Spurs Youth 2018/19

[Spursidol]

Anyone else getting a bit blasé about a 7-0 scoreline ?

I think we must now be averaging scoring over 4 goals a game (despite only beating Chelsea reigning champions 2-0 which reduced our average a tad) and our goal difference must now be close to +25 if not +30.

Astonishing. And today's team was missing a number of its stars yet still scores 7 (missing includes Bowden, Bennett, Maghoma, Lyons-Foster, Richards plus injured Walcott....wow)

Scorers : White, Clarke (2), A Shashoua, Markanday, Parrott, Poch jnr.

 

[Spursidol]

Credit where it's due. He may be a terrible manager, but he knows youth.

Some might not like this.....but I think it would be good if we could find a way to incorporate him in the youth set up somewhere - our u23 management doesn't seem too hot so certainly that's one area that he could help improve

I'd a;so like to clone Matt Wells as the u18's have had a phenomenal start to this season, bar one draw (when shots on target didn't translate into goals otherwise another decent sized win) nobody has come close to us.

 

[SchmoodSpur]

Some might not like this.....but I think it would be good if we could find a way to incorporate him in the youth set up somewhere - our u23 management doesn't seem too hot so certainly that's one area that he could help improve

I'd a;so like to clone Matt Wells as the u18's have had a phenomenal start to this season, bar one draw (when shots on target didn't translate into goals otherwise another decent sized win) nobody has come close to us.

He's not worth the trouble.

He was constantly leaking shit to the media. I also think he thinks it's below him now.

 

[Spursidol]

He's not worth the trouble.

He was constantly leaking shit to the media. I also think he thinks it's below him now.

Possibly all true.

But we do seem to have a hole in the youth set up around the u23's. What's missing seems to be 'managing' (including team selection) and maybe 'mentoring' u23 players as to how to get into the first team.

If not him, we need someone else to shake things up as the problems are there.

 

[Spursidol]

u18's aggregate goals scored and conceded 35-8 so a GD of +27 after 7 matches with 6 wins and one draw, and AVERAGING 5 goals scored a game !

Goalscorers :
Bennett 5
Parrott 5
Markanday 4
Clarke 4
Cirkin 2
Maghoma 2
Richards 2
Mukendi 2
White 2
A Shashoua 2
Lyons Foster 1
Binks 1
Patterson 1
Pochettino 1
Own Goal 1

What's also good is to see we have 14 goalscorers (plus Mr Own Goal) so the goals are being spread round and several of the top scorers are now regularly playing for u23's

 

[Spursidol]

Tuesday 9th October, Spurs u23's v Gillingham in Checkatrade Trophy @ 19.45 at the Valley.

Only good thing about a limited number of international call ups is that they will all be available to play, although with the potential injuries we have we'll need all the uninjured players !

 

[WindyCOYS]

An outstanding performance from our 18s today against an admittedly poor side (who now have 7 defeats from 7 games).

Difficult to pick an outstanding player as they were all great, but White impressed me as much as anyone. Markanday has such a touch of class about him too and did everything right, whilst Clarke was brilliantly effective though occasionally towards the end a bit of a blunt instrument with the constant shift and shoot. Patterson grew into the game to be highly influential, whilst Shashoua was constantly scheming. The defence and keeper pretty much immaculate too with Binks playing some wonderful cross-fields.

We hit the woodwork several times, Patterson missed a penalty, Parrott missed some good chances and Thorpe had a curler well saved - we should have got into double figures really.

 

[WindyCOYS]

I made a snarky remark on Twitter which turned into an interesting conversation starter that some may be interested to read through:

 

[Wallander]

Poch's dilemma now is in order to bring through the next batch of youngsters he's going to have to make room by moving on some of his own players. When he came in he pushed out Redknapp/AVB players to give youngsters a chance but now this squad is his own and he'll have a sentiment towards most of them.

 

[Spursidol]

An outstanding performance from our 18s today against an admittedly poor side (who now have 7 defeats from 7 games).

