One of the strangest things this season has been that both Russell Martin and Ivan Juric seemed to ostracise certain player in their squads, now with Juric joining Martin on the list of Ex Saints managers, will that see a recall from some of the forgotten men.

Ivan Juric seemed to decide who was in and out of his plans fairly early in his reign and the likes of Adam Lallana, Charlie Taylor, Nathan Wood, Armel Bella-Kotchap, Ryan Fraser & Albert Gronbaek, have all found themselves virtually ignored in the last couple of months, a sort of Dirty Half Dozen in Juric's eyes.

Even Flynn Downes seemed to have fallen out of the manager's thinking and almost joined Adam Armstrong in going out on loan.

But with Simon Rusk taking over for the final knockings of the season, it will be interesting to see if any of those 6 ostracised players start to get in the squad again.

Certainly all could perhaps claim that they were given little chance under Juric to impress and that there were those being picked ahead of them that had neither the experience or pedigree and indeed were hardly setting the world alight with their performances.

So who might come back ?

Adam Lallana will certainly be back on the bench, but the question is whether he will combine his duties as Rusk's assistant with playing, I would say that he should be worth a place on the bench.

Charlie Taylor was ignored by Martin and under Juric played just 45 minutes, coming on as sub at half time in the defeat to Brentford, since then in the last 3 months he has failed to get a minute of game time, even in the FA Cup games, with his experience you would think he could be useful in the final games, I would not be surprised to see him come back into the side.

Nathan Wood was a starter in Juric's first 3 Premier League games, but was benched for the fourth at Manchester United, although he came on in the 83rd minute.

An unused sub at Nottingham Forest and since then since mid January he has appeared just once, 45 minutes in the home defeat to Bournemouth, two months ago.

Armel Bella-Kotchap, was selected just once by Russell Martin, he has fared a little better under Juric, 2 starts and 2 sub appearances, but this seemed to because of injury issues and he hasn't been seen on the pitch for a month now.

Ryan Fraser was another who Martin largely ignored despite being a key member of the Promotion squad last season.

Since Juric's arrival he has played just once, an 88th minute sub appearance against his old club Newcastle, hardly giving him much of a chance to impress his new manager.

Lastly is January loan signing Albert Gronbaek, he had a decent debut up at Ipswich for only our second win of the season, and a week later strangely only got 2 minutes off the bench in the FA Cup defeat to Burnley, he then came on as sub again in his 3rd match, another 88th minute cameo in the defeat to Brighton.

Back in the first team line up at Liverpool, he played 64 minutes, again a reasonable performance, not spectacular, but since then a month ago, just another appearance off the bench this time in the 83rd minute.

Given the performances of those around him, he might feel that he has not played badly when called upon, but has barely been given a chance, when he has, he has been played out of position.

So all of the Dirty Half Dozen in Juric's eyes can feel hard done by, they all offer something different and as i have said, those that have been selected ahead of them have hardly shone.

So who of them will find themselves back in favour when Simon Rusk selects his first squad since Juric's departure, we will soon find out.

All Photos Via Reuters

underweststand added 06:24 - Apr 10 Agree with most of your comments ( Nick) especially about Taylor and Gronbaek. Fraser's strength has always been his pace (and not a few goals last season),which leaves us with Sulemana as our only genuine winger. Wood-Gordon was a good partner for THB in England's U23's, but not sure how well he fits in with other defenders we have at present but maybe Edwards is a better bet at CB. ABK didn't look entirely out of place in our otherwise poor defence, but don't think he was ever trained up to " Prem. standard." Interesting to see the sides that the Rusk/ Lallana combo select in the first few matches. Being made "assistant" doesn't preclude Lallana from getting game time in (perhaps) his last season. He reads a game as well as anyone, and the concept of Player / Manager is not unknown - especially with his experience.

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Block8 added 11:18 - Apr 10 Not sticking up for either ex manager but we don't see how these guys train. If the effort isn't there then, will it be there on the pitch? That and the fact we have a very large squad might partly explain the omissions, as those that were selected have hardly covered themselves with glory!
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Monksway added 14:39 - Apr 10 Saints need to use the early relegation to prepare for next year. Decide who is staying and send them on holiday after Easter to return early for an extended pre-season with the new manager. Let those that are going, play out the meaningless last seven games- self interest should ensure they put in some sort of shift. Double Fernandes' pay and refuse to sell him!
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highfield49 added 19:32 - Apr 10 No harm at all in speculating who might stay, who might go, who believes that they're a much better player than actually are, probably a few of those in the squad. However, there are a couple of other considerations I think. How do you offload players on expensive contracts who won't want a pay cut and how many of the players in the squad will be suited to the new managers needs. I'm presuming that the managerial appointment will be made only after the guys on the shortlist have watched the squad in action, not necessarily live, and done due diligence on their ability to adapt. Thankfully there are, allegedly at least, managerial candidates who have credibility this time around. Whether there are players in the squad that either have the talent or can learn to play at a higher level is the new manager's immediate concern.

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