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The Spurs Youth Thread - 2018/19

Johnny J

Not the Kiwi you need but the one you deserve
Aug 18, 2012
18,117
47,878
as much as i'd like to believe otherwise, it seems unlikely at this point. my preference would be to sort him out another loan and hope that it goes better than the last one, with two years left on his deal it's basically a free shot and who knows, maybe it'll work out. if not then i'd rather we just sold him now, i don't want to see him wasting his talent playing in the u23s any longer and it serves no purpose for us to do so if he's just going to leave anyway.
Thanks for the reply. Out of interest, how highly do you rate him?
 

Blake Griffin

Well-Known Member
Oct 3, 2011
14,133
38,225
T
hanks
Thanks for the reply. Out of interest, how highly do you rate him?

very. when he was 17 i genuinely thought he'd be a key part of the first team by now, it's just so frustrating how it's turned out for him. there's still time for him to turn it around but i don't think he'll ever win pochettino over.
 

DJS

A hoonter must hoont
Dec 9, 2006
31,261
21,760
Interest to see Amos seems to have jumped ahead of TOB in terms of chance to break into first team as TOB was on outskirts year or so ago.

Guess he was unlucky missing this pre-season with injury.

I don’t include Skipp in this as get the impression he has a higher threshold than either of them.
 

coys200

Well-Known Member
May 22, 2017
8,436
17,403
Poch was there tonight and all his assistants. Scrambling for a gem as no transfers ?
5F978141-F2D6-44E5-BE20-5562D5567FD9.jpeg
 

Ron Burgundy

SC Supporter
Jun 19, 2008
7,705
23,267
Not impressed with our youth at all. Looks like we need new scouts.

And the good ones either leave or don't develop as hoped

We've got Kane and Winks through, as well as making good money off some sales, so we shouldn't be overly negative. But it feels like the last three or four years have seen a backward step.

Ironic when you consider the manager and his reputation
 

wrd

Well-Known Member
Aug 22, 2014
13,603
58,005
Problem we have aswell is our youth get promoted to first team and then sit on their asses for 2 years not developing. KWP, Onomah and now Skipp even Edwards did to an extent. I think we need to implement what we did with Dele where he came and trained for couple of days with us and was at MK Dons for rest of week. Do that but with our u23 team or even a Loan.
 

IGSpur

Well-Known Member
Jan 11, 2013
7,939
13,758
i don't want to be negative but every player who has gone through this same cycle has end up coming out of it looking as though they've either stagnated or gone backwards - onomah, ccv, edwards, tob. i remember one time josh hadn't played in months, he finally got a game for the u23s and was the worst i'd ever seen him. tob got a few games towards the end of last season and really struggled, he had injury problems as well to be fair but going months on end without playing surely isn't best for their development. international breaks must be a relief to them as it's often the only time they get to play an actual game or two.

I know for a fact Winks also did the same. The season before last he was asking Poch to go on loan, and play for the u23s, and to be given a chance in the first team. The most enjoyable part of that season for him was when he got to play for England against Canada as he played zero minutes for us that season. That hasn't affected Winks.

I posted this in the Onomah thread a while back. You're so right. The season Winks didn't get a look in, going away on international duty was the happiest part of that season. It's very demoralising what happens and they itch to play football.

Fortunately for Winks it wkrjsd out as injuries cropped up, but that rarely happens at the right time. 9 times out of 10 it just ends up in pyre stagnation
 

beats1

Well-Known Member
Feb 22, 2010
30,006
29,551
Interest to see Amos seems to have jumped ahead of TOB in terms of chance to break into first team as TOB was on outskirts year or so ago.

Guess he was unlucky missing this pre-season with injury.

I don’t include Skipp in this as get the impression he has a higher threshold than either of them.
TOB was never more than token youth kid to make it seem like youth was getting a chance

He also is very talented and highly thought of but imo stagnated last year

A lot on here were complaining about him getting a chance not because he isn't talented, but because the progression didnt feel genuine, he hadn't played much U23 footy and was pulled out to be with the first team.
 

