Plenty In Reserve
Apr 21st, 2008 by 'holic
If, like me, you have spent your Monday evening watching the reserves in action against West Ham you will not fail to have been extremely impressed with the work done in the attacking third by sixteen years old Jack Wilshere as the Gunners won 2-0.
I wrote last Monday of the players that had impressed me in recent weeks since I have had the opportunity to watch the reserves on Arsenal TV. I missed the second-half last week and saw the reports then of Wilshere’s impact on the game against Derby.
Tonight against a good West Ham side the same players I mentioned last week were impressive, but young Wilshere was outstanding in the opening half, making a goal for Rui Fonte before scoring an absolute beauty himself.
Again, I should say it is very important not to burden such a young player with too much expectation, particularly one so young, but it is his tender years that emphasise his talent. No wonder the staff at Arsenal are extremely impressed with him.
It would be easy to get carried away with the current crop of youngsters. It is only with the advent of live reserve transmissions on ATVO and Arsenal TV that lots of supporters have been exposed to second team football.
The very size of the club, and the expectations of the supporters, make it very unlikely that we will see large numbers promoted to regular first team duty in the same way that we witnessed as George Graham’s Arsenal took shape.
Relatively expensive and experienced purchases will bar the route for a lot of these lads. That having been said though there are clearly a handful of outstanding talents who, with the right attitude and encouragement, will force their way into first team reckoning. I cannot wait to see next seasons Carling Cup side.
6 Responses to “Plenty In Reserve”
Completely agree!! Wiltshire looked extremely intelligent for such a young age.
With Diaby proabably missing now after that injury to his hip, rosikcy out and flamini…. put wiltshire on the bench! Rooney did it at his age.
Anyways the future is pretty bright with theo, wiltshire, traore, barazite, lansbury etc.. oh and cesc is only 2 years older than them
Wilshire looks the real deal, i love they way he wears his socks like Hleb too. There is still alot for him to improve, but from what i have seen he has bags of potential. Great goal. Also very impressed with Barazite, he reminds me of Berbatov, very composed, good touch, full of tricks and strong shot.
Was a bit dissappointed by Traore, he didnt do much wrong, but didnt show anything special, like last week.
I was impressed once again by Wilshere and West Ham are a much better team than Derby last week. Hopefully he has the mental strength to cope with the attention that is going to come his way if he continues to develop as he has. It would be great to see a player come through from Academy to first team. He looks like an English (goal scoring!) Hleb!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/7353306.stm
the story above..just makes me so so sympathetic..its sad for probably the best ever..certainly the best ever entertainer at Arsenal..to have articles written of him like the one above…I REALLY hope..he kicks some ass against MAn u..his sublime classy touch is enough to tear united apart..but can he recall that??
wow,the bbc article really went in for Henry,made him seem like a spent force…its a shame but hopefully it will let the rest know that even the best falter when they leave the Gooners….
Nice one, ‘Holic. Watching the up-and-comers in the Carling Cup is great fun.
I thought Gibbs might get some chances this season. He looked like a good player when he got a chance in pre-season.
I’m really hoping the boss can calibrate things a bit better for next season and push the team on.
His rationale for the downturn late this season has been that the lads lack maturity, so with that thought in mind, these youngsters might not be getting anywhere near the league side.
As the manager, he should be able to forsee that there’s a problem with the balance of the side (lack of maturity) and address it. Not to exclusively scapegoat Eboue, but he’s a players who is terribly immature. We could all see that; what was Arsene seeing?
Still, although the Arsenal didn’t win anything, they played some great football that was fun to watch, and that victory in Milan was great.