Everton Youth Teams Thread

[Zatara]

It’s the New Everton mate , at 16 &15 they’re free spirits who could play anywhere, but roughly right.
Olayiwola has often been 6/8 when we’ve played him, although curiously he continues to have the “ 4” shirt in England squads despite , I believe , never playing in defence for them. He actually replaced a forward when he came off the bench in a recent England friendly, but I don’t believe that meant anything positionally. Nsangou has the right build, pace and scoring ability to play further forward, it’ll be interesting to see if he’s a 10 , 9 or whatever . Very early days yet for both of course.

In european football the 4 is the holding midfielder. Perhaps they took that route.

Anyway, hopefully both come through.

 

[Paul Rideout]

It’s the New Everton mate , at 16 &15 they’re free spirits who could play anywhere, but roughly right.
Olayiwola has often been 6/8 when we’ve played him, although curiously he continues to have the “ 4” shirt in England squads despite , I believe , never playing in defence for them. He actually replaced a forward when he came off the bench in a recent England friendly, but I don’t believe that meant anything positionally. Nsangou has the right build, pace and scoring ability to play further forward, it’ll be interesting to see if he’s a 10 , 9 or whatever . Very early days yet for both of course.

off the top of my head Makalele, Fabregas, Guardiola all wore the 4... it's not super uncommon (& the CB's wear 5 & 6)... but its not exactly the norm.

EDIT: Patrick Viera did as well (what a player)

 

[oglop44]

 

[Toffeebraeden]

It’s the New Everton mate , at 16 &15 they’re free spirits who could play anywhere, but roughly right.
Olayiwola has often been 6/8 when we’ve played him, although curiously he continues to have the “ 4” shirt in England squads despite , I believe , never playing in defence for them. He actually replaced a forward when he came off the bench in a recent England friendly, but I don’t believe that meant anything positionally. Nsangou has the right build, pace and scoring ability to play further forward, it’ll be interesting to see if he’s a 10 , 9 or whatever . Very early days yet for both of course.

When Olayiwola got a few looks end of last year he was coming on as a wide forward type. Demi was also touted as an AM when he came over from Arsenal, but dropped to playing deeper in the MF, so I’m curious if this is where they “best fit” or if it’s a lack of CM options at the level.

 

[blueloon]

When Olayiwola got a few looks end of last year he was coming on as a wide forward type. Demi was also touted as an AM when he came over from Arsenal, but dropped to playing deeper in the MF, so I’m curious if this is where they “best fit” or if it’s a lack of CM options at the level.

It can be difficult to detect regular patterns in these games as I get to see so few matches, but I did think that initially the u18s were more flexible in their approach to moving players around different positions during a match than the u21s, Graham was the obvious example. Matos getting injured had an affect too in midfield, he looked to me to be a key player but it allowed others like Akarakiri to get more established . You could throw in Gardner to the midfield mix too , unless he’s seen as a defender now .

 

[Macblue80]

little bit more info on him from a Hearts supporter;

An interesting one as I suspect if you had asked any regular spectator at Hearts u16/u18, Dodds would not have been in any top five.
The boy has come on leaps and bounds in past 2-3 months. I think his best attribute is you get the feeling he just loves to defend. Very good aerially at both ends of the park.
I suspect the quick turnaround in performances has somewhat caught everyone out. Not sure Dodds made his B Team debut when some others from that age group have got minutes, albeit due to injuries in specific positions

So this would definitely seem to be a punt to fill some boots for the u18s, as opposed to a “prodigy” stepping up directly into the u21s. Sounds like he wasn’t even first choice of CB behind two others (Osborne, who is a Scotland youth intl, and not sure of the other) in his age group.
I know it’s not really that much of an indicator at that age, but curious to see if “good aerially” is due to height or his vertical.

Hearts have a core of 18 to 20 years that are decent brough through by a certain Steven Naismith Billy Mcluckie,James Wilson, Macualy Tait, Finlany Pollock that is a club you would want to link into due to the academy system that is decent.

 

[Eggs]

Hearts have a core of 18 to 20 years that are decent brough through by a certain Steven Naismith Billy Mcluckie,James Wilson, Macualy Tait, Finlany Pollock that is a club you would want to link into due to the academy system that is decent.

