The Everton Under 21s took on their Leicester City counterparts on a very cold Friday night at Walton Hall Park. They lined up as the team-sheet below, some notable absentees in Braiden Graham and Callum
Bates. They, like “senior U21 players” Reece Welch and Eli Campbell, were all destined to be in David Moyes’ heavily depleted first team squad for the FA Cup game against Sunderland on the Saturday.
Another key absentee was manager Paul Tait (main picture) who was having to sit this one out in the stands due to a recent red card he received. Peter Cavanagh and Nick Chadwick were the coaches on the touchline. The Blues welcomed back Jack Patterson after a 3 game suspension and there were starts for two youngsters who have impressed, Malik Olayiwola and Demi Akarakiri. It was a familiar 4-2-3-1 formation.
The Blues started quite brightly, Ebere getting a header away but straight at the goalkeeper and the high press was forcing a succession of errors by the beleaguered Foxes defenders.
It was perhaps a sign of things to come however, when a slack 12th minute Patterson pass across his own area was only saved by a heroic block from Blues’ captain Will Tamen. Twelve minutes later, George Pickford parried a shot out and the Foxes’ forward Motsi was quickest to react and Pickford was comprehensively beaten by his shot, 0-1.
Just 6 minutes later, a calamitous 2nd was conceded as Pickford wanted too much time to control a throw back to him by Luca Davis. A block on him by Foxes’ striker Otchere bobbled over the line before Aled Thomas could clear it, 0-2.
There were encouraging signs of a comeback when great persistence by Davis on the right wing saw Kingsford Boakye strike the crossbar from the full back’s pass. There were fleeting moments of inspiration but too often there was one careless pass in the move and it remained 0-2 at the break.
The second half showed a lot more huff and puff from the Blues but in truth there were so few clear chances, the closest being an Omari Benjamin glancing header which went narrowly wide.
In all, it was a disappointing and disjointed night for the Toffees. They’re usually collectively better than they showed and they will, I am sure, put it behind them.
Meanwhile at Under 18 level, one of the promising youngsters Amari Moses, has signed his first professional deal with the club until June 2028, plenty of time for him to make progress and impress.
Next up for Paul Tait’s team is a visit to the Midlands to play Birmingham City on January 16th before, 4 days later, another in the exciting series of games in the Premier League International Cup against Germany’s RB Leipzig.
The U21 clash against Birmingham takes place the same night as the U18s seek to progress to the next round of the FA Youth Cup against West Ham United. No doubt Braiden Graham and one or two others will sit the U21 game out
