Cast an eye over the treatment room. Eckert gave his latest update on Caspar Jander, Finn Azaz and Tom Fellows before the trip to Germany.
The calm headline is that none of it sounds serious. Dig in, though, and two of the three leave you wanting more.
Azaz is a doubt for the Colchester tie
Start with Finn Azaz. He sat out the friendly at Eastleigh and did not travel to Germany, as Saints Marching noted among the absentees.
Eckert calls him "a small question mark for Colchester" in the Carabao Cup. There is a chance he features, yet the head coach admits the side are "definitely aiming towards Watford."
Read between the lines and Saints are protecting him for the opener. Azaz has "put everything on the line" of late, and Eckert wants him starting the season without pain.
That is sensible after a stop-start summer, his second in a row following a tough pre-season at Middlesbrough last year. Just do not bank on seeing him at Colchester.
The Jander update raised more questions than answers
Now to Caspar Jander, and here the detail runs thin. He limped out early in the 3-1 win at Eastleigh with a muscular problem, the first of its kind in his career.
Eckert says it is "nothing major" and that he is "quite positive" Jander returns quickly. That is reassuring, yet there was no diagnosis, no grade and no timeframe beyond "we'll see next week."
For a player who has never felt a muscle injury before, that vagueness is the worry. A fresh problem in an unfamiliar body can take longer to settle than anyone expects.
Fellows update is the most straight forward
Fellows, at least, is the easy one. He felt his abductor and was rested as a precaution.
That cost him the German friendlies after he played the earlier ones. Eckert reckons the winger would start a league game right now.
The 23-year-old should train all next week and push for minutes against Colchester. So the takeaway is a mixed bag.
The reassurance is solid for Fellows, softer for Azaz, and thinnest of all for the man nobody expected to break down. Any update beats silence, but this one answered the smallest question and left the two bigger ones hanging.
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