2019/20 Anthony Gordon

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See I think the total opposite. We've now got players who have come up through the youth setup (again) and we have no real idea what their best position is (again). Davies, Dowell, Lundstram, Gordon, they'll just be moved (or were moved) around until something sticks. Even Holgate has played CB, RB and defensive mid. It's not made him a better player, and no coincidence that he got better as soon as he had a fixed spot in his obvious position.

It cannot be underestimated what a shocking job Unsworth has done in prepping our youngsters for the first team - and the even shoddier job our DoFs have done in providing zero club "ethos" in place.
Honestly anyone who struggled to see that Holgate was a CB confused me.

Likewise, Gordon is some sort of wide player. Whether that means like he's playing in our 4-4-2 or more of an inside forward like some teams use now so the fullbacks can overlap, he will be in those spots.
 
Having watched Gordon from a skinny 16 year old, last night was the first time I’ve seen him play in that attacking CM role, startling really. Ive said a few times that in my view he lost 6 months of development when Unsworth only used him from the bench at U23s , others disagree , we are where we are , but undoubtedly whether it’s age, physique etc he’s developed more in the past six months than the previous 2 1/2 years.
Can he play that attacking CM role? Maybe Carlo knows, but it’s a shame he wasn’t tried out there at U23. He played well there, had energy and drive but we’ve seen if from youngsters there before, particularly in the last 20 mins of a match when there’s more space opening up. Davies probably plays his best football there if he comes on for the last 20 mins, Kieran Dowell too looked outstanding for a few games for Notts Forest the other season playing in the middle. I’ve always thought of him as Richarlison type, good enough to play out wide , also capable of playing alongside a striker so he’s at least added a new string to his bow, the danger is that we don’t settle him into any one position to make his own .
 

Tried his absolute best tonight and showed some quality.

But sums up everything that is wrong with Everton at the moment. He's a young kid, just come into the first team, and those surrounding him are so so awful that he is being shuffled across the front line and midfield to fire-fight for which ever experienced pro is currently slacking.

If you look at other clubs - like the United sides of the 90s - a youngster came in, and played in the position that they'd played throughout their youth development - so Giggs and Beckham on the wing, Scholes off the front man and so on. They weren't moved about as teenagers, expected to work it out. It's embarrassing. WTF is the DoF for.

It's a really worthwhile point. There's been a longer term problem here as well that probably stretches back 25 years (to the time you mention United's class of 92) which is essentially that instability and poor performance doesn't really help young players development. I'd would suggest we over promote young players at times and then don't really consider their development enough.

Gordon was playing as a 9 for Unsworth earlier this season. So something has gone really wrong in the process, even though we have got to grips with it later on. I know people are very keen on loans, but it looks like Gordon has kicked on to me, when he has had a period of rigorous training with a top class manager(which the CO92 probably got with Ferguson). In truth it doesn't really say a lot for Silva, or indeed any of the previous managers (and indeed Unsworth) that it has taken the appointment of Ancelotti to seemingly get a single player ready for first team football. I don't even think Ancelotti is even renowned for his work with younger players either.

I know you're not a big fan of either DCL or Davies but you look at both and again think we haven't done much to help them. Davies has been shoved into any position going and likewise Calvert Lewin was essentially treated as a bit of a workshorse to have balls lumped up to before Ancelotti arrived. You can see the confusion in Davies game, and with DCL probably his own strength of character has got him through (which is probably his best attribute).

As for Gordon, it is a concern, that mid game he has to move into a position, he's never played before because the two players we have in there can't tackle. Where the aforementioned lads had Keane, Ince, Pallister, Irwin, Bruce, Kanchelskis, Hughes, Cantona etc Gordon has to change positiosn to cover for his senior players inadequacies.

It's really difficult as well, because of the money and wages we have invested in the likes of Sigurdsson we are unlikely to even be able to move him on.
 
