Homepage Update: Magnificent 7

[catcherintherye]

Squad demography
When considering the positives of last season it’s very difficult to name any. The one striking omission should be the exposure the young players were afforded and how this could further impact the club positively going forward.

As of the end of June I measured the ages of all players in the Premier League and compared how many compared each Premier League club to see how much exposure they gave to young players. It is not wholly uncommon to hear most Premier League sides talk of the quality of the young players they have. This includes our own supporters though I felt it interesting to measure the substance behind such assertions. I separated players into categories of those under 22, 21, 20,19,18 & 17 as of the 28th of June.

For Everton the findings re-enforced what many of us already knew; that Everton provide more opportunities for young players than any of their competitors in the league.

Read the full blog here

 

[jolteon101]

Squad demography
When considering the positives of last season it’s very difficult to name any. The one striking omission should be the exposure the young players were afforded and how this could further impact the club positively going forward.

As of the end of June I measured the ages of all players in the Premier League and compared how many compared each Premier League club to see how much exposure they gave to young players. It is not wholly uncommon to hear most Premier League sides talk of the quality of the young players they have. This includes our own supporters though I felt it interesting to measure the substance behind such assertions. I separated players into categories of those under 22, 21, 20,19,18 & 17 as of the 28th of June.

For Everton the findings re-enforced what many of us already knew; that Everton provide more opportunities for young players than any of their competitors in the league.

Read the full blog here

Didn't realise we have so many players in their 'prime' years (26-29 imo) either:

Schneiderlin (28)
Gueye (28)
Siggurdson (28)
Tosun (27)
Walcott (29)
Coleman (29)
Niasse (28)
Bolaise (29)

 

[Eggs]

...and I think it was poor strategy to send Dowell, Robinson and/or Connolly on loan. At least two of those would’ve got significant game time and we’d know a lot more about their futures.

 

[Timak]

Didn't realise we have so many players in their 'prime' years (26-29 imo) either:

Schneiderlin (28)
Gueye (28)
Siggurdson (28)
Tosun (27)
Walcott (29)
Coleman (29)
Niasse (28)
Bolaise (29)

I found some research last summer which showed peak is way earlier than people think, particularly for attacking players. More like 22-26 with a sharp decline common for anything other than the super-elite of players. Problem is we've invested about £80m in fee+wages in Siggy, another £50m in Walcott, another £50m in Bolasie, another £50m in Scheniderlin.

We've basically destroyed £230m for very little possible return.

 

[jolteon101]

I found some research last summer which showed peak is way earlier than people think, particularly for attacking players. More like 22-26 with a sharp decline common for anything other than the super-elite of players. Problem is we've invested about £80m in fee+wages in Siggy, another £50m in Walcott, another £50m in Bolasie, another £50m in Scheniderlin.

We've basically destroyed £230m for very little possible return.

Not sure I'd agree with 22 being a peak year for any player, but we definitely should have been targeting players around that age group instead of some of the players you mentioned.

 

[marcus]

If we believe in our youngsters....

Our youngsters will believe in us...

 

[AsiaAsia82]

Maybe the exposure of youth comes at the expense of trophies or success.

 

[4737carlin]

Maybe the exposure of youth comes at the expense of trophies or success.

I think this is why Chelsea dont play young players, well that and the manager knows its not a long term job so why would he worry about the long term of there young players

 

[Westend Blue]

Didn't realise we have so many players in their 'prime' years (26-29 imo) either:

Schneiderlin (28)
Gueye (28)
Siggurdson (28)
Tosun (27)
Walcott (29)
Coleman (29)
Niasse (28)
Bolaise (29)

Tbf it isn’t a bad core of players bolasie aside if scheids can be assed

 

[Albro]

Tbf it isn’t a bad core of players bolasie aside if scheids can be assed

And Bolasie is binned.

 

[Kever10]

...and I think it was poor strategy to send Dowell, Robinson and/or Connolly on loan. At least two of those would’ve got significant game time and we’d know a lot more about their futures.

To be fair to Koeman, he spent the majority of last years transfer budget making sure Dowell felt like a spare part (£90m on Rooney, Sigurdsson, Klaasen, Sandro and Vlasic), so sending him on loan was a no brainer.

As for Connolly and Robinson, he signed Cuco Martina, a Southampton reserve, as cover for both Baines AND Coleman (who was already out with a long term injury), so unless both of them were ever injured at the same time, why would we ever need additional cover? I mean he already had to try and ignore JonJoe Kenny, ignoring 3 young fullbacks is just hard work.

 

[Eggs]

To be fair to Koeman, he spent the majority of last years transfer budget making sure Dowell felt like a spare part (£90m on Rooney, Sigurdsson, Klaasen, Sandro and Vlasic), so sending him on loan was a no brainer.

As for Connolly and Robinson, he signed Cuco Martina, a Southampton reserve, as cover for both Baines AND Coleman (who was already out with a long term injury), so unless both of them were ever injured at the same time, why would we ever need additional cover? I mean he already had to try and ignore JonJoe Kenny, ignoring 3 young fullbacks is just hard work.

..we had very few right midfield sided options at the start of the campaign, not to mention a lack of goal power and creativity. Dowell was our best option, particularly factoring in his established partnership with Kenny. It was a no brainier to keep him in my opinion.

I wasn’t aware Martina was bought as cover for both full backs. Regardless, i’d much prefer a conventional LB and Robinson in particular would’ve provided better cover in my opinion. He sent better options on loan than what we had.

 

[Kever10]

..we had very few right midfield sided options at the start of the campaign, not to mention a lack of goal power and creativity. Dowell was our best option, particularly factoring in his established partnership with Kenny. It was a no brainier to keep him in my opinion.

I wasn’t aware Martina was bought as cover for both full backs. Regardless, i’d much prefer a conventional LB and Robinson in particular would’ve provided better cover in my opinion. He sent better options on loan than what we had.

Oh yeah, definitely agree.

In hindsight, the football they each got has probably done them some good, but won't mean a thing unless we try and integrate them into the squad this year.

Buy some top quality place to improve the first 11, but use the younger players to flesh out the squad. Giving Dowell game time for the 1st team, to me, he seems to have that calm mentality that shown faith, he will deliver.

Whatever your opinion on how he compares to Barkley on a physical or ability level, he doesn't seem to be hampered with the same mental fragility or self doubt that Barkley has. Both Dowell and Davies, if given the right opportunities have the belief in themselves, a confidence verging on arrogance, that is required to succeed. But both seem to be quite grounded as well.