Everton Youth Teams Thread

[Eggs]

It's always going to be more difficult for kids to make that jump at our (and other top flight) club. Lookman's been playing in League 1. I'm sure if any of our top U23/18s were at a club in that league then they would be playing regularly too. Ofcourse any breakthrough may have to come at a lower level anyway, but it would still be a breakthrough.

....I think the reality is that some of our loanees do not get picked on a week by week basis in the lower leagues.

 

[marchy]

You look at Woodburn across the Park. he played in the same game as Broadhead for Wales against England and it was Broadhead who stood out. It's an odd one though, as youth teams are filled with lads who stand out in their own age but can't make the transition. Also it may have been Broadhead just had the game of his life. However it's odd he hasn't had more game time given his record.

Unsworth's comments about the under 23's were very telling, and ruthless (especially so given his generally positive demeanour) recently in the Echo. Almost word for word said the lads who can't get into the team need to leave because at "whatever level they can get". If he's saying that publically I can only imagine what he is saying and thinking privately.

I also remember he rotated a while back and they lost 2-1. It wasn't a bad defeat (may have been Hertha Berlin) and we gave away the lead. He was damming in his criticism, and again said almost word for word that some of the fringe players had a chance to prove they were good enough and had failed. He said something similar last year after a home draw, when lots of scouts were watching, around August time. The only 2 times I've heard him say anything negative after a game.

Considering it was a narrow defeat against Berlin it was quite surprising, but also made me think that Unsworth may well have what it takes to manage higher up. He clearly holds to very high standards and he's instilling a work ethic and expectancy of winning on the young players.

I have digressed slightly off Broadhead. Unfortunately he finds himself in the group Unsworth referred too. There is a backlog in the under 23's currently and it's difficult to see a lot of these players being kept on too much longer.

He seemed to split them in to 3 groups, those who are regular in the under 23s and are on the cusp of our first team so will be retianed, those who are in the 23s but need a loan to gain experience and those who need a loan with a view to a permentant move. The second two also free up some space to allow younger players an opportunity at a higher level.

 

[marchy]

3-0 defeat so doesn't look like they did themselves any favours

 

[Nymzee]

Seems a very young side against Rochdale.

 

[Eggs]

Seems a very young side against Rochdale.

...I presume the opposition were open age, it makes such a difference and unfortunately many can't step up from their own age group. Lookman has managed it for 18 months which is a really good sign.

 

[ToffeeTim]

Rhino OUT

 

[atrottel]

Echo says one of the youth targets mentioned previously is Sheffield Wednesday striker George Hirst (son of David).

 

[blueloon]

You look at Woodburn across the Park. he played in the same game as Broadhead for Wales against England and it was Broadhead who stood out. It's an odd one though, as youth teams are filled with lads who stand out in their own age but can't make the transition. Also it may have been Broadhead just had the game of his life. However it's odd he hasn't had more game time given his record.

I have digressed slightly off Broadhead. Unfortunately he finds himself in the group Unsworth referred too. There is a backlog in the under 23's currently and it's difficult to see a lot of these players being kept on too much longer.

I didn't see the England game where Broadhead scored two and attracted a lot of attention. I did see the game about 4 days later when Wales U19s beat Luxembourg 6-2 and Broadhead scored a fantastic hat trick using both feet. It's shame the Wales FA haven't released the goals, I saw the game via their Facebook feed. I commented on here afterwards about the hat trick and, I have to say , just how good Woodburn looked, he scored a great goal but you could see from his touches he is a quality player for his age - I normally avoid anything with the RS in it, couldn't even name 11 of their players, but it was hard to miss his ability.
Indeed it is odd about Broadhead, he scored lots of goals for the U18s but never played u21 last season , has rarely featured this season yet has shown great ability in his age group for us and internationally. And that would appear to be the crux of it, we've never seen if he can do it against older players, and it's hard to fault Unsy's judgement in these matters, so realism prevails, if he was thought to be as good as Davies, Dowell or Walsh he'd be in the U23s. But .... hope the lad makes it to another contract with us.

 

[mightymoyes]

Isn't Yarney quite highly rated?

no

 

[Raino85]

Mark Wurburton when he was at Brentford was partial to taking one or two of our youth players, either on loan or when they got released. (Bidwell, Forshaw, McAleny & Long)
I wonder i f he would be tempted to come and see if he could get any of our lads on loan for the remainder of the season - maybe the likes of Browning, Pennington, Walsh etc, the lads who are probably to good to be playing for the u23s.
They will be playing infront of big fans every week and also they will get the experience in playing in a game as big as the glasgow derby

 

[Billy Dean]

Mark Wurburton when he was at Brentford was partial to taking one or two of our youth players, either on loan or when they got released. (Bidwell, Forshaw, McAleny & Long)
I wonder i f he would be tempted to come and see if he could get any of our lads on loan for the remainder of the season - maybe the likes of Browning, Pennington, Walsh etc, the lads who are probably to good to be playing for the u23s.
They will be playing infront of big fans every week and also they will get the experience in playing in a game as big as the glasgow derby

Like the sound of that. Under pressure to win every game too.

 

[mightymoyes]

Mark Wurburton when he was at Brentford was partial to taking one or two of our youth players, either on loan or when they got released. (Bidwell, Forshaw, McAleny & Long)
I wonder i f he would be tempted to come and see if he could get any of our lads on loan for the remainder of the season - maybe the likes of Browning, Pennington, Walsh etc, the lads who are probably to good to be playing for the u23s.
They will be playing infront of big fans every week and also they will get the experience in playing in a game as big as the glasgow derby

osman was linked to them the other day!

 

[blueloon]

A wee bit off topic as it's Youth but not Everton, but I've been following the amazing journey of Broxbourne Borough in the FA Youth Cup. I lived in Broxbourne for 5 years from 1980 and this team didn't even exist then. It's in Hertfordshire, 15 miles north of London, a posh area where the likes of Ray Clements and Ozzie Ardiles then Spurs players, had houses at the time. Just incredible that they've got this far , the same manager has brought them through for 8 years or so, worth googling if you've got time.
Broxbourne Borough of the Spartan South Midlands League (9th tier) have beaten Yeovil 1-0 to advance to the #FAYouthCup last-16. Incredible.

( If we beat Preston away next week then we play Wimbledon at home in the last 16 of the FA Youth Cup.)

 

[Nymzee]

I know it's only a minor thing but I just love seeing a group of lads in the same team that obviously get on outside of the game too. Too many clubs have factions growing in them but all the kids seem to be pals at Everton.

 

[blueloon]

I know the coach at Bury who had Foulds with him, rates high very highly. Said he was disappointed he was being played at left back though, not sure how true that is.

Foulds played all his initial U18 games at left Centre Back alongside Morgan Feeney. It was when they moved him up to u21s that he featured as left back. For me it was a chance for him to get games at a higher level when there were stronger players playing at CB, much in the same way Galloway played at LB. He's another likely to get more chances if we loan out a few U23s , he's looked good in the limited amount I've seen him , still young but tough competition ahead of him, and Feeney looks much the better prospect as a young CB