Everton U21s lose big at Manchester United today

Guessing Einar Iversen is injured after he was subbed in the first half last time out.

Guessing Luke Butterfield has relapsed after coming back from a long injury absence to play in three Premier League Cup games back in December. Not been seen since.

I know it's been said before, but this seems to be less about winning games and more about giving young ones their chance earlier, not renewing contracts of those who are not going to make it at the next level (John already in that category? Anderson gone? etc…).

For those who watch regular, how is Okoronkwo shaping up? I keep seeing his name a lot.

Very few ever make it at Everton or Premier League level, and the very rare ones that do will go for astronomical prices.

Still think Anthony Gordon will be playing for Norwich or Blackburn in another 3 years somehow…

I watched Duncan Ferguson's Forest Green yesterday. Sometimes it really is a man's game in those lower leagues. Onayango, who is a proper big lad, started well, should have scored, and pulled his thigh muscle in the process. In games like this, I don't know how a young player like Price would actually get any benefits. We will see…

I'm all for toughening up our teenagers in men's football but what they really need is an education in playing football properly. Onyango is unlikely to kick in by scrapping at the bottom of the third tier.

Branthwaite has found a good place to develop at PSV. He's learning how to play Champions League style football, rather than how to cope with being elbowed by Troy Deeney.

Price has probably learned all he ever will from academy football. Maybe a stint at a lesser club in the Eredivisie would do him more good than a spell at Port Vale or Fleetwood, say.

Ps. Jim, it's a shame we will not see Gordon as a wide midfielder in a well-structured 4-4-1-1 under Dyche. He's a good player – another like Branthwaite capable of playing Champions League style football. I suspect he'll do just fine.

But I also remember playing on those fields in Mossley Hill as a 17-year-old in a man's team and getting smashed by proper "arl-arses" but then being congratulated at the end.

Your ability takes you so far, but you have to earn the right to play football and stand up to be counted.

It's a great experience for players to go and experience different leagues and cultures. Something, in my opinion, that English players haven't done enough over the years, whereas those from other countries have always done.

Young Bellingham certainly seems to have benefitted from it at Dortmund. And Jonjoe Kenny seems to have found his place in the Bundesliga.