Martin Cranie is actually still at the club in case anyone noticed and was at least an England U19 central defender alongside Matthew Mills, two careers which have gone sideways after showing so much promise. Maybe it is time to give him his chance, although he's not quite what we have been lacking.
With Powell injured Saints have lacked a muscular central defender all season to bring out the best in Claus and to combat those typical big centre forwards the Championship specialises in but Saints seem incapable of dealing with on a consistent basis.
The emergency loan period has brought the sole addition of a central midfielder in an already crowed position. Guthrie has shown signs of promise, but without solidity behind him it is difficult to see Saints scraping our way back into the play-off positions.
The perfect time then to bring in a hardened veteran to organise the defence and provide some much needed leadership when the going gets tough.
The Saints squad has more than enough ability, that is part of what makes them such an incredibly frustrating, yet addictive, side to follow. What we need is some good old fashioned Championship grit to start grinding out the results again that we have promised with some flowing football.
How we could do with a fit again Svensson, but in the meantime how about signing his like on an 'emergency' loan in the true sense of the word?