Self-belief of academy products

[mendesstormer]

[I haven't seen this specifically mentioned elsewhere, but if it's already been covered in the match thread, please merge or delete.]
What stood out above everything else in yesterday's performance was that the engine room of that excellent display was the busy and industrious academy lads - Mason, Bentaleb and Kane. They have a lot of similar attributes - all work extremely hard, are comfortable on the ball, use their heads and look up when in possession, and above all they all three seem to have a very strong sense of self-belief. It's not easy to succeed as a young player at this level, but they show absolutely no fear. It's as if this attitude is bred into the DNA of the academy players now. Bodes really well for the future, if the likes of Velks, Pritchard and Winks, etc. can follow in their footsteps and show similar qualities. Bodes very well for us, too, that yesterday's team is so young and there's significant room for improvement from all but perhaps Lennon (reached his level) and Lloris (can't really see him getting even better).

 

[mpickard2087]

I'm not surprised at all that they are coming in and doing well. They are indeed receiving a good footballing education with us, they (and others) just need chances.

The U21 team has for the last 2-3 years been a better team to watch than the seniors. A real identity to the play. They get the ball down and play some good football, press from the front and work hard. Plus with smaller squads etc. most of them have had experience of playing multiple positions and roles so it gives them experience and understanding of the game, as well as the likes of Kane, Townsend, Mason, Bentaleb etc. knowing each others games and so have 'ready made' partnerships/link-ups.

As I said, they just need chances...

 

[ginola99]

It's not quite the 'class of 92' or, even better, the Barcelona side of 2011 but it's not far off. During the past four years we've seen seven (yes seven) players graduate from our academy and now ply their trade in the prem whether it's with us or someone else. This is arguably the best our club's academy has been since the 70s and what's most impressive is that they're still to win a major youth trophy whether it's the U21 Prem, FA Youth Cup or NextGen. Instead of focusing on winning as say Chelsea do, they focus on developing them in a way which makes them good enough for the first team, both technically and mentally, with a focus on the Tottenham Way.

 

[mendesstormer]

It's not quite the 'class of 92' or, even better, the Barcelona side of 2011 but it's not far off. During the past four years we've seen seven (yes seven) players graduate from our academy and now ply their trade in the prem whether it's with us or someone else. This is arguably the best our club's academy has been since the 70s and what's most impressive is that they're still to win a major youth trophy whether it's the U21 Prem, FA Youth Cup or NextGen. Instead of focusing on winning as say Chelsea do, they focus on developing them in a way which makes them good enough for the first team, both technically and mentally, with a focus on the Tottenham Way.

They may not be focusing on winning, but they do seem to be instilling a winner's mentality.

 

[wlhatwhl]

It was the same when Andros Townsend, Tom Carroll, Jake Livermore, Ryan Fredericks and Jake Nicholson came in for EL games in 2011 - they played with confidence and a belief in their ability. We've seen it with Bentaleb, Mason and Milos Veljkovic - they're comfortable at the higher level.

All the Academy players are very comfortable on the ball and that showed when the players moved up to the first team. They are given an excellent grounding and preparation by the coaching staff in the Academy.

 

[Locotoro]

It's not quite the 'class of 92' or, even better, the Barcelona side of 2011 but it's not far off. During the past four years we've seen seven (yes seven) players graduate from our academy and now ply their trade in the prem whether it's with us or someone else. This is arguably the best our club's academy has been since the 70s and what's most impressive is that they're still to win a major youth trophy whether it's the U21 Prem, FA Youth Cup or NextGen. Instead of focusing on winning as say Chelsea do, they focus on developing them in a way which makes them good enough for the first team, both technically and mentally, with a focus on the Tottenham Way.

Sorry, I had to chuckle at this.

Instead of training them to win they train them......in the Tottenham way!

 

[beats1]

It's not quite the 'class of 92' or, even better, the Barcelona side of 2011 but it's not far off. During the past four years we've seen seven (yes seven) players graduate from our academy and now ply their trade in the prem whether it's with us or someone else. This is arguably the best our club's academy has been since the 70s and what's most impressive is that they're still to win a major youth trophy whether it's the U21 Prem, FA Youth Cup or NextGen. Instead of focusing on winning as say Chelsea do, they focus on developing them in a way which makes them good enough for the first team, both technically and mentally, with a focus on the Tottenham Way.

I think we will have more players in our team than the class of 92 did, the issue is whether how success they will be

 

[JaySpur]

You can't win anything with kids...

 

[chinaman]

Success breeds success. As more of our Academy products make the EPL with us or some other teams, more talented kids would want to join our Academy and so our casting net is a lot wider.

 

[miles_64]

It's such a pleasure to watch the youngsters play so well for the first XI. Like a few others on here, I was a bit worried about Bentaleb and Mason in the middle but they played exceptionally given their relative lack of experience - Bentaleb sitting a touch deeper when Mason got forward, Mason looking to play balls through behind the Everton defence. Mmmmmm - the future is bright.

 

[guate]

Success breeds success. As more of our Academy products make the EPL with us or some other teams, more talented kids would want to join our Academy and so our casting net is a lot wider.

This IMHO is the key. The more successful our academy players become the more others will want to join our academy knowing that, provided they work hard and give their all, they'll also get their chance to break into the big time.