Saints were handed a killer blow as Virgil Van Dijk will be out for two to three months according to Claude Puel.

Claude Pule has confirmed that Virgil Van Dijk will be sidelined for a long period, perhaps two to three months after his ankle injury against Leicester City.

This will be a major blow to Saints and they are now very short of quality in the centre of defence going into one of the most important periods in the club's history with Van Dijk missing the League Cup final.

Some would point to Puel's penchant for trying to outfox the opposition and mislead them with the extent of an injury and try to clutch at straws, but although this has happened on several previous occasions with Puel claiming a player will miss a game only to play him a couple of days later, he would do well to keep Van Dijk out of the spotlight and then bring him back at Wembley.

Puel said:
“van Dijk will stay not available for many weeks, two or three months. I don’t know how many times he will stay out but it’s a problem and it’s difficult."

“We are unlucky with Virgil because he was important for the group in defence with his quality and his leadership also."

Many Saints supporters will now be up in arms about the clubs failure to land a central defensive target in the January window, it was obvious that Jose Fonte would leave the club and therefore the fans would feel that Les Reed and his team had plenty of time to source a replacement.

The failure to do so is now exasperated by the injury to Van Dijk and some would claim that in the centre of defence we have gone from haing one of the strongest pairings to now having one of the weakest, something that could cost us dearly not only at Wembley but in the remainder of the Premier league season.

Many are accusing Les Reed of being too smug and of promising that Fonte would not be allowed to leave without a replacement first being signed, whilst I am sure that eed was working hard to bring in someone, the fact remains that he didn't and what should be a joyous period in the run up to Wembley is now soured by the weakness in our back four, the very backbone our success has been built on in the past few years.

Photo: Action Images

patred added 15:33 - Feb 2 we should also be aware that the club went into the last TWO WEEKS or so of the window knowing VvD would be out for a long time. They were told this after his first scan, but chose to ignore the obvious until second scan confirmed it. Ostrich can bury thier heads in the sand...not football clubs, not when there so much at stake.
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Cjay80 added 15:53 - Feb 2 I am normally positive in my support, described as a "happy clapper" but for the first time this season I am concerned. I was confident that by not securing a CB it meant VVD was going to be fit for Wembley. This news today concerns me. Whilst I have faith that Yoshi, Stephens, Gardos, Bertrand or even Alfie Jones could do a job, the complacency displayed by not securing Sakho on loan, anyone from Hull who looked like they were having a fire sale, or even Martin Caceres who is a free agent, leaving Gabbi until the last hour has astounded me. The board need to stop penny pinching. We should be building on last season, instead it looks like we are trying to be world champions on the cheap. Rant over. Good luck to all the boys, I will be cheering you all on at Wembley, whoever is picked to play. I am sure all 11 will defend to the death like against Liverpool for 180 minutes.

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Bettwsresident added 15:54 - Feb 2 Our fixture list is weird...this could be only 6 games. After playing 37 games in 6 months, we only have 6 EPL games and the cup final in the whole of Feb and March. April we have 6. If VVD is back after 2 months then he only misses 7 EPL games overall. Yoshi has been good since he came back into the side and Stephens looks like a composed player. We just need a bit more height from somewhere. PEH instead of clasie/JWP? Still that shite Vardy should have been banned..it was a cynical as it comes, hacking at his ankle from behind.

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TimSaint added 16:02 - Feb 2 There will of course be the rearranged Arsenal Home game to consider in the number of games VvD will miss, but I am just hoping that the club are trying to call the bluff of Man Utd and the rest of our opponents this season.
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DPeps added 16:18 - Feb 2 The club's transfer dealings have been shambolic this season. 1.)Everyone knew that Fonte has been agitating for a move since the summer, but rather than sell him then or force him to stay the season, we let him go to a rival mid-season. And don't get a replacement! Knowing that one injury to a key defender will massively compromise us! And then VVD gets injured, and no replacement is bought in. Ok, the league is a write-off but we're in a cup final! 2.) 90% of fans knew that we were short up front in August, but no one was brought in. This meant that we've ended up paying over the odds for a striker in Jan, when the league is already a write-off! 3.) Jury is out on all the players we've bought this season, in my opinion. The black box needs a full service!

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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 16:24 - Feb 2 This is a disaster! Puel will have to go with playing three at the back. Yoshida, Gardos and Bertrand. Then with Cedric and McQueen as wing backs. Stephens struggles to deal with crosses so you can't have him AND Bertrand in there. Gardos is very good in the air so needs to play or teams will expolit our aerial weakness. Yoshida is good in the air but nowhere near as dominant as VVD or Fonte. Koeman played a similar 3-5-2 system to get us out of that terrible Christmas/New Year run last year. We actually got 6 clean sheets on the bounce playing 3 at the back. I fear that the Yoshida & Stephens pairing will concede soft goals, which we simply can't afford to do because we aren't scoring enough. Wow! We really need Gabbiadini to be an instant hit or we are in the ....

