Southampton Banter Archive August 12 2015

12 Aug 2015 10:26:52
Anybody know at what stage Ryan Bertrand is in his recovery to full fitness? Also if we do purchase VVD after he plays in the CL play off for Celtic would he then be cup tied for us in the Europa Cup . Ed 007 said he could play if he plays in the qualifying rounds but I'm not sure whether the play offs alter that situation.

12 Aug 2015 19:42:26
He is back in training to some capacity as Fonte uploaded a video the other day and Bertrand was there in his training kit. Should hear from Koeman as to whether he'll be fit for Saturday at tomorrow's press conference.

And Virgil Van Dijk will be able to play for us as the playoff round is counted as the final qualifying round to reach the group stages.

12 Aug 2015 19:03:02
Bertrand was only supposed to miss something like 4 weeks of this season and Koeman said a couple of weeks ago he was ahead of schedule, so he's probably not that far off training

The rules for cup tied players are stupidly complicated. He should be eligible if he plays in the play offs since although it's technically a champions league match, the competition hasn't officially started yet.

If all the rules go cross competition then stuff could get sticky if Celtic qualify for the for the champions league and then finish 3rd in their group and go into the Europa cup (if that's still how it works). That then could make VVD cup-tied for the knockout round games, should we make it that far.

Ed007 may or may not like this example but Rangers got stuck with that when they bought Jelavic from Vienna, he'd already played in a CL qualifier for Vienna, which didn't initially make him cup-tied for Rangers but when Vienna qualified for the qroup stage that then made Jelavic cup-tied for Rangers' group matches and for every further round that Vienna and Rangers made it to

I think that's right aha

{Ed007's Note - Rule 42.07 of the UEFA CL Regs (2015-16) As a rule, a player may not play in a UEFA club competition (i.e. UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, but not UEFA Super Cup) for more than one club in the course of the same season. Exceptionally, however, a player who has been fielded in the first, second, third qualifying round or the play-offs of the UEFA Champions League or UEFA Europa League is entitled to play in the UEFA Champions League or UEFA Europa League for another club as from the group stage.}

12 Aug 2015 20:31:51
I've a vague memory Koeman mentioned 2-3 weeks for Bertrand, at his pre-Vitesse press conference. So he's close, but probably not close enough for this weekend.

12 Aug 2015 20:52:50
Thanks Ed007 really helpful info

{Ed007's Note - You're welcome mate.}

12 Aug 2015 21:06:19
Thanks for the responses guys and hopefully with the usual top knowledge from Ed 007 we will be able to play VVD in the Europa Cup . If not I think we would still be looking for someone else especially if Celtic get through the play offs and try to keep Van Dijk , it still seems less than cut and dried at this point . The media can convince you of anything but never heard a whisper of Romeu , I think that says it all .