Give youth a chance?

[Doctoroncall]

Interested in the fact that our youngsters have hardly been given a chance this season. I was expecting to see more of Reed, Targett and Isgrove amongst others especially with RK's reputation. Is there any reason, or simply not wanting to change a winning formula?

 

So far, Saints have used just 22 players this season, one of the fewest in the Premier League. Seven of those have played fewer than 50 minutes in total. So just 15 players have featured for a significant amount of time this season. Six of them have started every game and four have played every single minute. Only Chelsea have had as few players start every game and no team has used as many ever-present players.

 

With squad depth now an issue due to injury and form and games approaching in quick succession, would it have been better to be more proactive earlier or do the youngsters not need so much of a gradual introduction to first team games?

[Dangermouth]

I agree with keeping a winning team.

 

I don't agree with Mayuka.

[S-Clarke]

Targett has featured in the league cup games and has done well, but Bertrand is better than him right now which is fair enough. I don't think Isgrove will make it here, he'll end up a decent NPC player I reckon.

 

And when you're on a bad run, the worst thing is to change everything. We were fine 4 games ago, so we don't need to reinvent the wheel. Too much youth will just reduce our chances anyway, not that they're poor players, but experience is so important at this level.