Spurs under 21, under 18 Leagues and other youth news

[sammy j]

Great thread many thanks to all iinvolved , we do seem to have a great bunch coming through

 

[IGSpur]

Midfield trio were class and that's before you take age into consideration. Dombaxe has improved since I saw him v Barca.

While Bentaleb impressed and excited em the most, like a cross between Taarabt and Modric, but I dont think he dominated the games as much as DOmbaxe, Veljkovic and Ceballos/Mcevoy. But you can tell Bentaleb is class, just dont think he played or dominated as much as he could have. Veljkovic i genuinely like composed, strong for somone young. I thought he was mainly a CB but he looked so classy in DM. next Vertonghen, lets not rush him though. Dombaxe could be decent. want to see Ceballos step up. Would say our defence was a weak point but ws just a standard slip up as we contrived to keep them a chance. 5 mins of manic defending from nowhere.

Great result. I remember when we were going to face Arsenal and Mason et al had just been loaned out and we thought we'd struggle esp with no strikers. Since then all the u18s have stepped in and done a job. Now 3 more have been loaned out and we comfortably beat one of the best academies in the league. Impressive

 

[Wirral Spurs]

Went to the game with my 10 year old. Really enjoyable experience watching from the Kop with a vested interest and without the pressure of a first team game. I didn't see any other Tottenham supporters until we left and met a young lad with a Bale shirt and his Mum.
I thought we looked great and apart from the typical Tottenham wobble at 60 mins, totally in control. It was frustrating not knowing who was who apart from the Twitter feed because we didn't have the squad list but the midfield was brilliant with the lad at 10 outstanding. I wasn't so impressed with Coulthirst but he put himself about well enough. All in all I would recommend and al those off to the Arsenal game will have a great time.

 

[StartingPrice]

Went to the game with my 10 year old. Really enjoyable experience watching from the Kop with a vested interest and without the pressure of a first team game. I didn't see any other Tottenham supporters until we left and met a young lad with a Bale shirt and his Mum.
I thought we looked great and apart from the typical Tottenham wobble at 60 mins, totally in control. It was frustrating not knowing who was who apart from the Twitter feed because we didn't have the squad list but the midfield was brilliant with the lad at 10 outstanding. I wasn't so impressed with Coulthirst but he put himself about well enough. All in all I would recommend and al those off to the Arsenal game will have a great time.

Good news that you chose an excellent game and win in order to indoctrinate attract the little lad to Spurs

That is probably the worst I have seen Coulthirst play, TBH - I think someone (SI, maybe) suggested he is recovering from illness, or summit.

 

[Romulus]

Went to the game with my 10 year old. Really enjoyable experience watching from the Kop with a vested interest and without the pressure of a first team game. I didn't see any other Tottenham supporters until we left and met a young lad with a Bale shirt and his Mum.
I thought we looked great and apart from the typical Tottenham wobble at 60 mins, totally in control. It was frustrating not knowing who was who apart from the Twitter feed because we didn't have the squad list but the midfield was brilliant with the lad at 10 outstanding. I wasn't so impressed with Coulthirst but he put himself about well enough. All in all I would recommend and al those off to the Arsenal game will have a great time.

bentaleb.

 

[Romulus]

oh and a replay now on liverpool tv if u missed it before

 

[newbie]

How many Liverpool players where 17-19? Adam Morgan is 94 so soon to be 19. I just wondered if other accademies were playing far younger players? Sterling is what 18 yrs old. However Liverpool players seemed a loy lot bigger then our players last seasons next gen game.

 

[newbie]

Watching the game who are the clowns commentating they claim Liverpool were by far the better side when we played them last year in the next gen series I thought we were by far the better team. They just had a giant up front and loads of pace we played all the football.

 

[Wirral Spurs]

Good news that you chose an excellent game and win in order to indoctrinate attract the little lad to Spurs

That is probably the worst I have seen Coulthirst play, TBH - I think someone (SI, maybe) suggested he is recovering from illness, or summit.

Certainly better than the personal direct abuse that we got from the Everton tards back in November. He is safely Spurs despite living up here.

 

[Misfit]

Watching the game who are the clowns commentating they claim Liverpool were by far the better side when we played them last year in the next gen series I thought we were by far the better team. They just had a giant up front and loads of pace we played all the football.

Is that the game we won playing an embryo and were subsequently kicked out afterwards? Yep, they bludgeoned us into a 1-0 victory alright. They also weren't treated like a $2 whore in their very next tie also. No siree.

