Claude Puel has denied that he has a rift with Captain Jose Fonte after the pair were apparently seen in animated discussion on the pitch ahead of the game against Bournemouth on Sunday.
Saints manager Claude Puel has said that Jose Fonte understood the reasons why he was left out against Bournemouth on Sunday although those that saw what appeared to have been an animated conversation between the pair as the teams warmed up on the pitch before the game might suggest otherwise.
Puel said after the game.
"Always it’s important to keep a good energy and lucidity in every game. It’s not possible for me for 11 players to play all the games.
"Since the beginning of the season we played 26 official games and more for the international players like Jose.
"It’s not possible to keep a good level every three days and I think we are lucky to have quality on the squad with Maya, you can see, van Dijk and Jose and Stephens, an international player with the under-21s.
"It is important to develop the team and maintain quality with good fit and good spirit for the future because we need all the players.”
"Of course all the players want to play every game and Jose as captain, but it’s important he is 33 and he is strong physically without injury and it’s important he keeps this quality every game.
"Every three days is not possible.”
"I think when I saw him after the game he was very happy for the team, for the club and for him,” reflected Puel.
"It was a strong game and it’s not just the players in the ground who win this game but all the squad because all the players can have regularity and a good result.”
Whilst Puel's logic makes some sense, I found that most Saints fans I spoke to before the game where puzzled by the manager's selection, most agree that the Fonte/VVD pairing is the best the club have in centre of defence and that as good a servant as Yoshida is, he has never really hit the levels that Fonte has either in terms of quality and consistency.
Yes there has been three hard games this week but with a ten day break looming Fonte had plenty of time to rest after this one and after the Europa League exit manager needs to score more goals and win games and that means playing the best side to achieve that.
The need to play Fonte was even more evident with the loss of Oriol Romeu through suspension and the choice to leave Steven Davis on the bench.
Whilst the manager will always be judged on results and in this case he got a win so could be judged to have made the right call, there won't be many Saints supporters who will totally agree, certainly the defence struggled in the first 20 minutes and could have conceded two eve three before the equaliser with the central midfield providing little cover, however at half time the introduction of Davis turned the game and helped protect the back four.
There is something going on between Fonte and the club, most Saints fans would agree with that given that they have no other evidence than the fact that Fonte was benched for a very important game.
There is a fine line when it comes to squad rotation and the European campaign showed that Puel got that fine line wrong in the Europa League, he now needs to get it right in the Premier League, sides with big squads packed with quality can rotate, Saints not so much so and in difficult games in difficult times we want to see our strongest side played, it wasn't on Sunday, luckily Bournemouth are not a good side and couldn't punish us, but as results at Palace and Hull showed that is not always the case.
We now have a ten day rest, time for Fonte, Saints and indeed Puel to sort out their differences so we can concentrate on the visit of Tottenham Hotspur