Came out of nowhere too. But he was loaned out to Leicester when they where in the Championship, and Norwich the season before that when they were in the Premier League. Playing in the third division at 21 usually isn't a good sign.
haven't seen any other details on the game but, man, this is not what i want to see after brentford. Ft. West Ham 6 Arsenal 1. Yes, West Ham had some senior players involved but that was one of the worst displays I’ve seen from an Arsenal youth team. Abject defensively.— Jeorge Bird (@jeorgebird) August 16, 2021
I caught a bit of that game, since West Ham was streaming it live on youtube. Can't say I recommend watching the replay. It was embarrassing level of quality, save one or two of our players.
that's fair. but there's still a chonky bit still available to U23 with the people still waiting on their loan move.
Like who? Once you get past ESR, Gab, Balogun, and Saka, you get to Reiss Nelson and Eddie, and then you get to players like Omar Rekik, Miguel Azeez, and then players most of us haven't heard of.
huh. didn't realise both john-jules and moller were both already on loan and biereth maybe not having settled in yet. and, apparently, a whole bunch of players who played last year were absent? bird didn't say why. not sure why we played a back 3? the only real excuse for that would be if that was dictated by available personnel. otherwise, having 1 formation for U-23 and 1 for main squad is moronic. west ham apparently fielded a number of senior level players as well. that doesn't help.
yeah, i recall a lot of hype with john-jules. i guess they're trying to be better about getting kids out to get first team experience after a couple of years at U-23. bird thought one of the problem against west ham was patino and azeez might have be too similar and they needed a more defensive-minded partner to balance them out. with azeez looking at loans, i guess patino will be featured this year. not sure why taylor-hart was held out. maybe he hadn't been training with the team while sorting out his contract?
Never get too up or down about the results in youth teams. Too many variables week in week out and their primary goal is player development not winning the league.
Charlie Patino just finished Phil Jones & Dean Henderson...pic.twitter.com/darwtAqbSe— Harry (@RunReissRun) September 12, 2021
Anyone been watching highlights of the U23s performances? From what I can tell they have been running a 2 ST setup. Makes sense given the number of STs we have in the youth ranks but still curious. I've always thought that the youth teams tend to adopt the Sr setup in order to better prepare players for a move up.
it makes the most logical sense (to run the same formation/setup) but i don't think they always do. also they might have been running eddie on the left like arteta was experimenting with during the preseason.
The latest example is in our u23's 6-1 thrashing of Chelsea u23 where it appears we are playing Balogun & Biereth as a ST pair. I mostly bring it up because I have been a big proponent of trying a 4-2-2-2 ever since we signed PEA (he and Laca in a pair up top). On top of that the MF & FWs we have in the academy seem to be a better fit for this concept. And I still think it would be a good fit for our current 1st team... ST - PEA, Laca, Eddie, Balogun, Martinelli, Pepe W/AM - Saka, ESR, Pepe, Martinelli, MO, AMN CM - Partey, Xhaka, Lakonga, AMN, Elneny, MO
Tifo video on Arsenal's most exciting youth prospects, highlighting Rekik, Oulad M'Hand, and Hutchinson. The description of Rekik in particular, as a ball playing CB who has the freedom to get forward in a back 3 system, reminds me of what Arteta likes about White.