BroxroyalTop Flight I haven't read any of this thread, so what I am about to say may have already been discussed.
Guthrie has now put McDermott in such a difficult position. Guthrie has been such an idiot and has almost made it untenable for him to play in the centre of midfield against Arsenal on Monday night. This is the problem.
Clearly Leigertwood needs to be dropped because he is looking out of his depth at this level. But how can McDermott tell Leigertwood that he is going to be dropped in favour of Guthrie after the way that Guthrie has been behaving lately?
What an absolute nightmare for McDermott. Guthrie needs to come in for Leigertwood, but Guthrie's behaviour has made it almost impossible for McDermott to tell Leigertwood that he is dropped and that silly plonker Guthrie who has been acting like a fool will be coming in to replace you.
It will look like, because Guthrie has been acting like a baby and refused to travel to Sunderland that his silly behaviour has worked and he has got his place back in the team. Picking Guthrie, what sort of message will that send out to the rest of the squad?
Guthrie, you're an idiot.... You have made it impossible for McDermott to pick you now.
The way round that conundrum is for Guthrie to start on the bench and replace Leigertwood at some point (say 70 mins), if Leigertwood is performing to his usual standard.
That's what should have happened at Southampton and if it had we wouldn't be where we are today.