Saints are said to be closing in on Mohammed Salisu, but is a 21 year old the answer to our problems in the centre of the defence where we need experience organisation and leadership.

Mohammed Salisu from Real Valladollid in Spain is said to be near to a move to St Mary's, but having only just turned 21 and with only 31 appearances in La Liga to his name, all made in the 2019/20 season, is he or for that matter a number of other central defenders all around the same age and experience truly the solution to our defensive problems.

The Jack Stephens/Jan Bednarek pairing in the centre of our defence is the best we have, but it is way down the pecking order in terms of the best in the Premier League.

The truth is that they do not compliment each other, a good pairing would see one partner being the steel, the player who gets stuck in and wins the ball and the other holding the back line, controlling the defence and talking his fellow defenders through the game.

I feel Bednarek has the qualities to be the stopper, but I am afraid that Jack Stephens does not seem to have the organisational capabilities nor the leadership qualities and cannot seem to read the game.

Time and time again we are caught on the break, Arsenal did it with a hopeful punt down the middle which left us for dead and so did Everton when they scored their goal last week, sides know that we are not organised at the back.

That does not mean that Stephens is a bad player, there is some who believe he is better suited as a holding midfielder, he has many good qualities and I am sure he is a great person, but he is a player caught between two types of central defender, he is neither leader nor stopper and every good defence has that balance, sometimes as in the case of Virgil Van Dijk you have a player with both those qualities.

So another young defender is not the answer to our defensive woes, we need experience, we need leadership and that comes with age, the Saints teams with youth in them saw that flourish because of the old heads around them, Alan Ball and Jimmy Case spring to mind, they talked and they organised and they helped nurture the youngsters, we do not have that in our team.

Last summer we should have brought in someone like Gary Cahill or even Phil Jagielka, they had the age and experience that we needed, they would have helped both Stephens and Bednarek become better players.

Neither have truly had the benefit of a mentor in the back four, Yoshida had the experience, but he himself was not an organiser or a leader, age alone doesn't bring that, indeed he needed quality alongside him.

So although it would be good to see Salisu or another starlet join Saints, if we sign one then we should not forget that we need experience in the centre of defence, Jannik Vestergaard like Yoshida didn't have the qualities needed, he himself would be good alongside a leader, Leicester clearly see that, but he flounders when playing alongside those who are just as at sea as himself.

But if Vestergaard goes we need two new central defenders, Bednarek & Stephens have earned their right to be in the Saints squad, but we have to accept that in the last two years they are not compatible as a pairing, a 21 year old like Salisu might improve our options, but it won't solve the problem of organisation.

Therefore I would like to see two new central defenders in, one a youngster and the other an experienced player, preferably some of that in the Premier League, I suspect that there will be a few currently at other Premier League clubs either out of contract or surplus to requirements.

Supplement Bednarek & Stephens with a young player like Salisu and an old head who can bring them on, not just in matches but on the training ground and we will have the balance right, competition for places and the ability for Ralph Hasenhuttl to change his formation to three at the back when he feels the situation needs it.

When Jimmy Case and Alan Ball arrived or for that matter central defenders like Chris Nicholl they brought balance to the side, we need to get back to that now, most players we seem to chase fall in the promising youngster category, nothing wrong with that, but ask Lawrie McMenemy what the secret to his success was and he will tell you having the right balance of youngsters and old heads to talk them through games.

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SanMarco added 16:17 - Jul 15 In defence of Nick: If you run a site like this and have to write loads and loads on a near daily basis you do need a meta-narrative. Yes he does tend, on occasion, to bend the facts to fit said narrative but then don't we all? He also has a wonderful tendency to be always right but well, again, don't we all? I'm certainly never wrong... The essential thing is that he is right about the defence. Yes, he may go on about Stephens but do those that praise him (Stephens, not Nick) really think that he is good enough? I sympatize with those who say that Stephens sometimes plays well but, to be fair, he ought to nearly always play to a high standard. He is a first choice CB for a side 12th in the EPL. We saw at Manure that the margins for error are very small. Keep him as second choice but we need a better option as first choice CB if we are to move on from this excellent few weeks we have had.

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davepid added 16:23 - Jul 15 Anyone in favour of recalling Yoshida for the final couple of games?
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Number_58 added 16:44 - Jul 15 This is a fascinating new development. Not only is Nick slagging off our current central defenders, he's now having a pop at one we haven't even signed yet. I reckon Nick must cry himself to sleep at night underneath his Wesley Hoedt duvet cover.
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PaleRider added 17:18 - Jul 15 Nick. I respect much of the work you do and I wouldn't claim that we have the best defence in the Premier League but since the Leicester debacle the defence has not been bottom 3 standard by any stretch of the imagination. Neither has the attack taken anything like all of their chances - yet they don't get pilloried every single game regardless of the result. In addition, it is the whole team which defends and the whole team which attacks - the midfield are often at fault for goals we concede and facilitate the goals we score. Please be a little more magnanimous and generous in giving credit where it is due. After the Leicester game I honestly thought the current squad were not worth supporting as they were gutless. I am so pleased to be proven wrong - to a man, they have recovered in a way which I didn't believe would be possible. A couple of genuine questions for you: 1) If not Salisu then who? He looks a good prospect and seems to fit our model' 2) You rightly berate our supporters for their negativity at times but when it comes to our defence you do exactly the same - what is the difference between you and those supporters you criticise?

