Pochettino Is Continuing to Nurture Youth as Tottenham Hotspur Thrash Gillingham

WHITE HART LANE, London — The moment had been coming for some time, now he had to take it. The young Tottenham Hotspur player received the ball in midfield, looked up and fired home past the despairing opposition goalkeeper.

Ryan Mason's goal in the 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest in September 2014 was shown on the big screens prior to Tottenham's latest EFL Cup victory, a 5-0 thrashing of League One outfit Gillingham. That same night had also seen Harry Kane score, another of the north London club's youngsters signalling their intent to force their way into boss Mauricio Pochettino's thinking.

Just shy of two years on, Kane was out injured and Mason was scoring at Stoke City for his new club Hull City—a technically impressive volley rather than a long-range blast this time. But once again Pochettino was at work with another batch of young prospects—primarily academy-raised—hoping to follow in the footsteps of the aforementioned two.

Cameron Carter-Vickers made his senior debut at centre-back paired with the returning Kevin Wimmer. Enjoying his first start in central midfield ahead of him and alongside youth-team predecessor Tom Carroll was Harry Winks, while a little further forward was Josh Onomah, who scored his first goal for the club to make it 4-0 on the night.

They were joined in the second half by a trio of debutants: much-hyped attacker Marcus Edwards, the versatile Anton Walkes and £9 million winger Georges-Kevin Nkoudou.

"I am very happy, because if you see the performance of Cameron Carter-Vickers or Harry Winks or Josh Onomah they were fantastic," Pochettino told his post-match press conference, also highlighting their confidence. "And then Marcus Edwards, Anton Walkes, Tom Carroll, I think that they showed (coming through the academy) they have the quality to impress us and can play for the first team."

Gillingham boss and former Spurs star Justin Edinburgh was similarly impressed.

"They've got some really exciting young players there, they looked very comfortable," he said, disappointed his team had not been able to deal with them more. "I thought the young lad Carter-Vickers looked assured at the back, and Winks there and Carroll, it looks like they're full of talent and obviously the future's bright here at Spurs."

It is testament to the job Pochettino has done with the likes of Kane and Mason that he has licence to continue blooding these youngsters.

The Argentinian has not just paid lip service to giving homegrown talent opportunities, he has made practical use of them—realising their value supplementing and covering for more experienced options. It also has the benefit of being able to shape their football thinking before less compatible ideas become too ingrained.

That Pochettino wants to nurture these players is also crucially a result of an academy pipeline continuing to produce worthwhile prospects.

Former under-18s coach Kieran McKenna recently left Tottenham to take up the same job at Manchester United. In an interview following his appointment, he detailed what is so special about the current setup at his former club, per Adam Marshall of the Red Devils' official website:

"

I think there is a way of doing things in youth development and Tottenham and United have very similar views on that. There is an importance placed on developing the individual and generating outstanding individuals who can play in the first team as a main priority. Also it's a case of developing good people to go on and be successful at lower levels of football or in other walks of life. I think both clubs have got really similar underlying principles so there are also similar ways of playing and doing things.

"

Some players, like Mason, have ended up where a transfer away was the best career move. However, the young men Pochettino is testing at senior level are carefully prepared until they are capable of making some contribution. From there, it is largely up to them how much they make of it.

Onomah and Winks have been on this track a little longer than some of their team-mates involved on Wednesday.

Even with new signings like Moussa Sissoko and Victor Wanyama adding to the competition in midfield positions, their involvement early in this campaign made clear that Pochettino still believes in them.

Onomah, not yet 20, is looking increasingly comfortable amid bigger-name company. His efforts here were indistinguishable in general quality to those of fellow attacking midfielders and scorers Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela (striker Vincent Janssen notched Spurs' other goal from the penalty spot).

His goal demonstrated the focused industry that will appeal to his manager as much as his more skill-based ability.

After Spurs' initial attack broke down, Onomah was on hand to recover possession. Soon after, he got forward and was ready for Lamela's pass, promptly finishing into the bottom corner.

The ensuing celebration showed the moment's significance. What Onomah offered elsewhere in the match will have raised his stock in Pochettino's mind just as much.

