Moyes holds all the cards in this game of PATIENCE

HERE was a nice moment on the training pitch at Finch Farm on Wednesday as Everton’s oldest player placed his arm around the youngest member of the first team squad.

- Joe Thomas

Quite what was said between club captain Seamus Coleman and summer signing Adam Aznou will remain between them.

But it had the appearance of a touch of tenderness that feels poignant right now.

It is also a reminder of the value of patience and hard work, and that one of David Moyes’ many achievements in his long managerial career has been the successful management of developing potential into first-team performance.

Those points are pertinent because it has been a tough week for some of Everton’s younger players.

Aznou, just 19, is yet to make an appearance in the Premier League after joining from Bayern Munich.

A graduate of Barcelona's feted La Masia academy who has also experienced the grandeur of Munich, the left-back could be forgiven for thinking he might have featured more by now, particularly given the early season struggles of the only natural left-back ahead of him, Vitalii Mykolenko.

Then there is Tyler Dibling, three-and-a-half months the senior of Aznou.

He has already experienced the cut and thrust of the Premier League after his breakout campaign with Southampton last season.

Yet despite being the obvious heir to Iliman Ndiaye when the magic winger leaves for the Africa Cup of Nations next month, he had to remain on the bench and watch Dwight McNeil step in for the Senegal international under the lights at Sunderland on Monday.

Moyes said to me after the final whistle, and reiterated it when I asked him again on Friday, that McNeil’s chance was due to him impressing in training.