all concerned. The £50-60 million I would hope we get for him will be of greater benefit to the team overall if reinvested, than having him as a player at 75% effectiveness. We all know where the money should be invested, so let's hope MP and Reed can save our season and our PL status by using it wisely; this to me is a critical period for Saints and I will be very interested to see how it plays out...a test for the new owners too about their intentions for the club.

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