One thing Saints have badly missed in the opening weeks of the season is the pace of Ryan Bertrand.

This is not an article intending in any way to criticise the performance of Matt Targett as he has strove to deputise for Ryan Bertrand, there are some Saints supporters who have got on Targett's back a little but I am not one of them.

On the contary I feel that Targett has done a decent job at a difficult time and it's unfair to criticise him for the failings of the back four so far this season, after all not only is he only 19, but prior to this season he had only started 3 Premier League games and one of those had seen him stretchered off after barely 25 minutes in the victory at QPR last season.

His experience was limited and I think some failed to realise that and cut him some slack, they also failed to realise that he is a different type of full back to Bertrand, whereas the former Chelsea man uses his pace to maraud up the line, Targett is a more traditional style of full back who uses the ball and uses it wisely in the main, yes he has had his oments, but that can be put down to age and inexperience and if we are not careful the boo boys in our crowd could ruin a player with a lot of potential.

But having said this what Saints have missed has been pace from both full backs both in an attacking sense as well as defensively, this pace got us out of trouble a lot last season, but suddenly this we found ourselves without it on either flank.

This was exposed both at Newcastle on the second goal and the first against Everton, both were almost identical and you have the feeling that the pace of Bertrand would have prevented both.

So the sooner that he is fit the better, I think that in the last two League games the defence has regained its composure as shown in two clean sheets, but it does lack pace, the introduction of Virgil Van Dyke will help, certainly he will hopefully be faster than Yoshida and indeed Fonte, but it will be the return of Bertrand that will offer real flare t the team not just in attack but in getting us out of trouble at the back.

It would be nice to get an update from the club as to when he is expected to return, so far we only have the original guesstimate back in July that he would miss the opening weeks of the season, by the time we play again at West Brom the season will be a month old, it would b nice to see a sign that a return is at least on the cards by then.

Photo: Action Images

darkangelv2 added 12:42 - Sep 3 Absolutely agree - I think this is one of the reasons Yoshi has had a particularly tough time of it this season. When thinking of it, the player next to Fonte has been unsettled in every direction - he had the cover in front of Schneiderlin, Clyne to his right, Forster behind and Toby (for the most part) to his left - with Bertrand beyond. He's started this season with an alternative in every one of those positions. It's certainly no wonder it's taking some time to settle.

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NYC_Saint added 13:04 - Sep 3 Didn't Ronald say he was fit for the bench for one of the early Europa games? I assume he's had a reaction to the injury since then...
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halftimeorange added 13:09 - Sep 3 I agree with the sentiment regarding Bertrand but Cedric isn't slow. He constantly raced beyond Mane last weekend and that partnership has the potential to prove deadly to any flatfooted opponents.
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Pulse added 13:17 - Sep 3 Ron mentioned that he expected I'm back after the international break.
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Sanguin added 13:26 - Sep 3 I agree with the article and with darkangelv2’s comments. I think Targett has done well since he’s come in and will develop into a great player. You could see our attacking players getting frustrated with him in the Everton game but he was struggling to deal with the pace and strength of their attacking players which meant he was playing more defensively rather than running up the wing. To be fair to him, our tactics were poor that game. I also think we can’t afford to have Yoshida and Targett next to each other, either one of them in the side is fine but together there are too many little mistakes which compound each other and lead to goals. With van Dijk and Bertrand, I’m a lot more confident that we secure another top ten finish.

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TimSaint added 14:58 - Sep 3 Wasn't it Targett's misplaced pass that set up the Newcastle counter-attack for their second goal, that exposed his lack of pace ? Last season, his performances in the cup away to Arsenal and Stoke in particular, set such a high expectation level for the lad, which so far have not yet been emulated this season. It is clear he needs many more games to learn and develop, but some were even questioning whether we needed to buy Bertrand last season, as we already had a ready made replacement for Luke Shaw. He will be fine in time though. My daughter used to like him, but doesn't any more !! This is because whenever we wait behind after the game to get her some autographs / photos, Targett never stops to sign/pose for anyone !! (Matt if you read this - 20 mins of your time would make such a difference to so many) !!

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SaintBrock added 16:48 - Sep 3 It isn't pace on the wings we've been missing it has been the abject failure of our midfield trio to impose any sort of control on games and feed good balls to your front runners. If the midfield is away on holiday then our football is bound to be end to end free for all stuff, leaving us wide open to attacks and counter-attacks straight onto our back four. Of course Matt has suffered because he has had no protection at all from midfield so invariably is in one on two situation as the op forwards stream forwards in waves. He has been so pre-occupied fighting a rear guard action how the heck is he supposed to get forward? Same applies to Cedric. As we saw on Saturday when the midfield show up and do their job the wing backs have a field day.

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BUCK added 22:04 - Sep 3 Ryan is due back around the 12th. He should be fit for West brom
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BUCK added 22:06 - Sep 3 Forster, Bertrand, fonte,van dijk,soares.wanyama,clasie,mane,tadic,pelle and Jay rod. Now that will be a team to beat
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