The UEFA Under 19 European Championships kicked off this afternoon, with Arsenal having three representatives in the prestigious competition. For England, fresh from winning the Under 17 gong, Reserves left back Thomas Cruise, while French duo Gilles Sunu and Francis Coquelin are key to Les Bleus’ challenge. You can read the latest reports below.
Thomas Cruise – England 3-2 Austria
England’s Under 19’s kicked off their Group A campaign with a 3-2 win over Austria. A brace from West Ham striker Frank Nouble was sandwiched in-between a David Alaba goal for Austria. Arsenal’s Thomas Cruise thumped home the third in the 55th minute, before a late reply from Gernot Trauner saw an edgy finish.
The Young Lions took the lead after 13 minutes when Nouble paced the back four and finished well with his left foot. On the half hour mark Matthew Briggs picked out Nouble again, with identical results, giving England a 2-0 lead at half time.
It was far from game over at the break, and just seven minutes into the second period, the impressive David Alaba had curled home a delightful free-kick to give Austria a lifeline. However, three minutes after that, a goal made in North London looked to have put the fixture safe. Tottenham’s John Bostock found club mate Steven Caulker with a whipped corner, Caulker headed down and Arsenal’s Thomas Cruise arrived to slam the ball in from close range.
Gernot Trauner pulled one back late on, but it finished 3-2. Cruise completed the 90 minutes. Click here to watch highlights including Thomas’ goal.
Gilles Sunu & Francis Coquelin – France 4-1 Holland
France Under 19’s also claimed their first win of the tournament, beating a talented Dutch side 4-1. Francis Coquelin started in central midfield while Gilles Sunu joined Yannis Tafer in surprisingly being left on the bench.
Coquelin had a quiet start as France went on the attack early in the game. Chelsea’s Gael Kakuta took advantage of of intense French pressure open the scoring, and then 9 minutes later they had the chance to double their lead from the spot. Coquelin was sent crashing by Imad Najah in the box, a yellow card and a penalty was given. Lyon’s Clément Grenier missed.
Cédric Bakambu did double the advantage before half time, but shortly after the restart, Holland’s Jerson Cabral clipped in a free-kick to half the deficit. However, there would be no Holland come back as Martins Indi put through his own net with minutes left. It finished 4-1.
I have to say Thomas cruise may have found his position as a holding midfielder.
Hes a tall, elegant, technical player. Hes left footed, great in the air and a great passer.
I think the holding midfield role could suit him especially in the premier league
Heavy competition there though. Well at leftback aswell I guess.
All of sudden the Holding midfield position is packed with competition. to think b4 worl cup everybody shouting for Arsene to get 2 of them…. Think Thomas and Frimpong ready for first team, maybe playing with song when need to have 2 Dm in a game?
Good start to the tournament especilly in this particular group.
tom was in my school he was a year youngther then me i is a very good player and i hope he becomes a arsenal star
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Tom looked really comfortable playing there…however, I never saaw him winning any tackles, he did have some great interceptions though. The other thing is, he walked around the field a lot… and really didn’t show much movement early on in the game, but he did get involved a lot more as the game went on. I wish him well and also I do hope he goes on to real prominence in the league and with Arsenal. He’s got a style and class about him I like to see on the field. He also gave some really great passes up the field and hardly made a bad pass.
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Overall, I thought it was a poor performance from England and if wasn’t for some poor defending and goalkeeping from Austria it could have even been a defeat. England had a bad technical game with lots of bad passing, long balls and lost possession. The game was very helter-skelter and frustrating to watch at times. It reminded me of the u21 game against Greece, but not quite as bad. England will need to play a lot better to progress.
had as much chance making it at arsenal as craig eastmond, he got a bit of luck last season and now is part of the first team. i think with a bit of luck, a good performance in the carling cup in holding midfield tommy could do what eastmond has done. don’t remember him giving the ball away in the whole game, very composed and good positioning. think he is a better player than eastmond. not as aggresive or tenacious as frimpong but a better footballer and interceptor, and wenger likes this-which he has shown sticking with denilson in that position
I have always believed Cruise could be good in DM. He was good today but I hope he runs a little bit more and is a little bit more aggressive. Other than that he was quite solid.
It’s getting tougher and tougher in DM spot with a lot of good prospect coming through and almost all are from the academy and english!
I really hope Cruise will be loan out to a championship team and get plenty of time in DM spot.
