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The Spurs Youth Thread – 2016/2017

spursfan77

Well-Known Member
Aug 13, 2005
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104,957
Harry Redknapp mocks Chelsea after youth team hammer Tottenham with 7-1 win

Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2017/03/18/harry...tottenham-with-7-1-win-6518947/#ixzz4bj9eZ7fa

Harry Redknapp has aimed a dig at Chelsea after their Under-18s reached the final of the Youth Cup with a 7-1 victory over Tottenham on Saturday.

Jody Morris’ side comfortably brushed Spurs aside at Stamford Bridge as Ike Ugbo netted a hat-trick, while Trevoh Chalobah, Dujon Sterling, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Juan Castillo also found the target.

Chelsea have won the Youth Cup in four out of the last five seasons, but Redknapp has criticised the club for their failure to produce players for the first-team.

‘Fantastic, it’s amazing, I’m sure they’ll all make it into the first team one day at Chelsea, I’ve got no doubt about that,’ the former Tottenham boss sarcastically told BT Sport after learning about Chelsea’s 7-1 win.

‘Every year they win it, but they don’t get a player come through.

‘John Terry was the last player to come through, who else have they really produced?

‘They have all these great kids, they loan them all out.

‘You’re going to have to be an absolute world-beater, that’s the only thing I can say to them [the players].

‘Man City and Chelsea, every year, when are we going to find some players from those teams?’

Glad he's called them out on it on tv. More should be made of both those clubs failings. Nothing will change this summer either, the papers are already full of them both buying x, y and z players.
 

THFCSPURS19

The Speaker of the Transfer Rumours Forum
Jan 6, 2013
37,886
130,485
I didn't compare them, I merely used them as an example of how it can be beneficial both financially and in a footballing sense - just look at what teams like Monaco have done - knocked out two top 3 PL teams from Europe, inc one of the richest, highest spending clubs in the world.

I understand completely that economic necessity is a major driving factor in France - but we are also a sustainably run club with a near zero net spend transfer policy (or aim to be) so those economics can and do apply to us to a degree.
Mate, Germain and Mbappe are the only players starting for Monaco that are from their Academy. And usually it's one or the other, with Falcao being the second striker.
 

mill

Well-Known Member
May 21, 2007
10,385
37,100
Mate, Germain and Mbappe are the only players starting for Monaco that are from their Academy. And usually it's one or the other, with Falcao being the second striker.
Never let the truth get in the way of a good yarn....

Tbf he did mention their quality of scouting in a different post
 

mancman

Well-Known Member
Aug 24, 2006
363
688
There appears to be a sense of 'shell shock' from our regular contributors in response to the 1-7 thrashing from Chelsea. I watched both the games and for me our midfield was very poor. The much admired Oakley-Boothe was very disappointing with Duncan a little irrelevant. George Marsh seemed to be everywhere trying to plug gaps (as did Skipp in the first game) but found himself outnumbered in most situations. The key moments for me were in the second game when we were 0-2 down and Griffiths really should have scored. His miss was compounded by a very poor penalty miss from Sterling. This could have changed the whole game at 2-2 with confidence rising. This was not to be of course and the match was over when Chelsea scored again. What was interesting to me was I thought the best 3 players over the two legs were Dujon Sterling, Trevoh Chalobah and Mason Mount. All three by coincidence are in the current England U19 squad. Spurs have two in this very same squad (Whiteman & Edwards) but neither played. If you are really keen about winning trophies then you play your best players. For the life of me why was Marcos Edwards not playing. Some correspondents say it is because he is deemed to be 'too good for youth football'. What piffle, Edwards is good yes but better that the Chelsea three I am not certain. Anyway playing in a tense Semi-final at two major stadia would be wonderful for Edwards rather than him playing at Stevenage for the U23's in front of 2 old men and a dog. The finest Youth player I have ever seen was Glenn Hoddle both times were in FA Youth cup ties and playing for the England Youth side.
 

mpickard2087

Patient Zero
Jun 13, 2008
21,886
32,513
If you are really keen about winning trophies then you play your best players. For the life of me why was Marcos Edwards not playing. Some correspondents say it is because he is deemed to be 'too good for youth football'. What piffle, Edwards is good yes but better that the Chelsea three I am not certain. Anyway playing in a tense Semi-final at two major stadia would be wonderful for Edwards rather than him playing at Stevenage for the U23's in front of 2 old men and a dog. The finest Youth player I have ever seen was Glenn Hoddle both times were in FA Youth cup ties and playing for the England Youth side.

Because as is repeated ad infinitum, it is not about winning trophies it is about development.

Poch, McDermott and co. have decided that Edwards no longer gets anything from playing at U18 level. He is best served training with the first team each day and the minimum level for him now is some U23 matches alongside being with the first team squad.

You are also just focusing on the brightest prospect I feel, and treating all the others as irrelevent. Lets take specific players out of it and use an exaggerated example, say you have the truly next big thing in football in your academy. He is untouchable, runs riot at youth level, just dominates everything that happens. If after a while you decide to just bring this kid in for the big matches to ensure games/trophies are won, how does that impact on the other kids in the team? How do they learn if they only play the 'easy' games and don't get the opportunity when the tests are tougher? How do others in the team learn to step up and take responsibility and run tough games if said super kid(s) comes in and dominates everything? As I said an exaggerated example, but relate that to Edwards' situation.
 
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mancman

Well-Known Member
Aug 24, 2006
363
688
Response to mpickard2087.

