Mehmet Ali was pleased with the quality our under-21s showed in our 2-1 win over Everton on Friday night.
The victory over the Toffees was our fourth in six games, putting us on the verge of securing a Premier League 2 playoff spot.
Nathan Butler-Oyedeji scored twice in the first half to put us in control and despite an Everton goal early in the second half, we took all three points back to North London.
On the performance…
“We were really happy with the boys this evening, first half I thought we were excellent, the control we had. We knew that Everton had a lot of threats on transitions and set pieces but I thought the way we kept the ball and worked through the thirds really well caused them a lot of problems and we got our reward with two goals.
“Second half they were always a threat and went a bit more direct. We took too many touches in certain areas, we went long a couple of times which we didn’t need to and that allowed transition moments for them.
“Credit to them, they got back in the game at 2-1 but I thought we had some really good spells in the second half as well and it could’ve gone either way, they could’ve got a draw and we could’ve scored another couple of goals, it was that type of game, but first half I thought we were excellent.”
On Butler-Oyedeji’s character…
“Nathan’s been with the first team for the last six weeks and he’s been training every day and credit to him because that’s not easy to do in terms of their demands and what they’re doing every day and how many games they have.
“His mindset and his attitude to go and attack this game was great and he got his reward with his two goals in half a game, so really pleased with him and he’s just got to keep that going.
On Myles Lewis-Skelly being selected for England…
“I was talking to Max Porter inside, we’re so proud of him, it’s an unbelievable achievement! We’re really pleased to see him obviously get selected for our national side.
“Things change so quickly in football, it was only a year ago he was playing left-back for us against Aston Villa and we took him off at half-time!
“Now you look not only at his progress but his mindset to keep going through difficult periods and be able to play with our first team and get the trust of the manager and the players and to perform on that stage at that age is a real credit to him, his family, our academy and the coaches who have been involved in his development.
“But for me it’s all about him and what he’s been able to do in a short period of time. He just needs to keep that going, keep his head screwed on. He needs to keep working hard, enjoy the good times because in football you never know when bad times are around the corner.”
On making the most of the international break...
“We’ve got a friendly against Cardiff on Wednesday against their first team so we’re really looking forward to that fixture. Obviously we’ve got some older boys here and we want them to showcase what they can do.
“When it comes to Norwich (after the international break), we’re just taking each game as it comes. These boys every single day they’re training really hard, they’re working hard to improve and get better and that’s all we ask for from them.
“It’s in their stadium (at Carrow Road), we’re really looking forward to that so we want to be able to perform well and win the game.”
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