The Spurs Youth Thread - 2017/2018

[mpickard2087]

Hopefully will get the chance to watch the youth game vs. Dortmund later (have it waiting on record), sounds like an impressive performance.

Closest modern day player likeness to Edwards for me is hazard,just the way he moves.frightening how good he could actually be.What he has which is so rare,is that feeling something is gonna happen every time he gets the ball.Thats so rare,there's nobody in our current team,apart from when Kane gets it around the box.That reminds me of gazza so much,was so exciting to watch.

I've thought in his last couple of displays I have seen, and again in that clip BG posted, he is quite Lamela-esque as well in a lot that he does (but more mobile than Erik) - body positioning and how he controls/holds the ball, well to my eyes at least. But maybe it's just them both being left footed.

After watching him against Dortmund, his quality was so impressive. It's a bit like Eriksen, you know when he gets on the ball in the final third something is likely to happen.

The thing he needs to work his ass off is increasing his explosive change of pace over three or four yards, that's what Hazard has that kills defenders. Edwards is never going to be a pure speedster, but it's the change up which will make the difference.

Yeah agree with this, that explosive burst to go with his balance and low centre of gravity would make a lot of difference. Good thing is though that I'd likely expect him to gain this as he transitions into the first team, is full-on immersed in Poch's training methods, and also just naturally at 18 he is still developing you'd imagine. E.g. look at Kane at 18 compared to the physical specimen now, even the likes of Winks and Onomah you can see the change in the last couple of years.

 

[coyspurs18]

Edwards #1 in CFC prospect rankings as many expected.

Final Rankings:
10 Will Miller
9 Jack Roles
8 Sam Shashoua
7 Shayon Harrison
6 CCV
5 TOB
4 Kazaiah Sterling
3 KWP
2 Josh Onomah
1 Marcus Edwards

 

[Dharmabum]

Edwards #1 in CFC prospect rankings as many expected.

Final Rankings:
10 Will Miller
9 Jack Roles
8 Sam Shashoua
7 Shayon Harrison
6 CCV
5 TOB
4 Kazaiah Sterling
3 KWP
2 Josh Onomah
1 Marcus Edwards

Will Miller has been sold to Burton.

 

[Univarn]

Will Miller has been sold to Burton.

Yeah I think they started a while back before that happened. I suspect had it been done now Skipp might have made that list too.

 

[Larryjanta]

Yeah I think they started a while back before that happened. I suspect had it been done now Skipp might have made that list too.

It does go to show that, really, most of us fans know nothing and it's probably a good thing we don't make these decisions!!

 

[Blake Griffin]

It does go to show that, really, most of us fans know nothing and it's probably a good thing we don't make these decisions!!

in fairness, i think if the regulars in here were asked to list their top 10 at the time then skipp would've been in it. cartilagefree do a good job but they mostly rely on the likes of windy and thfcacademy for info so don't see as much of the players for themselves.

edit: didn't mean that to sound like windy/academy are feeding them duff info, just that when you're only taking in small snippets then you're not going to have a clear picture on everything. plus, as i said before, it's pretty difficult comparing players between the age of 16 like skipp, up to miller for example who is 21. the latter has played first team football, tons of u23s and some friendlies with the seniors, whilst the former at that point had only just left school so it's a question of do you go for the one with the best prospect of playing for the first team at some point in the future or the one who is theoretically closer right now etc.

 

[Larryjanta]

in fairness, i think if the regulars in here were asked to list their top 10 at the time then skipp would've been in it. cartilagefree do a good job but they mostly rely on the likes of windy and thfcacademy for info so don't see as much of the players for themselves.

edit: didn't mean that to sound like windy/academy are feeding them duff info, just that when you're only taking in small snippets then you're not going to have a clear picture on everything. plus, as i said before, it's pretty difficult comparing players between the age of 16 like skipp, up to miller for example who is 21. the latter has played first team football, tons of u23s and some friendlies with the seniors, whilst the former at that point had only just left school so it's a question of do you go for the one with the best prospect of playing for the first team at some point in the future or the one who is theoretically closer right now etc.

