Saints now head into the most hectic period of the season, the good news is they have a fully fit squad to handle it and the bad news is that we will have to start to use most of that squad rather than stick to the same basic starting line up that has served us so well over the past few months.

Saints getting the injury list cleared could not come at a better time as we head into a period that sees us play 3 games in the next 6 days followed by the Xmas period meaning that in the next 3 weeks up to and including the game against Liverpool currently scheduled for 2nd January we will squeeze in 6 games in just 20 days.

That is going to stretch the squad and Ralph Hasenhuttl will need to have a slight tweak in his team selections, we have built our great form on the core of a team where at the moment the starting XI almost picks itself, with the only changes made have been down to injuries.

The good news though is that we have options to make tactical changes whether they are due to injury, to change a game or to rest players, the squad is strong in some areas and weaker in others and we have to make sure that we manage the game time of these where we have no cover.

The real worry for Saints fans is Danny Ings, it cannot be denied that he is the icing on the cake, he is a vital component, but we are not a one man team , it is vital that he is able to play in all of these six games, but that doesn't mean that he has to play every minute of them.

A Year ago Ralph Hasenhuttl showed that he knows how to use his squad when he rested Ings on Boxing day at Chelsea, that didn't have any adverse affect, but there are those out there who felt that being 4-1 up at Villa the striker should not have been on the pitch with 10 minutes to go, he had done his job, rest him for another day, this is what we now need to do in the next 3 weeks.

It will be good to see Mohammed Salisu get game time and show us he is a vital addition to the squad, likewise Ibrahima Diallo who has had little game time so far.

Some of the younger players should get time on the pitch, Will Smallbone, Nathan Tella and Dan NLundulu not to mention Michael Obafemi.

This period will start to thin out the top half of the League a bit, we have to make sure that when we kick off against Liverpool we are still in the position that we are now and ready to have a good go at a European spot in the second half of the season.

Photo: Action Images

underweststand added 11:14 - Dec 13 Good to see Danny Ings in the start side again, and also a place for Walcott.... ....and even the bench looks fairly impressive.
0

Southampton Polls