This article is part of Football FanCast's Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers...

Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl has been speaking to the media ahead of his side's trip to St James' Park this Sunday, and a segment of his comments should spark slight cause for concern.

The former RB Leipzig boss will be taking his side into the game against the Magpies in high spirits, having recently won back-to-back relegation six-pointers against Watford and Norwich which has lifted the Saints into 17th - one point above the drop zone.

In Newcastle's case, Steve Bruce has also overseen some decent form of late - the Tynesiders have won three of their last five Premier League games, while also taking a point against Manchester City.

What did he say?

Speaking ahead of the game, Hasenhuttl said: "We have a few issues with the high workload. I think for the weekend these players will all be able to play and it's on me to decide if I go again with the team that invested a lot two times or if I put a few fresh players in.

"I think the substitutes in the last games also did a very good job and we were getting better when we were changing players."

Lack of decent backup makes rotation a risk

Before the Saints' recent three-game unbeaten run, players like Jannik Vestergaard, Maya Yoshida, Oriol Romeu, Yan Valery and Che Adams had come out of the starting XI, as they simply weren't performing well enough - the poor results reinforce that claim.

Their replacements, players such as Jack Stephens and Stuart Armstrong - before the latter's injury - and others have helped spark an upturn in results, so it would be a risk to rest them amid such a crucial period of the campaign where Southampton face massive, winnable games against Newcastle, Burnley and Crystal Palace.

Of course, Hasenhuttl admits that his fringe players "did a very good job" when coming off the bench recently, although starting games is an entirely different story and requires a different approach.

Admittedly, the festive period is arguably the most testing from a physical aspect, but amid such a crucial three-game run over the next few weeks, rotating impressive first-teamers for previously underperforming ones would be risky.

In other Southampton news, Hasenhuttl has done two things that he needed to do to inspire a turnaround in Premier League results...