Yeah, I agree that there's lots of knowledgeable fans (particularly on here) and, actually, I was a little confused, I thought CFC was based on a fan vote.

Either way, I feel like a couple of good performances shoot players up a list whereas I like to listen to people like Windy et al who go to lots of the games so base their thoughts on a lot more than the odd couple of performances

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Edwards also seems a little bit taller to me, or is that my imagination?

 

[Blake Griffin]

Yeah, I agree that there's lots of knowledgeable fans (particularly on here) and, actually, I was a little confused, I thought CFC was based on a fan vote.

Either way, I feel like a couple of good performances shoot players up a list whereas I like to listen to people like Windy et al who go to lots of the games so base their thoughts on a lot more than the odd couple of performances

it's an american-run site and i think the owners/lead writers get together and come up with their list.

it's a bit like if you were to ask spurs fans to rank the first team though, i think most would put kane top and then probably(?) alderweireld/eriksen in the top 3 but after that it's a bit of a free-for-all and that's more or less the case with the current crop of youths. most would agree on edwards/onomah/kwp being the top three(just like cartilagefree has them) but then you can easily make a strong case for about another 12-15 or so to make up the rest of the top 10. edwards' year group is particularly impressive in terms of depth as whilst i'd have marcus out on his own at the top, the rest are all good to very good, there's no stragglers in that group - unlike the previous year where it was basically just ccv and not a whole lot else.

 

[Lemon]

Edwards also seems a little bit taller to me, or is that my imagination?

Been on the Calcium

Bunch if heathens (not you BC).

 

[Lemon]

Edwards #1 in CFC prospect rankings as many expected.

Final Rankings:
10 Will Miller
9 Jack Roles
8 Sam Shashoua
7 Shayon Harrison
6 CCV
5 TOB
4 Kazaiah Sterling
3 KWP
2 Josh Onomah
1 Marcus Edwards

Thought TOB was well above Sterling.

 

[Blake Griffin]

Thought TOB was well above Sterling.

he is, though i do think tob being with the first team is giving fans a falsely inflated opinion of him(similar to georgiou). another thing i can see happening is if/when he starts to get first team opportunities then i wouldn't be surprised if he ends up getting the onomah treatment from poch - i.e. being played further forward than where he's best suited.

 

[mill]

Edwards also seems a little bit taller to me, or is that my imagination?

I think so, someone posted a complete squad number list in this thread somewhere with all the heights and weights of the players as well and Edwards was only a few cm shorter than winks

 

[IGSpur]

I'm surprised more of the lower league London clubs don't follow Brentford's lead and shutdown their academies, and concentrate on picking off those players coming out of the Premier League ones. Cheaper, easier, and they'll probably end up with exactly the same results.

They took another one of our lads from the Stylianides/Owens group but one who was released an U16 Michael Anastasiou. I think they released him after his scholarship, I'm not entirely sure.
They also had Channing Campbell-Young with them for a few months after his release from Bolton. So many of our youth products have passed through there in one form or another over the years it would take pages and pages to list them all.

Its not a bad strategy from QPR really. They know we produce professional, well trained, technically competent young footballers who have been schooled in modern styles and systems. They're taking a relatively short gamble that some of these lads just need to mentally or physically mature a bit or maybe just need to be loved and made to feel special after, maybe, being in other's shadows at Spurs. They will still produce their own youngsters but the process won't be on breeding groups of skillful and competent footballers like Spurs. Instead they will be looking to prioritise those utility "natural athletes" that will be able to "do a job" and those rare diamonds that haven't been moulded but just pop up now and again and can be thrust into the limelight and hopefully attract attention from the big clubs, potentially making the club some money in the process.