You make some interesting and valid comments but I am not sure I agree with you in the main.
It is important to develop a winning mentality (Poch goes on about this all the time) and John McDermott says this is vital to their development. Getting experience in a major Youth match and appearing on TV is part of it. Just attaching Edwards to the first team with the occasional U23 games is not, in my opinion, enough. Just look at Onomah who is literally going backwards in his development. Edwards, by the way, did not 'run riot' last year at youth level and indeed he his not always first choice for England U19's (when he is not injured). He is potentially a very good player but has so much to learn (especially defensively). He is not a 'super star' yet and he needs to be grounded. Playing in the semi-final would have helped him and nothing you have said, though reasonable, persuades me otherwise.
 

Blake Griffin

Well-Known Member
Oct 3, 2011
14,133
38,225
What type of player do people think Marsh will be in the long run because they use him as a holding player but I am not 100% sure that will be the best position for him in the long run?

I know we was shocking in both matches but I am still backing a lot of players in the u18s.

i think his best has been at cb but then how many 5'7 cbs can you think of?

i liked marsh last year but he's turned into a bit of a hatchet man since, he's one i would give a 3rd year scholarship to rather than a pro.
 

ralphs bald spot

Well-Known Member
Jul 14, 2015
2,777
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i think his best has been at cb but then how many 5'7 cbs can you think of?

i liked marsh last year but he's turned into a bit of a hatchet man since, he's one i would give a 3rd year scholarship to rather than a pro.[/QUOTE
you have to compare him wiith Lesniak as they appear to be quite similar and if Lesniak hasn't made it from the few games I've seen of Marsh he does't compare very favourably
 

Spurzinho

Well-Known Member
Jan 24, 2016
2,513
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Think Marsh is a lot better with the ball than Lesniak but I can see what you are saying.

I do like watching Marsh play would like to see him play further up the pitch just to see what he could do.

For me Lesniak is never going to make it with us made my mind up in a pre season match away to Peterborough when him and Miller was playing CM both struggled badly that day and I have never been a fan of both since.

Harsh on Miller as he's not really a midfielder, he's at his best chasing about up front or dropping into the hole and getting things ticking over. He's not especially creative but he does keep the ball moving. Lesniak, I agree on. Never really been impressed with him, not quite sure what we saw in him. We were obviously short of CM's in that year as we only offered a scholarship to Winks but there must have been plenty of other lads who had everything Lesniak had and possibly more.

As for Marsh, his tenacity, aggression and will to win make him a hard player to dislike. Against better players he tends to look technically limited and lacking in game intelligence and that is the worry. I think if he were going to make it at the highest level he would have shown more so far. I've compared him, favourably, to Marc Noble but the thing about Noble is that while he's a bit of a non-entity now, passing it sideways and backwards, when he was a youth player at club and National level he was fizzing the ball about, dictating play, marshalling those around him, just a really good all-rounder.
 

edson

Well-Known Member
May 17, 2005
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12,117
Harsh on Miller as he's not really a midfielder, he's at his best chasing about up front or dropping into the hole and getting things ticking over. He's not especially creative but he does keep the ball moving. Lesniak, I agree on. Never really been impressed with him, not quite sure what we saw in him. We were obviously short of CM's in that year as we only offered a scholarship to Winks but there must have been plenty of other lads who had everything Lesniak had and possibly more.

As for Marsh, his tenacity, aggression and will to win make him a hard player to dislike. Against better players he tends to look technically limited and lacking in game intelligence and that is the worry. I think if he were going to make it at the highest level he would have shown more so far. I've compared him, favourably, to Marc Noble but the thing about Noble is that while he's a bit of a non-entity now, passing it sideways and backwards, when he was a youth player at club and National level he was fizzing the ball about, dictating play, marshalling those around him, just a really good all-rounder.
Have seen Miller play all over the pitch over the years and he has played well at times but like most in the Development Squad setup I do not see a top tier player.
 
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Blake Griffin

Well-Known Member
Oct 3, 2011
14,133
38,225
For me Lesniak is never going to make it with us made my mind up in a pre season match away to Peterborough when him and Miller was playing CM both struggled badly that day and I have never been a fan of both since.

think i went to that game too, goddard was the best player on the pitch from what i remember.
 

DJS

A hoonter must hoont
Dec 9, 2006
31,261
21,760
would guess it depends on how much game time and chance of progression we could give him compared to our rivals. would have thought city, arsenal and liverpool would all be in for a lb, maybe utd too depending on shaw. if i were him i'd probably be thinking spurs have rose and davies in my position, both at a good age, going to be a struggle to get past them. liverpool look the best bet out of the big clubs given they only have milner there doing a job and klopp's shown to play young players. we/they may not even view him as a full back though so there are a lot of variables to consider.

Not gonna make mistake I did with Bale believing he was best as a left-back lol.

This lad is playing wide left for Fulham this season in a 4-2-3-1 and does look a talent.

I'd hope maybe given we're a fellow London team maybe gives us an advantage over Liverpool or Manchester.

Although obviously for us 3-4-2-1 has been very effective for us but he would fit the wing back role very well and give us option to play both him and Rose on left if we went back to a back four.
 

mugpunt

Active Member
Mar 7, 2006
131
217
Hopefully he adapts well over here. I think a real focal point type of striker makes a huge difference to youth sides. Gives the rest of the players so much more confidence.

Spot on, and for all our wounds from the Chelsea semi final, he sounds like the perfect cure for our u18s next year. The description is similar to harry Kane, height stamina and extreme work rate, lacking ego and unselfishly smart on the pitch.

That kind of a presence -stickiness up front should provide a great launchpad for the rest of our youth team to play off- players who tend to be less physically developed than their peers as we focus on the long term development of technical quality.

Hopefully he can make Kane and his singleminded development focus into a role model and develop pace to go with all the other assets mentioned and hopefully he could be supporting him in the team/ squad when he gets to his late teens.
 
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