Emmanuel Frimpong earned plenty of admirers during Saturday’s 4-0 win over Barnet. The Ghanaian midfielder turned in a dominant and hugely impressive shift in Arsenal’s engine room, before being replaced at half time.
Frimpong saw his development stagnate last season after being dogged by a niggling knee injury. The 18-year-old is now back to his best and ready to challenge Craig Eastmond for the right to be Alexandre Song’s deputy. Manu admits he admires and tries to model his game on his fellow African. Judging by the video below, he’s certainly on the right track.
Some of those tackles were immaculate!! Christ he’s a big bugger isn’t he?? Bigger than when I saw him last season I’m sure of it!! I’ll have to catch the next match to see how he does again!! Some of the runs he made were pretty daring I must say!! He did a few overlapping runs. Against better opposition, he won’t be able to take such liberties. But I’m all for his all action style!!:D It’ll just be interesting to see if he can keep his discipline and composure against higher quality opposition. Song wouldn’t have made some of those runs and that’s not a bad thing either!! They are different players though, and he may be able to do those runs more frequently than Song. Like I said, i’ll have to catch the next match lol. I overslept and missed the Barnet game:S lol. It’s in the morning here in Canada:S
milo,i will say it again,song is shiit frimpong is already better then him you can throw denilson in there aswell.
for the record,arsenal are my club,not very happy with the way things are going ,hence the words i am using.
How stupid can one guy be?
Dan you are an absolute cock head ,go back and read your roy of the rovers,thats about all you can read.
dan keep your mouth shut
for the second time my thought is DAN don’t know anything about football..he love to watch team that score a dozen of goal..but he don’t appreciate the defensive side of football team..SONG included in team of the tournament in african nation cup(2008….)..last year we exposed so much at the back when song going to AN…so wat u say DAN
Moron!
Great comment Milo, I think you summed up the feeling very well. He’s had an excellent start, I can’t wait to see more of him at this level.
If Arsenal is your club then you dont know what youre talking about. youre seriously saying that an unproven teenager is better than a proven performer, with World Cup experience, and already has chemistry with the firstteamers. We all saw how his absence affected Arsenal, for chrissake we lost to Porto! and when he returned? we crushed them 5-0 and dominated their midfield. I understand your frustration but be realistic at least
Some games we may need to play Song and Frimpong, good to know we have other defensive quality.
I second what Milo has said, those were some brilliantly timed tackles. Strong but clean, I didn’t think any of them were in any way dangerous or reckless. Tackling is a very difficult art and requires great technique, and Frimpong seems to have it. Also, he looks very comfortable passing and dribbling with both feet. I can’t wait to see more of him either!
He looked fine, he’s a promising young lad, but that is it for now. If he keeps his head and adds some intelligence to his play he could be a good player for Arsenal in the future
The team could do with a top midfielder now, amongst other positions obviously. With Ramsey out, Fabregas sure to leave sometime, Diaby had an average season,Rosicky isn’t top class CM and Nasri might or might not work out in there, we are left with Song as the only top centre midfielder in the team.
The club don’t look as if they will buy in CM so the stage is set, who’s gonna step up to the plate ?
how about Silva…i did checked through UTUBE..he’s excellent prospect..he can past people and frightening pace..he also look a fighter to me…
We have some amazing quality and abundance in the defensive midfield role don’t we?
Would Frimpong fit into the 2nd cm role, acting as whippet cross bull mastiff closing down and harrassing the opposition, while also dropping into a 2nd dm position creating an impenetrable wall for the more attacking teams?
It would be interesting to see this set up with him and Eastmond in the kiddies cup this year when they come up against the better prem teams.
any idea what is height IS?*
Frimpong i still dont think hes a good enough for arsenal. Hes no technically good enough he reminds me of a smaller version of fabrice mumba.
Coqulin is the better player and eastmond is better than him as well
JS frimpong seems to have grown taller how tall is he now?
Don’t know how you can say he’s not technically good enough. I don’t recall him even once having a bad first touch and only lost possession once (not including wayward passes) under pressure at 2:22 in the vid when he tries a cruff turn between 2 tackles. But then later at 2:40 pulls off a similar move with perfect accuracy. His tackling, which is an extremely difficult technique to master properly, is first class already it seems and only his passing wasn’t as accurate sometimes as you’d like, but whose is?
any height?
and he is very technically good from what I saw
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tell me the truth who expected frimpong to produce this kind of performance?
we were all for coquelin or Eastmond no one was even speaking about this guy
but all credits to the guy he has been awesome and wenger will have seen the difference talking him off in the second half made?
but he did make me think that he might get a lot of yellow cards and red card for rash and irrational tackle
That’s true about the cards Andrew but who cares, that’s exactly what we need; a rough terrier type in midfield.
