With Marcus Edwards carving out some impressive form in the Netherlands, Ben Fieldhouse has seen enough to suggest that 'little Messi' has a role to play at Tottenham
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Personally think there's a combination here of Edwards having no real affinity towards the club (Winks, KWP, Kane all Spurs fans), seeing his friends go abroad and get real first team football at a decent level and having his attitude questioned by Pochettino in the past (in his book).
He may well come good in terms of carving out a decent professional career for himself, but I do think that'll be elsewhere. Whilst I do think it'd be a shame, I think it's very likely he'll be leaving us in the summer.
He may well come good in terms of carving out a decent professional career for himself, but I do think that'll be elsewhere. Whilst I do think it'd be a shame, I think it's very likely he'll be leaving us in the summer.
He has too much talent to fail with what Spurs have.
He should replace GKN.
He should replace GKN.
The article is premature to put it mildly.
'This weekend he helped inspire a comeback with a goal and assist within three minutes of each other' is perfectly correct, however in the majority of his games this season he's been in good positions and made some good dribbles but usually had no almost end product of goals, assists, or key passes.
He's aged 20 so plenty of time to develop and if this weekend is the first of a number where he gets assists or goals or key passes in the Dutch league, then is the time for this article to be written, and it is good that his work rate and defensive contributions have vastly improved this season. But now is definitely premature for this article to be so positive
'This weekend he helped inspire a comeback with a goal and assist within three minutes of each other' is perfectly correct, however in the majority of his games this season he's been in good positions and made some good dribbles but usually had no almost end product of goals, assists, or key passes.
He's aged 20 so plenty of time to develop and if this weekend is the first of a number where he gets assists or goals or key passes in the Dutch league, then is the time for this article to be written, and it is good that his work rate and defensive contributions have vastly improved this season. But now is definitely premature for this article to be so positive
Re your point of 'his friends getting first team football at a decent level'
It maybe that Marcus is working harder this season as his 'big friend' Reece Oxford is finding game time difficult on loan - I think he's only made 4 appearances at Augsburg so far and similar at the last few clubs, a big difference to when Oxford played about 8 games for Wham in 2014/15.16 and Edwards might have thought he had drawn the short straw at Spurs with only one appearance.
Edwards has made about 14 appearances at Excelsior this season, more than Oxford has made in the last 2 or even 3 seasons.
He's played 4 games at Augsburg because he's been there since the 31st January. He's played in every single game possible...
His development has been handled horribly by West Ham (just as ours with Edwards has been) and even then, hes getting loans in one of the best leagues in world football. Edwards is loaned to a relegation battling team in the Dutch league, which probably isn't even in the top 10 best leagues.
BUT he is getting game time and as we've mentioned in the Spurs Youth thread, that's vital at his age.
But if you look at the number of games Oxford has played on loan from Wham, he's not played in that many.
As I said Edwards at Excelsior this season is having a run of games and maybe that's due to a change in attitude (maturity ?, seeing Oxford having few games too whatever), but its certainly good news fir the lad.
Maybe worth looking at the stats behind the game which inspired the article to show there's more to it than just a goal and assist, both attacking wise (3 key passes for example) and defensively (3 tackles out of 5 won - he's still very small so that's a big improvement IMO) etc :
56 touches
21/25 passes
6/7 dribbles
6 fouls won
3/5 tackles
3 ball recoveries
3 key passes
1 shot
1 through ball
1 goal
1 assist
56 touches
21/25 passes
6/7 dribbles
6 fouls won
3/5 tackles
3 ball recoveries
3 key passes
1 shot
1 through ball
1 goal
1 assist
Think you've hit the nail on the head here. Edwards has never really seemed to have any burning passion for football or improving as a player, and for a lad who's been in our academy for neigh on 10 years now, has little to no affinity or love for the club it would seem.
He comes across as the absolute antithesis of what Poch wants in a player, and for that reason he will never make it at Spurs I think.
Why John Bostock will come good
He’s scored a couple of goals in a shit league for a shit team. Not getting the hype.
It's nice to see somethings going good for him but to say he's going to come good is a stretch. I honestly hope he has turned a corner and we start seeing a real fire in his belly for how he can impact games, how important it is to learn the team elements not just for the club but for his own development to become a proper footballer.
It's good he's had a little bit of movement in a positive direction recently but that's all I'm willing to say it is until I see him back at the club in the summer & Poch gets to grips with him. My mate has jumped on the Reiss Nelson bandwagon recently, it's a different kettle of fish mixing it with a top 4 club but I'm hoping he finds his way
Agree. My gut is telling me that Poch has no intention of playing Onomah, Edwards & CCV. I think the players out on loan are as good as gone. We will find out definitively if this happens. But reading the Bentaleb interview confirms to my mind that those that stay at Hotspur Way have to trust in Poch, and there is a strong chance they will be rewarded for doing so.
If you look at KWP despite not playing games he is part of this team, he looks happy and involved.
All will be revealed in the summer.
Again, comes my point of having affinity towards the club - I think KWP is genuinely happy because he loves the club, grew up a fan and is just happy being involved in a squad that's competing in the league and playing Champions League football. I wonder how different it MAY have been if he didn't support Spurs.
Then again, you told me Onomah was a Spurs fan, so who knows. Maybe he has an attitude problem or Poch feels he isn't good enough. Whereas we know KWP is.
Not sure if its as black and white as that.
Poch when he came 4 years ago was adamant that loans were a thing if the past and staying with the first team was the way to go, but after bringing through only Winks from the academy (admittedly with improving Kane Dele et al( in 4 years I think he's nowe more open to loans so some on loan (maybe Sam Sashoua in Spanish 3rd league for example)may still be in his thoughts)
It's possible but I'm just looking at our players out on loan and they aren't impressing (I don't know about Sashoua as too early). But it is ONLY Winks that has come through 100% under poch, no player that has been loaned out by Poch has played a game for Spurs following their loan (no one has been recalled). KWP has got games.
We'll only really know when things play out after the summer but I'm sure it's about the player trusting Poch, his way. I think he would have liked initially Bentalebs attitude, he's a feisty character and tough competitor but sounds as though he took this too far, pushed or maybe even demanded too much from Poch. It's hard to get the balance right. I just think both KWP and Winks have given themselves to Poch, if he says jump they say how high.
The Spurs factor I think is the 2% (or whatever it is, that tiny X-factor) that makes you get to a ball a 10th of a second before the oppo, that enables you to press in the last 10mins of a game when all you want to do is sit down. Probably this doesn't come out in training???
I think what really pissed Pochettino off was Bentaleb going on international duty for Algeria wasn't it? When he wasn't deemed fit enough by ourselves.
This summer is a big one for some promising youngsters. As Edwards has a year left on his contract. Roles' contract is up. Onomah will have had two unsuccessful loans under his belt - so hopefully Pochettino was right about that clean slate and gives some of these chances to succeed.
Onomah, from what I HAVE seen of him, is better than both Marsh and Amos (same age as Amos too), yet like you say, I think Amos and Marsh probably have a better attitude and trust in the manager than Onomah. Skipp too.