It might seem an odd thing to say on the back of a 5th consecutive defeat for Paul Tait’s Everton Under-21 squad, but they actually played really well at Finch Farm on Friday afternoon against Aston Villa.
The team lined up as below with the returning Will Tamen as captain:
After playing an ineffective 3-5-2 formation against Tamworth in midweek, the young Blues lined up in an even more unfamiliar 4-1-4-1 with Jack Patterson as the anchor in midfield and hotshot Braiden Graham as the lone centre-forward.
It was fairly end-to-end and entertaining stuff as Everton, without particularly penetrating a solid Villa backline, played lots of very skillful football in midfield, Francis Gomez and the two wingers Joel Catesby and Justin Clarke all looking very lively.
After watching the attention-seeking referee in the Tamworth game on Tuesday, I feared for the worst when, against Villa, George Finney (17th minute) and Jack Patterson (21st minute) were shown yellow cards for fairly innocuous tackles.
Two minutes after that second booking, the Midlanders’ Burrowes, who looked extremely quick and impressive throughout the game, cut in from the right of centre and fired a low drive past George Pickford. If I was being hypercritical I’d question our ‘keeper’s starting position, but the lively forward deserved his luck and, of course, Pickford is still learning at this level, 0-1.
Just 3 minutes later, against the run of play, the Villa ‘keeper aimed a long punt towards the Blues’ goal and, unfortunately, Tamen lost his footing as he aimed to head the ball and allowed Burrowes again to keep his composure and score past Pickford to make it 0-2.
Going in at 0-2 might have been the preferred option as the half drew to a close but, sadly, another ball near the halfway line landed at Tamen’s feet and his mis-control allowed a breakaway. This time it was Brannigan who capitalised on another unforced error, 0-3 at the interval.
No doubt fearful that the Toffees would go down to 10 men with the referee having set an unfortunate tone, Tait made the brave half-time decision to bring Omari Benjamin, a striker, in for Jack Patterson the holding midfielder. This had the knock-on effect of dropping the free-scoring Braiden Graham into midfield and Callum Bates became the anchor. The Blues looked much better for it with Benjamin adding a bit more physicality up front, Graham finding more space and Bates able to dictate play from deeper. Clarke and Catesby also swapped wings. They were highly effective coaching decisions.
The Toffees were really turning up the pressure in the early stages of the second half as Clarke, Benjamin and especially Catesby were swarming past the Villans’ defence. The pressure told when Tamen and Catesby set up Graham 25 yards out and he slalomed nicely past several Villa defenders to bring the Blues back into the game, 1-3.
The Blues continued to press although they needed Pickford to be at his best and, to be fair to the skipper Will Tamen, he recovered well from those two early mistakes to be a tower of strength at the back.
With 14 minutes remaining, the dominant Blues pulled the scoreline back as Benjamin, who had done well in pressing the visitors’ defence, recovered the ball and set up fellow substitute Jacob Beaumont-Clark to fire home under pressure, 2-3.
That scoreline was how it finished. It was a really good game in spite of the efforts of referee who booked six players (four Blues) in a game which was at best competitive but never dirty.
Pick of the players in my view was Joel Catesby. The 18 year old winger from nearby Birkenhead has seen injuries stall his progress over the last 18 months, but he looks to be over them and his ability to play very comfortably on both flanks will hopefully serve him well. He is two-footed, quick, skillful, strong and, for me, most impressive is his hunger and determination off the ball as well as with it.
Others worthy of mention on the day were Francis Gomez, very composed and combative, Justin Clarke for some dazzling skills and Braiden Graham for scoring goals, that’s his 5th of the season so far.
Special mention too for 15 year old attacking midfielder Jonathan Nsangou who came on as a substitute in the 2nd half and looked skillful and confident.
Next up for the U21s is away to Middlesbrough on Friday September 26th. Hopefully this bad run of results will see a turnaround that the form actually deserves!
