Ross Stewart Could Feature Against Crystal Palace Monday, 31st Mar 2025 12:31 He has not played much since arriving at Southampton from Sunderland in August 2023 and most people would not recognise him if he bumped into them in West Quay, but he could be about to launch return from injury number 4 or is it 5. Most Saints fans would struggle to pick Ross Stewart out in a police identity parade, he has made just 1 start for the club plus another 8 off the bench, either in the League, Carabao Cup or Play offs. But out of those 9 appearances in a Saints shirt, totalling just 184 minutes in a Saints shirt, a smidgeon over 2 full games, he has only played at St Mary's on 3 occasions and indeed in his latest spell out injured he has not played for the first team since 5th October, almost 6 months ago. So out of the picture has he been, Ivan Juric recently admitted that he had not yet even spoken to the Scottish striker, let alone seen him play, as up until the last week, Stewart had not so much as trained with the first team.
This in itself tells you something about Juric's style of management and why so many of the squad are seemingly disenfranchised with it, I cannot think of another instance of a first team manager not even talking to a member of his squad, even if he was injured, a good man manager, something that Juric does not seem to be, would have taken time out to have a chat with an injured player and boost his spirits etc, but Juric does not seem to have done this even though Stewart would have been at Staplewood on a daily basis since the Croatian's arrival as manager. However his recovery has stepped up a notch and The Daily Echo has reported that Stewart has been back in first team training and could feature against Crystal Palace on Wednesday evening. But they seem to case this view purely on that Stewart featured in 6 of the 30 photos on the club website of the team in training, as well as the fact that Juric is apparently going to give an update on the striker in Tuesday's pre match press conference. Given that Steward has featured just once for the U21 side, that being against his old club Sunderland in Premier League 2 on 21st February, where he completed the first 45 minutes before being withdrawn in a precautionary move, understandable given his previous 5 months out. But in the two U21 games played since Stewart didn't feature and the suggestion was that the medical staff had noticed a slight reaction to his return to the pitch and, while no re-occurrence of the injury was suffered, they took the sensible approach and opted to scale back his return.
So from this perspective it seems strange that he didn't get some sort of game time in the U21 fixture against Middlesbrough, that coming 3 weeks after his game against Sunderland. Perhaps Ross Stewart will have his time in the spotlight as a Southampton player, but it does seem folly to throw him into the Premier League now after just half a game 6 weeks ago for the U21 side and a few days back in full training with the first team. But that is how Juric seems to work, players are in and out of the side for no apparent reason and now it seems that he will gamble with his fitness, although from what I have seen in the last few months I would think he might ease him into the side at full back. I truly hope it goes well for Ross Stewart, whatever people may think of him, it is not his fault that he is picking up different injuries, I am sure he would rather be playing. All Photos Via Reuters Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
You need to login in order to post your comments |
   Blogs 31 bloggersLeeds United Polls[ Vote here ] |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.We in turn value your personal details in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
