Everton Youth Teams Thread

Raino85 said:
There are a few options the Ledson situation could be down to

1) The club managing his game time as he has played a lot of the last couple of years, so Everton are just giving him abit of a rest and have asked the FA to not consider him for the squads at this moment in time
2) Martinez may be thinking about using him in the 2nd half of the season somewhere or even next season and wants to keep him fresh for then
3) He has a niggly injury that the club are trying to manage, could be anything from muscle to some sort of growth spurt, again the club may have let the FA aware and asked for him not to be considered
4) The lad may have a loan scheduled and the club want to keep him fresh so he can get as much game time as possible at his loan club
5) His form has dropped dramatically so the u21s/international selection have gone for other options
6) he's a bad melt, played for the first team and got a big head loves the lemo and his attitude stinks and he is going the same way as Michael Branch, Billy Kenny, John Paul Kissock and George Green

All options are possible even if some sound abit daft, they can range from he is not playing /getting selected for good reasons or bad reasons, interesting either way to see how it develops
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1 & 5 most likely, 2 and 6 least likely
 

Raino85 said:
There are a few options the Ledson situation could be down to

1) The club managing his game time as he has played a lot of the last couple of years, so Everton are just giving him abit of a rest and have asked the FA to not consider him for the squads at this moment in time
2) Martinez may be thinking about using him in the 2nd half of the season somewhere or even next season and wants to keep him fresh for then
3) He has a niggly injury that the club are trying to manage, could be anything from muscle to some sort of growth spurt, again the club may have let the FA aware and asked for him not to be considered
4) The lad may have a loan scheduled and the club want to keep him fresh so he can get as much game time as possible at his loan club
5) His form has dropped dramatically so the u21s/international selection have gone for other options
6) he's a bad melt, played for the first team and got a big head loves the lemo and his attitude stinks and he is going the same way as Michael Branch, Billy Kenny, John Paul Kissock and George Green

All options are possible even if some sound abit daft, they can range from he is not playing /getting selected for good reasons or bad reasons, interesting either way to see how it develops
Click to expand...

Yes that's a good summary and it can be a mixture of different ones. From what I see he is not a bad melt at all and is still very highly thought of.

I think they have an individual plan for each player. I think they want to give other lads some exposure. The silence around Ledson is a bit unusual though. They might just want him to be playing a bit less.
 
Coyb said:
Not sure if it was you who done reports on the u18's/ 21's ? i think so
if so do you not do them anymore? they were great. used to enjoy reading
how they were getting on.
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Not me mate, unfortunately can't go to any of the matches so like you am very grateful to those that do and report back their impressions.

As for Ledson he was captain for the U21s preseason so if he's fallen out of favour/been a bad melt it is a very recent event and doesn't sound like the lad at all.
 
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catcherintherye said:
Yes that's a good summary and it can be a mixture of different ones. From what I see he is not a bad melt at all and is still very highly thought of.

I think they have an individual plan for each player. I think they want to give other lads some exposure. The silence around Ledson is a bit unusual though. They might just want him to be playing a bit less.
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Try 5.

Failing that, try 5.
 
[QUOTE="catcherintherye, post: 3893720, member: 14968"He never gets the same mentions as Kenny/Ledson but the lad has really progressed over the last 12 months. [/QUOTE]
Agree.Ledson/Kenny caught people's eye with their involvement in England's u17 Euro win which Connolly missed due to exams. And although only a month or so younger than Ledson because he was in a different school year he signed up as a Scholar a year later and as you say made great progress in that year, his first in full time training. It can be interesting to see how some really kick on in their first Scholar year like Connolly and Dowell, others take a bit longer. I read an interesting article saying the F.A. are encouraging the use of biological age assessments to place a player rather than just age, so that a small talented player is not discouraged by playing against bigger guys the same age. An interesting concept with pros and cons.
 
blueloon said:
[QUOTE="catcherintherye, post: 3893720, member: 14968"He never gets the same mentions as Kenny/Ledson but the lad has really progressed over the last 12 months.
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Agree.Ledson/Kenny caught people's eye with their involvement in England's u17 Euro win which Connolly missed due to exams. And although only a month or so younger than Ledson because he was in a different school year he signed up as a Scholar a year later and as you say made great progress in that year, his first in full time training. It can be interesting to see how some really kick on in their first Scholar year like Connolly and Dowell, others take a bit longer. I read an interesting article saying the F.A. are encouraging the use of biological age assessments to place a player rather than just age, so that a small talented player is not discouraged by playing against bigger guys the same age. An interesting concept with pros and cons.[/QUOTE]

....the difference within a school year should not be underestimated from both a physical and academic level. Somebody born in September is at an advantage to those in the same school year but born the following August. I was fortunate enough to play City and County representative schoolboy football but I was also fortunate enough to be born in September.
 
blueloon said:
[QUOTE="catcherintherye, post: 3893720, member: 14968"He never gets the same mentions as Kenny/Ledson but the lad has really progressed over the last 12 months.
Click to expand...
Agree.Ledson/Kenny caught people's eye with their involvement in England's u17 Euro win which Connolly missed due to exams. And although only a month or so younger than Ledson because he was in a different school year he signed up as a Scholar a year later and as you say made great progress in that year, his first in full time training. It can be interesting to see how some really kick on in their first Scholar year like Connolly and Dowell, others take a bit longer. I read an interesting article saying the F.A. are encouraging the use of biological age assessments to place a player rather than just age, so that a small talented player is not discouraged by playing against bigger guys the same age. An interesting concept with pros and cons.[/QUOTE]

Yes that is a big thing. He has really come on in the last 12 months. I think a big part of it is not just being a full time scholar but just finding a system and a way of playing that suits them.

The obvious comparison is with Kenny. Both of them are very versatile, good tacklers and very competitive. I think Connolly will be a fair bit taller though whereas I am not sure about Kenny ever going on to play CB. He has grown a fair bit in the last two years but will need to continue to do so.

As you said we tend to produce a lot of players like Connolly. I wonder why that is? I suspect it may be partly down to the influence of Moyes actually as in many ways both of them are quite archetypal Moyes players.

But yes very impressed with Connolly he has also filled in at centre half in a 4-4-2 as well and acquitted himself very well. Seems a real leader. Him, Kenny, Ledson and to a degree Walsh are all big leaders on the pitch which is good to see.
 


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