U21s' sensational comeback in mini-derby

Good comeback lads!

Holgate - I need to restrain my enthusiasm or I might reach an anticlimax.

Sam Byrne I felt needed to be pointing more to goal to be fully effective, like Lukaku. But he also has some bite in him.

Young Evans was a disappointment but he’s only 16. Why didn’t Ledson get to play?

I assume ’a young John Stones’ was said tongue in cheek?

My own thoughts on the players were that none are near first team material yet. It seemed to me that the players who had been out on loan just looked bigger and more imposing, namely Jones, Grant and Pennington, whereas young Holgate looks like a 12 year old and I saw nothing in the first half but a cracking shot to justify why we forked out for him; he is no better than what we have.

Pennington was solid as can be said when you end the half 3-1 down. I like him a lot but don't think he'll be playing first team football for us which is no shame as Clarke, O'Hanlon, Mark Hughes Jr and Duffy have all moved on to eke out a living in the lower leagues.

McAleny was disappointing but so was everything in the final third whereas Liverpool took their chances very well after several chances were lost by our lads to clear.

In the middle, Joe Williams was ok, more than I expected. Grant was a disappointment for someone who was more experienced that most and I agree the stand-out in terms of potential was young Walsh who, despite his small size really puts his foot in. Good attitude that and allayed my fears expressed on another thread.

Jones was like a young Hibbert, pretty poor in possession and gave the ball away too much but robust in the tackle. Sadly, a young Hibbert is not likely to get the nod in this day and age so I'm not expecting a future with us.

All in all, despite all those lads being tidy little footballers it is hard to see how more than a couple will make it at the club. Looking purely at the game for their development there is still work to do. You would think a player destined for moving on would stand out a bit more from the rest but here there was nobody at all except maybe Walsh.

Perhaps we shouldn't be heaping expectation on Browning's shoulders either; he'll get his chance before long and it wouldn't do to rush it.

The whole squad however made me feel proud because of their commitment, even if it spilled over a bit.

The ref wasn’t atrocious, but should have awarded us a last minute penalty, but as one notorious ref said, you don’t award a penalty against Liverpool at the end of a Merseyside derby.

The miracle of Southport, hey?

Thought I’d ask anyway.

I see an OP on him is up now in the Rumour Mill. Fingers crossed.

I’m not used to watching U21 games though and it may be that’s how they are.

I hope he doesn’t end up being another George Green.

I thought Gethin Jones showed that if Coleman did get injured, he’d be worth a crack. We don’t really have a back-up right-back in the first team but between Hibbert, John Stones, Browning, Pennington, Gethin Jones, Holgate and Jonjoe Kenny there certainly doesn’t seem to be a need to go and spend money on one.

Our team was a very young one with players like the on-loan Kenny and Junior as well as Ledson, Henen and Galloway all missing from the squad from last year. We even sent 16-year-old Shane Lavery on as a sub.

On a side note, I noticed Duncan Watmore score for Sunderland in the Premier League last weekend. He was the kid responsible for making many of our U21s (including Browning) look pretty ordinary when we were on Sky last season.

Also disappointed in McAleny; yes, he took his goal well but as the "senior" guy out there did very little else and again looked disinterested. Plus players were Holgate (after his disastrous penalty), Jones in 2nd half, Williams, and Pennington. The rest, even terrier Walsh, were average and our goalie was hopeless.

Can’t for life of me work out what’s going on with Ledson who 12 months ago was the next star man, but has fallen way behind, got very little time in pre-season with the first team or even with U21s pre-season. On the bench last night as an unused sub.

It’s very rare for most people to agree on a lot of things regarding football and how the players fared, so I would just like to congratulate Everton's kids on such a tremendous fightback.

Very tough to call and rare that you get a player who really stands out as a different class in the way that Rooney and to a lesser extent Barkley did.

True, there do not seem to be any really top class players in the U21 setup at the moment but don’t count against a few of them being able to help the first team in the way that Galloway and Browning have done.

Holgate regained his composure and looked an excellent prospect, at one point winning the ball in their half, driving forward and hitting a fantastic shot on target that the Liverpool goalie did really well to save. Holgate is an impressive physical specimen, strong and quick.

Everton had to chase the game and conceded two further poor goals. Williams gave some real leadership with an excellent goal before half-time and the Liverpool keeper had to make some excellent saves to keep Everton from getting level at the break.

The second half was all Everton. Pennington and Holgate dominated when Liverpool broke forward. Gethin Jones is a good full back in the Coleman mode and Connolly had some impressive moments at left back. McAleny scored a good goal and was industrious throughout.

Walsh looked a tidy and tigerish midfielder but was subbed in the second half. Byrne worked hard without reward. Tom Davies scored the equaliser following in a Pennington shot that the Liverpool keeper unaccountably spilled.

I agree with Mike Oates at #34 above in his assessment of the players: Williams, Holgate, Pennington and Jones look most likely to progress at this point unsurprisingly as they have probably the most experience. McAleny didn’t get the best service and it is harder in the final third; he remains a conundrum, he did score a good goal.

The other factor to bear in mind is that Liverpool don’t have many kids in the first team squad, only Ibe and Gomez who they just bought. If we were to play the peer group that was the equal to what Liverpool had out last night, it would include Browning, Stones, Galloway, Garbutt, Kenny, Barkley, Ledson, Dowell, Henen. Half of these are in the first team squad though so what would be the point just to batter Liverpool’s sorry academy side?

Our youth development is miles ahead of there’s. They rested on their laurels in the 90s and then Rafa brought in a load of Spanish kids to try and dominate the Under-21 Premier League. Meanwhile Moyes put in place a top class academy system that surpasses theirs with Rodwell and Barkley coming off the production line already. Martinez is probably going to benefit from the first crop of good players in Browning, Garbutt, Dowell & Ledson whilst the ones further back are the team that beat Liverpool under 18s 5-0. That is why we are attracting the likes of Stones and now Holgate, because we have a clear path to the first team, unlike Liverpool.

Also, it seems Walsh has got generally positive reviews which seems to happen every game for the U21s. I would like to see him given a chance in the first team at some point this season

Thanks for that. Puts it into much better perspective

Second half we "got 'at 'em" showing passion and determination and they hardly got forward. Finished 3 - 3 but we were the team pressing for the winner in those last few minutes. Their keeper made a real difference (so did ours but unfortunately not in a positive way!).

The pleasing thing about Holgate was that having given away a penalty after only 11 mins of his debut, he didn't hide, he was strong, determined and showed composure and character to keep himself together and put in what was a good performance.

Pennington was pretty solid and consistent too. McAleny was almost anonymous apart from his goal, which disappointed me given the standard of his pre-season with the first team. I was hoping he might be ready to step up and help the first team, but if he can't motivate himself and show it... who knows?

I would probably agree with the majority of assessments made by the others... great character to come back from the dead and be ultimately pushing for the win.

I think Moyes did a very good job at Everton but he would have to have some ego to take the praise for Everton’s academy though.

I’m only hearing good things about Liam Walsh, which sounds promising; I love to see midfielders, who can fetch and carry the ball.

If he doesn't go to the top, I've been wasting my time for 50 odd years.

On the Liverpool side, despite them dominating the game in the first half, the only player that I thought might make it was Texiera. To be fair to them though, I wasn't really paying as much attention to who was who on their side.

The others I'm not too sure about but they will hopefully find a career somewhere.

I went to Burscough vs the U21s in their pre-season and he caught my eye there as well, while Walsh had a particularly poor game that night. Anyone back up what I’m saying?