Saturday afternoon could see a game at the Hawthorns were a player on each side is booed or at best shunned by his own supporters.

Saints fans could of course be welcoming back Victor Wanyama whilst Baggie's supporters might see Sadio Berahino back in the fold, together they make up 2/3 of the trio who made all the headlines in the final week of the transfer window after their respective club's refused to sell them, the third man obviously being John Stones of Everton.

In fairness to Stones he has backtracked fast from his position a week or so ago and has already played for his club and accepted that he would be at Goodison for a little while longer.

But for Wanyama and Berahino this could be their first game back for their clubs.

Wanyama obviously had his head turned by Spurs but in his case most of the words said about him were in the press and given the way that they conduct their transfers in North London it could very well be that certain journalists were briefed to conduct a media campaign aimed at stirring things up.

That being the case although many Saints fans are not happy with the way he behaved, after all he could have stood up like a man and like Stones continued to play for Saints in a couple of very important games, he did not burn his bridges and like Morgan Schneiderlin a year ago he can come back into the team and let his football do the talking.

But for Berahino its different, he not only burned his bridge but he torched the toll house as well after publicly stating that he would never play for the West Brom Chairman again and that is a pretty big statement to make.

Football fans or at least those who are not armchair fans of Spurs, Man City, Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool & Arsenal would love to see an example made of Berahino and to a lesser extent Wanyama & Stones, there is a feeling that this transfer window saw a change, a change that sees petulant young footballers stamp their feet and hold their breath if they don't get their own way.

Saints, West Brom and Everton made a stand for those outside of last season's top six and it has been a stand that is long overdue, the campaign's waged in the press to unsettle this trio of players was unacceptable and should be the subject of investigation to stop it happening again.

Saints & Everton seem to be advanced in dealing with their miscreants, both players are popular in the dressing room and didn't cross a certain line, but the Baggie's have more of a problem.

Berahino has made a public statement that he will never play for the club under its current Chairman, it is hard to see how he returns easily from that , also he is allegedly not a popular figure in the dressing room and he is playing under a manager in Tony Pulis who for all his faults rules his dressing room in a draconian way.

Berahino has to do a lot more than just breeze back to training this week as if nothing happened, there is a lot of work to be done.

West Brom are in a quandary this weekend, in today's Premier League they cannot afford to be without their star asset, however they hav to be seen to have done something, a player cannot make outburst's as Berahino did and be seen to get away with it, for the Baggie's its not going to be quite that simple, they have to set a precedent in their own dressing room, something Saints did a year ago with Schneiderlin.

So Saturday could see both on the same pitch and the unusual situation where their names are booed by their own fans.

I would think that neither will start the game, although Wanyama has a better chance of doing so and Saints will be keen to get him back into action before the Manchester United game at St Mary's.

Football took a turn for the worse in the final weeks of the transfer window, what happens in the next six month's will go a long way into whether the game in this country can be turned around or whether it is headed on a course to disaster, once the tail starts to wag the dog it is a dangerous path to ollow.

Photo: Action Images

10i added 10:04 - Sep 7 Let's hope Wanyama will be "punished" and will not start. This would be better for us cause this is the type of game he shouldn't start anyway - as was shown last year when Cork was the better choice in those games being capable of more than pure battling...
0

Jesus_02 added 11:22 - Sep 7 Wanyama's behaviour is hard to judge/condem considering that he didn’t actually say anything publically. Even via his agent/newspapers didn’t say anything other than he would like to move. The Newspapers are obviously careful but clever with words, using “desperate” and “desire” but from a complete outside perspective was "his behaviour" even any worse than VVD's? He tried to play but was rubbish as obviously effected. It seemed to me that Koemann quite correctly decide to leave him out. I cant see him playing against West Brom after the Norwich game

0

birminghamsaint added 12:28 - Sep 7 lets hope the 'if you all hate Tottenham clap your hands' chant gets going.
0

ItchenNorth added 13:12 - Sep 7 We should just move on regards Wanyama and back him, much in the same vein as we did for Morgan last season. Players should be judged by their performance on the pitch, not what papers tell is was going on behind the scenes (which was probably exaggerated somewhat anyway).
3

landerwal added 13:02 - Sep 9 Northam fan.Compared to Berahino refusing to play for WBA and Stones slapping in a transfer request, Wanyama saying he'd like to move is pretty low key stuff. If most players were honest they'd all like a move to a so called "larger club". Koeman's tactic of "resting" Wanyama is exactly what worked so well last season with Scheiderlin.
0

Blogs 31 bloggers

Southampton Polls