With the Daily Echo reporting that Claude Puel is concerned over the fitness levels of Cedric Soares and Jose Fonte for Saturday's opened against Watford, we have to ask a couple of questions.
Whilst there is o doubt that both Fonte and Soares are physically fit and raring to go, the issue for Puel is whether they are match fit having both only played 45 minutes since the Euro 2016 final.
It is vital that both Cedric Soares and Jose Fonte are fit and ready to play against Watford on Saturday, in the case of Fonte the truth is that we have not got a back up central defender of the level that we need if either he or indeed Virgil Van Dijk should be missing through injury and suspension, this is something that I am surprised has not been addressed yet.
Yes we do have Yoshida, but the reality is he is not good enough at the level we are looking to compete at.
In the case of Cedric Soares, yes we have Jeremy Pied to back him up and the Frenchman looked reasonable in Sunday's game against Athletic Club, however that was his only 45 minutes since last season so he has less fitness than Soares, after that the options are only Martina or Yoshida, unless Puel opts for Valery in a shock debut.
So there are two questions to be asked, the first is has Claude Puel got it wrong with their fitness programme ? has he and the coaching staff been too easy on them and not given them enough game time, certainly both could have played a little more against Athletico and secondly they could have played a small part against Espanyol.
The second question is whether both are actually ready to play and is this article in the Ech merely a smokescreen to disrupt Watford's gameplan, after all if both were truly not quite ready then surely we would not be announcing that fact with four days to go to the game.
From a fitness perspective both would still have had the core fitness from the Euros, the job was to try and give them as much rest after that as was possible, unlike the players who had a complete break they would not have needed the exteme elements of pre season fitness training, they just needed to be eased back into the swing of things.
This weekend will see it being five weeks since the Euro final and they have been back at Saints for the last two, they will have that physical fitness, they will have had that three weeks rest, all they need is a little match sharpness.
That is a worry, but is it a big worry ? I would say no, they have worked behind closed doors in training and in some respects playing them now will be no more a risk than playing a player after a suspension or injury lay off of the same period.
There is also the factor that this is the opening game of the season, as those who saw any of our pre season friendlies will testify, none of these games were payed at any great pace or urgency and I would imagine that Watford's pre season would be similar, put bluntly both probably are as match sharp as most of the players who will be on the pitch of either side, indeed with their participation in France it could be said they are more so.
So I think that Jose Fonte and Cedric Soares will line up in the side on Saturday, if they don't then questions really have to be asked.