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Playing For The Shirt, Not The Pay Packet

The last few weeks have been extremely interesting for Saints fans. Fresh off the back of of a 6-0 thrashing of Oldham, and a run five consecutive league and cup victories, the team were suddenly held to a goalless draw against a defence minded Notts County side. The following away trip to Tranmere was even less successful; a two nil defeat courtesy of two errors from Kelvin Davis between the sticks, spelt a slip down to fourth spot.

As well as an evident lack of goals, there was indeed another absence from the two previous games. Excused for the match against County due to illness, it was a surprise to many to see Jason Puncheon omitted entirely from the squad against Tranmere. Puncheon remains a bit of an enigma to the Southampton faithful. Explosive on his first few games for the club, the winger offered a fresh source of goals and trickery to Alan Pardew’s side in their pursuit of the play-offs. His second season on the south-coast has proved less successful. A string of mediocre performances from a player, supporters often find frustrating to watch, combined with the emergence of Alex Chamberlain, resulted in an effective dropping for the ex-Plymouth player.

Despite this however, news of his departure on loan in November remained a surprise, with very little cover remaining for a seventeen year old in his first few months of professional league football. Reports of a training ground bust-up with Assistant Manager, Andy Crosby were spread around a variety of internet forums and could go some way to offer explanation for the decision. However, what remained even more surprising was his destination; a move to Championship side Millwall. It seemed peculiar that a player whom was unable to break into a League One side, was able to become to regular starter for a team in the league above. What was even more remarkable than that was Puncheon’s form for the East London club. A goal on his debut was subsequently joined by a hat-trick against Crystal Palace, and another goal, to take his tally to five in seven.

The return to his parent-club was greeted favourably by fans and staff alike, following such a successful spell. Less than twenty-four hours later, the player found himself in the starting eleven against Premier League Blackpool, rewarding Adkins’ decision with a decent performance versus the Seasiders. When quizzed about his omission of the winger at Tranmere, Adkins’ response was that the player’s “head had not been right“. He continued by stating that “he was due to travel with us, but he was not in the right frame of mind“. There have been several reported bids from clubs with regards to Puncheon, all of which have been rejected. Both Blackpool and Millwall were amongst those snubbed, with neither bid over £200K.

This creates the ever growing dilemma amongst the modern-day footballer; should the player be picked because of his ability or desire to play for the shirt? There are two different opinions on this. One, that if the player has the ability to win you the game, he should be played regardless of motivation. Such an opinion was demonstrated recently with Ian Holloway’s decision to pick Charlie Adam for their match versus Manchester United, despite the player’s recent transfer request.

The other opinion, and one often adopted by fans, is that the privilege of playing for the club should be enough for any player, and once this appears unapparent, he should be moved on. Should Puncheon’s head have indeed been turned by the interest of other clubs, then his place at the club should certainly be up for review. Adkins’ recent analogy of the necessity of the players to be ‘on the bus’, was a clear reference to Puncheon’s situation, and as such, it’ll certainly be interesting to note the manager’s method of dealing with the player.

Another factor that could prove significant in Adkins’ decision, is that of the host of Premier League clubs currently courting his other left winger, Alex Chamberlain. The recent admission by Arsene Wenger that his attempts to land the player will take a significant step forward, as well as the recent hints by father and several team-mates alike that the seventeen year old will be off before the current window closes. The loss of both Chamberlain and Puncheon would leave a significant hole in the left side of the team, with Lee Holmes out on a season-long injury, and very little else in substantial cover to make up for the loss. Any forthcoming transfer dealings from the club in the next week could prove effective in determining the future of the two players, and the team as a whole.

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