The defeat at Watford highlighted one area where Saints don't have much in the way of an option to be able to compete against some of the very physical teams that you come up against in the Championship.

The departure of Shea Charles was not unexpected this summer and for good reason, he had impressed Premier League clubs with his physical presence and athleticism, something that you need in the top flight of English football if you are going to compete.

That is also the case in the Championship and the lack of muscle in the Southampton midfield was there for all to see on Sunday and cost us dearly.

Flynn Downes can put it about a bit when he needs to and was arguably our man of the match at Watford, but at 5ft 10 inches he is not of the physical stature that the likes of Shea Charles 4 inches bigger at 6ft 2 and others like him are, he is not a towering figure.

Likewise Caspar Jander who although 6ft is of a more wiry build than muscular and Cameron Bragg who like Downes is a mere 5ft 10.

To put it bluntly we need a strongman and enforcer in the mould of Victor Wanyama, the mighty Kenyan being over 6ft wide and just as tall, big strong and fast every team has one.

This was where we went wrong a couple of years ago in the Premier League, it wasn't just the tippy tappy football, we lacked muscle, strength & pace where it mattered in the centre of midfield.

Those teams we hoped to compete with and rival basically from 17th place upwards and not in the relegation zone all had big strong fast athletes in their team and we had none.

Bizarrely we did sign Lesley Ugochukwu, but he like several other signings that season, were signed by Russell Martin, but barely played by him and by the time that the 6ft 3 Ugochukwu got into the team in the second half of the season it was too little too late.

Burnley signed him last season, but they too had the same problem, they did not have enough players combining strength and pace and they went down.

Ugochukwu will spend the current season on loan from the Lancashire club to Galatasaray in Turkey.

So if Tonda Eckert is to make just one more signing this season, it needs to be about muscle, pace, strength and power, someone like Shea Charles or for that matter most of the Premier League defensive midfielders, every team needs at least one.

There must be a fair few of these players currently at a Premier League club and not getting a game, so I would imagine there is a few out there that fit this bill.

Jefferson Lerma at Palace for instance fits the bill, aged 31 with a year left on his contract he could add the experience that we need in this position.

Experience would be good, but to be blunt we need to fill a big Shea Charles sized gap in our midfield our current trio of Downes, Jander & Bragg are all good in their own right, but they are all a little to samey, we need someone who can truly dominate and bully other teams.

All Photos Via Reuters

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