With all the Arsenal related attention going to the first team after there hammering of Fenerbahçe, and quite rightly so, it’s almost been forgotten that the Reserves had a fixture with West Ham yesterday, which the Gunners unfortunately lost, 1-0.
However, one of the few positives from that encounter was that new boy Amaury Bischoff completed his first 90 minutes in Arsenal colours, and his first full game for over 18 months. Speaking with Arsenal.com shortly after Full Time, manager Neil Banfield moved to praise the Frenchman who is giving his all to succeed for the second-string, despite the fact his body is letting him down at times.
“He is coming along fine.”
It is his first 90 minutes in 18 months so you can’t ask any more from him. It will be a long road back for him but he has given us everything tonight. Hopefully he will do OK.”
Since Amaury was passed fit enough to play, Banfield has adapted his formation to allow the 21-year-old the opportunity to operate in his preferred position, the number 10. It’s been a little hit and miss, although when in possession, Bischoff demonstrated his intelligence and craftsmanship against Hayden Mullins. In the end his fitness levels meant he couldn’t maintain his performance, which is understandable.
Neil confirmed that the way the team plays had been adjusted to allow for the former Bremen winger.
“Amaury is coming into the side and he is finding his way in English football. We have tried to play a diamond so we can get him on the ball and let him do what he is good at. They [West Ham] seemed to get on top of us a bit so we changed it and went 4-4-1-1 to play how we usually play.”
His contract only lasts until the end of the campaign, but an option for a second term is available. Should the Portugal Under 21 international manage to add a sustained period of fitness to his talents, Carling Cup duty appears imminent.
Article By – J.Sanderson
Bischoff looks neat and tidy on the evidence of the last couple of reserves games, he’s not got much pace though. On balance Merida (or Barazite) look closer to the first team. It would be interesting to see him against Wigan in the Carling and see if he can raise his game.
Will be interesting to see where Arsene deploys him if and when his chance arrives , particularly with diaby also playing the no. 10 role against the Turks and doing it with aplomb. We also have Wilshere playmaking quite nicely and Aaron Ramsey although like Gerrard ( for a lack of a better example) can also play in the hole as well.
Interesting to see how these guys progress with that role not quite as popular in the premiere league . i am guess that young Jack goes on to play at either of the wide positions with Ramsey being the central force. Amaury will probably play wide as well. Thoughts ?
I’m really hoping coquelin gets a start in the middle of the park in the carling cup. Really impressed me every time i see him.
Why would he deserve ANY chances in our first team? Diaby, Wilshere, Ramsey, Merida, Lansbury are better and have done more to get into the starting lineup in any game.
i’ve watched his 2 games for the reserve team i have not been impressed at all by him. He seems no better than what, come to it he offers less. I know its only his second game and he’s just come back from a long injury but we have so many player in his position.
Please dont sign him Arsene – J where was wilshire tuesday??
Phillip
Wilshere is with the England U17 squad.
Pingback: He is coming along fine « Hertsgunner’s Thoughts
Thanks R
At the moment Bischoff doesn’t look anything special but his intelligence is very good. He probably has to get used to the pace of the game, giving him less time on the ball. I don’t think he is an Attacking Midfielder but let’s see what wenger sees in him.
Lets not be too quick to judge Amaury.Its just been two games and clearly he has not reached the peak of his physical fitness,and with that has not yet started to fulfill his potential.Wenger signed him for a reason.Wenger knows.Lets have some faith and not write him off based on two appearances after an 18 month lay-off.He will come good.In Wenger we trust.
Bischoff iz ze greatest!
Bischoff is ze greatest!
Considering how long he hasn’t played, I don’t think we should really be judging his performances so far. Think of how people reacted to Lansbury being out six months, “let him get back to form” instead of “he’s lost it”. The same way no-one expected Diaby to come back from injury to instant Vieira-esque ability and no-one is expecting anything from Eduardo this season, a couple goals would be a nice surprise but almost everyone I speak to seems to agree that Bendtner is no. 3 when he comes back while Eduardo is allowed to adjust.
We don’t know what Bischoff can achieve – this may be it. But if our manager and his infamous scouts, thought him worth going for then I am hoping for more than you’d see in his first couple reserve games after serious injury.
