League-leading U23s power past Spurs

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Why (and how) on earth did we recall Galloway in the mid-April? I don't get this. Pretty much a lost season for this fella. Hopefully, he'll get some senior games this year after (if) he we regains some match fitness.

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Tight match. It's 0-0 at half time. We are finding it hard to get into a rhythm. Besic the key man so far ( for me Srdjan ! )

Galloway wasn't playing for West Brom, so he might as well be recalled so Koeman can get a look at him. I thought we could only recall players from Premier League clubs during the transfer window. Maybe allowed as he is under 21.

Having Pennington on first team duty along with Holgate and Davies who could also play means that the line-up can change from match to match, I guess.

How is Galloway playing? The new loan system rules state that loanees can only be recalled in transfer windows. He's still at WBA isn't he?

I thought so as well but Wikipedia says he was recalled today!? This fucks me up, why he wasn't recalled earlier if there was a possibility. He rotted in WBA for the past 6 months.

COYB!

It works fine for me and I am one of the few remaining non-Facebook dinosaurs.

2-1 Edwards, the Tottenham Messi the architect.

Solid (and deserved) win after shaky first half.

And whatta break from Lukaku and Barkley BS.

Donkor isn't injured – he played for Germany U19 vs Tom Davies and England U19 2 weeks ago????

Everton really has the best academy these days, I just hope that they will make the grade. Man Utd's success in the early Premier League was based solely on the class '91 (or what ever year it was). I think we should sacrifice a little bit of success by playing the youngsters. But it always requires the right mix.

Calvert-Lewin as well.

Dowell is capable of the exceptional, but some of his decision-making is erratic.

Great to see Galloway back and playing well at left-side centre-half. I'd love to know what Koeman thinks of him.

Special mention to Joe Williams who, for me, was Man of the Match.

Walsh seemed to be the catalyst after a flat first half, demanding the ball and getting Everton on the front foot - he has a great range of passing.

Dowell seems to see a pass before anyone else and has great first time touch. His goal, left foot, top corner from the edge of the D, is becoming routine. Both of these two look ready for the step up. Dowell, in particular, looks physically ready now.

Calvert-Lewin looked like his first team outings have given him confidence and it was good to see Galloway back, his run (a reminder of when he stood in for Baines) set up the first goal. The left-back, Robinson, looked decent going forward and sub Sambou was pacy. Lookman had a frustrating evening, often slipping over or running offside.

Great entertainment - 4 goals is the minimum requirement from a trip to Goodison these days.

It mystifies me that Liam Walsh has never even been on the bench for the first team. He surely deserves a few minutes on the pitch before the end of the season. I just got in after a good night in town and this result has made the night better.

Some cracking goals and build up play.

Thought individually one or two disappointed but Calvert-Lewin was consistently good over the 90 minutes. Sambou came on for the last 30 or so minutes and looked very good. Galloway had some good runs but looked a little rusty defensively. Lookman looked totally lost before being subbed but still scored his customary goal.

Personally I was very disappointed in Kieran Dowell (cracking goal aside) who I thought a couple of years ago had the makings of a top class player but he is more of a couple of cameos a game type player now. Too much style and not enough substance.

Spurs had a cracking little player called Edwards that we should look out for.

What we must guard against, is letting some of the better ones move on.

We've been proved to have slipped up fairly recently, Mustafa and Died spring to mind.

I have always liked Galloway since he came to us, but for some reason, he is loaned out, when we have little if no cover, for Leighton.

I was going to ask about Browning but apparently he's on loan at Preston. I must have missed that one.

We have Chelsea away on April 21st and then the final game will be against Liverpool at Goodison Park on May 8th, kick off 7pm. Wouldn't it be great to get a big crowd to cheer on the next generation, ideally putting one over the RS.

Appreciate it's not the main competition, but getting into a winning habit is important at all levels.

I think at 23 and not getting a game at Wigan, we can write off Garbutt. Shame as he looked a good player.

Really want some of these U23s to capitalise on the limelight that winning the league will give them. Dowell is best mates with Tom Davies and must follow his friends examples by working really hard and making sure his talent shows consistently throughout a game and not just in patches. Williams equally was often considered the equal (if not superior) to Davies his midfield compatriot before his injury.

Galloway must put the disappointing spell at WBA behind him and push forward too. He must be frustrated as he would have surely been in line for first team minutes before Pennington had he not been on a fruitless loan.

And finally the potential jewel that is Liam Walsh. Another talented individual who I think might benefit from a loan move to a decent Championship team next season just to get him ready for the Premier League.

It won't be so new to him now, and it might even be a shock to him, to be surrounded by loads of very talented lads of a similar age, and the realisation of how hard this game of football can be.

This kid should be okay though because he looks like a little natural young talent, and it wouldn't surprise me if he was suffering from a little bit of home-sickness now that everything has stopped happening so quickly for him.

Nice to see Besic back in action; if he can stay fit, he has a big part to play for the first team next season. It is a big 'if' though...

Might be worth a jolly up from Kent seeing as getting a ticket for first team games at Goodison is frustratingly pretty impossible these days. I make it my plan to try to get to Goodison at least once a season but that hasn't happened this time for one reason or another.

I personally hope Everton continues to be a club that gives its younger players a chance.

