U23s beat Arsenal in six-goal thriller

He came on as a sub a few weeks back, but seems to have disappeared.

Line up:

Hilton, Jones Feeney Gibson Garbutt, Evans Baningime Adeniran Charsley, Henen Broadhead.

Arsenal scored early on and we weren't keeping the ball well enough early. Grew into the game and last 10 mins of first half Henen in particular became influential. Two CBs have been solid and Charsley and Evans have been ok. Garbutt has been skinned a few times and his distribution has been wayward.

48 mins Donkor set up by Sambou. 1-1.

Jones stretchered off though. Looks bad.

Then Evans great solo effort 3-2.

Anyone know what happened to that 'wonder' trialist Zirkzee?

The U23s are missing a lot of players from last season. There were quite a few young lads out there tonight so don't expect any to be knocking on the first team door soon. Stand outs for me being Feeney, Gibson, Evans and Adeniran (in patches).

It was a very good performance. First half ,they stood off a bit but a few changes at half time and they really stepped it up second half and got at Arsenal who visibly wilted. 4 second-half goals says it all.

As Frank (#6) said above, it is a great pity we can't get a feed on these games.

Everton U23s: Hewelt, Jones, Robinson, Walsh (68' Dyson), Connolly, Kenny (c), Dowell, Davies, Calvert-Lewin, Niasse (75' C Duffus), Henen (58' Charsley).
Subs not used: Renshaw, Sambou.

Only Henen, Charsley and Sambou in tonight's squad.

The current U23s aren't expected to step up any time soon, their next move is a loan out. Hopefully some of Pennington, Browning, Galloway, Connolly, Robinson, Williams, Walsh, Dowell and Onyekuru will be making the step up next season.

Consider Calvert-Lewin, Davies, Holgate, Lookman, Vlasic and Kenny and that's 15 young players with potential whose role in the first team will be increasing over time. Even with a failure rate, that's still cause for optimism when you consider tonight's U23s are then coming along behind that.

http://www.flashscores.co.uk/football/england/premier-league-2/standings/

Shame about the view at the very top but it's a long way to go yet.

Adeniran was the lad we signed deadline day from Fulham. He looked useful, got around the pitch and was a presence but didn't always pick the right options. That'll come but there is a decent player there. Alongside Baningime (who was steady tonight though didn't run the game), Walsh, Williams, Dowell there is an abundance of midfield talent.

As Mike at 23 points out, the depth is quite staggering. Not all will make it but the quality is so much better than what we had even 5 years ago.

Does Gibson look a good prospect? He is going to cost us ٤M if he makes it to the top... hope he does.

We should've loaned Donkor back to QPR, where he was doing well, rather that be a sub for the U23s.

He made a lively debut for the U23s in a Premier League 2 match against Old Trafford at the end of January, winning a penalty and creating one of the Blues' goals in a 3-1 win.

However, he suffered what turned out to be a serious injury after barely 10 minutes had elapsed in the U23s' Premier League Cup match at Carrow Road when the 19-year-old went down following a foul from Diallang Jaiyesimi and needed sustained treatement on his ankle before being withdrawn. It was only his third game for David Unsworth's side and the player returned home to Germany for assessment and treatment.

Donkor was ultimately ruled out for the rest of the season, with his loan spell at Everton effectively suspended. The club reportedly had a ٟ.5 million agreement in place to sign Donkor permanently in the summer, but instead Everton agreed a renewed loan deal for six months that would run through January 2018.

Shame if he's not improved because I always thought he looked potentially useful when I watched him. We'll see how Unsy gets on bringing him along. He's getting good form for that with his charges.

Also, as there's another Thursday game, I assume Robles has missed this game for that reason. But if not here, where do players like Garbutt get to show their wares?

Unsworth has the U23s playing in a system where players transition in & out seamlessly. They play fast, attacking footie, hit the channels, run onto balls, high energy and keep it simple at the back. This is what Koeman talks about but has absolutely failed to do thus far, quite the opposite.

Will those who don't watch the U23s yet constantly comment that they need time desist in making such ill-informed comments as you're clearly wrong.

Current fave for promotion to 1st XI – Morgan Feeney, when you see the lad run on the pitch you know there you have a tough, mobile centre-back, exactly what we currently need. Also keep an eye on Lewis Gibson, remember we paid Newcastle £6m for him classy centre-back, will be a top one but please before gobbing off that he's not ready, go and watch him go about his business and then compare him to Williams.

Good result against a top U23 team.

Garbutt got a bit better but he just looked very ordinary at this level. He was caught out a few times and played some aimless punts up.

I doubt if he he is ready yet, especially in this team at the moment. Let him make steady progress in the U23s; he is still very young, is he 19 or younger?