Sky Sports pundit Liam Rosenior has singled out Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino for his lack of fear when it comes to playing young players and compared him to Premier League legend Sir Alex Ferguson.
The Lilywhites have established a reputation for bringing exciting talents into their first team and giving them a chance under the Argentine boss, with the likes of Harry Winks, Oliver Skipp and Kyle Walker-Peters some of the most recent graduates.
Speaking of developing the stars of tomorrow, Rosenior insists there are not many, if any, managers who have the same faith in their youth system in the Premier League, comparing Pochettino’s approach to that of Ferguson at Manchester United and the class of 92.
He told Sky Sports’ The Debate (19/03, 22:00): “If you educate your young players to play in a certain way, the pathway (to the first team) becomes smoother.
“You don’t know how good a player a chance. The one person I can give that point to is Pochettino. Harry Winks, (Kyle) Walker-Peters, Dele Alli, straight from MK Dons into Tottenham’s first team.
“So many managers out there are fearful, it’s the ones that aren’t fearful that surprise you. Sir Alex Ferguson, got rid of Mark Hughes, (Andrei) Kanchelskis – (you ask) what’s he doing? David Beckham comes into the team, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville.
“Fear is holding back a lot of clubs and the ones without fear do well in the long term.”
Opinion
The consistency of young talent breaking through the youth ranks and into the first team at Tottenham all lies at the quality of coaching and management and so Rosenior is absolutely right to herald Pochettino for his impact. The thing the Argentine seems to have that no others do is confidence in his job. Most other managers out there in the Premier League are fighting for their own survival but it seems that regardless of what Pochettino does, Daniel Levy and the rest of the Spurs board have faith the Argentine is the right man to lead the club forward. Having that support and security means that Pochettino can take a risk on a youngster every so often and it has worked out a treat so far. He is so much more than a manager to the north London club – he is a man with a vision for the Tottenham project and so far everything has gone according to plan.