After he took the bold decision to substitute youngster Jake Hesketh after just over half an hour against Hapoel Be’er Sheva last night, Southampton manager Claude Puel has defended his decision in an interview with the club’s official website.

It was a difficult game for Jake so I prefer to protect him as he is a good player for the future. It was a big experience for him and all my players with all the fans of Hapoel in the stadium.

Hesketh was given his debut in competitive European football last night as he started at the tip of the midfield diamond in Saints’ second Europa League contest against Hapoel in Israel but the occasion just proved to be too much.

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The young midfielder struggled to cope with the physicality that Hapoel showed in the midfield and it was clear that Hesketh wouldn’t be able to impose himself on the game as well as he or Puel would have liked him to.

We tried to keep more possession and play with more calm with Dušan (Tadic) coming on.

The French tactician opted to bring on more experienced playmaker Dusan Tadic in place of Hesketh in order to bring a bit more composure to proceedings.

The match finished 0-0 and Saints remain top of their Europa League group.