SAINTS are facing an anxious wait to find out the extent of Ryan Bertrand’s hamstring injury.
The left back went off after only 19 minutes of England’s World Cup qualifying victory over Malta at Wembley at the weekend.
It left interim boss Gareth Southgate, already without Bertrand’s St Mary’s predecessor Luke Shaw due to injury, bemoaning a “remarkable” spate of injuries.
Bertrand only started as Tottenham’s Danny Rose had been rested due to a tight hamstring, but the latter replaced Bertrand and completed the rest of the game.
Southgate quickly called up Arsenal left-back Kieran Gibbs for tomorrow’s trip to Slovenia after it quickly became obvious Bertrand would not be fit enough to travel.
But Saints boss Claude Puel will be more concerned as to how long his first choice left back will be out for.
Bertrand will almost certainly miss next Sunday’s home clash with Burnley - players who suffer hamstring injuries very rarely play a week later.
After that, Bertrand could also be a doubt for the following Thursday’s glamour Europa League trip to Inter Milan and the daunting Premier League game at table-topping Manchester City three days later.
Young Matt Targett will almost certainly come in for Bertrand, as the 21-year-old played the first three league games of 2016/17 when the ex-Chelsea man was sidelined with a knee injury.
That’s if Targett is fit enough.
After all, he wasn’t fit to travel to Kazakhstan with the England Under-21 squad for last Thursday’s win which clinched his country’s place at next summer’s European Championships.
Targett was expected to be fit enough to rejoin the England squad for tomorrow’s game against Bosnia at Walsall.
Puel will be hoping Targett has totally recovered from his own injury, as after him there is little experienced cover at left back.
The Saints boss resorted to playing midfielder Sam McQueen in that position in some of the club’s pre-season friendlies.
ARTUR Boruc currently has no superiors among his fellow Premier League stoppers, according to Cherries goalkeeping coach Neil Moss.
Ex-Saint Moss and his assistant, Anthony White, have both received confirmation that they are among the first batch of recipients of the inaugural UEFA Goalkeeping A Licence.
And while he is at the top of his own profession, former Cherries number one Moss believes the same is true of the team’s 36-year-old current keeper.
“Artur’s had a great start to the season,” Moss said.
“He came back after the Euros and didn’t have much of a break. He met us in Chicago (on Cherries’ pre-season trip) and his attitude to his training has been excellent.
“He still has ambitions. He wants to be playing for Poland and to be seen as a top Premier League goalkeeper and, at the moment, you’d be hard pushed to see anyone who’s playing better in goal in the Premier League than him.”
Watching brief Boruc did not feature for his country at the summer’s European Championship and he likely to be restricted to a watching brief during the Poles’ forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against Denmark and Armenia, with Lukasz Fabianski and Wojciech Szczesny both ahead of the Cherries man in the pecking order.
“I am surprised (Boruc is not in his international side) because he’s been the form goalkeeper this season in the Premier League,” said Moss.
“Poland are very strong goalkeeping-wise. I really like Fabianski as a keeper – and they have Szczesny as well.
they have some excellent goalkeepers and Artur is one of them.”
Boruc was brought to the Premier League in October 2012, signed by Saints as a free agent.
He went on to play 49 top flight games for Saints before falling out of favour once Ronald Koeman arrived in the summer of 2014.
Sent out on loan to Cherries, Boruc impressed as Eddie Howe’s men won a sensational promotion to the Premier League.
Joining the Dorset club permanently after being released by Saints, Boruc played 32 of Cherries’ 38 top flight games in 2015/16.
He kept seven clean sheets, including one that no doubt gave him huge personal pleasure - against Koeman’s Saints in a 2-0 Dean Court victory last March.
Boruc has kept two clean sheets this term, in successive home league wins against West Brom and Koeman’s Everton.
Boruc has conceded 11 goals in his other five games, though - including four at Manchester City and three at home to Manchester United.
Tadić has played a part in all five of Serbia’s goals in FIFA World Cup qualifiers, scoring twice and assisting the other three.
He starred in their recent victory over Moldova that took them into second place, after a draw with Shane Long’s Republic of Ireland side previously.
Tadić said: “It is always nice to play for your national team squad and we have a great coach there.
“I was really happy. We probably should have won the first game but I was pleased to make an assist and a goal.
“It gives you more confidence and you feel a lot better for it.”
Competing on multiple fronts is nothing new to Tadić and with Burnley and Inter Milan on the horizon after the international break, he is desperate to make a historic season successful for the club’s supporters.
He added: “Our fans deserve to watch us in the Europa League. We are happy to give them those extra matches.
“We always try to make them happy and give our best to make it a successful year.
“It’s always nice to play at home with your fans as the whole stadium is for us, and also away we get great support which helps.”
The Southampton winger has scored three and set up the other five goals for Serbia in their three Group D games so far, leading the way in Sunday’s 3-2 home win over Austria with a goal and two assists.
Tadic’s Serbia career had looked all but over after former coach Radovan Curcic dropped him for friendlies against Poland and Estonia in March, leading the winger to walk away from the international setup.
Slavoljub Muslin, who took over in May, held out an olive branch when he recalled the 27-year-old and Tadic has made the most of a second chance to shine for his country.
“I almost burst into tears when the whole stadium started chanting my name at the end of the game,” Tadic told reporters after the pulsating win over Austria.
“It doesn’t matter who’s getting the assists and the goals, the important thing is that we are winning. Muslin has deployed the right strategy and we’re only going to get better.”
Tadic is thriving in a revamped 3-4-3 formation as a right-sided forward playing behind striker Aleksandar Mitrovic, with Filip Kostic on the other flank.
The role has given him more freedom in attack and Serbia have reaped the rewards, topping the group on seven points from three games, ahead of Ireland on goal difference.
Tadic, however, was quick to highlight that Serbia, who have not qualified for a major tournament since the 2010 World Cup, still had a long way to go in the World Cup campaign.
“It’s a tough group where anyone can beat anyone and we are looking at seven very difficult matches.”
Serbia’s next qualifier is a tough fixture away to Euro 2016 semi-finalists Wales on Nov. 12.
The two sides will face each other at Amsterdam Arena (7.45pm BST), as they both look to wrest control of Group A.
Both lead the way, with four points from their opening two games, and this evening’s clash is likely to be one of the most decisive in the group.
Van Dijk and Clasie were both involved in Friday’s 4-1 win at home to Belarus, with van Dijk starting and Clasie coming on as a substitute in the second half.
Elsewhere tonight, Saints captain José Fonte is away with Portugal for their World Cup qualifier against Faroe Islands (7.45pm BST).
The centre-half played the full game on Friday, as the European Champions cruised to a 6-0 win at home to Andorra.
They now visit minnows Faroe Islands, where they will be expected to make it six points from their first three games in Group B.
| Shane Long Injury Could Have Mixed Results | They say that in life when one door closes another one opens and that could be the case if Shane Long should be … 10-10-2016 |
SHANE Long ended an 18-game goal drought on Sunday, but a positive night turned soured because of an injury.
The Saints striker opened the scoring in the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup qualifying victory in Moldova.
Long netted in only the second minute of his country’s 3-1 success.
After Moldova had levelled, James McLean sealed the Republic’s triumph with two goals in the space of seven second half minutes.
Long had entered the game having failed to score in his previous ten league and cup games for his club and in his last eight appearances for his country.
The 29-year-old’s last goal for Saints came in the 4-2 home win over Manchester City on May 1, and his last goal for Ireland was against Holland in a pre-Euro 2016 friendly the same month.
The former Hull City man hobbled off just past the hour mark for Callum O’Dowda.