Today we take a look at a man who has given great service to Southampton Football Club over six seasons.
Maya Yoshida has been a great member of the Saints squad since joining the club in August 2012, no one can fault his effort in that time, no one can doubt his commitment, but the stark truth is that for most of that time he has not been a first choice central defender and for good reason.
In the last 18 months he has been a mainstay of the side and here lies our problem, nothing against Yoshida but he is nowhere near the class of Fonte, Van Dijk, Alderweireld & Lovren all of whom have played alongside him, great back up player yes, first choice central defender no !
His problem has always been lapses in concentration, he can give you 89 minutes where he is solid but then there is that lapse in concentration and a goal is conceded, the Arsenal home game is a good example of that, for 89 minutes Yoshida was tight he dug in and won everything, then in the dying moments of the game he lost concentration let Giroud pull away from him and get a free header and two points were dropped.
Now even the best players make mistakes, but add am Vokes for Burnley and Depoitre of Huddersfield to name but another two examples of similar lapses and free headers presented and that is another 3 points dropped, these are just three examples off the top of my head, good defenders get caught out from time to time, not with regularity.
Add just those 5 points dropped and we would not have been near the relegation zone at any stage of the season, indeed add those 5 points to our total at the turn of the year and we would have been in 10th place on 25 points, 7 clear of the drop zone, instead we were only 2 clear albeit in 13th.
So whilst it is always a team effort and certainly Yoshida was not the only culprit in gifting soft unmarked goals, he was one of the main culprits.
Sometimes it is hard to pinpoint why you drop points at others it is more clear cut and I don't think I have ever seen a season where so many of our opponents have been left unmarked inside our own box.
I have no agenda against Yoshida, but this season is nothing new, two seaons ago under Ronald Koeman he was 4th choice, the fact that he is now seen as an automatic selection highlights just where we have gone wrong and why if there is one error our transfer committee have made it was it's failure to firstly to replace Fonte in January 2017 and then Van Dijk either in the last summer or in January when he went, Ok thats two errors.
Yoshida's wholehearted commitment to this football club mean that many overlook his failings, but look at the goals conceded in those three games I have mentioned on video and tell me I am wrong.
Proof of that is that no other Premier League team have rushed to buy him over the course of his time at the club, on the face of it he would have been ideal for a newly promoted team, especially when he was in the last year of his contract a couple of years ago, but no one came in.
If Saints are to put this season behind them then they need to sort out the centre of defence, sadly I think Yoshida is part of the problem and not part of the solution, I applaud Yoshida for his commitment, but he is has got that fatal flaw in hi, that means he can never be a quality regular starter over a full season.