The Spurs Youth Thread - 2018/19

[Westmorlandspur]

FA Youth Cup draw,,,if we gat past Millwall we are away to Arsenal or Northampton

 

[guru]

Then why bother taking him today ?

What you have to remember a lot of these players have agents who have prob agreed some appearances with first team, whether it be 19th man , bench or actual game time . We have already lost lots of talent , so I believe this is a way of keeping the youngsters happy and getting them extra money at the same time .

 

[coy-spurs1882]

Those are some stats from someone who plays in midfield , it really is unbelievable what is going on with Roles . He could be an Exceptional talent in the future if he continues like this .

he is compared to dele by some of the posters here

 

[guru]

he is compared to dele by some of the posters here

Yes he is and if he was not with us at present , we would probably offering silly money for him , that’s what’s so frustrating

 

[EQP]

Some other poster ( I forgot who) suggested that we give the kids more minutes and appearances if we end up in the Europe League. Given all our injuries and lack of depth ( not to mention traveling to the ends of the Earth for those Thursday night games), we'd be better suited to seeing if the likes of Roles, Skipp etc perform in those competitive settings. I don't imagine we'll make any moves in January so looking to our youth academy might be the best way to stay competitive through the season.

 

[@Bobby__Lucky]

I agree with you about the mental & tactical improvements that Onomah needs to find. However, i get frustrated when I read/ hear about creative players, particularly midfielders (Hoddle, Joe Cole, Le Tissier & John Barnes come to mind) needing more work rate. That's not their game!

Apart from pressing, modern football is more about better positional/ tactical acumen and having self-confidence of your own game/ technique. For me, Onomah has not been confident enough with his own game and hasn't taken the same risks at the right times, as he took at youth & u23 level. Functional players take less risks and often find the transition to the men's game easier.

I must ask...

Are you putting onomah in the same bracket as hoddle, le tissier Cole etc?

I really don't see the correlation. Aside from being wingers, forwards or tens, none of these are even close to the way onomah plays.

Where this superstar in hiding comparable to Premier league and all time greats is I don't know, but he aint onomah.

Sorry but not actually... That is ridiculous.

 

[Roy's Racers]

I must ask...

Are you putting onomah in the same bracket as hoddle, le tissier Cole etc?

I really don't see the correlation. Aside from being wingers, forwards or tens, none of these are even close to the way onomah plays.

Where this superstar in hiding comparable to Premier league and all time greats is I don't know, but he aint onomah.

Sorry but not actually... That is ridiculous.

I see Onomah as a creative midfielder, whether he plays as an 8 or a 10. Hoddle is the closest comparison to the criticism about work rate. Obviously, at this moment in time he's no way near the same bracket as Hoddle or the players I mentioned, but if he understands and reaches his ability level as a pro then why not.

Anyhow, the main point if anyone see his game as a hardworking water carrier, a box 2 box or a dog of war. He ain't that.

 

[Westmorlandspur]

Winks v Onomah.
Winks will bust a gut to be a Spurs player.
Onomah would quite like to be a Spurs player but if he doesn’t ..well never mind.

 

[Blake Griffin]

i assume it's no coincidence we sent onomah to play for two defensive sides, unfortunately it just hasn't worked as hoped and instead of improving a weakness in his game he's just looked lost(though i don't think his villa loan was all bad). i know it won't happen but i wish we could get him a jan loan to bournemouth to replace cook who is out for the season, on the face of it it sounds mad as how can you expect him to go from struggling to get into a crap championship side to playing for a team in the pl but it's just frustrating that you can watch him play with cook in the same team against the same players and josh looks at the very least just as good, apparently though it's fairer to compare them in totally different circumstances. whatever happens we need to get him out of there as soon as the window opens as it's proving to be a complete waste of time, i just hope we don't do that and immediately flip him to another ill-suited loan.

 

[@Bobby__Lucky]

I see Onomah as a creative midfielder, whether he plays as an 8 or a 10. Hoddle is the closest comparison to the criticism about work rate. Obviously, at this moment in time he's no way near the same bracket as Hoddle or the players I mentioned, but if he understands and reaches his ability level as a pro then why not.

Anyhow, the main point if anyone see his game as a hardworking water carrier, a box 2 box or a dog of war. He ain't that.