Upfield he was adventurous in his collaborations, linking well with Janssen and other midfielders with short, sharp passes and smooth interchanges of position. When he turned on the jets further back, Gillingham were left scrambling to catch up—a nice run linking up with Eriksen in the first half was later followed by a superb escape from inside his own half that led to him feeding Nkoudou further down the left flank.

Winks has not had as much playing time as Onomah, but he, too, looked at home, backing up the confident displays of pre-season tours over the last couple of summers.

In the matchday programme, former Tottenham midfielder David Howells praised the 20-year-old's well-rounded style.

"These days, players often find themselves pigeonholed into being a central-defensive midfielder or an attacker or whatever, but the really good thing about Harry is that he's capable of being—and is happy to be—a complete midfielder," Howells told Billy Shaw for the Centre of Attention feature.

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Increasingly standing off him and Carroll as the night progressed, Gillingham did not give the most thorough examination of this claim. Nevertheless, there was plenty to back it up.

Within the opening five minutes, Winks was dropping off to tackle Josh Wright and then calmly navigated his way out of danger, pushing the ball forward to Lamela. He saw plenty of the ball, dictating play from midfield areas and also took it upon himself to join in further forward, participating in the buildup to the Eriksen and Lamela goals that began and finished the scoring.

One of the facets of Winks' play that is most encouraging is his comfort receiving the ball.

He has the flexibility of body and mind to let it run across him from different angles without the kind of hesitation that invites opposition interest. It is not quite on the Mousa Dembele-level of skill, but it is comparable in his urgency to then make something of the split second or more suitable position gained.

Carter-Vickers, 18, is a little further behind Onomah and Winks in terms of experience but, off the back of his impressive showings in the International Champions Cup, Pochettino has not been shy in describing how much he rates him.

"For me he will be one of the best centre-backs in England in the future," he said in his pre-match press conference of the Southend-born, United States youth international. "Because he is strong, has mentality, quality—he has all the qualities to play like a centre-back."

The defender showed this as much as he could against a toothless Gills attack. Better teams will place him under greater scrutiny, but he struck a sufficient enough balance between no-nonsense defensive work and adhering to Pochettino's demands for playing out from the back that you can see him performing with composure in more demanding environments (Liverpool away in the next round, perhaps).

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Walkes, too, showed a good head and sure touch late on after replacing Ben Davies at left-back. This, though, was a contest more ripe for his fellow young substitutes, Nkoudou and Edwards, to showcase their skills.

One of the former Marseille man's first times on the ball saw him front up his marker high up the left wing, only to send in an underhit cross.

That tentativeness extended to some of his following touches, but as his half-hour wore on, he hinted at the quicksilver movement and tantalising width that tempted Spurs into spending millions on him. He also participated in the team's closing down of the visitors, a key attribute in a Pochettino side (something the manager had to vocally urge Clinton Njie—exchanged for Nkoudou at Marseille—to do in one of his early appearances last season).

Edwards also felt his way into the game, though he did so via short passes with Carroll and Winks that maintained possession. From there, he started to target the spaces between the Gillingham lines with increasing effect, culminating in an exciting 90th-minute foray in from the right that required goalkeeper Stuart Nelson to tip his shot over.

Pochettino's comparison of Edwards to Barcelona and Argentina superstar Lionel Messi prior to the match was more in terms of their physical resemblance—though he dialled back and likened the Spurs man's fondness for the ball to a young Lamela at River Plate instead.

While he did hype up the 17-year-old's potential more specifically after, he was also keen to emphasise the protection they will still cushion his hoped-for rise with.

"Talent, a lot of talent, enough to be a top player and a great player," Pochettino said of Edwards, "but now it's how he builds his future which is very important, and it's our responsibility to tell him."

Still only 24, Eriksen was not signed by Pochettino but has undoubtedly developed under his tutelage. He scored twice and was captain for the night, joking "I'm very old now" compared to some of his team-mates.

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"I've been here for a few years now and I know how everything is going, how everything needs to be done," he said after the game. "So for me, of course, I get the experience from all the games I've played and all that stuff makes it easier and easier, so yeah, I feel comfortable."

Even so, there was a moment shortly before his withdrawal for Nkoudou where he lost the ball and Pochettino reacted angrily, turning to vent his frustration.

The plan is that these young players hoping to get where Eriksen is will develop to the point they, too, are prepared for the nurturing arm round the shoulder turning into a smack round the head.

Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.