Here we try to take a balanced view of the man who takes the pressure off Guly, although Im sure there will be many vitriolic words thrown at this latest in the series of player reviews.

Just when did Danny Fox do so much wrong that made so many people suddenly decide that he was a player who did so many things wrong, certainly he wound up a few people who couldnt bear to see Dan Harding replaced in the team in the Autumn of 2011, however he soon put in a series of performances that silenced the doubters and his deliveries into the box were the most potent source of Rickie Lambert scoring so many goals in the Championship, in total Fox was acredited with 13 assists for the season, a total only bettered in the Saints team by Lambert himself and a big proportion of those were knock downs by our number 7 from Fox crosses.

So where did it all go wrong, in the first 3/4 of the season as Saints stormed to the top of the league, Fox was able to use his strengths and those lie mainly in the attacking department, but as Saints struggled in the later stages of the season and were caught out some supporters started to blame Danny Fox, to be blunt the problems were surfacing that would come to haunt us in the Premiership and that is a lack of protection for our full backs and Fox who isnt blessed with great pace was not as equiped to deal with this as would a player who is faster.

This is not to proclaim Fox as a great Premiership quality player, not at all, its to point out that he is a decent Championship full back as he proved last season, nothing more or nothing less.

So can he make the step up to the premier, I think the answer is yes, as long as he has the right sort of cover in front of him, at times he was very exposed, but to balance this out, the two worst performances on our left hand side were in the two away games on Merseyside, Cyne playing left back was left for dead on many occasions at Everton, as was Shaw at Anfield, it wasnt that they were bad players it was that they had no cover in front of them, the difference though is they are not blamed for this but Fox was.

So the question is whether Danny Fox has a future at Southampton ? as far as many are concerned the answer would be an emphatic NO ! But that would be very short sighted, late in the season Fox had a decent game at Swansea in a 0-0 draw although a week later he was getting abused by home fans at St Mary's who seemed to blame him for the 3-0 defeat to West Brom singularly, his sending off was the talking point, not that of Ramirez whose impetuous elbow ended Saints hopes of a revival.

But to write Fox off would be shortsighted, one thing Saints do need is decent quality back up to Shaw, the soon to be 18 year old is not yet at the fitness levels needed to play 38 league games a season, thats not just his problems, teenagers in football dont reach these levels of fitness and stamina needed until they have had 3-4 years of day to day training, that in the main is a fact, of course there will be the odd exception to the rule, but judging by the niggling injuries that Luke picks up, he is not one of those exceptions, therefore we are going to need good and experienced cover for him.

So if we were to sell Danny Fox, just what sort of replacement would we be able to buy, firstly you arent going to get too many experienced Premiership players willing to come down here and play second fiddle to an 18 year old, haw is an outstanding talent, so they know they arent going to get much of a look in, so at best you might get a player in the twilight of his career but you will have to pay him a lot of money just to sit on the bench.

The next option would be to look in the Championship and i would contend that firstly you wont find much better than Fox down there, secondly if you did, would a promising 21 year old for instance be willing to again come and sit on the bench, I would say no, a good experienced player at that level wants to play first team football, not understudy a youngster who has just signed (hopefully) a four year deal and so therefore perhaps head into footballing oblivion.

So yes we could sell off Danny Fox and for the player hmself I think given the treatment he has received from certain sections of the support he would be quite happy to go, but if we did it would leave a void that we would struggle to fill easily and that could just cost us points that could be vital come the end of the season.

This season Fox has been more valuable tht many would give him credit for, popular perception would be that in every game he has made mistakes that cost us goals, yes he has made mistakes but then again he isnt the biggest culprit in the defence for that, but he also played in many games that earned us points, the Man City game is heralded as a great win at home, yet how many remember that it was Fox who was left back in that game not Shaw, simiarly away to QPR, Luke Shaw played the first 70 minutes, but again how many remember that Fox came on and helped Saints close the game out as QPR pressed to get back in it in the final 1/4, these games highlight the need to have a player of a certain standard in reserve, and make no bones about it, im praising Fox for what he has contributed, but Im also mindful of his liabilities and in no way am I pleading the case for him to be first choice left back.