I don't understand why you are referring to the greatest academy player ever at spurs. Maybe you are not familiar with Glenn and his Tottenham career. When we talk about 'technically' hoddle is probably the most complete and advanced technical player we have ever had Grace our shirt. Putting onomah in the same breath is an insult to how good Glenn was. Josh is nowhere and will never ever ever ever ever be anywhere near Glenn's ability. He can improve 4 fold and still not be close. Glenn made his debut at 17 and didn't look back, playing technique that looked impossible on muddy torn up pitches.

At the moment onomah hasn't even shown enough to know whether he will even make it at spurs or in the prem.

Glenn did things that even the world's best can't do. See clips of the backspin he used to put an balls and how he made them basically drop out of the air.

I won't say anymore. But I've seen josh in youth games and whilst he looked good and a prospect at that level, he hasn't shown anything in man's football. I hope he does get it together, but I really don't get where this fanfare about onomah comes from. He's never looked anywhere near hoddle technical ability even now 3 or 4 years older than Glenn's debut.

 

[RichieS]

Those are some stats from someone who plays in midfield , it really is unbelievable what is going on with Roles . He could be an Exceptional talent in the future if he continues like this .

he is compared to dele by some of the posters here

I think Ryan Mason had similar stats while in the academy (and not injured).

 

[IGSpur]

Not sure if they're anything alike to be honest, but I'm a big fan of Gibbs-White. He's playing with no fear and a lot of ability.

And this is what happens when the manager trusts you, that and coming through a lesser club. If players actually felt their manager would back them or that they won't be dropped the very next week regardless of how they play, or especially if they know they'll make the smallest mistakes they can express themselves more. Next bit isn't aimed at you btw.

But this is where my frustration lies. When players aren't shown that trust it is assumed they weren't good enough but it's not the case.

My issue, as I always state, is that to come through top 6 club you have to be a certain type of player, generally hard worker, reliable, and not a risk taker. I started writing this last night but @Roy's Racers has raised this since. The top 6 have so much money that they can afford to ignore pure talent as they can just buy their own, sometime less talented but also less of a risk. There is no incentive for them to take the risk with highly talented players who have other areas they need to work on. It's not in their interest. They have too much to lose and are under too much pressure.

Whereas lesser clubs, if they have a young talent in their team, they will take the risk in playing them for 2 reasons. The options they have are not that great, so though there may be some risky moments and inexperience shown, however they have enough talent that the good negates the benefits of just throwing on an old head with experience. The 2nd reason is that they financial rewards when they get from bringing them through and selling them to a top 6 club who now have a dearth of young English talent as they don't want to risk playing their own. The money they can get means so much to the lower league club the risk/reward favours them, so they play them and then it leads everyone to believe that the talent, that that club can afford to develop is now better than any talent that that Top 6 academies have, as they are buying and fans then say 'they would obviously bring them through if they were good enough'.

It's also why they are quick to discard loan players who are talented but may come with risk, because ultimately there is no money for them at the end of it. It's crazy but it's the way it goes. In the top 6 you can have talent and be a hard worker and have all the positive mental traits and still require a large slice of luck just to get an opportunity. KWP is a perfect example, where people feel the need to defend the club and their manager and think 'they;re must be something wrong with him' when he cant even get a game during an injury crisis and fixture build up. But Wan-Bissaka was a decent player who has developed well due to opportunity and trust and now people want to buy him while KWP languishes. Worse still KWP ends up regressing due to lack of opportunities so eventually they end up not being a good enough standard and everyone feels vindicated in never having played them. We are in a situation, where a club like City would likely have never played Sancho. He would have gone as unfulfilled hype, BUT they are so rich they can let him go he can flourish then they will likely buy him back for 60odd million. The risk in playing a player that costs nothing is so much greater, than the risks of spending 60m on 'dead cert'. That's the stage we are at. How can academy players compete?

