1. Szczęsny (7) – Had a quiet first period, but as Chelsea found their way in the second he was worked from all angles. Stood up well and palmed Mineiro’s long ranger over, but flapped on occasions.
2. Eastmond (5) – Same old story for Craig. He got forward well in the first half, but when faced with the pace of either Nouble or Stoch, he looked shaky and had to result to fouling.
3. Cruise (4) – Mostly invisible throughout the game, and like his fellow full back Eastmond, was tortured by Nouble’s pace.
4. Frimpong (7) – Impressive yet raw. Manny put himself about the pitch impressively, and showed guts to take out World Cup winner Mineiro early on. He still shoots despite admitting his accuracy is off.
5. Bartley (8) – Man of the Match. Read most situations well, and has proved to be the Arsenal stalwart this term. Having somebody like Silvestre alongside him helped him grow in stature and confidence, and now injury free, Kyle looks like a big player for the future.
6. Silvestre (6) – Naturally rusty and tired towards the end, but he was still at his classy best to snuff out Malouda and keep Di Santo quiet. Needs more minutes.
7. Randall (3) – The Arsenal skipper is quickly becoming the forgotten man. Looked lost on the right of the midfield, and couldn’t even muster the fight to put in his usual crunching challenges.
8. Mérida (6) – Fantastic in the first half if a little over complicated with his passing, but after being kicked in the second period, he lost his way and was substituted.
9. Watt (6) – You can’t fault Sanchez for work rate, and although he only had a couple of good opportunities, he never looked like scoring. Playing as a lone striker is certainly not making good use of his assets, and Banfield knows it.
10. Bischoff (5) – Had two excellent chances at the end of the first half, and a last ditch free-kick, but the game passed him by. If Sporting are really interested in signing Amaury, it’s certainly not for performances like these.
11. Emmanuel-Thomas (6) – Some silky and neat touches, but operating on the left he looked wasted. Whenever given the chance to come inside Chelsea look worried about his physical style, but Jay is yet to convince at this level.
Substitutes:
James Shea – N/A
Luke Ayling – N/A
Cedric Evina – N/A
James Dunne (4) – Kicked and fouled but added energy late on.
Roarie Deacon – N/A
Feel free to leave your own opinions.
Article By – J.Sanderson
Whats happend to Mark Randell? I saw him play last year and I thought he could poss breakthrough into the 1st team this year. This year by far the worst midfielder we have. Sorry to be critical, but I think he will probably move on next year but Im sure he will build a career somwhere.
JS – I read in the Sky Sports magazine that we have Ashley Young’s younger brother Kyle on our books. Ashley says that he is the best of the three Young boys and a lot is expected of him. Have you seen him play and what are your thoughts on him?
Disapointed to hear about randall. Where was jack and francis Coquelin? J, personallyI see something in sanchez watt, just wanted to know what is ur opinion on him? Will he go out on loan next year??
I have to admit I’m not in the Randell fan club and his peformances this season haven’t changed my opinion. With the improvements made by Frimpong and Coquelin in the middle of the park this season, his peformances need to drastically improve or he’s going to find it more and more difficult. What are your opinions on Randell, J?
Agree 100% with these ratings. Bartley has a “Mr Arsenal” air about him. Frimpong’s shooting was excellent in the first 3rd of the season, I hope he doesn’t give up shooting from range as it is part of his total package. He is the only young player I have seen in years who seems to know and has the guts to execute all types of tackles in stark contrast to some of his seniors in the first side (yes I mean the “ghost wall”). The only thing missing from Frimpong’s game last night was Coquelin – they are fantstic together and certainly put Randall completely in the shade on every level. He looks like he needs a break and career reappraisal. We would not miss Bishcoff in the slightest. He laos has a seriously over valued opinion of himself.
Can you do this for every game J, even though i watch the matches i think its really interesting seeing other epoples opions on players. Sczesny looks like an amazing proespect. Bartley is defenitley one for the future and i felt that some of the players weren’t on the same page as merida as his passing is really intricate. frimpong looks good but in the end i think it will be out of him and coquelin and i feel coquelin has the edge as he is an all round better player.
