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The Sun: Yoshida on his way out


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You're entitled to your opinion. He was more than adequate last season when partnered with Fonte. He may not be as good as Lovren, but then only 9 CBs in Europe are apparently, and none of them play in the PL. Unfotunately some people judged Yoshida on the games when he first appeared and especially when he played at RB or LB where is admittedly crap. Play him on the left side of a CB partnership with Fonte and he is good, and a perfectly good backup for Lovren. Jos on the other hand seems to have lost it and we should be trying to bring in a replacement. The other advantage Yoshida has over Jos is that he can play left or right, whereas Jos struggles to play left and cannot play right under any circumstances. Yoshida is perfect backup for our two first choice CBs.

 

He was very poor against Aston Villa.

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Utterly awful in fact, a real shocker to see him play that badly and make such simple mistakes.
It wasn't really a shock, was it? He has been making mistakes ever since he got here, it's just that many mistakes aren't punished and therefore noticed or remembered. He's certainly not the only player that makes mistakes, they all make them, but don't think for one minute that this performance was a one off or unusual, just more obvious.

 

He's a squad player, no more no less. I think of him as very like Chris Perry. Not terribly good despite diving around enthusiastically.

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He was very poor against Aston Villa.

Yes, he was. He was very good against Cardiff though. He was awful a few times last season as well, especially when he played at LB or RB. But was excellent second half of season when he played alongside Fonte. Although he can play both sides, he is much better on the left. He played on the right against Villa. This is the problem we have at the moment, we have 3 left sided CBs and one right-sided. Yoshida won't get much game time because he is effectively backup to Lovren. What we need is to offload Jos and get a replacement or backup for Fonte (although Fonte has been excellent this season and on a few occassions has outclassed Lovren).

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You have to ask yourself truthfully is he really a top premiership defender? Look at all the very best centre halfs and most of them have physical strength qualities. He is too slight and gets bullied/pushed off the ball too easilly. I was astonished coming out of games last year and some people saying he did quite well, yet in the same game he was not attacking he ball in the air, instead allowing the ball to bounce first (usually over his head) or if he did try and take the ball early 9/10 it was headed back to the opposition. But more importantly he just does not look comfortable setting himself before jumping for a high ball. Thankfully I trust Pochs judgement being a centre half himself and thank god this guys chances have been limited this year. It's Lovren who has made the big difference to our defensive record. Putting Yoshida in there instead of Lovren with exactly the same rest of the team and we would struggle. We need another physical, hard composed cb.

Edited by Mouldy Coat
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He's a good squad player but to be blunt the only centre half we have that would get into any other top 10 side is Lovren. Fonte had had a good season but in truth is our weakest defender and we should be looking to improve on him. Yoshida then relegated to 4th choice or moved on. Hopefully Turnbill or Stephens will start to push for the squad soon.

 

People keep saying Hooliveld has lost it. The truth is he never really had it. He is little more than a competent championship centre back and I said as much when we were in that divison. He's a good guy and tries his best but the level we want to get to, indeed are at now is far above his ability.

Edited by Turkish
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He's a good squad player but to be blunt the only centre half we have that would get into any other top 10 side is Lovren. Fonte had had a good season but in truth is our weakest defender and we should be looking to improve on him. Yoshida then relegated to 4th choice or moved on. Hopefully Turnbill or Stephens will start to push for the squad soon.

 

People keep saying Hooliveld has lost it. The truth is he never really had it. He is little more than a competent championship centre back and I said as much when we were in that divison. He's a good guy and tries his best but the level we want to get to, indeed are at now is far above his ability.

 

Totally agree - disappointed we didn't sign Lovren plus another in the summer. Fonte ok as occasional back up the other two not up to it.

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He's a good squad player but to be blunt the only centre half we have that would get into any other top 10 side is Lovren. Fonte had had a good season but in truth is our weakest defender and we should be looking to improve on him. Yoshida then relegated to 4th choice or moved on. Hopefully Turnbill or Stephens will start to push for the squad soon.

 

People keep saying Hooliveld has lost it. The truth is he never really had it. He is little more than a competent championship centre back and I said as much when we were in that divison. He's a good guy and tries his best but the level we want to get to, indeed are at now is far above his ability.

Yep. Yoshida has done a job but I'd consider it a massive stretch to ever say he's been excellent. Certainly not good enough as a regular for top ten Premier League side at centre back, and I'd go as far as to say that we need to be doing better for a stand in than him. As for Hooiveld, he did a brilliant job in the Championship but he's clearly (and unfortunately) out of his depth at Premier League level. The next main priorities are to provide a decent partner at CB for Lovren (I actually think Fonte is a decent stand in) and to strengthen the goalkeeping ranks; whether we can do that in the January sales remains to be seen. Probably not.

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Slightly off topic (sorry) but I just found myself imagining what it might be like to have Astori and Lovren together with Wanyama in front of them! No idea whether we'd be after him or even get him but......here's dreaming!

 

Or Caulker if Cardiff go down. Or Reid if West Ham go down.