Bunch of orcs. Halfwit comms.

 

[Spursidol]

Ray Lo's usual descriptive report on the u21 match
http://www.spursodyssey.com/1213/u21li010413.html

OS

Our Under-21s dominated at Anfield to move 10 points clear in the Elite Group of the Barclays U21 Premier League on Easter Monday.

Source: Official Site

Cristian Ceballos struck twice and Kenny McEvoy clinched it at 3-1 after Liverpool pulled a goal back for 2-1 with 20 minutes remaining.

We could have been long gone by the time Adam Morgan gave the home side that brief lifeline.

We created five goalscoring opportunities after Ceballos' made it 2-0 but failed to find the third goal.

Morgan's goal represented Liverpool's first shot in the second half and they struck the woodwork seconds later as Joao Teixera broke through.

An equaliser would have made for an interesting final 20 minutes but anything other than a Spurs win would have been a travesty.

Thankfully, McEvoy drilled home from the right angle to make the final scoreline more of a reflection of the 90 minutes.

It stretched the team's record to eight wins, a draw and defeat in 10 matches in the second phase of the Barclays U21 Premier League.

All this with a young team - eight Academy trainees featured and six started - and 13 players currently out on loan who have played for the Under-21s this season - Adam Smith, Yago Falque, Souleymane Coulibaly, Alex Pritchard, Ryan Mason, Andros Townsend, Harry Kane, Jon Obika, Jonathan Miles, Kevin Stewart, Massimo Luongo, Dean Parrett and Nathan Byrne.

Laste Dombaxe and Nabil Bentaleb went close before Liverpool's only chance of note in the first half as Krisztian Adorjan's effort from Kristoffer Peterson's cutback appeared to be missing the target, but was blocked anyway by Ryan Fredericks.

Peter Gulacsi produced a fine save to turn away Shaq Coulthirst's header from Ceballos' whipped corner on 20 minutes and it was soon 1-0 as Ceballos tricked his way past Ryan McLaughlin on the left byline and fired across goal, his cross cannoning home off Gulacsi.

Ceballos and Dombaxe both went close from the edge of the box as we ended the first half on top.

That dominance stepped up a level in the second half and it was no surprise when Ceballos struck again for 2-0 on 51 minutes.

This was a fine goal, started by Milos Veljkovic's pass wide to Jack Barthram on our left. He played into the box to Coulthirst, who held the ball up and played it back out to the full-back. Barthram delivered again and Ceballos was there to head home from eight yards.

That sparked the best 15 minutes of the match.

Ceballos had a shot blocked in front of goal from McEvoy's cutback and McEvoy then took off on a 50-yard run before rolling the ball into Coulthirst, who blasted over.

Veljkovic hit a crossfield pass to Ceballos, who crossed for Coulthirst at the near post, the striker this time flicking over. Ceballos then cut inside Craig Roddan only to fire into the side-netting.

The best chance arrived for Veljkovic on 65 minutes as the midfielder timed his run into the box to perfection to meet McEvoy's cross, only to power his header over from 12 yards.

After all those chances, it was Liverpool who broke clear to score the next goal.

Morgan raced onto a pass over the top, skipped around the advancing Lawrence Vigouroux and then showed composure to step inside Ryan Fredericks and Grant Hall before slotting home.

Incredibly, it could have been 2-2 seconds later as Texeira broke through and clipped the top of the crossbar from 16 yards.

The lads settled again after that and the points were secured by McEvoy three minutes from time. The goal owed much to pressure on the ball from Zeki Fryers and Roman Michael-Percil, Dombaxe threaded through to McEvoy and he fired across Gulacsi into the far corner.

Vigouroux made a fine late save from Morgan's volley to keep it at 3-1 and the points certainly went to the right home.

Spurs U21s (4-3-3): Vigouroux; Fredericks, Fryers, Hall, Barthram (Ball, 84); Veljkovic, Dombaxe, Bentaleb; McEvoy, Coulthirst (Munns, 60), Ceballos (Michael-Percil, 84). Unused subs: Priestley, Lameiras.

Liverpool (4-3-3): Gulacsi; McLaughlin, Jones, Sama, Roddan; Teixera (Brannagan, 65), Coady, Adorjan (Nacho, 46); Peterson, Morgan, Ibe. Unused subs: Baio, Ward, Yukendi​

Great win - and with so many u 18's in the starting side. Also useful to note that the 3rd goal was entirely an u 18's affair, and that the best players by popular acclaim appear to be the u18 cm duo of Veljkovic and Bentelab ! The future is bright

 

[tobi]

Stolen via 101greatgoals.

