Arsenal wrapped up their final home game of the Reserves League South season with a 3-1 win over Birmingham City. Goals from Ignasi Miquel and Oğuzhan Özyakup gave the Gunners a comfortable first half advantage, while Nacer Barazite added a third in the second period.
Neil Banfield rotated his charges once more, with Nicholas Yennaris replacing Francis Coquelin at right back and Rhys Murphy coming in for loanee Sanchez Watt. First-team stopper Vito Mannone returned from injury and started between the sticks. Under 18 starlets Martin Angha, Jamie Edge and Roarie Deacon were named among the substitutes.
Mannone
Yennaris – Cruise – Miquel – Evina
Özyakup – Eastmond – Henderson
Barazite – Murphy – Freeman
Subs: Shea, Angha, Byles, Edge, Deacon.
Match Report – Arsenal 3-1 Birmingham City
Birmingham kicked things off at the rainy Underhill and began with an early attack. Ignasi Miquel was forced to track back and clear in the only meaningful action of the opening 10 minutes. Then the game exploded into life, with first Teemu Tainio smashing wide after slack play from Craig Eastmond before Luke Freeman tricked his way into the box but had his shot blocked.
With the half hour mark approaching, Arsenal’s Dutch influence almost forced the first goal. Oğuzhan Özyakup layed in Nacer Barazite who strode forward and lashed just over the bar. It was a huge chance, but seconds later the Gunners would grab the key goal. Conor Henderson’s left footed corner picked out giant defender Miquel who was on hand to flick home his first goal for the club.
City snapped back out of the traps and responded immediately with a goal of their own. Cruise conceded a corner under pressure, it was taken short and then placed into the box for Jacob Rowe to match Miquel’s fine header with one of his own. 1-1 and game on.
Özyakup had two further cracks and with just seconds of the first half left, the former AZ youngster managed to squeeze home a powerful shot from a tight angle to give the Gunners a 2-1 lead.
Half Time – Arsenal 2-1 Birmingham City
With the goal just before the break, Arsenal were in control. The second half began in flying fashion once more and the game was wrapped up when Barazite strode in from the left, rode two challenges and clipped the third inside Taylor’s posts.
On the hour Rhys Murphy was pulled off in place of Roarie Deacon but while he was busy settling in, City went on the attack. Asante worked Mannone from the edge of the box but then the Gunners regained control of the game. Freeman wriggled past Tainio yet dragged his shot wide and then Miquel should have scored again following another Henderson corner.
Martin Angha and Sam Byles entered the fray with 20 minutes left and despite late pressure from the effervescent Freeman and Deacon, they failed to add to their two goal advantage and it finished 3-1.
Nacer seems the most likely.
I hope he gets into the first team next season.
he deserves it now.
Henderson seems to really be playing well lately. His set piece delivery is something we could use in the senior team.
I think AW should go for Lukaku at 15M.
I don’t think he would go for a 16 year old for £15m :P
agree!!! He would be awesome!! I think Barazite will have his breakthrough year next season!!!!
Lukaku is a very good talent but he’s not technically gifted so I doubt wenger will spend over the odds for him.
How good is Ozyakup?? I’ve never seen him, but he sounds very good and always seems to come up with something creative. I’m a big fan of Barazite and i hope he makes it!!!
Very good talent, great passing and vision, good first touch and decent strike.
Ozzie is my favourite player in the youth team.
He is probably our best midfielder right now although Henderson will have something to say about that.
Is Coquelin injured or is he part of the traveling party tomorrow? It could be a case of him waiting in the wings on whether or not Cesc is fit.
Nope he’s away with the French national team.
is he playing for under 21 and what position does he play in for them
Thanks alex, that’s kinda what i imagined. Do you or anyone think he has a shot at the first team squad next year?? If Merida leaves, that would certainly open up a spot. Is he near his level?? Hopefully both stay, but it’s always nice to have back-up if Merida leaves
I have high hopes for him but there is a hell of alot of competition for his position.
