Arsenal’s Under 18’s continued with their topsy-turvy start to the season this morning as Steve Bould’s charges struggled against a more cohesive Ipswich Town side, eventually going down 3-2.
Conor Henderson and Jernade Meade both got their firsts of the campaign but Bould’s boys looked a shadow of the team which comfortably won both the Premier Academy League and F.A Youth Cup. A brace by Conor Wickham either side of Ronan Murphy’s strike condemned the Gunners to defeat. Daniel Boateng’s red card summed up a frustrating morning.
In the absence of James Shea and Sean McDermott, Bould drafted in James Dunn, a first year scholar from Fulham on a temporary emergency loan. He started between the sticks in front of a new look back four which included Ignasi Miquel – fresh from penning professional forms. Emmanuel Frimpong and Conor Henderson added experience to the midfield alongside Nicholas Yennaris.
Dunn
Boateng – Hajrovic – Miquel – Evina (c)
Frimpong – Yennaris – Henderson
Aneke – Afobe – Freeman
Ipswich began well and could have had a penalty inside the opening 10 minutes as Arsenal struggled to keep the ball. It could and should have been 1-0 after Caolan Lavery’s stinging shot, but James Dunn showed his credentials with a super stop. Skipper Cedric Evina battered the post with an effort of his own but it was about as close as the visitors came in front of a decent crowd at the Playford Road training centre.
However, it was Arsenal who took a surprise lead when Henderson curled home a delicious free kick with his left foot. The goalkeeper didn’t even move. It was the only real bit of quality the Gunners provided all game.
Wickham could have had a hat-trick if it wasn’t for stand in stopper Dunn, but eventually Ipswich found a way through. Wickham picked out Ronan Murphy who nutmegged Dunn for the equalizer. It was level at the break but Bould typically lashed into his players with an acid tongued approach.
There was a reaction, but it wasn’t a positive one. Boateng added to his yellow card for a poor challenge with a second for violent conduct and Arsenal had to battle on with 10 men. Freeman did hit the bar but the Tractor Boys completed the come back shortly after and were soon out of sight after Wickham’s jinking run and finish combined with a classy strike after catching out the poor Arsenal defence following a long ball over the top meant he had a brace, and the game was won.
Byles, Obed and Meade all came on and the latter pulled one back with a neat finish from the left hand side, but in truth the Gunners were comfortably beaten. Must do better will be the message for next week.
Article By – J.Sanderson
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Barazite has a shoulder injury. He picked it up yesterday by the Netherland u21. So he doesn’t play against the polish u 21 with schneszy.
Jay…how does this team compare to the cup winning team of last year???
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_5620639,00.html
We better give him some first team football to show him that he has a big part to play in our future. We can’t let Atletico steal this great prospect for free. Common Merida, you know where your heart belongs
why didn’t ozyakup play?
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Re: Merida – We are certainly in a very awkward position. He certainly has a terrific amount of talent and could one day be one of the 100 best players in the world. However, look at the names he competiting with: Ramsey, Wilshere, Cesc, Nasri. Two of these players have genuine potential to be the player stop Messi winning 6 Ballon D’Ors in a row (Cesc and Wilshere), while Ramsey and Nasri could be locked for top 10 in the world if they keep their head down. Rosicky is also here, Lansbury and JET is biting at his heels, while Denilson is starting to look like a more creative Gilberto and just as essential as the former Brazil cap’n.
We do not want to lose talent but we shouldn’t hourd it for the sake of unlikely possibility. Maybe he suffers from the fans and media knowing less about him than his peers and with added first team opportunities this season this could change. I know I am sitting on the fence but that is just how it goes.
Secondly, we would not lose him on a fee. I do not know when his contract expires but if he were to leave at the end of it, clubs are compensated when players under 24 leave on a Bosman.
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Interesting talk of you ‘losing’ Merida in the summer. The rule for out of contract players under 24 is meant to compensate a side for the time & effort spent in development. I wonder, do you really think that AFC (morally, at least) are entitled to compensation for a player 1) who was ‘poached’ and 2) who spent his formative years at another club?
