Speculation is rife that Fraser Forster could be about to return to the Saints first team in Wednesday night's fixture at St Mary's against Watford.
Ronald Koeman had previously announced that Fraser Forster would continue his comeback in tonight's U21 fixture against Liverpool at Staplewood this evening, but surprisingly Forster was omitted from the line up.
The club however was quick to scotch rumours that he had suffered a set back in his recovery programme by saying that playing Paulo Gazzaniga was more about giving the youngster game time than Forster being injured.
They also stated that Forster had spent the last week in full training with the first team squad with no reactions or issues regarding his knee.
This has lead to speculation that Forster could be about to be thrown back into a first team return for the visit of Watford on Wednesday.
Certainly if Forster had played in tonight's U21 game it would have been folly to have played him in a second game in three days against Watford.
Certainly Ronald Koeman would be keen to get Forster back and may feel that after several weeks full training he is as ready now as he would be for the visit of West Brom on Saturday and that his return may be the spark needed to freshen up a defence that has been lacking in organisation and has been suffering from unacceptable lapses in concentration.
Although Maarten Stekelenburg has not done a lot wrong and has been steady, there has been a feeling amongst Saints supporters that his shot stopping and organisational abilities have been found wanting in the past six weeks, although he has stopped shots you would expect a Prmier League keeper to keep out, he has yet to pull off a real Worldie and too many goals have left the feeling that he doesn't throw himself at shots that look goals enough, that may sound strange but sometimes if a keeper throws himself and makes himself big at what looks like a lost cause, he sometimes gts lucky and makes a stop, Stekelenburg just did not do that.
So the club may use the smokescreen that Gazza needed game time, but the reality is that is not urgent given Forster's imminent return and that surely that would take priority over a need for what will be the third choice keeper to get a game.