Saints have even more injury woes as Mauricio Pellegrino looks to save his job in the FA Cup trip to West London to take on Fulham.

Mauricio Pellegrino has pledged to put out his strongest side at Fulham, mind you he doesn't seem to have a lot of choice with a raft of injuries meaning that it will be more a case of getting a side out rather than selecting is best XI.

The latest injury is Jeremy Pied who joins fellow right back Cedric Soares who has an ankle injury, WEsley Hoedt with concussion and Charlie Austin with a hamstring tear on the sidelines.

This leaves Pellegrino with a defensive dilemma at right back.

His options include moving Stephens to right back, playing someone out of position perhaps James Ward Prowse or god know what.

If he moves Stephens across that would seem the more logical option, but would leave him very short in the centre, he could give a run out to Jan Bednarek who has been on the bench in recent weeks or he could move Ryan Bertrand across and play Matt Targett at left back.

The latter would seem the most sensible selection although many fans would argue that the word sensible is rarely applicable in Pellegrino's team selections.

The manager though has vowed to play his strongest team and has also confirmed that he will continue to play Alex McCarthy in goal.

This game though highlights how short Saints are at the back and the urgency to get in an experienced and quality central defender as a matter of urgency.

Photo: Action Images

petedoors1 added 10:37 - Jan 5 Do the Board know what they are doing? If they did why have we got no new players already this week? They have known all season that we needed a new striker and that VVD was going. What has happened to the Black Box?
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DockersRottingCorpse added 10:37 - Jan 5 With a £5 million war chest to spend in the January transfer window which is all the van Dijk money after expenses ( it's a very complex system and you idiotic fans wouldn't understand) I'm sure we can unearth a gem from the tyro league.
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SanMarco added 10:53 - Jan 5 MP is caught in a bind - he would love to throw this one ala Arsenal last year but his job is on the line. Fulham are a decent side and will beat us if they want to (and possibly even if they dont like Wolves in the LC). On Sunday morning we will all be talking about concentrating on the league. On petedoors' point I think the deadline must be to have new players ready to PLAY at Watford in a week's time.

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underweststand added 11:16 - Jan 5 Why do some fans think we should have signed 2-3 new players ...by January 2nd.? Surely we've all seen the interviews where the many details involved in a transfer deal are discussed. If we sign a player from outside Britain, they'll be work permits, agents fees, international clearances and a whole lot more, plus since the VvD deal, I'm sure some clubs will have hiked-up fees for their players, and Saints aren't likely to splash out £20-30 million on anyone - despite the surplus cash from the VvD deal. Despite those re-assurances from the Board (often the kiss of death in 2 weeks time) they'll want to hold a bit longer to see if MP can turn the corner - or save some for yet another new manager to sign his favourites - on deadline day. Don't hold your breath.

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TimSaint added 12:13 - Jan 5 Underwest That is the whole point though isn't it ? Liverpool got the VvD deal agreed upfront in advance, so they could do the transfer on the first day the window opened. It is not like we didn't know he was going, so surely we could have arranged similar deals with clubs for our targets, or perhaps looked at including a Sturridge loan in the deal ? (rather than talk about it after the VvD deal was completed ?) You just know that with Saints, we will hold out for as long as physically possible, to save money on wages and gain valuable interest in our transfer kitty - when the reality is we need immediate change on the pitch and players need to be in, settled and ready for the 6 pointer at Watford !!

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StRipper added 12:17 - Jan 5 According to the interview with MoPe yesterday, there's a chance Jan Valery will play at RB against Fulham. I really hope he does because playing another average CB in the RB slot seems pointless. I'd also like to know what is really up with Hoedt. MoPe said that he was out for up to a few days because of the clash with Lukaku. Now that is over a week ago so he should be OK, not forgetting Hoedt was fine to play the full Man U game. There's clearly another problem there that we aren't being told about. Another fall out between Hoedt and Pellegrino?

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BaselSaint added 12:23 - Jan 5 Good effot by Pied against Palace but I could see he was not up to full match fitness, took a battering and he is now injured. Was half expecting it.
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BaselSaint added 12:25 - Jan 5 Also... lay the C team if they want. This season is lost. If we aoid relegation
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BaselSaint added 12:27 - Jan 5 Try again... play the reserves. Now we should just concern ourselves with avoiding relegation.
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kenis added 12:34 - Jan 5 Dont see this as a problem at all. Lots of options: - Play the french kid Valery (sp). Looked good in pre-season a while ago, and surely this is what we are about as a club - giving youngsters a chance? - Alternatively play McQueen or Target there, still remember Dan Harding had a great game at right back for us in the Johnston's Paint final and its not uncommon for right footers to be deployed at left back. - play three at the back (with Bert, Yosh and Stephens or Yosh, Bed and Stephens) and deploy W-P as right sided wingback - either in a 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 The problem with this game is getting some confidence back in the squad and getting some goals. Play Long and Gabbi together I say and pray neither gets injured!

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underweststand added 13:35 - Jan 5 St.Ripper...about Jan Valery...he was signed as a RB and most of the televised games I've watched he's played there. Can't recall when he ever played as CB. The fact that Hoedt wasn't carried off on a stretcher doesn't mean he didn't suffer some head injury, I know he finished the game but he might still have been slightly concussed. I recall there was some FA directive that players who had suffered head injuries should be rested a week. He might have suffered some sort of setback. Better safe than sorry.

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StRipper added 21:01 - Jan 5 Underweststand, to your points, that's what I said about Valery. Play him at RB. The speculation is that we will instead play a CB at RB and not play Valery. Not sure where you are getting me saying to play Valery at CB? As for the Hoedt head injury. Watch the interview with Pellegrino yesterday. It was him who said about Hoedt only needing put a few days off as a precaution. He then indicated there were other unspecified reasons why he won't play

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underweststand added 08:58 - Jan 6 St. Ripper ..the Jan Valery comment was clealy a misunderstanding on my part. He has only ever been RB... (when I've seen him play). as for Hoedt...MP's comments could mean anything from " threatening to go on strike " to " head injury more serious than we thought" ... but I'm not going to panic everyone.
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