Southampton braced to lose key man for nearly a month in big mid-season blow
Tonda Eckert has now been in the Southampton dug-out for an entire full Championship season of matches.
After beating Queens Park Rangers 4-1 on Saturday afternoon in front of an ecstatic and noisy St Mary's following, Eckert now has 27 victories next to his name from those 46 clashes, which is a very fine record for the German to be proud of.
At the end of the day, though, he will want promotion to be won to back up all these sweet wins, with the Saints firmly in the playoff picture at the time of wriitng, with one eye concentrating on the automatic promotion spaces.
The wins just keep being collected even with Cyle Larin being in the treatment room, as the likes of Kuryu Matsuki has found his shooting boots to make up for the missing Brampton Bagsman.
Matsuki's inspired form
Larin is currently Southampton's top goalscorer in Championship action this season with seven strikes.
But, if his injury issues continue, he could be overtaken by an inspired Matsuki, as the Japan international is now up to four goals for the season, having scored three strikes across his last four Championship outings.
He is in an inspired vain of form, as he took his early chance to make it 1-0 against the R's confidently, before the win was then secured emphatically, courtesy of his other teammates.
Matsuki would also score the opener during the chaotic 3-2 West Ham United win, and he would pop up with the only strike of the match against Norwich City. Safe to say, he's becoming an important figure down that right flank.
While everything is rosey right now, the promotion chasers will be well aware that they will be losing their in-form attacker mid-way through the season, as international football trumps the second tier for Matsuki temporarily.
He will have to leave mid-season
Indeed, the lively number 27 is set to miss nearly a month of Championship action when early 2027 hits, as he could be called up to Japan's squad for the Asian Cup tournament.
The ill-timed tournament takes place between January 5th and February 7th, which is slap bang in the middle of Southampton's promotion pursuit.
This will be a proud occasion for Matsuki, as he only just received his first ever call-up for the Blue Samurai, but the Saints won't be able to hide their disappointment at losing such a key part of their promotion-aspiring machine.
Currently, when looking over the dense fixture schedule in the New Year, he could be missing for five games, with the FA Cup third round taking place while he's away in Saudi Arabia on international duty.
Moreover, he will miss two successive away trips to Bolton Wanderers on January 16th and QPR on January 23rd.
Dependant on how far Japan go in the tournament, he might also be unavailable for home ties with West Bromwich Albion and Preston North End.
It's likely that Japan will go the distance, with Matsuki's nation the most decorated team in the competition's history, lifting four honours.
Losing him for such a significant amount of time is a blow, there's no getting away from that, as he has nailed down that right wing starting spot across recent matches with crucial goal contributions.
But, Eckert and Co are far from a one-man band, with 13 different Saints goalscorers so far this season.
It could be time for Tom Fellows to finally step up, knowing Matsuki is away for so long.
There is still some time before the Asian Cup kicks off, but the Saints will be bracing themselves for his sudden exit, as Eckert contemplates what he will do when the time arrives.