Technically we’re very good, we all know that but another side to keeping the ball is balance and shielding which was lacking. Watt can’t do that, Bischoff higher up can’t do that. The Portuguese man’s position is surely as a central midfielder or deep lying playmaker.
Thomas looked a class above in his composure and stature but couldn’t click with those around him.
I like Randall’s confidence on the ball but seems to try too hard. At 20 seems a late developer but his time at Arsenal is running out.
i must say I agree with the majority, but disgree with a couple. When I saw Eastmond against Spurs i the Youth Cup he really struggled, but defensively I thought he did well against Chelsea. Stoch had to keep switching flanks with Nouble because he wasn’t getting any change from Eastmond and Cruise was struggling against them.
Also, Sanchez Watt hasn’t impressed me in the Youth Cup against Spurs and Man City either, but he worked his socks off up front on his only and won ball he never had any right of winning. I was actually encouraged by this display.
Merida was class until he got injured but should have scored. Kyle Bartley was immense. Its a shame Ayling didn’t play and Silvestre play left-back as I’m sure he could have benfited both of them.
Despite what the Chelsea website says, we deserved to win and Chelsea only put us under pressure for the first 10-15 mins of the 2nd half.
Will have given some of the younsters encouragement that they dealt with Malouda very comfortably.
Great fun with the ratings. It gives us fans a perspective on how the reserves players do relative to each other. Thumbs up!
spot on.
Randall – Lansbury.. Not even a debate anymore!
Since when has Bischoff been wanted? He has shown some promise during the small amount of time in the first team this season?
Seems quite negative.
JS – Thanks for posting the ratings. This is really helpful especially for those people like me that cannot watch the reserve games but like to follow the youngsters progress very closely. I hope this is a regular fixture on Young Guns.
Keep up the good work!
player ratings are a gr8 idea J!!
thnx and make them a permanent feature please!!
to be fair randall played out of posistion
Would generally agree with that, maybe harsh on Cruise, he did alright. Bartley is really an impressive player (and it stunned me that he’s taller than J E-T!).
Randall is so crap, every time i watch him he plays poorly, don’t know why he’s captain. JET should be captain.
Hi guys.
Playing ratings will be a regular thing from now on!
You’re all welcome to add your own, and I’ll put them in the article as well.
Randall has just struggled because he hasn’t developed from last season. Once the Carling Cup run ended he seems to have lost all hunger and desire to kick on.
I wouldn’t write Bischoff off just yet. He is finding it difficult to settle but may come good. It’s happened before with players who struggled to find their feet but eventually came good – Grimandi, Luzhnyi, Cygan, Edu, Song etc etc. Then again, he could be a Malz, Mendez, Owusu-Abeyie. Only time will really tell…
frimpong will make it!!! its proven on football manager!!! haha
Randall hasn’t impressed me once this season. last season he was very good so I think he has actually got worse. It looks like his confidence has gone and certainly players like Coquelin, Frimpong and Lansbury are speeding ahead of him so he wont get a central midfield place back until he can be better than those ahead of him.
Glad to hear about Bartley. he had a slow start to his arsenal career but at last he is meeting the potential that we saw in him at Bolton.
I think up front this team is a bit weak. Sunu, Watt, Bischoff and Fonte all have the jury out on them. they all have weaknesses that need ironing out. Rhys Murphy looks like our true hope of a top striker from the academy.
I agree randall needs games, Henri Lansbury our best central midfielder in my opinion. He might not have the power and strength of friampong but hes got the awareness, skill and leadership skills required for top class players. Henri Lansbury can create goals and he can score them more importantly.
It is possible that Randall is having a sulk at not being played centrally. He is being moved to the right because of a younger player, Frimpong, and he might be angry about it. In the end, Randall needs another loan spell as he will be 20 next September. If he stays in the reserves he will be taking places away from better prospects, like Frimpong. At 20, any player who has any ambition to be a top player has to play well in the championship.
You can all thank me for coming up with the player ratings idea no need to rush since i already know im fantastic.
Merida
Bartley
JET
coq
frimp
the core of arsenal in the future
Randall needs to play for a Championship side (at least) to have true challenges next season. From what I see from him (it means rarely because I am in Vietnam and do not have many chances to watch the second string’s games) I stil think he has potential and lacks a bit of confidence and hunger. Come on Randy, show us that we are wrong about you…
http://www.thefa.com/England/U17s/NewsAndFeatures/Postings/2009/03/U17s_elite_round_Portugal_details.htm
I agree that Randall hasnt played that well since CC ended but Wenger said during CC run that he is a late developer and also physical development is a big part when the last ceiling is 1st team.
