Re: Reserves / Youth Thread

by Zaid Derweesh Wed Mar 21, 2012 1:06 am

Raheem Sterling, far far too easy...

by **Mario** Wed Mar 21, 2012 1:07 am

1-0. We have been poor so far, Liverpool pressuring us into plenty of mistakes. The goal was very preventable.

by Zaid Derweesh Wed Mar 21, 2012 1:15 am

Afobe hits the woodwork

by Zaid Derweesh Wed Mar 21, 2012 1:18 am

Diaby's been pretty poor so far, but I guess that's not really important. He just needs to build his fitness.

by Zaid Derweesh Wed Mar 21, 2012 1:37 am

Ah man, Afobe should've scored again. Diaby with an excellent run as he does so well (sometimes), lays it beautifully to Afobe, should've finished better.

by **Mario** Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:10 am

Suso for Liverpool should have been sent off. Meade could have had a leg broken.

And just now, Afobe with a great run and cut back to Ozyakup, we should have scored again.

I'll say this, though. He should have scored a couple of chances he's had today, yeah, but Afobe is a better option than Chamakh.

1-1, Diaby! Good move, pass in behind by Afobe, Ozyakup controls and cuts it back for Diaby to tap in. And he got injured whilst tapping in.

by Steve Dawson Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:15 am

Mario Leontiou wrote:

1-1, Diaby! Good move, pass in behind by Afobe, Ozyakup controls and cuts it back for Diaby to tap in. And he got injured whilst tapping in.

Are you being serious with that part Mario?? Sad

by Sami Rockfeller Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:22 am

Mario Leontiou wrote:

1-1, Diaby! Good move, pass in behind by Afobe, Ozyakup controls and cuts it back for Diaby to tap in. And he got injured whilst tapping in.

WTF??

How come streams are available for the game? Some special occasion?

by **Mario** Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:22 am

He was fine a minute later. I thought he got a kick by the keeper but I just think he fell awkwardly on his ankle and twisted it a bit. But he came back on and was back to normal.

Has just been subbed off, an hour under his belt. Which I think was the target before the game. Maybe on the bench for Villa?

by **Mario** Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:23 am

Sami, it's on Liverpool TV, which is a channel on Sky.

by Sami Rockfeller Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:27 am

Mario Leontiou wrote:Sami, it's on Liverpool TV, which is a channel on Sky.

So that means Liverpool get to watch all their reserves live on TV?

by **Mario** Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:28 am

I'm not sure if this is a regular thing. If it is, then yes!

by Michael Foster Wed Mar 21, 2012 3:34 am

What's the score?

by Joey Schwab Wed Mar 21, 2012 4:16 am

finished 1-1 I believe

by Michael Foster Wed Mar 21, 2012 7:27 am

Diaby nets..any news if the injury was reocuring?

by Zaid Derweesh Wed Mar 21, 2012 10:45 am

It seems injury was ankle, but he played on for another 12 minutes before coming off at 60 - which sounds planned. Couldn't have been that bad (but with Diaby, even a butterfly fart is enough to put him on the sidelines for a month).

by Mike York Thu Mar 22, 2012 2:03 am

'I feel I have the best job in the world'

Born: Stoke, November 16, 1962
Position: Academy Coach
Previous clubs as a player: Stoke City, Torquay (loan), Arsenal, Sunderland
Joined Arsenal (for the second time): 2001
Honours as a player with Arsenal: League title 1989, 1991, 1998, FA Cup winner 1993, 1998, League Cup winner 1993, ECWC winner 1994
Arsenal appearances: 348+24
Arsenal goals: 8 England caps 2

No-one can dispute that Steve Bould is a winner. In his playing and coaching career, success has been a common thread. The big difference now is that sometimes losing can be winning. “As a player and as a coach I like to win,” he begins. “If I am honest, I get upset if we haven’t won games in the Under-18s, but ultimately the measure of me being successful in my job is seeing players make it into our first team, and secondly helping our players develop good careers for themselves in the game.

“For example,” explains Steve, “we played Chelsea the other week in a game that we lost 3-2. I was upset that we lost a game that in truth could have gone either way. But it was such a technical game, with so much good play from both sides, our lads took so much from it that could help them in their progression as players.

“I want to win every game, I enjoy it when we win FA Youth Cups and Academy trophies and to do that is great but I believe if we develop players in the right way, we will eventually end up winning games and trophies too.

