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Everton Youth Teams Thread

i think a fair few youngsters will be on the fringes regardless of who the manager is because of the volume of our fringe players who will be leaving ala howard, pienaar, gibson, osman, hibbert etc.

The only stumbling block will be because of our new wealth, will we look to be spending money all over the shop including replacing those fringe players - i hope we buy 3 or 4 £20m+ players to strengthen the weak areas in the first team as well as a backup striker and bring a fair few like kenny through.

i have no real qualms with them playing week in week out in the u21's and have osman sitting on the bench this season, picking up 2/3 mins every month ... regarding this season though. Youngsters need to be playing.
 

Yep, as we know Unsy has them well drilled defensively, thought all four defenders have coped well with a talented Chelsea team. You've got to love Joe Williams, a true captain at this level, giving his all and usually in the the thick of it.
 
blueloon said:
Well we've had many discussions on this thread about who we thought were the most able players and who should make a PL start

He always looks so small , but great fitness and skill to keep ahead of chasing players while retaining the ball and picking out the right pass for the goal. He offers something different from our other young midfielders, you couldn't compare him as a DFM in the Davies/Ledson/ Williams bracket nor as a sublime attacking MF in the way Dowell is , he's got his own style yet offers something in each area. 18 years old, performing really well but in a team at the lower end of League2 so a long way to go in his development to see which level he can reach. Exciting!
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Really like the look of Walsh. I think this has been a great loan for him. When he first went there they were in a relegation battle and now their 14 points clear. That will have been a great experience development wise, having to play under that pressure but coming through it with flying colours. I've also been impressed listening to the Yeovil manager, Darren Way speak so I think he'll have been a good manager to work under. Hopefully he can really push on from this.
 

blueloon said:
Just noticed this, it was something I started and got diverted so I'll finish it now. Out of all the discussions it was in the end Pennington who became the first youngster to start a PL game, and Connolly the first to make an appearance on the pitch. Add in short spells for Davies and Dowell , and maybe 4 players is " not bad" but for me it's too little too late, particularly as the opportunities have been there , particularly in the defence.

Martinez has frequently bemoaned the difficulty in bridging the gap between u21 and 1st team . The loan system can only take players so far , the rest should be down to the club. If we're winning games with clean sheets, no injuries then you keep the same back four and youngsters just have to wait their chance. But the last few weeks have hardly been that , and we seem to have a fatal flaw in our defensive coaching set up of not only being unable to coach the 1st team but also unable to quickly integrate any youngster if injuries arise. Pennington and Connolly are key examples of this .

Since the Southamton game Connolly has been ignored. He's far from the finished article as a RB and still too young to be considered a permanent PL defender. But we seem incapable of taking these athletic, competent youngsters and targeting them with intensive specific coaching to ensure they can play a role at 1st team level. Oviedo at RB was exposed against the RS , as was Besic against Man U. Hindsight is a wonderful manager, but I can't help but feel that a bench spot against Liverpool , inevetibaly being brought on in the 2nd half , would have set him up nicely for the RB role in the semi. The key thing for me would have been Besic then being free to play DFM ahead of him and offer protection , a better prospect than an out of position Besic and Gibson. As I mentioned earlier , our coaching set up from u21 to 1st team seems incapable of doing the job of coaching, developing , telling where to go , how to manage the game etc in a short period of time. It's as if they can only deal with fully developed youngsters who have met the criteria of loan games etc .

It's frustrating , thankfully Pennington had an encouraging debut but I do wonder who will be working with him this week, going over the match video , telling him where he should have been positioned , where he did well etc. Outside of Unsy I don't see anybody in our coaching set up capable of doing this properly. Next season , whoever is in charge , we need to get this gap between u21 and 1st team sorted out or our only bright spot will be we have the best u21 team in their league.
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I think the coaching that you talk about is a big problem at first team level as well. It just doesn't appear to be getting done. Look how Stones has gone backwards this season. Hopefully we can't get a new manager in who can sort this out as I think we've got a group of youngsters who could make it over the next few seasons.
 
bizarre that chelsea dont get to defend their youth champions league title next season as the commentator said earlier.
seems a bit of a half arsed attempt at a competition by UEFA
 
Everton u21s ends 0-0 in there final game, and it was not the best overall game to be fair,we are likely to end 3rd or 4th,chlesea have 3 games in hand over us,and man city 2 over us,but they have to play each other next week
 
Not a great game but I thought our defence was strong throughout. Galloway would be my man of match, very sound defensively , missed a good chance to score , seems to have the habit of getting into opposing box but missing chances. Holgate had a good game too, Connolly did what he always does as a sound defender, started off as right back and moved to right CB, last game he started Left CB and moved to left back, all the back four positions in two games, incredible versatility even allowing for it being U21 level. The player who is really coming on nicely is Matty Foulds, looked good defensively and got forward from left back more and more in the second half. I think this was Baningime's first start at this level , may be wrong, certainly didn't look out of place and easy to see him moving up next season if/when others go out on loan.
It was disappointing from an attacking point of view, I was surprised that Lavery wasn't given some game time , Henen didnt really look like he would do anything. It seemed to confirm what we've seen most of the season, well drilled defence, combatitive defensive midfielders but apart from Dowell and Evans not really sharp enough in attack.
When Holgate went off , Connolly moved inside, Charsley to right back , Holland to right midfield . Although Charsley has played at RB in other games we had two defenders , Thorniley and Graham on the bench, not sure what their contract situation is but its getting time for hard decisions and they may be moving on.
 

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