A Night With The Young Ones – A Guest Post From Steve T
Apr 8th, 2015 by 'holic
Once again I owe a huge debt of thanks to one of ours, this time the excellent company that is Steve T, for a guest post covering the U21 fixture at the Grove last night. Steve, thank you for helping out one who has been clocking up the motorway miles this week. It is much appreciated, and a thoroughly enjoyable read.
I have not long returned home from an enjoyable evening at the Grove having watched the under 21’s beat a Stoke side 4-1. A pre-match Italian meal with the kids was followed by the stroll to Gate H in time for the 7pm kick off time, and a meet up with BtM. The first thing I must say is how disappointed I was that Arsenal had not really advertised this event. I stumbled across it by chance one day on dot com. I guess I was one of not many as the crowd was under 3000. It was a real shame as smack bang in the middle of the Easter holidays I am sure that a bit of forward planning would have seen that number swell quite significantly. Especially at a cost of £4 an adult and only £2 a child.
The game itself was an interesting affair. Apart from the usual squad of youngsters available there was the return of some of the three weekers to the fold who were clearly looking for game time. The starting 11 included the likes of Mikel Arteta, Jack Wilshere, Serge Gnabry and Abou Diaby. I must confess that it was great to see Diaby back in an Arsenal shirt and playing again, especially after all he has been through. This was also the first time that I have seen Krystan Bielik in an Arsenal shirt.
The game kicks off and the first thing that you notice is how much slower the pace of the game is from the normal cut and thunder of a Premier League game. I was surprised. I never thought it would have the same intensity, of course I didn’t, but at times it was almost pedestrian and had the feelings of a testimonial.
The initial exchanges were not much to get you too excited, but then you could see how the influence of the first team had managed to filter it’s way down to the under 21’s as a defensive error allowed Stoke to take the lead! A fumble from Macedonian ‘keeper, Deyan Iliev, allowed Shenton from Stoke to open the scoring. However, this bunch are made of strong stuff. Arsenal grew in confidence and thoroughly deserved their equalising goal, courtesy of the impressive Alex Iwobi. Iwobi was to double his tally and send Arsenal into the break with a 2-1 lead after another well taken effort from a Diaby assist before half time.
The second period seemed to see an increase in the intensity. Diaby was now strolling around the imperiously and for me was the best player on display by some distance. I am one of many who have questioned whether the big Frenchman was ever likely to kick a ball again at any level so it was great to see the big man in such commanding form. Wilshere I thought had struggled in the first half but also seemed to up his game in the second period.
By now it was all Arsenal. The back four was being impressively marshalled by 18 year old Stefan O’Connor. He looked calm and assured in the middle and was not frightened to play the ball from the back. This allowed those in front of him to pull more of the strings and It was no real surprise when substitute Stephy Mavididi made it 3-1. The 16 year old went on to play an impressive cameo.
There was just enough time for Iwobi to complete his hat trick with a well taken third. All in all it was a very satisfying evening. Arteta was the first of the first team squad to make way for younger legs. Diaby managed to get just over 65 minutes of action. The removal of both saw Jack revert to a deeper role which I thought suited him much better than his earlier advanced position. Both he and Gnabry lasted the full 90 minutes.
All in all, a satisfactory evening’s entertainment for not too much money. Well done Arsenal. The U-21’s are at the Grove again next Monday against their Reading counterparts. It’s a 7pm kick-off and the prices remain unchanged, so have you got family and friends who want to see an Arsenal match?
Campo Retro Shirt Competition – The Winner
My weekend away meant I missed the draw for the shirt by our friends at Campo Retro. So a belated congratulations to Colin Howes who wins the shirt of his choice from the Campo Retro range, the Arsenal page can be found here. Thanks again, all at Campo Retro, for this great prize.
78 Responses to “A Night With The Young Ones – A Guest Post From Steve T”
steve t., well played. i cannot tell you how attractive even u-21 football would be at £4 at the emirates, as far away as i am. jealousy doesn’t even begin to cover it.
glad diaby is showing well, i think another couple of these games and then put him on the bench for some cameos at the ends of games of the seniors. i’d say the same goes for the other three-weekers, as you call them…
Cheers Steve T. I enjoyed that a lot. Single malt on the bar for you.
