Much of the build up to Chelsea versus Tottenham has been about Frank Lampard and Jose Mourinho. The academy grads may have a bigger point to prove.
Jose Mourinho is a man of many narratives. He parks the bus. He tries to drag other managers into mind games. He only succeeds for two years before it all crashes and burns.
But perhaps one of the most pervasive one that has followed him at every single club has been his attitude towards youth players. It is not as though he outright dismisses young players, it is just that it is very rare for him to find a young player with the guile required for Mourinho’s tactics.
Much of the buildup of Tottenham hosting Chelsea has been about Frank Lampard and Mourinho. Forgotten are the myriad of youth players currently making it at Chelsea that under a Mourinho regime would simply not have had a chance. The Portuguese manager’s shadow looms large over Stamford Bridge, but it never reached the academy. The young ones know it.
It will not help matters that Mourinho has even had a recent history of slight digs towards the academy. There were his punditry comments where he seemingly blamed Chelsea’s struggles exclusively on the youth (spoiler alert: the youth were not the players causing issues).
Then there were his strange comments about Tottenham and about helping young players develop. Maybe he truly has turned a new leaf, but it is very hard to say that the players Tottenham are producing are on part with Chelsea’s.
So one could say the Chelsea youth would be a little irked by Mourinho both currently and historically. Some have felt that first hand such as Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who obviously will not be playing but will surely be stoking the fire behind the scenes.
The experience of others would have been more indirect such as Tammy Abraham who saw teammate after teammate become involved in the first team (training) only to fall off the radar soon after. Many, including himself, had to seek loans to develop and have a chance.
The remaining youth will not have known Mourinho first hand but they will have known of the barrier he presented. Callum Hudson-Odoi shows perhaps the pinnacle of that even when Mourinho was long gone; if the youth are not going to be given a chance when they have earned it, they will need to leave.
Mourinho, for all that he did give Chelsea, failed the youth. Not just the Loftus-Cheek’s and the Abraham’s of the squad, but the barrier that he helped put up also kept Hudson-Odoi and others out until Lampard tore it down.
Lampard would be wise to tap into that for the match against Spurs. These youth were doubted when Mourinho was at the club. They were doubted when he was a pundit just this season. And he surely doubts them now as he is in charge of a rival. The youth have a point to prove. Lampard just needs to allow them to make it.