When Matt Targett slid in on Callum McManaman at the Hawthorns on Saturday Saints fans held their breath, the referee turned down the West Brom appeals and later replays showed he was spot on.

It seems that some Saints fans need to show the same honesty that Tony Pulis showed on Saturday when after watching replays of the tackle by Matt Targett on Callum McManaman, he thought that it was a dive and admitted that he would be having words with his player on Monday.

Although the penalty was turned down some Saints supporters seemed to be almost disappointed, Im sorry to say this but there are those out there who want certain players and Targett now seems to be one of them, to fail.

For those supporters nothing Matt Targett does will be good enough, they make no allowances for the fact that he is young and inexperienced and doing a job when there is no one else to do it, but look for every opportunity to slag him off and some are very verbal.

One of those sat near me did not seem relieved that a penalty was not awarded when McManaman went down, but almost ecstatic that it was evidence that Targett was not up to the job.

This is a worrying tendency that seems to be creeping into football these days, perhaps its my pet hate but I am not making it up as those at West Brom will testify.

It turns out that Targett's tackle was clean, it was a good challenge that prevented a goalscoring opportunity, if it had been Ryan Bertrand making it then those same people would have been screaming dive, yet because it is Targett it was a different matter.

Matt Targett may be asking himself what he has done to justify this level of hatred from this sizeable minority, all he has done this season has been the only left back in the club to replace the injured Ryan Bertrand, he it could be said after some of the abuse might well have been more justified than Wanyama if he had turned round to Ronald Koeman and said he could not play because his head was not in the right place etc.

But he didnt ! he has not hidden, he tries to do the right things and is not afraid to to that when it would be easier just to slam the ball forward.

Those that seem to hate Targett will tell me that he is not good enough, well the fact, the undisputed fact is that he was a better player than Wanyama in Denmark and against Norwich City, he was a better player because he was there and wanting to play, now I don't want to make this a thing against Wanyama, but at this moment Im more inclined to applaud Targett for his efforts than sing a song about Wanyama being the mighty Kenyan.

So fair play to Tony Pulis for his honesty and now lets see some honesty in Saints fans and see them get behind honest players tring to do their best for the club.

Photo: Action Images

1970 added 12:15 - Sep 13 Agree with you on this one, people don't realise just how good target is, he is young and makes mistakes but he learns from them, and the school boy errors that plague so many defenders even our own Yoshida such as ball watching and playing people on-side that doesn't exist in Targetts game he is quite simply young and a little naïve, can these same people remember Dan Harding or Fox, well these players weren't young and naïve but now where near as good as Targett, he has had to play every game because ultimately Shaw ran off a season too early and even he get done by the high ball and his fitness, so just have a look around at some other teams and you will realise Targett deserves his place coyr.

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Jasper added 15:12 - Sep 13 I know exactly who you are talking about, they are not really Saints fans but gobby individuals who go to football matches because it gives them the opportunity to be gobby, they are commonly known as "Mummies boys".
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sussexsaint added 17:55 - Sep 13 Target is a good defender and will only get better he really needs to improve his crossing to help the team going forward.
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SaintBrock added 18:20 - Sep 13 Pulis couldn't see it from where he was standing. On telly it was as obvious as daylight, we got away with it but the Ref will be in big trouble tomorrow no doubt and soon due for another relegation to the SBC.
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BUCK added 21:04 - Sep 13 Matt targett is still a kid. And I for one thinks he's doing a fab job. There are a lot of saints so called supporters that really don't know the game of today.we can do without these fools
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SingaporeSaint added 01:54 - Sep 14 Nothing against Targett who is a Southampton kid and doing his best until Bertrand returns. That for me was a clear pen though and am surprised with Pulis - targett lunged in across mcmanaman's path and didn't get the ball. Mcmanaman 'dived' over him - if he didn't he would have been taken out. He clearly 'impeded' the player. We got very lucky indeed....
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Jesus_02 added 10:11 - Sep 14 Ok, Firstly I want to make it clear that I don’t want Target to fail, that would be absurd. However I cannot agree that it was a good tackle, I didn’t travel but having watched it on MOTD a couple of times I’m not I’m not sure he touched the ball at all. The lad clearly dived before Target could touch him but if he stayed on his feet there would have been contact and it would have been a pen. That said, one of the highlights this season so far has been Target’s progress. He was woeful to begin with but is getting better all the time. But then w eneed to realise that the entire back four was unsettled. Maybe with VVD in as cover we will see him progress even more.

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SaintJez added 14:20 - Sep 14 I like Targett and am saddened he's being singled out for abuse. He's a young, talented, local lad deputising for an experienced international who's currently injured. He's exactly the kind of player we need as an understudy. Ofcourse he'll make a few mistakes and, yes, he needs to work on his crossing but get off his back people and support one of our own!! That said, for me, it was a penalty all day long and am astonished at Pulis' public calling out of his own player for a dive..

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SaintNick added 15:20 - Sep 14 Im surprised at how many people are using the penalty appeal as a stick to beat him with, yes it was a rash challenge, but we have seen far rasher from more experienced players, last season we go away with about half a dozen bolted on penalties, the biggest culprit was jose Fonte and he was player of the season
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steve73 added 15:24 - Sep 14 I was gobsmacked by the Pulis interview; was convinced he was going to have a right go at the ref but he seemed genuinely annoyed with his own player, probably because if he'd carried on running rather than throw himself over the top then they'd definitely have got the pen. Lucky escape for us after a bit of a desperate lunge from Targett.
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