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LordDZLucan added 16:29 - Feb 2 The only positive aspect of all of this is that we're going to have to change tactics. The defence is no longer our strength so there has got to be more of an emphasis on attack moving forward and especially against West Ham. If we just sit back Andy Carroll is going to fill his boots.
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Bettwsresident added 16:45 - Feb 2 This is worth a read... http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1spj7nr
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aceofthebase added 16:51 - Feb 2 The defence needs to be strengthened and in addition so does the midfield. Reedy could have the answer but please no Classie or Reed, big boys are needed. I still think that Martina with his height is a far better defender than Cedic.
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SaintPaulVW added 17:19 - Feb 2 Cheers Bettwsresident. If true, that makes perfect sense, still leaves us in the sh*t now though. In Stephens we trust!
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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 17:35 - Feb 2 Very interesting Bettwsresident!! Shame we didn't land one of those players.
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dixiefrog added 18:29 - Feb 2 I would agree that VVD is a very important cog in the Saints machine but we must have faith in the full squad. Every player who crosses the white line to play for our beloved Saints puts everything they have into getting a results for the club and fans. I think we do the other defenders a huge injustice in not sufficiently recognising their contribution to the cause. I say let's get behind Yosh, Soares, Bertrand, Stephens and the others and roar then on, we might have lost a champion but we have many more champions prepared to do us proud.

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SanMarco added 18:29 - Feb 2 Any evidence that any of that is actually true Bettwsresident? I believe that not getting in a CB is a huge risk. If Yoshi were to get injured now it would be calamitous (I can't believe I'm saying that but that's how far down the toilet are defensive strength has gone). I think the usual Panglossian 'isn't everything marvellous' brigade will be finding it hard to justify this one...

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SanMarco added 18:32 - Feb 2 And here is good old Dixiefrog trying as I speak!! I notice you mention only two CBs in your list - it is no offence to anyone to say that number ought to be 4...
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AmericanSaint added 19:10 - Feb 2 Bettwsresident - if what you write is true then the club did try to get reinforcements at CB. I would like to say something here that will probably get me a lot negative points, but here is my two cents. 1. We are going to finish mid-table (unless we have a crazy run like last year). So with that reality, i think it is alright that we give Stephens a proper run of games. I watched all the games and while he has has some issues, he has also shown that he can do the job. We are always lauding our academy about the ones who rolled off the line (to other teams), then we need to find out at some point if they are any good. We need him and Gordos to be ready for the final as that will be a battle. 2. ReedReed - has a good idea of the 3 back and 2 wing backs bombing up. This maybe our best option to solidify the back and since we are already trying to use our wingbacks for the offense this will not expose us as much. 3. People need to get off Yoshie's back. He has been playing well. Period. 4. Puel needs to stick to the same defense for every game until the final so that the players get used to each other and learn to cover for one another. 5. I agree that not having a new CB come in is hard to take, but I also dont thin we need to be held hostage by ridiculous 3+M pay wage demands for some of these guys,. Ok, with all that said, lets get behind the team like we have been doing and believe that with the reduction of games , Puel will start to stick to a more regular team with only one or two changes, not the 4 or 5 each week. COYR

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Bettwsresident added 21:08 - Feb 2 San Marco/American saint. It is something I picked up from Chris Rann and it makes sense to me. The track record of this club is to buy out of the glare (how often do we appear in BBC's gossip for our purchases) and pick up the type of players mentioned in that article. Also since the great exodus in 2013 we have always been ready to replace and with the fonte situation telegraphed i really can't believe a professional outfit like Saints didn't have someone lined up from a long way out..and it went sour at the 11th hour causing us to go down the list of options. I think the performance of Stephens against pool was an eye opener for teh club and he mopped up behind yoshi really well

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aceofthebase added 21:15 - Feb 2 I'm having this nightmare ' Fonte gathers a ball that has bounced over Classie's head and sends the ball high into the six yard area. Forster is rooted to his line and Carroll outjumps Cedric by three feet and heads the ball into the net' Nah, it couldn't happen! Could it? Ah well a few more minus marks coming I fear.
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Bettwsresident added 21:28 - Feb 2 Sorry that should have read, the great exodus of the summer of 2014
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dixiefrog added 21:53 - Feb 2 Blah, blah, moan, moan...oh woe is me we've lost our only good player. Get a grip lads (and lasses) with the talent in our team we've easily enough to beat Wet Spam and go on to beat MU at Wembley. My prediction for Saturday, a 2-1 win for the mighty Saints...hopefully that'll settle your nerves.
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SanMarco added 22:39 - Feb 2 Thanks for the reassurance dixiefrog - I will sleep easier tonight now, who needs centre backs anyway? Now I think about it I wish we had sold Yoshi and Stephens too...
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SanMarco added 22:40 - Feb 2 Easy mistake to make Bettwsresident they are after all annual events.
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SonicBoom added 09:02 - Feb 3 "Many Saints supporters will be up in arms".... "and some would claim that in the centre of defence we have gone from haing one of the strongest pairings to now having one of the weakest" "Many are accusing Les Reed of being too smug..." So, other Saints fans, but not you then Nick ?
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simmo400 added 07:18 - Feb 5 He won't play for Saints again. More money to be made but I wonder what league we will be in ?
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