 

[StartingPrice]

Certainly better than the personal direct abuse that we got from the Everton tards back in November. He is safely Spurs despite living up here.

Is that the game we won playing an embryo and were subsequently kicked out afterwards? Yep, they bludgeoned us into a 1-0 victory alright. They also weren't treated like a $2 whore in their very next tie also. No siree.

Bunch of orcs. Halfwit comms.

Well, yeah, they were certainly big, strong lads though woefully inept from a technical viewpoint :giggle:

Lollerpool really make me sound like Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men - I keep on repeating "You should admit your situation - there would be more dignity in it." :giggle:

 

[elDiablo]

Adam Morgan sounds exactly the same as Steven Gerrard. It's unbelievably uncanny

Seems like he goes down in the box like him too judging by the highlights.......

 

[SteveH]

Thought our lads did well - some good prospects for the future.

Just dont know how many will make to the first team. Its seams very few every do, from any club in the EPL.

 

[elDiablo]

ceballos looks good. And not too lightweight. Wonder why he hasnt been linked to any loans yet? Or is he just not at that stage of his development?

 

[Spursidol]

This table of our youth goal scorers never fails to surprise me - especially when looking at the now 75 goals scored for our u 21's at a rate of about 3 goals a game, some feat !

http://www.myfootballfacts.com/TottenhamHotspurReservesAcademy2012-13.html

 

[Spursidol]

Thought our lads did well - some good prospects for the future.

Just dont know how many will make to the first team. Its seams very few every do, from any club in the EPL.

As you say we have good players up to u 21 level - problemis to get them into the first team. If we require any first teamer to have PL experience, it is not easy to find a PL club to take our players o loan for a season to give them the required experience.

If we did not have that bottleneck and were happy to take players with only Championship experience into the first team squad, think it would be 'easy' to come up with a list of possible players to get into first team, even now. Of course some of those will not make it, but others might take their place, and realistically it probably cannot be more than about 1-4 players per season. Off the top of my head those joining the first team squad for example might be :


2013/14
Likely : Townsend, Carroll, Rose (all with some PL experience)
Outside bets : Smith, Luongo, Parrett, Mason, Kane

2014/15
Possible : Pritchard, Luongo, McEvoy, Coulthirst

2015/16
Possible : Archer, Bentelab, Veljkovic

 

[Spursidol]

The u21 league was introduced to try to help players in the 18-21 year old group to try to bridge the gap between youth football and 'adult' football.

With the number of Spus players now on loan who have played in it, I thought it a good time to try to see where the u21 league equivalent in 'adult' foot ball might be, and looking at where our u21 players have played might give an 'equivalent'

Premiership (2 players) :
Andros Townsend, Harry Kane (Norwich, also Leicester, Championsip)

Championship (5 players) :
Adam Smith, Alex Pritchard, Ryan Mason (Doncaster last season), Jonathan Obika, Massimo Luongo (Ipswich)

Overseas leagues (guessed at midway between Championship and League 1), 2 players :
Yago Falque, Souleymane Coulibaly,

League 1, 3 players :
Kevin Stewart, Dean Parrett, Nathan Byrne

League 2 : Jonathan Miles
At the start of the season we had our best players playing in the u21 league, even including Steven Caulker, and it could be argued that an u 21 team including the liikes of Caulker, Townsend, Falque, Luongo, Pritchard, Obika, Smith et al might have been able to compete at say lowerr/mid Championship levell.

However after January, most of the most experienced ones have gone on loan and I would suggest that the quality of the u 21 team might well have reduced to say mid/upper League 1.

Interestingly against Liveropool, we didn't seem to miss too much the much more experienced Parrett, Luongo or Byrne suggesting that the u 18's coming in are already at a similar leval (although admitedly far less experienced) and so might all be getting experience at a League 1 type level whilst playing for the u21's

Whilst its a hypothetical type exercise, it could start to have an effect next season when we loan out players - some might go to League 1 but others might go straiught to Championship sides purely because they have shown that they can hack it at u 21 level - and maybe Alex Pritchard going straight to Championship Peterborough rather than a league 1 side as his first loan will become a frequest occurrence..

Any thoughts ?

 

[Bofrok]

For those that missed the Liverpool match it is being shown again tomorrow (Wednesday) between 15:00 - 17:00 on Liverpoool FC TV. Think that is the last showing.