Arsenal were trashed 5-2 by Manchester City on the opening morning of the new Premier Academy League season. The back-to-back title holders were out played by City who did the main damage in the first half. Martin Angha and Jeffrey Monakana hit late strikes, but it wasn’t enough.
City exploded out of the blocks and the new look Under 18’s were stunned. The Sky Blues were 3-0 up by half time with Harry Bunn bagging a brace and Alex Henshall chipping in with one. Steve Bould gave his side a dressing down at the break, but his infamous half time team talk failed. Bunn wrapped up his hat-trick before Emerick Hippias netted.
A combination of Martin Angha and Callum Webb managed to force the ball home following a scramble in the City backline, and pacy Jeffrey Monakana continued his superb form with another for Arsenal, but it was too little, too late.
Elsewhere, Steve Gatting’s Under 16’s drew 1-1 with their City counterparts. Winger Anthony Jeffrey bagged the Arsenal goal.
More to follow.
Ouch. Could be a rough season for our boys.
project youth,dead n buried.
you’re the saddest person I know
match about to start so I am off
project youth live in the premiership freaking idiot
why bother to comment?
Very measured reaction, Dan
hey JS, do you know anything about this kid United just signed?
http://twitter.com/DTguardian/status/21687607885
Not a gd start, but the boys will bounce bk.
that’s the spirit
I really want to see how Embilico,Angha and Yennaris perform this year
Aneke is destined for the first team so no need to see him. I hope he becomes a regular for the reserves this year.
dont over react there Dan will ya!! FFS
Not all u18s team out there promote one batch of youngsters to the reserves or send them out on loan like we do right? Meaning last seasons u18s were promoted to first team, to reserves or sent out on loan while Money City’s players remained. Could I say too that most of the u16s got promoted to this u18s team? Though it’s a pity we lost but what I was trying to say was Money City’s u18s were considered “superior” in some sense.
Correct me if I’m wrong. Gooners for life!
good try boys im sure you will bounce back!!
The day J announced these fixtures I knew this will be a very tricky fixture because City have invested almost 14 million on their youth teams in the last 3 year (excluding players they bought this year) & they have first rights to some of the best youth clubs around the world.
But still 5-2 is a disappointment
And are our regular youth team players at the platinum cups (players like Aneke and so on)?
I saw the first half of the under 16 game +second half of the under 18-Steve Bould hada right go at his team at half time.-Anthony Jeffrey was impressive in the first half for Arsenal-The under 16 right back looked quite decent too.
As a city fan i was well impressed with our boys especially as it was against ,without doubt, the best youth team around in the last few years.
its one in the eye for all those people who say city are just a buying club now, we have always had a decent youth team set up and i am confident that this will continue, good luck the arse in the coming season, after city ,you have always been the team i love to watch.
but how many will get the chance you cant expect your strikers to get in the team when they have Tevez, Balloteli and Adebayor to compete with
same goes for midfield and again same for defense
yes city have always had a good youth sytem and this result proved but with the spending spree youth side is almost always forgotten its when the money starts drying up that youth starts taking center stage again
and I dont see city stopping there spending next since I dont see them winning any title this year
man city under18s are quality and always have been, they even played with 16 year olds in this side.
This is a young u18 squad that doesn’t even have our best u18 players so this news is not a huge deal. Also you are not always going to have a great team every year. The point of the youth teams is to get a few good ones with first team potential out of it.
Joseph @ 21 Aug 2010 @ 2:20 pm
Talk about bitter and twisted sad little boy !
If you did -any- research you would find that, like arsenal, this city ( man not money) squad is largely the under 16s this year. Of last years academy squad 5 have gone up to the next level and 3 on loan. Most of our best U18s are now either with the reserves or the first team ‘development’ squad. Dont let the facts get in the way of a good quality wengeresque whinge.
Like I said, correct me if I’m wrong. And I was wrong and I accept it.
DID i SAY IT OR DID IT SAY IT
I said a few months ago that our most important player of the season will be Walcott and if this guy kicks on he can be monster
I know its one game and we shouldnt get overly excited but HE CAN CROSS. What is it just a matter of confidence or or is it a fluke we will find out in the next game
Vela showed brilliant skills but Wilshere missed a sitter and great to see chamak get his first
But the main man for me was Rosicky I mean he controlled absolutely everything. Everything went through him and Song can defintely cover as a CB
but I hope we sign a CB by next week
This match gives hopes lets see if our young guns can fulfill it
I agree. I have said it forever now. He can be good if he plays in a striker kind of role where he makes runs in behind the defence and gets around the goal where he just reacts and doesn’t have to think. As a pure winger, he gets way to much time on the ball to think and that is when he normally does something stupid. I know he was still a winger in this game but his movement and positioning was more of a striker. I am excited if he continues playing in this sort of space. Don’t push him back out to the out of bounds line.
Walcott’s performace is nothing new. He did exactly the same against Burnley…..minus the goals. And if Bentdner did not miss his chances then he would of had 6 assists in that game!