“We have a chance of winning the League and the Academy Trophy as Under-18s. It will be good to do it, but I am not absolutely sure whether winning trophies as youth level translates into helping you win trophies and Championships when playing for the first team. I definitely believe that winning trophies makes it easier to win more. When I was a player, I never even contemplated winning the League, but once we won our first Championship, we all grew in confidence and desire to win more, but I think doing it at the top level is a different challenge.

"Maybe it does help winning FA Youth Cups for example and it will be interesting to see what the experience of our lads who have been trophy winners will be when it comes to doing it at the top level. Maybe having experienced winning trophies at youth level provides them with what they need to know how to win trophies at the top. Time will tell I suppose.”

Steve, no doubt, draws on his experience as a player when coaching his charges, but the Gunners legend insists that the game, especially for defenders, is so very different from his day. “I believe that for every sport every seven or so years they become almost revolutionised in that they become, faster, more powerful, more technical than before and football is even more different. In our game, we also have the rule changes. I could not tell you what the offside rule is now,” he grins.

“You could not step up with your arm out and scream offside like we used to. That is not an area you can really coach any more. Also, you cannot get away with going to ground or any real aggressive tackling the way we used to nowadays. So, while there are some principles that persist, passing on what I used to do as a player has to be adapted to the modern game.”

One of those principles is the value of closing down opponents and pressing with great energy. “Over Christmas,” reports Steve, “I looked at the way that our Under-18s were playing and I felt that we were fine when we had the ball, but poor when we didn’t have it. We used to sit back and let opposing teams play. Since we came back in January we have had a bigger emphasis on winning the ball back and closing opponents down quickly and that has improved us immensely, even with the ball. The players are seeing the benefits of that improvement and are now more confident and enjoying the game more too. Ultimately, if it is good enough for Barcelona and Messi, it is good enough for our lads too.”

Although the Under-18s and first team are distinct entities, Steve is convinced that the fortunes of the first team reflect on his youngsters. “I believe that what goes on in the first team repeats itself in the Under-18s, not necessarily with results, but mainly with styles of play," he says. "The younger players look to the first team to learn from and copy and they bring that into their own games. Also, to a certain extent, uplifting wins like the one the other week against Spurs do lift the younger players, but it is more about what they pick up from the senior players and how they do things.”

Even as a player, Bould appeared to be one of the most likely to progress in the game after he had hung up his boots. But when asked by the Arsenal Matchday Programme some 15 or so years ago as to whether he would consider becoming a manager, his response was a resolute no. Today, there has not been much of a shift in his view. “I think when I was asked back then I didn’t even contemplate going into coaching, so you never say never, but I feel management is not for me. It is too intrusive on all aspects of your life.

“I enjoy what I do. I get massive satisfaction from seeing players improve and make careers out of the game. The ultimate is seeing players we have worked for running out of the tunnel playing for our first team,” enthuses Steve. “I honestly feel I have the best job in the world. Doing what I love, with the facilities and footballing philosophy we have at this club, I have a fantastic job.”

http://www.arsenal.com/news/reserves-news/-i-feel-i-have-the-best-job-in-the-world-?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+arsenal-news+%28News+Feed%29

by Michael Foster Thu Mar 22, 2012 2:11 am

Good article...

This is what we love to see around arsenal Smile

by vyom.chaudhary Thu Mar 22, 2012 6:52 am

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/7615955/Afobe-poised-to-join-Royals

good news.reading are doing really good in championship

by **Chris Chan** Thu Mar 22, 2012 7:56 am

Afobe needs minutes, good move. Hopefully he'll get a chance in pre-season, let's face it he cant be worse than our current back ups..

by **Mario** Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:09 pm

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/afobe-joins-reading-on-loan-for-the-season

It's been confirmed. Very good move for him. Reading are currently 2nd and he already has a taste of chasing promotion, now he will have the experience of trying to do it in a much tougher league.

Jason Roberts plays for Reading who is very experienced and from what I gather from following on Twitter, a good guy, supportive of other players and quite influential. That can only be a good thing for Benik.

by Mike York Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:31 pm

Carlos Vela
Real Sociedad 1-3 Levante
Wednesday, March 21
Carlos Vela played the whole of Real Sociedad's 3-1 defeat to Levante on Wednesday, scoring the opener after just six minutes before the visitors eventually claimed all three points.

Pedro Botelho
Real Sociedad 1-3 Levante
Wednesday, March 21
Pedro Botelho played 68 minutes of Levante's 3-1 victory over Carlos Vela's Real Sociedad on Wednesday.

