A win and a defeat leaves Arsenal’s Reserves with mixed form ahead of tonight’s clash against a strong Aston Villa outfit, with Neil Banfield looking to build on his sides encouraging 1-0 win over Portsmouth last week.
The Carling Cup offered a showcase for five of this starting XI this evening, yet James Dunne and Fran Merida missed out with internationals and injuries. Thomas Cruise and Emmanuel Frimpong earned their first starts for the Reserves, whilst Jay Emmanuel-Thomas also came in after impressive form for the Under 18’s, although his last second string game saw him make an error which cost the opening goal.
Mannone
G.Hoyte (c) – Bartley – Thomas – Cruise
Lansbury – Frimpong – Randall – Wilshere
Fonte – Simpson
Subs: Szczesny – Ayling – Freeman – Murphy
Match Report – Arsenal 1-4 Aston Villa
Arsenal won the kick off and started brightly – Emmanuel Frimpong’s first touches saw him slalom beyond two challenges, but he didn’t release possession in time for the forward going Rui Fonte.
As mentioned before, a mistake from Thomas cost the Gunners the opening goal last time these two met, and after the youngster stepped out and failed to win the ball, the opening goal came.
Weimann avoided the 17-year-old’s tackle before poking the ball inside Cruise for Mark Albrighton. He calmly slotted inside Mannone’s posts to hand Villa a second minute lead.
Goal – Mark Albrighton (2)
The disappointment of the early goal was clearly evident, although a fight back was quickly made. Wilshere, Hoyte, Lansbury and Fonte all combined well on the right, the latter set up Frimpong who saw his long range strike deflect into Elliot Parish’s arms.
Further mistakes involving Cruise and Thomas were rescued with by the lines mans flag, before Wilshere’s elegant run caved the visitors defense open, but the resulting pass to Randall ran out for a throw in. Villa’s pressure had forced Arsenal into kicking the ball long, something The Blues had thrived on.
Before a come back could even be fully mounted, the game was slipping away, fast. Thomas again pushed up into midfield to mark Bannan, but the ball was clipped back to Weimann who punished the space setting Albrighton though, he curled his second in from 5 yards.
Goal – Mark Albrighton (10)
The defending was absolutely shocking. Bartley was lucky to stay on after fouling Delfouneso as he was on the way through to goal, Zoltan Stieber curled the resulting free kick high and over.
With 20 minutes on the clock the fixture was slowly changing control, as the hosts finally found their rhythm. Wilshere and Frimpong were pulling the strings and both won free-kicks, the latter was nearly converted by Simpson’s deft flick.
Wilshere wasted a fantastic chance by scuffing the ball across the goal, before Weimann’s pass again caught Thomas out of position – and when Cruise’s tackle was hurdled – Albrighton raced clear to square across the goal, allowing Zoltan Stieber a simple tap in.
Goal – Zoltan Stieber (29)
Jay Emmanuel-Thomas’ casual nature saw him become the focus point of Villa’s play, but the England International made it easy with a typical ‘Under 18 style’ forward run, only to be caught out again. Some strong defending from Frimpong saw Delfouneso’s attempts to add the fourth fall apart.
Pacy movement and passing allowed Frimpong to send Fonte 1-1, yet the Portuguese striker was out-muscled and sliced his strike wide. The aforementioned Frimpong and Wilshere both had long range volleys as the half drew to a close, it was Aston Villa’s to lose.
Half Time – Arsenal 0-3 Aston Villa
Villa emerged 3 minutes after Arsenal following the interval, maybe some mind games in place which clearly worked as the visitors won a free kick with just 25 seconds of the half gone.
The Gunners began to find their feet during the second 45, with the tempo stepping up to wrestle control back. The wingers Wilshere and Lansbury switched flanks offering no width what so over, yet it overloaded the midfield which suited Banfield’s boys.
Eventually the illusive goal arrived following some lovely movement, Fonte’s pull back deflected of Wilshere and out to Randall – who turned 19 yesterday, he made it two goals in as many games at Underhill with a stunning curling shot into the top corner.
Goal – Mark Randall (56)
The Carling Cup saw Wilshere’s need for a rest be granted, Rui Fonte was also replaced in a double switch.
Rhys Murphy > Jack Wilshere
Luke Freeman > Rui Fonte
However, before the changes could even make a difference, the game was gone. Zoltan Stieber’s stunning left footed free kick flew into the corner from 25 yards, all but confirming the defeat.
Goal – Zoltan Stieber (64)
Banan outfoxed Mannone with another effort off the post as all the previous momentum drained away, although Murphy nearly latched onto Frimpong’s through ball, until solid goalkeeping denied the youngster.
Luke Ayling made his second ever Reserves appearance as a late sub for Cruise, his addition was about shutting up shop and stopping the score from getting worse. The little spell where Randall scored was nearly a turning point, but Aston Villa had completely out played Arsenal on the night.
