Guus
Hiddink will put the development of Chelsea's young players above his own
personal record as manager during the remainder of the season.
The champions, for some time now, have been unable to successfully defend
their Premier League title and headed into Easter in the unusual position of
contesting no silverware.
Perhaps with that in mind, Hiddink named an experimental side on Saturday
against Aston Villa with Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who opened the scoring in the
4-0 victory, and Kenedy starting. Injuries to John Terry and Gary Cahill
also saw 20-year-old American Matt Miazga make his full debut.
The Dutchman, who has lost only one of his 28 Premier League games in charge
of Chelsea over his two spells as caretaker boss, would like to remain
unbeaten in the league this season but vowed to use the remaining seven
matches to give the likes of Loftus-Cheek valuable experience. "I always
like to bring in the youngsters and now for the rest of the season we have
the opportunity to bring in more frequently those guys," said Hiddink.
"It is good to see guys like Loftus-Cheek and (Jake) Clarke-Salter coming
in. Of course, we cannot win anything anymore which makes it a little
easier, so on the other hand it would be interesting to see guys like
Loftus-Cheek come in and play when there is something at stake, with the
pressure.
"But then it is more difficult to bring in three or four who haven't had the
experience.
"Of course it would be nice to by unbeaten, from December on, but it is
rather personal, although not that important for me. When you have young
kids there is more of a risk of failure as you give them that experience, so
the risk of a defeat is higher as well.
"But I prefer that to saying I want my personal record to the end of the
season, I prefer to give the youngsters a chance."
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