What's the point of the reserve team?

[Bruce Wayne]

Just looking at our reserve team stats and there isn't a single player into double figures for appearances.

Begs the question, what is the point of it all? It's not giving youngsters experience and it's not giving senior pros match fitness.

So what's the point?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I mean take Shane Duffy for instance. He hasn't really featured in the first team much, but needs experience to challenge for a spot next season. Total reserve team action = 7 games. Seamus Coleman likewise. He's played 5 games. Try to get Yak some match fitness, 2 games. It's a joke.

It's no wonder the likes of Arsenal send out quite so many players on loan each season.

 

[chicoazul]

It's to keep Paul Holmes fit mate.

 

[KelseyGrammer-Beast-SuitsBlue]

Need a reserve squad first. We have a lot of youth players if that is any condolence. Requiring seven matchday subs doesn't help as injuries and suspensions at that level still bite. We do not have the strength in depth to manage a reserve squad because we cannot afford to pay decent players to just sit around filling a squad place. It is the current Everton plight. We could sell some of the top earners and used saved wages to bulk out the ressies, but that means having a lower calibre of player in the first eleven.
Catch 22.

 

[bluebastardo]

For me, it's more of an academy stepping stone.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

It's not a case of not enough players I don't think.

Official Site of the Premier League - Barclays Premier League News, Fixtures and Results | Matchday | League Tables | Barclays Premier Reserve League North is the reserve league table. Hull have played the most, and they've played just 14 times this season.

Surely someone has to ask what the purpose of it is? If it's to give kids experience then they surely need more games? If it's to keep/get senior players match fit then the same applies. A game every fortnight doesn't seem to do either of those very well.

 

[davek]

Remember Benitez a while back raising the same point. His solution was to make the Reserves more of a viable proposition by allowing a second string team into the lower divisions - something he was used to on the continent. Not sure of the implications for a club like Everton - whether it would be financially viable more than anything else. I suppose it's easier for the club to loan players like Coleman and Vaughan to lower league clubs and maybe offset the wage bill.

 

[heatmeiser]

I remember reading somewhere ages ago about clubs being contracted to reserve team football until 2027 or something.

Apparently it's all to do with the lower leagues and the grass per inch allocation. Quotas and all that.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Remember Benitez a while back raising the same point. His solution was to make the Reserves more of a viable proposition by allowing a second string team into the lower divisions - something he was used to on the continent. Not sure of the implications for a club like Everton - whether it would be financially viable more than anything else. I suppose it's easier for the club to loan players like Coleman and Vaughan to lower league clubs and maybe offset the wage bill.

It's a similar picture in the youth leagues. It all seems arse about face. When kids are very young and need less games and more technique training, we overload them with games. Then when their technique is pretty much there in their teenage years, and they need to hone their match smarts we do the opposite. No wonder our national team has won diddly down the years.

 

[davek]

It's a similar picture in the youth leagues. It all seems arse about face. When kids are very young and need less games and more technique training, we overload them with games. Then when their technique is pretty much there in their teenage years, and they need to hone their match smarts we do the opposite. No wonder our national team has won diddly down the years.

I agree. It's just mad. The likes of Duffy, Coleman, Baxter etc are relying on national U19/21 football to give them any chance of quality action. Whatsmore, when a club like Everton takes the choice to send these kids out to other clubs you just know they'll have half an eye on the balance sheet: if the club loaning the player reveal an interest in taking them on full time for an "undisclosed" fee then they'll take it. It needs to be kept in-house. I know people will point at the likes of Schumacher and Clarke and Jevons etc and think 'no great loss', but we're in danger of hemorrhaging talent needlessly with a system that relies on offloading players for financial reasons.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

It's a tricky one. I mean I'm generally in favour of loaning players out to gain experience, but gauging their success isn't easy. Both Lukas and Ruddy have done well at Motherwell for instance but I don't suppose many see them as first team material next year.