Please log in or register. Registered visitors get fewer ads.
Player Review 2015/16 ! Cedric Soares
Friday, 20th May 2016 10:08

Cedric Soares was the most frequent Southampton right back last year, but the strange thing is how he fell out of favour in the final games of the season.

Soares took a little while to adjust to the Premier League, but after a month or so he had found his feet and looked to be a solid player and a worthy successor to Nathaniel Clyne.

Indeed it was revealed last week that in terms of tackles won with an average of three per game he was in the Premier League's top 20 tacklers, add to that of full backs who made at least 20 appearances he was 4th in terms of chances created per game (1.1) and 3rd in terms of accurate crosses per game (1.3).

All this lead to him being named as the right back in the Guardian's Premier League team of the year.

But suddenly he seemed out of favour at Saints and in the final 10 games he would start only 2 of them and not even get off the bench in the other 8.

Whilst Cuco Martina did raise his game and did not play badly, he is not the player Soares is and you have to feel that there is something going on behind the scenes that we the fans are not aware of.

Certainly after the turn of the year Soares was a vital part of a defence that shut up shop and went six games without scoring a goal then suddenly after the Bournemouth defeat he was dropped and he was certainly not the most culpable in that debacle.

After 3 games out he was back and had a solid display at Leicester City, dropped again and then came back for the Villa game and then sat on the bench for the final 3.

Up to the point of his being dropped I would have given Soares a solid 8 out 10 for the season and spoke of how he looked set to lay the ghost of Clyne to rest in the final games of the season, but then suddenly he is out of favour and i don't think it is for his performances.

So are Saints back to square one for right back next season, I would like to hope that whatever it is off the field is being resolved, because I truly think that Soares is the man for the right back spot long term, but there is something that I am unaware of that means Ronald Koeman does not seem to agree with me.

Overall verdict. Fine season up to March and 8/10, but after that what happened off the pitch ?

Photo: Action Images



Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.



LordDZLucan added 10:50 - May 20
I think the issue is that Cedric's short so when there is a risk that he might be targeted by the opposition with a big striker playing wide Ronald opts for Martina. Let's not forget that Cedric suffered a couple of head injuries early on in the season when targeted in this way.
2

DPeps added 11:31 - May 20
It is a strange one. On paper Cedric seems to be a better player, but Martina has performed better and has integrated better into the team. Crucially, Martina is good at following team instructions and is better defensively than Cedric. The tackling stats above are possibly misleading as teams seemed to target Cedric as a weak link, therefore he had lots of opportunities to tackle.

The other thing is that Martina improves with every game, whereas Cedric didn't in my opinion. I'm not saying that Martina is a world-beater but he's solid and is good going forward, as he demonstrated against Palace. I get the feeling Cedric will be sold, even though there is a very good player in there somewhere
2

aceofthebase added 13:45 - May 20
Martina has proved to be far superior as a defender than Soares. Soares too small and often outpaced often cannot prevent the crosses coming over, that was the strength of Clyne. Soares has proved that he can attack and I feel that this is where his future lies not in defence. It is unkind to say that Soares is better than Martin when he clearly isn't. Martina shows plenty of initiative and put in a fine cross against Tottenham . It may be that we still need a right back but I breathe a sigh of relief when Martina is selected ahead of Soares.
Soares 5/10 Martina 7/10
0

aceofthebase added 13:47 - May 20
I meant the cross against Palace not Spurs (sorry)
0

SaintNick added 10:21 - May 21
Im sorry but although Martina played a few good games of at the end of the season, he is not a good defender and not a good crosser of the ball, yes he has pace but too many people mistake pace for quality as the glorification of players like Steve De De Ridder in the past have shown
-1

aceofthebase added 12:18 - May 21
Well if Martina is not a good defender then Soares is an atrocious defender. Some people just do not recognise that being outpaced and not preventing crosses is a sure sign of a poor defender. Soares cost the Saints several points and perhaps a chance to play in the Champions League.
0

halftimeorange added 13:52 - May 21
IMO Cedric is a very effective RB and Martina is another Yoshida - a squad player, no more. I would guess that injury rather than incompetence has kept Soares on the bench. There can't be that much wrong behind the scenes as it wasn't so long ago that he was pictured with his fellow Portuguese, Jose and Ryan Bertrand enjoying a happy night out in London.
0

IWOZTHERE added 14:52 - May 21
Fraid the season hasn't been long enough to convince me about Cedric, Martina or Clasie?
I think these two positions may be where we ought to see some 'action' this summer but I suspect Ron will keep faith with Clasie as he's 'his boy.'
1


You need to login in order to post your comments

Blogs 31 bloggers

Knees-up Mother Brown #22 by wessex_exile
Knees-up Mother Brown #18 by wessex_exile

Southampton Polls

About Us Contact Us Terms & Conditions Privacy Cookies Advertising
© FansNetwork 2024