Arsène Wenger has frequently said ‘international football is more of a hindrance than a help’, but the performances put in by two of his most prized youngsters last night will have no doubt put a smile on the Frenchman’s face.
Midfielder Henri Lansbury played the full 90 minutes for England Under 19’s yesterday afternoon, and although the 17-year-old has been average over pre-season, Henri’s tenacious attitude help transform the fortunes of a disheartened England.
Many agree that on his day Lansbury is up there with the most promising youngsters in the country, but injuries and doubts over his professionalism has seen the previous hype around him fall away. It seems this could have been a perfect blessing in disguise – as he could go away and concentrate on his rehabilitation.
Two strikes against Worthing hinted he could be back to his best last week, but last night’s performance showed all the qualities that had initially started the debate over his future. Wenger has a knack of playing prospects out of position to test their character, however, putting Lansbury on the right hand side seemed to damage his already fragile confidence following 6 months out through injury.
Once reunited with a central midfielder birth, the Enfield born starlet passed and probed the Dutch defense all evening, but not just content with a passing role, he opted to drive forward and lead by example. Those classic English qualities captured the imagination of everybody watching on.
Whilst Henri was winning a Man Of Match award in Shrewsbury, Aaron Ramsey played an instrumental role in Wales Under 21’s 3-0 victory Romania. The win saw the Welsh through to the UEFA Under 21 Championship play-offs. Ramsey also took up a central role, and saw two of his corners headed home to all but win the fixture, Rhoys Wiggins added a late third.
The pair are both progressing well, and look set to take up important positions in the Carling Cup team this season.
In other news, be sure to check out our good friends over at Arsenal SPOT for an in depth coverage of all things Arsenal.
Article By – J.Sanderson
No videos mate?
Arsenal spot link doesnt work.
Not at the moment, but the game was shown live on Setanta, so you would imagine at least the goals would be around somewhere.
I’ll post them in the forum if i find them :)
Thanks man, J. Desperately need to watch the clips because the comments on their performances were overwhelmingly good! I had to see it for myself. :p
No worries, i will get to work.
J what is this new rule of having 8 homegrown payers in the champions league squad………does it mean 8 english players.
There are reports emanating from France this morning that Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has made initial inquiries regarding the availability of Monaco youngster Cédric Mongongu.
if i’m not mistaken, home grown means player regardless netionality that have trained in england for 3 years before age of 21. so basically fabregas, clichy, djourou, song and bendtner, even not an englishman, qualified as home grown player. the rules said at least 4 players must be trained by arsenal while the other 4 players can be from other club, such as carrick and rooney for man utd. btw, anyone know where can get wallpaper of arsenal first team squad for this season?
I’ve never seen what the fuss is about Lansbury myself. He’s no Pongo for sure. He didn’t impress me last night either. I’m working my way through the tape for a second time but because he’s being bigged up he’ll live of this for a while.
Until somebody comes up with proof that Henri Lansbry is un professional and not by showing a couple of his Myspace pictures then people should get off his back IMO
yo, myspace pics? :P Showmeee
DO YOU THINK THEY COULD PLAY TOGETHER IN CENTRAL MIDFIELD FOR ARSENAL??
OR ISIT EITHER ON OR THE OTHER
Yes they could but considering there age the only games i think they could play in are the Carling Cup IMO
@ phader
do you mean Cesc and Henri, if so could work very well
Too early to tell Cesc and Lansbury might work.
Give Lansbury more time to develop. He’s still very young and needs a lot of experience especially in a position like central midfield. He can get skinned even by Championship teams at his level now, but rest assured that his talents can be added with more experience throughout this season.
You sure Lansbury will do anything other than make the bench in the Carling Cup? Surely Diaby, Ramsey, Randall and possibly Bischoff and Song are all ahead of him, not to mention a possible Ghanian who would need to regain match fitness.
To me the team for that is:
Fabianski
(God knows who will play RB, Ogogo?) Djorou Song Silvestre
Simpson/Theo Diaby/Randall (dep. on fitness) Ramsey Wilshere
Vela Bendtner
w/ Mannone, Gibbs, Lansbury, Eboue(or Simspon/Randall), Murphy.
does someone knows about player in u-16 team named Gentrit Jashari. I ve read an article about him but I cant find him in Arsenal site.