Difficult to pick an outstanding player as they were all great, but White impressed me as much as anyone. Markanday has such a touch of class about him too and did everything right, whilst Clarke was brilliantly effective though occasionally towards the end a bit of a blunt instrument with the constant shift and shoot. Patterson grew into the game to be highly influential, whilst Shashoua was constantly scheming. The defence and keeper pretty much immaculate too with Binks playing some wonderful cross-fields.

We hit the woodwork several times, Patterson missed a penalty, Parrott missed some good chances and Thorpe had a curler well saved - we should have got into double figures really.

What was Thorpe like - I thought he would be a very good player but although he's now in his 2nd year I'm not sure he's started an u18 match, and has probably less than 10 sub appearances at u18. Is it just a size issue ?

.

 

[Totti]

Poch's dilemma now is in order to bring through the next batch of youngsters he's going to have to make room by moving on some of his own players. When he came in he pushed out Redknapp/AVB players to give youngsters a chance but now this squad is his own and he'll have a sentiment towards most of them.

Good point.

And as we continue to grow each season, the demand for more big names and better players to join us grows which in turn limits the youngsters route.

 

[bus-conductor]

Credit where it's due. He may be a terrible manager, but he knows youth.

And yet when he was given a club who’s academy had some success recently, he chose to go to France and buy half a dozen players.

He also dropped Bentaleb for no good reason other than he was getting accused of nepotism.

“Too many of the youth coaches are doing it for the wrong reasons, they want to further their own careers and be firstbteam managers”

Not like you eh Tim? You who couldn’t coach but happily put your name on the Next Gen program, happily taking credit for the work others did, and spent your time whispering in Levy’s ear about AVB.

Fucking blagger.

 

[bus-conductor]

Possibly all true.

But we do seem to have a hole in the youth set up around the u23's. What's missing seems to be 'managing' (including team selection) and maybe 'mentoring' u23 players as to how to get into the first team.

If not him, we need someone else to shake things up as the problems are there.

Dear god no. He's a fucking grade A blagger, who shouldn't be let anywhere near our club ever again. He made things worse not better, getting into rows with the head coach by telling them how to do their job just makes them dig their heels in firmer, which is exactly what happened with AVB.

I'd want beter integration and Poch to have less influence on signings, but not at the cost of bringing that bulshitter back to poison everything he touches.

 

[WindyCOYS]

Dear god no. He's a fucking grade A blaggre, who shouldn't be let anywhere near our club ever again. He made things worse not better, getting into rows with the head coach by telling them how to do their job just makes them dig their heels in firmer, which is exactly what happened with AVB.

I'd want beter integration and Poch to have less influence on signings, but not at the cost of bringing that bulshitter back to poison everything he touches.

I think if Sherwood could be managed appropriately then he could be an asset. If not him, then someone who shares that same philosophy and has the same confidence to question the manager.

 

[WindyCOYS]

Poch's dilemma now is in order to bring through the next batch of youngsters he's going to have to make room by moving on some of his own players. When he came in he pushed out Redknapp/AVB players to give youngsters a chance but now this squad is his own and he'll have a sentiment towards most of them.

This is a really interesting point, particularly as we now have an ageing squad where some surgery (a mini overhaul if you like) is clearly needed, and youth players who either need to be integrated or sold (the 97s and 98s: Walker-Peters, Onomah, Edwards, Carter-Vickers, Amos, Sterling).

 

[WindyCOYS]

What was Thorpe like - I thought he would be a very good player but although he's now in his 2nd year I'm not sure he's started an u18 match, and has probably less than 10 sub appearances at u18. Is it just a size issue ?

.

I was so happy to see Thorpe. He's really shot up, he's a bit of a beanpole now so that could be one reason why he hasn't played - perhaps they've got him in the gym, trying to help him fill out a bit. He still has a real touch of class about him and he did well in his short time on the pitch. We put together an absolutely glorious attacking move which culminated in him having a shot save - it would have been such a great team goal, I was desperate for it to go in!

 

[bus-conductor]

I think if Sherwood could be managed appropriately then he could be an asset. If not him, then someone who shares that same philosophy and has the same confidence to question the manager.

