The Spurs Youth Thread – 2016/2017

[IGSpur]

I could see us using Wanyama as a CB in pre-season, as we have 3 other CMs (plus Winks & Ward) but only really Ball and CCV at CB that are anywhere close to the first team. With Trippier here, I can see KWP getting some game time at LB. Unfortunately, I think this means that Poch, Wanyama and KWP are going to come in for some undeserved criticism from our fans, who can't see the bigger picture and circumstances.

KWP will be away with Eng u19s in late July if you're thinking of then and then will likely have a bit of a break

 

[EQP]

Incidentally, I saw that Pritchard started his pre-season privately with a Southend coach a week or two ago, presumably to get ahead of the others !

Great!!! A full uninterrupted pre-season with Poch will definitely be the making of him.

 

[Disconosebleed]

Possibly a big ask but if any of the youth team experts were willing I'd love to see a run-down of what each player in the set-up is like, their chances of making it at the club etc.

 

[spurs9]

KWP will be away with Eng u19s in late July if you're thinking of then and then will likely have a bit of a break

I knew Onomah would be away but forgot about KWP. Has the final squad been announced yet? I could only wee the squad announcement for the 2 Mexico friendlies.

 

[Spursidol]

KWP will be away with Eng u19s in late July if you're thinking of then and then will likely have a bit of a break

Think KWP's chance is before Walker and Rose come back from England duty and their 3 week hols, which is about the 3rd week of July, and then add on a week or 2 for them to get into pre-season, so KWP's chance is from about the 2nd week of July when I'd guess they have their first pre-season behind closed doors match through to the tour to Australia.(26th first match ?) as I cannot see them missing that.

So its a window of only about 3 weeks from the start of pre-season for KWP to catch Poch's eye before he goes off with England u19's.

 

[Spursidol]

I knew Onomah would be away but forgot about KWP. Has the final squad been announced yet? I could only wee the squad announcement for the 2 Mexico friendlies.

Not announced as yet, but I cannot see Onomah and KWP being dropped by England - so can only see them not going if Spurs say they want one or both for club first team games which will aid their development more.

 

[spurs9]

Think KWP's chance is before Walker and Rose come back from England duty and their 3 week hols, which is about the 3rd week of July, and then add on a week or 2 for them to get into pre-season, so KWP's chance is from about the 2nd week of July when I'd guess they have their first pre-season behind closed doors match through to the tour to Australia.(26th first match ?) as I cannot see them missing that.

So its a window of only about 3 weeks from the start of pre-season for KWP to catch Poch's eye before he goes off with England u19's.

First U19 games are on 11th July, so I doubt they will be reporting for pre-season training with us at all before then.If they do, it will be no more than a week.

 

[spurs9]

Not announced as yet, but I cannot see Onomah and KWP being dropped by England - so can only see them not going if Spurs say they want one or both for club first team games which will aid their development more.

Unfortunately, I doubt that will happen, but I would like to see KWP recalled back to Spurs, as I think he would benefit.

 

[Spursidol]

Possibly a big ask but if any of the youth team experts were willing I'd love to see a run-down of what each player in the set-up is like, their chances of making it at the club etc.

Its a huge ask. Limited time at the moment but I'd say that over the next 2 or 3 seasons these are the best bets for the first team - remembering its about both the players abilities/temperament and, crucially, the opportunities which open up for the players.

So I'd guess from these players we might get 4 through to the first team on a regular basis

Luke McGee (GK)),
Thomas Glover (GK)
Connor Ogilvie (LB,/CB),
Kyle Walker-Peters (RB.LB)
Dominic Ball (CB/DM) ,
Cameron Carter Vickers (CB),
Harry Winks (CM/AM),
Luke Amos (DM)
Joshua Onomah (AM/CM)
Grant Ward (Utility),
Nathan Oduwa AM/Fwd,
Shayon Harrison (Striker),

Then I really think Academy Year 2 have some great individuals, with maybe about half standing a good chance of making it but ultimately if 3 did, it would be be fantastic, but that's maybe over the next 4 years (but more likely over the 3 years from 2017/17 onwards).

Some of these will not succeed as other players are better, but for many it will be the limited opportunities which means they don't make it. Rashford is a good example at ManU - he's done far better in their first team than he ever showed as an u18 or u21 year old.

After these players, there's a lot of good youngsters coming through at younger ages, so lots of possibilities and it may well be that s9ome of these youngsters 'displace' some of the older ones as generally the technical ability is even better in the younger age groups than players who are a few years older,

 

[beats1]

Its a huge ask. Limited time at the moment but I'd say that over the next 2 or 3 seasons these are the best bets for the first team - remembering its about both the players abilities/temperament and, crucially, the opportunities which open up for the players.

So I'd guess from these players we might get 4 through to the first team on a regular basis

Luke McGee (GK)),
Thomas Glover (GK)
Connor Ogilvie (LB,/CB),
Kyle Walker-Peters (RB.LB)
Dominic Ball (CB/DM) ,
Cameron Carter Vickers (CB),
Harry Winks (CM/AM),
Luke Amos (DM)
Joshua Onomah (AM/CM)
Grant Ward (Utility),
Nathan Oduwa AM/Fwd,
Shayon Harrison (Striker),

Then I really think Academy Year 2 have some great individuals, with maybe about half standing a good chance of making it but ultimately if 3 did, it would be be fantastic, but that's maybe over the next 4 years (but more likely over the 3 years from 2017/17 onwards).

Some of these will not succeed as other players are better, but for many it will be the limited opportunities which means they don't make it. Rashford is a good example at ManU - he's done far better in their first team than he ever showed as an u18 or u21 year old.

