First of all I don’t think he was very good versus Crystal Palace but that’s down to opinion, I certainly thought he was knackered fro the off and was very slow coming back to defend every time he had gone forward.
We might not have the luxury of not playing him but playing him at the moment is not helping Everton and it certainly isn’t helping Anthony.
Onana is another luxury player at the moment who goes missing for minutes on end, does some brilliant work at times but not enough, for me anyway, but we can all see the potential he has, maybe he needs time out and replacing with James Garner now and again,Garner is a young player with plenty of potential, takes good free kicks and corners and has got a bite in his tackles and just as eager to impress as Onana is, I’d like to see a lot more of him.
Interesting take mate.
Wed disagree there i thought he was very good Vs Palace. Very impactful and would disagree on the role of tracking back and supporting Coleman, i thought both did really well supporting each other in running that side. Id be happy enough if he posted that performance every week. Its an interesting point on his fitness though, lads have made it in the past, i thought he addressed it last season, but you could be right, maybe its an issue, athleticism i think is something that doesnt come naturally for him, say the way it does for Iwobi.
Its an interesting point on drifting and the tolerance we should or shouldn't have wit it, i dont disagree with you, Onana and Gordon can drift - you can see the potential there in both of them, though both the same age and have developmental needs.
The dilemma is do you build and put your faith in young players or do you hand say Delph and Gylfi a new contract.
We've gone a different way, backed the two boys and backed ourselves to develop them. Do they have to play every game? Im not sure how else we develop them and build their experience. Pragmatically the squad cant cover the loss, with Gordon anyway, unless he gets a breather, but hes started 12 of our 14 games and scored 3, hes our top scorer, so its a big call to take him out and for who.
Its a funny one, we say young players need time out of the team, but then our solution is to play another young player in Garner, im not being facetious about the suggestion and mins will come for him, but hes in the same developing player bracket as Onana and Gordon. Everyone want to sign and develop young players, but no one wants to play them when they are developing. Thats the thing with the debate, different levels of tolerance, instant success vs developmental incremental building.
I suppose, im thinking that the philosophy we have committed to is to play and develop these young lads, give them the experience knowing they will have boom and bust performances, but back ourselves to ultimately develop them to a point where they can be consistent week in week out...its an interesting dilemma - we haven't had any philosophy for a long, long time, so its stick or twist really. We have competing needs of wanting young players and wanting to develop them as a club, on the opposite side we have the pressure of results.
Id say loads on here will have different opinions, on whats best for the club based on either side of those competing needs.
Personally id like to see us persevere and develop them, even if you have to swallow the odd drifted out performance.