I came across this review on another forum, posted by one 'Macari', he rates Johnny Evans very highly, also rates Simpson very highly too.
Seems we have a glut of talented defenders coming through;
Pique, Evans, Simpson, Eckersly
Jonathon Evans
Age: 17
Nationality: Northern Irish
Height: 6’1 positions played: CB, SWE
What I wrote at the start of the season:
He’s only 17 and has been promoted from the u-18 where obviously he was exceptional. He’s not a player I know much about and he doesn’t get much exposure beings as he is in a no thrills position. Will have to comment on him later in the season to see how he has coped with his first season at reserve level. He has looked good so far..but that is hardly enough of a review so I’ll give him his due mid-season.
Mid-Season
Easy to see why he was promoted from the u-18 team. He is mature beyond his years in all aspects of his game. His forte is reading play and intercepting balls without going to ground. He’s taller then I estimated as well I’d say he’s about 6’ tall and he knows how to use his body strength well. Not sure about his pace, he has never had reason to be all out in a sprint as he often positions himself well enough to not have to over exert himself. I like this player, he has a way to go and has to grow quite a bit, but at 17 what would you expect. As soon as Pique is done with the reserves Evans will step into his role as the ball playing CB who likes to break rank and take the ball up field.
End of Season Review
Rossi Non-withstanding, Jonathon Evans is my Player of The Half Season by a huge distance. This kid is an amazing talent at CB. It’s quite literally disgusting to watch him shackle striker after striker he comes up against in the reserves. I even gave him a 9.5 out of 10 his performance in the 6-0 demolition of Citeh. He is better than Pique, for a start. Very much in the way you can say Campbell is better than Blake despite doing less. You can see Evans’ class immediately. He is the player I wouldn’t tell you about if I took you to a game and you’d ask me who he was within 30minutes. He oozes the kind of class I last saw in Danny Simpson, D.Jones and Rossi. I can not recall him putting a foot wrong this term. Mistakes do not seem to be part of repertoire. He is ‘too’ calm! He is assured, precise, intelligent and extremely confident starting attacks out of the back.
He was paired up with Heinze and Pique this season once he got his full reserve break and he has always looked the better player! He has the air of a player that does not need to learn, but rather just needs to grow and fill out. I’m quite certain you can’t teach a player to move and be positionally and defensively aware like that. It’s a gift and it’s certainly part of why he oozes class. I have as much confidence he will make it here as I reserve for D.Jones and Rossi exclusively. Unlike Pique, Evans can play as both a conventional, proactive CB or a reactive and laid back Sweeper type without a fuss. He has taken on and switched to both roles in accordance with who he is partnered with. When he played with Heinze he took the sweeper-type role. When he is paired with Pique he either alternates (as the player who breaks from defence and carries the ball up-field) or plays the proactive player. I haven’t seen a striker get the better of him yet and it’s why I can’t put a weakness to his game yet. Obviously, they’ll be revealed as he goes up the ranks, but at reserve level he’s shutting down his side of the pitch so much so that strikers naturally lean towards Pique’s side to get change. Even with Heinze on the pitch it is him they try to take on rather than going at Evans.
I expect him to be fast-tracked either to a loan next season or to some kind of interactions with the first team next year in the Carling Cup (if we take it lightly in the 1st few rounds). By his age alone he has no business as a CB being anything to do with the 1st team for a few years yet, but I’ll make the call now and say I expect to see him get a CC run-out. I’m pretty sure if he carries on with this level of performance, or dare I say it, above it, at the start of the next reserve season the club is going to have to loan him out (just as they fast-tracked Simpson this year) just to find out what weaknesses he has and how he copes if he needs to go up a level still.
I mentioned he was ‘too’ calm earlier in his write-up. What I mean by this is that he just doesn’t seem bothered when he’s up against it, perhaps that’s his style, but to me it looks like he’s playing well within himself. He sometimes let’s his man go past him on purpose and I’m thinking ‘but you could’ve made the tackle there’ almost ready to curse him and then he’ll scoop the ball off the striker’s foot, turn and just jog away as if he’s playing against a child. He’s done that quite a few times this season and it always gets a round of applause from the crowd and a gasp of amazement from me. You can’t teach a CB to play like that. In fact, I’d think he’s breaking a few of the basics in the CB manual sometimes with the things he does. It may have him caught out one day, but that day has definitely not come to him in the reserves. He’s only been playing at this level for 5months and already it looks like he needs to move on for a (bigger) challenge! I’m not talking about his physical build either, he obviously needs to fill out a bit, I’m talking about his technical level, I have yet to see his mask of calm even disrupted. What I want to see is him get really, really pushed by some strikers to see if he can play how he does in the reserves against them. I basically want to see him get mauled a few times…
a) to see how it affects him and he copes with it.
To see if he can adapt to a player he knows has the beating of him
c) For my own piece of mind.
I’d like to see him get the worst of it all: Rooney, Henry, Ruud, Drunken Ferguson. Just to know this kid, is in fact still a kid and does have more to learn. It’s a bit odd to make a review of a teenager and have nothing bad to say about him, but what can I say? I haven’t seen him beaten by anyone in the reserves where I have seen Bardsley, McShane, Pique and co get absolutely mauled by Agbanglahor, Miller, BWP at one time or another. Evans has breezed through all his games as you would expect someone like Rio to do at a level far beneath his talents. His path reminds me a lot of Simpson and how he got fast-tracked. He had no equal in the league and he was not going to develop at that level. This seems to me to be Evans’ path as well. If Rossi wasn’t on the pitch with him (since the influx of new kids came up after the other reserves were loaned out) he would have won MoM from me for around 80% of the games he’s played this half-term.
Acceleration – Very good
Pace – Unsure (he has never gone at full pace as far as I can see, so I can’t call it)
Build – Thin, tall, not PL ready. Quite strong.
Constitution – strong
Preferred foot – Very comfortable on either foot.
Chance of making it here (imo) – Very high.
