TheBlueBlitzer
Player Valuation: £8m
well hopefully we are in brighter times now and everything in the club will start to smooth out and return to some stability throughout the club
21 too, tidy feet but it was just chaos in centre mid.
The article in “ I news” in November about our Academy covered so much including “ The club decided that rather than a fixed style of play, they would be flexible , working on three different formations : 4-4-2;3-4-3 and 4-3-3 that they learnt . “
We were seeing this happen way before the article in pre seadon u17 tournaments , u18 and u21 . In fact I remember moaning why the u21s were playing 3 at the back and looking poor. The u18s were , in my view , making it work , then Baines moved up. I honestly think Tait and Southern didn’t like this at u21s and stopped doing it and Southern has now done the same at u18s.
The thinking has been done , the plan put in place by Thelwell ,Academy Director Gareth Prosser and others. If the plan is no good it needs to be changed , if it’s good but not being adhered to coaches need to be changed.
TheBlueBlitzer
Player Valuation: £8m
Is that also the same timeframe where they removed regular training for the youngsters?
21 was Malik Olayiwola, 16 , and looking like he’ll be a classy player as he develops . The best of our u16 players so far.
Can't help but be impressed with Wren and how direct he is.
No , I believe that was a few years ago, it’s not clear when but not in the past 18 months .
Graham was good, always free and looking to make things happen. Others looked good in patches. Clarke was rubbish. Could barely dribble the ball without tripping over his feet, the ball, or running into his defender. Foster and Akarakiri looked decent in midfield, as did Morgan up front. Thought Van Schoor was good, and Stewart and Wren looked good when they came on, both a definite upgrade over Clarke.
And for anyone with a good memory part of the “famous” Moston Tigers team with Amari Moses
*in this match only
Yeah, couldn't tell he's still a junior, instant impact when he came on.
Van Schoor looked either like Bambi on ice or a world beater and no inbetween, but we had no left side of the midfield for most of the night so I don't think that's a good game to pass judgement on to him.
….its harsh judging any individual youngster on last night. Desperate to impress, they stop doing the basics. There’s a bit of hype with Clarke because he’s actually been impressive but he’s clearly very raw and was well managed by their excellent LB last night. Maybe one of those games, I wouldn’t write him off just yet with his exceptional pace.
Graham was very good, coming into little pockets, taking the ball on the spin and looking after it. Absolute natural.
They have been sold or out on loan Eggs .....
Just finished watching the game as I was out last night. Result is irrelevant; it was just a friendly, big day for the kids, and Wigan aren't a crap Cat 2 academy just ignorant people seeing they're a League One club and thinking we should hammer them. Thought they were solid but aside from their goals (first one was a beauty) we were by far the better side - although the raft of subs on 60 mins really disjointed us.. As others have said, this formation doesn't work, reminds me of England under Sven trying to shoehorn Lampard, Scholes and Gerrard into one midfield. It's all well and good having 4 great attackers on but leaving us so exposed in the middle and no one can drop in to cover the full-backs. I think just having say Finney starting at RB and Gardner in a midfield 3 would have helped a lot.
All in all though: think it's one of the best Everton U18's I've seen and I think we have a lot of top talents that need nurturing.
Individual Assessments
Starting XI
GK: Seve Patrick (15): Looked comfortable on the ball for his age, nothing he could do about the goals. Great triple save second half.
LB: Joshua van Schoor (18) - He's just okay to me. Has good athleticism but doesn't really stand out which is fine, not everyone here is a top prospect. Think he could be developed.
CB: Aled Thomas (18) - Best CB prospect we've had in a while; great physicality for 18 but also has the technique. 2nd goal he should do better though as he has no idea their striker is behind him. Cut out the cross or mark the man but sadly did neither. In general showing why he's ready for U21's though.
CB: Luca Davis (18) - Basic for me, does his job but certainly isn't someone I'd expect to push on into the U21's too high.
RB: Luis Gardner (17) - Isn't really a right-back for me, not sure why the experiment is continuing with Finney back. Quite like lad but he's a midfielder.
CM: Harvey Foster (17) - Still a massive fan but he's one that for sure needs bulking up as he gets older. The sort of midfield type we've not really had, wants to speed up the play and is decent on set pieces. With Graham he's got the best vision and spatial awareness.
CM: Demi Akarakiri (16) - He's developed quite a lot from the Next Gen tournament and he's more well-rounded than I thought. Figured at first he was more of a 10 but seems like he can do both sides of the game. Lovely early through-ball for Loney.
LM: Braiden Graham (17) - We know he's definitely the brightest prospect. People saying "he needs to be with the U21's" aren't paying attention since he already is.
RM: Justin Clarke (16?) - Occasion seemed to get to him as he was trying far too hard with the skills and their LB sussed it out early. We know how good he is though and still had some nice moments. Think in a front 3 we'd get more out of his pace - honestly one of the fastest kids I've seen in years.
ST: George Morgan (18) - I like him. He's got good size about him for sure and a clean touch. Hopefully he can keep developing.
ST: Ceiran Loney (16) - Wouldn't think he was still 16, kid's massive, with good work rate. He could really turn into a solid big man next to Graham.
Subs
RB: Freddie Freedman (17) - Thought it was odd he came on at half-time at RB and Gardner moved centrally since he is (I think) a central defender - or certainly was in the Next Gen Cup. Did great work intercepting and cross for Loney's chance.
RB: George Finney (17) - Big fan of his but didn't really get into the game much. Good ball for the pen.
CM: Malik Olayiwola (16) - Talented boy, can see why he gets England game time, seems to play as a 4 for them but looks like he can do a bit of it all.
LM: Kean Wren (17) - Such an awkard player; always seems to get on the end of things, quite an unremarkable player but he gets space and chances often.
RM: Charlie Stewart (16) - Was impressive in the Next Gen tournament and showed a few glimpses of quality here especially the low cross that no one connected with.
GK: Goodness Gospel-Eze (16) - Wasn't on long enough.
CB: Evans (?) - Not even sure who this kid is. Wasn't on long enough anyway.
LB: Harvey Billington (15?) - Wasn't on long enough. Remember he looked decent in the cup we watched though.
CM: Amari Moses (16) - Wasn't on long enough. Pretty decent effort at the end.
ST: Ray Robert (16) - Good run for the pen, good pen as well.
ST: Jonathan Nsangou (15) - Heard he's great but wasn't on long enough to see anything.
As others have said - please give up the ex-players on comms. They can't even gets these kids names right. One of them called him Ceiran Foley second half ffs. They have zero insight apart from their crap nicknames and talking about their own past 300 years ago.
I dont get this theory, football can be played in so many different ways. Why pigeon hole kids at a development age into one box?
Not every youth team player will be a first team player, making them adaptable opens the door for them to all sorts of other clubs if we decide to sell them
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