Some vids of him here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gZpR0MtuoI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg3E3Fpq74U&feature=related
Hes the No.10 with the armband in the 2nd vid most of the time giving the passes to Castaignos.
Woah nice!! Awesome alex!!!:D Thanks a lot man!!:D
thanks Alex….
Nice write up and decent result for the boys. Aneke and Afobe both got on the scoresheet for England U-17’s vs Malta. Aneke bagged two and Afobe put one away, Aneke missed a penalty aswell. They won 5-0.
http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/5210274/
HIghlights here ^
Yh conor henderson seems to be stepping up to reserve level now. I rate him very highly very underrated player. He can open a defence up from anywhere hes very carrick like plus hes a leader
Freeman is a player i really like as well he looks like hes stepping up to reserve level as well now
Ozzys is a bit like Fabregas
while Nacer Barazite reminds me of Zlatan Ibrahimovic :D
now that;s not true at all
Barazite is a silky player who can play either on the wings or as a striker but he’s not Zlatan
congratulations to the lads.
i think barazite needs to be promoted to the first team now. i haven’t seen barazite play alot as i live in Africa, but i follow this blog religiously; from what i have been reading i believe the boy has talent. he needs to train with the likes of AA, Fab, & RVP to improve his skills. i think some of these kids will do better on the first as compare to what Walcott is offering a the moment. i don’t know why wenger keeps using walcott, but i feel vela, wilshire, merida, & barazite can do better with their technical superiorities. i can’t wait to see da silva though
the reserve players already training with the first team!!! Barazite was injured is now on the way back. I am sure next season is his year!!
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Barazite is a tricky player someone who can dribble past players we miss that.
We lack inteligent wingers rosicky, arshavin, nasri are not really wingers they are more central playmakers
We miss hleb is ability to hold the ball attack full backs and keep the shape
Walcott is the only one who tries to go past full backs but hasnt got the trickery to beat them. Eboue is good as well but we need more eboues at arsenal.
Playing wide is much harder than playin up front cause when u play wide u get less space and time
we are OK and all these players will develop and become better
id say you get less time in the middle as your always marked by a cb whereas while on the wing you can pull out onto the touchline whilst the fullback will tuck in a little enabling you to get the ball under control often before they have shut your space down
the season is already over for the reserves?!
barcelona are unbelievable!
Arsenal unlike barca do not close down like a team
Barca are a very good team but we matched them when he had possession
Arsenal had a bad game and Barca had an incredible game but we still drew the match so its important to remember that
I still think with this young side we will improve every single season and who knows we might become better than Barca in a few years
im not sure about Barazite. I dont think he’s good enough for us. Compare him to arshavin, nasri, eboue, rosicky, wallcott and you can see he’s not going to get a game.
WHAT A GAME !!!!!!!!!!!
BEST GAME OF THE CENTURY FOR ME
Barca played a brilliant game and could have finished us off in the first ten minutes but we kept our cool and drew a great game
But with gallas out for the season and Arshavin and Fabregas injured we might have a problem in the future
Still with Pique and Puyol out for the next leg and Maxwell as LB I can see us winning the tie and going through the semi
What interested me is that we had a bad game and we still drew the match and it was clear that Barca had one of the best matches of their season
OH yeah Shane
If you can blast Almunia for having a poor performance against Birmingham then you should be able to congratulate him for his performance today.
so true Almunia is the only reason we are still a chance to the semi.I couldn’t believe it was 0-0 half time.Should have been 3 or 4 goal for barca if Ibra was wearing his scoring boot on the first half .We are lucky to finish 2-2.
My team second match
BIG Al
EBOUE SONG VERMAELEM CLICHY
DIABY NASRi DENILSON
THEO BENDY ROSICKY
we weren’t lucky to finish 2-2 but we didn’t create enough chances to win the tie still It was fantastic match to watch probably one of the best of the decade and we have one more to look forward to WOW
I think with Barca if we can keep possession of the ball better they are defensively weak especially now with Pique and Puyol suspended
What I find interesting is that even when we are playing bad we can still draw the match something we have been doing all year which we haven’t done for a long long time.
