Tag Archives: She Wore

Arsenal Youth – Some thoughts

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On Monday Arsenal’s u18’s were knocked out the FA Youth Cup at the semi final stage against a very good Manchester City sides. Here are my thoughts…

It was a quality game. Both sides battled well, and the exhaustion shown by both at the final whistle showed that both sides gave everything. Manchester City won, and were the better team.

Manchester City played as a team. They put in a professional performance and played as if they had been together for years. Arsenal looked like a team of individuals. Rather than passing the ball around, every time an Arsenal player got the ball he looked to try and take on a player. It was 11 men playing for themselves rather than as a team.

This was perhaps most highlighted by the goals. Manchester City’s were wonderfully worked, whilst Arsenal’s came from a corner and an individual effort.

It also came through in defence. Manchester City defended as a team with defence and midfield staying solid. Arsenal were much more ‘all over the place’ with them allowing Man City players to get in behind too often.

What made me smile was the amount of English lads on show. Now the un-educated amongst you would look at the names and wonder where the Smith’s, Brown’s or Harris’s are. Whilst they might not have been traditional English names, 19 of the players who played were either English, or eligible (and have played for) England. A good sign for the future.

What would concern me is that Arsenal seemed to have many of the same type of player. Slight, quick, with a trick. Only perhaps 4 of the outfield players to have played for us were not this kind of player. Bielik, Sheaf, Bennacer. Bola also had some power to him, but got sent off.

I do wonder if Arsenal are looking for a certain type of player. The next Sanchez or Messi, rather than the next Wilshere or Iniesta. It reminded me a bit of the 2009 winning  side when a lot of the players were strong & physical lads, rather than swift and skilful.

Some players for Arsenal stood out, some showed they were perhaps not yet ready. Without being accused of writing of kids too early, or abusing a youngster (most were 18, so whilst we should not abuse, it is OK to criticise), this is my honest opinion on all the players:

Hugo Keto (18) – The big Finn in goal could do little about either goal. Infact, the second came after he made an excellent save and he was unlucky not to get the rebound shot. Valently clearing the ball after it had already crossed the line. I always feel for youth team keepers. The consensus is that a goal keeper matures later. Maybe they should allow U23 keepers to play U18 football to enable them to continue progressing at a more suitable level? Very impressed by his kicking.

Chiori Johnson (18) – Do not really remember much of his performance. A lot of Arsenal’s play was down the left. By not remembering much does not mean he was poor, but also means he was not Dani Alves like. A full back’s good work often go’s unnoticed (ala Sagna) unless they are attacking all the time (ala Alvez / Bellerin).

Marc Bola (18) – Massively outshone by his defensive partner. He is a big, strong, powerful guy but was rightly sent off for a crude, late, ankle high challenge. Luckily he did not end the career of his young opponent. Felt like he spent a lot of time out of position, relying on his pace and power to get back into position.

Krystian Bielik (18) – The Pole signed over a year ago to great fan fare. He showed yesterday his ability. Captaining the side despite being one of the youngest, he held together a shakey defence, covering for his partner and full backs. Also came up in midfield a few times with the ball. Clearly a talent, but lets allow him to develop.

Tyrell Robinson (18) – Looked out of his depth. He got a lot of criticism on Twitter, which was unfair, but he did not look up to it. Beaten far to comfortably, out of position a lot, and poor distribution. The criticism was unfair because Robinson was originally a winger, playing left and right, and is in the process of being converted into a full back. Cole, Clichy, Eboue, gibbs, Bellerin spring to mind.

Reiss Nelson (16) – Youngest man in an Arsenal shirt, and did not look out of place. Comfortable on the ball, quick, direct with a trick. Took the best corner of any player at the Emirates this season. Whisper in quietly. We have a player on our hands.

