Everton youth teams now 'more direct, less sanitised'

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EVERTON Under-18s coach Paul Tait says the club's Academy is at the forefront of a move away from 'sanitised' football towards a more direct style of play.

Tait, whose side are second in Premier League North, told the Liverpool Echo: “I’m doing my English Pro-Licence at the moment and there are a lot of U23s coaches on that who are talking about changing their philosophy to more direct play.

“There has definitely been a change in trend and a lot of teams are seeing the value in direct play, second balls, defending the back post, these type of things.



“We’ve been a little bit ahead of the game in that respect because we’ve always looked at the individuals. So [centre forward] Fraser Hornby, when he’s in the team, we hit diagonal balls and drop balls in; we put balls in the box wherever possible to develop him for the next level.