Th bad thing is all the injuries we have suffered in the match including Fabregas, Arshavin, Gallas.
Gallas can be covered by either Song or Sol
Arshavin can be covered by a fully fit Rosicky or even Eboue (play nasri left)
and Fabregas with Nasri
This will be my lineup if everyone stays injury free
————————- Almunia
Sagna ——– Song ——– Vermaelen ——– Clcihy
—————————Denilson
Walcott ——— Nasri ——– Diaby ——— Rosciky
————————– Bendtner
This will stop them from counter attacking and provide more players to plug up the middle.
or a 4-3-3 with the same formation for a more attacking approach.
with your lineup Eboue you are weak at the back
Sol can provide muscle needed in defense but lacks pace although Song wasn’t that quick either
Theo has to be in the lineup to keep Maxwell in check and create havoc behind Barca defense.
Rosicky can be used in the left wing or Eduardo to provide more penetration behind defense but I think it will be Rosicky who will start against them
Real Zaragoza rejects Arsenal’s opening offer for Ander Herrera
http://www.imscouting.com/global-news-article/Real-Zaragoza-rejects-Arsenals-opening-offer-for-Ander-Herrera/6844/
a brilliant midfielder lets hope we sign him but this might mean that Merida is not signing a new contract and I think he is not a long term replacement for but a direct replacement for Merida.
talks are ongoing it is said but we need world class ready made players!!! Yesterday ut was a demonstration of passing football at its best!!!
we don’t need world class player .we make player work class..work class player cost 20-50 million we don’t have that.
i think we need more player with pace who can beat opposite player. or run after them .Before Walcott come on we couldn’t t go behind the back line of barca.
yes, we dont need someone like Messi we have them already in our books. What a pathetic comment!!!
Did anyone else notice angha filming henry as he came on?
Did anyone notice that Arshavin RAN INTO THE TUNNEL???!!! PATHETIC!!!
what a bullshit comment!!! He went for treating his injury!!!! He will be out for at least 3 weeks!!
Well it might be bullshit, but if it were me I would have still wanted to play at least until half time. It might be bullshit, but I’d give him a oneway ticket to Barcelona and he can play with the team he really wants to play with. His attitude is piss poor. Piss poor. That’s all I have to say. we don’t need him. Look at what Fabregas did. that is true class and true courage. Arshavin makes me sick. Sorry this is how I feel. I don’t care how good he is, he makes me sick. I can cheer for the team without cheering for him. I appreciate his talent, no doubt, but the vibes he gives off are negative to the bone.
Ahhh screw it, my gut instinct tells me he is a negative infkuence, but i got no proof, so I’m wrong on this one. For now anyway. If he up and leaves if we don’t win anything, or if he breaks his contract, then I have proof. I am such a fight to the death person, than during a match, unless you come off the field like Gallas did, or limp around for the rest of the match like Fabregas did, if you pick up a knock, you gotta stay on until you can’t run anymore. But now having had a bit of time to think about it, I realize how unrealistic that mentality is. You can injure yourself and do further damage. Some players choose to take that risk, while others risk being labled weak if they can’t fight through the pain and continue playing. I guess I was the former, and it’s hard for me to modify my attitude regarding injury when I am so stubborn and competitively driven. This is a minor issue, but every now and then it raises it’s head. I can’t stand seeing players role around like they have been shot. I hate diving, even when we (Arsenal) partake in it. I hate showing others that I am hurt, or that I want to stop because of the physical pain I am enduring. This is why I couldn’t understand how he could just run off the field like that. BUT NOW I REALIZE, and I had forgotten that he has played through the pain with his foot injury!!! So now I am a complete moron, because I have just cancelled out my own argument with evidence to the contrary. I guess writing all this doesn’t make me as wrong then, does it??????? lol. Yes it does, and I know it. So there, I know I was wrong.
Actually no, screw that, I’m right. Arshavin is a little bitch. Final words on this subject. I’m done.
good morning, I see all your articles, keep them coming.