Ismael Bennacer (18) – Played in the Sheffield Wednesday defeat where he did not impress, and he once more failed to shin. Average set pieces, he often got over ran in the middle of the park. He is the type of player that frustrates. Signed in the summer from Arles-Avignon in France. He does not look good enough. But takes the place of an English lad. If you are a foreign boy, you have to be the best on the pitch. He wasn’t

Jeff  Reine-Adelaide (18) – Disappointing. I was expecting him to run the game in the same way a 17 year old Jack Wilshere did in 2009. He was playing deeper than normal, but he did not impress what so ever. Is he just overhyped after a good pass in the Emirates Cup? Who knows. One of the younger players in this side, and other peformances have shown ability. Let’s not go OTT though.

Christopher Willock (18) – Saw a lot of the ball. Tricky, direct, agile and a great goal from the edge of the area. Looks like a playground footballer, always looking to take on rather than pass, but that is something we do lack. Certainly a talent. Only slight issue is Reiss Nelson is 2 years younger and already as good. Could be a Lansbury / Wilshere situation where we end up losing a talented individual due to an even more talented player coming through. Impressive though.

Kaylen Hinds (18) – Was surprised he played. I had always thought he was older than 18. Strong, quick and a good touch. He drifted out wide a bit. Only really had one attempt from memory. Looks a player, but probably not good enough. Afobe and Akpom were superior at the same age.

Stephy Mavididi (18) – His highlight was being cruelly bought down on the edge of the area after a great trick. No free kick was given. I do not know what the ref was playing at. Another who like many of the others above, looked to do a lot himself rather than get his team mates involved. Like Hinds, I have seen better strikers come into the side at 18 and perform better.

Subs:

Marcus McGuane (17) – Not too long after coming on Bola was sent off so had to move to centre back.

Ben Sheaf (18) – Seems to have been around for a while, but still young. Like McGuanne, suffered from Bola’s sending off. Average free kick at a good height.

Donyell Malen (17) – Good header. Worked well to find himself space from the corner. Will surely be getting picked ahead of Mavididi & Hinds soon.

 

Arsenal were beaten by a well drilled Manchester City side, showing that team work always beats individual excellence. They just seemed more experienced at this level than Arsenal, which should not be a surprise when half their side played in the defeat to Chelsea in last years final.

It is difficult to judge the quality of our youth, and of an individual player, based on one game. Someone might have been having an off day. Likewise another might have been having a stormer. There are certainly a couple of players worth keeping an eye on who wil lliekly make the summer touring squad.

Keenos

Arsenal to sell English gems

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article-2250578-16954B0B000005DC-586_964x50219th December 2012. With not much to cheers about in recent years, Arsenal announced, to great fanfair, that “Five young internationals sign new contracts”.

Kieran Gibbs (then 23), Carl Jenkinson (20), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (19), Aaron Ramsey (21) and Jack Wilshere (20). The future of Arsenal. A bunch of young British lads. At least if we did not have trophies to cheer about, we knew we had home grown lads on the field, progressing, knowing what it means to play for The Arsenal.

At the time, Arsene Wenger said “I’m a strong believer in stability and I believe when you have a core of British players, it’s always easier to keep them together and that’s what we’ll try to achieve going forward.”

Fast forward 6 months to the unveiling of the final Nike shirt.20130709-3

Nike knew how to market a product, and they decided that they would use the British core to promote their final shirt.

To the 5 players who had announced a new contract, Theo Walcott was added in making it a magnificent 6.

A British core. Something that had been levelled at Arsenal for so long. Not enough English players. Well the future of Arsenal was bright. And the future of England seemed in Arsenal hands.

We are now in 2016. Over 3 years on from the announcement of the new contracts. In that time, Arsenal have won 2 FA Cups and got the trophy drought monkey off the back. Things are a bit brighter at the club, even if this years bottling of the title race has put a bit of a downer on the last 24 months. Arsenal are back on the up.

But then you look at the line ups of our last two games. A 2-0 away victory at Everton, a 4-0 home win against Watford. Two excellent performances. And yet just one Englishman started. Danny Welbeck. Who in 2012 was at Manchester United.

