Everton start new U17 Premier League Cup with a win

The U17's are losing 1-0 to Burnley at Finch Farm, to a Michael Mellon goal, this is a cup game, we are in a group of four.

Stan Mills has equalised for Everton, Stan might be Danny Mills's son, not sure.

Now 3-1 to Everton with Stan Mills getting his second and Tom Cannon getting the third.

Everton finished winning 3-1, Wigan beat Man Utd 3-2, they are the other two teams in Everton's group. All this information is from another Everton website, which I have very kindly transferred to ToffeeWeb!!!

Where did you get the updates, Dave? Don't tell me you went hoping to get a game!

Brent (11), next door to ToffeeWeb, Grandoldteam, a fella named Ring master supplies all the information week after week, he never fails, although I must say I'm absolutely brilliant at transferring the information, don't you think?

Dave, your value-rating is next to none!

Brent (13), next to none is one... you trying to be bleedin' funny!!

Ah you're too smart for me. I'm only 0.5.

Brent (15), that's alright then, just remember your place.

Thanks for the diligent snooping, Dave.

I'd been searching t'interweb trying to find what had happened to the Premier League Cup... and here it is.

This format should please those amongst us who object to older players getting games for the Academy sides. Although it seems the U16s had a separate completion and that is now gone? So where are they going to get gametime?

Once they're done with the group games, the winner of each group plus the one best runner-up will advance to the knockout stages. There will be quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final, all of which will be one-legged games to decide the champion.

I guessed that the unidentified goalie is Jak Stewart, but it could be someone even younger who is not listed on the more accessible websites.

Stan Mills is indeed the son of Danny Mills and looks very like him, just with hair.

Seems that we signed him from Leeds when he was 14.

I was expecting a younger team if it's supposed to cover U16 as well. All 10 first years started so at least they got a game, I thought Tom Cannon would have been too old!

We've got two highly rated attacking players at U16 who I was hoping would get a game, it'll be interesting to see who the subs were.

Phill - exactly right. By playing anyone over the age of 16 in this competition is simply stifling the progress of an up and coming 15 year old. Imagine being 15 and knowing that you'll never feature for the U17's. It's yet another obstacle that, with his new role, has to be laid squarely at the feet of Unsworth.

A Blues team has won this week - Hurrah. Good luck to the Women on Saturday in the Cup Final v the Gunners. COYB Ladies !!

I hope that's you wearing your Antony Kelly outfit, Kevin @14!

Yea, it's Unsworth's fault that the FA decided to combine these two competitions and block progress for 16- and 15-year-olds. In fact, why didn't Unsworth give the U14s a shot? Imagine how they feel...

I don't see the same logic in what you are both saying Kevin and Michael, because this is a cup competition and not something that is going to be played every week.

One of the biggest gripes people have about academy and under 18's through to 23's football, is that it sometimes lacks proper competition, and all this process development, sometimes forgets about this very important aspect of the sport.

Phill, who has his eye on the younger teams, possibly more than anyone on this website, says we played a very competitive team age wise, so maybe Everton are just taking this competition seriously?

The kids who might find it a bit harder playing a year up, also get a chance at playing in their own age group, which might just give them a bit more confidence, especially if they can win?

Kevin #14, that is not exactly what I was saying. We played all 10 of the 1st year Scholars (assuming Michael is right about Jak Stewart). They would have been 16 on 1st September, that means they all had a chance to start and play together particularly those who haven't started much for the U18s.

I do hope we start playing some U16s, but for all I know they may have come on from the bench, they have someone our U18s or U23s lack – a kid with a double-barrelled name, every team should have one!

Just to add to the U16 comments, England U16 have a squad meeting this week (half term?) and at least one Everton player is there, probably more, so it's likely some of our best U16 players weren't available last night. The club have a long-standing policy of rarely releasing names or much info on our schoolboy players, so we're unlikely to learn much, which is acceptable given their age.

Tony,

It is interesting that, for some reason, the spotlight has been shone very critically on the age of players appearing for our academy teams. This is a pretty recent thing.

For many years, I have documented the successes and failures of these sides here on ToffeeWeb with barely a thought to the whys and wherefores of team selection, trusting (perhaps naively) that the staff at Finch Farm had this covered.

Now, since the end of last season, a seed has been sown and a fair few people have posted on many subsequent threads to express the notion that we are playing too many older players at any given level, and that they are 'blocking the advancement of younger players' in a quest for winning games at the expense of bringing the players on. Really? As if these were somehow mutually exclusive goals for the Academy.

I can only think it's the skillset that gives some people expert abilities in Football Manager or Fantasy Football which enables then to second-guess the professionals who are making these decisions. I know everyone on the pre-game threads likes to pick 'their' team but this is different as it seems to be done as knowing and scathing criticism that is backed by fact... when surely it is little more than an opinion which will then employ confirmation bias in its support.

The game is about playing and winning. Everton have already backed out of one Academy competition, the EFL trophy, citing 'fixture congestion'. And perhaps that was the reason for combining the U16 and U18 Premier League Cup competitions this season, to help manage the compressed schedule. We shall see if they are reinstated next season or not.

Meanwhile... I can't seem to locate anything on the U23 Premier League Cup competition for this season. I suppose technically we are still the 'holders' as the finals were cancelled last season, after Reading knocked us out.

On the website I quoted last night you can catch Tom Cannon's goal, it might be the best goal you will see all season, although the pictures are not perfect.

Michael,

Part of this may be the fact that David Unsworth has been around for six years now, so to a certain extent there will be criticism of some aspects of his systems at times. He has though become a marmite type character - you either love him or hate him, which I think is wrong and prevents people looking objectively at him.

Ironically, last season we had our youngest teams at both U18 and U23 for many years, a point I made a few times, yet people pick out the odd name they recognise, Google his age and that's their opinion formed. Why this has happened so much recently is puzzling. The shame for me is that it rarely produces reasoned comment on what should have been done different, which youngsters are being held back etc.

On a similar tack, a few games ago our U23s had a complete squad of players who had played for our U18s, that is very unusual for a club our size as a few “ bought in” players are normally involved. We do of course have a number of players bought in to improve the squad notably, Branthwaite, Nkounkou, Jagne this year, but I thought it was an interesting fact re our ability to at least develop U18s to U23s level. The move up to first team is of course another huge step.

Fair points, Michael, but I just didn't think it needed to be said initially because nobody had actually mentioned Unsworth, until Kevin, in a roundabout way, decided to defend him, for something that hadn't been said on this thread.

I personally think the academy, right through until the first team, should be only about developing players, but everyone knows the more good players you have, the more chance you should have of winning games, so these things usually go hand in hand?

It's hard, some players look great, then stop developing for any number of reasons, (Benni & especially Galloway come to mind) but others get played at a higher level and keep improving like Calvert-Lewin, and you could argue that Unsworth has repaid Everton enough, just on this one player alone?

The U18's got beat again 2-0 by Iddlesborough, the first time they have failed to score in two successive games in a long time.

Also news that Tom Cannon has yet to sign a professional contract with a couple of clubs abroad showing interest in him. News as usual from another website by another Everton fan Grand master.

Kevin @ 14. I read your comments, get incensed, then realise it's you on the wind-up again.

Anyway, looks a good result - and looks like a team with a depth of quality too.

Stan Mills seems like a player.