Spring Cleaning at the Academy

And we can criticize Moyes, Ross, but it will be Kevin Sheedy and Duncan Ferguson who have opted to release these kids!

...well that answers that then!!

At least George Green is still there...maybe he will be the 'next big thing'

Well done to the lads who got offered contracts and hope the others do well elsewhere. Chances are there's always one or two who go on to play at top level.

Chris Long and Conor Grant in particular have looked very handy when i've seen them.

It really does pain me to hear some of the rubbish on here, can we not try to be a little impartial with our views and at least sometimes say "Well Moyes and the U18 and U21 coaches must know a little more than us because they see these players play and train 5-6 hours every day of the year".

Everybody wants to be an armchair manager, they never have to make decisions and live by them and be judged on them. They are always right.

If we had just been relegated or spent £40m and failed to get into Europe then maybe I could understand this strange desire for supporters to attack the manager at every single opportunity but as it is we have had, at worst, a mediocre season. Strange.

Joke!

McAleny, Pennington, Long and Kennedy seem to be getting positive light, not to mention we know Duffy can handle the prem, and Lundstram is getting good first team action at Doncaster.

Does anybody know the crack with Hallam Hope? He seemed to be deemed a bright prospect but its gone a bit quiet.

I would love to see more of our youth players and U21 player make the grade but I think the reality is that they are not really good enough and it goes to show from where our youth usually ends up.

I remember Jeavons was decent at a lower level with Yeovil I think, Chadwick was playing for a few league 1 and 2 sides, Gerrard and someone else I cant remember at another league 1 side. But at the end of the day the decisions are usually right to let them go.

I can see the likes of Duffy and Vellios playing for a Championship side and doing well but Im not sure they are top half of the premiership standard and deep down most of you know that and I think Moyes does too (hence their lack of chances even when it looks like they could get a chance).

You could possibly also argue a case for John Ruddy as we bought him young and he was released at the end of his contract.

Anyway Ruddy and the other 2 you named went to lower league sides that have gained promotion to the Premier League, and will soon be relegated from it.

There's nobody except Rooney that went direct to another PL team.

We are not alone in dismissing youth but I can't help thinking that, if we gave more youngsters real game time, that more would eventually come through the academy and thus making it a real success as, let's be honest, we can't take the credit for Rooney as he would have made it whether at our academy or Walsall's academy.

Players need games and alas it appears to me only a small number of PL clubs give their youngsters game time.

What about the youngsters we have seen and feel are ready for first team action. And then they get on the pitch, play well, and then sit in exile for 6 months.

Oviedo, Barkley and McAleny are the three I really feel deserved more time than they've had.

Duffy deserves a chance purely on the basis of Heitinga being so bad. That run of mistakes was unbelievable. He was personally responsible for 6 goals conceded in a row! Against Sunderland in the first 10 minutes he gifted them a one on one that Howard did very well to smother. How many mistakes can you allow before you give a promising youngster a chance? If Duffy had made one of those errors he'd have been out on his arse for at least 12 months.

You can't have a go at people for expressing their opinions when, quite clearly, Everton do not have a clue when it comes to bringing through youth. People say, 'Who has gone on to bigger things having left Everton' as if its some sort of testament to our youth system. Quite the opposite. If you're 16-18 at Everton you are almost certainly destined for 3 years in the stiffs and a career in League 1.

Nothing highlights the club's ineptitude this more than recent events with John Stones. Dragged out of first team football at Barnsley where he was progressing fantastically to join up with our reserves. Surely he could have finished the season there. Mad.

But I get the impression that you expect Moyes to 'give him a chance' so you can see enough of him to make up your mind on his ability. And regarding John Stones, how do you know he is making no progress? I am pretty sure he is not sitting on his arse day in day out waiting for a chance to play.

I said that he is one of a few younger players who deserve more of a chance than they are getting.

For some reason the lad doesn't play in the reserves so all I can judge him on is a few fleeting first team appearances. He did more in those snippets than I've seen from Naismith – who is repeatedly given time on the field.

With regards to Stones, every manager, pundit, player and football fan can agree that to develop players need to be playing first team football – that's why we allow loans. So would it not have made sense to keep the lad in a team where he was performing well?

Same for Barkley. Moyes knew he needed games so waited and waited and dillied and dallied and eventually came up with two botched deals with two shite clubs. There were plenty of teams after him – why not send him somewhere for 6 months so he really has a chance to settle in. Add an option to recall and it's no risk.

Brainless.

The Youth set-up has changed drastically over those generations of players, they are conditioned, trained to the n-th degree, mentally and physically it is a world away from 10-12 years ago.