Steve
Thanks for this. It was posted as I was posting my thoughts lots of which involved last night’s game. Interesting to hear about Diaby who has been so unlucky and I also doubt he has a future with us but fair play to him. The rest of the post relates to earlier postings
Cynic- with all that hot air a match might do some damage!
Great back- drinking
Very good posts from all the regulars as so often is.cthe case , props to NBN! Trev, Porco, Jo, Dr.F and many others .
Two I would like to respond to
Firstly OTD- you are a hard task master! No manager gets every signing right and SAF had some complete duds although he managed to get naffers like Phil Neville to perform a semi useful role so he could produce some bricks out of straw but Taibi, Diouf, Prunier and Forlan when he was there were all a bit dire. It shouldn’t be forgotten that Cygan was a member of the Invincibles so he didn’t hold us back too much and I remember Stepanovs and Luzhny playing as Centre backs in a cup tie against Chelsea at Highbury that we won comfortably. But I take your point. But very few people are as good at extracting value for money as the Professor.
BTM
I too enjoyed your account of the U21 game . I noticed Biielik started as a centre back and it was interesting to note that he had in front of him a very experienced and skilful midfield! That would be an interesting option if he develops. Also good to see young Iwobi getting some goals , his recent form appears to be very good and he seems to train a lot with the first team. On the basis that Arsenal are a side that actually use and develop young players he is another who as a wide player is a future candidate for the Ox/ Gnabry/ Walcott/ Sanchez wide roles .
One slight concern is that given Zelalem was on the subs bench for the first team at the start of last season his progress ( sub, unused? ) last night suggests he might be one who is not progressing at the stratospheric rate he was. Crowley is a super little player and might have pushed in front of him in the queue for the first team. Nice issues to consider. Chelsea have a list of these type of players who will never even be considered as first team players, Citeh the same.
nice one
steve T
long one
thunder T
😉
Good one Steve T and I wish they sent me a postcard advertising the game so I could have made plans to be there. 🙂
On another front I’m so glad not to be Keane’s lawyer. The man is a walking rage machine.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-32215071
8ball
rage is a weird one
but
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gAsLDf-tYlg
makes it better
.
bless you jane
.
.
.
.
Cheers Steve,
As you say, if only I’d known …….. Good to hear about the youngsters. Used to see a lot of them when Arsenal had a “proper” TV channel, but not so much these days.
Nice one, ttg,
You may, though, have missed Sir Chewy’s biggest dud of all in Djemba-Djemba.
Amazing to me that we should have to consider a list of “AW’s duds” having just watched a brilliant performance involving many of the best players in the league, including Bellerin and Coquelin who together cost about fourpence.
aww
glad yer about trev
ignorant pile o bastard
that I am
i didn’t answer
yer neck question
.
life changing
.
eternally grateful
.
Good stuff, cba.
Cheers Mr T!
Scouse cunts score. Boooooooooooooo
trev
gimme 6 months
and
owls will marvel at my turny head aroundys
can I ask ?
nurse abb ?
have i missed something ?
Trev
I take your point entirely.
I was mildly berating Oskar for being a bit harsh.
Wenger gets criticised for not spending and criticised when he does.
I had a drink with a civilized Swampie today( not easy to find) who said exactly what most in this bar feel that we would be mad to part with Wenger and that every Scummer prays every night that he will leave. I have been critical of him in terms of lack of activity in the recruitment department before but frankly he is a marvel in this respect.
“the return of some of the three weekers”
Heh!
Oops, premature posting…
Meant to say that I can’t recall hearing the dreaded “three weeks” for quite a while now. Think the wording these days is “a few weeks” 🙂
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WMGvQ2v-ZRM
Ah refreshing guest post – good stuff Steve.
They charged £4.00?
That must be like a dagger in the heart of the corporate machine – its like stealing…..
half baked paddys
the scoti
nope
switch
reverse
🙂
the scoti
an irish tribe
.
scotland named after us
.
mc chuckle
Daft booger.
http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/chelsea-defender-gary-cahill-wary-8983532?
I mean the one who told him we were creeping up behind, mind you. 🙂
cba
Howdy. Still working on your punctuation, I see. 😉
Great Review Steve.
8ball
it’s all I can do to contain my laughter sometimes
most times
any times
.