I saw a post earlier that the new knee-jerk is just to send them abroad, but it's not. Similarly in less rich leagues abroad, you don't need to be a guts and thunder player to come through, like you do at a top 6 club. The other top european leagues big and small clubs will still give youngsters chance if they believe they are talented enough. It is a completely different mentality out there. They know what talents England have and now the financial reward of bringing them through. At 15 I'd say Onomah was better than Madueke and Maghoma though Madueke could be argued to be as good as Onomah. They are all a similar type of player, but I have a lot more faith in Madueke becoming a professional footballer than the other two, purely because PSV aren't expecting him to be the finished article and will play him on his ability alone, and not whether or not he will put in a shift. He will then develop the rest of his game around his ability in a safe place. That is why so many players struggle in this league.

Even Loftus-Cheek, it doesn't matter how physical you are or how talented you are all top 6 clubs care about is you working your ass off, and not appearing to be a liability, as noone wants to get the flack if a youngster makes a mistake. The fact is there are so many top players that don't have that mentality themselves, but have come through the other leagues, but it's all that can be bred in the top 6 and as I saw you still have to be incredibly lucky, unless you are able to emphatically prove yourself elsewhere. It took RLC to get a PL loan and get called up fro England before Chelsea took notice of their own academy player. But he was still being called lazy by the fans.

People seem to think that unless he manager of the Top 6 club thinks you're ready, you are not good enough to play at that level. They see them in training they are qualified etc. but there are so many other big coaches who know their stuff and a lot more objective that people seem to ignore. I've posted various peopel who support my view but here's another

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/patrick-vieira-english-youths-should-play-abroad-6w9qtns86

Patrik Vieira's view. A Premier League legend, he has managed a Top 6 u23 set up and he is now managing A Ligue 1 side. If anyone can objectively look at the players it's him. He says

“The talent is there,” Vieira told The Times. “Look at the Tournoi [won by England this year]. We sent scouts there and the English were among the most impressive. All your junior teams do so well. When I was at City I saw it, at our own club or playing Chelsea with [Ruben] Loftus-Cheek, [Dominic] Solanke. They were ready to play man football then.

“The problem of staying in England is that the under-23 league isn’t good enough for their level. Those kids need to play in one of the top five leagues in Europe. When you play two, three years in the under-23s, you lose motivation. You don’t improve as you should. Then it’s too late. There are too many young players losing themselves because of the lack of challenge.

“If any good young player wants to come to France, I advise them to do it. We can give them first-team football, competitive games, chasing Europe. We give a chance to young players.”

Julien Fournier, the general manager of Nice, revealed that he had been to England recently trying to sign a young English prospect. “One month ago I spent a week in England trying to bring a player at 17 earning €60,000 [about £53,000] gross per month,” Fournier said. “This boy asked for €1 million for the parents, €2 million for the agents.”

Important bits to note. They are actively looking at signing 17 year olds they know would be challenging for their first team in around a years time. We also know that these players will liekly not see the light of day at whatever club they're at and will eventually start regressing. They knew back when they saw them at the Tournoi tournament the English players were best, and if they were in France they would be playing first team football, but they know they are not here. People will say they are not ready but it's just not true, it's that no one wants to risk playing them. And here's why it's not a knee-jerk to say things would have been better if they went abroad earlier. Now everyone things it's ridiculous to even suggest this stuff, but let's look at Onomah, Winks and Ndomble. At 18, I 100% believe if Onomah was in France he would be considered ahead of Winks and Ndombele right now. Onomah was the one being targeted by top clubs even Man City wanted to bring in Onomah when he was an 18 year old. Again the age where he played agisnt Monaco. At that time, no one was after Winks, I have never heard of a club being after Winks. Everyone knows I have championed Winks for the longest, but why would people not go after Winks but everyone want Onomah? People mention physique as if coaches wouldn't take that into consideration themselves. It was because Onomah was outright the better player in which ever measure you want to use. Winks was more safety first whereas Onomah ran games, had flair and was creative. A lot of areas he had to work on but he was ready to be playing first team football, and if he was in Ligue 1 he would have been.

What happens though as he is refined, he is not worth the risk, that doesn't mean wouldn't ultimately be a top quality player, but he was given a platform. Look how he was used and compare it to Gibbs-White. Then you look at them now. I and many others have regularly said that Onomah and KWP's game have changed over the last 3 years, you can see they're not as confidcent in what they're doing and more safety first and do not express themselves.

Going back to this “The problem of staying in England is that the under-23 league isn’t good enough for their level. Those kids need to play in one of the top five leagues in Europe. When you play two, three years in the under-23s, you lose motivation. You don’t improve as you should. Then it’s too late. There are too many young players losing themselves because of the lack of challenge."

