Spurs under 21, under 18 Leagues and other youth news

[Spursidol]

Still think we missed the boat with FDB.

Poochy is a good manager, but I just preferred FDB as my first choice.

TBH I wasn't enthused by the selection on offer - a bette selection two years ago ( Martinez, Rogers and AVB), but we somehow picked the wrong one !

Hopefully Poch will step up though

 

[wlhatwhl]

Heard this morning on Talksport that our under 21's have a game on Wednesday vs Southend United. Might be a behind closed doors game, nothing on the web about it.
Hopefully we get some information on it once the game has been played. It will be interesting to see the lineup.

From Twitter: Southend United have announced they will face Tottenham Hotspur in a behind closed doors game on Wednesday (@HotspurRelated)

 

[Spursidol]

Heard this morning on Talksport that our under 21's have a game on Wednesday vs Southend United. Might be a behind closed doors game, nothing on the web about it.
Hopefully we get some information on it once the game has been played. It will be interesting to see the lineup.

Southend United ‏@SUFCRootsHall ·
Three games coming up for Blues this week. Billericay (A) on Tuesday, Tottenham (A) on Wednesday morning and Braintree (A) on Saturday.

More likely to be behind closed doors - but if you turn up and get in please keep us informed !

 

[RuskyM]

Little reminder for anyone unsure of the player.

after coulibaly i refuse to be excited about a youth player

 

[beats1]

@beats1 I know plenty of Ajax fans that are gutted about De Jong leaving. Not a very popular move.

The ones I know think he is overrated and are happy with what they got for him and are excited by the prospect of his replacement who I forgot

after coulibaly i refuse to be excited about a youth player

TBH coulibaly was always a limited player but just a natural goalscorer, which despite struggling to settle and show great signs of improvement is still with us and been offered a new contract. He can put the ball in the net

 

[RickyVilla]

The ones I know think he is overrated and are happy with what they got for him and are excited by the prospect of his replacement who I forgot

Are they talking about Klassen? He looks great. Do you live in the Netherlands then?

 

[TottenhamLegend]

Little reminder for anyone unsure of the player.

The best thing there is that as skillful as he is, he seems to know when to pass.

2:22

 

[StartingPrice]

The best thing there is that as skillful as he is, he seems to know when to pass.

2:22

Yeah, spotted that
That's the type of quick transition we dreamed of under AVB

 

[Spursidol]

Yeah, spotted that
That's the type of quick transition we dreamed of under AVB

You mean after AVB was appointed but before AVB took charge of many games ?!!

 

[Spursidol]

http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/spurs-xi-date-150714/

Billed by Spurs as a Spurs X1 but Cambridge are sasying that there will be a number of first team players. Think its definitely a Spurs X1 match, although maybe some of the players coming back from the world cup may want a run out or even Adebayor depending on how he trains post malaria.

But its a strange one for me - League 2 is lower standard than League 1 and several times in the past a Spurs u21 has defeated a League 1 side - such as Notts Forest under McLaren, and at 4 August the youngsters should be well into their pre-season and lokinmg for higher class opposition, famous last words of course.

 

[Spursidol]

http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/spurs-xi-date-150714/

Billed by Spurs as a Spurs X1 but Cambridge are sasying that there will be a number of first team players. Think its definitely a Spurs X1 match, although maybe some of the players coming back from the world cup may want a run out or even Adebayor depending on how he trains post malaria.

But its a strange one for me - League 2 is lower standard than League 1 and several times in the past a Spurs u21 has defeated a League 1 side - such as Notts Forest under McLaren, and at 4 August the youngsters should be well into their pre-season and lokinmg for higher class opposition, famous last words of course.

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Spo...ight-track-says-Jez-George-20140301070100.htm

Bingo, its a part payment for a Cambridge youngster whoi is joing Spurs - think Elliott Thorpe will be playing u15/u16 this coming season

 

[StartingPrice]

Still think we missed the boat with FDB.

