Jozzy
Player Valuation: £10m
Development stunted this season it appears, was always travling with the squad so he didn't play anywhere near as many U/21 games it seemed.
Needs to spend the whole season next season out on loan starting every year. At the age now where he needs to be playing.
Pienaar's gloves
Player Valuation: £35m
Plays regular for the u21s and rumoured to be one of the four that Martinez is bringing into the first team squad in pre-season.
Zatara
Player Valuation: £100m
Pienaar's gloves
Player Valuation: £35m
Perhaps they just wanted to give some recognition to others? Or perhaps slightly burnt out? He had a huge year last year captaining both Everton U18s and then the England team plus this year the Dallas cup - few players let alone young ones can constantly play at their peak week in week out.
He provided two assists a few days ago so he hasn't suddenly become terrible.
Edit can't find the vine I saw but his assist for Bryne was meant to be particularly good
@philkecho: Everton u-21s 2-0 up at home to Spurs u-21. Sam Byrne, after brilliant work from Ryan Ledson, has just made it 2-0.
2nd edit - it is here if you are interested http://www.evertonfc.com/evertontv/archive/2015/05/19/everton-u21s-31-spurs-u21s
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....I watched United in a Lancashire League game at Bellefield once, Giggs was an unknown playing for United. Ferguson was on the line and was constantly saying to his players "go on son, take him on" and if a player lost it he'd say, "don't worry, take him again next time". In contrast the shouts from the Everton coaches was "clear your lines" and "hit the box". It was interesting and has stuck in my mind all these years.
.....a couple of games I saw Ledson was a stand out, I'm sure politics plays a part in these situations. Unsworth might have said to him that he sees him as part of the first team squad (with Browning) and that he wants to give the others a boost. Interesting that none of the lads who have just represented England in Euros are not on Sheedys list, presume they are in another age group.
catcherintherye
Player Valuation: £80m
I think you sum it up well. Ledson has trained with the first team squad lots this season and hasn't played that many games for the under 21's. The same with Browning. I imagine as much will be down too their attitude in training as their performances. Also psychologically they see Ledson and Browning as "first team" players now.
It was very telling that even in crunch games to win the under 18's league, or indeed the FA Youth Cup, players such as Ledson, Kenny (and in the league campaign) Walsh, Dowell and Williams didn't go down to play, to win us the league/youth cup.
It is hard to explain properly, but the desire at Everton (although it's true of most clubs, though Everton put it into practice much more) is to push players on. Liam Walsh was interviewed earlier in the season and he said his big achievements were not individual trophies or rewards but playing a year or two up on himself. They don't overly value trophies, not to say they don't matter but there is a big emphasis on player development.
The same is true of Kenny being the captain of the under 21's and not Ledson. Ledson had captained England and our under 18's as a 16 year old so seemed the logical choice. Rather than not rating Ledson, Unsworth felt Kenny would benefit from it and has done brilliantly in that role. More importantly he wanted a player who he knew would probably be training with him the whole season. Even though Ledson has played for the Under 21's, it has been a bit like a first team player loaned to them.
As regards the Under 18's players again an unusual list. Holland has been a regular so surprised he's not on there. Davies only broke into the Under 18's first team in late autumn (playing at right back) while Yates in the new Year. All of the above have been regulars.
A lot of the lads on the list are a year older than the current 3 at the Euro's. They probably have been our best players.
So yes, it's partly about encouraging players, but also about he quirks of youth football.
Raino85
Player Valuation: £35m
I cant be absolutely sure but im pretty certain Ledson played the majority of the u21 games this season & for our FA youth cup games I think a lot of these played too
SpurtingLesbian
Ken Dodd Nagasaki
I wonder if it's down to the formation philosophy of the club.
Quite a lot of clubs I know play the same formation from the first team all the way down through the youth ranks, it means that players learn their position well and can be interchangeable when called upon without any difference to the way the team works. Whereas other teams don't really have a preferred formation or like to be able to constantly change formations. They train their players to be adaptable and play to their strength and leave it to the manager to put their 'strengths in the right place on the pitch' each week. There's less continuity this way but it allows greater flexibility.
catcherintherye
Player Valuation: £80m
Yes he played some games, but didn't return for the crunch end of the season Under 18's league games.
I have given it a little more reflection so hopefully this will be a bit clearer than the last post. Under Martinez he has began to take increasing numbers of young players into the first team squad. He often talks about adding "4 to the first team squad".
This is quite different to Moyes, even Moyes when he would throw in young players. He would pick players ready for the first team, and the rest he would leave to the U21's/ academy. Martinez's approach is a shift from this and he wants the opportunity to develop some in the first team.
We have always had under 18's making up a proportion of the reserves. However again what we have seen over the last couple of seasons is not only are they playing at that level, but regularly training at that level too. (This has been accelerated by more players going out on loan).
The end result is kind of two fold. Firstly different teams/coaches kind of take responsibility for player development, and for the sake of this debate even though someone may play for a team he may not be considered part of their day to day squad.
(I think this is what Dennis Lawrence looks after).
Ledson isn't really considered an Under 18 players anymore, nor is he really even an under 21. He trains with the first team. Martinez is taking responsibility for that.
I don't think it's true that Ledson hasn't been better than the 5 mentioned, or more importantly that the 5 mentioned by Unsworth are ahead of him it's just that they are seen more as reserve players.
catcherintherye
Player Valuation: £80m
Fergusan was something of a visionary for youth football. However we have certainly caught up, if not overtaken United in terms of our outlook now.