*wails uncontrollably*{
CBA
Would you really let a Spurs fan have bail if you could protect society from him?
But I wouldn’t put the black cap on. A red and white one will do.
thunder T
sorry
.
your decisions are ok by me
.
as are yer Arse ideas squad wise
.
🙂
cba, we’re aw Picts, pal. we’ve been trying to drive yer invading Scotti cousins back into the sea since AD500.
One day. 🙂
well baff
nice de blatter
left right and cent’re
ya almost
but
come on
* jukes all around*
Di Natale, the famous Scotsman, says Alexis is better than Neymar. Never doubted it for a second.
Ttg,
My comment wasn’t aimed at you at all. I realised you were only responding / defending.
It was aimed at Oskar. I can’t believe anyone has to pick on an irrelevant negative after such a great performance,
Or maybe he is still watching Stepanovs and the like. That giant screen needs urgently refreshing.
Don’t fotgrt, Trev, we’re supposed to lay off the size of Oskar’s screen…
Interesting comments from DiNatale on Alexis.
DiNatale is one of my favorite players from these past few seasons — the quintessential fox-in-the-box poacher who could conjure up goals in all sorts of ways, despite being small and not very quick. Would have liked to have seen him ply his trade at the Emirates, the type of striker who could be a threat late in a match where you need a goal.
I do like that Liffey-juice, cba, I guess i am Oirish after all. 😉
aaaaaahhhhhh
went and feckin did it again
breathalyzer on me keyboard now
please ignore and just step around me
but
in my defence
crested ten is delicious
as apparently were those arthurs cans
if it’s any consolation
in the proper doghouse chez me
🙁
apologies
big cooked breakfast
no brownie points
because I
i’m repeatedly told
made a right mouth of myself
which although i’m bright red about
was due in no small part
to 3 bumfluff moustached celtic fans
attempting to give me a history lesson
and the wee skitters are stayin in my house
ungrateful wee gobshites
i do have a considerable gash on the top of me head
and the sole of one of me boots is flapping at the front
but
alls well
thanks for a skin
must go
I have some hoops fans to ignore
Thank you people. If anyone is about next Monday then I would highly recommend a trip to The Grove.
Plans well in place for my trip T’up North with my little man. Egg chasing of the League variety in Hull on the Friday evening. Then head West for the Burnley game. A proper blokes trip away.
CBA. Proper legend. End of.
steve T
yer oul hole i am
but
intimidating sober hungover penitent glaswegians
is proving more enjoyable than you’d think
aaah life
it’s not written in the stars
it’s not written on the moon
it’s etched into me sideboard
i’ll have to sand it doon
(jock scot)
more tea vicar ?
Trev,
No problem at all, I knew exactly where you were heading !
Yee’ve let weegies in yer hoos, cba?
I hope you’ve counted the spoons. 🙂
🙂
🙂
bath
🙂
🙂
mind you bath
don’t come my house
wi attitude
cos if it’s a wrongun
ye’ll need to speak to goodnight Irene
.
.
.
*counts cutlery*
.
.
🙂
Nice piece, Steve T. Good to hear of Diaby getting to play some football, and play it so well. You only reinforce what a lost career his has been.
On a darker subject, the monks just stumbled across some government data (don’t ask) that breaks down arrests at Premiership games by club supporters. We don’t come out too well — third, with 67 arrests (out of a total of 823 for the 2013-14 season, and mostly arrests for public disorder and alcohol offenses). Man U fans (112) topped this particular league table of dishonour followed by Citeh fans (71). Immediately below us were Sunderland (62), Liverpool (58) and Chelsea (56) supporters. The neighbours were 10th with 42 (though just being a Swampie seems grounds enough for arrest to me). Norwich City fans were the upstanding citizens. Just four arrests that season.
So, Pardew is in with Snape.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/32188156
Squelches the obligatory Harry Potter reference. 😉
NBN @ 45: Wouldn’t that be more of a statistical inevitability given the significantly large fan base of the bigger clubs? I am sure in terms of arrests coefficient normalzed to fan base size would see the swamp dwellers top the list … 🙂
@ North Bank Ned
That’s another instance where stats mean fuck all. I know there’s more attention on the polis these days than there was, but having personally suffered a banning order purely on the word of a lying cunt of a copper and spent 3 days on remand because of more unsubstantiated rubbish, I take nothing from those figures. You need far more detail about each incident before making judgements. Football fans are largely still treated like the scum they never were.
