Watching Arsenal beat Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium is not only a great opportunity to see some of the best youngsters in the country, but also a brilliant way to gauge which youngsters are popular and well known by the Arsenal fans who may be less knowledgeable about the Youth and Reserve Team.
Inevitably, a lot of the talk before the game centered around the senior players; Nasri, Eduardo and Bendtner returning from their respective injuries. However, several fans outside the ground expressed their desire to see the likes of Merida, Watt and Coquelin once again, as well as the obvious disappointment that Jack Wilshere was missing out.
As the teams were being read out it was interesting, if slightly inevitable, that the majority of the crowd had not heard of Craig Eastmond, but seemed genuinely excited by the presence of Merida and Ramsey on the pitch.
For the starting period the crowd switched between joy, at seeing the free flowing way the team were playing, and despair, at the slightly hazardous defensive play. This influenced the way the two younger members of the team were viewed, with some nerves being expressed about Eastmond, while Merida was seen to be “going somewhere”.
And somewhere was where he went! His fantastic goal was greeted by exultation, and the crowd seemed distinctly pleased for the young Spaniard. Despite Liverpool’s goal, there was never any tangible feeling that the team could do with more experience and Bendtner’s, eventual, winner restored a party atmosphere.
The real clue, however, as to which players are rated highest in the collective mind of the Emirates came in the 75th minute when a double substitution was made and 87th minute when the third substitution was made. These exchanges saw 2 youngguns leave the pitch, with 3 more taking their place. First off was Eastmond, who received a well deserved standing ovation, he certainly impressed a crowd who largely hadn’t even heard of him 2 hours earlier. Another youngster who seems to have a big following is Sanchez Watt, whose performance in the last round earned him a rousing cheer when he came on, on top of teh one he received when his name was announced at the beginning of proceedings. Mark Randall was also well received, but all of these were topped by the ovation Fran Merida was given when he left the field of play. The young Spaniard earned himself yet more fans on top of the plaudits his performance and goal got him this game. Finally, impressive Frenchman Coquelin was greeted warmly by a crowd obviously aware of his talents.
From the reactions of the Emirates faithful on Wednesday night it seems obvious that the majority Arsenal fans are confident in the knowledge that we have some very special young players coming through the ranks, and are very pleased about it!
Article by G.Sonvico
just got too many youngsters, merida fabregas wilshere ramsey eastmond coquelin will all expect to be playing 1st team football in a few years and we just can make it happen.
where was carlos vela the other night?
fran merida, aaron ramsey, carlos vela and jack wilshere will definitely be in the first team in the next 3 years.
J you are doing a great job. I already knew about everyone on the bench as well as of our pipeline down the years like Afobe and Aneke thanks to your sterling work. It helps that you have now cross pollinated with popular sites like Arseblog.
fran merida, aaron ramsey, carlos vela and jack wilshere will definitely be in the first team in the next 3 years.
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how would you fit them all in? assuming players such as fab nasri rosicky walcott will still be here?
Just hope Merida signs, we seriously cant let him leave, let alone on free. It certainly reiterates Wengers stance not to buy more experienced players as that would just shove the undoutbless talent further down the pecking order. Merida and Ramsey should be getting way more games!!
Rosicky, Diaby, Eboue, Traore, Senderos, Silvestre, Gallas maybe Arshavin will go in the next year or two leaving plenty of room for vela, ramsey, merida, gibbs, bartley, coquelin, eastmond etc to come in more regularly. Its not just about 11 players its about a squad and we have plenty of fringe or aging players who can leave to be repalced by younger or better players. No need to sell anyone, but of course all the kids can’t make it so some will leave but it will be because they are not good enough to break in not because of sheer numbers. Its all good and the fierce competition to break thru is vital for them to push on to the level required.
To me, those youngsters that can make it would be aaron ramsey, jack wilshere, fran merida, carlos vela, sanchez watt, henri lansbury, craig eastmond, francis coquelin, kyle bartley, luke ayling, kieran gibbs, gavin hoyte, emmanuel frimpong, ignasi miguel, Oğuzhan Özyakup, nacer barazite, gilles sunu, benik afobe, luke freeman, jamie edge, hay emmanuel thomas, and harvard nordveit.
the above mentions are all top talents and definitely have the potential to be a first teamer in the next 2-5 years, depending on how old they are now.
It will also depend on how much they are willing to wait for their chances. Those like david bentley, fabrice mumba that cant wait will then opt to move to other clubs and thus see their career downward spiralled.
Arsenal are well stocked for the future. Lets us go forward and win some trophies.