After these players, there's a lot of good youngsters coming through at younger ages, so lots of possibilities and it may well be that s9ome of these youngsters 'displace' some of the older ones as generally the technical ability is even better in the younger age groups than players who are a few years older,

We seriously need to in improve in our development from year 2 to first team if we are to get any in the first team. This may be a big statement but I wouldn't be surprised if only 2 make it through to the first team and the rest sold. Which is terrible considering some of them our are most talented players we have had

 

[Spursidol]

We seriously need to in improve in our development from year 2 to first team if we are to get any in the first team. This may be a big statement but I wouldn't be surprised if only 2 make it through to the first team and the rest sold. Which is terrible considering some of them our are most talented players we have had

Agree with all of that, but that's why I was trying to emphasise that 'opportunity' is such a big factor in the number that get through to the first team.

Poch has not given that many chances to players who weren't on the fringes of the first team before he arrived (eg Kane) other than Onomah and Winks (but Winks has only played about 15 minutes in total), so to get more players through he's got to try out more players - and of course pre-season is the best place he can do that. But the argument is going to be that he cannot play many youth in CL - although Fergie did, and he didn't do badly !

 

[Saoirse]

The u21 league has not proved that successful in being a bridge towards the first team, so you are correct that PL is thinking about changing it to an u23 league - not the same as the reserves where players of all ages played, but often very few u21's - and its not confusion with the Football League Trophy (ex Johnson's Paints Trophy).

The reason by the way for change of age group is that few u21's become regular PL starters at u21, its more like 23. So the idea is that players can play an u23 tournament and then move to the PL team. I'm not entirely convinced it will work to have an u18 league and then an u23 league - the age difference is too great - but I guess they felt they need to do something.

There's about 24 Category 1 Academies (several more have been approved to be upgraded to Category 1 so I'm not sure of what the exact number will be) but only places for 16 of those to compete in the Football League Trophy against League 1 and League 2 teams, and its not yet been announced whether or not Spurs are to be one of the 16 Academies that do compete. I'm guessing that we do want to compete by the number of 'professionals' not in the First Team squad that we elected to retain rather than release at the end of their contracts which would otherwise have been today. I guess we'll find out in the next couple of weeks whether we will be fielding an u23 team in that trophy.

Good point on the changes in FIFA loan rules - effect will be to severely limit the number of players Spurs do loan out, and the ages of those we retained means we need to play them at u21 or u23 level.

It's been confirmed that the clubs invited will be Catergory 1 Academies in order of the senior teams league position - so all the Premier League category 1 sides plus Newcastle. We'll be in it unless we turn down the invitation, and I'm guessing the tournament wouldn't be happening unless all/the vast majority of U21 sides wanted it so my guess is we're very likely to take part.

 

[Spursidol]

It's been confirmed that the clubs invited will be Catergory 1 Academies in order of the senior teams league position - so all the Premier League category 1 sides plus Newcastle. We'll be in it unless we turn down the invitation, and I'm guessing the tournament wouldn't be happening unless all/the vast majority of U21 sides wanted it so my guess is we're very likely to take part.

Where did you see that ?

 

[coy-spurs1882]

Agree with all of that, but that's why I was trying to emphasise that 'opportunity' is such a big factor in the number that get through to the first team.

Poch has not given that many chances to players who weren't on the fringes of the first team before he arrived (eg Kane) other than Onomah and Winks (but Winks has only played about 15 minutes in total), so to get more players through he's got to try out more players - and of course pre-season is the best place he can do that. But the argument is going to be that he cannot play many youth in CL - although Fergie did, and he didn't do badly !

i hope we can see more from winks next season, but i am a little bit concerned that poch chose to play injured mason instead of onomah or winks...

 

[Blake Griffin]

Tottenham Academy‏@thfcacademy 1h
Development squad friendlies: July 9th vs Nottingham Forest, July 16th vs Fulham and July 21st vs Rotherham.

Tottenham Academy ‏@thfcacademy 1h
All will be played behind closed doors.

 

[THFCSPURS19]

Tottenham Academy‏@thfcacademy 1h
Development squad friendlies: July 9th vs Nottingham Forest, July 16th vs Fulham and July 21st vs Rotherham.

Tottenham Academy ‏@thfcacademy 1h
All will be played behind closed doors.

Will these be like the friendlies last season where Bentaleb and others played in, or are these strictly for the academy players?

 

[Blake Griffin]

Will these be like the friendlies last season where Bentaleb and others played in, or are these strictly for the academy players?

not sure, maybe @BC11 can elaborate.

 

[Spursidol]

Tottenham Academy‏@thfcacademy 1h
Development squad friendlies: July 9th vs Nottingham Forest, July 16th vs Fulham and July 21st vs Rotherham.

Tottenham Academy ‏@thfcacademy 1h
All will be played behind closed doors.

Interestingly both Spurs and Fulham were going to play Wealdstone at about that date in public matches before, I guess, deciding to play each other behind closed doors.

 

[Spursidol]

Will these be like the friendlies last season where Bentaleb and others played in, or are these strictly for the academy players?

I imagine its for u21 type sides - but there are no rules for these.

As I've suggested before, given that we have a small first team squad in pre-season for a couple of weeks until the England lads join them - Vorm, Trippier, Wanyama, Carroll, Bentaleb, Mason, Pritchard, Eriksen, Chadli, Clinton these will be joined by the likes of CCV, KWP, Ball, Harrison, Ward, Ogilvie, McGee, Oduwa to make up a bigger squad to play some matches behind closed doors whilst the younger u21 players will play other matches.

From the description that these matches are for the Development Squad, I'd guess that these are for the younger u21's

 

[BC11]

not sure, maybe @BC11 can elaborate.

Yeah, apparently some of first-team will play. Not exactly sure what that means but I assume it's all the players who have returned already.