Randall was lucky to remain on the pitch after several late challenges, until he was undone as Lansbury was sent off for a wild lunge at Banan.
Full Time – Arsenal 1-4 Aston Villa
Article By – J.Sanderson
Poor defensive performance
1st team and reserves brought back down to earth
Maybe that’s what they needed….A WAKE UP CALL!
Tom Cruise had an absolute nightmare. I hope he doesn’t give up his acting career. Felt sorry for the lad.
Poor Defense, poor passing, poor attitude, just poor!! Can’t really take any positives out of the game at all. Except for the fact that the scoreline could of been even greater. The thing that disappoints me the most was the attitude of the team. Especially in the last few minutes when the frustration just got the better of the Randall and Lansbury, you can’t just kick out at players like that. I hope we are not seeing Ego’s like the likes of Bentley again. I really hope they learn from these lessons tonight and change their attitude. But the best thing about tonight was Frimpong, by far our best player i thought.
Randall and Frimpong very good. The rest extremely poor. A wake up call for both the first and now reserve teams.
Where was ogogo tonight?
Problem was aston villa were closing us down and we looked very light weight compared to villas team they had a team full of 6ft 2 players we were gettting outmuscled and thie counter attack was amazing. Thier austrian kid andreas wiemann looks a star. Play lansbury in CM hes no good on the right. We desperatley need fast wingers on the left and the right
Cruise was left so exposed by Jay Thomas, in the end we just looked like thugs kicking them around.
yep Tom Cruise had a nightmare, ….definitely wasn’t Top Gun tonight!..play like that much more, and his chances of getting in the first team are….Mission Impossible!! …sorry :)
Where was ogogo tonight?
————————————–
Dropped because they wanted to check some of the boys from U18s in this match, they were experimenting like they should be doing because its all about development.
I agree with Gooner Chris, although Randall seemed to want to get himself sent off and pongy had a few misplaced passes! I don’t think Jay Thomas has the concentration to play at CB, he just goes on runs and doesn’t get back into position. He is much better in midfield. It was tough on Cruise but this only his first reserve start and he will only learn from it.
The real thing that dissapointed me was the way the lads didn’t play their passing game (though villa did well by hustling us). However they have to learn to combat this, because it will be something that many teams try and do to us.
bad enough to lose, but so bad that we had to kick opponents? classless! shame on those who did it.
I only saw the second half but from what i saw cruise and thomas where awful at the back. Also seemed a bit crazy taking off wilshere and fonte when we where just getting into the game. And are we likely to keep steer for this season or loan him out or release him soon?
Banfield on ATVO:
“A few of them think they’re better than they are”
Spot on Banfield
Why hasn’t Sunu been give Reserve or Carling Cup chances despite being in very good form? He may help solve the wing issues as well as helping up front. A player compared to and called the ‘Next Henry’ must be worth a shot at least.
Our defence is awful.
I thought frimpong had a really good game! A few idiots sitting behind me started calling him a quitter after he stopped chasing villa number 9. He didnt deserve that it was late and he had worked very hard.
Jay thomas isnt disciplined enough to play cb. Randall and lansbury shocking, any mug can kick an opponent
He was called the next Henry because we signed him and because he’s from France, there’s no similarities. He’s very strong but there’s better strikers at this very moment, he should get a full time promotion next season or the back end of this campaign.
http://www.arsene-al.co.uk
And I agree, Wilshre, Lansbury and Randall, for all their recent praise from Wenger, were outshone by Frimpong.
http://www.arsene-al.co.uk
That Tom Cruise should go back to Hollywood, he will never make it here. He was owned for the majority of the match.
Thomas is crap at CB and I don’t no why he played there.
James Dunne, Ogogo,Rodgers and Merida were all absent.We only had 4 subs. It showed out there.
Why were they missing? Why only 4 subs?
He does remind me of Henry with his pace, and strength and the way he takes on players. Technically i think they are similar, and also quite similar in stature. So, except for him not having all the goals yet he strikes me as an Henry type player.
Hopefully Merida will be receiving a call up to the first team for tomorrow, but now Dunne, Ogogo and Rodgers are out, I guess it makes the chances of that smaller.
Cruise was very poor, dived in too much and didn’t have the pace ot recover, they ran riot down that right hand side all night.
http://www.arsene-al.co.uk
Very disappointed. About to watch the Action Replay on ATVO now. I hate my club sometimes :(
This is the end of Rodgers , Steer , Dunne , Definatley Considering Arsenal never used ll there subs there was a empty spot on the bench and Wojcech picked up a serious injury in the warm up
That was simply not good enough we keep going on about how talented our young players are but sheer grit and determination are required to go along with the talent.Arsenal in gerenal this week seem to think they have the devine right to step onto the pitch and win withput performing!!!
James Dunne and Rodgers should be starting , simple as. Cruise,Thomas etc are not good enough.
