‘Be ready’ – Eckert sends Saints under-21 stars a clear message after strong start.

Southampton head coach Tonda Eckert has warned the club’s promising Under-21 players that they must be prepared to take their opportunity whenever the door opens for a place in the senior squad.

With Southampton facing a full week without a midweek fixture before their upcoming home Championship meeting with QPR, several members of Adam Lallana’s Under-21 squad are expected to spend time training alongside the first team.

Eckert knows the young players particularly well, having previously been responsible for managing Southampton’s Under-21 side before making the step up to lead the senior team last November. His previous role means he already has a strong understanding of the qualities and potential possessed by many of the youngsters currently developing under Lallana.

The Southampton boss explained that there is regular interaction between the first-team and academy groups, with Under-21 players frequently invited to senior training sessions during a normal week.

Tonda Eckert started at Saints in charge of the under-21s (Image: Matt Watson / Southampton FC)

He believes maintaining that connection is important because it allows the coaching staff to monitor the progress of young players while also ensuring those players understand that opportunities can arrive unexpectedly.

Speaking to the Daily Echo, Eckert said the Under-21s are normally brought into first-team training once every week when the senior side has a standard preparation schedule.

He explained that the club uses those sessions to gain a better impression of the players coming through the academy, while several youngsters are already involved with the senior group on a regular basis.

Eckert’s message to those players was straightforward: they must remain ready.

He said: “We normally have the under-21s up with us once a week if we have a regular week to prepare for games and get an impression of all of the boys.”

“Quite a few of them train with us. If the door opens, they need to be ready.”

The manager also stressed the importance of maintaining a close working relationship with Lallana, who is overseeing the development of Southampton’s Under-21 team.

According to Eckert, communication between the two coaching staffs is vital to ensure that players can move between the academy and first team smoothly when required.

“The relationship with Adam is good and I think it needs to be that you just have constant communication,” he added.

(Image: Craig Hobbs/Southampton FC)

“I think we have quite a few mixed training groups throughout the week.”

The arrangement comes at an exciting time for Southampton’s Under-21s, who have made an impressive beginning to their campaign and have regularly found the back of the net.

Lallana’s young team have been producing strong attacking performances, with their latest outing providing another example of their goalscoring form.

Southampton travelled to Crystal Palace in Premier League 2 and returned with an emphatic 5-2 victory. One of the biggest highlights was another outstanding display from striker Princewill Ehibhatiomhan, who continued his remarkable start to the season by completing his second hat-trick of the campaign.

Ehibhatiomhan’s form is likely to attract particular attention from the senior coaching staff as Southampton continue to assess which academy players could eventually make the step up.

The Under-21s had also recently experienced the atmosphere of playing at St Mary’s, with more than 7,000 supporters watching their Premier League International Cup encounter with Juventus.

Despite creating enough opportunities to potentially win the match, Southampton had to settle for a 1-1 draw against the Italian club’s young side.

Eckert was present at that game and felt the result did not reflect the number of chances Southampton created. While he praised the team’s overall performance, he believed they should have been more clinical in front of goal.

“I was at the game and I think that we needed to score a lot more goals than just one,” Eckert said.

The German coach was particularly pleased with the quality of Southampton’s first-half performance and felt they played some excellent football against Juventus.

However, he acknowledged that failing to convert chances can eventually prove costly, regardless of how well a team performs.

“I think that we’ve played a very, very good first half and then it is what it is. Sometimes it just bites you back if you don’t score those goals and it comes back at you. I think we played a very good game against Juventus.”

For Eckert, games such as the Juventus fixture are valuable because they give the academy players an opportunity to experience a bigger stage and show what they can offer in front of supporters.

He also acknowledged that the match represented a useful test for the youngsters, while noting that Juventus had also selected a very young team.

“It’s nice to see some of the boys out there. It is a stretch to the first-team,” Eckert explained.

“I think that Juventus had a very young side on the pitch so I think that we were a little bit older and [there were] some good impressions.”

With the Under-21s continuing to impress and several players showing strong individual form, Eckert’s warning is clear. Southampton’s young prospects may get their chance, but when that opportunity arrives, they must be prepared to seize it.