What has happened to Arsenal’s British core? And are we now in a situation where the 6 players at the 2013/14 shirt unveiling could all be sold and improved on?

Jack Wilshere – In 2012, Wenger clearly had Wilshere pegged as the next Arsenal captain. “Jack is certainly the best known, the leader of this group.” Just 20 years old, He was an extreme talent, showing his potential in 2011 with a world class performance against Barcelona, Xavi and Iniesta.

In 2012, there were already warning signs about his future. He had missed the entirety of the previous season injured. And had already been involved in numerous off the field incidents. Arrested in 2010 after a fracas outside a bar. Given a police warning in 2011 for spitting on a taxi driver.

Roll on 3 years and history is repeating himself. He has once more missed an entire season injured. And news yesterday breaks of him again being involved in a night club brawl were police had to intervene.

Clearly a good player, but he is now 24.

I am not massively concerned about his off the field antics. He should be making headlines for his on the pitch performances, but we have had worse at the club. I am concerned about his injury record.

It was at 24 we gave Abou Diaby a new 5 year deal. He had played 76 games in his previous two years. It is a contract offer which 3 years down the line caused a lot of fans to attack Wenger. In the last 5 years, Wilshere has played just 91 games.

Do we continue giving him a chance, or do we learn from the mistakes we made with Diaby and cut our losses?

Verdict: Sell

Aaron Ramsey – Ramsey is certainly the ying to Wilshere’s yang. 3 years ago it looked so bright for the pair. They could become our Scholes and Keane. The new Vieira and Petit.

Wilshere had the silkiness, Ramsey the engine. Wilshere the nastiness. Ramsey the calmness. They would have complimented each other brilliantly.

In 2013, it seemed like Ramsey had finally arrived. After recovering from that leg breaking assault by Ryan Shawcross, he was our player of the season in 2013/14, cumulating in scoring the winning goal in the FA Cup Final. Since then, he has digressed.

He stopped playing his simple game that saw him become so successful in 2013/14, returning to back heels and Hollywood passes.

Over the last 2 seasons, he has had many minor injuries, resulting in him struggling to put a run of games together.

He has gone backwards in the last 2 years. But is still an important player. Into next season, he needs someone to get hold of him and say these 3 words. Keep it simple.

Verdict: Keep

Theo Walcott – In 2013 when that shirt was unveiled. Walcott was the father figure of the group. Despite only being 24 himself, he had already played nearly 200 Premier League games.

The year leading up to the shirt unveiling, he was exceptional. Scoring 21 goals in 43 games, adding many assists as well. He had finally arrived as a player.

Then the injuries returned. And now, 3 years later, he is a shadow of his former self. He looks scarred. He hides. He does not want the ball.

His time is up.

Verdict: Sell

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – The most overly hyped up player of the magnificent 6. People used to say Walcott did not have a footballing brain. Oxlade-Chamberlain is no better.

Another who’s recent years have been hampered by niggling injuries (seeing a theme here!). He is a player who has never impressed me. Plenty of talent, but no end product. That might be good enough for someone like Crystal Palace. But not Arsenal.

Cash in before the rest of the Premier League realise he is a myth.

Verdict: Sell

Kieran Gibbs – Another who just has not pushed on over the years. I remember him playing for England under 21s many a moon ago and he looked a class above. The issue with him is he was always older than we thought. When he was put forward alongside the others as the future in 2012, he was already 23. People were going on about his potential, but he should have already been established.

At the time of signing that contract, he had played barely 50 Premier League games. OK for a 19 year old. Not OK for a 23 year old.

At the start of next season, he will be 27. He has not yet made 100 Premier League starts.

His career is disappearing before it has even gotten going.

No longer can he be considered as the future long term solution at left back. The heir to Ashley Cole’s throne. Nacho Monreal is comfortably ahead of him. And there is a point when we will have to start thinking about giving a younger option a chance.

