 Welcome to Toffy TV, joined by John Bladion, thanks for me grabbing it, he was literally going past and I managed to grab him. There's an article in the Athletic, before we carry on, you can visit the link in the description below and you can get a 30 day free trial with the Athletic and then 50% off your yearly subscription which makes you £2.50 a month. Grego Keith, Patrick Boyland, the Everton writers on the Everton focused journalists, can't argue with that can you? So get over and give that a little bit of a check and it's funny John because you've actually tweeted about an article that Patrick Boyland has written in the Athletic box on that. I don't know when it was published but I saw it this morning so I read it because you do. Patrick had written this thing, well this article in the Athletic about, fundamentally I suppose about Tom's not getting a great deal of opportunity and I thought it was good, the article I mean, so I tweeted about it. I paid for that, I just did it. I think the thing with because I thought it was a good article. What Paddy has highlighted there I suppose is that there's been a reduction in Tom's game time over the last couple of years. Well I was passing because I was on my way home, I'd been to see John Banner doing some shareholder stuff in the Wirral and he was mentioning to me that it's like half, is it half what it was the year before? Basically he hasn't done anything. Well this year it's season, he hasn't had anything, but I mean last season the season before it was a big drop off wasn't it? So 2017-18 which is all in the article Paddy has noted. One thousand nine hundred and five minutes in the 17-18 season as opposed to under Marco last season he only had nine hundred and 76 minutes so it was also a thousand, well less than a thousand minutes reduction isn't it? I suppose it's just a little bit more than half. So is he, would you say at the moment, and this is something Paddy says actually in the thing, he's had a fork in the road rarely with his everton career because he's just signed a four year deal not long ago didn't he? In the summer. In the summer, more improved terms and everything else but there's a pathway to the, which is being explained, this career pathway. But then obviously I think about what, as a later the lot of people, not so much the Premier League game so far this season but the fact that he wasn't included for the Lincoln City game away I think a lot of people were like well where is he this is a lad? Well that's right, that's what it explains isn't it because most of us were just naturally when the certain players are not included in the matchday squad for the Premier League and then obviously slightly different when it's in either of the cups. If they're not in it and he was on for the Lincoln game you think oh must be injured being tweaked or whatever and then the manager says no it was tactical. Now tactical, I think he quoted a couple of other players named Bernard and one of them was Sheamus Coleman. But that's tactical as in the sense of arresting them. But he wasn't arresting Tom because he hadn't been playing anyway. And while Tom was 21 in June and sometimes we forget how young he is, I mean one of the challenges I suppose is it almost gets to become if you're not established in a Premier League team by a certain age perhaps you're not going to make it or not there anyway. And when I did the tweet this morning, I think it was this morning, I said you might draw a conclusion from Paddy's article that he needs to leave and I got a fair number of responses and some of those responses I mean in fact I've just read one from a character and if you're watching this and you know who you are I'm actually not, I'm thinking you're not in Evertonia. Because he's only ever responded this guy's are two tweets I've done and both of them have resulted in a slagging off of the Everton player. And in this example this guy has said another player who's simply not good enough. And I think that's wrong because he actually, he being Tom Davis has something which we lack at the moment which we start in Barclays I suppose which somewhere goes that way as prepared to carry the ball and that's what we need. I think there's a conundrum there to be honest. The manager and indeed the director of football and recently the under 21s or whatever his manager saying how great he is. Nice words are nice but you've got to have minutes haven't you. And when I speak to John Van earlier on I was saying well I remember speaking to Kieran, Kieran down a couple of years ago. And because John's saying he needs to go out on loan somewhere. But John attached to that he needs to go out on loan if he's not going to get a game. I think the issue is the manager thinks he is going to get a game because that's why they've not sent him out on loan. But when I spoke to Kieran a couple of years ago he said and he knew he had to go out on loan because that's predominantly what he's been doing. It has to be the loan to the right club. So I think I'm assuming that in August time our view very much was yes we've just signed this line up for longer. He's going to get game time but we've subsequently perhaps gone out and bought midfield players. We're always going to get Gomez. Delph's there isn't he. JP's injured so that might make it even more difficult for Tom to go anywhere because we're a man down. And I think as the article rightly says if you start and I think the articles crafted quite well because it talks and leaves the audience or the reader to make their own conclusion. Hence mine was he needs to leave but not necessarily permanently. Because he's down shnidling on the peccan order as well. I think the thing what I found with Tom is he's played over 80 times for everyone 21. Just 21. June wasn't it. June it was. So I think he's got a lot to offer. I really do think he'll continue to improve. The problem he will have is obviously like we've just said there's those three players but