Southampton youngster Yan Valery has had some mixed performance on the right-hand side after being introduced into the first team in recent weeks, but it’s fair to say that the 2-1 defeat against West Ham United at St Mary’s on Thursday night was one of his worst displays yet.
The young Frenchman first came into the starting XI for the 2-2 draw against Manchester United at the end of November in the absence of Ryan Bertrand, Matt Targett and Jack Stephens which forced Cedric Soares to play at left wing-back, and he impressed.
Having been an unused substitute against Tottenham Hotspur, the 19-year-old struggled in the loss to Cardiff City – where he was hauled off at half-time in Ralph Hasenhuttl’s first match in charge – but has since started at right wing-back against Arsenal, Huddersfield Town and, most recently, the Hammers.
While the defender performed well in the wins against the former two he, like many of his teammates, was certainly not at the races as he came up against a tough opponent in Felipe Anderson on Thursday.
While you couldn’t fault Valery’s work-rate or attitude, he showed his naivety against Manuel Pellegrini’s men on more than one occasion, and he should have done much better for Anderson’s first goal with a quick throw-in allowing the Brazilian to turn and cut inside before firing a low shot past Alex McCarthy in goal.
The youngster’s decision-making in the final third also left plenty to be desired, as he only attempted one cross compared to left wing-back Matt Targett’s eight, while his passing accuracy was only marginally above 57%, as per WhoScored.
While he won three of his aerial duels, he failed to make a single interception and only made one tackle, while he showed a lack of composure on the ball but only successfully completing one of the five long balls he attempted.
Some Southampton supporters may have got carried away after seeing Valery’s showings against Arsenal and Huddersfield and believed that potentially losing Cedric Soares in January or next summer wouldn’t be a big issue because of his emergence, but the performance against the Irons will have been a wake-up call for them, as well as Hasenhuttl that he isn’t ready to play regularly at this level yet.
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