Southampton 2017/18 season review: Maya Yoshida

It was a mixed campaign for Maya Yoshida, the now-Southampton veteran featured for his sixth season this term, having always been on the cusp of the first team squad – though he slowly became an integral part of the side that avoided relegation recently.

The Japanese international kicked off the campaign with a very strong start, picking up Saints ‘Player of the Month’ for the month of August, followed by being nominated for the same award for October – only to lose out to fellow captain Steven Davis despite strong calls for him to win it.

Displays for the Saints that warranted his award win, involved two clean sheets in three performances and winning the deciding penalty in the early season encounter with West Ham, whilst showing total dedication to the badge with great enthusiasm and professionalism and thus leading by example.

However, this form did not continue, as you would know, with the introduction of want-away Virgil Van Dijk, Southampton’s somewhat stable back-line became increasingly vulnerable, arguably at the time it was the right choice to do this given his Dutch counter-parts ability – that being borderline ‘world class’ on a consistent basis.

Forward to the January transfer window, when Van Dijk was sold to Liverpool, given that it was clear he was not playing for the shirt anymore, it gave Yoshida an opportunity to recover his form from earlier in the season, and to create a defensive partnership with Jack Stephens or Wesley Hoedt.

Next: 2017/18 review: Jack Stephens

Though, a mere month later, the former VVV-Venlo player suffered an injury that ruled him out till the start of April – Southampton had lost to Crystal Palace 2-1 in his last game before spending time on the sidelines, returning against Arsenal under new management in Mark Hughes after Mauricio Pellegrino’s sacking.

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Going forward, the defender featured seven times in the Saints’ last eight games, helping guide Hughes’ men away from relegation and pick up vital points against Leicester City, Bournemouth and Everton – despite it could be argued his sending off in the latter game might have cost his team from winning, and thus also missed the vital clash against Swansea City.

Though on paper this sounds poor, his performances within these games were great at times, making some important tackles and interceptions that only a more experienced head could’ve made – Yoshida ended the campaign on some decent stats, having a 74% tackle success, six clean sheets out of Saints’ eight and zero errors leading to a goal (stats via Premier League).

So overall, it could be argued that this has been a season for Yoshida to forget, hampered with injury and mixed form, if still on the south-coast come the end of the upcoming transfer window, (which hopefully he’ll be) then he could help Southampton push on and have a more successful season than this one just past.

His experience and professionalism is a must for next season, especially with Southampton’s other defensive options being somewhat inexperienced in Jack Stephens, Wesley Hoedt and Jan Bednarek, a more experienced back-up option in Yoshida could help develop their games – plus who doesn’t want to see more volley goals?

Verdict

Maya Yoshida – 5.5/10