it's also convincing a manager where to play him. I think he is in all action midfield down. I feel as though potentially he's better as you said before going that way as opposed to being a defensive midfield player. But I think he's just played him sitting in front of the back four for the 21s. He was captain last week against Turkey in Istanbul. He was brilliant when he was captain the other day against Kosovo I think it was and he said he was exceptional so. In the role that he failed at if you like at home to Tottenham. Whether he's been a victim of it didn't hang together there. We can all try and second guess can't we. That's why the article is quite good I think because it leaves the audience or the reader to make their own judgements. But you've just nailed it. Where do you play him? Where do you play him? If we go by a year-ish ago or whenever it was not quite that long is it. The manager thinks I've got better defensive midfield options than Tom. So you really who would you say is competing against defensive midfield wise. He's competing against Schneidlin, Delft perhaps. But no one else is a pure defensive style midfield player. But he's injured. So it's two plus one who's injured. But that means the manager was thinking as soon as we decide to keep Schneidlin you know the plus one is Schneidlin isn't it. So then you say well if you're not going to play him in that role it's the attacking midfield type role. And as I think the article mentions it he then bumped straight up against Sigarton doesn't he. So when fans start thinking that through and say ok you're picking the team this weekend and you can choose between a woby, Sigarton, Bernard or Tom Davis. How many fans actually get Tom in the top two and never mind in the top position. So very few if any. So I think that's the nature of our squad getting deeper to be honest. It is and I suppose the challenge for him is just to get better isn't it. It's as simple as that. You've got to get better, you've got to play. No there is that of course but sometimes people get and this happens with Dominic Oliver Lugan as well. People get wound up in. He's not in our team, not selling, getting rid of him. It's like well he's only young, you've got to have players who make up your squad who are good at what they do. They might not be the very best but the kids have got to be allowed to grow. I think for Tom I don't see any benefit from him going and playing in the championship. He's played 80 or Premier League games but maybe alone like John Joe's got somewhere like that in the Bundesliga where he's playing top flight in front of big crowds, build his confidence up and try to improve. But none of that can happen to January. No, no so it's just going to have to work doubly hard in training. I mean he had the text message from one of the article points out but I've also seen it everywhere else. Text message from one of the Everton backroom staff saying brilliant or something after the blade against Takey and he was like well that's good that they're watching and things but there's got to be a bit more to it. Yeah but you say you've got to be a bit more to that and there's some interesting things isn't it because you bring DCL into it who's a little bit older but even so they've come through the same if you like graduation from the academy teams and stuff. It is we per annually off in football not just at Everton players get better when they're not playing apparently and players who do play get worse. And you just fear and that's why they've got to be allowed to grow that if Tom had been getting the game time particularly in the difficult period last season when DCL was getting it whether he'd be the next whipping boy and all that sort of stuff so all that's got to come into play. I think that the best part of not so much the article itself is that the article was reasonably well crafted and drew you into working it out for yourself was neither the player nor apparently his agents are concerned. Yeah but we've talked on this and business matters we've talked on as well. One of the things that brands we think is doing in developing the squad and the depth of the squad and all that good stuff is explaining to players where they fit, where they are in the pecking order, why decisions are being made and what they need to do about it to get into the team. So the agents and the player are currently comfortable because they know what the plan is. I don't know who knows what the plan might be. With a view that says that if it's not really happening for circumstance because if we just go on a run of winning games then they're not going to change it aren't they? No not at all. And then come January he could end up going somewhere I suppose. If he's had very few minutes you say well how do we know we're going to get any more. But we will go through periods as well when there's a high concentration of games. Of course and there's injuries so to contend with as we've seen. Suspensions when Schneiderland's collected all the necessary numbers. Unnecessary cards. It's interesting. Anyway that's what lies next for Sunday. Hopefully he continues to improve because I don't think you can have too many good young local lads in your squad. I think it makes a big difference. Go on check it out, go on check out Paddy Boylan's article in the Athletic and have a look for yourself see what you think. Don't forget if you click the link in the description you get 30 day free trial and then you get for this year 50% off the yearly subscription which works out £2.50 a month. So if you want a bit of edit and focus journalism Paddy Boylan Grego Keith as well writing on there, go on give that a check out. Why not? Why not? Big thanks to John for jumping out of his car on the way through so he could come and do this with me. Get a coffee. Yeah you've got a coffee to John. If you haven't subscribed please do show give the video a thumbs up and get over to Peyton if you want more videos see you later.