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Totally agree - disappointed we didn't sign Lovren plus another in the summer. Fonte ok as occasional back up the other two not up to it.

Lovren and Fonte are a good partnership. Fonte has been better than Lovren defensively several times this season, but Lovren gets all the plaudits. They work together well, complementing each other's styles. It would not be easy to replace Fonte with someone better who works as well with his partner. They are a bit like Claus and Killer, together they are better than the two individuals. But it is right that it is Fonte's side that needs strengthening. I think some people are a bit naive when it comes to squad strength, you will never have 4 CBs in the squad of the same quality, that is why two will always be backup, if two more came in as good or better than Lovren one of them would soon get fed up and leave. Yoshida is OK as backup for Lovren and to a lesser extent Fonte. Hooiveld is just not good enough, but I suspect it will be easier to offload Yoshida than Jos - surprised we haven't offered Jos to Wet Sham, he could do a job for Big Sam and ensure their relegation.

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Watch the replay of the Cardiff game and remind yourself Yoshida is a very good CB. I hope he stays - was excellent in 2012/2013 too.

 

I don't think Cardiff at the time we played them are the standard of opposition we should judge him on. Against Burnley he was adequate at best, but did not look a level above the opposition.

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He's a good squad player but to be blunt the only centre half we have that would get into any other top 10 side is Lovren. Fonte had had a good season but in truth is our weakest defender and we should be looking to improve on him. Yoshida then relegated to 4th choice or moved on. Hopefully Turnbill or Stephens will start to push for the squad soon.

 

People keep saying Hooliveld has lost it. The truth is he never really had it. He is little more than a competent championship centre back and I said as much when we were in that divison. He's a good guy and tries his best but the level we want to get to, indeed are at now is far above his ability.

 

Agree with this.

 

I try to remember its still early days with Lovren but can't help thinking he could be our best ever CB. He seems to be able to mix the traditional solid CB role with swift defending (Des Walker bizarrely came to mind as an example?) But with better ball skills than any I can remember. If he carries on, or even improves and we keep him, suspect will be remembered as our best.

 

 

Fonte, on his form this season could well be good enough for some sides in top ten - but I've been surprised how well he's doing - can he keep it up?

 

Also thought Yoshida would have been higher up within club and have been disappointed in him.

 

Appreciating that not all young players reach their potential and some won't stay but with three years improvement the potential of a side with Clyne, Chambers, Shaw, Lovren, Wanyama, Schneiderlin, Ward-Prowse, Lallana, Rodriguez.

 

So I wouldn't be surprised to see the club sign, within the next couple of windows, someone they see as having potential to be a top 4 standard CB but still not at his peak. Maybe, as CBs mature later someone like Astori but maybe younger.

 

May have similar aim for CF.

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

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He's a good squad player but to be blunt the only centre half we have that would get into any other top 10 side is Lovren. Fonte had had a good season but in truth is our weakest defender and we should be looking to improve on him. Yoshida then relegated to 4th choice or moved on. Hopefully Turnbill or Stephens will start to push for the squad soon.

 

People keep saying Hooliveld has lost it. The truth is he never really had it. He is little more than a competent championship centre back and I said as much when we were in that divison. He's a good guy and tries his best but the level we want to get to, indeed are at now is far above his ability.

 

Spot on.

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lovern reminds me more of Mark Wright. Strong in the tackle and decent in the air but can also bring the ball out of defence comfortably and can pick a pass.

 

I know wright was famed for being able to bring the ball out, but I always thought he looked a little uncomfortable myself. Perhaps it was more a style thing than a quality thing. I was pretty young when I watched him. All be it on just half a seasons evidence, I think Lovren is easily the best cb I've seen bringing the ball out of defence in a saints shirt in the last 30 years. Having said that he has been a little loose in the last couple of home games, but I am comparing them with some tremendous displays.

 

Cb has become an incredibly tough position to play. Andy Carroll one week, Suarez the next. You have to have some real pace and height to go with an ability to read the game. Hard to find them as England have found in recent times.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I considered Maya to be a far better player than Hooiveld soon after he joined the club 18 months ago.

 

When it comes to the PL overall Maya is a solid jobber where Jos is completely out of his depth unless he's at the very top of his game. I was very surprised when Hooiveld was our first-choice backup earlier in the season. I'm baffled now.

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Yoshida has proved that he is a competent back up CB in the PL !

As an established international, having played against the likes of Germany and Brazil, it would be difficult to find someone else willing to sit on the bench for much of the season and then come in and perform as he does !

For sure, he is not 'world class' but right now he is the best back up that we have !!

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Quality today.

 

I've been saying for a long time that he's a decent player when he gets a couple of games under his belt. FAR, FAR better than that donkey Hooiveld.

 

This, he's looked OK now he's got some games in his legs, VW will be the same. He's much much better than Jos

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Slightly off topic (sorry) but I just found myself imagining what it might be like to have Astori and Lovren together with Wanyama in front of them! No idea whether we'd be after him or even get him but......here's dreaming!

 

IMHO Astori makes too many mistakes, and would not be an improvement to what we already have

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