This is exactly what is happening. It's so obvous we've gone on about it for ages. When people used to ask why isn't Veljkovic looking good in his last year, cos he couldn't be assed anymore. People said Edwarsd should be dominating and others, if these guys aren't challenged when they've been better than everyone else for ages, and not trusted and stagnate, they literally lose who they are and wht they use to do. They really do regress and it is what has happened to so many players here and will continue to happen. That is why I say if so and so was in another country they would likely be in a better place, and why I am advocating so many to get out of this club and other top 6 clubs when they can. The top 6 clubs in the PL are producing by far and away the best talents in the world at moment, and managers are convincing the fans that they shouldn't be playing as they are not good enough. People are starting to believe that the latest talent that comes through lower leagues clubs are better than the talent that you have in your academy by virtue of them playing. I don't expect the fans really to change their mind as we can't choose the team, nor do I expect the managers to change as there is no incentive to. But by god it is frustrating hearing people claim over and over again that maybe 'this person just wasn't as good as people thought' when England coaches, club coaches, foreigns coaches, foreign managers, foreign football directors are all saying/suggesting that these players are good enough to be playing PL football. It's just the lack of opportunity and ultimately that is down to poor management.

If you're lucky, you are hoping for a sever injury crisis or ridiculosu fixture schedule if you want to get a chance as anything other than a hard worker, who's neat and tidy. And even when you are a hard worker and neat and tidy you still might not a get a chance, but then fans just become grateful that someone has come through at all rather than criticise the poor policy of bringing players through.

Caveat all of this with I don't necessarily believe Onomah would 100% have gone on to be a World Class player, there are of course other factors involved in adapting abroad and of course he may jsut never had World Class potential, but I definitely believe that he would be at least on Winks and Ndombele's level. In fact I still reckon despite everything if he goes abroad at the end of his contract he could still rectify his career, but I'll be honest I thought it was over a couple of seasons ago.

Also finally, the reason I care so much or get frustrated so much by this again, is because I believe as a club with such limited resources we are missing out on such an opportunity. I cringe when I read, let's by MGW or Sessegnon for 50m when we have players like Kirby, TOB and Skipp (though he's a different position) who were definitely and are probably still more 'talented' players than him, but all for various reason have now fallen behind him, to the point where we could miss out on developing our own, and instead spend money no them when we could actually go and buy world class. The thought that Sessegnon was at this point last year higher rated as a winger, than Edwards, Nelson , CHO, Sancho, Smith-Rowe, Richards, Poveda, Jones was crazy in my eyes. I understand that having 'done it' is in tiself worth it's weight in gold, but surely you would try and provide a platform to see if yours could do it on the field before just going and buying the latest fad.

Yup I’d agree but the Kane back up position is a bit of a unique situation. Granted in reality next season maybe a season too early. But then what’s the alternative spend another £25m on someone to sit on the bench. Right now if you had to rotate Kane you’d probably go for Son anyway. They might just feel it’s worth the gamble and may save them £25m.

I mean this would be the perfect way of doing things, which many have advocated. You know like, preparing a quality RB who was a regular for the England age groups and tore up academy football, who could come in and act as backup to save us spending 25m. However, we've seen how that pans out so I imagine that we will spend 25m on a backup. If you think Parrott will be ready to play football for us in the next 2 years, not that I don't think he will be good enough, but nothing suggests this will happen. With regards to him travelling I don't know how much improtance you should place on it as he hasn't even been our best u18 player this year. Markanday, Shashoua and probably Bennetts have been but they're not as psychical which could be the reason they take a backseat to Parrott.

 

[Univarn]

And this is what happens when the manager trusts you, that and coming through a lesser club. If players actually felt their manager would back them or that they won't be dropped the very next week regardless of how they play, or especially if they know they'll make the smallest mistakes they can express themselves more. Next bit isn't aimed at you btw.

But this is where my frustration lies. When players aren't shown that trust it is assumed they weren't good enough but it's not the case.