Poochy is a good manager, but I just preferred FDB as my first choice.

Well, it's all done and dusted now, and all that is left is to support the Head Coach (not that I'm suggesting you won't do that). And this isn't really the place for it...but: With FDB the option was a promising overseas coach, with no experience in the EPL, and we've been down that road before. Our most successful managers/head coaches have had EPL experience (perhaps because they were British), but we have had that, in GHodd (and a club icon, to boot) and he didn't work out. AVB was an overseas hot-shot coach who had, for whatever reason, already not worked at Chelsea. So, the idea seems to be to switch to an overseas coach to get maximum benefit from the youth set-up, as it has been revamped on European lines and focused to operate in that way. With The Poch, we are getting a young, overseas head coach, thus fulfilling one part of the criteria, but who has also already had success (no matter in the EPL - no matter how limited anyone feels that success was, certainly more than AVB had at Chelsea), and thus fulfilling another part of the criteria. There is no way, ATM, of knowing whether FDB is better, as good, or worse than him, so I would presume that the EPL experience/success was the clincher.

Here's hoping he turns out to be a chubby-chopped Argentinian Ferguson

 

[StartingPrice]

The ones I know think he is overrated and are happy with what they got for him and are excited by the prospect of his replacement who I forgot

TBH coulibaly was always a limited player but just a natural goalscorer, which despite struggling to settle and show great signs of improvement is still with us and been offered a new contract. He can put the ball in the net

True.
There is no way, ATM, of knowing whether he will success or not. But it is definitely the case that he is yet another young player being judged by the false standard that Rooney is the norm and if a young player hasn't distinguished himself by that age he is somehow a fatally flawed flop. That just isn't the case. The norm is, rather, the likes of Kyle Walker, spending time in the youth set-up up and then out on loan, at lower and EPL level, before being given a run-out for us. And, in his case, establishing himself as a first teamer (n.b. this comment is a BC-Free zone).

Coulibaly has suffered home-sickness/cultural adjustments/not settling in issues (from what I gather it sounds like he would have been happier staying in Italy) - prompting the club to allow him an extended leave back in Africa, to get his head right. But even that action wasn't enough for the club to cut him loose - instead seeing enough in him to grant him a new contract (not that the club would ever do that and then ask a hire price in selling him a couple of months later ).

I'll end the way I started - no-one knows if he will work out, or not But it is a little previous and somewhat ill-conceived to be labelling him a 'flop'.

 

[StartingPrice]

You mean after AVB was appointed but before AVB took charge of many games ?!!

?Que?

Are you being a stickler? Should I have said: That is the type of transition we dreamed of after AVB took over but hadn't taken charge of many games, but after that we yearned for (especially last season, after Bale had cleared off out of it!)?

 

[Spursidol]

?Que?

Are you being a stickler? Should I have said: That is the type of transition we dreamed of after AVB took over but hadn't taken charge of many games, but after that we yearned for (especially last season, after Bale had cleared off out of it!)?

You are safe to say that - provided it remains a 'B-C free zone' !

 

[StartingPrice]

You are safe to say that - provided it remains a 'B-C free zone' !

If only BC would stay a BS-free zone

 

[TheGreenLily]

Well, it's all done and dusted now, and all that is left is to support the Head Coach (not that I'm suggesting you won't do that). And this isn't really the place for it...but: With FDB the option was a promising overseas coach, with no experience in the EPL, and we've been down that road before. Our most successful managers/head coaches have had EPL experience (perhaps because they were British), but we have had that, in GHodd (and a club icon, to boot) and he didn't work out. AVB was an overseas hot-shot coach who had, for whatever reason, already not worked at Chelsea. So, the idea seems to be to switch to an overseas coach to get maximum benefit from the youth set-up, as it has been revamped on European lines and focused to operate in that way. With The Poch, we are getting a young, overseas head coach, thus fulfilling one part of the criteria, but who has also already had success (no matter in the EPL - no matter how limited anyone feels that success was, certainly more than AVB had at Chelsea), and thus fulfilling another part of the criteria. There is no way, ATM, of knowing whether FDB is better, as good, or worse than him, so I would presume that the EPL experience/success was the clincher.

