Saints look to get their first Premier League win of the season when they take on Swansea City at St Mary's on Sunday afternoon.
Claude Puel showed on Thursday evening that he has a big squad and that he is not afraid to use it, and as a sign of the headache he has in keeping everyone happy in it, the starting line up saw only Charlie Austin, Oriol Romeu, JWP & Matt Targett not full internationals, with the bench having all the outfield players full caps bar Nathan Redmond and that still didnt include Cedric Soares and new signing Sofiane Boufal.
So the headache for Puel for the Swansea game will be just who is in the starting line up and who is out.
The difficulty for him will be that all of the starting line up played well and deserve to start on merit, however that will not be possible.
Puel has showed in his first games in charge that he is willing to change and adapt depending on the opposition and he is well aware that with so many games coming thick and fast between now and Christmas he has to male sure players stay fresh and fit.
I would think that the back four would revert to Soares, Fonte, VVD & Ryan Bertrand, that is harsh on Martina and Targett, both of whom had good games on Thursday, but it is the strongest line up along the back line.
The centre of midfield is more difficult, Puel has some good players there, all of whom are worth a place in the starting line up on their own merits, I would think Oriol Romeu should be nailed on given he has been our best player over the last two games overall and Steven Davis should be as well as he is Mr Consistent and brings something to the side that many fans don't always see.
After that it is a little more difficult, Clasie, JWP & Hojbjerg all are quality in their own ways, for me though it has got to be Hojbjerg who gets the nod.
Then it gets hard, Austin and Rodriguez are both scoring and Long always brings hard work to the party and then there is Dusan Tadic and Nathan Redmond to fit in.
I think Tadic and Redmond should get the nod and play Charlie Austin up front, he is not as mobile as the other options, but he is hungry for goals and having hit a couple of Thursday wants more.
I think though Puel will return him to the bench and use Shane Long.
But it is good to see the options that the manager has and more importantly that he seems to have the tactical nous to use them all and use them in different ways and against Sparta he started to win over a sceptic or two.
Now he needs to win over a few more and the way to do that is to beat Swansea and beat them well, I have never subscribed to the view that we lack firepower up front, we have the players who can score goals, it is all about utilising them to not only the best of their ability but the way that the team is playing.
There can be no issues about tiredness after Europe, we have had plenty of rest and probably well over half the team that starts against the Swans will have played little or no part in the Sparta Prague game.
Saints do need to win this game though, if this season is to be successful then Claude Puel needs to win the fans over, he made a start on that on Thursday and on Sunday he needs to make another big leap forward by winning our first game of the Premier League season and making the table look a lot better.