ANDRE: I’LL GIVE YOUTH A CHANCE
BOSS SAYS HIS JOB INVOLVES IMPROVING YOUNGSTERS
HUDDERSFIELD Town head coach Andre Breitenreiter has expressed a willingness to give young players a chance when they display “really good performance” in training sessions.
The new boss retained 19-yearold Brodie Spencer in his starting lineup for Saturday’s 2-1 victory at Watford in his first game in charge, while fellow Town academy graduates Pat Jones and Ben Jackson were included among the substitutes.
Breitenreiter recognises that he has a responsibility to bring through young players at Town, but also indicated that individuals needed to work their way into his plans.
“I don’t want to speak about names, but for me, I understand my job like this (to develop young players),” the head coach said at his first press conference. It’s not only my job to develop and improve, it’s part of the player. They have to make the best with the situation, to work hard, to invest.
“There were many players like Leroy Sane (who he’s worked with previously), (Pierre-Emile) Hojbjerg I don’t think about him today, but he was one of my players at Schalke 04, a good player here in England at Tottenham. There were really many other players, but they worked hard for this. It’s my goal to do the same here, and there are really good players.”
“I have a good coaching staff, so we take some analysis, we show them (young players) what they can do better on the pitch,” he added.
“Then after the training, we will make individual training to find solutions to make them better, to improve, but they also need the trust from me to stand on the pitch.
“Players improve when they have minutes, and you need the time for this, but you need also the courage to let them play. I’m the coach, when they are better and when they show me really good performance in the training, they shall play, why not?”
Breitenreiter added that he is looking to build close relationships with his players in order to bring the best out of them, but also stressed the importance of the collective work of his coaching staff.
“I think it’s always good when you feel like with the players, you know what they are thinking. For me it’s the same, when I go into the dressing room in the morning, and I watch their eyes, I know everything – maybe 90 per cent,” the head coach added.
“On the pitch, you need a good staff. It’s not a one man show, you need your staff next to you, preparation for the training session, because as a manager normally you have to spend time with the players.
“For me, it’s important to stay close to the players, to watch in the gym when they prepare for training, to have a good feeling for the situation.
“That they trust me and believe in me, that they know my door is every time open for them, so that they can go for me into the fire. It takes time, and first we get to know each other, we have to find the communication with them.” Town’s sporting director Mark Cartwright expressed confidence that Breitenreiter is the right person to develop Town’s squad, and believes there is a clear pathway in place between youth and firstteam level for young players to come through. “I think now obviously re-opening the academy, and the work that Jon (Worthington) has done, and the alignment between Jon, Andre and Kevin (Nagle), I think now is probably the closest the academy will ever work with the first team,” Cartwright said.
“In terms of players coming through, Kevin’s been down there, Jon will push players, and Andre can trust them, because Andre knows this is how they play, this is how he wants to play. We’re probably at a very good juncture in time with everything coming together nicely.
“We’re not going to name names, but we do feel like we’ve got some very good talented players within that squad, and I think when you’re sat in the stands and you’re looking and you can see that they just need that little bit extra, so you want a coach that can give them that little bit extra. Andre’s track record says this is the guy to do it.”
We will make individual training to find solutions to make them better Andre Breitenreiter