Liam Walsh

[toffee-L]

Haven’t seen that so far. A lot of this comes down to playing opportunities. Young players will improve dramatically if they are given game time. If Walsh doesn’t get game time at top level he won’t improve. The seasons a write off in the league let’s use it to full advantage and develop the younger players like Walsh. We’ll be better for it in the long run.

The season is far from a write off, many fans (not myself) are locked into season tickets and they, more than anyone, deserve a dedicated team fighting tooth and nail for every point on offer. As for young players like Walsh, Dowell and several others, they usually all have natural ceilings were their talent can carry them. Sometimes players can creep out of these ceilings and become better than people thought they were going to be. On the extremely rare occasions, a player might develop so drastically he bares no resemblance to the player that he was in his youth - Harry Kane is the biggest example of this.

The point is; just saying that we should throw this season in the can to focus on bringing young players through is flawed. How many young players that we have brought through the academy in recent times have gone on to be even just run of the mill top half footballers. Not many. How many young players that we have let go recently have bounced back to become top half players, again not many. There is a chance that lads like Walsh, Dowell, Kenny, Holgate, Davies and several others will have long established careers at Everton. However there is a much greater chance that maybe only one will 'make it' with the rest dropping down the league or even down the divisions and usually staying there for their whole careers. It's just the way it goes and why Everton can't afford to make young players an absolute priority as its just a pot-luck lottery. Best of luck to all of them though.

 

[Bluelladevil]

I hope he doesn’t throw it all away now when he is so close. He’s been so unlucky with injuries (breaking his toe before end of the season, missing out on the Under 20 World Cup and pre-season), and the loan to Birmingham which didn’t work out because Redknapp was sacked so soon after he arrived. I hope he just sits down and thinks about what is the best thing to take him to the very top level. I would suggest he considers the following:
Team shape – at the moment we’re playing with a midfield 3 (other than when Schneiderlin is making a mess of things passing backwards and sideways) with Gueye at the base, and Rooney and Davies just ahead of him. This system is ideally suited to Walsh and there’s no reason to think that SA won’t continue to adopt it into the future. What is also clear is that Rooney cannot go on forever - he is 32 but realistically is he likely to be there beyond 34? Walsh is the ideal person to play his position, i.e. the creative passer of the ball in the central midfield position.

His mates are starting to make a real impression in the first team. He was the best of them last year when they won the Under 23 title. Just look at how the young lads in the first team stood up for each other against Swansea after JJK's tackle on Ayew. These players have been together as a group for years and hopefully will continue together. They must be like brothers to him. They know each others game and will fight for each other.

I would suggest he goes and sees SA and makes time to speak to Sammy Lee and asks that they give him an opportunity of training with the first team as much as possible over the next 6 months until the end of the season – he is at the stage of his development that he needs to train with top-quality players. He should ask for 6 months to prove himself. At the end of the season when there are games which may not be so important he may well get the opportunity to make his debut.

Over the next 6 months until the end of the season he should concentrate on one thing above all – his fitness. He needs to build himself up. There have been many players over the years who, once they improved their upper body strength, became top players . A lot is made of his height but he seems about the same height to me as Rooney or Scholes. However, if he wants to play in the central midfield at the top level he has to have the upper body strength to hold players off when he is in possession of the ball. As good as any player is they will always struggle if they don’t have upper body strength to hold people off. Also, I would suggest that any central midfielder must now have stamina as all teams want to play a pressing game. The best players in the world do it – just look at City atm. Barcelona for years have been magnificent at pressing opposition teams to try to win the ball back within 10 seconds of losing it. However to be top quality at pressing you need to have terrific stamina.

He possibly needs to work on his attitude - I don’t know if it’s true but the rumours are that he returned from Birmingham because of an issue with a teammate. You need to have the will to win and desire to be a winner to get to the very top. However the best players in the world focus that determination. You can’t win a game if you get yourself sent off. Everton have appointed a psychologist and he should work with him.