Andrey Arshavin
Zenit St. Petersburg 0-1 Dinamo Moscow
Wednesday, March 21
Andrey Arshavin played the second half of Zenit's 1-0 Russian Cup defeat to Dinamo Moscow at the Stadion Petrovskij on Wednesday.

Craig Eastmond
Exeter 1-3 Wycombe
Tuesday, March 20
Craig Eastmond played the whole of Wycombe's 3-1 win over Exeter on Tuesday.

Vito Mannone
Hull 0-2 Southampton
Tuesday, March 20
Vito Mannone played the full 90 minutes of Hull's 2-0 defeat to league leaders Southampton at the KC Stadium on Tuesday night.

Nicklas Bendtner
Blackburn 2-0 Sunderland
Tuesday, March 20
Nicklas Bendtner played the whole of Sunderland's 2-0 defeat to Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on Tuesday night.

Sanchez Watt
Gillingham 0-1 Crawley
Tuesday, March 20
Sanchez Watt did not feature in Crawley's 1-0 win over Gillingham at the Priestfield Stadium on Tuesday.

Ryo
Aston Villa P-P Bolton
Tuesday, March 20
Bolton's Premier League fixture against Aston Villa was postponed.

Henri Lansbury
West Ham 1-1 Middlesbrough
Tuesday, March 20
Henri Lansbury was an unused substitute in West Ham's 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough at Upton Park on Tuesday.

Sean McDermott
Leeds 3-7 Nottingham Forest
Tuesday, March 20
Sean McDermott did not feature in Leeds' 7-3 defeat to Nottingham Forest at Elland Road on Saturday.

Sead Hajrovic
Barnet 2-2 Dagenham & Redbridge
Tuesday, March 20
Sead Hajrovic did not feature in Barnet's 2-2 draw with Dagenham & Redbridge at Underhill on Tuesday night.

Rhys Murphy
Carlisle 0-0 Preston
Tuesday, March 20
Rhys Murphy did not feature in Preston's goalless draw against Carlisle on Tuesday.

http://www.arsenal.com/news/reserves-news/42575/loan-watch-?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+arsenal-news+%28News+Feed%29

by Mike York Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:32 pm

The young Arsenal midfielder Kyle Ebecilio is hotly tipped to be the long-term replacement for Alex Song in the Arsenal midfield and his hard work with the Arsenal youth team has now been rewarded by the Gunners giving him his first professional contract.

Although the 18 year-old models himself on Song he also likes to drift into scoring positions and was joint top scorer last year when Holland won the European U17 Championship, where he was also awarded the Golden Player Award. Cesc Fabregas is a previous winner of that accolade but although Ebecilio is hotly tipped a star of the future he is keeping his feet firmly on the ground.

“It was good to sign a professional contract with Arsenal and it made me very proud,” Ebecilio said. “But I know that it does not mean that I have made it as a footballer. I know that I have to keep improving to get better and better. ”

“I have a great opportunity at Arsenal and I have been helped very much by the fact that my mum, dad and younger brother moved over to England with me. We all live together as a family and that allows me to concentrate on my football and live a normal life as if I were in Holland.

“I know that feeling homesick has been a problem for players in the past. Young players have a lot to take in, especially players from Europe who have to also develop their English. That would have been so much harder for me if I did not have my family around.”

http://justarsenal.com/kyle-ebecilio-thanks-his-mum-for-new-arsenal-contract/13125

by **Mario** Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:38 pm

Carlos Vela's transfer value is climbing with each game, good stuff.

by **Mario** Fri Mar 23, 2012 11:15 pm

Chuks Aneke has joined League One side Preston North End on loan until the end of the season.

The 18-year-old midfielder, who enjoyed a loan spell with Stevenage earlier this season, will team up once again with Graham Westley, who took the England youth international to Broadhall Way before taking charge at Deepdale.

The Newham-born youngster joins fellow Arsenal loanee Rhys Murphy at North End as he looks to gain further valuable first-team experience.

Aneke signed a new contract with the Gunners last June and has had a breakthrough 2011/12 season.

He made his competitive first-team debut as a second-half substitute in September’s 3-1 Carling Cup victory over Shrewsbury Town and has also become a key component of Neil Banfield’s Reserves side, for whom he has scored six times in 10 appearances this term.

Everyone at Arsenal wishes Chuks the best of luck during his time with Preston North End.

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