Opinion: Are Spurs fans right to be frustrated at the lack of minutes given to youth starlets?
Tottenham manager, Ange Postecoglou, has frequently rebuffed calls for him to give game time to Tottenham’s youth players, an argument that is only intensified by...
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Tottenham manager, Ange Postecoglou, has frequently rebuffed calls for him to give game time to Tottenham’s youth players, an argument that is only intensified by the fact the club’s U23s sit top of the PL2 table, with the U18s also third in their division. (Premier League)
Fans have become increasingly frustrated with the lack of minutes for Spurs’ youth products, and it’s understandable. The Tottenham faithful will undoubtedly be looking around them and seeing Kobie Mainoo, Rico Lewis, Bukayo Saka, plus many more, progressing through their clubs’ ranks and now shining for the first team.
Whereas when Spurs fans look inwards, they notice that it has been over four years since a youth team product has truly broken through, in Japhet Tanganga.
The departure of Harry Kane in the summer has left the Tottenham team nearly void of any academy products in their regular first-team squad, Oliver Skipp being the only exception, but even then the 23-year-old has only totted up 571 Premier League minutes this campaign. (FotMob)
Does Ange have a track record of not trusting youth?
Postecoglou has a track record of being clear in his ethos for young players, that they will only be granted opportunities if they have worked hard to earn them, as the Australian said in a press conference at Celtic, he won’t be giving out opportunities because he’s ‘kind-hearted’. (The Celtic Way)
Continuing to review his tenure at Celtic, there was a documented frustration from fans about the lack of youth products emerging from the Scottish team, but most of the blame was placed upon the academy’s set-up and worrying frequency of losing hot prospects to other academies, such as Ben Doak.
Although, despite the seeming lack of talent in the club’s youth ranks, Ange Postecoglou did hand five players their senior debuts in green and white across his two years at the club. (Football Scotland)
However, Ange did admittedly have a few games that held no bearing on the success of his side as in his final season at the club Celtic had been crowned champions with four games left of the season, with there also being a game remaining the season prior. (Sky Sports)
Are Tottenham’s lack of minutes in total hampering academy players’ game time?
The short answer is obviously, yes. Many fans resisted the idea of Spurs ending up in the Europa Conference League this season after such a torrid time in the third-tier European competition back in 2021/22. Tottenham did miss out on the Conference League by a single point, but it has undoubtedly hampered the opportunities that qualification would have provided to various youngsters.
Although players like Dane Scarlett and Nile John were handed plenty of first-team minutes in the Conference League, it was the likes of Winks, Sanchez, and Doherty who led the most minutes table (The Athletic). The competition’s level is very low, but it is conceivable that Postecoglou, had he been in the tournament, would have had to utilise fringe players such as Skipp and Emerson Royal ahead of youth products.
In addition to the minutes that the failure to qualify for the Conference League prevented, Tottenham also crashed out of both domestic competitions within two rounds. A poor performance against Fulham at the start of Ange’s time at the club sent his team crashing out of the League Cup in the very first round.
Assuming that Spurs had followed Fulham’s run in the cup, Tottenham would have faced Norwich, Ipswich, Everton, Liverpool and then Chelsea in the final. Multiple of those ties would have allowed for Postecoglou to grant minutes to the likes of Donley, Santiago, and Soonsup-Bell, although that isn’t to say that it is largely the Australian’s fault that the Lilywhite’s exited the tournament so early.
Similar logic can be applied to the FA Cup where Spurs were forced to field full-strength teams to combat both Burnley and Manchester City in the third and fourth round. Spurs were obviously expected to have performed better in both cups, but the club can count themselves unlucky to have drawn three top-flight sides out of their three domestic cup ties of the season.
The absence of European and domestic cup fixtures after early January did however allow for Tottenham to grant some of their most talented players loan moves. Alfie Devine was moved up a league from Port Vale to Plymouth where he joined his Spurs teammate Ashley Phillips who had only featured on the bench for Tottenham in his first few months at the club despite a defensive crisis, Tanganga was also not required at the club and joined Millwall after a dismal five months at Augsburg.
How good are Tottenham’s academy players?
As mentioned previously, Tottenham’s academy teams this season are performing remarkably well, and each age group appears to have at least one player who is a very hot prospect.
The under-18s appear to have a very promising roster of players, should they keep hold of them all. The standouts appear to be Damola Ajayi who frequently trends online with his impressive individual ability on the ball, as well as Mikey Moore. The latter has attracted an incredible amount of attention from not just Spurs fans, despite only being sixteen. Spurs, seeing the amount of a stir that Moore is already causing tied the youth player down to a contract last summer that runs until 2026. (Fabrizio Romano)
Moore has an incredible 15 goals in his 13 appearances for the U18s (TransferMarkt), as well as represented (and scored for) England at u15, 16 & 17’s level. Ajayi has 9 G/A in 11 appearances this season for Spurs U18. (TransferMarkt)
Tottenham’s PL2 side may be one of the better squads in recent years as the academy seeks to replicate the years where Tom Carroll, Harry Kane, Andros Townsend, Harry Winks and Oliver Skipp all came through at Hotspur Way.
Attacking talent is not amiss in the u21s this year, as Will Lankshear, Jude Soonsup-Bell, Dane Scarlett, Yago Santiago and Jamie Donley are all part of the squad, a list that holds tremendous talent that many top clubs have previously tried to add to their own academies.
