U18s beat Champions Derby County

Anyone see this? Load of new names there. Any to look out for?

I haven't seen any clips yet Steve, but apparently Onyango supplied both goals, a tall gangly midfielder, first-year Scholar who played a few times last season. The new names are other 1st year Scholars. Lewis Dobbin is the most highly rated, played and scored a number of games last year England U16. Lewis Warrington midfield also got mins last season. Dylan Thompson is a centre back 1st year, Max Thompson is a 2nd year.

The other newbie starting was Reece Welch, a centre-back who's played for England U16, only seen a picture of him, tall and gangly and still a schoolboy apparently. So if he started as centre-back alongside Dylan Thompson then you'd have to say he was highly rated.

Off the bench were Harry Hagan, a centre-back who's also played for England U16, and Rafael Garcia, who we got from Fulham and is supposedly highly rated.

Great info on these new players, Phill. And thanks for spotting the missing Thompson, which I have now corrected.

Phill (2), yes goodvwork there Phill, I only recognised Quirk who played in last season's team, mostly as a sub. I know some of the other players by name but don't think I have seen any of them.

Dave, Rhys Hughes is probably the most recognisable name from last season, he played a few games in midfield. I’m sure I also saw his name in an U23s pre season game. As he was the most experienced in today’s team I wonder if they’ll make him captain and keep him in the 18s.

Does anyone know what has happened to Sebastian Kristensen? It was announced in April we would be signing him from Lyngby but I have not seen anything since then.

Good work Phill, Dobbin is the only name I recognize. Will be interesting to see how Brands vision for the club moves through and into the academy. Will all the youth teams start practicing the same style to ensure better transition?

Sam (7),

I think the whole structure of the Academy needs a complete overall, starting with the coaches all the way down from the U23 level. There are too many ex -Everton players in charge. New coaches with fresh ideas on coaching the teams are needed.

I'm surprised there haven't been any change in the way the Academy is run since Brands took over. Maybe he is still assessing the scheme or has been too busy on the transfer scene. He has done a great deal of work there and has done a very good job up to now.

Dave – the Under-18s and Under-23s have performed consistently well against their peers so I don't think a complete overhaul is required. I see the need for ex-Everton players in the youth setup, I believe it will give Evertonian youngsters someone to look up to and aspire to. I do, however, also think we need to mix it up with more external appointments.

Our main key issue is the transition from youth to first-team, which is still a huge stumbling block. Something goes wrong between the ages of 19 and 22, when a lot seem to stall.

Kevin (9), yes got to agree the U23s have won trophies and the U18s do okay until it comes to theU18 Youth Cup where they flatter to deceive.

David Unsworth's teams while winning silverware are mostly built on defensive abilities, they are not an attractive team to watch, don't score a great deal of goals and the real success of these younger teams is bringing through players to play in the premier league.

That few come through to eventually get a regular place in the senior team might rest with the players themselves,although I'm hopeful Kenny and Davies might do this, alongside players who were bought from other clubs like Calvert-Lewin and Gibson from Newcastle.

Maybe your view that the coaches could be a mixture of some of the present staff and some fresh coaches with new ideas might be better for the young lads coming in to try and make a career out of football.

Yes, Dave. I expected there to be more of an overhaul but maybe Brands is doing it subtly or there have been other priorities. As Kevin says it seems as though the big issue is getting players to transition from successful youth players to genuine options at first team level of which i'm not sure there have been any since Davies, Dowell and Kenny broke through 2 years ago. And none of them have established in first team. Perhaps Calvert-Lewin is the best example but he was bought.

I guess the odds are hard but you look around and see United with Rashford, Greenword etc, Arsenal with Iwobi, Nelson, Maitland-Niles etc Chelsea with Mount, Abraham, Hudson-Odoi and it seems like we have not had players of that calibre come through for a good few years. (Maybe the last one was Barkley?)