This is where the academy comes handy. Pochettino is living off his early reputation of playing youth. The reality is in the last two seasons the only academy player to become integrated as a first team player is Winks. He'll play a handful in cup games and have them on the bench but in terms of actually giving them a meaningful chance we've regressed.
Young players bring new blood. They have extra motivation of wanting to make an impression. They follow orders but have an exuberance that older players who are mature and know their limitations won't. That's why I was disappointed to see Onomah be loaned on deadline day - I guarantee his chances of making it here would have been better getting game time in midfield alongside the likes of Eriksen, Dembele and Alli who can prop him up, rather than making an impression in a mediocre Championship team where he'll be dragged down by the rest. I'm not saying Onomah will be world class or anywhere near it, but he has been a highly thought of academy prospect for years and it's a shame that he likely won't make the grade.
Ferguson is noted for having top players from his academy like Giggs, Scholes and Beckham but he also gave over 200 games to the likes of Nicky Butt, Jonny Evans and Darren Fletcher. Those players were made to look better than they were because the world class players around them meant all they had to do was do a job. That's something we should be doing but the current youth policy is stupid because it's essentially saying "you have to be better than your competition to play".