I think Walcott is perfect to get the points against teams like Hull, Wigan, Stoke etc. Let’s hope the england national team stay clear of him though!
Very dissapointing result, but last season we lost a few games quite badly, same when we won the double. It’s a top result for City, but their argument that this result is proof they’re not just a big spending is laughable.
Of course they have a top academy, but the real test is getting players in the first-team. City aren’t doing that, so the academy isn’t successful. Lots of bright prospects in their teams, but the real teller is players being the City team and because of the big money signings, it’s not going to happen.
J what was our XI for the match and is Angha still playing RB?
I absolutely agree with Andrew regarding the performance of Rosicky today.. He was in control of our game with sublime through balls.. He would be my choice over Nasri for the attacking midfielder berth!!
right on- rosicky’s passing was exquisite- I would love to see wilshere and rosicky retained and cesc slotted in for diaby- cesc likes to play from a deep role anyway, and, although wilshere is small i thought he more than coped physically and actually added a lot of aggression and steel in the midfield.
Overall the game was good but didn’t prove a whole lot other then Walcott can be great if he can run at and in behind the centerbacks. Rosicky controlling a game verse 10 man blackpool doesn’t mean he should now be the starter. The way we played would not cut it verse a big team. We gave up some easy opportunities before they went down to ten men. Jack playing so deep still doesn’t make a lot of sence to me. Chamakh really showed what he is,….a good link up man but very average when it comes to true quality in front of goal. Still is a good squad signing. The biggest thing though was the movement. It seems really unorganized. For parts of the game when a Arsenal player gets the ball, we were not moving very fast to give him options to pass to. Overall very entertaining tho and a far as score line, they did what they would expect verse blackpool.
to the idoits who said Project Youth dead and buried…
its proof that you don`t know how a youth system works..
but you call urself a football fan..SHAME
Shane I thought the movement was much better today compared to the LIverpool game. I know they had 10 men, but against Liverpool they only really carved out one opportunity and hat was when Reina saved Rosicky’s shot towards the top corner. Today the movement was much better and that allowed us to play closer to their penalty area. We couldn’t get close against Liverpool. Again, I know this was against Blackpool who were down to 10 men, but the 1st goal was a good example of what I am trying to explain lol.
Milo….I am not talking about in the attacking third. I am talking about the middle of the pitch. The movement in there just seemed very unorganized and if we were facing a better opponent, we would have been counter attacked more often. Obviously when Song is in there, the players have more defined roles so it really isn’t a huge concern right now to be fair.
acutally I for the first time saw us defend properly every time they got the ball, the midfield dropped back and only chamak was left upfront to close down defenders which worked really well and it became a 4-5-1 type formation
as for our midifield against teams teams like Wigan, West Brom, New Castle, Sunderland type teams (teams that play ok football) we should have a midfield of Rosicky – Song – Fab
this midfield means Rosicky can run at player while Fab can use his brilliant vision to find the right players
as for teams like Stoke, Blackburn (teams that play anti football and against big teams) I will take a midfield of Diaby – Song – Fabregas because this is a solid solid lineup not too attacking and not too defensive and against teams like Stoke I will prefer Diaby over Rosicky because he can take the punishment and dish it out
As for Rosicky he has been brilliant in both games. He changed the game when he came on at pool and again yesterday. I dont want jump the gun but he looks like the old rosciky and I hope he can stay injury free (touch wood)
You saw how they played with 11 men mate. Once Blackpool got down to 10 men, of course it was easy to defend. The 3 in the middle were all over the place (not in a good way). Verse a better team, we would have been down a goal or 2 from the jump start.
On Rosicky, I believe you are over hyping his first 2 games. Diaby played great for most of the year last year and now you want him to lose his spot over 1 and a half good games from Rosicky. I can’t wait to see Song, Diaby and Fabregas this year in the middle. If we both have our first teams available that much up in the middle verse Chelsea 3 in Mikel, Lampard and Essein should be awesome even though I am sure Drogba will still be the one that makes the difference like always.
Oh I see now. And yeah once Song is back to his normal role things should sort themselves out. Fabregas looked pretty sharp for the last few minutes. Even against a weak oponent, his passing was nearly perfect and he should be ready to go very soon.
hah I love seeing people overreact so hugely to games such as these – it is one game! Surely you cannot expect our reserves to go unbeaten throughout the season!! Haha honestly people :) This isn’t TV real life is a bit more challenging.
I say well done to the lads they bagged a few goals, back to the drawing board and come out swinging next week
Was w silva playing today
I guess it wasn’t their day. I just wish the score would have been a little closer. We have a really young under 18 squad though don’t we?? Some of our best under 28’s are training with the reserves!!:D That shows the true quality that we have within the academy. For me at least. IF people want to get upset, let them. It’s only one match and it was against a very strong Manchester City team. It’s a shame that most of the City youth will be left to rot for a few years because of all the heavy spending, but eventually they will have to stop spending and begin to rely on their youth development. I guess that was what the 14 million pounds was for:S Only time will tell if they are able to get this part right. We’ll win next time out I’m sure!!:D
Woah I meant under 18’s lol.