As for his expectations/ potential, Frimpong was actually one of the players in the youths/reserves over the last few years who has had many good reports and things said about him. It’s just only now we have had the opportunity to see him on a slightly different stage. Nobody expected Eastmond to breakthrough like he did. Coquelin too was the other who we expected to have a quicker rise to the first team, and i suspect is one step ahead of Frimpong in that he’s already gone on loan.
i still think song will be our 1st choice DM for a years to come unless he got injured or out of form..diaby could be his deputy..but diaby look more as box to box midfielder than DM..he also good in going forward and excellent close control..the more likely DM that can make it to 1st team is coquelin and eastmond..frimpong is excellent prospect..but everyboy forget about JET..he can play almost in every position except GK..
Andrew – “any idea what is height IS?*”
I could look it up on arse.com for you but i expect he’s grown quite a bit just since Saturday.
I dont think they show the height of players on arsenal.com
wiki says he’s around 180 same for ESPN soccernet
he’s probably around 5’11 so pretty good height
and he’s technically very sound
Looks promising, but don’t forget it was a friendly against a fairly weak opposition. It would be interesting to see how he did against better opposition, I have a feeling he wouldnt be able to hold off PL players so easily currently, but who knows. But with him, coquelin and eastmond coming through, the future is bright for DMs – we need one of them to be able to step up next season though really.
Nordtveit was also impressive at RB imo, he might get a few chances this season at RB or DM.
Frimpong, Eastmond, COquelin are all great candidates for the DM spot and may be
we will get two int he first team in 2-3 years time
but this really is a blessing in disguise
competition for places will bring out the best out of all three of these players and if they go up an level then they are sure to become arsenal greats of the future
maybe this is why wenger let diarra go? we all know how long term his thinking is.
he isnt a tall player. hes a solid stocky player and at 18 he will only get stronger. he seems to have a bit of pace about him as well, although its hard to say since barnett looked a bit slow.
i dont think hes totally alex song. i think hes almost more ray parlour. works his ass off and has touches of class. does the grunt work but doesnt mind mixing it in and getting forward or trying the occasional ‘cryuff’
i often defend diaby and denilson, but when i watch some of the youngsters in eastmond, coquelin and frimpong i wonder if they arent holding back some of this talent. if some of these youngsters started getting some more chances i think their potential would increase.
“maybe this is why wenger let diarra go? we all know how long term his thinking is.”
its not that long
and frimpong is 180cm which is around 5’11
hahah andrew i realize that even wenger might not be thinking that far ahead….more a tongue in cheek comparison of frimpong and diarra.
Is Emmanuel Frimpong always that good in the youth team? as I only follow results..Kindly reply Thanks…P.S Can he play for England?
Frimpong unfortunately chose to represent Ghana much to the dismay of the Arsenal coaching staff. Especially with the home rule coming , he would ve been a a great add to the defensive side of the team where teams would load up English players.
Correct me if i’m wrong anyone, but I believe he came to public attention mostly during the 07/08 season, maybe even before that i can’t remember. But he really stood out during the 08/09 and was considered extremely talented. I don’t know whether he became injured or what happened but he lost form and that’s where Eastmond moved into the DM role.
And he’s free to choose between Ghana and England until he is capped.
For the home grown rule it doesn’t matter if he plays for Ghana or England. He is at Arsenal since around 10 year and always will be a home grown player.
Guys please, it was only Barnet. He played well, but lets not go overboard just yet, he is progressing nicely.
Lansbury was his tepid self though when he played in second half
dude it wasn’t him skipping through four or five player that we will say with better defense he wont be able to do that
it was him making hard, fair, brilliant tackles and if he can scare a league two side then I think he can do it in the PL
He is almost 6feets. 1.81m. Not bad for an 18year old. Would definately add more inches.
I can’t believe all this hype…..
it was against Barnet who first of all is a league 2 side, and secondly it was a friendly. The tempo was even slower than Barnet used to play. I saw good tackles and some good passes but it was nothing special.
Against EPL teams he will struggle. He is 18 and have no experiance of playing in EPL that only means one thing. He can’t just come up and dominate the middle like nothing. In EPL you are a footballer first and tackler second. I can’t say Frimpong only tackles but his link up play was nothing special and he was out of position a few times. I want to see him against teams which at least is championship level.
