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Is Clause Puel Right To Be Satisfied With The Depth Of The Saints Squad ?

Claude Puel has spoken that he is happy with the depth of the Saints squad after the closure of the transfer window, but is he right to be so optimistic ?

Speaking on the club's official media channels Claude Puel has spoken about the depth of his squad.

"I think now we have a good squad to play every three days and to build a good collective together,”

"It's exciting, with the Europa League coming. It's important now to think for the game against Arsenal, which is for important for us, and then after it is the Europa League, which is exciting.

"It's important to keep good emotion and good values in every game — the Europa League and also Premier League. It's important to be consistent and to give a good performance every time.

"It's interesting for the squad to learn to play every three days. It is the first time for many players of the squad, and it will be important to keep a good personality, good quality and to be consistent every time. The squad and the players must learn to play every three days, which is not easy.”

Now of course he would say that, it's his job to do so and every manager has to try and instill confidence in their squad, even if deep down they suspect that they are falling short in some departments, well everyone except David Moyes !

But the big question is is he right ?

In the goalkeeping department, he is undoubtedly right, in Fraser Forster he has the best English keeper in the Premier League and Alex McCarthy is an able back up with the third choice Stuart Taylor probably a better third option than most have at that stage of the pecking order.

But it is in defence that we are lacking true quality depth, the first choice back four of Cedric, Fonte, Van Dijk & Bertrand is very strong and I would add to that Matt Targett who has shown so far this season that he is maturing with every game he plays in, but after those five it is rather short on quality proven options.

Ar right back we looked set with Jeremy Pied who looked a player, but he if he is lucky might be fit for the final few weeks of the season, then we have Cuco Martina who although it could be said was adequate in the final weeks of last season, showed a positional sense that could easily have cost us a lot more than it did, the way he was exposed at home to Liverpool was evidence of that.

The only other options would be either playing Yoshida or the untried but highly rated Yann Valery, the young Frenchman who will turn 18 in February might just be the best option.

In the centre of defence we are woefully short of cover, Yoshida is the best option here, but he has shown time and time again that although he can play well for 88 minutes of a game, he usually always has one horrendous error in him and if we want to succeed then he is not the man.

Cuco Martina can also play here, but after that it's Jack Stephens who has yet to show that he will make the breakthrough at this level.

Finally there is Florin Gardos, he seems to have disappeared with another injury and no real news of how long he will be out, however he has now not played in something like 19 months so cannot be relied on.

That is the bad news out of the way, in midfield we have a plethora of options and not only that but most of those options can adapt to several positions, for the central trio we have Davis, JWP, Hojbjerg, Clasie, Romeu & Reed that gives us some great options, perhaps we are lacking the sheer brute physical presence that Wanyama gave, but we are better served with skill and mobility and all of these six are able to adapt.

For wide options we are again blessed, Tadic and Boufal can play wide as can Nathan Redmond, the former two can also play as a number 10 with Redmond also able to play up front.

Likewise Jay Rodriguez and Shane Long can also play out wide or as central strikers, indeed Charlie Austin is just about the only player who you can pigeonhole into one position.

So when so many were demanding that we sign a striker in the window, I was not as bothered as some, of course I would like to see a squad with stronger options, but I think the reality is that the players we have got are more than adequate and the new signings have the potential to be better than those two that left, you also have to remember that Charlie Austin was signed as Pelle's replacement, so Saints forward thinking has got some of the fans on the club's back, if Austin had not been signed last January but on deadline day now, the perspective of the fans might be quite different.

Saints have two players in Austin and Rodriguez that have scored over 15 goals in a Premier League season, add Shane Long and that is over 40 goals a season in total, add Tadic's 7 and the fact that Nathan Redmond scored 6 for Norwich in a side that was failing and things are not as gloomy as some would have you believe and then there is Sofiane Boufal.

The only issue I can see is the fitness of Austin and Rodriguez, if they are fit then there is no problem, but the real issue is playing them in the system, I would contend that between them they can adapt, players are not built for systems they are built to play football and it is rare that a player plays through his career for several clubs that all play exactly the same way and system.

Then there are the youngsters who could make the breakthrough, Jake Hesketh looked good a couple of years ago when he made a fleeting appearance and could be ready to start to push for a breakthrough, as could the aforementioned Valery, likewise Sam McQueen showed that his future might lie at left back, but of course he has two good players in the queue in front of him there.

Up front though Saints will be hopeful that Ryan Seager might push for a place and Olufela Olamola is touted as the next big thing.

It is hard to see these five becoming regulars, but with so many games in the pipeline they could be useful in the cup competitions.

So overall I think that Claude Puel is right to be optimistic, of course we would all like to have seen another player or two coming in, but the reality is that the only position we really desperately needed a quality acquisition was in the centre of defence, that is my one worry.

Quality and quantity wise, central defence aside we have in the main at least two players able to play each position and that is good to have.

The issues are not of squad quality, but of adapting to a new system of play, as I have said players can adapt, but it does take time and the Euro championships meant Claude Puel had little time to actually bed in the system with his first choice players.

But the three games so far did not see a Saints side in disarray, it saw a side who could keep possession, but lacked that cutting edge, indeed we have apparently only been beaten in the shots total y Liverpool in the opening three games, the issue is not one of making chances but of taking those chances, the forwards have not yet got their shooting boots on, but when they do it could change a few peoples minds about this system.

It is all about perception, two years ago people perceived Ronald Koeman to be the right man as they had heard of him, they perceive Claude Puel to be a potential disaster because they haven't heard of him, despite the fact that in terms of experience and doing the type of job that Saints want, Puel is perhaps a better fit than Koeman who had tended to manage at bigger clubs rather than the poorer ones.

The fans perceive Puel to have got off to a bad start, despite the fact it is no worse than Koeman's opening two seasons and better than Pochetino's first games in charge after succeeding Nigel Adkins.

So all Claude Puel can ask of the supporters is to give him a little time, it is not beneficial to anybody to get on his back after only three games, supporters can inspire a team to great things, Saints fans did that at the end of both of the last two seasons, but they can also drag a team down and hinder it's progress.

We do not want to do the latter, surely we all want our team to succeed and have another great season, that may not neccessarily mean e finish sixth again, but that would have been a hard ask even if Koeman stayed, perhaps he knew that and wanted to get out whilst his stock was high, but success will be another top ten finish and that should be our aim along with a good tilt at one of the cups.



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