Emmanual Mayuka has returned from the Africa Cup Of Nations to a club much changed from when he left a month ago, but will this be good or bad for his Saints career.

Its fair to say that Mayuka seemed to be a signing forced on formar manager Nigel Adkins, clearly from the pre season games Adkins was going to give Billy Sharp a chance in the Premier and the ex Doncaster striker was clearly the man on fire in the pre season games, however the insistence that we had to play only one up front seemed to suggest that we were top heavy with strikers and that there was intense competition for places up front.

So the arrival of Mayuka seemed a strange transfer, why did we need another forward to add to Lambert, Sharp, Rodriguez & Tadanari Lee all vying for the one place available up front ? although that was soon reduced to a mere four again with the departure of Sharp to Nottingham Forest on loan.

But although Mayuka's pace suggested that he might be able to offer something, clearly someone presumably Adkins didnt see what that could be, therefore Mayuka became a permanent fixture on the Saints bench but rarely ever got off it, indeed by the time he left for the ACON he had managed only 1 start and 6 appearances off the bench some of them very brief.

Perhaps indications of the managers views to him came at Anfield where 1-0 down with the clock running down fast Adkins didnt gamble and throw on Mayuka for a bit of pace at an elderly back four, even stranger was that a couple of weeks later, some seven weeks after his last piece of action a 14 minute cameo at the end of the defeat at West Brom he was suddenly handed a full debut against Sunderland, in truth he looked lost, but given that he really isnt suited to our formation that wasnt surprising, his full debut lasted only 55 minutes before he was hauled off and again he was consigned to the bench with no hint of even being brought on as sub in the four games before he went off on international duty.

So probably Mayuka feels that he now might have a chance at Saints with a change of manager, this could be the case although I cant see where he will fit into the system any more than I could before Pochettino arrived, but perhaps the new manager will give him more of a chance than the old one did, perhaps he will take it or perhaps Nigel Adkins was right in his assesment about him.

The next few weeks will show us the answer, lets hope he makes a significant contribution ratherthan becoming like Tadanari Lee and Billy Sharp another expensive player who just doesnt fit into the system that we want to play.     

Photo: Action Images

Hulk_Wogan added 15:07 - Feb 8 Seems an odd signing altogether. I really think that Billy Sharp is a good enough player to score goals in the top league and would have him in the squad over Mayuka any day but I don't think we'll see him playing for us again. The good news about Mayuka I suppose is that he is only 22 and has lots of time and room to improve. Hopefully he'll turn out good.
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eusebio added 15:29 - Feb 8 More tedious sh7te from the in house bore
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SaintNick added 15:35 - Feb 8 Very good self analysis, when you start to comment on your own posts whilst they are still in your head you know you have to worry
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vectis added 08:46 - Feb 9 Mayuka has the potential to be one of the best strikers in the world and he can play on the left or right wing. Where he has played both at club level and international...although yes, he prefers playing as a striker. He was preferred to sharp because sharp is not half the player people were saying Mayuka is. And not as versatile as they were saying Mayuka is. And given the 433 thing it's obvious that Mayuka is more suited to that system than sharp. At least on paper and according to football "experts" the world over. I don't know why he hasn't lived up to potential. Maybe he is finding the prem a different propersition to the Swiss league or internationals. Maybe Adkins just didnt know how to get the best out of him. perhaps adkiks prefered Guly!?! At 22 he has time to adjust. I still think he will go on to be a world beater...but it may not be with us. He is bound to be rusty and lacking in confidence after sitting on the bench for so long and then having some unimpressive games for his country. And knowing some of the idiots who call themselves saints fans they'll start getting on his back and I wouldn't be surprised if he achieves his dreams later, elsewhere. But he was bought because he is potentially a real gem of a player and fits the system Cortese and reed want to use. There is no mystery or conspiracy at all. My advice...get off his case.

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ExiledSupporter added 11:03 - Feb 10 Ironically Eusebio was one of the outstanding players of his era and a thoroughly decent and likeable person, his alter ego on this blog clearly has evolved from exactly the opposite end of the spectrum. Sometimes it seems highly unreasonable that such oafish prats should have space to express their odious opinions.
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SaintNick added 22:47 - Feb 10 Im not sure Mayuka fts the system, he seems to be the type of striker that needs to play alongside someone else, he definately isnt a lone target man type nor a wide player as needed in this system, I cant see where he fits in apart from a last throw of the dice player in the dying stages
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