As well as the various talented attackers, Spurs also have Max Robson, a midfielder who can also play right-back, and Alfie Dorrington amidst their ranks. Alfie Devine, Japhet Tanganga, Ashely Phillips and Troy Parrott are all also players who previously featured for the U21s and are currently out on loan.
Such a plethora of young talent in the academy does explain fans’ distress at the player’s lack of minutes, especially after talents such as Noni Madueke and Marcus Edwards departed in recent years due to a lack of minutes.
However, perhaps patience is needed and the last thing that young players need, who also have to deal with fan ‘hype’ around them in the modern game, is to be rushed into the first team. Harry Kane’s breakthrough season was at 20, as was Harry Winks and Japhet Tanganga.
Many of the U21s have either only just reached that age or are younger. Although there is a modern clamour for academy players to experience first-team football at 17 & 18, it can often be damaging. Examples are players such as Pedri who Barcelona threw into the regular first-team setup and relied upon so much that the Spaniard has been plagued with various hamstring injuries across the past few seasons. (TransferMarkt)
As well as the protection from injury that slowly bleeding in a young player, it also can help the player adjust to the lifestyle of a professional footballer. Pep Guardiola is often criticised for his constant rotation, however, the Spanish manager manages young players remarkably well.
Oscar Bobb, Rico Lewis, as well as Phil Foden, have all emerged from the Citizens’ academy in recent years, and although Guardiola does grant them their chances to shine, he also doesn’t consistently keep the player in the team, bringing them in and out of the side, often finding that the player fully breaks through and establishes himself in the next season or so.
Perhaps that’s why patience should be applied towards Ange and the academy players. Yes, there are many talented academy players, but they may not psychologically or physically be quite ready for senior football yet. It’s most likely the reason why Ashley Philips wasn’t played in the games where Spurs didn’t have a fit centre-back, it would have maybe been unfair to Phillips to put him under such immense pressure.
What is Postecoglou’s relationship with the youth teams?
Despite Ange being frugal with the number of minutes he grants academy players; it does appear the Australian has gone some way to repairing the relationship between the first team and the academy.
The relationship between the two parties appeared to hit rock bottom towards the end of Antonio Conte’s tenure at Spurs. The Italian had a similar approach to the academy as Postecoglou did in terms of how many players would make the bench and how players would usually get a minute here or there if Spurs were winning comfortably, again, which is understandable with Conte in his first season, like Postecoglou, fighting for top four and being out of all domestic cups towards the end of the season.
However, as the Italian coach departed, various reports emerged about Conte’s careless treatment of the academy players. One report simply stated that people at the club felt Paratici and Conte completely ‘neglected’ the academy, further stating that players who were called up the train with the first team were treated at ‘just cones’. (The Athletic)
Postecoglou hasn’t been purely positive about the Tottenham academy either, admitting that he believes the academy ‘still has a lot of work to do’. But the Australian has explained that he understands ‘if young players don’t feel there’s an opportunity here then maybe we don’t get the best ones’, displaying that Postecoglou is conscious of creating a future idea of Spurs being a place for budding academy talents to come to, as they’ll be given opportunities, much like Borussia Dortmund in Germany and Brighton in the Premier League. (Football.London)
Simon Davies, Tottenham’s academy director, spoke on Tottenham’s in-house podcast, conceding that it’s ‘tough’ for young players across the country as they ‘have to be better than what’s in the first team’. Although the 49-year-old director did express that he knows ‘for sure [Postecoglou] will give opportunities when the time is right’. If reports about previous managers such as Conte are true, that’s a lot more than can be said about Ange’s predecessors. (Football.London)
It’s also key to realise that it isn’t as though Postecoglou only puts faith in established, older players. Spurs have the third youngest average squad age this season, displaying that Postecoglou clearly can nurture younger talent, as shown this season with the likes of Micky Van De Ven (22), Destiny Udogie (21), Pape Mate Sarr (21) & Brennan Johnson (22), all who have flourished under Ange’s management. (TransferMarkt)
Why fans should allow time for Spurs academy talent to be given their opportunities
As reported above, Spurs have had a turbulent few years in general, but especially for the academy who have been dropped in and out, used sparingly, and treated poorly by the last head coach.
Fans who have seen the academy teams this year will notice that the squad’s playing styles tend to reflect that of Postecoglou’s, with the Australian’s playing style more forgivable to replicate at youth level than the negative style of Conte or Mourinho.
Therefore, that leap between the academy and senior team should be made slightly easier with the players’ new familiarity with the ‘clubs’ playing style. It’s also understandable that Postecoglou, in his first season with the club in a new, high-pressure environment, would be risking a lot to consistently give academy players opportunities.
The lack of minutes is also explainable by Spurs’ lack of games outside the Premier League, as seen by Liverpool under Klopp, youth players are usually handed opportunities through easier cup ties or injury crises, although Postecoglou did suffer one of those midway through this season, as mentioned, it was probably too large a risk to take to play an in-experienced Ashley Phillips at centre-back just months into the Australian’s time at N17.
However, things are looking up for Spurs, now fourth with seven games remaining, it’s looking increasingly likely that Tottenham will be playing in the Champions League again next season, which will increase demand upon players and potentially create the need for more rotation of which the academy players could be involved in, with the increase in games offering more chances for the ‘opportunities’ that Postecoglou and Simon Davies have both referred to.
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