This would be the team for me:
Fabianski
Lansbury? Djorou Hoyte Silvestre
Simpson/Theo Randall/Ramsey Song Wilshere
Vela Bendtner
I just hope that Lansbury is picked ahead of Randall for the CC. Randall is so average and will never make it at Arsenal. He has never played internationally in his life. Randall might as well pack his things so we should give the CC chance to somebody that actually might make it here, that is Lansbury.
Regarding the CC team, for the first game, I think Fabianski will surely play in goal. Djourou, Song and Silvestre will probably all play in defence, at least the first two. I guess Hoyte and even Bartley could be given the chance there as we don’t have many covers at the back. Theo, Denilson and Eboue will not play as they are regulars. Wilshere and Ramsey are the first names on the sheet in midfield while Lansbury, Randall, Gibbs, Merida, Coquelin and Thomas will also be in the contest for a midfield spot. Up front we will probably have Bendtner and Vela with Simpson and Murphy most likely making the bench.
A likely team in my opinion would be:
———–Fabianski———–
Djourou–Song–Silvestre–Gibbs
Wilshere–Ramsey–Lansbury–Merida
——–Bendtner–Vela———-
Bench: Mannone, Clichy, Hoyte, Thomas, Randall, Walcott, Simpson
It’s hard to predict if you are not Arsene Wenger but surely the team will be the youngest one we have seen for a long time. Most of our bench in the EPL are U-21 players so they will play plus the even younger players in the reserves. Then another question is how many senior players Wenger will play. The first game is in the middle of a hectic schedule so it must be seen as unlikely that we will see any of the starters field there. Clichy has often been on the bench for the CC and Theo is still a teenager so could be used there as well. So expect a very young team with only one or two not eligible for U-21 football.
Despite our doubts, it’s seems apparant that Wenger rates RANDALL very highly. He not only got to play lot’s of pre-season games in his favourites position(CM) a head of others, he also got to make his CL debut and get on the bench for other games.
J. Sanderson,
Do you know where Randall ranks in Wenger’s view of the youngsters? And what about Fran Merida? We have so many young CMs, which ones do the Arsenal staff seem to have the most belief in???
I think we are fortunate / deserve to have so many quality young players. One thing for sure, Ramsey is ahead of Lansbury for CM, more composure and stronger. merida is interesting, no doubt he is one of the most talanted on the books, I think CM is his position, but i think he will get a chance playing wider, to give him some experience. Lansbury may get a start at RB, i think he played there pre season, cant remember which game.
…I thought Randell would really come on this year, but personally, i thought he was shocking pre season. He may be feeling the pressure and trying too hard, if you know what i mean.
I think Lansbury, Merida and Ramsey are all better than Randall. You never know who’s gonna come strong but all of those players are rated highly by their countries (star players for England, Spain and Wales respectively) while Randall has never played for England at any level.
I would say Ramsey is probably the best out of those because he’s the youngest out of the lot, is in our first team squad, Wenger paid £5m for him and he plays at CM while the others tend to move around. He’s the most versatile and dynamic as well.
Then again, who knows? We could be sitting here in two years time hoping Arsene doesn’t sell Randall to Barcelona while Merida’s rotting in Wigan’s reserves (just an expression).
Randall has represented England for the U-17’s.
http://www.thefa.com/NR/rdonlyres/A8EE5933-251D-4462-8A24-9A0D8D984CA2/64136/MarkRandall_H.jpg
http://www.thefa.com/England/U17s/NewsAndFeatures/Postings/2005/08/EngU17_vFinland_Aug05.htm
The boss has asked about two AS Monaco players Yohan Mollo and Cedric Mongongu and PSG youngster Younousse Sankhare.
Carling Cup team?
—————–Fabianski——————–
Eboue———-Djourou—–Song———–Gibbs
Wilshere——Lansbury—–Ramsey———–Merida
—————–Bendtner—Vela——————-
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-rules-out-move-for-midfielder-appiah
we aint gettin appiah either