The big talking point ahead of kick off against Huddersfield Town was the absence of Virgil Van Dijk, the Dutchman not even being on the bench.
Mauricio Pellegrino was very elusive about why he had not even picked Virgil Van Dijk for the bench for what was a vital must win game not only in terms of Saints league position but the manager's own future with the club.
This suggested that all is not well in the Saints dressing room and that the problem is Van Dijk.
Speaking after the game Pellegrino refused to confirm the exact reasons.
"I decide it is the best for this moment.
"This is the reason.
"I am responsible to pick the 11 players and I try to pick the best for the team."
"I think around him will be a lot of speculation and we have to wait what happens.”
When asked whether Saints fans have seen the last of van Dijk, Pellegrino replied:
"I don’t know.
"We have to wait but I will repeat there will be a lot of speculation around him.”
Pellegrino was then questioned as to if the speculation was the real reason behind his decision to leave out van Dijk, and said:
"I don’t have nothing to say about that. I choose the players because I think it’s the best for today.”
The last words perhaps tell most, clearly Pellegrino has a problem with Van Dijk although whether that is a direct issue or only that he feels that the Dutchman's attitude is not right and his commitment is not there is unclear.
Saints fans rightly feel agrieved at Van Dijk, although he might be upset that he ws not alllowed to join Liverpool back in the summer, he is a professional and should honour his contract and earn his not insubstantial salary rather than sulk and in doing so endanger his current club's Premier League position.
So it looks like Van Dijk has played his last for the club, it looks like he is going to continue along the lines that he appalingly did back in the summer and try to force a move from St Mary's by his behaviour.
Certainly his attitude and commitment has not been there of late and from that viewpoint Saints fans will be glad to see the back of him.
However it does show the supporters that in this day and age trying to force a player to stay once his head has been turned by another club is very difficult, Saints have sold more players than most clubs in the past 4 years, but that has been the secret of their success, the ability to make money an reinvest and repeat the process, that has been something many supporters have been unhappy to realise, perhaps one thing that can be learned from this sorry saga when it is over, is that Saints are quite capable of standing firm to players demands, but that may not always be the right course of action.