Southampton: Would dropping Mario Lemina be sensible or foolish?

With a must-win game against Brighton to come after the international break, would it be a smart idea for the Saints to bench the midfielder?

Lemina made national headlines this week after he was handed the biggest speeding fine in UK history – it came in at just shy of £100,000.

Somehow the 25-year-old still had a full driver’s license despite having 21 points to his name – the reported incident involved him failing to declare who was behind the wheel on three separate occasions. As a result he was handed a further 18 points and banned from driving for a year – this ironically left him with more points on his license than Southampton managed last season.

Nonetheless with Lemina we have a player who has in the past appeared distracted or off the ball. Whilst it’s an extreme example, he looked totally disinterested in pre-season – the same time his partner was close to giving birth.

Southampton fans will know Lemina loved a video of himself behind the wheel – however dangerous it may of been. Assuming he stays on the south coast, he’ll be using drivers and taxis for the next year.

With this in mind, it’s not totally unbelievable to suggest Lemina’s head may be elsewhere when the Saints meet Brighton after the break – a game Southampton have to win.

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After the game against the Seagulls, the Saints will face all of the big six in a 13-game spell – it’s safe to say they’ll drop some points before the turn of the year.

Therefore is Hughes does have concerns that Lemina’s mindset may not be right then he should play Romeu alongside Hojbjerg instead.

The only concern that comes from this is that if the Gabonese midfielder’s mentality is as fragile as we’re suggesting then dropping him entirely could have the opposite effect of what we’d hope – he could lose his confidence entirely.

Furthermore he’s also one of the side’s best players there’s no denying that – on his day he can totally turn the game in the Saints’ favour.

However, the flip side to that is that is when he’s having an off-day, it can really hurt Southampton. He can over-complicate things by trying too hard and this often sees him losing the ball in crucial positions.

I’m sure that Mark Hughes will have taken this into account already ahead of the game on the 17th, but if not it’s something next really should consider. Lemina could be sorely missed if he’s benched but the Saints could also concede off of a mistake from the ex-Juventus man if he’s not in the right frame of mind.