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mattthelegend added 18:28 - Jul 15 Nick, out of interest you say are defensive partnership is one of the worst in the premier league, I would be interested to see which partnerships you rate above ours?
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ItchenNorth added 18:48 - Jul 15 At the end of the day, any article on this site that dares reference our central defense, sees a ton of responses. That tells me that Nick is either wildly wrong in his assessment or that we all actually know this is one key area of the team that needs strengthening. It's needs strengthening, no question in my opinion.
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underweststand added 19:38 - Jul 15 we seem to return to this topic almost every week, and (sorry Nick) but you can't blame Yoshida for any more mistakes, or claim that Hoedt would solve the problems either. I think it correct to say that the toughest team positions to fill are.. goalies and centre-backs, and these are not roles that can be given to "young players". Looking back over 60 years, the best CB's we had have been hard as nails, and did the job well enough without getting yellow cards every week. Buying in players who are part of a good set-up in Europe only hides their faults when they come face to face with a good Prem. striker. ANY player coming into the Prem. has taken on more than they can ever imagine, and even tall players like Hoedt and Vestergaard found that their stature did little to improve their task, and probably even hampers them somewhat. My take on our situation is that Bednarek is probably good enough to take the last man role, but we need someone who is mobile, and is built like a brick outhouse and capable of tackling without conceding free-kicks every time. I don't discount Jack Stephens efforts and I would use him in MF to replace PEH . Jack can give as a good as he gets, tackles with meaning and looks good going forward , as has made a few good assists AND found the goal on occasions (more than can be said for the other candidates for that role). We are unlikely to finds another VvD so easily and "a more experienced head " with international experience would be a better choice.

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SaintPaulVW added 22:34 - Jul 15 I agree we need a new CB. I agree that someone with experience could be good, however just because a player has experience doesn't mean it will work for us, where are Gary Cahill's Palace in the table again? I don't agree that our current pairing are among the league's worst for several reasons. Because of the high press they are often left with little cover. Our failure to be able to score in recent years made any mistake fatal, every CB makes mistakes. They are both young and CB is a high pressure position.

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theralpholution added 10:25 - Jul 16 The writer gives himself a get out clause by saying we got away with it’ whenever Saints perform well. Whenever we concede it is down to ‘another defensive lapse,’ trying to establish a pattern where there isn’t one. Explanations of lapses by players such as KWP against Utd and McCarthy against Arsenal are grouped together with others and labelled as bad defensive performances with the ultimate aim of building a case against Stephens and any good performance by Stephens is ignored. This can be seen in the Man City report where he claims ‘there was no man of the match’ despite the BBC amongst others giving this to Stephens. As pointed out above, on results since the 9-0 Saints would be sixth, which is evidence that improvement has taken place. I personally think that they will continue to develop as good defence is built on understanding and to have two young centre halves is a a real positive. After a few years where we did indeed need a decent centre half it’s now time to enjoy the football and let this issue rest.

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SaintNick added 10:37 - Jul 16 I wont answer all comments as there are too many and they are all differing in their opinions, I have nothing against Stephens or any Saints player other than what they do on the pitch, if you were all happy with the way the two goals were conceded at Manchester City or the way that Everton and Arsenal just hoofed balls forward and found men completely unmarked then fine our current central pairing are good enough for you, me I try to give an unbiased view, but it ends up making me look like I have something against Jack Stephens, the answer is if we don't keep getting caught out at the back and then i won't be able to write these things

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benalisbroom added 17:03 - Jul 16 "Benalisbroom- When Mark Wright joined he had Chris Nicholl alongside him for his first full season and when Van Dijk signed he had several seasons behind him for Groningen & Celtic so was hardly a youngster, With Wright he was raw but Nicholl talked him through it and talent shone through". Sorry to be pedantic, Nick, but Wright was barely 18 in that first full season, during which he made 30 odd appearances - not all alongside Nicholl. Since Nicholl left that summer, he then spent a season partnering either Ken Worthington or Mark Whitlock who (let's face it) didn't exactly go on to become household names. And we finished second in the league! Since Salisu has 30 appearances to date, he's kind-of at the same point as Wright was in his second season, 'innit? Kevin Bond came in the following year as his partner, but again I don't really think he shot the lights out if my memory serves me correctly. As an aside, IMP the next decent, experienced CB we had was Russell Osman, who signed in 1989.

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