Like any manager, Russell Martin has to make big decisions on a weekly basis when it comes to selecting his Southampton squad.
Russell Martin has made no secret of the fact he would ideally like to be working with a smaller squad at Southampton but as it is he will have an overinflated squad until at least January.
This has meant the likes of Ryan Manning, Ronnie Edwards, Paul Onuachu and Armel Bella-Kotchap have all found themselves out of the match day squad in the Premier League most of the season and this looks unlikely to change any time soon.
Martin is still trying to find the right combination of players to steer Southampton to a first league win of the season and this has seen him make a number of changes to the starting XI in the past two games.
One of those was to bring in Charlie Taylor at left-back to replace Kyle Walker-Peters and Martin has now spoken on this surprise decision.
Russell Martin insists Kyle Walker-Peters Southampton contract situation irrelevant
Walker-Peters was one of Southampton’s standout performers in last season’s promotion-winning campaign.
The full-back was also the subject of interest from both West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur in the summer and although he stayed at Southampton he has now entered the final year of his contract meaning he could leave for free next summer.
Some have speculated that this might be a factor behind Martin deciding to remove him from the starting XI but the Saints boss has refuted this claim, explaining: “Leaving Kyle out after what he has done for us is not easy but Yuki [Sugawara] has been one of our best players at right-back.
“We did feel we wanted some balance in the team and having a natural left-footer helps us out a lot.
“I thought Charlie was great – he played two games last week and will get better and better. We also have Ryan Manning who can’t get in the squad.
“It was about balance in the team. We don’t have many left-footed players on the pitch at the moment. I think Charlie was probably the only one.”
Martin went on to add: “Kyle is ready to play. He understands the reason. People try to bring his contract into it – that wasn’t a problem with Che [Adams] and Stuey [Armstrong].”
“That will never be a problem. It will be about trying to win a game and have the best players on the pitch.
“We have six, seven, eight guys not in the squad. Some of those are internationals. It’s not easy.”
Martin right to improve Southampton balance
Walker-Peters is clearly a very good player but Martin has no choice but to put the needs of the Southampton team over any individuals.
Taylor earned his chance against Ipswich with a solid display against Everton in the Carabao Cup in which he also showed his ability from dead-ball situations with an assist.
In Walker-Peters and Sugawara, it is unfortunate for Martin that two of his best players play the same position but playing the right-footed Walker-Peters on the left of a back four did make Southampton a little one-dimensional.
In Taylor the side has far better balance and it also gives the team a more solid feel having just one full-back who is naturally very attacking in Sugawara rather than two.
Martin’s comments suggest that Taylor will remain in the side against Bournemouth on Monday night and it is now Walker-Peters’ job to earn a recall.
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