I agree with some of the people her. From what I have seen of Thomas, he looks more comfortable in the middle of the park. Whether is be in defence or midfield he has always looked more comfortable in the middle to me. What I don’t understand is how he suddenly can be a better player tha Eastmond. Eastmond can pass the ball, as well as tackle and do the hard bit. People seem to forget that he can pass and he is an intelligent player. I don’t think that Cruise will suddenly jump ahead of Eastmond. Not unless Eastmond falls apart in pre-season trainging either physically or form-wise. It’s weird how people cannot see the footballing side of Craig Eastmond’s play. Cruise seems more of a pure footballer in the sense that he can’t tackle as well as Eastmond. THat to me is the most important aspect of being a defensive midfielder. Forget the passing. At this level, most of the players are solid enough with their passing. It’s the intercepting and tackling that is the most important part. People forget that Makelele could pass as well as do all the other things he did. The same thing goes with Song!! He can play too if he needs to.
sorry for asking this on a blog for YG but Eduardo to Shaktar ? T OR F ?
The England U19 were the typical all brawn and no brain performance.
You look at the team and they are all taller and bigger than their counterpart.
The Eurosport commentator declaring that England was bigger and more physical than Austria shows what is wrong with that approach.
Nouble is just younger more clinical version of Heskey. The U19 hoofed the ball to him and being bigger band faster than a very poor Austrian defense they scored. None of England goals were the result of a constructed move.
Cruise may look good and technical when compared with the rest of the England team however he does not look good when compared with other Arsenal players. That says a lot on the level of that England team.
I am still baffled on how they could overlook Eastmond who is part of the first team and select Cruise to play the holding midfield player.
Valentin is 100% correct regarding the level of play of the U19’s. I didn’t even watch the match, but logic would dictate, that if Cruise stood out technically, the level of the other England players must be pretty low. They should have taken eastmond. Or could Eastmond move up to under 21’s maybe?? I dunno.
The U19 coaching staff should be made aware that on Eurosport you could hear the comment by the coach. They sound like a Sunday league coach. Get stuck it. Don’t let him roll you over.
, Well Done lad…
Toward the end of the game when Austria started to exerte more pressure they switched to 3-4-3. Howver it was not a symmetrical one as clearly the Austrian were overloading their left side. They then use long on the floor ball toward the right to expose England right back who was tucked in too much. Their second goal came like that. Nobody thought of instructing the right midfield player to stick with the running midfield player.
Clearly the England coaching staff did not know what to make of that formation. It looks like they have never seen it. However that was the same formation that Chile used so effectively in the 2010 World Cup.
To me, it looks like they did not even bother watching World Cup games of other team to study the tactic of other teams.
At that level it is criminal and negligence of the highest level.
the england set up dont seem to like the arsenal youngsters that much, which shows they prefer the kick and run philosophy and is why england will never win anything against spains etc.
Hard to take Eastmond when he’s too old. Some people comment and don’t even know the rules.
Cruise is very good technically so some of the comments about him not looking good compared to other Arsenal players technique wise is a bit baffling. His movement is poor though and he gets caught for pace. Which would be a problem in that role if you don’t have exceptional reading of the game.
I don’t think this England team is good enough bar a few talented individuals. Need a playmaker and don’t have one. I guess trying Bostock there is worth a go but he’s a bit selfish and can’t be relied on atm from what I’ve seen. Playing James and Cruise seems pointless as they seem to try to play too much of a similar role.
j was the dutch sub eblicio? The 1 who has joined arsenal?
cjc87 – yes I watched that match last night. Ebecilio came on with about 10-15mins to go. Have to say I wasn’t totally concentrating so can’t rate his performance.
That wasn’t our Kyle Ebecilio, it was Lorenzo Ebicilio of Ajax.
Oh my bad. I just saw the name and assumed it was him.
Cruise will be a good centre half given the chance, at left back we are well stocked. The unfortunate thing for him is, to get your chance at centre half you will generally need to be a bit older. Is he as good as Song, Frimpong, Eastmond, Cpoquelin, Denilson at DM i doubt it. So left back will be is easiest route to the first team, there he ONLY
Cruise will be a good centre half given the chance, at left back we are well stocked. The unfortunate thing for him is, to get your chance at centre half you will generally need to be a bit older. Is he as good as Song, Frimpong, Eastmond, Coquelin, Denilson at DM i doubt it. So left back will be is easiest route to the first team, there he ONLY has to get past Clichy, Gibbs, Traore & Botelho. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next 2 years with this new rule, when all the aforementioned will be over 21, certainly at least 2 will move on, Cruise will still qualify as an U21.
I am saying this although i am a little uncertain of the rule? As i understand it in a squad of 25 you can have as many home grown players as you like but a maximum of 17 non home grown (i.e. 14 + 11 or 17 + 8?). You can also have unlimited u21’s is that correct?
Where’s the video?
what about özyakup? didn’t he play?