Here's hoping he turns out to be a chubby-chopped Argentinian Ferguson

Trust me, I am not upset in the slightest that Poochy is our manager, I think both Pooch and FDB are very very good managers and choosing between both of the is pretty damn hard.

Personally for me, developing the youth is very very important for us and for England as well. As harsh as it sounds, I would drop Townsend and Lennon and promote the youth of the clubs Cellabos, Pritchard and the rest. And for this reason, it was hard to decide.

If we start with Lennon in the starting 11 first game of the season, my heart will sink.

 

[beats1]

Are they talking about Klassen? He looks great. Do you live in the Netherlands then?

My best friend does and his gf's family are ajax mad

 

[RickyVilla]

My best friend does and his gf's family are ajax mad

Same with my Mrs's family. I just moved over here in March and the World Cup has definitely been an experience!

 

[StartingPrice]

Trust me, I am not upset in the slightest that Poochy is our manager, I think both Pooch and FDB are very very good managers and choosing between both of the is pretty damn hard.

Personally for me, developing the youth is very very important for us and for England as well. As harsh as it sounds, I would drop Townsend and Lennon and promote the youth of the clubs Cellabos, Pritchard and the rest. And for this reason, it was hard to decide.

If we start with Lennon in the starting 11 first game of the season, my heart will sink.

Didn't imply that you did (certainly didn't mean to imply it)

I think you are probably right - but we won't know until hindsight allows it. I was just using your post to highlight this point: The Poch has the experience and relative success in the EPL, FDB doesn't and, all things being narrow, as you say, I believe that was the decisive factor.

Developing youth is one of the key components in Levy's strategic vision for the club (I believe). I think AVB was made aware of that, and I am nearly certain that one of his early interviews said something along the lines of sharing a vision for the centrality of youth development development. It's funny because early on Beats voiced a concern that AVB wasn't doing anything at all with any of the youth players, and I said I would be concerned in the first year as a new head coach has rightly to prioritise results. But seemingly Beats was right...something borne out by the ITK allegations that AVB isolated the 1st team squad.

The Poch has a decent record at this both with Espanyol and the Saints. Another key difference, as well as EPL experience, is that Poch will quite happily led key employers do their job at youth level and then look to integrate them into the 1st team squad, whereas FDB actually wanted to minutely run everything from academy up (least that's how I read it). I'm not making a value judgement on that either way and whoever FDB eventually takes over may reap the rewards of that. But I can understand Levy taking the approach that our academy is functioning pretty well as it is and what he wanted was a head coach, and a head coach who was happy and able to integrate younglings as and when they become ready.

I agree with you about the youth. I'm holding fire on Townsend and Lennon - quite simply, the head coach has to be allowed to do his job. If he consigns those two to the transfers-out bucket, no problem. But if he can improve them, then we will have two effective players for THFC which is all I care about (I have no agendas). Lennon is coming into the peak years of his career, for instance - if The Poch can get him scoring and assisting at a higher rate, and functioning all round as a key component of the team and get him to take defenders on again, to add to his pace-threat and his admirable defensive duties all is good, afaiac. For me, one of the most disgusting things was at the start of AVB's tenure when he stated publicly that all players had a fresh start. as part of that, he bought Jenas on as a sub, in a pre-season friendly, and the WHL boo-boys, er, booed him I don't really care that much how any individual rates any given player, it's all opinions, but FFS. It may well have been that after a good look at Jenas, AVB would have decided to ship him out, but that made it pretty difficult for him to play JJ again - and that is just wrong!

/rant