He should set himself a target that in the next 6 months that he gives the management a decision to make about his future once they have seen what he can do. If he is told at that time that he is not going to make it then fair enough he should look for another club. If however at that time he has become involved in the first team and he has trained himself to the best peak of physical fitness then he may well receive an offer of a contract at Everton – a few have been given out recently so clearly club is keen to keep together this young group. It seems to me for a young lad who’s been brought up through Everton youth team set up for so many years this must be his dream. Rumours are that he may go to Bristol City – not a bad move but if he goes there he will have to prove himself to try to get into the team and be thrown into a situation in which all his focus will be on winning those games that he is involved in. That would distract him from focusing on making himself into the best player he can possibly be. His focus should be to lay the strongest foundations in terms of his fitness and training with first team premiership squad as only that will take him to the very top level where many of us believe he could reach. Is it worth risking that opportunity by taking the short term option of a move to Bristol City?

 

[Zatara]

The season is far from a write off, many fans (not myself) are locked into season tickets and they, more than anyone, deserve a dedicated team fighting tooth and nail for every point on offer. As for young players like Walsh, Dowell and several others, they usually all have natural ceilings were their talent can carry them. Sometimes players can creep out of these ceilings and become better than people thought they were going to be. On the extremely rare occasions, a player might develop so drastically he bares no resemblance to the player that he was in his youth - Harry Kane is the biggest example of this.

The point is; just saying that we should throw this season in the can to focus on bringing young players through is flawed. How many young players that we have brought through the academy in recent times have gone on to be even just run of the mill top half footballers. Not many. How many young players that we have let go recently have bounced back to become top half players, again not many. There is a chance that lads like Walsh, Dowell, Kenny, Holgate, Davies and several others will have long established careers at Everton. However there is a much greater chance that maybe only one will 'make it' with the rest dropping down the league or even down the divisions and usually staying there for their whole careers. It's just the way it goes and why Everton can't afford to make young players an absolute priority as its just a pot-luck lottery. Best of luck to all of them though.

The players you mentioned have already shown themselves capable of playing in the premier league.

 

[CRIMHEAD]

Rooney is at least 3 inches taller than Walsh. I personally don't think that matters a whole lot, but he's not the same height as Wayne. Rooney is also very strong. Schoels was short, so perhaps that's a better comparison. He's pretty strong for his size and age from what I can tell.

 

[toffee-L]

The players you mentioned have already shown themselves capable of playing in the premier league.

Holgate and Davies are pretty established, but I'd argue neither has shown that they are nailed on stars for years to come yet, although I am pretty confident with both. Kenny hasn't done that at all yet, he's barely done more than Galloway did when he got a run in the team and his future is up in the air. far too early to tell how he's gonna turn out, I am not as confident as some on here with regards to Kenny. Walsh and Dowell, who I also mentioned, are certainly not established at all - if we're not counting u23 football...

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

Holgate and Davies are pretty established, but I'd argue neither has shown that they are nailed on stars for years to come yet, although I am pretty confident with both. Kenny hasn't done that at all yet, he's barely done more than Galloway did when he got a run in the team and his future is up in the air. far too early to tell how he's gonna turn out, I am not as confident as some on here with regards to Kenny. Walsh and Dowell, who I also mentioned, are certainly not established at all - if we're not counting u23 football...

They don't have to be "stars for years to come" though

Being decent footballers who can hold a place in the squad is just fine

It's our biggest problem as a fan base when it comes to young players. Unless they have a 10 out of 10 every time they play the knives come out

Entering steady 6's, 7's and 8's out of 10 on a regular basis is just fine, especially when you're young and developing. Why overspend for those sorts of players when we can develop them ourselves and maybe even sell a couple of them for a profit?

I think we need to reassess our expectations and grade the kids on a curve. I've thought that for a while now

 

[ijjysmith]

They don't have to be "stars for years to come" though

Being decent footballers who can hold a place in the squad is just fine

It's our biggest problem as a fan base when it comes to young players. Unless they have a 10 out of 10 every time they play the knives come out

Entering steady 6's, 7's and 8's out of 10 on a regular basis is just fine, especially when you're young and developing. Why overspend for those sorts of players when we can develop them ourselves and maybe even sell a couple of them for a profit?

I think we need to reassess our expectations and grade the kids on a curve. I've thought that for a while now

We know.

 

[blueloon]

I think we need to reassess our expectations and grade the kids on a curve. I've thought that for a while now

Indeed , that’s why it’s now “U23s” to allow longer for their development and we have two 23 year olds out on loan and a 24 year old playing for the U23s , in theory we are now giving youngsters more time, though they still may not make it with us. With our reputation and resources for bringing on youngsters we should be confident that we are the best club to get the most out of him with a combination of in house training/ development and outside loans. Sure we can’t keep them all and we have to let them go sometimes , I just don’t believe Walsh has slipped so far in three or four months to consider letting him go.