Spurzinho

Well-Known Member
Jan 24, 2016
2,512
8,342
TOB looks like he is having a mugshot after a bender.
TOB was never more than token youth kid to make it seem like youth was getting a chance

He also is very talented and highly thought of but imo stagnated last year

A lot on here were complaining about him getting a chance not because he isn't talented, but because the progression didnt feel genuine, he hadn't played much U23 footy and was pulled out to be with the first team.

Harsh. TOB has had a significant number of injuries over the last 12 months.
 

JRSG

Active Member
Mar 25, 2015
70
117
I actually think they u23s team is good, but again a lot have stagnated. I think Shashoua could benefit from a loan abroad
Might not have been clear, but I didn't mean it from an angle suggesting the players aren't good enough for a loan. More, whether the club is even considering loans at the minute.
 

mancman

Well-Known Member
Aug 24, 2006
363
688
It is early days yet so I could be proved wrong but I think our U23's are going to struggle. We are so weak in attack without the presence of Sterling. The defence needs a more mature player (possibly Foyth) as a guiding light and the midfield is woefully light without Skipp and Amos. I cannot make out the clubs attitude to the U23's. For the life of me I cannot understand why the club did not sign a few good young players this summer and develop them over time in the Club ethos and style of play. I can think of players such as Bayliss at Coventry and Wilmott ,now at Watford. If, as I suspect, Georgiou, Amos and Harrison go on loan then the team we will put out for the Check-a-trade Cup could get badly beaten which will do their confidence no good at all. When Griffiths and Bennetts left they should have been replaced.
 

Lou3000

£
May 28, 2014
861
2,525
The U23 side is looking more and more dire. If Skipp and Amos are now training exclusively with the firs team, who is likely to make the next step? Georgiou? I've always liked Shashoua? TOB is still injured?

Is our entire youth setup stagnating?
 

IGSpur

Well-Known Member
Jan 11, 2013
7,939
13,758
Harsh. TOB has had a significant number of injuries over the last 12 months.

I think it's a fair comment tbf. TOB is a serious talent and I think a lot better than Amos and should always have been fast tracked but as beats said he had never really performed for our u18s and earned anything. It felt more like a promotion to the first team as Kirby left to say, look what would have happened if you stayed, not because they actually intended to really play him. Either way the times he eventually did play youth games he struggled and seemed to stagnate, that's even taking into account his injuries. Even if he didn't get injured does anyone actually think he would have played more first team matches? I doubt it, and he wouldn't have played for the youth team so no real change
 

Blake Griffin

Well-Known Member
Oct 3, 2011
14,133
38,225
The U23 side is looking more and more dire. If Skipp and Amos are now training exclusively with the firs team, who is likely to make the next step? Georgiou? I've always liked Shashoua? TOB is still injured?

Is our entire youth setup stagnating?

i think we're being hurt by poor planning and lack a clear idea as to what we're trying to achieve, some of the decisions recently are at odds with the whole development philosophy that we like to preach. i basically think we're just too slow in everything we do, whether that's moving players up, on loan, or out of the club. at the same time though we've also hastily moved the best prospects out of youth football and into full-time training, at 17-18 they still have a lot to gain from playing games and I don't think it helps their development to take that away from them. how i'd personally like to see us run is to keep the u18s primarily to 1st year players and supplement them with those 2nd years who aren't ready to move up to the u23s. then the u23s i'd have the best 2nd years along with all the 3rd years. any 4th years bar the odd exception i'd be getting out on loan or moving them out of the club permanently. some fringe first teamers can also play a few games here and there to a) keep them a little more match sharp and b) to help the younger players by having better quality/experience to learn from.

i don't know about the other big clubs but it just seems like we have such a bloated amount of players in the academy, we must have nigh on 50 players spilt across two levels. i know it's a bit crude but if i were to rank the players in terms of tiers, say 1-5, i'd probably place half of them in tiers 4-5. i know it's unrealistic to expect us to have 50 tier 1-2 players but we need to be a bit more ruthless and stop hanging onto those towards the bottom for so long. it doesn't help the balance when we're losing players towards the top end of the scale either.
 
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