My issue, as I always state, is that to come through top 6 club you have to be a certain type of player, generally hard worker, reliable, and not a risk taker. I started writing this last night but @Roy's Racers has raised this since. The top 6 have so much money that they can afford to ignore pure talent as they can just buy their own, sometime less talented but also less of a risk. There is no incentive for them to take the risk with highly talented players who have other areas they need to work on. It's not in their interest. They have too much to lose and are under too much pressure.

Whereas lesser clubs, if they have a young talent in their team, they will take the risk in playing them for 2 reasons. The options they have are not that great, so though there may be some risky moments and inexperience shown, however they have enough talent that the good negates the benefits of just throwing on an old head with experience. The 2nd reason is that they financial rewards when they get from bringing them through and selling them to a top 6 club who now have a dearth of young English talent as they don't want to risk playing their own. The money they can get means so much to the lower league club the risk/reward favours them, so they play them and then it leads everyone to believe that the talent, that that club can afford to develop is now better than any talent that that Top 6 academies have, as they are buying and fans then say 'they would obviously bring them through if they were good enough'.

It's also why they are quick to discard loan players who are talented but may come with risk, because ultimately there is no money for them at the end of it. It's crazy but it's the way it goes. In the top 6 you can have talent and be a hard worker and have all the positive mental traits and still require a large slice of luck just to get an opportunity. KWP is a perfect example, where people feel the need to defend the club and their manager and think 'they;re must be something wrong with him' when he cant even get a game during an injury crisis and fixture build up. But Wan-Bissaka was a decent player who has developed well due to opportunity and trust and now people want to buy him while KWP languishes. Worse still KWP ends up regressing due to lack of opportunities so eventually they end up not being a good enough standard and everyone feels vindicated in never having played them. We are in a situation, where a club like City would likely have never played Sancho. He would have gone as unfulfilled hype, BUT they are so rich they can let him go he can flourish then they will likely buy him back for 60odd million. The risk in playing a player that costs nothing is so much greater, than the risks of spending 60m on 'dead cert'. That's the stage we are at. How can academy players compete?

I saw a post earlier that the new knee-jerk is just to send them abroad, but it's not. Similarly in less rich leagues abroad, you don't need to be a guts and thunder player to come through, like you do at a top 6 club. The other top european leagues big and small clubs will still give youngsters chance if they believe they are talented enough. It is a completely different mentality out there. They know what talents England have and now the financial reward of bringing them through. At 15 I'd say Onomah was better than Madueke and Maghoma though Madueke could be argued to be as good as Onomah. They are all a similar type of player, but I have a lot more faith in Madueke becoming a professional footballer than the other two, purely because PSV aren't expecting him to be the finished article and will play him on his ability alone, and not whether or not he will put in a shift. He will then develop the rest of his game around his ability in a safe place. That is why so many players struggle in this league.

Even Loftus-Cheek, it doesn't matter how physical you are or how talented you are all top 6 clubs care about is you working your ass off, and not appearing to be a liability, as noone wants to get the flack if a youngster makes a mistake. The fact is there are so many top players that don't have that mentality themselves, but have come through the other leagues, but it's all that can be bred in the top 6 and as I saw you still have to be incredibly lucky, unless you are able to emphatically prove yourself elsewhere. It took RLC to get a PL loan and get called up fro England before Chelsea took notice of their own academy player. But he was still being called lazy by the fans.

People seem to think that unless he manager of the Top 6 club thinks you're ready, you are not good enough to play at that level. They see them in training they are qualified etc. but there are so many other big coaches who know their stuff and a lot more objective that people seem to ignore. I've posted various peopel who support my view but here's another

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/patrick-vieira-english-youths-should-play-abroad-6w9qtns86

Patrik Vieira's view. A Premier League legend, he has managed a Top 6 u23 set up and he is now managing A Ligue 1 side. If anyone can objectively look at the players it's him. He says

“The talent is there,” Vieira told The Times. “Look at the Tournoi [won by England this year]. We sent scouts there and the English were among the most impressive. All your junior teams do so well. When I was at City I saw it, at our own club or playing Chelsea with [Ruben] Loftus-Cheek, [Dominic] Solanke. They were ready to play man football then.

“The problem of staying in England is that the under-23 league isn’t good enough for their level. Those kids need to play in one of the top five leagues in Europe. When you play two, three years in the under-23s, you lose motivation. You don’t improve as you should. Then it’s too late. There are too many young players losing themselves because of the lack of challenge.

