Wesley Hoedt has been confirmed as having joined Celta Vigo on loan for the rest of the season, was he as bad as some would make out or is he just the latest scapegoat and has been hounded out.
Wesley Hoedt perhaps didn't justify his fee during his 15 month spell in our first team, but during that time he was a virtual ever present up to the arrival of Ralph Hasenhuttl and in some games showed that he was a class performer.
One thing he wasn't though was a poor performer in a good defence, those around him where no better and In my opinion for most of the time a lot worse.
But Wesley Hoedt is no means the first player to get abuse from a section of the Saints crowd and if he goes on subsequently to enjoy a successful career at the highest level then he won't be the first Saints player either present of past to prove what we would call back in the 1970's "The Boo Boys" wrong.
In the past there would usually be only one who would bear the brunt of the crowd's displeasure, in the past few years it has been many at once.
People look at Ronald Koeman's two seasons as a Golden Period in Saints recent history and the truth is it was but memories are short Pelle was abused in only his second game for the club, his first appearance at St Mary's with the crowd deciding after only 15 minutes that he was rubbish and ironically cheering everytime he won a header.
Likewise Sadio Mane up to his last two months at the club a section of the crowd were on his back and proclaiming him the worst signing the club had ever made, then came the Liverpool game!
The summer of 2016 saw both leave for big fees and soon they were heralded as martyrs, being sold by a selling club virtually against their will.
Since then the scapegoats have come thick and fast, in Claude Puel's season Pierre Emile Hojbjerg was dismissed as an expensive waste of money, as was Nathan Redmond who became scapegoat number 1 to the boo boys despite scoring 7 Premier League goals thus making him top scorer and also the vital goal in the first leg of the semi final against Liverpool, Shane Long was also vilified, Dusan Tadic as well.
Last season all four were joined by James Ward Prowse and Fraser Forster, hounded so much by some that rumours still abound he suffered a nervous breakdown, possibly a Premier league record for scapegoats when you add Sofiane Boufal, Wesley Hoedt Guido Carrillo & Cedric Soares, we were only one short of a full starting XI of scapegoats and that is both shocking and sad, mainly sad. Add Mo Elyounoussi this year and we have a full side and Stuart Armstrong was not exactly flavour of the month to start with so a sub as well all in the past two years. Oh and I forgot Jannik Vestergaard and Matt Targett so less of a team of scapegoats and more of a squad.!
Yes we were playing badly, but most of them did not deserve the vitriol they received, "Ive paid my money i'll say what I want" is the stock excuse of a boo boy, that's fine why not go and watch a pantomime plenty of villains to boo at there (no jokes about pantomimes here please lol) Why not support them and you never know they might just come good.
All of these players mentioned have one thing in common though and that is quality, some like Pelle, Tadic & Mane left and have flourished elsewhere, others like Hojbjerg, Redmond, JWP & Armstrong are starting to flourish here and reaching their true potential under Hasenhuttl, indeed Carrillo is doing well in Spain and Boufal in France to a lesser degree
That just leaves Cedric who has only recently become a scapegoat, Forster whose career here looks to be over and indeed whether he can rebuild the confidence he once had is debateable ,Elyounoussi & Hoedt.
So that beggars the question that if Ralph Hasenhuttl can transform some of those mentioned then could he still do the same for Elyounoussi & Vestergaard and could he have done it for Hoedt.
What we do know is that if Redmond, Hojbjerg & JWP had buckled to the abuse and left for another club after all all three had offers, then Saints would not be anywhere near the side that they are starting to become under Hasenhuttl.
So perhaps its time to lay off the boos and like our new manager concentrate on supporting and building the confidence of those who are at the club, Hasenhuttl believes players thrive on confidence, the crowds support is vital in building that.
I think there is more to the departure of Hoedt than meets the eye his sudden omission from the team came barely a month since a man of the match performance at Bournemouth.
In his 13 league games Saints conceded 24 goals a ratio of 1.84 a game, in the 10 games since his omission we have conceded 16 a ratio of 1.6 per game not much better, but in truth after Hoedt's dropping in the first 7 games after we conceded 14, we actually got worse without him than we were with him, it has only been the last three were we have conceded only 2 goals in 3 games that have improved the stats, that tells you something .
Sadly for whatever reason we won't see the best of Wesley Hoedt, but we can learn a lesson from the way he has left the club, we can learn a lesson from the way that Hojbjerg, Redmond & James Ward Prowse are coming good and if we learn that lesson then perhaps there are those at this club now who will fulfil their potential at St Mary's and not be scared to play.
I for one are sad to see him go, I don't know why he didn't get a chance under Hasenhuttl I can only imagine it to be something not related to his ability given that he didn't get a chance to play a game, I think we may regret his departure and what he might have been at this club. In a good well organised side he might well have reached his full potential.