Jonjoe Kenny also looks to be one for the future at full back.

Well done lads.

Sure, Ross and Davies have come through but now that the Club is awash with money, Koeman will prefer ready-made stars to the like of Holgate and Pennington when he has a full roster to choose from. His inclusion of the two forwards signed from the lower leagues was merely a device to demonstrate the paucity of talent available to him.

When he was asked why he had shunned him, he said something like he did not know who he was, which I found very bizarre and infuriating at the time. He then was very reluctant to play Davies early on in the season, when loads on here were clambering for him. This is what led to have such doubts.

Koeman dispelled these doubts by not only naming Davies to start against City, but continuously selecting him, even ahead of Gueye who is a clear favourite of his. He also picked Calvert-Lewin in both derbies, he went with Pennington last few games.

He's had a load of the kids in and around the team since Christmas, even at the expense of much more experienced players. His comments of, to paraphrase "I am dutch, I play kids" leads me to believe that he will continue to do so. Koeman does not make comments like that without following through.

I believe that as long as the quality is there he will do so. Liam Walsh is one I am interested in keeping an eye on next season. I think Kenny will become more and more involved, early next season without Coleman.

I hear we have already agreed terms to sign the Southampton back up right back, Cuco Martina, on a free transfer, and that is purely to allow Coleman to reclaim his position and give back up to Holgate or Kenny if they fail to claim Coleman's place.

We are now nailed on for the Europa League, with at least 7th, and I expect Koeman to play a lot of youth in the early stages, especially if we have to play in July, which we would in 7th. Koeman has showed this by selections in the Cups.

I agree with you and hope you are correct regarding Jonjoe Kenny and Liam Walsh, I would guarantee that Jonjo at Oxford and Liam at Yeovil learned more last season with these clubs in just a few months than they have learned all this season playing for the U23s.

These two lads will make very good livings out of football, I hope it is with Everton, if they are not in Koeman's plans for next season, as others have said on here, they will learn and progress more by being loaned out to teams in The Championship than lingering in the Under-23s.

No disrespect to any of the players who played recently at Anfield, I would have had no hesitation in playing Kenny at right back in this game, he would have revelled playing in this game, think Gerrard at 19 playing for Liverpool against Everton, he couldn't wait to get on the pitch.

I'm mot saying Jonjoe is on Gerrard's level, but a young scouser playing against them at Anfield he would have been wound up like Gerrard was, and would have given a good account of himself, would have gone head to head with opponents, in an aggressive but controlled style, let them know they were in a game.

I think he and Liam should get some minutes in the first eleven before the end of the season and I hope David Unsworth is putting his twopence worth to Koeman in this matter.

Forget Fergies Fledglings, we could be reaping the rewards of Unsy's youngies in a few years time

In all probability, 6th place is beyond us though hope springs eternal, I am hoping if we seal 7th (and Europe) with a few games to go, we'll have a good chance to give these youngsters a run out.

Unsey's Undies has a better ring to it.

Dowell is the intriguing one for me – he has all the ability but does he have that bit extra required to make it?

His shooting from 20 yards or so is brilliant – when he gets it there, you expect a goal. I was trying to avoid the comparison but here goes... almost Sheedy-like.

As with so many of the younger players in Under-23 / first-team territory, this next 12 months will be crucial.

Dowell is still young and has time to learn and change his game, at the moment he drifts from the game for long spells, doesn't work hard at all, I've watched him since he was 16, noted how good he was but with the same problems, he hasn't improved them in the four years I've watched him, surely the coaches are telling him where he is going wrong.

I've aired these problems on here before not to put a downer on the lad but as constructive criticism, unless he gets involved more and works harder he is creating problems for himself.

He has most definitely got the talent to be a very good player, unfortunately talent alone will not get you to the top and a long career.

It's how the system works and Koeman/ Everton are no different in any way. It 'seems great to see them given a chance but the odds are that Davies is the only one we shall see much of beyond this season and I suspect the two Walsh signings from down below will be back playing at that level 'ere long – and Walsh probably there with them!

Let's face it, we all want Everton to be competing with the big boys but you can't the hope to do that with tin horns from Charlton Athletic, can you? Let's try and be realistic and not so bloody sentimental. PLEASE!

Would love to meet up with any TWebbers before the game.

Okay, he had a poor first half on Monday but so did everyone else and if he can score goals like that, then surely the coaches are telling him to carry on doing what he does. I can't see what problems he is creating for himself at all.

That said Liam Walsh is the one who really interests me because he will take a game by the scruff of the neck and dictate – not had a player do that since Reid.

But what was the deal with Davies? Never really heard of him until he made his first team debut. Did he just up his game overnight?

No Kieran. He's always been a special talent.

If the weather's good and nobody fancies coming from down here I may come up on bike, stay up there and do a few trips down memory lane in the city and my eventual home in Mid-Cheshire on the day after.

I argue we no longer let any player go to him. Galloway hasn't played since last September and under the rules has to stay until the end of season. He cannot play for our senior team.

Davies apart absolutely none of those youngsters introduced this season will ever make it to become Premier regulars so let's stop kidding ourselves they are a seam of golden talent !

He's not the finished article by any means, which young player ever is, but he seems to me to be on the right track.

(I don't think we are going to agree on this one.)