Everton U21s beat Benfica to progress in International Cup

So I have to ask: Why don't Everton?

And maybe the answer is that they do for the EFL Trophy games, perhaps because they are against real League One and Two club sides, where the Everton appearances are 'official' despite them still in effect being the U21s.

All Benfica so far...

Well done to the linesman, excellent positioning.

2-1

The right winger for them is a confident technical player. Hopefully Thelwell is preparing the contract offer...

I'm sure this sounds odd, but I just can't square that thing of beauty with where we are right now on and off the pitch.

Mind you, that seems to be the case for most Everton forwards these days!

A few comments in case anyone is interested based on my viewing (from about 35 mins).

Crellin: didn't have a lot to do but handled set pieces and back passes well.

Young: didn't get involved much.

Hunt: one of our best players on the night. Played as a kind of Zinchenko style inverted full back, moving infield with the ball rather than hugging the touchline. Good range of passing, technique and seems to be improving defensively. He's come on a lot in the past 12 months.

Welch: a bit disappointing in possession but did his job defensively. Was expecting a bit more from someone with experience out on loan, albeit not at a very high standard.

Campbell: a bit better in possession and also stout defensively. I always think he does well although never seems to get the plaudits.

Metcalfe: not as crisp when in possession as usual but under a lot of pressure when on the ball. He did very well without the ball / screening the defence.

John: didn't really make much impression on the game.

Djankpata: skilful in patches and pressed well. Didn't really get into the game though.

Chermiti: probably our best player. Presses well from the front, anticipated loose back-passes twice, does well winning headers in both boxes, holds up the ball and wins possession when surrounded by defenders. Nice deft one touch passes too.

Dobbin: flip-flopped between excellent and poor even within the same moments. Sometimes does hard things well; followed by easy things poorly. Frustrating but he caused them all sorts of problems for a spell in the first half particularly.

McAllister: you could make a good case for him to be our best player over Chermiti. He has developed into a decent midfield general and was on the ball a lot, and got through a lot of hard work in midfield too. Chermiti pipped it for me because McAllister just didn't use the ball well enough.

Kouyate: similarly frustrating to Dobbin, failing to do the simple things that would have been more effective. However, he also caused them problems for the time he was on the pitch.

Whitaker: like Michael says, nice to see him back.

Overall, I think the whole side needs to use the ball better because I think they have the ability but just don't look confident progressing the ball up the pitch.

Very much a mirror image of the senior team, fairly solid in defence but midfield passing (?) and giving the ball away, only to win it back again happened too often.

My observation, by the way, but as Paul Ferry said, we are through, move on!

Thelwell was watching. I wonder what he makes of it. I'd love to know. Perhaps it's early doors for the lad but he wasn't there to impress.

The lad's light-years away from the first team. He needs a loan next season just to get games.

We do seem to consistently fail in these dips into the unknown market abroad, trouble is for a club now with limited finance's, it's happening all too often.

Beto another, at £25 million, will he ever give us a return on that outlay?

On Beto, it was also all about the very low up front payment. He's the sort of quality you get for an established striker who costs only £25m (which is a small fee when you consider what hit and miss young talents like Hojlund and Isak cost).