Spurs Youth 2019/20

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This is a fascinating interview of David Webb discussing recruitment/academies, sharing his experiences from his time at Bournemouth, Ostersunds FK, Tottenham Hotspur, Southampton, and Huddersfield Town. Covering all levels from youth academies, colleges and senior teams about becoming more deliberate about the types of players they are bringing in, focusing a fair bit on the characteristic assessment.

 
Players Released List issued by PL

Tottenham Hotspur
Clarke, Rayan Romario (Contract extension)
Dinzeyi, Jonathan Toko Lema (Contract extension)
Hinds, Tariq Devontae Aaron
Patterson, Phoenix MacLaren (Contract extension)
Statham, Maxwell Louis (Contract extension)
Vertonghen, Jan (Contract extension)
Vorm, Michel Armand (Contract extension)

Far fewer youth players released than Spurs need to release (probably need a minimum of 10 out v 5 listed ) suggesting quite a few players being allowed to stay on for longer.

Surprised to see Clarke, Hinds and maybe Patterson go, wonder if they have another EFL club lined up to go to ?

Dinzeyi probably going to QPR ?

Given our lack of options at RB, really surprised Hinds not looked at, never any reports of him in first team training etc. And no extension given ??!
 
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Retained List (Scholars)

4 Players given an extended contract (3rd year of scholarship rather than a pro contract for 2nd year scholars) Others are this year's first year's scholars (first year academy)

Scholars
Asante, Enock Amponsah (Extended)
Carrington Alberdi, Eddie
Cesay, Kallum
Cooper, Chay (Extended)
Craig, Matthew George
Craig, Michael James
John, Nile Omari Mckenzie
Kurylowicz, Kacper (Extended)
Kyezu, Jeremy
Lo-Tutala, Thimothee Jacques Orcel
Lusala, Dermi
Muir, Marqes
Mundle, Romaine Lee
Pedder, Rafferty (Extended)
Robson, Max
Solberg, Isak Midttun
Whittaker, Tarrelle Ricardo Kabirizi
 
Retained List (Professional Contracts)

Alderweireld, Toby Albertine
Alli, Bamidele Jermaine
Amos, Luke Ayodele
Aurier, Serge
Austin, Brandon Anthony
Bennett, J'Neil Lloyd

Bergwijn, Steven Charles
Bowden, Jamie Patrick
Carter-Vickers, Cameron
Cirkin, Dennis

Clarke, Jack Raymond
Davies, Benjamin Thomas
De Bie, Jonathan (Offer)
De Santiago Alonso, Yago

Dier, Eric Jeremy Edgar
Etete, Kion Reece
Eyoma, Timothy Joel
Fagan-Walcott, Malachi Michael

Foyth, Juan Marcos
Gazzaniga, Paulo Dino
Georgiou, Anthony Michael
Heung-Min, Son
Kane, Harry
Lamela, Erik
Lloris, Hugo
Lyons-Foster, Brooklyn
Markanday, Dilan Kumar
Marsh, George Owen
Mukendi, Jeremie (Extended)

Ndombele Alvaro, Tanguy
Okedina, Jubril Adesope
Oluwayemi, Oluwaferanmi Joshua
Parrott, Troy Daniel
Pochettino Grippaldi, Maurizio (Offer)
Richards, Rodel Kurai

Rodrigues Moura Da Silva, Lucas
Roles, Jack
Rose, Daniel Lee
Sanchez Mina, Davinson
Sessegnon, Kouassi Ryan
Shashoua, Armando
Sissoko, Moussa
Skinner, Aaron William (Offer)
Skipp, Oliver William
Sterling, Kazaiah
Tanganga, Japhet Manzambi
Thorpe, Elliot Morgan (Extended)
Tracey, Shilow

Walker-Peters, Kyle
White, Harvey David
Whiteman, Alfie Malik

Winks, Harry

Ex Spurs Academy and u21 youngsters in blue excluding first team squad players such as Skipp, Tanganga

Many more than usual Spurs youngsters given new or extended pro contracts as they have not had the opportunity to go on trial to other clubs in the last few months. Kudos to Spurs for doing that - think many PL clubs will do that to demonstrate their 'community credentials'
 
This is a fascinating interview of David Webb discussing recruitment/academies, sharing his experiences from his time at Bournemouth, Ostersunds FK, Tottenham Hotspur, Southampton, and Huddersfield Town. Covering all levels from youth academies, colleges and senior teams about becoming more deliberate about the types of players they are bringing in, focusing a fair bit on the characteristic assessment.



Interesting interview

Would have loved interviewer to have asked him re his Tottenham days with Poch , 'ok after all these checks you have done on these young players to 'qualify' them to go to first team training, why do you think so few of those players made more than a couple of appearances for Spurs. What went wrong, - were the players not good enough, selection process wrong or Poch too fussy ?''
 