“If any good young player wants to come to France, I advise them to do it. We can give them first-team football, competitive games, chasing Europe. We give a chance to young players.”

Julien Fournier, the general manager of Nice, revealed that he had been to England recently trying to sign a young English prospect. “One month ago I spent a week in England trying to bring a player at 17 earning €60,000 [about £53,000] gross per month,” Fournier said. “This boy asked for €1 million for the parents, €2 million for the agents.”

Important bits to note. They are actively looking at signing 17 year olds they know would be challenging for their first team in around a years time. We also know that these players will liekly not see the light of day at whatever club they're at and will eventually start regressing. They knew back when they saw them at the Tournoi tournament the English players were best, and if they were in France they would be playing first team football, but they know they are not here. People will say they are not ready but it's just not true, it's that no one wants to risk playing them. And here's why it's not a knee-jerk to say things would have been better if they went abroad earlier. Now everyone things it's ridiculous to even suggest this stuff, but let's look at Onomah, Winks and Ndomble. At 18, I 100% believe if Onomah was in France he would be considered ahead of Winks and Ndombele right now. Onomah was the one being targeted by top clubs even Man City wanted to bring in Onomah when he was an 18 year old. Again the age where he played agisnt Monaco. At that time, no one was after Winks, I have never heard of a club being after Winks. Everyone knows I have championed Winks for the longest, but why would people not go after Winks but everyone want Onomah? People mention physique as if coaches wouldn't take that into consideration themselves. It was because Onomah was outright the better player in which ever measure you want to use. Winks was more safety first whereas Onomah ran games, had flair and was creative. A lot of areas he had to work on but he was ready to be playing first team football, and if he was in Ligue 1 he would have been.

What happens though as he is refined, he is not worth the risk, that doesn't mean wouldn't ultimately be a top quality player, but he was given a platform. Look how he was used and compare it to Gibbs-White. Then you look at them now. I and many others have regularly said that Onomah and KWP's game have changed over the last 3 years, you can see they're not as confidcent in what they're doing and more safety first and do not express themselves.

Going back to this “The problem of staying in England is that the under-23 league isn’t good enough for their level. Those kids need to play in one of the top five leagues in Europe. When you play two, three years in the under-23s, you lose motivation. You don’t improve as you should. Then it’s too late. There are too many young players losing themselves because of the lack of challenge."

This is exactly what is happening. It's so obvous we've gone on about it for ages. When people used to ask why isn't Veljkovic looking good in his last year, cos he couldn't be assed anymore. People said Edwarsd should be dominating and others, if these guys aren't challenged when they've been better than everyone else for ages, and not trusted and stagnate, they literally lose who they are and wht they use to do. They really do regress and it is what has happened to so many players here and will continue to happen. That is why I say if so and so was in another country they would likely be in a better place, and why I am advocating so many to get out of this club and other top 6 clubs when they can. The top 6 clubs in the PL are producing by far and away the best talents in the world at moment, and managers are convincing the fans that they shouldn't be playing as they are not good enough. People are starting to believe that the latest talent that comes through lower leagues clubs are better than the talent that you have in your academy by virtue of them playing. I don't expect the fans really to change their mind as we can't choose the team, nor do I expect the managers to change as there is no incentive to. But by god it is frustrating hearing people claim over and over again that maybe 'this person just wasn't as good as people thought' when England coaches, club coaches, foreigns coaches, foreign managers, foreign football directors are all saying/suggesting that these players are good enough to be playing PL football. It's just the lack of opportunity and ultimately that is down to poor management.

If you're lucky, you are hoping for a sever injury crisis or ridiculosu fixture schedule if you want to get a chance as anything other than a hard worker, who's neat and tidy. And even when you are a hard worker and neat and tidy you still might not a get a chance, but then fans just become grateful that someone has come through at all rather than criticise the poor policy of bringing players through.

Caveat all of this with I don't necessarily believe Onomah would 100% have gone on to be a World Class player, there are of course other factors involved in adapting abroad and of course he may jsut never had World Class potential, but I definitely believe that he would be at least on Winks and Ndombele's level. In fact I still reckon despite everything if he goes abroad at the end of his contract he could still rectify his career, but I'll be honest I thought it was over a couple of seasons ago.

