Pochettino: "It is our job to bring through young players..."

[thinktank]

By Matt Law

10:20PM GMT 19 Dec 2014

Tottenham’s recent record of buying and keeping players has not been altogether successful, so it will delight chairman Daniel Levy to hear Mauricio Pochettino claim the club’s academy is better than Southampton’s fabled youth system.

Under Levy’s chairmanship, Tottenham have steadily seen their best players follow each other out of the White Hart Lane exit door, with Michael Carrick, Dimitar Berbatov, Luka Modric and Gareth Bale all deciding that their peak years would be better served elsewhere.

Replacements for such talented players have been hard to find, with the £100  million spent on trying to make up for Bale’s loss the most recent and expensive example of the unpredictable nature of the transfer market. While the likes of £30 million record signing Erik Lamela, £26 million Roberto Soldado and £17 million Paulinho have struggled to justify their price tags, Harry Kane, Ryan Mason and Nabil Bentaleb have graduated to the first team with distinction.

Kane, the Walthamstow-born forward, has scored 13 goals in all competitions, while Enfield’s Mason has impressed in midfield and Bentaleb underlined his good form with his first professional goal against Newcastle in the Capital One Cup.

With Southampton now claiming Jay Rodriguez will not make a first-team return until February and Spurs fearful Arsenal will hijack any bid for midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin, Kane, Mason and Bentaleb could save Tottenham from having to hunt for January transfer window alternatives.

Pochettino became used to dipping into the academy during his time in charge of Southampton. The St Mary’s club have one of the most successful youth systems in Europe, but the Argentine believes Tottenham’s is better.

“For us, it’s very important to develop our young talent because we have an unbelievable academy and training ground, and we need to profit from it,” said Pochettino.

“It is important because the academy is always the heart of any club. It was one of the main reasons I decided to come here. The opportunity to work with this club’s academy was fantastic. I think it is the best in England, maybe even Europe.

“When a player arrives from the first team into the academy, it is special for everyone. It is important to put this philosophy in practice and give the opportunity to our young talent. At Southampton, we always wanted to give young players a chance to play. A good example was in my last pre-season there, when we considered signing a right-back.

“We already had Nathaniel Clyne and we were considering another. But we decided to take Calum Chambers from the academy on pre-season because we wanted to give him an opportunity. Now, a couple of years later, they are both in the England squad. It is our job to bring through young players and it is fantastic when it happens.

“We want to try to give young players a chance at Tottenham, but only when they deserve it and we detect they may have the talent and potential to play in the first team. We would not do it just for the sake of it.”

As well as believing that Tottenham’s academy can save Levy some money, Pochettino also thinks that the club stand a better chance of keeping players who have come through the system. He insists there are more youngsters who will make an impact after Kane, Mason and Bentaleb, with Spurs particularly excited over talents such as teenagers Joshua Onomah, Harry Winks, Nathan Oduwa and Cameron Carter-Vickers.

“These players identify with the culture of the club and feel the club,” said Pochettino. “If you stay 10 or eight years in the club, with your dream to arrive to the first team, then when you arrive in the first team it’s difficult for you to leave. For that, it’s important to keep your culture and identify the player with it.

“We have a lot of talent here and it is very exciting. We watch a lot of games in the Under-21s, 18, 16s and even 14s sometimes. We have a very strong staff on the academy and a very close relationship with John McDermott. We analyse and talk about players every day.

“When you come here to our training ground it is amazing to see the eight-year-olds training and looking up to the 18 and 19-year-olds, and senior players.”

Kane, Mason and Bentaleb are all expected to be involved against Burnley on Saturday, while Pochettino has also confirmed Emmanuel Adebayor is available again.

Adebayor criticised the atmosphere at White Hart Lane after his last Tottenham appearance at the start of November. The striker has since been forced to make a trip to Ghana after a close relative fell ill and Pochettino hopes the Spurs fans will forgive him.

“I think the fans love a good player and Ade is a fantastic player,” said Pochettino. “In football, the mood changes quickly. When you have lost you are upset, our fans are upset, the players are upset and I was upset. After I think we have only one objective and that is to take Tottenham as high as possible. I think this is in the past. I think we forget this situation.

“I have full respect for Ade because he’s a great player, a great talent but now I need to stay with him and give him the space. It’s not a nice moment for him and my job is to help him too.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...-Southamptons-claims-Mauricio-Pochettino.html

I poch.

 

[THFCSPURS19]

I was going to post this earlier but forgot. I love what he says.

 

[thinktank]

I was going to post this earlier but forgot. I love what he says.

So should we all. Fills me with hope and excitement at the direction we're going in as a club now.

 

[spurs-r-us]

If we say that Mason, Bentaleb, Lamela, Eriksen, Chadli, Kane is our preferred front 6: The oldest one there is 25 and there are three academy prospects amongst it.

 

[Krafty]

Great stuff. It's going to take a while for any manager to get this squad to be as he wants it, but Poch's general approach, be it playing style, selection, or views on youth is very, very encouraging.

 

[Jaffer99]

Very nice words, nice to see the younger players have a chance, some managers wouldn't even look at there youth set up, just buy cheap forgien ones instead, the more I hear from MP, the more I think we made a very decision to appoint him, hopefully stays around for years...

