U23s complete the double thanks to Feeney's winner

Great to see the u23's having such a great season though. Delighted whether they win or not.

No doubt there will be others who will have more up-to-date devices to keep you in the loop. I will post after I get back home if no-one hasn't already done so.

I would imagine like the last one, it will be on YouTube so you should be able to pick up something. Cheers mate, and come on you young Blues.

Link

BTW Lewis Gibson is playing against his brother Liam, a starting FB for the barcodes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziwl8XCFtKA

Glad the boys are looking good.

Josh Bowler head and shoulders above everybody else on the park.

Also highest marks for Virginia -- a powerhouse who is ready to replace Stek in my opinion -- and Astley, who has preternatural presence at 17 and reminds me of Stones with his potential.

WELL DONE LADS.

Is that champagne those kids are popping???

You can guarantee if Liverpool U23’s has done the double there’d be features of who’s going to make it next on all sites wholeness hailing their remarkable academy.

Congratulations to all involved, by the sounds of it a lot of them have really come on as players in the last 6 months.

My tips for the future at a decent level:

Virginia, Feeney, Gibson, Astley, Adenerin, Bowler, Hornby, Gordon.

If we get the transition between U23’s and the first team right, we could have a very promising future.

This should, however, be the last we ever see of Galloway. The side's most experienced player was also its worst -- zero impact going forward and made two critical mistakes at the back when we were protecting that one-goal lead in the late minutes. Whatever we saw a few years ago is long gone. He will be too.

Peter, one guy who doesn't need to bulk up is Virginia. That kid is a physical specimen.

Re Hornby, we certainly saw today why he only scored four goals this season.

Enjoy your trip to Cumbria Geoff. It's forecast to stop raining in August mate, be lovely when it does.

EFC (U23) do the double this season. lets hope it's two more than that shower over the road.

My pleasure, Andy. And my clients thought I was working today. Hah!

Gibson and Bowler look the standouts to me though interesting that the latter did not have much impact in first half of the season. Think Unsie has said he was not fit enough. Astley is very young which bodes well for him.

A few of them will definitely get chances in pre-season and Brands is on record as saying he wants to bring the age and wage budget of the squad down.

Have to agree with Dave A too, while the result was right it wasn't the best game of football to be honest. First half we gave them far too much room, and they had 3 or 4 corners before we had one in their half, and often lived too dangerously throughout.

The ref must have been wearing 'Crocodile Shoes' because he seemed to give most decisions in favour of the Barcodes. It was nice to see Moshiri and Kenwright there to congratulate the lads at the end.

Would be good to see some of those lads step up in the future, but I believe Josh Bowler and Virginia are ready now to be included with the first team training, the others didn't impress as much as those two did.

Shame how Galloway and Garbut turned out, along with a few others that didn’t make that step up. It’s a once in a generation type thing to expect so many youngsters to make the grade. Like Utd in the 90’s... and maybe the Ajax team this season that’s already being ripped apart as we speak, type and breath.

Anyway, well done to the lads, Unsworth and all the staff and good on Brands and Moshiri for turning up too...btw, who presented the Cup?

On cups but off topic; How tacky or what? The P.L. are going to have, one set of cups and medals at the rs game and one set at the City game. How many have they got? A cupboard full? Which is the real one, which the copy, or do they have a new one every season?

I said it not as a criticism (some are still teenagers) but only to caution against calling to 'throw them into the first team'. I also had a hearty chortle at how far you reached back for some examples of skinny wizards. Players as small as Bernard and D Silva are rare, but you'd be surprised how strong they are compared to the youngsters. Neither I suspect would make a decent centre-half.

Maybe we will see a few of these pre-season.

As Dave and Derek have mentioned, it wasn’t a classic. We were quite uninspiring, passing the ball round slowly and often sideways, before playing a longish ball to the forwards (not exactly launching it, but not far off).

There has been much praise for Bowler, I found him to be rather McFaddenesque, skilful but frustrating, but I accept I am out of step with the opinions of others on here whose thoughts I respect. He came into the game more in the second half, as space opened up.

Adeniran was the best outfield player to me, if Mike is correct about him lacking speed the pace of the game may have suited him.

Virginia looked very confident.

The lads played well as a team, there was a good spirit about them. Both teams looked whacked at the end, many congratulations to the boys for bringing trophies to the club.

Agreed, it wasn't much of a spectacle and the boys are better than that.

Funny you describe Bowler as rather 'McFaddenesque' because midway through the second half the memory of 'the Scottish Rooney' popped into my head when Bowler went off on one of his runs. There was something in his gait, his build, that triggered the memory, but I didn't think of the association as a derogatory one to the lad. I thought he was head and shoulders above everyone else on the park and when I have had the chance to watch him, he makes things happen. He works tirelessly for the team and doesn't neglect his defensive duties, which is what he will need if he is going to catch Silva's eye, the way the Portuguese sets up his teams.

Conversely, I read a lot of people talk up Adeniran and he seldom impresses me. Again last night, I thought he and Markelo never really stamped their authority on the game or take control of the midfield.

Opinions, eh? Always fascinating to compare how others see players.

I do enjoy listening to, and reading about, other people’s opinions of players. As Jay says, it’s fascinating. I get it right occasionally, but the first time I saw Seamus, in a reserve derby, I confidently predicted he would not make a Premier League footballer as long as I had a hole in my ear. And I defended Jack Rodwell for a long time, despite that famous warning about him needing to be a bit more Kirkdale, a bit less Birkdale.

I’ve been sticking up for DCL - I hope it’s not the kiss of death for the lad.

Portuguese-English translator, eh? Sowing the seed of an idea on how to convince me Brazilian missus about the idea of moving back to Liverpool.

Got as much chance as seeing a piranha fly, sadly.

Mrs. Wood, give Liverpool a chance, it hasn’t half changed since Jay left, maybe that’s one of the reasons, it’s lovely now, I think you would like it a lot, come on holiday for a month and see for yourself, you will not want to go home. You will not need a reference to live here, Jay might need five or six !!!

Actually, our return there in September 2017 - my first visit in nearly 20 odd years - was an eye-opener. I think I wrote on here at the time how great the city was looking these days. Senhora Wood was mightily impressed.

And finally...Dang! So you were talking up Virginia as a goalie, not me. You gave me a glimmer of hope there for a moment, Dave...I thought I was still in with a chance of wearing the Everton colours for the first time, aged 63 and counting!

I'm in good nick for me age - no fatty William Foulke! (or indeed Big Nev by the time he was squeezing into a Bradford shirt in the latter days of his career) - but I think I'd have to concede that even Jordan Pickford would be quicker off his line to claim more high balls than I could manage.

As for our trip, we had about a week in Liverpool with family and old mates and took in another 5-6 must-visit locations to all points of the compass (must-visit to see other family and friends) during the remainder of our time.

Naturally, in Liverpool those we visited were mostly of the Blue hue, but it was striking - especially to the missus - that out and about, in shops, pubs, restaurants and the like - chatting with total strangers, the overwhelming majority were Evertonians.

Many parents still raising their kids proper, then!

Any volunteers, or nominations..???!!!

Agree about Liverpool though, we’ve got our share of nutters, but making strangers feel at home, we’re not bad at that at all.