Romain Perraud missed the victory over Everton after testing positive for Covid, yet such is the competition for places at St Mary's, despite his great form pre catching the virus he is far from guaranteed his place back in the side.

This time last year Saints first team squad was stretched to the limits, the midweek defeat at Leeds united on February 23rd 2021 was the 7th in 8 Premier League games and a look at the team that night showed that although we could get out a decent enough starting line up, it was rather short on options off the bench, Dan N'Lundulu, A Jankewitz, Kayne Ramsey & Kags Chaulke were half of the outfield quota on the bench, none have featured for the side this season with only Chaulke still at the club, the other 3 either out on loan or in the case of Jankewitz permanently transferred.

The situation was further worsened with the injury to Oriol Romeu to stretch the squad further.

But a year on things are different, Saints now have a squad fit for purpose and have at least two options in every position, also the likes of Theo Walcott & Shane Long may be past their prime, but they are there to do a job when called upon and as was shown on Saturday do it well, this term we have experience on the bench not youngsters making up the numbers.

At full back we are well served, Tino Livramento, Kyle Walker Peters & Yan Valery are all experienced right backs with Romain Perraud on the left, Perraud has competition for his spot though with Walker Peters often getting the nod in front of him and Thierry Small chomping at the bit to stake a claim.

Perraud has stuggled to get a start at times but when he has played he has looked the part and he has suffered from the fact that KWP can also switch to the left.

The injury to Tino Livramento in December saw KWP switch back to his natural position at right back and the Frenchman came in on the left, for his longest run in the side of the season, playing the six straight Premier League games up until having to drop out of the side for the visit of Everton.

He slotted in well and that run saw only one defeat as Saints moved up the League standings.

A year ago he would probably have stepped straight back into the side, but as was shown against Everton, Kyle Walker Peters swapped sides for the returning Tino Livramento and arguably was a real candidate for man of the match, not just for his defensive qualities but for the way he got forward cutting inside and having at least two genuine potential goal scoring efforts.

So Ralph has a dilemma and the question might be answered by how fir Tino Livramento is, after missing 4 league games he was fit to start against Coventry in the cup, he played 89 minutes, but was not fit enough to even be on the bench at Spurs.

He returned to the bench at Manchester United and played the last 20 minutes, linking with KWP on the right.

The fact that Perraud caught Covid solved a selection poser for Ralph for the Everton game, but assuming that Livramento has suffered no adverse reaction after the weekend, the problem has just been pushed on 6 days.

The team against Everton put in perhaps the best display of the season as an overall performance and had the right balance, the two wide midfielders Stuart Armstrong and Moi Elyounoussi put if good displays, so the option that Ralph employed in the last 20 minutes at Old Trafford probably isn't on for this game.

So the big decision for Ralph to decide is who best suited for the left back role.

In truth although I think Kyle Walker Peters just about shades it, it is a nice problem to have, as Perraud has showed just why we signed him and it will not weaken the side if he is picked.

If there is one reason why Saints have slowly but surely climbed the table this season it has been the fact that we now have a squad rather than just a starting XI with a few back ups and then youngsters.

We can cope with players missing through injury, a year ago we could not cope with the loss of one full back, now we could lose two and still put out a quality pairing.

Photo: Action Images

underweststand added 11:05 - Feb 24 It's hard for new players to make a mark when they arrive. Because KWP took the LB spot to accommodate the signing of Livramento, it's been tough for Perraud to get game time, but since KWP returned to RB, I think Perraud has been outstanding. His timely overlapping is excellent and he's been unlucky not to get on the scoresheet several times. However, it's difficult to fault anyone after that great Everton win and the first rule in the " Book of Managerial Skills " is probably - don't change a winning side. Unless there are any late injury doubts, I'm guessing Ralph will keep the same start side , but I look forward to seeing Perraud back again soon.

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SanMarco added 11:13 - Feb 24 It is an interesting dilemma - there is an argument that KWP, Livramento and Perraud all deserve a place. That means Livramento into midfield and that displaces another key player. Nice problem to have though!! I see Ralph is being touted for the Spuds...
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WestSussexSaint added 13:01 - Feb 24 Personally I don’t think Tino has hit the performance levels he showed before his injuries. Certainly against Everton he seemed reluctant to make the marauding runs which have become his trademark. This may be just a case of needing match time and the fitness that comes with it. But if he is still carrying the after effects of the injury then I would play him sparingly and put KWP in at RB and Peraud at LB. As the next game is against Norwich if we can put the result to bed early doors then I would like to see Thierry Small get 30mins as a replacement for Peraud. It would be good to see what he can do when playing with the first choice XI rather than effectively a complete reserve side which no doubt affected his performance against Coventry.

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SaintPaulVW added 15:55 - Feb 24 Having KWP able to switch wings is just brilliant. With Tino, Perraud and KWP have 3 superb full backs and we are just as strong whichever 2 play. I would give Perraud an extra week to get over Covid. Perhaps save him for the FA cup game and then give Tino a rest. COYR
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