Interesting interview

Would have loved interviewer to have asked him re his Tottenham days with Poch , 'ok after all these checks you have done on these young players to 'qualify' them to go to first team training, why do you think so few of those players made more than a couple of appearances for Spurs. What went wrong, - were the players not good enough, selection process wrong or Poch too fussy ?''
For the moment at least, evidenced by the number of them that have not broken into ”top-flight” (football team/league), I’d say it would have to be on account they aren't good enough.

But there are others who we know lacked the character required of him namely Bentaleb and Edwards. Then whilst he had already played significant mins for us before Poch but not cemented a place there was Townsend who arguably fell in to both stalls (but was humble enough to acknowledge his error).

There isn't a single player who’s proven him wrong yet.
 
Players Released List issued by PL

Tottenham Hotspur
Clarke, Rayan Romario (Contract extension)
Dinzeyi, Jonathan Toko Lema (Contract extension)
Hinds, Tariq Devontae Aaron
Patterson, Phoenix MacLaren (Contract extension)
Statham, Maxwell Louis (Contract extension)
Vertonghen, Jan (Contract extension)
Vorm, Michel Armand (Contract extension)
Just to satisfy my OCD these 3 guys who were on last year's retained list left earlier in the season:
Binks, Luis Thomas
Oakley-Boothe, Tashan
Tainio, Maxi
 
For the moment at least, evidenced by the number of them that have not broken into ”top-flight” (football team/league), I’d say it would have to be on account they aren't good enough.

But there are others who we know lacked the character required of him namely Bentaleb and Edwards. Then whilst he had already played significant mins for us before Poch but not cemented a place there was Townsend who arguably fell in to both stalls (but was humble enough to acknowledge his error).

There isn't a single player who’s proven him wrong yet.

A lot of kids seem to 'peak' at say 18-21 and if they don't feel they will make it at the club they joined as youths, then move to a different club, and for whatever reasons fail to develop from there.

Given the England youth sides which were beating all their european equivalents in W?C's etc, far to few have 'made it' later, suggesting that Spurs and indeed other clubs have not developed those players well.

Worthwhile looking at recent England squads as well - many of them 'made it' professionally at EFL clubs before moving to PL - Kane is an exception that way, which I would suggest shows up the flaws in the way PL clubs actually develop those age group of players.
 
Milos going wasn't good news at the time, don;t know how he's been getting on more recently
How are you mate? It's been a while!

Yeah I agree. He's making regular appearances at Werder Bremen at the foot of the Bundesliga but I wouldn't pretend for a second to know how he's playing as I haven't seen him kick a ball since he left.

There is still time for a number of players to show their hand but as the grains of sands tick by it does look less and less likely. A couple I'd still love to truly fulfil their potential are Onomah, our man Milos, CCV (another I've only seen a couple of times since leaving), Amos and Edwards. I love Roles attitude but don't think he's got it at top flight.
 
Milos going wasn't good news at the time, don;t know how he's been getting on more recently

Veljkovic joined Werder Bremen and has played over 100 Bundesilga games as CB or DM - we lost him for circa £500k.

Had we kept both Veljkovic and Bentaleb as squad players for example we wouldn't have needed to buy squad players such as Wimmer, who required considerable coaching before moving onto Stoke.

Equally a number of bargain buys such as N'Jie, Nkoudou, Foyth were not better than academy players.
 
A lot of kids seem to 'peak' at say 18-21 and if they don't feel they will make it at the club they joined as youths, then move to a different club, and for whatever reasons fail to develop from there.

Given the England youth sides which were beating all their european equivalents in W?C's etc, far to few have 'made it' later, suggesting that Spurs and indeed other clubs have not developed those players well.

Worthwhile looking at recent England squads as well - many of them 'made it' professionally at EFL clubs before moving to PL - Kane is an exception that way, which I would suggest shows up the flaws in the way PL clubs actually develop those age group of players.
Yeah I agree with this.

It's really hard to nail down. The environment might be massively different from my day but there is still a large amount of fortune and timing required, plus a well-balanced ambition that hasn't changed one bit. No one would begrudge Veljkovic being impatient and believing in his own ability to think he could leave and further his career at the time. And who's to say that right now he was right to do what he did, meaning had he stayed would he have any mins under his belt for Spurs today??? Would he be a better player, more prepared and well assimilated into the Club philosophy and therefore better suited to take his opportunity if presented?? Or whether because he left that he's a better player today than had he stayed.
 
Veljkovic joined Werder Bremen and has played over 100 Bundesilga games as CB or DM - we lost him for circa £500k.

Had we kept both Veljkovic and Bentaleb as squad players for example we wouldn't have needed to buy squad players such as Wimmer, who required considerable coaching before moving onto Stoke.