My side visit AFC Academy next Sat for the top-of-the-table clash. Many of our kids have now got first-team experience (we’re crap now, y’see) so it will be interetsting to see how things go.
meridas contract ends this summer and any compensation will be nominal compared to a fee we could have actually recieved
Compensation would likely exceed £2.6M since that is the fee we were recently forced to pay Barcelona for him.
thanks
He will leave unless he gets some first team action pretty soon.
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Fran Merida is a 19 year old boy playing for A consistent Champion’s league team arguably one of the top 5 clubs in the world (based on ChampLeagu consistency). He plays for our reserves while he is still just a boy and will definetly not leave Arsenal. Arsene is not stupid he lets people leave that is not at the level that we are at. With the home grown rule coming in and with more economic crisis ahead, Merida one of the best 19, top 10 19 players will NOT leave arsenal especially with Cesc being sought after by Barcelona. Im sure arsene brought merida here as a direct clone of Cesc. Denilson is a clone of gilberto. Nasri looks like pires. Diaby was a clone of Viera but has not lived up to potential. But Merida will never leave arsenal.
Does anyone know why Lansbury not in england u19 squad ? injury? poor form? other reason?
Diaby is very different to vieira i don’t like that comparison, i also think diaby is a very good player and still pretty young with time to improve. I hope merida doesn’t leave class player, i also hope the same doesn’t happen to vela getting frustrated with lack of chances too.
Merida just got his first team contract and he consider to leave already? He knows how hard it is to make it in Arsenal and get regular playing time. It would be much better if he is loaned to Atletico instead. Hopefully someone will tell him about Reyes who is now in Atletico and loaned out? That will make him think twice before moving to another club. His vision is better than diaby already but he needs to work as hard as diaby does, and also need to play more mature and defend better. He can also play as a winger and I don’t know how much longer Rosicky will be in the club but 3 more year at most I think. During those years he will get plenty of playing time and will be a regular within 2,5 years. A regular at the age of 21-22 in a top club is not bad. If we lose him, luckly we still have Henderson and Ozyacup who is class too and is much younger. And is doing better than he did at that age. I hope he stay and fight becouse he will be a top player in the future, only if he work really hard and is patient.
Merida just got his first team contract and he consider to leave already? He knows how hard it is to make it in Arsenal and get regular playing time. It would be much better if he is loaned to Atletico instead. Hopefully someone will tell him about Reyes who is now in Atletico and loaned out? That will make him think twice before moving to another club. His vision is better than diaby already but he needs to work as hard as diaby does, and also need to play more mature and defend better. He can also play as a winger and I don’t know how much longer Rosicky will be in the club but 3 more year at most I think. During those years he will get plenty of playing time and will be a regular within 2,5 years. A regular at the age of 21-22 in a top club is not bad. If we lose him, luckly we still have Henderson and Ozyacup who is class too and is much younger. And is doing better than he did at that age. I hope he stay and fight becouse he will be a top player in the future, only if he work really hard and is patient.
Sorry, forgot to add great post! Can’t wait to see your next post!
It’s a silly thing to say that Arsene buys players as “clones” to former Arsenal squads. He gets them because of their individual qualitys, not because they have a similar style to a player who used to play for arsenal years ago. And he didn’t get Merida as a clone to Cesc, becuase BOTH were just kids when they came to the club. I can’t for my life imagine me Wenger thougt about Merida as a direct replacement for Cesc when he came to the club
This is not a good sign. Gunners must do better..http://bobbygee.wordpress.com/
Great post, I found it useful information on this site and relationship with my blog….thanks
Nasri reminds me more of rosicky than pires. He’s got the same work ethic and seems to enjoy challenges, but also has excellent skill and playmaking abilities. Hopefully he can develop into more of a goalscorer (like pires) though, as he seems to have a better head in front of goal than rosicky
James Dunn is a youth player from Southend Utd.