Dan u really should calm down as this team have a lot second years missing plus its only the first game so to say project youth is dead is a very dumb statement but thats what u have to expect on this site tbh. However one thing i have noticed is that this bunch of scolars arent as good as the previous three but its early days so everyone should shut up and calm down becuase i personally never thought we would retain the academy league title after we got knocked out by ipswich in the fa youth cup but we did.
Manchester City have a very very good youth set up and as Arsenal fans we can sometimes get tunnel vision when it comes to our own youth teams and players thinking that they are the best when we are sometimes not and yestardays result is a perfect example of this IMO.
can’t agree more..
I reserve my judgment about that, knee jerk opinions on an one-off match isn’t my thing.
We were very good yesterday and won pretty convincingly but the the match still was highly inconclusive.. The only points I could make out were that Rosicky will`be truly awesome for us this year and that our full-backs need to improve drastically.. Sagna wasn’t good at all….
some good points from you gunners but i believe that the very good kids we have coming through will get their chance to get in the city squad eventually, at city we have always believed that if your good enough your old enough, though i must admit it wont be easy for the kids at city while we’re going through our “buy big and get to the top as soon as possible” phase.
our owner ia an incredible guy and has spent over £1 billion on buying , wages ,etc and has plans to redevelop the ground and surrounding areas to the tune of another £1billion, its fantasy football for we city fans at the moment and most of us keep expecting to wake up one day and find it was all a brilliant dream! lol.
i totally understand that opposition fans now hate us cos lets be honest they’d love this scenario to happen to their club.
I completely disagree. I support Arsenal because how it is ran. I like clubs that were built not bought. I don’t believe a club should just wait around and hope their savior to come.
You have the right to enjoy your club though.
I completely agree with shane.. I am so very “Proud” of the way our club is run.. our net expenditure on transfers is less than 40m in PL era.. We have still built one the best academies, the best traning facilities, the best Stadium and performed excellently.. I again agree with shane that you have every right to be happy and enjoy though….
Whilst it’s not pleasing hearing of any Arsenal team losing, the result doesn’t really matter that much at youth level in the grand scheme of things. So long as one or two of our youngsters break into the first team squad every year then that’s all that really counts. Developing players the right way and preparing them mentally for a life at the top table of football is what our academy is built for.
shane and yash, sorry lads but as well as arsenal are run and they are run brilliantly by wenger, you have to be honest and say you would love wenger to have unlimited funds to buy virtually anyone he wants,.
chelsea and trafford united have built a squad over the years by buying big, much bigger than arsenal could ever dream of, and the only reason your boys can even compete with them is cos you have a genius as manager but the rest of us dont have a manager like wenger so spending big is our only chance to close the gap.
we didn’t actually “wait around waiting for a saviour” never in our wildest dreams did we think this opportunity would come to city, remember we haven’t won a trophy for getting on 36 years! you can’t really condemn city for grabbing the chance to actually win something no matter how it comes.
No, didn’t you read what i said. I would not want a super rich guy to just come in and throw money around. I prefer a club built not bought. Yes Wenger is the greatest manager in the world because Arsenal could not have made the step in building a new stadium with out a “sugar daddy” and still make the top 4 every year but Arsenal made steps in their history to get to this point. Whether it was the move to North london, herbert chapman bringing success, to george Graham, to the signing of Dennis Bergkamp, then Arsene Wenger…which brought in the first buy low and sell high purchase (Anelka) which then lead us to signing Thierry Henry and the pinnacle of that squad in the Invincables and the purchase of the leader of the new generation in Fabregas to building the new stadium and redeveloping Highbury into the apartment complex, to selling replaceable players to pay off the stadium and building the youth academy up which leaves us at where we are right now and doing it all while being self sufficient. (That is one hell of a run on sentence) Like I said, I would rather earn our place in the football world than to take the easy short term way.
I could condem them Ming because I think all teams should be playing off a level playing field in all aspects of the game, I wasnt a fan of blackburn buying the league. I wasnt a fan of chelsea buying the league and I am not a fan of city trying to. There should be salary caps or something across europe and rules to ensure everyone has equal oppertunities.
Im looking forward to the first sugar daddy getting bored and pulling out of either chelsea or city and watching them vanish like Blackburn they maybe in the premiership but its just making up the numbers as usual.
Half your fan base will probably jump to the next sugar daddy team.
That model or approach for success will never earn respect in my eyes.
I disagree with that though. Like I have been saying, the level of a football club is about how well you were run over a long period of time. The things I am really against is the whole owners taking out a loan to buy a club which essentially just puts the club in debt. The other is that there needs to be more regulations on finances. Clubs can’t keep taking out loans to buy players and pay wages. Barcelona should not be aloud to keep buying players when they need loans just to pay them.
I hate Man utd. How many own goals can there opponents score every year?
unbelievable…now a pk out of nothing..lol.