At 10.30pm on Tuesday night there seemed to be no light at the end of the tunnel for Saints for their trip to Newcastle United, but Ralph Hasenhuttl had some good and bad news on the injury front.
The first bit of good news was that Jan Bednarek would not be suspended for the trip to the North East after his red card at Old Trafford was quite rightly overturned.
Speaking about Bednarek's situation, Ralph had this to say:
"It was the only possible decision for us. It's just a pity that this decision was not made during the game because maybe there would have been less drama.
"The squad feeling is that we've made this experience once and what happened afterwards was a reaction that everyone wanted to show."
"Games like this can happen from time to time. It's up to us to show what team we are. The good thing is, after every setback, you see new hope.
The next piece of good news was that Jannik Vestergaard, Oriol Romeu and Kyle Walker Peters are also in line for a return, although Ralph Hasenhuttl was cagey about how quickly that would be.
"Oriol [Romeu] is training today, we maybe have Jannik [Vestergaard] back available for the weekend. I see Minamino training today, he's made a fantastic start already. This gives us all an emotional lift to be honest.
"I had today the first time to speak to him at length. It's the right choice for us, I'm very happy he's around the team. He's showed me already he's got the qualities to help us.
Kyle [Walker-Peters] is maybe available. But there's no good news without bad news."
The bad news was that Stuart Armstrong one of the better performers in recent games is unlikely to play against Newcastle.
"Stu [Armstrong] has a problem with his muscle, he'll be out for this weekend. The problems with injuries do not stop"
However the manager didn't give any updates on Theo Walcott, Ibrahima Diallo and Mohammed Salisu and it can only be assumed that they will again be missing.
With Romeu and new signing added to the squad from Tuesday it strengthens the squad even with Stuart Armstrong missing, although it will only be one extra player in numbers, it is the options it offers the manager that will offer hope, Romeu will be a boost in the centre of midfield and Minamino can play in several positions.
But the real key will be if he can get KWP or Jannik Vestergaard in the squad, just having them on the bench will be a big boost to team morale and spirit.