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Everton Youth Teams Thread

I don't think he will leave but I think you may see roles change.
I don't think we can be too critical of David Unsworth as we have seen a number of players come through the academy into first team consideration, Davies, Kenny and Gordon in particular and I think most of us would have expected Dowell to be added to those. Gibson has been in the academy for a couple of seasons now and seems to be progressing well.
 
Very disappointed in Unsworth against Chelsea. Simms was so isolated it was criminal. We have a natural goalscorer on our hands but he can't do anything when every other player is 50 foot away from him every time the ball was hoofed up to him. It was very depressing to see the lack of passing in the team. The players themselves seem talented but the tactics were awful. My concern is young players are not learning good lessons. They should see a game against Chelsea as a chance to shine and show their talents. Instead they played with a mindset that Chelsea were far better than them and their only chance of getting anything out of the game was to park the bus. Only person responsible for that is Unsworth. How will we ever produce a top class player from the youth teams with that attitude.
Exactly that, let them have a plan, but a plan that lets them enjoy playing the game as well, not defending as though their lives depended on it, what did Unsworth think Simms was going to do isolated like that. The whole Acadamy has needed looking at for a few years now, under Ancelotti and Brands we will see quite a few changes there in how it is run and who the coaches are, think there will be a few changes in personnel in the coming months.
 
I don't think he will leave but I think you may see roles change.
I don't think we can be too critical of David Unsworth as we have seen a number of players come through the academy into first team consideration, Davies, Kenny and Gordon in particular and I think most of us would have expected Dowell to be added to those. Gibson has been in the academy for a couple of seasons now and seems to be progressing well.

We can criticise him when he plays 9 defenders and a midfielder up front in games when he has more at his disposal. We haven’t brought many through; Gordon is the latest but Davies was ages ago now.
 
I don't think he will leave but I think you may see roles change.
I don't think we can be too critical of David Unsworth as we have seen a number of players come through the academy into first team consideration, Davies, Kenny and Gordon in particular and I think most of us would have expected Dowell to be added to those. Gibson has been in the academy for a couple of seasons now and seems to be progressing well.
It’s a difficult business judging “ value Unsworth has added”, but the players you have mentioned were all England u17 internationals so possessed a degree of natural talent before moving to the u21/23 . Do we believe Unsworth improved them is the question?
Astley was very good at 16, he's progressed under Unsworth but I’d say gradually and not as much as I expected . You could say the same about Foulds and Feeney , maybe they never had it , but as defenders they are all the type of players Unsworth should be best at developing.

On Monday we played a style totally different from the first team , and nobody shone apart from Branthwaite for me, so it’s pretty easy to say none of them are even close to the first team. Yet Simms, John , Branthwaite have all been training with the 1st team. Simms was poor on Monday, but he was stranded with a 20 yard no mans land between him and his nearest team mate. John hardly featured, and I can’t recall any passing pattern or reasonable number of exchanges between the midfielders.
It may be we are building fortitude, the ability to defend from midfield and hold our own while the younger ones gain experience but it baffled me , and as the Chelsea commentators said it’s not what you expect from Everton or any U23s team to be shutting up shop.
 

It’s a difficult business judging “ value Unsworth has added”, but the players you have mentioned were all England u17 internationals so possessed a degree of natural talent before moving to the u21/23 . Do we believe Unsworth improved them is the question?
Astley was very good at 16, he's progressed under Unsworth but I’d say gradually and not as much as I expected . You could say the same about Foulds and Feeney , maybe they never had it , but as defenders they are all the type of players Unsworth should be best at developing.

On Monday we played a style totally different from the first team , and nobody shone apart from Branthwaite for me, so it’s pretty easy to say none of them are even close to the first team. Yet Simms, John , Branthwaite have all been training with the 1st team. Simms was poor on Monday, but he was stranded with a 20 yard no mans land between him and his nearest team mate. John hardly featured, and I can’t recall any passing pattern or reasonable number of exchanges between the midfielders.
It may be we are building fortitude, the ability to defend from midfield and hold our own while the younger ones gain experience but it baffled me , and as the Chelsea commentators said it’s not what you expect from Everton or any U23s team to be shutting up shop.
I think we have to look at the academy as a whole, I don't think it is fair or even possible to separate or blame a particular coach.
The only home grown player that I can remember who bypassed most of the academy experience was Rooney.

We saw recently where Unsworth is now watching the senior squad training under Ancelotti one or two days a week.
I expect the plan is that the under 23 training will mirror that of the senior squad in time.
 
I think we have to look at the academy as a whole, I don't think it is fair or even possible to separate or blame a particular coach.
The only home grown player that I can remember who bypassed most of the academy experience was Rooney.

We saw recently where Unsworth is now watching the senior squad training under Ancelotti one or two days a week.
I expect the plan is that the under 23 training will mirror that of the senior squad in time.
Yeah I accept what you are saying about the academy as a whole and not just one coach to blame. But let’s just say there’s a lot of disquiet about the U23s , their tactics and the apparent disconnect with the first team style/tactics.
 

Yeah I accept what you are saying about the academy as a whole and not just one coach to blame. But let’s just say there’s a lot of disquiet about the U23s , their tactics and the apparent disconnect with the first team style/tactics.
If that is the case then of course you would see changes being made.
However, that doesn't appear to be the situation where Unsworth has been invited to shadow CA in training seems to indicate that he still has a role but is maybe being asked to do something in a different way.
 
If that is the case then of course you would see changes being made.
However, that doesn't appear to be the situation where Unsworth has been invited to shadow CA in training seems to indicate that he still has a role but is maybe being asked to do something in a different way.
My comment of “ a lot of disquiet” refers to the opinions of quite a number of Everton fans not only on this forum but elsewhere about Unsworth, I was trying to be balanced as opposed to openly critical. I have no inside knowledge if our management share that disquiet. You seem to have taken CAs comments as a vote of confidence in him. Of course he still has a role he’s our U23s manager , and despite the first team sackings we are not a club who would sack an U23s manager mid season. If he ups his impact under CA I’ll be delighted.
The comments and assessments on Unsworth have been made by people who have watched the U23s and commented on specific games and tactics, if you disagree that’s fine but you need to answer those comments with specific tactics and games this season that you have seen from Unsworth where he has done well, and there have been. You justifying things with Davies and Kenny came through just doesn’t cut it for me.
 
We should be playing two strikers like the senior squad imo

Forwards are the real game changers. If you produce a top centre forward then you've saved yourself probably 70m.

We arent going to develop and produce top attackers if we play a negative one up top system. U23 football is not about winning. It's about producing players good enough to play senior football who will help the first team win.

I just find it very unusual to see very little similarity between how our young players play and Ancelotti wants to play. Is it just simply that we do not have any quality in the attacking ranks to let our u23s play attacking front foot football?
 
We should be playing two strikers like the senior squad imo

Forwards are the real game changers. If you produce a top centre forward then you've saved yourself probably 70m.

We arent going to develop and produce top attackers if we play a negative one up top system. U23 football is not about winning. It's about producing players good enough to play senior football who will help the first team win.

I just find it very unusual to see very little similarity between how our young players play and Ancelotti wants to play. Is it just simply that we do not have any quality in the attacking ranks to let our u23s play attacking front foot football?


I don't think so take the U18s they have scored goals for fun down the years but as soon as those players move up they are playing for a safety first coach.
 

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