I don’t want Sherwood anywhere near our club ever again. He’s a talentless blagger who just talks utter bollocks. Even his youth “stance” was more about furthering his own career (and damaging someone else’s) more than actually developing kids. Otherwise why treat Bentaleb like he did, why do what he did at Villa. If he cared so much, why not be arsed to get his coaching badges and actually help develop them?

You know how I feel about Pochettinho and how unimpressed I am with facets of his management (and not just his integration of youth - but that in particular) but having someone like Sherwood is even worse. Just creates a stink and if anything makes the head coach less likely to integrate, as we saw with AVB.

A much better system for me is to have a proper DOF above the “head coach” who dictates a stronger recruitment/integration policy and when you have a player like Onomah, KWP, Edwards you don’t allow the club to spend 80m plus wages on flawed players like Sissoko, Aurier and Moura until you’ve properly road tested (and by that I don’t mean started every week, I just mean fair and reasonable game time) the very talented kids you already have.

To balance that off, and be fair to that head coach, you then also have to be realistic about the criteria of his employment, and as long as his general ethos is still being adhered to and the brand of football still “good” (whatever that may mean) then you don’t go sacking him for finishing 5th, 6th or 7th etc occasionally.

What we are getting now (as Wallander says) is a “manager” who feels an obligation to pick players he’s requested the club to spend vast sums of money on, to justify his judgement and role as “de facto head of recruitment” to the detriment of the team. It’s not good for him, the team or ultimately the medium/long term of the club who instead of developing another valuable asset, are accruing ones that are depreciating rapidly.

 

[White Van Jan]

This is a really interesting point, particularly as we now have an ageing squad where some surgery (a mini overhaul if you like) is clearly needed, and youth players who either need to be integrated or sold (the 97s and 98s: Walker-Peters, Onomah, Edwards, Carter-Vickers, Amos, Sterling).

You mention the ageing squad. There are a number of players who are on the wrong side of their peak years (ages as at next Summer window):

Dembele: 32; an obvious one who needs replacing, rumoured to be allowed to go to China on a free when contract up;

Toby: 30; where to start? Would have been a Utd player by now if Woodward hadn't refused the deal that all other parties had agreed;

Jan: 32;

(Sissoko: 30; Llorente: 34; not starters, squad players, but their real value will be decreasing)

2 years ago when Winks broke through it looked very different, possibly the youngest average age in the PL. Sanchez was bought for the future. Foyth too. Sanchez has started way more games than forecast due to Toby's injury last season. Best in a back 3 imo with experience of Jan and Toby alongside.

Leaving aside whether those players you've mentioned get the opportunity, do you think they have a reasonable chance of making it with Spurs? Which presumably is the question that Levy asks quite a bit, seeing as it could save the club a fortune at a time when we're spending one on the stadium. And the Academy was his baby too.

 

[Ahab]

I was so happy to see Thorpe. He's really shot up, he's a bit of a beanpole now so that could be one reason why he hasn't played - perhaps they've got him in the gym, trying to help him fill out a bit. He still has a real touch of class about him and he did well in his short time on the pitch. We put together an absolutely glorious attacking move which culminated in him having a shot save - it would have been such a great team goal, I was desperate for it to go in!

Spurs work on the strenghth conditioning of a youth player? I've never seen it happen.
If our players are skinny, they stay skinny. It's very Spursy. The club needs to overhaul its training methods imo.
I'm hearing rumours of unrest among the senior players because they're being flogged to death in training.
(Which would explain the low energy levels shown on match days).
Of our home grown players, I can only think of Harry Kane, Danny Rose and Eric Dier who have increased their
muscle mass. I think if a Spurs player bulks up, he does it of his own volition.

 

[bus-conductor]

Spurs work on the strenghth conditioning of a youth player? I've never seen it happen.
If our players are skinny, they stay skinny. It's very Spursy. The club needs to overhaul its training methods imo.
I'm hearing rumours of unrest among the senior players because they're being flogged to death in training.
(Which would explain the low energy levels shown on match days).
Of our home grown players, I can only think of Harry Kane, Danny Rose and Eric Dier who have increased their
muscle mass. I think if a Spurs player bulks up, he does it of his own volition.

Don’t understand why you think bulking up is a good thing? Or am I misunderstanding you?