For now, Gibbs is worth keeping as back up to Monreal. But as soon as the next youngster shows any promise, it is time to move him on.

Verdict: Keep

Carl Jenkinson – The least known of the 6. At the time, you felt he was just an add on. A spare part. Like the bloke in the boyband who is always at the end but never has a solo.

And with the rise of Hector Bellerin this has been the case.

Jenkinson however was never bought to be an Arsenal regular. He was always destined to be a squad player. And with Debuchy likely to leave at the end of the season, Jenkinson will be 2nd choice behind Bellerin.

Worth keeping around as he is a Premier League standard player. Would surely rather be sitting on the bench of Arsenal, the club he loves, then playing week in week out for someone like West Ham or Crystal Palace.

He could become a Wes Brown type player at Arsenal.

Verdict: Keep

 

3 years ago Arsenal were the future of England. Now it is natural to glance at Spurs with a hint of jealousy. Harry Kane, Eric Dier, Dele Alli, all performing for their country. It is time now for Arsenal to be ruthless. If the British core are not good enough, not reliable enough, cut them loose and replace them with the quality that is needed to win the league.

Keenos

Freshness the key for Arsenal’s new boys

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I am going to start by saying something a little bit controversial. A little bit OTT. A little bit extreme.

Francis Coquelin, Joel Campbell, Mohamed Elneny and Alex Iwobi are not good enough to be regular starters for Arsenal.

Now before you spit your coffee out, start writing angry Tweets, or stop reading, please suppress your thoughts that I am stupid and read on. Listen to my rational. Understand the point of the blog.

I am not saying that they are poor players. Nor am I ignoring their contribution to Arsenal over the last 18 months or so. But let us be honest, they are not top players. They are not going to win you the league.

But they have all at some point over the last 18 months become fan favourites. Putting in some exceptional performances. Playing well. Cheered on by the fans with everything they do.

And that is where they have become important to the side. All 4 have bought a freshness to the squad that was lacking after a transfer policy which has seen us sign just 2 outfield senior players in 3 transfer windows.

The squad always needs to remain fresh. When staleness creeps in, it creates apathy in the terraces. Fans get on players backs more. They turn nasty as they become bored of seeing the same old errors.

Yesterday Theo Walcott came on. His first pass was misplaced. And the groans that followed were to be expected. I thought of this blog at that point.

Had it been Alex Iwobi miss placing that pass, it would not have got the reaction from the crowd that Walcott’s error did. As he is fresh. He has the backing of the fans.

Let’s start with Francis Coquelin.

He has become an important player in the side. In 18 months he has gone from Charlton loanee to potential future captain. Amazing progress. They should make a film about him.

But what Coquelin gave us 18 months ago was a freshness. Since 2013 we had been screaming out for a midfield enforcer. We went and signed Mathieu Flamini on a free. He screams a lot, he shouts a lot, he runs around a lot, but frankly, he is a poor player.

And Mikel Arteta. He did a job when he came to the club, but his lack of mobility had become frustrating for many. He has been past his sell by date for 2 years.

And then Coquelin broke through 18 months ago. He has performed well. But the biggest thing in his favour was that he was not Flamini or Arteta.

He could miss place passes like Flamini, or let players run away from him like Arteta. But he was not Flamini or Arteta. He showed what Arsenal had been missing since Flamini left on a free to AC Milan a few years earlier. A defensive midfielder who knew his role.

The rise of Coquelin just further highlights the error in judgement of not having a decent defensive midfielder. And personally, I believe we can improve further on Coquelin.

We then come to Joel Campbell. Get out whilst you can Joel seems to long away now. He is another who in a short period of time has become a fans favourite. Even though his actually contribution has been not much. 4 goals in 28 games this season.

