Everton U18s hammered at Middlesbrough

More of the same as with U23s, a really young team getting beat. From the outfield players , only Mallon and Jagne are 17, the rest including the bench are 15 or16.

Of the schoolboys, Butler is a new name, Jacob Beaumont-Clark is a highly rated attacker, with England youth appearances.
The other Schoolboys are Apte, right sided midfield attacker and Martin Sherif, big no 9 who scored last week.
Hang on in there kids, it’ll come right!

I wonder if people inside the club will be talking behind Marcel Brands's back over his idea of trying to fast-track the younger players after the way both the Under-18s and Under-23s have opened the season, Phill?

I hope not, Tony. The only thing that's surprised me is our lack of bringing in good players from other clubs at 16-18 who could supplement both U18 and U23 sides.

It's down to Paul Tait and his coaches at U18 and Unsworth at U23 to work it out. As we've said elsewhere, 6 months can see significant changes at these levels, particularly in players who've never trained full time before.

Having the U18s being mainly first year Scholars and Schoolboys and U23s mainly 2nd year Scholars is for me a great model. It's taken two years to get there, I'm sure it will come right again this season.

It's a bit early to judge the younger line-ups, isn't it, Tony? Maybe see how it's looking at 6-month intervals for a couple of years. As we've seen at Man City and Chelsea, youth development is a long-term game.

Certainly agree with Phill though. Once our youth transfer ban ended, I expected a few signings to supplement this group. Like the RS have done to good effect with Brewster, Ibe, Sterling and more recently Gordon from Derby.

Not everyone from other academies will turn out to be a Sterling or Sancho but even an Ejaria can bring in revenue from loans and sales.

Like Phill says, Robert, I hope there are no such thoughts going on, and this is part of a long thought out process. But if players only love you when they're playing, then managers only usually love you, when they are winning!

I think it looks like both teams, could do with a little bit more experience to help bring them along, but as you both say, it's still very early days, which is hopefully how they're currently viewing it at Finch Farm.