Regarding the DM role, we have song, denilson, diaby (well…) and nasri. Now we have coquelin, frimpong and eastmond as well!!!
I thought vela was to play against liverpool? does anyone know why he didnt?
Can sm1 please post the text of 2day in comments section..jay the text is not showing up but the comments are..its weird
vela had a knee injury.
That list of players that can make it seems extensive. Don’t get me wrong I’m sure they all have the talent but I imagine that only 3-4 will make it at arsenal (ie. become first-team regular).
Aside from the obvious – Wilshere and Ramsey who should both be getting more minutes than they do. People like Sczesny, Gibbs, Coquelin and Eastmond have the best opportunity as they play in positions that we are weakest. Despite all of Merida’s talent he will only get more minutes with injuries to arshavin, rosicky, vela etc…
If you look at the players who have forced their way into first-team in recent years then it is more often than not due to injuries – Gibbs, Mannone, Clichy before that. Players like Wilshere and Ramsey who have pushed there way in by talent alone really don’t get as many minutes as they should simply because of the long line of players who we have in attacking/midfield positions.
In that case Arsene should be planning to ship away the following:
GK-Almunia should be off to pave the way for the eventual emergence of Szczesny who’s the better of all the GK’s.
CB-Sylvestre and Senderos should be off next season and give way for Bartley and Ayling to step up.
Full backs-Eboue off to increase chances of Gilbert who’s a natural defender than Eboue and should sub Sagna. Traore must also be encouraged to leave because he’s surplus and not good enough defensively.
CM-Denilson, Song and Diaby then leave to allow Eastmond, Coquelin, Landsbury and Frimpong to fight for the vacant positions.
The only way to push the good once up is to get rid of the average and the older players in the team. ASAP.
I’m pretty sure most people had heard of Craig Eastmond. Myself plus everyone sitting around me in the Green Quadrant knew of him and his ability to play right back and defensive midfield, and had even seen him play many times for the reserves on atvo and the under 18s last year. People have to be pretty poor fans to have ‘never heard of him before’.
thank you
arsenal area top four club in the uk and in the top four in europe so anyone who thinks they are going to get in the team without hard work, patience and a slice of luck is deluded. lassana diarra is the blueprint for these players to follow, proving you can quit arsenal and still break into a top team. others like muammba and sidwell probably did the right thing – they are having solid premiership careers, rather than waiting around. wenger’s style is to get a player so far and then leave it up to them to fight their way into the team or leave. that’s because the extra quality you need top be a world class player can’t be measured on the training pitch – those that choose to leave, mostly haven’t got it.
fran merida, aaron ramsey, carlos vela and jack wilshere will definitely be in the first team in the next 3 years.
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how would you fit them all in? assuming players such as fab nasri rosicky walcott will still be here
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doh! nasri and walcott have played one and half games between them this season! rosicky has played 4 or 5 games. it’s a squad game these days and as usual AW is ahead of the game in developing a squad of totally interchangeable talents
I agree with timao. When talking to my Liverpool-supporting friends we often come to the subject of depth and how they, for example, don’t have an adequate replacement for Torres. They always point to that there is not high quality striker who would be ready to be on the bench because of how good Torres is. At Arsenal we don’t have that problem at all. We could get Kaka and it wouldn’t be a question of him or Cesc. If we’d get Torres, RvP would just play out right. Every single player can play in more than one position, keepers aside. For example, Ramsey is very much like Fabregas in my opinion. That doesn’t mean that he won’t get into the side without taking Cesc out. He can challenge Nasri as well. And if he takes Nasri out of the team, than Samir can challenge Arshavin and Eduardo and even Song. Bendtner can play in all forward positions, so can RvP. Gibbs can play LB, LW and in midfield. We have a great strength in depth, both numerically and because they can all swap positions like that.
doh! nasri and walcott have played one and half games between them this season! rosicky has played 4 or 5 games. it’s a squad game these days and as usual AW is ahead of the game in developing a squad of totally interchangeable talents
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yes its a squad game but still ramsey merida wilshere will not be expecting to play 2nd fiddle to anyone else. If ther’re fit ther’re going to want to play.
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People are getting a little overexcited here, some are honestly suggesting we should get rid of Arshavin, Rosicky, Song, Almunia, Diaby, Senderos, Sylvestre, Denilson etc and then replace them all with youngsters. When that doesn’t work I’m sure they’ll be crying out for experienced players.
Though it does seem as if we have so many great youth team players that it’ll be hard to fit them all into the team in the future :(.