Everton under-21 boss Paul Tait admits his team experienced a tough game against Liverpool on Monday.
The young Blues were well beaten in their opening game of Premier League 2 against their arch rivals.
While the result has disappointed many who follow the Toffees' youth sides, Tait believes they can learn from the 4-0 loss.
"It was really tough tonight," he told evertonfc.com.
"We had a really young team, and Liverpool were well ahead of us.
"Their quality showed in the second half when some of our younger boys started to tire. They opened us up and exploited us."
The Everton coach then added: "I thought the two young center-backs, Odin (Samuels-Smith) and Bradley (Moonan), stuck at it and did some really good bits of defending.
"Billy (Crellin) played well, and we needed him tonight for his experience. He helped the two young center-backs.
"It was always going to be difficult we've got eight players missing and Liverpool are very strong. There are lessons to be learned from this, which we'll go through with the players.
"One or two surprised us tonight with how well they did, so that's good for us moving forward, but it's a tough one to take."