I think it would be unfair on our part to judge him so quickly after his injury and rehab program. Who knows he might turn out to be a decent signing afterall. Even if things so south , he was admitted by Arsene to being a bit of a gamble. Its only a one year contract , so if we impresses, he stays , if not then he is off. Its a win win situtation for us.
Fans need to be patient a little bit.
when arsene brought flamini i was not impressed either…i saw no potential in him what so ever….but within 2 seasons he turned into a world clas player…
and i think the same is going to happen with bischoff…arsene knoes what he is doing, so give the lad a chance
and also,who thinks denilson is good enough for arsenal???
i havent been impressed with him to be honest
I can’t see him at us next season. I think he’s a completely waste of time.
So you were watching the reserves game instead of the Senior game? lol
how can some of you judge Amaury after his first full game in 18 month’s?
some of you make me think that you have never watched a game of football in your life!
Nope, I watched the reserve game in replay on Arsenal TV after the CL game was ended.
Give the lad time… from what ive seen of him theres bin little flashes of composure, and his passing has looked decent, looks to be aware of whats going on around him.. i dont think he’l end up behind the striker. AW has somthing else in mind… i think he’ll drop him further back. It a win win situation… if the lad kicks on, he gets a deal, if he doesnt he improves by playing in the group we have and finds another club. Be nice to see Coquelin start in the next round of the CC… like the look of him.
j when is the under 17’s on eurosport much appreciated. AND how can people say bischof
how can people say bischoff isn’t good.For 2 games in 18 months i would say good player swegoo u must not play football yourself coz if i was out for just 1 month let alone 18 months i would fill tired after 20 mins he didnt even look that bad he got good touch good pass a intelligent of the ball his legs looked a bit tyred but thats understandable give him a few more months at least before u say hes a waste of time he might make it he might not if he don’t who cares.
I can’t see him at us next season. I think he’s a completely waste of time.
SweGoo said this on October 23, 2008 at 12:13 pm
i think your english teacher was a complete waste on time… see how it feels to be judged think before you talk
pls can i get an info on his abilities
JS how did the Arsenal boys play for the U17s???
AB? Give him a chance look how some idiots judged Walcott!!!!
┫━━ ┃ ━━┣┛ ┣┫
┃ ━ii━ii━ ┃ ┏┳┫┣┳┓
┗━━┳━┳━━┛ ┃ ┃ spurs are going Down!
━━━┃ ┃ ┗━┳┳━┛
━━━┃ ┗━━━━━┛ if u agree copy & past
┫━━ ┃ ━━┣┛ ┣┫
┃ ━ii━ii━ ┃ ┏┳┫┣┳┓
┗━━┳━┳━━┛ ┃ ┃ spurs are going Down!
━━━┃ ┃ ┗━┳┳━┛
━━━┃ ┗━━━━━┛ if u agree copy & past
Using yourself as an example is pretty poor , he has state of the art facilities at arsenal and has been working on his fitness for over a month.I still think its a gamble which wont pay off
┫━━ ┃ ━━┣┛ ┣┫
┃ ━ii━ii━ ┃ ┏┳┫┣┳┓
┗━━┳━┳━━┛ ┃ ┃ spurs are going Down!
━━━┃ ┃ ┗━┳┳━┛
━━━┃ ┗━━━━━┛ if u agree copy & past
(I really hope the bastards DO go down but the problem is that they have a lot of individual quality which I hope doesn’t decide to surface when we play them!!!!:@
┫━━ ┃ ━━┣┛ ┣┫
┃ ━ii━ii━ ┃ ┏┳┫┣┳┓
┗━━┳━┳━━┛ ┃ ┃ spurs are going Down!
━━━┃ ┃ ┗━┳┳━┛
━━━┃ ┗━━━━━┛ if u agree copy & past
┫━━ ┃ ━━┣┛ ┣┫
┃ ━ii━ii━ ┃ ┏┳┫┣┳┓
┗━━┳━┳━━┛ ┃ ┃ spurs are going Down!
━━━┃ ┃ ┗━┳┳━┛
━━━┃ ┗━━━━━┛ if u agree copy & past
what is that supposed to be a picture of?