With the World Cup now looming in just under two months time, Ralph Hasenhuttl is already formulating his plans for the squad in that time, although he does have a double edged sword, on one hand he will only see 2 or 3 of his players picked for the tournament, on the other he has an almost complete squad to keep fit and ready to go on Boxing Day.

There are now only 54 days to go before the opening match of the 2022 World Cup, perhaps not only the most controversial but in being so, perhaps the one that has prompted the most apathy in Football fans across the World.

Certainly in Europe where it will be played mid season, we in England sometimes forget that for countries on other continents the World Cup usually interrupts their season.

But this World Cup will perhaps affect Saints less than many Premier League clubs, in short we have perhaps just 3 players currently at the Club with a chance of going to Qatar, with Mohammed Salisu (Ghana), Armel Bella-Kotchap (Germany) and James Ward-Prowse (England) all in with a shot of making the trip.

Jan Bednarek is of course still officially a Saints player, but he does not seem to consider himself part of the club, there is also a long shot outside chance that Kyle Walker Peters could be a wild card pick.

If i'm honest after watching the debacle that has been England recently and the spirited come back against Germany didn't do much to change my opinion of Gareth Southgate's selections, I think that James Ward Prowse will not go to Quatar, instead like the Euro's of last year Southgate will take players who will be 3rd choice in their position and won't get a game and will fail to take Ward Prowse, although I think he is not a started in the team, his ability to deliver a pass, a free kick and set pieces, is something England could well do with in the final third of a game.

So I think that when the squads are announced, of the players currently at the club, we are likely to have only two going, Salisu & Bella-Kotchap, however the German who made his debut for his country last night in a late cameo, is far from certain of a place and it remains to be seen if he is risked in this tournament due to his inexperience.

But even if all three are selected this leaves Ralph with a real problem and that is a virtual full squad sat at home twitching their fingers, he has six weeks to not only keep them fit but keep them amused.

I would say the first thing to do would be to give them a break, a week or so to jet off and get some sun and some rest and relaxation, footballers are taken to the physical limit these days.

So this is going to be in effect like a pre season, we need to give our players relaxation and then slowly build them up to match sharpness again.

After that break perhaps a training camp somewhere hot and then return to build up match fitness with a few closed door friendlies.

I would think this would be the case for most clubs.

Ralph Hasenhuttl has had this to say.

"It affects the plans because when you have a break for six weeks I think that affects you, We have to organise a training camp and concentrate on a quick restart. We don’t have many games until the break so it's a little bit different this season.

"As soon as you get in the rhythm you stop for a long time. It feels a little bit like in Austria when we were stopping at the end of November and starting in March when I was playing. I think it's also different because meanwhile we have the grass heating and everything so they're playing longer but I remember when I was playing I think we stopped in November and then started in March again."

So with so few players likely to go to Quatar, is this going to be good for Saints or bad.

Manchester City for example are likely to have as many as 16 of their squad at the tournament, likewise Chelsea who could be just behind with 14 or 15.

Manchester United will have around a dozen, maybe one less after his performance last night for England, Tottenham have around 10 and Liverpool strangely only around 7 or 8 depending on Trent Alexander Arnold's selection or not.

So with Saints likely to have only 3 at best and perhaps only 1 there are going to be plus's and minus's.

On the minus side we will have virtually the whole squad to keep focused over a six week period, although they should be fitter and stay relatively injury free, they will not be match sharp, which will be the case for some of those at the World Cup, the balance being how many games each individual player actually plays, those who reach the later stages will play more and will be physically tired coming back to the re start and those whose countries are knocked out early doors will perhaps still be fit and raring to go and will benefit from a short rest before the Premier League starts.

So there is an optimum time limit on participation in this tournament that will decide who comes back at just the right level and who comes back jaded.

On the plus side we also have virtually the whole squad, the manager can spend time gelling together a squad where virtually half of it has joined between July & August, he can work with them and bond them together and bring them to the boil at just the right time.

It could also pay dividends in the New Year as playing so many games both in the World Cup and also European club competitions will start to take it's toll on some players, top teams moan now about their squads having to play 50 -60 games a year when they take cup competitions into account, some players might be adding another 5-7 games to that total if their country reaches the quarter finals and beyond.

So this is going to be a strange six week period for Premier League clubs, but each will have a different set of problems to overcome when football returns on Boxing Day, but hopefully Saints will be using their time well and will have fine tuned a relatively young squad and be raring to go, hopefully with the addition of a certain Tino Livramento to the matchday squad some time early after the return.

Photo: Action Images

I_would added 15:06 - Sep 27 Let's hope Prowsey uses his time wisely and practices his free kicks and corners as the gloss seems to have gone off of the dead ball specialist's set pieces so far this season.
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Block8 added 17:35 - Sep 27 I don't think JWP will be selected as Southgate will probably take 9 goalkeepers! He isn't firing as sharply as he has been unfortunately and I strongly believe he will need to leave us to progress with the England set up. On the football front, I agree with a break for the players, then a training camp (where we practice moving the ball faster) and then a couple of testing friendlies. There are loads of teams out there in a similar situation.

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cocklebreath added 23:06 - Sep 27 I’m sure after a break we always get beat so expect a huge battering after 6 weeks off
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saintmark1976 added 09:34 - Sep 28 Ralph needs to concentrate on the eight Premiership games before the World Cup. Any more pathetic displays akin to our last match at Villa and I suspect he will be able to watch the World Cup completely at his leisure, with no concerns about S F C whatsoever.
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