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Everton Youth Teams Thread

Last night was the cumulation of an 18 month transition to getting our younger players exposed to U23s early. Going back a couple of seasons Gordon and Simms barely featured at U23s as 17/18 year olds , which I thought was wrong but water under the bridge now . Yes it is a step up from u18 to U23s but the best youngsters can make it early. Our average age last night was just under 19 , with Ouzonidis 21, Broadhead 22 the only non-teenagers, and there’s no doubt their extra experience was needed. One 16 yr old and four 17 yr olds in the squad tells its own tale.
Reece Welch has always looked the pick of the 5 centre backs we have in the u18s , he was tall last year but looks to have added a couple more inches this season , looking about 6ft 3 now, though the hair makes it difficult to tell. He looks so composed and not afraid to compete physically. It’s likely Astley is injured but he’s a far better CB than the out of position Quirk, and hopefully he’ll make a start soon . It looks like Isaac Price has burst from the pack of good young midfielders we have at u18 , and also got ahead of Hunt and too.

Two decent away wins on the trot is pretty good , though I suspect their young age and inexperience will catch up with them in some matches and we’ll get tonked, but I can live with that .... occasionally. It’ll be interesting to see how we handle the older players who are out of contract in June, the likes of Ouzonidis and Astley in particular.
 
blueloon said:
Last night was the cumulation of an 18 month transition to getting our younger players exposed to U23s early. Going back a couple of seasons Gordon and Simms barely featured at U23s as 17/18 year olds , which I thought was wrong but water under the bridge now . Yes it is a step up from u18 to U23s but the best youngsters can make it early. Our average age last night was just under 19 , with Ouzonidis 21, Broadhead 22 the only non-teenagers, and there’s no doubt their extra experience was needed. One 16 yr old and four 17 yr olds in the squad tells its own tale.
Reece Welch has always looked the pick of the 5 centre backs we have in the u18s , he was tall last year but looks to have added a couple more inches this season , looking about 6ft 3 now, though the hair makes it difficult to tell. He looks so composed and not afraid to compete physically. It’s likely Astley is injured but he’s a far better CB than the out of position Quirk, and hopefully he’ll make a start soon . It looks like Isaac Price has burst from the pack of good young midfielders we have at u18 , and also got ahead of Hunt and too.

Two decent away wins on the trot is pretty good , though I suspect their young age and inexperience will catch up with them in some matches and we’ll get tonked, but I can live with that .... occasionally. It’ll be interesting to see how we handle the older players who are out of contract in June, the likes of Ouzonidis and Astley in particular.
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I would have said Welch was more 6 ft 2, but he did really well. Again, it might be hoped he ends up being around 6 ft 4, which will given him every chance.

Price is one to watch out for. Seems to have grown a lot, and thought he was very tidy in there.
 
blueloon said:
Last night was the cumulation of an 18 month transition to getting our younger players exposed to U23s early. Going back a couple of seasons Gordon and Simms barely featured at U23s as 17/18 year olds , which I thought was wrong but water under the bridge now . Yes it is a step up from u18 to U23s but the best youngsters can make it early. Our average age last night was just under 19 , with Ouzonidis 21, Broadhead 22 the only non-teenagers, and there’s no doubt their extra experience was needed. One 16 yr old and four 17 yr olds in the squad tells its own tale.
Reece Welch has always looked the pick of the 5 centre backs we have in the u18s , he was tall last year but looks to have added a couple more inches this season , looking about 6ft 3 now, though the hair makes it difficult to tell. He looks so composed and not afraid to compete physically. It’s likely Astley is injured but he’s a far better CB than the out of position Quirk, and hopefully he’ll make a start soon . It looks like Isaac Price has burst from the pack of good young midfielders we have at u18 , and also got ahead of Hunt and too.

Two decent away wins on the trot is pretty good , though I suspect their young age and inexperience will catch up with them in some matches and we’ll get tonked, but I can live with that .... occasionally. It’ll be interesting to see how we handle the older players who are out of contract in June, the likes of Ouzonidis and Astley in particular.
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Ouzonidis always looks a good old fashioned centre half nothing flashy ,dont know if they are flavour of the month in football at the moment and we have brathwaite like that already , think he will struggle to get passed him into the first team but think he will have a decent career ahead of him at a different club same as Ashley not sure about looks really good st times nothing special at others.
 
edge said:
Ouzonidis always looks a good old fashioned centre half nothing flashy ,dont know if they are flavour of the month in football at the moment and we have brathwaite like that already , think he will struggle to get passed him into the first team but think he will have a decent career ahead of him at a different club same as Ashley not sure about looks really good st times nothing special at others.
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Ouzonidis has done well in many ways, as an u18 I wasn’t sure he’d get a contract but as you say he’s established himself as a robust centre half , got better each season without ever looking like a PL defender. He would make an ideal captain of next seasons U23s adding experience to youth, but he has his own needs too in terms of his progression and we know the pitfalls of giving out 3 year contracts and then sending them out on loan never to make it with us. So I would go with Astley being the one to get another contract , plus we have two current u18s centre backs who have contracts for next year, Seb Kristensen and Harry Hagan so thats potentially four with Astley and Welch , competing for a centre back place next season.
 

stretford blue said:
Thought iversen,Hughes and price were all tidy but price did look at home at u23 level
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Definitely mate. We produce lots of players like the above 3. Players who have decent size, good on the ball, work hard, get up and down and fill back into shape well without the ball. It's what the academy does well.

