There were high hopes for Wesley Hoedt when he arrived from Lazio, however perhaps his progress wasn't helped by the instability in the Saints defence.

I have said this many times, but in my opinion Saints problems all stem back to January 2017 when we sold Jose Fonte and failed to replace him, these issues were compounded in the summer of the same year with the Van Dijk issue and our failure to replace him in January 2018.

All of this did not help Wesley Hoedt who stepped into a situation where the manager appeared to be trying to placate not only Van Dijk but Yoshida & Jack Stevens as well.

Unlike Van Dijk and Toby Alderweireld who stepped into a defence alongside an experienced campaigner in Jose Fonte to help them adjust, Hoedt found himself initially in and out of the side and when he was in either next to his fellow countryman who wasn't interested or Yoshida who although is 100% wholehearted is not an organiser and leader of men.

Hoedt looked confident early on though, but he clearly needed experience alongside him, people forgot he was younger than Jack Stevens and assumed that he had the experience to lead the back line.

Suddenly the whole squad was under fire and Hoedt came into the firing line when he got caught trying to turn at Bournemouth and cost us a goal, that got some people on his back and as the team slid down the league questions were asked and he was touted as a poor signing.

But as the season went on Hoedt got quietly on with the job and he played a vital part n the run in being the only central defender who featured in all of those last vital five games.

With 28 starts in the Premier League, Hoedt played more games than any other central defender in the squad and there was good reason for that, certainly most of the 10 games he missed were in the early part of the season and he was ever present from January onwards, finding some consistency.

I have high hopes for next season for Hoedt, he looks a quality act at times, he used the ball well and I would like to have seen hi partnered by an experienced player who can bring him on and make him the player at times he has looked but at others not so much due to the transient nature of the Saints central defence.

If Saints bring in such a player then I think he along with Hoedt can form a solid partnership and a lot of our defensive issues will be solved add to that Bednarek as back up and things will be tighter.

With a years experience in the Premier League under his belt and a confident solid Saints side around him, Hoedt has what it takes to kick on next season.

This season has been one of turmoil, but we have to look at the root causes rather than the popularist ones, it should be noted that in the Autumn, McCarthy, Hojbjerg & Bednarek were all being held up as poor signings, a waste of money and a reason to beat Les Reed round the head with a stick with, by the end of the season all had played vital parts in our recovery.

Net season hopefully Mark Hughes will shore up the defensive side of our game, Wesley Hoedt is part of the solution.

Photo: Action Images

bstokesaint added 12:28 - May 29 I’m not sure on Hoedt. I personally don’t think he’s in the same league as Lovren, Toby or VVD. He’s no less prone to an error than Yoshida and often looks like he’s treading water when in a race for the ball or lunging and missing. I think we currently have a central defensive crisis. I actually think Stephens, Yoshida, Hoedt and Bednarek are currently all squad players. I wouldn’t feel confident with any of them as a regular going into next season.

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dirk_doone added 12:32 - May 29 Hoedt is slow, has poor positional sense, his passing is awful and his mistakes cost goals. He reminds me of Hooiveld. Yoshida, Bednarek and Stephens all look better players than him but even they are not as good as Fonte, van Dijk, Alderweireld and Lovren were for us. We should try to sell Hoedt and buy at least one reliable central defender, like Ben Gibson.
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ItchenNorth added 13:17 - May 29 Not the greatest of first seasons, but fans need to remember that he is new to the Premier League. Yes VVD, Alderweireld and Lovern were all new as well, but they had a physical presence and style to their game that made the transition more straightforward. Hoedt is a ball playing center back, so has to learn that you won't get time on the ball in the Premier League. Hopefully he'll learn from this years experience and push on. If we had a game Saturday, I'd rather start Stephens, Yoshi and Bednarek currently !

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charlie357 added 13:27 - May 29 I find it interesting that Yoshida's shortcomings are all his own fault but Hoedt's are down to the 'instability in the Saints defence'... Hoedt has potential but he really needs to get stronger in the air, for a big lad he is beaten far too often. He's also much slower off the mark than our other defenders so needs to work on his reading of the game and therefore be less reactionary.

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aceofthebase added 13:58 - May 29 Hoedt has slipped, ducked and been caught out positionally endless times but you still rate him higher than the rest. Quite frankly this sounds a very biased report. I do think however he has potential but so does Bednarek and Stephens. Is this the way we want to start the season with players of proven quality or players with potential? Ummm!
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schatfield added 14:00 - May 29 Hoedt is a quality player, folk have to remember his age and that he is still learning the game. When we played Swansea in the game that really mattered, he was immense. Not sure why all this remembering Fonte through rose tinted specs though - I never had good memories of him at Saints, often the opposite of what you say above, in that he had better quality next to him which made him look good. He always had a tendency to pull someone down in the penalty box and gave away a lot of points.

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Chesham_Saint added 14:04 - May 29 I've seen promise in Hoedt and to compare him to VVD and Alderweireld (who are close to if not actually world class) is a bit unfair. I've seen enough to think he could at least equal Fonte who, lets not forget, got his fair share of criticism in the years before he threw his toys out of the pram.
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SanMarco added 14:22 - May 29 I like Chesham's point. In recent times we have had Lovren, then Toby then VVD as main men at CB and Fonte became a main man gradually. Our best pairing in years was VVD and Fonte (both main men). We now have three CBs who are not main men and never will be + Hoedt who could become one but needs a proper main man beside him. When a main man leaves you replace him with another one - we did that with Toby and VVD but when VVD AND Fonte left we replaced them with Hoedt who was NOT a main man. It nearly got us relegated. We need to buy a proper good quality main man. We can then argue until the cows come home about who stands next to him...

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KriSaint added 16:11 - May 29 There is something classy about good old Hoedt in my opinion. I think he will have learned a lot from his first season in the premier league and that he will be able to implement what he has learned and become a really important player for us in the future - playing next to a more experienced center back.. He is not afraid of playing it out from the back whether it´s a long, precise diagonal ball or carrying the ball forwards a few meters by himself. He has a sweet left food and his technical abilities are good for a player his size. Also he seems quite calm. We haven´t seen the best of him yet and adding a player like Johnny Evans or Ryan Shawcross would be a good idea. Evans or Shawcross in the middle, Hoedt in the left side and Stephens in the right side would be a realistic possibility. Yoshida and bednarek as cover for those three. Should I have my head examined or do You agree? :-)

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highfield49 added 17:58 - May 29 I keep hearing Mawson and Gibson being touted as potential signings but as far as I'm concerned they are not the answer to the problem, neither having the quality or experience required. I've never been a fan of Evans or Shawcross but at least they have been around the block. Time to plug in the black box and look at some of our scouting reports.
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underweststand added 08:48 - Jun 1 Even with soaring transfer fees, the likes of Hoedt, Hojbjerg and Bednarek look like v. good deals - IF they come off, and not a catastrophe - if they don't. Buying such players at a young age is a gamble, but if they are" teachable" then they can improve - in time, and such comparisons with former players ( Alderweireld and VvD) is unfair as they both "hit the ground running" and had the benefit of having Jose Fonte backing them (as he had done with others on numerous occasions in the past). For better or worse, Hoedt & Co. have all improved over the season and hopefully will continue to do so. Yes - we do lack a " voice " in the back line, but if we throw in Jack Stepehens to the equation, it may well be that the " loudest voice " will end up getting the job. Hoedt will improve with time, and is worth his place, but I have a little more concern about the present full backs than I do the CB's .

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