Glad I’m not a canary.
I find that Tottenham arrests figure very suspicious, based on nothing more than having been a fan since far too long ago.
You get to know where trouble is most likely to be found and Tottenham is right up the top of the list. Only last week on the way home from the Liverpool game, I overheard an old timer on the train sympathising with a relative newcomer on their Tottenham experience.
He referred to getting out of White Hart Lane as “running a gauntlet and the police don’t seem to care”. That is a description you will hear over and over again. Apart from Millwall, Tottenham is the only game I won’t risk taking my daughter to at The Emirates (i also thought better of taking her to the Galatasaray Emirates Cup game in the summer).
Ned. I think you need a bit of perspective with those figures. 67 Arsenal fans arrested at Premier League matches may not sound great compared to others but just remember how many fans we actually have at games? If you take into account both home and away matches I would estimate that about 1.5 million Arsenal fans get to the games. 67 from 1.5 million is a very small amount. Many would struggle to have half that amount. Percentage wise the number of mp’s arrested or ejected from the commons is way higher than than the figures for football fans.
I agree totally with Trev above. I have done several away games in recent years and engaged in conversation with many opposition fans. Without even raising the subject, many have volunteered their feelings for the spuds. I have not met one with a favourable comment. Many I have spoken to are complimentary of both our club and the fans.
Norwich City fans were the upstanding citizens. Just four arrests that season.
Four arrests for D&D, all involving a woman in her seventies who smelled of pastry.
A spokesman for the Norfolk Constabulary has just given this in his interview. “There were in fact 6 arrests. You could count them on one hand.”
🙂
I love it when you lot go for quality over quantity. In tears here! 😉
*Although to be fair the tears have been a constant this week and may be related to the Richie Benaud news tonight. 🙁
Very sad news about Richie Benaud. Great player and even greater commentator. Some of the ex-players who commentate on football these days would do well to take some lessons from his laconic style.
Dr F@47: Fair point. I did wonder about it but the arrests were at or around matches so stadium size or average attendance rather than fan base would be more relevant to normalizing the data. That would minimize the effect.
Esso@48, Trev@50: No argument about some of the policing around games, especially back in the ‘70s.
Steve T@51: You are right that the totals account for a tiny percentage of those going to matches, about one in every 18,000.
As much as anything I was surprised to come across the data set. I wouldn’t draw any implications about what they say without a much deeper dive.
Theo and £20m for a bloke who would be the equivalent of a slight upgrade on Aaron Lennon? I fart in the general direction of that “news” story.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20150409/pires-ozil-has-proved-critics-wrong
Good to see he’s getting some recognition … the player’s player!
😀
Richie Benaud was a brilliant commentator who really brought the game to life. He was great for Anglo/ Aussie relations! He will be greatly missed
BB@58: Other interesting thing about that article is Pires saying he is training regularly at London Colney.
Ned: he’s done that for years. Pires and Henry in particular are frequent guests, and I think Bergkamp used to be as well. Most previous players are welcome at the training ground at any time.
Without knowing the particular style of Richie Benaud or any other cricket commentator, never having immersed myself in the game the way I did with football, I am struck by Ned’s use of “laconic” to describe Benaud’s style. The concise, no frills style of the British announcers is part of what attracted me to football back in the Seventies. I had had enough of the American announcers who droned on about personalities and assorted topics that were of peripheral interest to the game. When I listened to British announcers who said little more than the name of the player touching the ball, I was drawn in to the entire event rather than just the commentator’s booth. Pity that many of today’s British announcers have moved in the other direction. I cringe when one of the British announcers talks about himself letting the game become a sideshow. A similar issue is when the camera is not on the game 100% of the time while the director decides to show a slow-motion replay or a close-up of the manager before cutting back so the viewers can see the result of what just occurred in the game.
Granted that it may not be a perfect comparison because cricket announcers probably had a lot more time to fill with chatter than did football announcers.
Arsenal gents description of Kolo Touré really had me cracking up like an idiot right now :D:D
“Poor Kolo. Once a rampaging, roaming centre half in the mould of the love child of The Incredible Hulk and a flamethrower, he is now reduced to supplying comedically puzzled facial expressions as proper footballers run around him.”
