RALPH Hasenhuttl praised Yan Valery as he stepped in for Mohammed Salisu, who the boss confirmed was out with “a little bit of a problem”.

The Ghanaian defender has been one of Hasenhuttl’s top performers this season but was absent from the matchday squad, in the FA Cup fifth round clash with West Ham.

Jan Bednarek was also left on the bench, with Jack Stephens and young defender Valery forming a partnership at the back.

It was 23-year-old former France youth international’s fourth appearance as a central defender.

“Sali and Jan were out today, Sali had a little bit of a problem,” Hasenhuttl said.

“So when someone is out and you have not played a game for I don’t know how long, Yan Valery played a fantastic game as a centre-back.

“Valery, very impressed, unbelievable performance. With the ball he can still be a little bit calmer, he didn’t want to take too many risks today, absolutely okay.”

He continued: “He played a few more long balls, absolutely okay. Against the ball, how he defends now, I know that he can do this. His whole body language and his belief in what he has doing has changed completely for us and this is for me very important.

“When we played at Chelsea in the cup game, when he played in a back-three, I knew he was strong but now getting into a back four, sliding, defending, making decisions, it is much more difficult and you need to have more quality but fantastic, I must say, fantastic.”

There was no suggestion from the Saints boss that the Salisu concern is of serious nature, and he is likely to give a further update tomorrow morning.