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Everton Youth Teams Thread

catcherintherye said:
It's wrong but natural isn't it. In any walk of life, if your boss is prepared to make a financial commitment towards you, then you will certainly get the benefit of the doubt more often. It's also the other way, people think "I can't afford to get this one wrong".

I happen to agree long term Godfrey is a CB, but I don't think a run at fullback will do him, or the team any harm. We have been scrambling about for a tight defence for some time, and we have had a couple of decent performances there from him. It reminds me a bit of the Lescott, Yobo, Jagielka & Baines dilemma. We all knew long term the best solution was Baines, Lescott, Jagielka, but all the while Lescott, Yobo, Jagielka performed well, it was stupid to change it. Allow Godfrey to really build his confidence at fulback and then move him inside once he's built that rep/confidence would be the most likely avenue.

I don't foresee Brainthwaite going to fullback. But he's a like for like in the middle, if we don't want to tamper too much.
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....I think it really helped that Chelsea played into our hands. Giroud was never likely to exploit the space behind our CBs and there was no conventional wingers to test part-time fullbacks.

I fear Godfrey in particular will be found out playing full-back. I like him lots, he’d definitely be in central defence if I was picking the team. Leicester will be interesting.
 
Eggs said:
....I think it really helped that Chelsea played into our hands. Giroud was never likely to exploit the space behind our CBs and there was no conventional wingers to test part-time fullbacks.

I fear Godfrey in particular will be found out playing full-back. I like him lots, he’d definitely be in central defence if I was picking the team. Leicester will be interesting.
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I saw that and felt exactly the same re Giroud. Absoutely perfect for those 2.

I'm also in agreement that his position is CB. It's just a case of when he's moved, and if he's playing well, and we are playing well as tihngs stand when you make that change. For me I'd be more cautious. We have chopped and changed too much. Look we may get hammered tomorrow and it may facilitate it. But we have a run of games where we can/will sit a bit deeper, which seems to suit us, and we can probably persevere with the personnel we have until the new year, then have another look at it. But thats just my take.

On an unrelated note, I did see in an article written in the Athletic they had said Brands was very taken in by not only his first team games, but his first team games in the top flight. It probably explains what may have got him over the line oer perhaps one or 2 of the other European options, and to a degree is why he is so favoured. It also gives an insight into what Ancelotti is looking. He wants lads who have experience and he can rely upon. It does make it all the more difficult for some of the younger lads. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but he clearly doesn't want people making mistakes through inexperience on his time.

Anyway I'm a big fan of Godfrey. I'd see a few people moaning about him and going on about Gabriel recently. When you look at where Arsenal are currently, it looks like we may have just dodged a bit of a bullet with that one.
 
mightymoyes said:
I'd rather send mina on loan than Branthwaite, one of them has already proven he's not good enough for a team that wants to challenge at the top, the other has unlimited potential if given the right opportunity and coaching.
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I really don't think this type of thing helps our young players. Branthwaite looks a really good prospect but 'unlimited potential' is a hell of a call to be making about someone you've seen half a dozen times. If he turns out to be as good as Michael Keane he'll have been an absolute bargain and will have had a career to be very proud of... but he still probably won't be good enough to be a regular for us if we get to where we're aiming for. I'm not being funny because I know you're a supporter of the youth sides, but honestly we really heap expectation and pressure on players with this type of statement and have a habit of then getting annoyed when it turns out they're not actually as good as we told everyone they were.
 

Loans are good if they’re guaranteed games. Maybe even a case when the loanee club can get a small fee every time they play him. I agree keep your best youngsters but when you have someone like Gordon that isn’t getting first team minutes and isn’t getting U23 mins what’s the point in not loaning them? At that age you need to be playing footie no matter the level.
 
Nymzee said:
I meant this season. Send him back there for a year especially if they always thought they’d go for Gabriel/Godfrey.
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I think he would have went on loan if he hadn't got injured or if Holgate hadn't got injured. It was one of those things. We had 2 fit centre backs, now we have 5 and he's way down the pecking order. He'd have played at Fleetwood as well if he hadn't got injured against Salford.
 
Often when it comes to our youth players, there seems to be this fantasy reality where any other club in lower leagues (or in some cases lower PL clubs) would jump at the offer of one of our young players.

But placing loan players is very much a lower clubs' market.

They have the option of filling any first team holes with permanent transfers or with members of their own youth programme (where all the problems we have with showing academy players a 'pathway' are equally valid).

If they do decide to go for a loan, do they go for an academy PL club player or an older player with PL experience (see Bolasie or Besic) or maybe an older academy player with PL experience who might be available on a free soon (see Pennington or Baningime) or maybe players that have already been released from academies?

Maybe they do decide to go for a young PL academy player. Now they have the choice of 20 different PL club youth teams to choose from.

It is only the cream at the very top of the youth system where PL clubs get to dictate where they go and guaranteed playing time.
 

Eggs said:
....I think it really helped that Chelsea played into our hands. Giroud was never likely to exploit the space behind our CBs and there was no conventional wingers to test part-time fullbacks.

I fear Godfrey in particular will be found out playing full-back. I like him lots, he’d definitely be in central defence if I was picking the team. Leicester will be interesting.
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Godfrey didn't look to me like he really knew what he was doing but he had the pace and athleticism to do a passable job on the day.
 
atrottel said:
Often when it comes to our youth players, there seems to be this fantasy reality where any other club in lower leagues (or in some cases lower PL clubs) would jump at the offer of one of our young players.

But placing loan players is very much a lower clubs' market.

They have the option of filling any first team holes with permanent transfers or with members of their own youth programme (where all the problems we have with showing academy players a 'pathway' are equally valid).

If they do decide to go for a loan, do they go for an academy PL club player or an older player with PL experience (see Bolasie or Besic) or maybe an older academy player with PL experience who might be available on a free soon (see Pennington or Baningime) or maybe players that have already been released from academies?

Maybe they do decide to go for a young PL academy player. Now they have the choice of 20 different PL club youth teams to choose from.

It is only the cream at the very top of the youth system where PL clubs get to dictate where they go and guaranteed playing time.
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This is true to some extent. But if you have a player like Branthwaite for example, who currently is at worst a championship level player, you can find him a loan in League 1 or 2 if no one in the championship jumps at it because he is a good player above what those clubs can probably get. So at least for our good youngsters, Branthwaite, Gibson, Nkounkou, Gordon and possibly Simms, loans should be attainable at some level.
 
Notorious Thierry Smalls training with the first team.

“Thierry did well,” Ancelotti said. “He is really, really young. He is like a kid, he is only 16 years old, but he has quality and physicality to play with the first team. He is one of our best players in the academy, so I was pleased to bring him to train with us. I think for what he is doing it was good for him, too.”
 
Lanolin said:
I really don't think this type of thing helps our young players. Branthwaite looks a really good prospect but 'unlimited potential' is a hell of a call to be making about someone you've seen half a dozen times. If he turns out to be as good as Michael Keane he'll have been an absolute bargain and will have had a career to be very proud of... but he still probably won't be good enough to be a regular for us if we get to where we're aiming for. I'm not being funny because I know you're a supporter of the youth sides, but honestly we really heap expectation and pressure on players with this type of statement and have a habit of then getting annoyed when it turns out they're not actually as good as we told everyone they were.
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At 18 there is no harm to anyone saying he has unlimited potential. Branthwaite doesn't read this.
I'm just giving my opinion from what I've see in the 1st team and u23s, backed up by what people that have worked with him have said.
We'll probably balls up his development because we won't give him the right opportunities, it's what we do with young talent, block their path with overrated wage drains cos it's the Premier league model generally.
 

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