There has been much talk at Saints of the work the club has undertaken in assembling a squad with genuine depth, capable of adapting to different styles and ready to make the much fabled ‘next step.’

Chairman Ralph Krueger recently explained their transfer policy over the last few years of being a deliberate transition from what he described as maybe 13 or 14 first team players up to now, where there are at least two strong options for every position.

It has taken a certain amount of wheeling and dealing, including some painful and unpopular sales to fund it.

Certainly it is a worthy concept, but there is only any point in having such a deep squad if you are going to utilise them.

For Saints this season that is now looking a forlorn hope.

Last year there was European football, and the requirement for a deep squad when you have that as well as domestic commitments to juggle was evident.

This time out not so much.

With the under-23 side needing to be for developing young talent as well, there is a danger of some players rather going to waste, even if in the long run Saints hope, expect even, to return to Europe and require a big squad.

The League Cup, or Carabao Cup to give it its current official title, would have seemed a good excuse to field a full second strength side.

Saints do have the depth that they could put out a strong looking team while saving every one of the players that started the previous Premier League game.

It was somewhat of a surprise, therefore, that Mauricio Pellegrino made only six changes to his side for their first match of this season’s League Cup. Their Championship opponents Wolves made a mere 11.

That means there are still a large number of the Saints squad yet to taste any real action.

But the explanation for Pellegrino’s decision was in the detail of this team selection, which heralded an experimental change of formation.

Any idea that he was a manager welded to a 4-2-3-1 was blown out of the water as Saints went 3-4-3, a very major change in strategy.

However, it was an experiment which failed, and spectacularly so.

It is also one that is costly for Saints’ chance to give fringe players vital game time, and to blood youngsters.

They face the prospect of potentially only playing 40 first team games this season, and so soon after a campaign in which the League Cup final at Wembley and eighth in the top flight in amongst European adventure wasn’t deemed good enough. That is sobering.

That Saints were still strong made this defeat against a team that was, without question, a Wolves reserve side, and at St Mary’s too, all the more embarrassing.

The first half was an instantly forgettable affair, save a brief salvo of action at either end.

Nouha Dicko had not one or two but three chances to give Wolves the lead in the space of just a couple of minutes but failed to take any of them.

Firstly he was found in acres of space by a simple high ball but was let down by his control, just moments later he danced in from the left but got crowded out by the imposing figure of Fraser Forster at the near post.

The worse of them all came after Ivan Cavaleiro had robbed Jeremy Pied of the ball and picked out Dicko with a cut back from the by-line. The striker had simply to turn the ball home but managed to produce a woeful shot that trickled wide.

The second burst of action towards the end of the first period was in favour of Saints.

On 40 minutes, James Ward-Prowse delivered a free kick from deep that Jan Bednarek headed goalwards, only to see Will Norris produce a superb save.

The follow-up from Pied was off target before Dusan Tadic got an opening a minute later, but with the same end result.

The second half was even worse, both from an entertainment point of view and Saints’ performance.

They looked even less comfortable in their new formation and Wolves, keen but so devoid of quality in the final third, managed to score twice.

The first goal arrived on 67 minutes and was ludicrously easy.

Cavaleiro threw in an inswinging corner and there was Danny Batth totally unmarked and showing far more desire than anybody else to get to the ball first and head home.

Pellegrino was reactive, switching formation and ringing the changes, but to little effect.

Sam McQueen’s chipped cross was turned onto the top of the crossbar by Norris before Wolves sealed the win three minutes from time.

Michal Zyro’s through ball played in Donovan Wilson who was able to squeeze the ball past Forster.

Those memories of Wembley last season seem so far away now.

Saints face the prospect of a truncated season if they don’t make significant progress in the FA Cup. That will halt the development of some players and actually leaves them with a potentially bloated squad rather than one that they require to cope with the demands of the matches they have to play.

It also puts into context what was achieved last season and adds pressure to deliver in the Premier League. Most eggs, certainly in terms of the European qualification Saints so desperately want, are now placed firmly in that basket.