So Arsene Wenger is afraid that Oxlade-Chamberlain could be out for the rest of the season.
He has a groin inflammation which has “returned”.
He said, “It is related to everything before”.
Some of us thought that a long time ago ………..
Trev
Which originally began this time as a hamstring did it not?
Eandy. Poor Kolo. Maybe he and Rodgers can have a second career as a silent comedy team. 🙂
Ttg,
Search me – i lost track of his injuries a long time ago. Another potentially great player who just can’t get playing.
What I do remember is the very defensive / aggressive response to my first guest post from the “insider” who said “they” knew all about everything, and that our players only suffered an average number of injuries for average durations.
Given that Shad Forsythe has now been at the club for around 10 months, some of these recurring problems – for example, those suffered by The Ox, Aaron Ramsey, Gnabry etc – must have much longer established histories than the “average”.
I know he is not a miracle worker but you would otherwise like to assume that some of them would have been cured by now.
Poor old Kolo.
One you could never fault for effort and part of our Champions League defensive record setting back four – with Eboué, Senderos and Flamini !!! – never tire of quoting that. 😉
Without an experienced head next to him, he could be a bit of a headless chicken, although that does seem to contradict the previous sentence.
bt8b@62: I see ‘laconic’ being widely used about Benaud. He was of that generation of TV commentators — Brian Moore, in football, was another– who followed the dictum that a commentator should only speak when he could add something to the pictures. Benaud was also a lifelong student of the game. His deep knowledge informed his analysis and opinions. Too many TV commentators today seem to come out of the talk shite school of broadcasting, wanting to stir up controversy, often where it doesn’t exist. Nor do they understand that the ability to kick lumps out of an opponent on the proverbial wet Wednesday night in Stoke doesn’t necessarily provide the foundation for an insightful commentator on the game.
Lars@61: Indeed. Only just realised that Pires was recently playing with Andre Santos at Goa in the Indian Premier League. Sublime to ridiculous.
New official Arsenal App available….
At first glance looks pretty decent too…
Trev
Perhaps poor old Shad is injured !
Trev & TTG: To be fair Ox had played continuously earlier this season. He already has 35 appearances, his most with us in any season. But I agree that the injuries seem to be stopping him from taking the next step. He had had some great performances with us this season — City or United comes to mind — and to not have him to start or come off the bench at this stage of the season with tiring defenders at his mercy is indeed a loss.
Altogether what impact do you think Shad and his team have had on our injuries? The total number of fit first team players at this time of the season seems to me somewhat unprecedented for us. But whether that is due to Shad & co. alone or the fact that now we have a deeper squad and hence the manager can rotate more or whether that is a combination of both is up for discussion, I suppose.
Ned,
afraid I can just remember Dan Maskell doing Wimbledon.
Another “silence is golden” man. Never surpassed, for all the motormouth analysis we get these days.
Commentators now assume that no-one in the audience has ever played
a game of anything in their lives.
Dr Faustus,
ho many games did Ox start and complete during that spell ?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
NBN @ 70: Sometimes in Fall of 2008 one fine evening I decided I will no longer watch or follow cricket in any serious manner and went cold turkey. Cricket was taking too much of my time and at the same time with the introduction of T20 etc. it was getting patently ridiculous, inheriting & aping the gaudy excesses of Bollywood. It remains difficult as I am always met with a “could you be anymore of a snob?” look whenever I go back to India to visit family or in conversations with wider expatriate Indian communities.
But at the same time I can honestly say that the experience of watching cricket on TV today — despite all the technological improvements and many-angled cameras etc. — is essentially so unappealing that I am glad I had made that decision. It is a game that is served well by some mystique, the exhilaration of theater, and the incessant (and often bewilderingly meaningless) pontificating about everything from the angle of the index finger over the seam to the distance between two blades of grass near the crease batters you into submission to a particular point of view about the game and drains away all the charm, the sense of individualistic expression.
Growing up watching Cricket on TV in the 80s and 90s before the subcontinental popularity explosion happened — I am glad it happened, it helped India particularly but also the neighbors in many ways, not only in Cricket but also in many other facets of life — Richie Benaud’s commentary is inseparable from the memory of those days.