Even though Coq, pong, JET, HR are physically talented, none of then is as technically advanced to MR’s level, so they will also be delayed when they get to last ceiling bcuz they need to improve their technique
The England U17’s team beat the Portugese U17’s 1-0 this afternoon with a goal on on 58 minutes by Arsenal’s Luke Freeman.
Watched the game and thought it was a game for defenders to take the limelight for a change, I thought Kyle Bartley was awsome all night, he took a few heavy knocks but it didn’t seem to deter him from winning just about everything in the air, but also impresses with hos composure and passing range, can pass it short and long with great accuracy and comfortable bringing the ball out from the back when the opportunity arises to do it, has the makings of a superb dominant centre back, fingers crossed I think this kid could be the one, still only 17 but physically looks a monster!
I agree whit this rating but my motm was sanches because he was the man who worked the most and who wanted to beat the blues but of course barltey was good too he is better and better
Bartley was awesome and looks like a cross between O’Leary and Bould, the speed and footballing ability of O’Leary and the heading and tackling ability of Bould, hope he keeps progressing as its time we brought through a quality defender for the first team. Bartley and Djourou could be a great partnership in a couple of years
Randall has become a real hollywood player, always tries the spectacular pass or shot when the simple pass would be more effective
Have seen nothing from Watt yet to suggest he has a future as an Arsenal first teamer but he is young yet. Cruise looks a very ordinary player with little pace
JET needs to up the tempo of his game if he is to fullfill his potential
I like the way Frimpong gets stuck in and is willing to take the responsibility of both tackles and shots
Thank you babe. Finally someone who noticed. Sanchez was the only player out there along with Fran and JET to a certain extent who played with a bit of imagination. But the fact that he was playing a lone role up front in a position which aint even his, i give him his props for that cos he worked his socks off.
Spot on with the Bartley comments. I’ve been on here before telling peeps that Ayling has always impressed me more but Kyle was brilliant against the Russians on Monday night. The only mistake i could think of was when he tried bringing the ball out of defence and just ran into a Chelsea player rather clumsily getting intercepted and putting us in danger but apart from that he was a beast at the heart of defence. His stature is tops for someone who’s only 17.
Two comments up there from earlier which i was thinking about during the game. Firstly, why didn’t he bring Deacon on at some point? (preferably for Sanchez who was knackered or Amaury who was ineffective). Second of all, why didn’t he play Silvestre at left back and partner Ayling with Bartley. I feel Thomas Cruise will never make it as a top left back. He simply doesn’t have the pace to play there. A bit of a liability really.
Eastmond was quite impressive. One the best performances i’ve seen from him although he still has a lot to learn. Better crosses than Sagna. Ha. He should teach Sagna how to cross and Sagna should teach him about his positional sense and timing of his tackles. Well done Craig.
Randall has played worse than that before but he was still quite poor. He is either throwing a bit of a strop cos he’s playing out of position (and people, don’t try to defend him by saying he’s out of position, what do you expect? He should learn from Henri when he was asked to play there earlier this season….attitude-wise and performance-wise), or the management have asked him to curb his wild, overly-aggresive tackles and he’s throwing a strop for that. One thing’s for sure, his attitude stinks so bad its evident in his performances. And this guy’s supposed to be the capt. No wonder there’s reports that Blackpool (yes Blackpool) want to take him on loan for the rest of the season.
I’d like to finish off by saying JET is a far better capt than Mark Randall. He’s a real capt who leads by example and rallies his troops. Also, Steve Bould is a far better manager than Neil Banfield. I’ve been really impressed with Bouldy. These young lads seem to respond to him and seem to respect him. He gets the best out of them and a big sign of a good manager is when things aint going for you, that you have the ability to change things around. A bit like what he did against Man City last week in the cup. I really hope he and this group of lads get their just desserts by landing the FA Youth Cup.
I think Lansbury and randall have the quile and inteligence to be world class but friampong and jay thomas have the power and strength at the moment.