Academy Failure?

[Carlito]

Don't know how old you are, mate, but the standard of English footballer has been in decline since the 70s and this present bunch are as bad as anything I've seen.The illusion England are better largely comes from a decent showing in the world club amidst some of the worst international teams I've ever seen. Raheem Sterling one of our top performers barely has control of the ball when he runs with it

They're still fairly unproven, but I think that this latest crop will do very well at the Euros. There are technically gifted players from front to back now, with the likes of Sancho, Maddison, Mount, Chilwell, Alexander-Arnold, Hudson-Odoi and Rashford all still quite young.

 

[bilu]

Not just English players through the academy.

Would be interesting to benchmark last 5 years vs rest of the league.

Today's opposition have been through loads of managers but look at the youngsters they have...

It can be argued that would those youngsters be playing if they didn't have a transfer ban in place? And reports have been that Lampard is looking to make a splash in the January window now that it's been reduced.

So maybe with Chelsea it was more out of having their hands tied behind their backs?

 

[Barry Rathbone]

They're still fairly unproven, but I think that this latest crop will do very well at the Euros. There are technically gifted players from front to back now, with the likes of Sancho, Maddison, Mount, Chilwell, Alexander-Arnold, Hudson-Odoi and Rashford all still quite young.

I admire your optimism even if I don't share it then again I only know Rasford from your list lol

 

[GrandOldTeam]

You say that’s dreadful for a team in this City. Maybe the level of talent in the city has dipped a bit. Not like Liverpool have a squad full of academy talent.

It was a quote from BT.

 

[catcherintherye]

It's been a really sad development over the last few years, particularly since Moshiri has came. In no particular order I would say;

1) We've employed managers who had no long term interest in Everton or developing it's younger players.
2) We've sought to spend cash on buying experience to cover for positions and thus blocked opportunities.
3) At the tip of the club, we have not set a vision where introducing academy players has long term benefits for the entire club.

Even in this managerial chase, very little if any scrutiny seems to be given to having a manager who is prepared to commit to and evidence their record of developing young players for an academy. It's not a priority.

You have lads like Antony Gordon now, who are just not being given game time which is needed, because it's easier to play more experienced players.

As with many things at the club, it's really sort sighted.

 

[degsy]

Just heard this on BT Sport from Jake Humphrey and Joe Cole;

"2 players in 5 years from the academy have got in this team. That's dreadful from a club in this city. It stinks of short term planning"

Two things then, is this correct?

And given the success of the academy in winning their leagues etc, what's going wrong?

I think there will be a shake up at the end of the season as Brands puts his version of the acadamy into practice
And that Unsworth has been told, maybe hypothetically, that...for 'various reasons' if a job was to come his way they would not stand in his way.

 

[atrottel]

Firstly, Chelsea. They made a conscious decision to make their academy a profit-making centre and flog on players who don't reach Champion's League level (probably 1 in a 1000). See Dominic Solanke, Patrick Bamford, Nathan Ake and all the Chelsea youngsters floating around Europe on loan. You could argue that the LFC academy has a similar outlook (Wisdom, Coady, Rossiter, etc.). As people mentioned above, the only reason young players got a look-in was the transfer ban plus a new manager who was familiar with a couple from loan periods. Even now, they have been forced to play with fire with the potential Champions League place and there is no doubt that players will be brought in now the ban is lifted.

Secondly, the progression from U23s. Atm you have two choices: send them out on loan and keep them to play in the first team squad and challenge for a place. Loans can go horrifically wrong (see Dowell not getting in a Championship team, Baningime not playing for an extended period, Connolly regressing to not being an established League One player, Virginia losing all confidence, Garbutt). There is also not an unlimited source of teams who are looking for PL youngsters on loan in any position...

On the other hand, if they stay and battle for a first team place, they have to be better than the current options as every manager and fan wants to win games and finish as high up the league or go as far in the cups as they can. So, if an EFC manager puts in Gordon and Adeniran and loses a couple of games because they got pushed about, then there will be no understanding for them (least of all here). You could argue that Gordon or Adeniran should be able to perform better than Bernard or Davies in training to get their chance to play. But obviously they aren't because otherwise they would be, if that makes sense.

Finally, to be fair, there is more than a whiff of hypocrisy when it comes to GOT academy discussions. Youngsters should be given the chance in the first team even if they might not be 100% ready for it. Now take a look at the two where that has been the case in the past couple of years: DCL and Tom Davies. Dog's abuse for both on here from some when they don't perform consistently as hoped and calls for them to be shipped out to a lower league.

 

[TheBigIguana]

There really is no argument that we've not gotten the short term vs long term planning thing right since Moshiri took over. Way too many short term decisions. It's hurting us.

 

[toffee9]

It's surprising this isn't automatically baked-in to the vision the club has and would expect from any manager. Providing a platform for promoting youth into the first team... even if sometimes (sadly) banking the profits is essential. I would have thought all PL clubs would require it since it appears to be best route long-term to progress up the league and provide a sound, sustainable, financial plan for the future.

 

[Papa Shango]

We would only boo them anyway.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

If you go back to Rooney, how many England players has had our academy produced? Between Ross, Osman and Rodwell, a grand total of 26 caps. It's a bit crap in 15 years.

 

[jayonenote]

get Unsworth out asap

He's going

 

[McBain]

Nathan Holland has just come on for West Ham. Theres another academy kid coming through at another team.

 

[Lloydystark]

Too many foreign imports these days, not just us but the whole PL, it’s spoiling the game but people ignore it as they just want to see big money signings who have built up a rep abroad. We’ve wasted money on squad players from abroad rather than giving youngsters a chance,

 

[Papa Shango]

If you go back to Rooney, how many England players has had our academy produced? Between Ross, Osman and Rodwell, a grand total of 26 caps. It's a bit crap in 15 years.

I suppose technically you could include Eric Dier.