Having watched Gordon from a skinny 16 year old, last night was the first time I’ve seen him play in that attacking CM role, startling really. Ive said a few times that in my view he lost 6 months of development when Unsworth only used him from the bench at U23s , others disagree , we are where we are , but undoubtedly whether it’s age, physique etc he’s developed more in the past six months than the previous 2 1/2 years.
Can he play that attacking CM role? Maybe Carlo knows, but it’s a shame he wasn’t tried out there at U23. He played well there, had energy and drive but we’ve seen if from youngsters there before, particularly in the last 20 mins of a match when there’s more space opening up. Davies probably plays his best football there if he comes on for the last 20 mins, Kieran Dowell too looked outstanding for a few games for Notts Forest the other season playing in the middle. I’ve always thought of him as Richarlison type, good enough to play out wide , also capable of playing alongside a striker so he’s at least added a new string to his bow, the danger is that we don’t settle him into any one position to make his own .

There have been a lot of unusual decisions in the 23's. Him not playing regularly and being kept out by lads like Charsley, who had no future here seems one of them.

I don't know if he will be a central midfield player, but you're right to say I've never seen him in there but he looked really natural and calm in that position yesterday. I never saw him as much of a tackler in the 23's, but he gets his foot in quite well against men. It's really impressive that he just slots in easily and fills the role, and then has the physical attributes to make it his own.


It's 2 or 3 games and we have to be careful going overboard with him, but I've been really impressed.
 
It's a really worthwhile point. There's been a longer term problem here as well that probably stretches back 25 years (to the time you mention United's class of 92) which is essentially that instability and poor performance doesn't really help young players development. I'd would suggest we over promote young players at times and then don't really consider their development enough.

Gordon was playing as a 9 for Unsworth earlier this season. So something has gone really wrong in the process, even though we have got to grips with it later on. I know people are very keen on loans, but it looks like Gordon has kicked on to me, when he has had a period of rigorous training with a top class manager(which the CO92 probably got with Ferguson). In truth it doesn't really say a lot for Silva, or indeed any of the previous managers (and indeed Unsworth) that it has taken the appointment of Ancelotti to seemingly get a single player ready for first team football. I don't even think Ancelotti is even renowned for his work with younger players either.

I know you're not a big fan of either DCL or Davies but you look at both and again think we haven't done much to help them. Davies has been shoved into any position going and likewise Calvert Lewin was essentially treated as a bit of a workshorse to have balls lumped up to before Ancelotti arrived. You can see the confusion in Davies game, and with DCL probably his own strength of character has got him through (which is probably his best attribute).

As for Gordon, it is a concern, that mid game he has to move into a position, he's never played before because the two players we have in there can't tackle. Where the aforementioned lads had Keane, Ince, Pallister, Irwin, Bruce, Kanchelskis, Hughes, Cantona etc Gordon has to change positiosn to cover for his senior players inadequacies.

It's really difficult as well, because of the money and wages we have invested in the likes of Sigurdsson we are unlikely to even be able to move him on.
I don't think Carlo is averse to youth necessarily, I think it's just that he's been at big clubs where it's difficult to blood them. For example at Chelsea he gave a lot of game time to Josh McEachran who was I think 17 at the time. I think he was the one who converted Pirlo from a No.10 to a deep-lying playmaker (though I don't think Pirlo was that young at the time). So I think he can lay out a plan for players
 

I don't think Carlo is averse to youth necessarily, I think it's just that he's been at big clubs where it's difficult to blood them. For example at Chelsea he gave a lot of game time to Josh McEachran who was I think 17 at the time. I think he was the one who converted Pirlo from a No.10 to a deep-lying playmaker (though I don't think Pirlo was that young at the time). So I think he can lay out a plan for players

I agree with all of that, but he's just not known for it being a major string to his bow. Whereas we were sold certain things with particularly Silva, yet all I see is endless perseverence with Walcott and Iwobi and not putting any time into improving Gordon.
 
We need to slow down expectations on the lad. There is only so much he can do in front of Gomes and Sigurdsson.

I don't know if the manager rates Baningime at all but if doesn' get some few minutes on the field now then he has absolutely no future here whatsoever.

The arrival on the scene of Gordon make the whole return of the Premiership farce a success for us.
 

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