Personally I would've liked to have seen some of the younger squad given a chance, that happened in the Leeds cup game and we were awful, Junior anyone??

I have to accept that if they are not in the first team or even warming the bench it has to be because they are either not ready or not good enough.

So let's see what the summer brings, hopefully the youth players nearing the first team can learn from the likes of Jags, Baines & Mirallas and we can develop a few into quality first team players.

Who thought that was a good idea?

Nobody is saying, 'play the kids every week' - it's about timing and taking your opportunities. 4-0 up against Cheltenham for example, it would have been nice to give some youngsters a go rather than bringing on Heitinga etc.

Even just having McAleny on the bench instead of FUCKING Neville. I'm sick to death of our two attacking options being a misfiring Jelavic and that tosser Naismith.

Go on Phil, give us a clue who these kids were.

It could well be that he is being over cautious but it may also be that the kids in question simply are not ready/good enough. Not that many 18-21 year olds get sustained runs in the top 6 or 7 teams without having proven themselves somewhere else (at top level) first. In fact I can think of very examples off the top of my head.

Moyes is someone who obviously shows a huge amount of loyalty to his senior players and that can be both a blessing and a curse but Anichebe is a good example of Moyes seeing a kid that he believes has something worth perservering with and as Doddy points out has probably now turned him into a player worth a few bob (even if he is still frustrating as hell at times!)

Here's the starting line-up against Leeds. The fixture every 'fan' rolls out to attempt to deride our youngsters.

01 Mucha
05 Heitinga Booked
15 Distin
23 Coleman
08 Oviedo Booked
25 Fellaini Booked
30 Francisco Junior (Neville - 46' )
11 Mirallas
14 Naismith (Jelavic - 65' )
19 Gueye (Pienaar - 46' )
28 Anichebe

Oviedo, Junior and Gueye there - not 4, so I apologise for that.

The problem is that when you're introducing kids you don't throw them into this sort of environment. You maybe start one of them and surround them by experience. Then maybe bring another off the bench in the second half.

It's also worth pointing out that Fellaini was every bit as bad as Junior in that game.

Likewise Velios scored a few goals as a substitute and earned himself a starting berth, but in my opinion he simply did not take his chance as he looked completely lost. He is now looking more comfortable at reserve level.

I would love nothing more than to see some bright youth players coming through and giving our squad a new dimension. But Barkley aside, I don't see the rest as particularly promising. There is no doubt that Moyes could give the youth more time on the pitch, but I don't see who is earning it at the moment. I think football teams need to be a bit more professional than 'just give him a go..'

2 untried young players played in the Leeds game and Mucha. lThe reason we lost is because we played shite. Nothing to do with throwing to many youngsters in at the same time.

I agree with you that the youth don't get enough games. It just pisses me off that things get made up to suit people's ideas. The Leeds game as an example of Moyes playing too many kids at one time. It gets trotted out quite a bit and it isn't true.

You can't just say, 'we played shite'. Why did we play shite? We were absolutely all over the place.

Moyes attempted to field a second string team and it completely backfired.

Ease young players in - little and often. Not just play them once and fuck them off when they make a mistake.

Oviedo has shown more worth as an attacking midfielder than Naismith has...yet doesn't get a fraction of the game time.

Well they have shown that they CAN be worse and your selective memory of the few good minutes they had on the field doesn't outweight the vast experience of players that have played at the highest level for years.

I'll say it again. He put in 2 untried youngsters at the same time.

2. That's if you count Oviedo. He's not really a youngster is he?

It's a second string team with some youngsters in there. Is that so hard to understand? They're not mutually exclusive Oviedo was 22 when that game took place. Yes, I would say he's a youngster.

Eric

I believe that when a first team player is having an absolute stinker week in, week out, then he should be replaced. How exactly are these lads supposed to come into the team? We cant afford to buy players - we need to produce our own.

Don't tell me Duffy, Barkley, Junior, McAleny and Kennedy aren't talented. They boss the U21's each week. Again, I wouldn't dream of starting these guys week in week out, but a few sub appearances here and there would benefit both them and the team.

I have a selective memory? Well, I think you'll find everyone does. I do however recall a catelogue of first team players making errors that you seem to be glossing over.

Youngsters not given a chance in first team games.

Then three all get thrown in together in an inexperienced line-up.

Are you trying to argue that you think our youth policy is perfect?

Oviedo 22
Gueye 22
Junior 20

Coleman was 23 at the time and hasn't played all that much at RB. Mucha in net had played a handful of games.

It was a daft team selection when we were going to a full house at Elland Road.

For Moyes to totally change the team like he did, showed a total lack of respect to a competition all Everton fans would love to win

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