SAINTS go into their next Premier League test with a refreshment of enthusiasm regarding their policy of trying to win anything with kids.
Last season, of all academy players to impress in his training sessions, manager Ralph Hasenhuttl gave only 17-year-old Thierry Small any minutes – in the FA Cup versus Coventry City.
The Austrian, following Tuesday’s 3-0 EFL Cup win over Cambridge United, has already given three Saints youngsters their first-team debuts.
Hasenhuttl’s trust was rewarded with a universally-lifting debut goal for high-potential Dom Ballard, and a promising 75 minutes from the start for defender Lewis Payne.
Saints prepare for the league match with Manchester United knowing their team will be youthful still, but these youngsters will not be the ones fresh from Staplewood.
The average age of their five first-team summer signings is 20.8, with 18-year-old Romeo Lavia – who has started all three Premier League matches – the youngest and perhaps best of the bunch.
They, including Gavin Bazunu and Sekou Mara, are some of the best young players in Europe and signed for Saints, like Tino Livramento, under the promise of playing in the biggest matches.
“This is the reason why they want to play in the Premier League, because of the games coming up,” Hasenhuttl said, looking ahead to back-to-back home encounters with United and Chelsea.
“Showing them how good they are against this team, and as I said at the beginning we and especially the young players want to show themselves how good they are.
“This is the kind of mindset you have to have, and it is a good basic fundament for stepping in as a young player in such a game.”
He continued: “Showing up, willing to show how good you are not only on the ball but for all the other habits you have to deliver. A serious performance with discipline, a lot of passion in the right moments and also then you can put the cherry on top with your ability on the ball, your passing.
“This comes on top of the basic fundaments that must be there. Everyone who comes here knows this and it makes it easy for them to come on the pitch.”
Livramento’s on-pitch success last season, until he was sidelined with an ACL injury in April, laid out the potential behind the blueprint of handing Premier League trust over the teenagers.
His Chelsea teammate Armando Broja, 19-years-old at the time of joining on loan, was also a success – regardless of how his and the team’s season ended.
As a result, Hasenhuttl, Martin Semmens and Sport Republic have doubled down on their courageous philosophy – knowing the consequence of failure.
“I know that it is not so difficult to step into this team because they are a very good group, they are very good at taking care of the young players,” Hasenhuttl insists.
“We know that we have a young squad at the moment and this makes it easier for the academy players to step into the team.
“Very good atmosphere at the moment and everyone is positive, trying to help them. This is the way it should be but also not without being on them when they need to do more,” he added.
It seems as though Hasenhuttl’s patience and loyalty has run out in some circumstances, preferring the likes of Ballard, Payne, Dynel Simeu and Diamond Edwards to Nathan Redmond, Jack Stephens and Theo Walcott in Tuesday’s matchday squad.
But it is also that, with every season that passes, his playbook philosophy becomes more ingrained in the players that learn it and the coaches that teach them.
“The thing is for these guys coming up from the academy, they know how to work hard and have the same philosophy we have in the first-team,” Hasenhuttl said.
“They know immediately the intense way of playing football, when you come up here you are on the front-foot pressing, this is the reason why we put in this playbook years ago, for this situation.
“We have always said it’s easier for them to come in because there is no stress, no nerves and they know exactly what to do.
“This is the way we want to go and it would make it worth the time and energy everyone in the club has put in.”
Hasenhuttl also points to a significant change in his first-team coaching department that could help pave the way for the talented young players.
Carl Martin, last season’s under-18s coach who had shadowed Hasenhuttl the year before, was one of three additions to the Austrian’s team following the summer shakeup.
All three of the new debutants on Tuesday night were integral parts of Martin’s Under-18 Premier League South title-winning team.
“All the coaches know exactly the way we want to go and with Carl we have a connecting part in our staff team that has a good relationship with the guys and knows everybody,” Hasenhuttl explained.
“You need to have this to know about who you can take. Then, it is about who deserves the chance to play and they deserve it. If they perform well with the youth, they get a chance to be with us.”
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