There getting relesed,I remenber with Efrem and Parisio they stop playing them and this is definatley the end of dunne steer and rodgers , there is noway cruise is better than steer
to be fair the critism is harsh on tom cruise he isnt a left back, hes a centre half naturally
i like rodgers hes good, he wont get released.
J, do you know why Gibbs, Merida, Coquelin weren’t at least on the bench tonight. I can understand that Dunee, Rodgers, Ogogo and Steer may have no future here, and it couldn’t be because they need a rest as Wilshere and Randall were in the team. Only one of them has a small chance of being on the bench tomorrow (despite losing Song from the squad from the weekend, Nasri in back).
To be fair, football isn’t Tom Cruise’s profession. He’s a just a pretty good method actor :)
Wilshere was crap.
Where was Merida, under 19s for Spain?
Coquelin and Sunu are with France ,Merida with Spain.Dunne ,Ogogo and Rodgers are on trial at Nottingham Forest and Steer is on trial at Cheltenham .
J,Sanderson is this information true , about Nottingham Forest and Cheltenham
WOW
Banfield was definitely talking about Lansbury with that comment.
Re Observer where did you here this then?
Nothing to worry about. Villa has an excellent squad brimming with talent, so there’s no shame in losing a measly 1-4 to them. Need to work on team morale, though.
It’s just speculation, they are still with us. Some of the Under 18 players got a chance this evening, abit of a mix and match.
Wierd that Nottingham Forest had players on their books with similar names, it’s just speculation.
Alan Rogers and Junior Ogogo, both have left now Nottingham Forest
Observer is wrong anyway, Coquelin played for the Under 18’s this weekend
The defence needs a look at for the reserves and the 1st team.
http://www.fff.fr ,in case you are still in doubt
DO NOT DELETE COMMENTS THAT COMPLETELY REFUTE YOUR INSULTING RETORTS TO CORRECT INFORMATION SUPPLIED TO PROVIDE YOUR READERS WITH CORRECT INFORMATION THAT YOU HAVE NO INKLING OF .IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO INSULT THE INTELLIGENCE OF YOUR READERS ,THEN PERHAPS YOU SHOULD TAKE MORE CARE WHAT YOU PUT UP .MUCH OF YOUR COMMENT IS NOT JUST ILL-INFORMED AND INCORRECT ,BUT IS DAMAGING TO THOSE CONCERNED .PUBLISH THIS OR DELETE ,YOU KNOW I AM CORRECT .
I look forward to your (on-site)apology.
And kindly repost my original comments ,to save me wasting my valuable time doing so again – that would at least show you are willing to admit your errors .Learn your lesson young man .
W-E-I-R-D is how the word is usually written in English.
Your comment of 1127 pm is also “wrong” ,as I did not indicate to the contrary.Why would I when I was at Little Heath watching the game (unlike you,seemingly ,if the innacurate formation for the lineup is any guide ).
Easy bro, No need to get so hasty with J…. If you have such strong opinions just write your own blog.
People like you will have to learn that posting factually innacurate and misleading data online does not make it true ,and the posts on your site lose all credence when they are obviously
“wrong” (to use your word). Amateurs posting nonsense make themselves look stupid .Stop misleading your readers AT ONCE .
What Carter cannot seemingly see is the factual refutation of Sanderson’s comments (by me) that seem to have been “mysteriously deleted ” – and only one person could have done that ,just to save face , and that is censorship of the very worst kind .
Perhaps if my original (now deleted ) comments are replaced we will see at a later date how many of them prove to be anything other than 100 per cent accurate .Then you can apologise for misleading everyone else and making disparaging comment to those who take the time to provide you with details that you may not find elsewhere (until others -possibly- catch up MUCH later) .
so how was Mr.Wilshere
If people do not like Jamie’s blog why post on it and then abuse him
you have just met aston villa ,its not a coincidence that you were beaten its down to a club that are going places with strength throughout all the age groups……………………..AVFC
Well done OBSERVER,Someone had to say it.
Kent paul the chap is defending himself against young Jamie,Hardly giving him abuse.
Top website as ever. I wish ‘some’ wouldn’t complain. They want you to know everything about Arsenal goign back 100 years. Anyone commenting should stay positive and be very grateful to you for your hard work and toil to give Arsenal fans glorious information. Keep it going.
Villa fan in peace. Most of us Villa fans are bemused as to why the bulk of our reserve team did not play against QPR in the Carling Cup as your Young Guns did admirably. Good luck to the Gunners this season.
Well to me it seems OBSERVER is trying to belittle him on his own blog because if he has a problem with him e-mail him and discuse it with him one on one because that is what adults do and like i said before trying to look clever and humiliate someone on his own blog makes you look like a bully and a twat IMO
Pingback: Top Posts « WordPress.com
Poor display all round but i dont see why they can’t do the same as the first team and put the defeat behind them and move on..
They might not feel that way now but it is a good learning curve for them.