All 3 fit into that, and you are right that Iversen was tidy and again looks like he's 5ft 10/11.

Price is 2-3 years younger than the other 2, and to me looked just as composed as those 2 lads did. Thats why he catches the eye a bit. You're looking at him as being someone who may have more to his game, and that when he is 19 will hopefully have shown it.
 
blueloon said:
Ouzonidis has done well in many ways, as an u18 I wasn’t sure he’d get a contract but as you say he’s established himself as a robust centre half , got better each season without ever looking like a PL defender. He would make an ideal captain of next seasons U23s adding experience to youth, but he has his own needs too in terms of his progression and we know the pitfalls of giving out 3 year contracts and then sending them out on loan never to make it with us. So I would go with Astley being the one to get another contract , plus we have two current u18s centre backs who have contracts for next year, Seb Kristensen and Harry Hagan so thats potentially four with Astley and Welch , competing for a centre back place next season.
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He reminds me a bit of Pennington, who I was surprised really got anywhere near the 1st team, never mind in the team. He looked a solid under 18 but not much else.

Ouzonidis probably quite similar. Looks a big stocky lad, but I'll be honest to say I'd be disappointed if he was kept on beyond this season.

You also see the difference between 17-21 when you look at him and say Welch in size.
 
edge said:
Ouzonidis always looks a good old fashioned centre half nothing flashy ,dont know if they are flavour of the month in football at the moment and we have brathwaite like that already , think he will struggle to get passed him into the first team but think he will have a decent career ahead of him at a different club same as Ashley not sure about looks really good st times nothing special at others.
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I agree with most of that. He's an old school defender, looks quite stocky and I think will do well in the football league. He's not flashy but he's detirmined.

Astley is a couple of years younger and has improved each season, but really needs to go out on loan next season. It will be 4 years in the 23's now, and he shows most weeks he is a very good player at that level, but needs to go out on loan.

I think with Astley, he's probably not quite big enough. He he had Ouzonidis's strength, with his more silky play on the ball, maybe there's a chance. But my gut feeling is, talented though he is, he's not quite big enough.

Brainthwaite has it all really. Getting MOTM in the championship at 18 2 games out of 3. Quick, big, strong, great with both feet, comfortable on the ball.
 
edge said:
Ouzonidis always looks a good old fashioned centre half nothing flashy ,dont know if they are flavour of the month in football at the moment and we have brathwaite like that already , think he will struggle to get passed him into the first team but think he will have a decent career ahead of him at a different club same as Ashley not sure about looks really good st times nothing special at others.
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i would see hes more like feeney than branthwaite who oozes class to go with his massive physique
 

@blueloon @catcherintherye clear that the u23 is deffo allowing for the younger generation to come through again.. why though I’m your opinion?
Feel it’s 2 issues myself... we had too many older lads needing to get shipped out but for whatever reason we were flogging them causing a bottleneck..
But the 2nd issue could be that the group coming through just wasn’t good enough either then or were not showing enough potential either to dislodge.. I reckon we had too many old kids clearly not going to make and the club was just being too soft...

Hopefully this is a sustained change. We need to make calls a lot easier. I haven’t been excited about any of our youth since Walsh.. but I deffo have some good vibes for a couple in the u18s coming through
 
BornBlue76 said:
@blueloon @catcherintherye clear that the u23 is deffo allowing for the younger generation to come through again.. why though I’m your opinion?
Feel it’s 2 issues myself... we had too many older lads needing to get shipped out but for whatever reason we were flogging them causing a bottleneck..
But the 2nd issue could be that the group coming through just wasn’t good enough either then or were not showing enough potential either to dislodge.. I reckon we had too many old kids clearly not going to make and the club was just being too soft...

Hopefully this is a sustained change. We need to make calls a lot easier. I haven’t been excited about any of our youth since Walsh.. but I deffo have some good vibes for a couple in the u18s coming through
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Really good question matey.

As always good be a couple of things. A fair bit of it is Brands influence. The club had always been committed to pushing people through quickly, and it's certainly Brands belief too. Only really the last 6-12 months he's been able to start to shape the academy. At present a lot of that is secondary factors, so not renewing contracts this calling Unsworths hand, but it's still had an impact.

Secondly I do think the instability of the previous 4-5 years has had consequences. It's led to new managers wanting to sign lots of new players and our first team squad has been too big. The consequence has been pathways closing, and this people getting stuck in the 23's. It's beginning to shift now, with Carlo now well into his 2nd year and looking a fixture. I think in the chaos, quite a loyal but conservative figure like Unsworth eeked out his own nest in the 23's and we probably weren't ruthless enough. He had a lot of ideas about "keeping the group together" until they are 22/23 but that strategy has failed. Hopefully there is some acknowledgement of that.

As a final point, last years 17's and this years 16's are better than previous years. It seems the same with the 15's as well. Before that, the year groups just weren't as good. You have a single Anthony Gordon, or Lewis Dobbin or even Ty Onyango but in truth not an awful lot else that is even close to first team potential. That was across 3-5 years years really, of ok but not brilliant. The 17's this year have Welch, Price, Butterfield, Small, Whittaker and to a degree even Campbell who all played up onthemselves.

In the next two ages down, you have Isaac Heath, Pickford, Jensen, Lawrence a left back and right winger who's name eludes me who all have international honours. So the age groups are a bit stronger. It tends to ebb and flow a bit on that front.
 

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