Youth system — Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

Personally I can't wait for Kieran Dowell to break through. He looks a class act.

Good luck to them all – the more the merrier.

I have the same high hopes that you do.

One of the many reasons that EFC makes us proud. Long live the academy success.

However, you see more defenders/midfielders having the opportunity and mistakes are more easily forgiven and quicker to get back into flow.

I have seen some cracking players, and in my view the two most likely to break through are Antonee Robinson -– he has electric pace, a great reading of the game and two good feet. Liam Walsh would be the other one, and great to see him back on the teamsheet for U23 last night.

I hope I am wrong on Kieran, but the same was said about Conor McAleny, James Vaughan etc.

It is so hard to know for certain which youngsters will fulfill their talent; the silky George Green and JP Kissock practically drop out of the game whilst midfield also-ran Hibbert gets a chance at Barkley and goes on to cause a riot (sort of, in a friendly).

I watched Hallum Hope top the scoring charts in the Milk cup (14 or 15 years of age) in successive years and thought the sky was his limit but it didn't work here for him.

There is good news however; the club has a crop of kids on the cusp of the first team who just stand out as possessing more fire than average. Perhaps it is coincidence and innate, perhaps it is a credit to the immense work put into them by Sheeds and Unsy, but it is patently there and I would love to see them come through at Everton rather than drop down to come back up as I'd bet anything they would.

It's all well and good bringing in the best coaches, but if they don't have the history it can lack the underlying desire to do well for the club as opposed to self-ratification.

Having the likes of Unsy, Sheeds or Joe Ebbrell and many others, is fantastic option for the club.

Yet, the Everton Under-23s are not increasing the possibilities of others playing for the 1st team, but following FA rules to have such a team without any real need, because the Everton squad and reserve teams used to fulfill the aspirations of up and coming younger players.

But what has made Tom Davies suddenly so selectable when just a few weeks before Christmas Koeman pronounced that he and others mentioned above were "not ready"?

It makes me wonder just how much dialogue there is between the manager and David Unsworth. On the basis of what we are seeing and hearing, not a lot methinks?

From – Liam Walsh, JonJo Kenny, Dowell, Callum Connolly, Gallagher – hopefully a couple more will make it with our first team. I re-call 1984 when suddenly we had a crop of young players (admittedly not all from the academy, several were acquired on the cheap from other lesser clubs) who suddenly all became internationals at the same time.

Sadly most don't make it through – but it seems we have a chance of outperforming with this current generation. In particular I can see (dream of) Kenny and Connolly being the eventual replacement for Baines and Coleman as wing backs – with Walsh and Davies dominating midfields for both England and Everton for years to come. I agree, it may be harder for strikers to come through; hopefully we've bought a golden ticket in young Lookman or Calvert-Lewin

Okay, at his age Ball was playing first team and international football but his continuous movement and harrying is, like Ball, married to great skill, an eye for the killer pass, and a very good eye for goal.

Maybe, ridiculous as it sounds, we've ended up producing too many outstanding youngsters and that for some their pathways will end up being blocked not by seasoned pros but by fellow Unsworth graduates. So, for example, can anyone seriously see Koeman selecting a side with Walsh alongside Davies?

Also JonJoe Kenny Callum Connolly, Antonee Robinson, Kieran Dowell, Harry Charsley. The list goes on and on... apologies to some I may have missed.

Great future lies ahead for these lads. COYB

His level of performances too have been quietly, consistently great. Why not give him a chance this season?

We have always produced young players, there have been some fine ones like Osman & Rooney, lots of average ones who have been sold and earnt the club good money, and a load of lesser talents who went on to have good careers further down the leagues. If there is one part of our club that has consistently produced, it is the academy.

COYBs

It is clearly the last step that is the biggest for these lads.

I hope Dowell goes the way of Davies and Barkley. I hope Robinson, Pennington and Connolly do, too; but it's unlikely they all will.

Imagine if in 3 years time we had 6 academy grads in the first team. Unheard of in modern times.

Be great, though!

Okay, maybe one cap wonders like Jack Rodwell, Francis Jeffers, David Unsworth and Michael Ball might not the legends we desire, but the academy is doing it's job very well when there is a stream of players of this quality coming from at least every other year.

If the academy produces a player of England quality at least every other year, then that saves us a load of money, and more importantly for me, it keeps Everton, Everton.

I just hope Koeman and his successors continue to be strong enough to pick them and continue to keep a place in the 16 for a teenager or two.

I assume that's why we let Ledson go. I would have thought it was the US guy who said he wasn't hitting the marks.

He said: 'The life expectancy of a Football League Manager is 17 months, so it is unlikely there will be anyone in the academy who can keep me in a job'.

I am guessing that the life expectancy is shorter now, so you can understand why statistically, Academy players, rarely make the grade at the Club they get taught to play at. Interestingly he lasted 30 months!