….the problem with Scotland seems similar to the problems with football cities like Liverpool in that there isn’t the conveyer belt of talent that there used to be. Sadly, it’s a sign of the times when kids have so much more to do and don’t spend half their days with a football attached to their feet like we did.

There’s still good ones out there but not nearly as many.

 

[EFC_FRANCIS]

….the problem with Scotland seems similar to the problems with football cities like Liverpool in that there isn’t the conveyer belt of talent that there used to be. Sadly, it’s a sign of the times when kids have so much more to do and don’t spend half their days with a football attached to their feet like we did.

There’s still good ones out there but not nearly as many.

Think it also comes down to the fact their players and coaching are just not very good. The money and infrastructure up there is like League 1, or Championship level at best for the big 2.

Talent only gets you so far in this day and age

 

[Eggs]

Think it also comes down to the fact their players and coaching are just not very good. The money and infrastructure up there is like League 1, or Championship level at best for the big 2.

Talent only gets you so far in this day and age

….not for me, it’s much more about talent and there’s less of it these days, it’s why so many players coming through originated from abroad.

 

[mahermi1]

Malik Olayiwola has been away with England u16 the past week both starting games and coming off the bench. So far the brightest prospect in our u16s , hopefully under TFG we can retain and develop the likes of him and Nsangou .Olayiwola ticks all the boxes for the Guardian’s Next Generation player come October …..unless we somehow sign someone more exciting!

Who signed these young players or sanctioned signing them, just out of interest ?

 

[EFC_FRANCIS]

….not for me, it’s much more about talent and there’s less of it these days, it’s why so many players coming through originated from abroad.

Is it that there's less of it or more that foreign players are much more readily available to find, buy and bring over nowadays compared to the past?

England's youth (and now senior) national teams routinely wipe the floor with most of the other nations. So its not a UK problem. The coaching up there is just very bad. Likely stemming from how difficult it is to get high level coaching badges in the UK vs the likes of Spain or Germany and so all the decent coaches go south to the money. That and their reliance on English hand-me-downs like the Fletcher twins and Lawrence.

 

[EFC_FRANCIS]

Who signed these young players or sanctioned signing them, just out of interest ?

In Olayiwolas case, Martin Waldron.

 

[Eggs]

Is it that there's less of it or more that foreign players are much more readily available to find, buy and bring over nowadays compared to the past?

England's youth (and now senior) national teams routinely wipe the floor with most of the other nations. So its not a UK problem. The coaching up there is just very bad. Likely stemming from how difficult it is to get high level coaching badges in the UK vs the likes of Spain or Germany and so all the decent coaches go south to the money. That and their reliance on English hand-me-downs like the Fletcher twins and Lawrence.

…I think it’s down to lots of things but mainly because boys in places like Liverpool don’t spend most of their leisure time playing footy. You rarely see kids playing street football nowadays, all those endless hours of enjoyment but you were honing skills, building competitiveness and attitude. Kids have access to computer games and social media, organised school football is not like it was.

I’m not particularly knocking it, it’s a sign of the times and also negatively impact the health of the nation with obesity etc.

Academies are picking up kids as young as 5 and make them & their parents feel like they are doing them a favour, in reality they ditch nearly all of them as quickly as they sign them.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the top European leagues are full of Africans and South Americans, where poverty and football continues to go hand-in-hand.

 

[EFC_FRANCIS]

…I think it’s down to lots of things but mainly because boys in places like Liverpool don’t spend most of their leisure time playing footy. You rarely see kids playing street football nowadays, all those endless hours of enjoyment but you were honing skills, building competitiveness and attitude. Kids have access to computer games and social media, organised school football is not like it was.

I’m not particularly knocking it, it’s a sign of the times and also negatively impact the health of the nation with obesity etc.

Academies are picking up kids as young as 5 and make them & their parents feel like they are doing them a favour, in reality they ditch nearly all of them as quickly as they sign them.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the top European leagues are full of Africans and South Americans, where poverty and football continues to go hand-in-hand.

I think you've got some massivley flawed logic in that argument.

 

[Eggs]

I think you've got some massivley flawed logic in that argument.

….i think there’s lots of contributing factors and maybe I’m just an old bloke comparing then with now. It’s just my view, I’m not saying I’m right.