 

[thinktank]

Very nice words, nice to see the younger players have a chance, some managers wouldn't even look at there youth set up, just buy cheap forgien ones instead, the more I hear from MP, the more I think we made a very decision to appoint him, hopefully stays around for years...

And I think it might just happen this time.

 

[SpurSince57]

It's what I was hoping for if he was going to live up to expectations, but isn't it odd that Sherwood got slammed for bringing in Bentaleb and Kane?

 

[thinktank]

It's what I was hoping for if he was going to live up to expectations, but isn't it odd that Sherwood got slammed for bringing in Bentaleb and Kane?

'Slammed'?? When?

 

[SpurSince57]

'Slammed'?? When?

There were a lot of people upset that Bentaleb replaced Capoue, and when Tim dropped Soldado after he'd actually managed to score a goal from open play and brought in Kane—even though Kane was far more effective.

 

[thinktank]

There were a lot of people upset that Bentaleb replaced Capoue, and when Tim dropped Soldado after he'd actually managed to score a goal from open play and brought in Kane—even though Kane was far more effective.

People were upset with TS for many reasons.

I wouldn't say he was overly lambasted for making those two decisions.

People raved about bentaleb on his debut and he had a lot of support. Kane was an unknown quantity to much of the fanbase and they were already super anxious about certain areas of our play and the odd battering we got and that sensitivity fed through onto both bentaleb and kane at times.

If there was anything redeeming about tim it was his willingness to blood a youngster or two (which
AVB alluded to but never took the leap). But you have to remember that he abounded that himself irt bentaleb and didn't play him after a while, iirc. So we don't actually know how far down that route he would have actually gone whilst in the hot seat.

And irt Kane being "far more effective" at that time than bobby...I'd have to go back and have a look.

 

[TottenhamMattSpur]

It's what I was hoping for if he was going to live up to expectations, but isn't it odd that Sherwood got slammed for bringing in Bentaleb and Kane?

It's not odd at all. Most of the same people that go on about local British youth being in the squad are the same ones that want and trendy foreign manager.

 

[spurs9]

There were a lot of people upset that Bentaleb replaced Capoue, and when Tim dropped Soldado after he'd actually managed to score a goal from open play and brought in Kane—even though Kane was far more effective.

Soldado wasn't dropped for Kane, he was dropped to play Walker as a right winger.

 

[spurs9]

I poch.

Really, I hadn't noticed.

 

[thinktank]

It's not odd at all. Most of the same people that go on about local British youth being in the squad are the same ones that want and trendy foreign manager.

Poch is a very good manager that actually has his badges and has actually managed in the premiership before.

I think people were attracted by that and his methodology and philosophy more than him being 'foreign'.

Tim landed on his feet though as the offers for his unique services haven't stopped flooding in.

He's still deciding who the lucky club is gonna be....

 

[dontcallme]

I didn't have a problem with Sherwood bringing in Bentaleb and Kane. I thought he overplayed Bentaleb though. There's more to bringing in young players than simply playing them a lot.

I think Poch is successfully utilising Bentaleb, Kane and Mason.

We can't match the spending of the 5 clubs above us so need to follow a different atrategy to improve. Playing and incorporating our young players is a big part of that.

I believe is doing this more successfully and sensibly than Sherwood was.

 

[SpurSince57]

I didn't have a problem with Sherwood bringing in Bentaleb and Kane. I thought he overplayed Bentaleb though. There's more to bringing in young players than simply playing them a lot.

I think Poch is successfully utilising Bentaleb, Kane and Mason.

We can't match the spending of the 5 clubs above us so need to follow a different atrategy to improve. Playing and incorporating our young players is a big part of that.

I believe is doing this more successfully and sensibly than Sherwood was.

I agree, but he's had the advantage of a pre-season and time to plan. Tim was dropped into a tricky situation where our season could have gone either way. The guy was a clown, but I don't think he gets the credit he should.

 

[thinktank]

I agree, but he's had the advantage of a pre-season and time to plan. Tim was dropped into a tricky situation where our season could have gone either way. The guy was a clown, but I don't think he gets the credit he should.

I'd say he's had his fair share of fans on here.

Not sure why there's this unending push to convert people to the cult, though.

We all have our views on him; we've had enough time to digest his impact and come to our own conclusions.

Not sure what the problem is.

He's gone, he isn't coming back.

Once he has selected - from the abundance of offers he's received for the magical work he did here (that some people are just not understanding) - we'll be able to see him get a proper shot in the thick of it and expand our views on him.

 

[SpurSince57]

I'd say he's had his fair share of fans on here.

Not sure why there's this unending push to convert people to the cult, though.

We all have our views on him; we've had enough time to digest his impact and come to our own conclusions.

Not sure what the problem is.

He's gone, he isn't coming back.

Once he has selected - from the abundance of offers he's received for the magical work he did here (that some people are just not understanding) - we'll be able to see him get a proper shot in the thick of it and expand our views on him.

Some fans, sure—more those, like me, that feel he did a pretty commendable job in the circumstances and deserves more credit than he gets.

 

[kursaal]

It's definitely the way to go in the future. Bringing academy graduates builds loyalty, saves money which then can be hopefully used on a few exceptional players to go alongside them. It also helps attract top prospects because they can see a clear proven line of progression right through to the first team.