Equally a number of bargain buys such as N'Jie, Nkoudou, Foyth were not better than academy players.
Bentaleb though is a perfect example. I loved this kid. I loved his attitude and what he brought to the team all at the age of 19! Poch 100% loved him too, reflected in that he took pre-match or half-time team talks, one of them was giant Woolwich! But knowing what we know now we were absolutely right to sell him. The wider good of the team's holistic development is what is at stake here if you are trying to build an ethic everyone has to be on the same page. This is a challenge for a kid though, really difficult to get the balance right.

The best example I can give is the holistic approach the All Blacks have around team ethic, it's simply underlined by a "no dickheads" policy. Highly talented people have fallen by the wayside.
 
Bentaleb though is a perfect example. I loved this kid. I loved his attitude and what he brought to the team all at the age of 19! Poch 100% loved him too, reflected in that he took pre-match or half-time team talks, one of them was giant Woolwich! But knowing what we know now we were absolutely right to sell him. The wider good of the team's holistic development is what is at stake here if you are trying to build an ethic everyone has to be on the same page. This is a challenge for a kid though, really difficult to get the balance right.

The best example I can give is the holistic approach the All Blacks have around team ethic, it's simply underlined by a "no dickheads" policy. Highly talented people have fallen by the wayside.

I understand that point of view.

But Bentaleb had played for about half a season under Sherwood, and then a full season under Poch, and seemingly continually growing in confidence, experience and appreciation by his team mates as a fairly key part of the team/squad. But suddenly a 180 degree turn in terms of attitude from Bentaleb if rumours are true.

Now I know teenagers/young adults can be 'stroppy', and Bentaleb at about 19/20 falls into that category - but that's the bit I do not understand happening in a well run club, good man management skills etc, it shouldn't have become a crisis as it did.

Think part of the issue was Poch rarely rotating the squad, keeping the same team and rarely using the squad - which ultimately was why the Spurs team always appeared knackered at the end of Poch reign.
 
I understand that point of view.

But Bentaleb had played for about half a season under Sherwood, and then a full season under Poch, and seemingly continually growing in confidence, experience and appreciation by his team mates as a fairly key part of the team/squad. But suddenly a 180 degree turn in terms of attitude from Bentaleb if rumours are true.

Now I know teenagers/young adults can be 'stroppy', and Bentaleb at about 19/20 falls into that category - but that's the bit I do not understand happening in a well run club, good man management skills etc, it shouldn't have become a crisis as it did.

Think part of the issue was Poch rarely rotating the squad, keeping the same team and rarely using the squad - which ultimately was why the Spurs team always appeared knackered at the end of Poch reign.
Bentaleb has held is hands up though:

“Pochettino was one of the first ones who always believed in me,” There were some players the club bought but he put me, a 19-year-old boy, in to play every game. He put a lot of trust in me ... I was young and when I came back from injuries, I wanted to play. I was so hungry to play straight away, and so frustrated when I didn’t play. I know that the coach was just doing this to protect me.”

“I got injured and when I came back, I wanted to play so bad that I had some arguments [with Pochettino]. I was a little bit frustrated, and I was learning basically. Being on the bench is a learning curve.”

“I know I made mistakes. But they helped me learn, as a man. And they don’t stop me from sleeping at night. And if I was 24 right now, and I had been at Tottenham, I don’t think I would make the same mistakes.”

This is the tightrope that's so thin that has to be walked. I'd suspect what elevated him into the first team (under both Managers) was he didn't respect the senior players, that he believed he was worthy of his place, that he thought he gave more than those he was competing with.

He had Sherwood publicly telling everyone how competitive he was, crying/upset if he lost a 3v3 in training. He lorded his attitude as the one he was looking for, what he wanted to see from others. There was a video I loved of Lamela and him keeping the ball off the deck knocking it back and forth between each other, both of them so serious, playing almost as their lives depended on it, whilst the rest of the team chilled (the first trip to Barca at Espaniol's ground) as another example. So here he is getting the praise, the reinforcement from his coaches of what they love and want to see.

Then I guess, he thought he'd show this same competitive side to Poch to get his place back, when it would appear it was Poch not wanting to rush him back. But he looked to have double-downed and pushed it even further, maybe thinking he was demonstrating the same thing he had that got him his place in the first place???

I'm almost certain that McDermott would have also been available. I find it hard to believe that he wasn't used to mediate here.

But sometimes the most powerful thing in the dressing room is to be the coach that doesn't hesitate to make the cut if the line has been crossed. Conversely, the consequence can only weaken the Managers influence if he fails to act.

Sometimes, this action is manufactured. I think Jose has manufactured a similar scenario with Ndombele and suspect that he's same with others previously. Jose uses confrontation as part of his man-management, I don't think that's Poch's game but when the situation arises it is a powerful tool to use.
 
Amos and Clarke on bench. QPR 0-1 HT. Any slim hopes of a play off slot will die if they don't turn this score around.
Amos on 71, Clarke unused. Finished 0-1
 
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