 

[toffee-L]

They don't have to be "stars for years to come" though

Being decent footballers who can hold a place in the squad is just fine

It's our biggest problem as a fan base when it comes to young players. Unless they have a 10 out of 10 every time they play the knives come out

Entering steady 6's, 7's and 8's out of 10 on a regular basis is just fine, especially when you're young and developing. Why overspend for those sorts of players when we can develop them ourselves and maybe even sell a couple of them for a profit?

I think we need to reassess our expectations and grade the kids on a curve. I've thought that for a while now

Really? Osman and Hibbert never exceeded that assessment but because they were homegrown the club never thought once about replacing them, and somehow both saw out their careers here and were allowed to stay well past their time. The youth players we bring through need to be supported by the club and fans alike, nobody disputes that, but at the end of the day they need to be good. If they're not up to standard then we move on to the next. We need a team that can properly compete, hopefully our youngsters can contribute to that but we can't be overly sentimental as we have been in the past.

I think a far bigger issue regarding expectations is that our fans (hardly alone in this) rave constantly about a talent we've brought through but once that player's momentum slows a little and their progression slows to a rate that didn't match initial expectation - then the knives come out. Of course it's not the player's fault, they were just never as good as the fans hoped he would be.

 

[mightymoyes]

he'll struggle to get on for bristol city in the short term just from watching them last night.

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

Really? Osman and Hibbert never exceeded that assessment but because they were homegrown the club never thought once about replacing them, and somehow both saw out their careers here and were allowed to stay well past their time. The youth players we bring through need to be supported by the club and fans alike, nobody disputes that, but at the end of the day they need to be good. If they're not up to standard then we move on to the next. We need a team that can properly compete, hopefully our youngsters can contribute to that but we can't be overly sentimental as we have been in the past.

I think a far bigger issue regarding expectations is that our fans (hardly alone in this) rave constantly about a talent we've brought through but once that player's momentum slows a little and their progression slows to a rate that didn't match initial expectation - then the knives come out. Of course it's not the player's fault, they were just never as good as the fans hoped he would be.

We got many good years out of Hibbert and Osman before they got old

People get old, it happens

If we'd replaced them 2-3 years before we did they would have both been unqualified successes and would have saved us a fair bit of money

You save so much on squad players if you promote from within

 

[Westend Blue]

Walsh has the rare ability to be the metronome in the side from cm dictating the flow of the game. It just remains to be seen if he can stamp his authority and handle the physicality of the PL

 

[riddick]

I've always thought the biggest problem with our 2 DM's is that neither can figure out how to kick the ball towards to opponents goal. Why not try to get someone who can get the ball moving to our front with precision?

 

[blueblue]

We have Kenny,Holgate, Davies, Baningime, Lookman, DCL and Vlasic all getting a run in the first team this season. Galloway and Browning can be added to those names in the last season or two .

Walsh has never made the team, maybe he just isn't good enough.

 

[chippy1722]

The season is far from a write off, many fans (not myself) are locked into season tickets and they, more than anyone, deserve a dedicated team fighting tooth and nail for every point on offer. As for young players like Walsh, Dowell and several others, they usually all have natural ceilings were their talent can carry them. Sometimes players can creep out of these ceilings and become better than people thought they were going to be. On the extremely rare occasions, a player might develop so drastically he bares no resemblance to the player that he was in his youth - Harry Kane is the biggest example of this.

The point is; just saying that we should throw this season in the can to focus on bringing young players through is flawed. How many young players that we have brought through the academy in recent times have gone on to be even just run of the mill top half footballers. Not many. How many young players that we have let go recently have bounced back to become top half players, again not many. There is a chance that lads like Walsh, Dowell, Kenny, Holgate, Davies and several others will have long established careers at Everton. However there is a much greater chance that maybe only one will 'make it' with the rest dropping down the league or even down the divisions and usually staying there for their whole careers. It's just the way it goes and why Everton can't afford to make young players an absolute priority as its just a pot-luck lottery. Best of luck to all of them though.

Over the years there is only Osman that springs to mind that went on loan and managed to carve a long term career in the first team. The majority of the youngsters end up having very good careers at championship level and below.Only Stones and Rooney have gone on to bigger and better and they were sold for big money so don't count.