Also finally, the reason I care so much or get frustrated so much by this again, is because I believe as a club with such limited resources we are missing out on such an opportunity. I cringe when I read, let's by MGW or Sessegnon for 50m when we have players like Kirby, TOB and Skipp (though he's a different position) who were definitely and are probably still more 'talented' players than him, but all for various reason have now fallen behind him, to the point where we could miss out on developing our own, and instead spend money no them when we could actually go and buy world class. The thought that Sessegnon was at this point last year higher rated as a winger, than Edwards, Nelson , CHO, Sancho, Smith-Rowe, Richards, Poveda, Jones was crazy in my eyes. I understand that having 'done it' is in tiself worth it's weight in gold, but surely you would try and provide a platform to see if yours could do it on the field before just going and buying the latest fad.




I mean this would be the perfect way of doing things, which many have advocated. You know like, preparing a quality RB who was a regular for the England age groups and tore up academy football, who could come in and act as backup to save us spending 25m. However, we've seen how that pans out so I imagine that we will spend 25m on a backup. If you think Parrott will be ready to play football for us in the next 2 years, not that I don't think he will be good enough, but nothing suggests this will happen. With regards to him travelling I don't know how much improtance you should place on it as he hasn't even been our best u18 player this year. Markanday, Shashoua and probably Bennetts have been but they're not as psychical which could be the reason they take a backseat to Parrott.

I'mma be real, I tapped out about two paragraphs in but you seem very passionate and it read well thought out.

 

[coys200]

Pochettino:

"I think he's ready to play. All the players that we have in the squad, the younger ones like Oliver Skipp or Troy Parrott, who was involved today for the first time, it's because they're involved in the first team during days, during weeks, during months, and it's only to give the possibility to play," he said.

 

[spurs9]

I agree with you about the mental & tactical improvements that Onomah needs to find. However, i get frustrated when I read/ hear about creative players, particularly midfielders (Hoddle, Joe Cole, Le Tissier & John Barnes come to mind) needing more work rate. That's not their game!

Apart from pressing, modern football is more about better positional/ tactical acumen and having self-confidence of your own game/ technique. For me, Onomah has not been confident enough with his own game and hasn't taken the same risks at the right times, as he took at youth & u23 level. Functional players take less risks and often find the transition to the men's game easier.

Hoddle may not have been an all action CM England was use to at the time, but he was hard working in the fact he was always making himself available and ran back to take the ball off the defenders (or at least give them an option), Onomah hasn't been doing that.

Not sure why Le Tissier, Cole and Barnes have been mentioned, they were AMs/Wingers who provided goals and assists, where as Onomah has never looked effective in the final 3rd even at youth level.

 

[IGSpur]

I'mma be real, I tapped out about two paragraphs in but you seem very passionate and it read well thought out.

You made me laugh. I was responding in general, I noticed an article with Vieira which was apt to link in and before I knew it, I was off. Thanks though for feedback

 

[spurs9]

I see Onomah as a creative midfielder, whether he plays as an 8 or a 10. Hoddle is the closest comparison to the criticism about work rate. Obviously, at this moment in time he's no way near the same bracket as Hoddle or the players I mentioned, but if he understands and reaches his ability level as a pro then why not.

Anyhow, the main point if anyone see his game as a hardworking water carrier, a box 2 box or a dog of war. He ain't that.

He certainly ain't a creative midfielder mate.

 

[Matecheck]

Exposed ? wish I had time to troll through people’s every post. Life must be dull Blake.

Says the guy with 5500 posts in 18 months....

 

[kmk]

 

[Spurzinho]

Surely that lad wouldn't have agreed to it without some very solid assurances about game time. Its common knowledge that he loves the club and has never wanted to play for anyone else but there must come a point where he has to think of his career. A slight chink of light might be that Poch seems increasingly frustrated with Trippier. I wouldn't be entirely surprised to see Tripper fazed out over the remainder of the season and moved on in the summer. Its very unusual for Poch to be as critical as he has been of Tripps, especially given KTs age and experience. With Tripps window for development fairly narrow a stinging critique of his defensive abilities and attitude to defending sounds more like a definitive statement than advice on how to improve. Or...I'm reading far to much into it.