FORMER Saints star Theo Walcott has praised his old club for putting their faith in young players and backed Jan Poortvliet’s fledglings to eventually come good.

Walcott, 19, became Saints’ youngest ever player when he came on as a sub against Wolves in August 2005 aged 16 years and 143 days before moving on to Arsenal in January 2006.

But the flying winger, who also announced himself on the international scene with a stunning hat-trick in England’s World Cup qualifier in Croatia, clearly hasn’t forgotten his roots.

And he believes Saints’ football is worthy of a higher position than the one they find themselves in near the foot of the Championship table.

“The results aren’t quite going their way at the moment but they’re playing fantastic football,” he said in the latest edition of the Arsenal's official magazine.

“It is mainly that FA Youth Cup team from 2005 and guys like Adam Lallana are doing brilliantly.

“It’s a shame the results aren’t coming but they’re playing football that deserves to be near the top of the league, in my opinion anyway. But it will come eventually.

With the benefit of this year’s experiences Walcott believes next year could be Saints’ year.

“You need some experienced players in there sometimes, but you need to give the young lads a chance as well to gain that experience and be stronger for next year,” he said.

“So I think next season they will push on and hopefully be in the top six with a chance of going up.”

He added: “I have heard the manager loves playing football.

“He wants the players to play football and he likes using young players which is great.

“The whole youth setup at Southampton is fantastic as well.

“There are a lot of players breaking through, so hopefully things will start going their way again soon.”