Eastmond and Coquelin can tackles and play the ball the same time, Eastmond being the best of the three. Eastmond got vision and great link up play as well.
frimpong will be the new song mark my words! (i say the new song because song is aready nearly the new essien)
i remember reading on arsenal.com 3/4 years ago, AW was saying that we have some of the most technically gifted & already able 15/16 year olds he has ever seen. he then went on to name two of them, Wilshere & Frimpong. we all know about jackie boy but frimpong has never been mentioned in the same sentence on most forums…untill after half time on saturday!!! the kid was immence in his effort, incredible in the tackle & not only can he be the new FrimSong <<< like what i did there :o) but he will be the latest in the long list of talked about Arsenal Starlets that will be on everyones lips for this comming season. dont get me wrong im not hyping him up, expecting him to be one to solve our defensive woes, i know he is still young but its a nice topic for everyone to be talking about instead of our attention being wasted on them slimey barca spicks!!!! having said that wasnt FAB4 16 when he came into the 1st team??? why not give him the chance if he carries his form throughout pre season??? the limelight will not be as bright on him because the CDM position often goes unnoticed by the media and most of the starting 11 will grab the attention along with wilshere & ramsey so he could develop quickly but quietly… just my thoughts anyway. oh & hope simpson gets a chance this season. in the games against the smaller teams if were winning comfortably with 20mins to go, bring him on for van persie (rest) and see what he can do….. have a good day gooners, lets hope AW brings in another 2 defenders before the start of the season……………GUNNER4LIFE!!!
Frimpong was 5ft 6 shorter than wilshere he seems to have outgrown him.
Frimpong isnt a 6ft hes about 5ft 9 i would say he looks muscular has a good physique.
Ppl are hilarious these days ppl say Lanbsury was awful against barnet and yet did they not see him for Arsenal vs Fulham, on loan at watford.
He was our best loan player in my opinion followed by Woijech szcensy.
Kieran gibbs was the worst but look at how he turned out.
Lansbury is a big prospect and like i said i think he will break through this year
he’s 180 and more importantly he has the physique to be a DM which is a must
this is probably why Eastmond was chosen on Coquelin
over*
he still has a way to go but he had a good game. he needs to knuckle down now and make good of any oppurtunities he gets.
he looks to me like he models his game on essien.
yea .. rily like essien but i don’t see anything wrong with that .. D boy is only eighteen and has a long way to go. Could even be better than Essien if groomed properly. That country Ghana has a thing for producing quality midfielders .. i was watching certain Kwadwo Asamoah and Agyeman Badu at Udinese and those chaps are something else ..
Joe Cole has sign for Liverpool.Not surprised never felt Wenger really needed him.
Hey anyone know if the Boreham Wood Arsenal XI friendly will be on Arsenal TVO or online anywhere????
That tackle where Frimpong trapped the top of the ball while sliding was immense!!
I thought Lansbury had a good game on Sat, not sure why he’s getting so much stick, it was Henderson who was guilty of giving the ball away needlessly on occasion but he still showed good touches as well
Hi Jamie.. Do the 8 home grown players in the 25 man squad need to be above 21..?? I know we can have unlimited U-21 players.. but what about those required 8 home grown players.. Theo is 20 as of 1 Jan 2010 so he will be counted as U-21, but can we register him as our 8th homegrown player.. We have only 7 (over 21) — Cesc.. Clichy.. Song.. Bendtner.. Denilson.. Djourou.. Mannone….
I am considering that Simpson will leave or else he would make up for the 8th homegrown (over 21)….
no they dont have to be homegrown i think
but you need 8 home grown in the 25 man squad
I am considering that Simpson will leave or else he would make up for the 8th….
he’s gone
his agent has already confirmed it
eduardo is also probably leaving
Who’s gone, Jay Simpson? And where? Is that being reported anywhere?
He reminds me a bit of Ince to be honest. Flies into tackles and plays the simple ball when he gets it. He’s more energy then technique at least at this stage of his career but to be honest I actually like that. Sometimes our team needs that bit of energy espec since Flamini left.
Extremely strong considering his age. Looks about 5’9″/5’10” which was about how tall Ince was. Who knows he might have a growth spurt which would be perfect. If he was over 6ft with that type of strength and energy he would be every AM’s nightmare! *evil grin*
He’s still very raw, his positioning and decision making was poor at times. At PL level he would be chasing shadows as the ball would be passed round him with little fuss. But his tackling ability, technique, two-footedness (if that’s a real word) and natural athleticism should see him develop into a very good player. The great thing about his performance against Barnet is that hopefully it might convince a League One, or even Championship, club to take him on loan and give him some competitive football.
you deluded gooners that haven’t got aclue about football need to wake up. Song is average at best and definitely not Arsenal class, he is far too slow and not very agile and we ill not win a thing whilst he is our dm as the top players with pace just cruise past him.
Frimpong is the complete package and although young and inexperienced he is physically ready to expose the muppets that are currently in our team playing the dm role.