But Joel Campbell has something in his favour. He is neither Theo Walcott or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

We had become bored of Theo Walcott going missing in games. Of Oxlade-Chamberlain running down a blind alley. It had become boring. It had become predictable. Campbell is not as good as either of these two players, and does not contribute too much more, but he is different to them, as fans are not yet bored of him.

Campbell runs down as many blind alleys as Oxlade-Chamberlain. He go’s missing for periods of the game like Walcott. But due to not being either of them, his efforts are applauded. Rather than a groan as the Ox gets tackled after trying to take on a 4th man rather than pass, Campbell is applauded for trying.

And over the years, how bored have we become of the ever so predictable Aaron Ramsey. The back heels. The miss placed passes. Even before Elneny’s recent game time, the likes of Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla were favoured by fans for bringing the freshness to the staleness of Aaron Ramsey.

Elneny is not as good as Ramsey. But he is fresh. As a fan, you accept his miss placed pass. Or the odd poor back heel. As he has not done it 100s of times previously in an Arsenal shirt.

Finally we come to Alex Iwobi. A breath of fresh air. 2 goals in his last 2 games. He is in the same bracket as Joel Campbell. His success if further exageratted due to not being Oxlade-Chamberlain or Theo Walcott.

Think about yesterday. He scored and he assisted. Many would have him as man of the match. Theo Walcott also scored (albeit a lesser important 4th goal rather than Iwobi’s 2nd). A Walcott goal gets less of an excitable reaction than an Iwobi one.

Iwobi is benefiting, like Coquelin, Elneny and Campbell before him due to being fresh.

Keeping the squad fresh is important. not just to stop training going stale, and keep everyone on their toes, but for the fans too.

The excitement that the fans generate when a new player is about to be substituted on is transmitted to the players. Seeing Iwobi or Campbell coming off the bench provides that excitment. Even Danny Welbeck coming in still does.

You compare that to the groans when the likes of Walcott or Giroud comes on. It is groans. Half hearted applauding. And people very quick to get on their back. Giroud had been on the pitch for 30 seconds yesterday when the bloke behind me was already on his back with his usual “You’re fat lazy and useless Giroud. Chase the ball”. Whilst it is unjustifiable abuse yesterday, it comes from weeks, months and years of apathy. Of seeing the same players making the same mistakes, putting in the same sort of tepid performances time and again.

A key part of our unbeaten season in 2004 was a January signing.

Arsenal spent £10.5m (then reported as £17m+) on a 20 year old Spaniard. Jose Antonio-Reyes.

I remember the excitement when he joined. The excitement in the crowd when he was warming up. The cheering blowing the roof of the old North Bank when he would come on.

Reyes was a breath of fresh air in 2004. Helped by his two goals against Chelsea to knock them out of the FA Cup, he became a key part of the unbeaten run, even if he did not actually contribute that much in his 13 league games (7 starts, 2 goals). Reyes was fresh, and enabled us to remain excited about the season, rather than things going stale.

And this is what Coquelin, Elneny, Iwobi & Campbell has provided recently. Bar Coquelin, none of them are better than the players they have replaced, but they are fresher than said players. The crowd give them a bit more time, allowing them to express themselves without that fear.

I remember many years ago when England were rubbish at cricket. In 2005 England had not won an Ashes series for 18 years. And then we went and won against Australia.

One of the key reasons often stated for the success of England that series is the lack of players who had Ashes experience. Only 5 of the 13 men who played had ever previously played against Australia. That meant that only 5 were mentally scarred from previous Ashes defeats. The 8 that had come into the squad were fresh. They were fearless. And England went on to win.

Teams need to be continually freshened up. Arsenal’s lack of transfer activity over the last 3 windows meant that the squad was stale. Everyone was bored of the mistakes from the likes of Giroud, Ramsey, Walcott & Flamini. There has been apathy a plenty.

Whilst I do not think Coquelin, Elneny, Campbell or Iwobi are top draw players, they are fresh players. And that is what is important.

To be successful, you need to keep things fresh.

Keenos