Graham scores 4 as Everton U21s hang on against Spurs

Playing at Spurs, we were winning 5-0 with 15 minutes + added on time to go.

Braiden Graham had scored the first four and Reece added the fifth before Spurs scored three in the last 15 minutes and got another one in the 96th. minute.

Graham had been taken off with the score 5-0 to Everton!

While abroad, the U16s have won their first two games in the tournament they are playing in both 2-0wins with Nsangou scoring in today's game and being named MotM.

Blue skies, nothing but Blue skies from now on!

I thought they looked the most likely to break through to the first team next season.

They need to start looking at loaning him out sooner rather than later and let him build up experience through the divisions over 2 or 3 years.

He's done really well – and shows the value in the youth recruitment which Thelwell really stepped up before he left.

Justin Clarke is also looking like a good player.

You don't own a pawn shop do you? You seem to want put quite a lot of players out on loan!

Dixon didn't impress, hopefully just a one off and I know Robert might not agree, but I hope we bring Harrison Armstrong back to play a part in the squad next season.

Villa, for random example, have 11 players out on loan from the first team squad and 12 on loan from the U21s squad.

Most of the best players in the Championship and League 1 are loan players from the Premier League.

Yes, that makes a lot of sense but would also be a good argument for bringing back the Central League where young players stayed at home and learned to grow into football with their own club around seasoned professional players.

Pause for thought: yes, it would be harder to do that at Everton… then again, the Central League as a whole would be better, I think, and Everton hopefully will be getting more professional both as a business and a football club in the very near future.

Make that Tait's head and I would have been at the front of the queue!

It's accelerating the development of players. Take Broja for example. At 18/19 goes to play for Vitesse in the Eredivisie and hits 11 in 34 games - and gets to play against Ajax, Feyenoord, PSV and Alkmaar etc.

Brilliant experience. Much better than a few minutes in dead rubber matches for Chelsea or stagnating in u21 football which doesn't do anything to develop kids.

If Martin Sherif or Braiden Graham etc get the chance of a loan they should grab it with both hands.

Armstrong too in my view, Danny (as you know). I am sure he would come back a better player and more mature lad if he followed Broja Branthwaite Mount Odegaard and many others for a season on loan in the Netherlands.

Even with players not destined for the top, loaning them out can raise their profile and help secure decent fees as with Simms and Cannon. Keeping good youngsters on bench or in U21s is usually bad for everyone and I hope that doesn’t happen to Armstrong.

Dyche's Everton gave more minutes to teenagers than about 10 other Premier League clubs last season.

The reality is that clubs just don't develop players the way you describe anymore unless they are England international quality by about age 18 / 19.

Everton haven’t had any special players since Rooney although Barclay was considered to be one by plenty of fans and he was as sick as a pig when he forced to go on loan by Moyes to Leeds and I think one of the Sheffield teams.

Armstrong and possibly Graham do look like they could be though let’s see how they progress.

...Armstrong has made an instantaneous and significant impression. It is rare that a teenage loanee plays on a regular basis in the Championship, but he has quickly become a mainstay in Eustace’s side, appearing in all but one of Derby’s games since signing and starting the past seven in a row.

The view at Derby is that he has thrown himself into the task at hand and little so far has fazed him. He arrived with the intention of helping them stay up and has so far helped inspire improved results and performances, including a four-match winning streak, the personal highlight being his first senior goal in the 3-2 away victory against fellow relegation candidates Plymouth Argyle last month, a sweet side-footed volley that showcased high-level technical ability.

....The view at Everton is that Armstrong, who is already comfortably over 6ft (183cm), is ready to compete physically at the top level. He has put on muscle since arriving at Derby and has a clear competitive edge.

He can play — one neat touch and turn in midfield on Tuesday brought applause from all corners of Pride Park — but he also wants to dominate opponents. There were multiple occasions where he left a leg or arm in to make his presence known in challenges with Burnley players.

“He’s been excellent,” the Derby manager told The Athletic in Tuesday’s post-match press conference. “He’s maturing into a very good player. There’s still a lot that he needs to learn but he’s 18 and that was his seventh start.... It’s just his level of concentration. In his defensive roles, he’s very good. He’s got a lovely touch and is getting more involved in our build-up play now as well.

“He’s got a calming influence on the rest of the team. He knows where to put his foot on the ball and play. You can see he’s being educated very well. Harrison’s going to have a huge future, I’m sure. It’s nice that he’s a part of Derby County at the moment and we’ll keep helping him on his journey.”

The writer, Paddy Boyland, speculates that Armstrong may be in the England side for the Euro U-19s in June, and that he'll be given a chance to earn a first-team place, depending who we sign this summer.

For me, it's hard to imagine Moyes giving big minutes to an 18-year-old, and he might be better off with another season in the Championship.

The lads at City are mostly a different class to what we have and have represented England from young ages.

If Armstrong got 25+ starts at Derby (or elsewhere) in Championship or Erededivisie next season I think that would be very beneficial for his development. Let’s see how Moyes rates him.

I don't think we've released anyone we really should have kept but there is a quarterly argument about Antony Robinson along those lines.

Dave, since I've been watching, our top class youth products have been Ball, Jeffers, Rodwell, Barkley, Rooney, Gordon and probably Dunne (all of whom debuted at 16 or 17 I think) and maybe Robinson (who had a loan at Wigan).

Unsworth, McCann, Anichebe, Hibbert, Osman all had good careers too.

The world cup winners - JJK, Connolly and Dowell have all struggled (although Dowell was extremely talented).

In recent years we have lost our best academy prospect - Ismail Samuels-Smith - to Chelsea, because we were skint and needed the £4.5m. Lienou and Lawrence have gone to City too.

Off topic, but as Robert mentioned Michael Ball, he will be in St Luke's with the Everton Heritage Society before the match against City on Saturday for those interested. He will be there to meet fellow Evertonians from 1:30pm.

Robert, like many, I wanted Jonjoe to succeed. I watched him more for Schalke than Everton and he just didn't have that top drawer quality. I think he's still at Hertha Berlin.

I remember Jose Baxter coming through making his debut at 16 and was around for a few years he was encouraged by Moyes who offered him a new two year contract with his wages reduced by fifty per cent, Jose packed the game in with disgust, Alan Stubbs revived his career by getting him to Oldham Ath. not long after he sold to Sheffield Unt. for a decent fee, let himself down later on but that’s another story.

It needs a lot more than ability to succeed these days.

He's not the same as our former player Nkounkou though - who seems to be a bit part squad player for a very well assembled Frankfurt side.

Too late to be crying over spilt milk but what a bleedin’ period we all went through —— Thanks Kenwright, Moshiri ( who was eaten alive), Martinez, Koeman, Allardyce, and that blind as a bat chief scout Walsh —others came later but didn’t have any money to spend!

I think we made small profits on him and Lookman if we had managed to hold onto them we would have made a lot more!

Is he a Michael Owen type, Franny Jeffers, more importantly, is he quick?