What went wrong for Everton Under 18s against Wolves?What went wrong as Blues lost 8-0 and why they're likely to bounce back. Adam Jones explains
Nathan Broadhead, Michael Donohue and Delial Brewster in action for Everton u-18s - but crucially striker Brewster was missing on Saturday
You may have already read the match report of how Everton's usually barn-storming Under-18s side were humbled at home against Wolverhampton Wanderers .
The league-leaders went in to the match at Finch Farm having lost only once all season, and were in the middle of an eight-game unbeaten run which had seen them collect 22 points.
Wolves, on the other hand, were 20 points behind the Blues at the start of play at the weekend, having won only two of their previous eight games in comparison.
So what happened? Just a remarkably bad day at the office?
Well, basically, yes.It might sound strange to say after an 8-0 defeat, but the Blues' performance on the day was not strikingly bad, there were spells of the match when Everton were on top and could have scored themselves.
The Blues did have players missing that traditionally have been regular starters for their rest of their strong campaign thus far including lead striker Delial Brewster, who was missing from the squad reportedly due to illness.
Centre-backs Josef Yarney and Morgan Feeney, who both started in Everton Under 18s' 2-2 draw with Sunderland in their last game were both also out of the starting line-up.
Callum Lees, who has played at both right back and centre back, came in to the starting 11 and Jack Bainbridge took up his more traditional role at the heart of defence after having played in central midfield against the Mackems.
Jack Bainbridge of Everton u-18s in action
Further forward, Nathan Broadhead and Daniel Bramall returned to the side after being absent in the previous fixture while Shayne Lavery kept his place up front.
However, the Blues never really got in to top gear. On the wings especially, Michael Donohue and Daniel Bramall, who are usually give opposition full-backs nightmares, were starved on service throughout the match as Wolves effectively smothered them.
It's also worth noting that many of the players that Wolves fielded on the day usually line up for their Under-21 side, despite being all under 18 years of age.
The visitors are starting their Youth Cup campaign on Thursday and were keen to see how these players would fare together, and so included players who are used to playing in the higher age bracket.
So it's fair to say that those players were a big factor.
Wolves striker Niall Ennis was just too hot to handleThere's no doubt that the goal barely seconds after kick off from Niall Ennis, who was a thorn in the side of the defence all game, knocked them for six somewhat.
From that point on it was always going to be an uphill task for the young Blues, regardless of who they were playing.
They reacted well to going a goal down and just as they were starting to build up their rhythm they forced the Wolves 'keeper Owen Wheeler in to an important save.
Almost instantly, down the other end, another powerful run and pass across the box led to a tap-in for Nicu Carnat to score the first of his three goals on the day and put the visitors 2-0 up.
Looking back on the match as a whole, that could have been a vital turning point. Perhaps if that chance had found its way in to the back of the net to level the match, it could have been entirely different.
And that was largely the story of the match, Wolves had spells of dominance in which they looked like they would score almost every time they went forward and, to be fair to them, they did.
Michael Donohue in action in a previous clash with Southampton
Whereas, for Everton, every time the young Blues were building up a rhythm and getting ball moving quicker towards their forward players, Wolves would hit them on the break and score to demoralise them.
After getting in to the habit of winning, it was a harsh way for them to be brought back down to earth.
Despite it all the young Blues stayed topThe one plus side? Manchester City Under 18s also lost their second game of the season at the weekend, meaning that Everton maintained their three point lead at the top of the league.
There's not long to try and recover from this result before another tough test comes, with the mini-derby against in-form Liverpool up next on Saturday.
It's a lesson to be learned for the young Blues, but having watched the side throughout the rest of their strong campaign, it's clear to see that they have the quality and desire to learn from it and develop in to an even better team.
Liv Echo