Agree, and have said similar before. An academy like Brentford could get some top quality players. If they get good links, like QPR, with Spurs and Chelsea they could pick up some decent players, I've always said if WIll Miller was at one of those clubs from young he would be a Championship regular or bought for the PL.

Even more cheekily, if I had a really good manager I'd be in the ear of some of the top talented players at 16/17 before they sing pros, especially at clubs where they have loads of quality players. Again like us and Chelsea, if they could convince or promise them Championship minutes at 16/17 that could sway them. use Kirby as an example, he had a very congested midfield at ours, they could exploit a similar situation and pick up proper quality.

he is, though i do think tob being with the first team is giving fans a falsely inflated opinion of him(similar to georgiou). another thing i can see happening is if/when he starts to get first team opportunities then i wouldn't be surprised if he ends up getting the onomah treatment from poch - i.e. being played further forward than where he's best suited.

EDIT-the original reason for me quoting this was to say. Even if TOB was to get the Onmah treatment he would handle it a lot better. Onomah is a better no.10 but TOB is a lot better as a winger and would I think adapt quite well out there. SO don't see it as an issue. Might actually be a good route into first team football for him. Heck it wouldn't surprise me if he played there before Edwards due to being more 'physically ready'

I'm surprised Georgiou didn't make a late entry but ye this tends to happen. I remember when Walkes got played in the LC, someone tweeted.

I know everyone is talking about Winks, Onomah and KWP but I actually think Walkes will be the better player or something.

Someone who clearly had never watched Walkes until that moment and all of a sudden had an opinion that he was going to be top quality.

 

[IGSpur]

Look at all the tracking back and holding off players....

But he doesnt do that does he?

I keep saying he has improved this area of his game, but it just gets ignored (not me saying it but acknowledgement that it has improved). Everyone just assumes that as he isn't playing first team, he must be lazy and not working hard or too small. He isn't Lamela but he is working on a part of his game which is completely unnatural to him. He is so ready to be playing first team.

It's ridiculous how Pulisic has taken a completely different path to him despite being at the same stage 2 years ago and Edwards being the biggest talent. Pulisic made a great decision joining a club that takes talented but inexperienced players and turning them into quality, in a league that promotes youth. Would be interesting to see where Edwards would be if he joined them.

 

[C0YS]

I keep saying he has improved this area of his game, but it just gets ignored (not me saying it but acknowledgement that it has improved). Everyone just assumes that as he isn't playing first team, he must be lazy and not working hard or too small. He isn't Lamela but he is working on a part of his game which is completely unnatural to him. He is so ready to be playing first team.

It's ridiculous how Pulisic has taken a completely different path to him despite being at the same stage 2 years ago and Edwards being the biggest talent. Pulisic made a great decision joining a club that takes talented but inexperienced players and turning them into quality, in a league that promotes youth. Would be interesting to see where Edwards would be if he joined them.

Sure, but lets not forget, he had an injury that took him out of half of last season.

 

[mpickard2087]

There is a weird need for fans to rank the academy kids and the constant 'who's better than who'.

 

[IGSpur]

There is a weird need for fans to rank the academy kids and the constant 'who's better than who'.

I think once players hit a certain level i.e. I believe they will be good PL players to potentially WC, it's hard to rank them. In my eye there are so many variables even just based on position. Attacking players will always catch eyes more. Though Edwards is absolute quality

 

[IGSpur]

Sure, but lets not forget, he had an injury that took him out of half of last season.

I won't profess to know exactly when he was fit but there were times he was featuring for the u23s and or England in the 2nd half of the season where he could have made the bench if we wanted to try him out. But I agree he was very unfortunate with the timing of his injury. Regardless from what we have seen so far there is nothing to suggest he would have got any significant minutes anyway, so I don't really think he missed out on much.

 

[IGSpur]

Also really like how our youth teams adopt the European tradition with white shorts. Remember we did the same in NextGen.