So Danny Fox has done a job for Saints this season, no more no less, he has had his bad games and had his good games, but in the main I think we would struggle to find a similar quality back up for Luke Shaw without persuading him with a lot more money than we are paying Fox.

But what we should remember is that our left side has been a problem all season, even with Luke Shaw, its a problem because the left back doesnt have sufficient cover in front of him, Luke haw is better equipped to deal with that because of his pace and bening more defensive minded than Fox, but unless we deal with the problem as a whole then it doesnt matter who is playing left back, they will be targetted and exposed, remember the last two goals we conceded this season both came from a player running at the left back who had no one covering him, it wasnt Danny Fox fault although some would hope it was.

6/10 for Danny Fox if only for the fact that he has never hidden, always strived to improve and has proved an able deputy for Shaw in the second half of the season, despite what some people will try to tell you, those same people will also tell you that Saints are a great club and we are all one big happy family, I just hope that they dont treat their family to the levels of verbal abuse that the likes of Fox, Guly, Boruc & Gazzaniga have had to endure at times during games.          

Photo: Action Images

Butty101 added 11:01 - May 30 I think people turned against him because of some of the comical errors he made in the first few games of the season. His defending at Man city for the winner instantly jumps out. I find it odd that you consider him premier class yet jos H you dont?
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stmichael added 11:12 - May 30 I hope he has a good summer , comes back fit and motivated and challenges for a place. I want to like the guy and although he gets a bit of stick I think it is mainly from individuals shouting their mouths off rather than large sections of the crowd. He IS a good footballer. For some reason he seems to swtich off , loses concentration. Most of his errors are positional. Clean slate as far as I am concerned next season. I wish him all the best , no where near as bad as some portray (and I am probably as guilty of that as most on here at times)

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SaintNick added 11:26 - May 30 Yes he made an error in the first game at man city, he wasn't the only one that made an error in that game, nor the next few games after it, Nathan Clyne got taken to the cleaners at Arsenal on a couple of occasions, yet he wasn't written off like Fox. I didn't say he was premier class, I said he was championship class, but could do a job in the premier as back up, a big difference Stmichael has hit the nail on the head, he needs to be given a clean slate and his role taken in context

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slynch added 11:49 - May 30 I'd like to be kind to Foxy cos he visits sick children in hospital without telling the press. He's not a left back; he needs to play in front of left back where his talents are more appropriate. However, he played for Saints at left back, and tried his best and should be applauded. Make him back up for left mid field and get new back up for Shaw. How about Dan Harding?

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winchesterbob added 12:14 - May 30 Fair assessment slynch, he not a good full back and left mid would be a good spot for Foxy but there are good many other players I would rather see at left mid. As for the old chestnut about the the lack of cover in front of him, it's about the same cover that Harding had, not very much, most of the time, as Nick rightly points out as often as he can. However in the games towards the end of the season Poch had Cork and S Davis attempting to double up with Fox to help him with the defensive duties which helped but at the expense of goal scoring opportunities.

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Butty101 added 12:31 - May 30 You said"So can he make the step up to the premier, I think the answer is yes" That to me suggests you think he is premiership class :-) Ask yourself this, if he moves on will another prem club come in for him? In my opinion no.
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SaintNick added 12:37 - May 30 Butty, you answer your own question, I said I thought that he can make the step up if he had the right sort of cover, that means I think he can play in the premiership but not necessarily that he is Premiership class Would another premiership club come in for him, almost certainly no, but then again you could say that for at least 18 players of our squad, including at least 3 of our 4 centre backs

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schatfield added 12:56 - May 30 champo player for sure (expensive one at that), could be good, but as one of the posters said above he seems to have these lapses in concentration and it always seems to happen at the worst time (when we concede). 6/10 is fair.
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Whatsforpud added 14:33 - May 30 Nick makes a fair point that it would be difficult to buy someone now as cover for Shaw, knowing that he would be on the bench. Next season Shaw should be a little stronger, and hopefully keep fitter. Looking at the situation from Fox's point of view, would you want to be an occasional Premier League player, or a regular first teamer lower down. The extra money might suggest the former.

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