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General Reserves Talk

  • Thread starter M+D
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MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
Trusted ⭐
McGuiness was easily our best player. Smith did well in goal as well. Cottrell was energetic the whole game and had a great through ball for Balogun's goal. Lewis took his goal well, but otherwise looked fairly weak and had little link up (especially with Balogun).
Salah was a mixed bag. Took about 10 minutes to touch the ball and another 10 to complete a pass. Got better as the game went on though, and had a nice opportunity after a great ball from Azeez when he turned the defender inside out but lashed his shot high and wide.
Good to hear about McGuinness. Always liked him upon first viewing - big lad, smart defender and knows how to use the ball. Really want to see his development more. Him, Clarke and Ballard are unsung when it comes to the conversations about prospects. You can easily see a couple of them having some good loan spells and then backing up the eventual Gabriel-Saliba axis in future.
 

Maybe

You're wrong, no?
Are those games usually open to the public? There are usually 0 streams available and it would be cool to watch some of them in London if they're not played behind the closed doors
 

AbouCuéllar

Author of A-M essays 📚
Alright sorry know this is getting tiresome but:


Is that Kido Taylor-Hart with the dreads?

A bit confused because he receives and passes with his left as if he's a natural left-footer haha.
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
Trusted ⭐
Alright sorry know this is getting tiresome but:


Is that Kido Taylor-Hart with the dreads?

A bit confused because he receives and passes with his left as if he's a natural left-footer haha.
Yes, it's Taylor-Hart - and they're plaits not dreads! :lol:

Taylor-Hart is comfy with both feet and plays both wings so I'm not surprised. I've always been very impressed with his profile (tall, quick, technical winger with a great finish). Very similar to Nelson although I think he's slightly quicker. Definitely not as heralded as Nelson was so he's very under the radar (owing to injury aswell).
 

AbouCuéllar

Author of A-M essays 📚
Yep, a fan of his as well. I remember Jorge Bird talking about some talk about him playing as a central midfielder who liked to arrive late, would be an interesting profile for him, but for now certainly best to develop him as a winger.
 

Vanfrothan

Active Member
Balogun is definitely off isn't he?

I know the writing has been on the wall for a while but the no celebration and his tweet after the game have confirmed it for me.

I think he said something like, 'glad to help the boys out' or something like that. I might be reading into a bit but that doesn't sound like something you would say it you were staying. Like he's just helping out, just passing through.

Think I was in denial until now, just hoping we could change his mind. :(
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
Trusted ⭐
Can't say I disagree. Bould has been pretty disappointing
He hasn't been terrible but not as good as Ljungberg or even Gatting (who wasn't that good either but had a LOT of talent at his disposal). I definitely think the PL2 is just a precursor to loan football rather than to be taken seriously results-wise in all honesty, I'm more intrigued to see how the players progress individually at that point so if there are improvements there then I'm less likely to be bothered about the result in and of itself. It's more important that the U18s are doing better IMO, and I'm not sure if Gillard is the right guy for that job but it'll be interesting to see how we do with our biggest intake in a while.
 

Manberg

Predator
He hasn't been terrible but not as good as Ljungberg or even Gatting (who wasn't that good either but had a LOT of talent at his disposal). I definitely think the PL2 is just a precursor to loan football rather than to be taken seriously results-wise in all honesty, I'm more intrigued to see how the players progress individually at that point so if there are improvements there then I'm less likely to be bothered about the result in and of itself. It's more important that the U18s are doing better IMO, and I'm not sure if Gillard is the right guy for that job but it'll be interesting to see how we do with our biggest intake in a while.

I can't really agree. I think winning breeds confidence and confidence does young players a world of good. I want our youth teams to succeed.
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
Trusted ⭐
I can't really agree. I think winning breeds confidence and confidence does young players a world of good. I want our youth teams to succeed.
To an extent yes,.I feel it's good when the U18s are winning and doing well as they did the season before last, but given how uncompetitive the PL2, it is less important for the U23s to win that league. The experience they're gaining from these games is marginal at best, and as a gauge for their individual and collective development, it's not bad but not a patch on their development in an actually competitive environment. I'll concede that the only time there was significant development the U23s had in a season was the year before when Ljungberg was managing them. I do feel that Bould improved a number of players last year however.

I'd much prefer our U23s to be winning aswell, but I rarely put much stock in their defeats, especially these days. The confidence they'll gain is fleeting in comparison to later milestones and even the U18 milestones before that. Reiss Nelson was the PL2 player of the year when we won the PL2 and head & shoulders above literally everybody the year he won it - where was his confidence mere months later? And where is it now (sadly)? The preparation for first team football and personal/tactical/technical development is far more important than the confidence gained from winning matches at that level. It's minutes that keep them fit and sharp, and a place without scrutiny to develop, but not much more.

I'm not completely against the idea of Bould out though - I don't know how significant the player development will be under his tutelage. Although I think McGuinness and Clarke have improved significantly and even Medley got better as a CB. As long as Bould is doing his job with the development of the players, I don't think him losing a few games in an uncompetitive league is a big deal.
 

Ibadan

Thread Bump Police
To an extent yes,.I feel it's good when the U18s are winning and doing well as they did the season before last, but given how uncompetitive the PL2, it is less important for the U23s to win that league. The experience they're gaining from these games is marginal at best, and as a gauge for their individual and collective development, it's not bad but not a patch on their development in an actually competitive environment. I'll concede that the only time there was significant development the U23s had in a season was the year before when Ljungberg was managing them. I do feel that Bould improved a number of players last year however.

I'd much prefer our U23s to be winning aswell, but I rarely put much stock in their defeats, especially these days. The confidence they'll gain is fleeting in comparison to later milestones and even the U18 milestones before that. Reiss Nelson was the PL2 player of the year when we won the PL2 and head & shoulders above literally everybody the year he won it - where was his confidence mere months later? And where is it now (sadly)? The preparation for first team football and personal/tactical/technical development is far more important than the confidence gained from winning matches at that level. It's minutes that keep them fit and sharp, and a place without scrutiny to develop, but not much more.

I'm not completely against the idea of Bould out though - I don't know how significant the player development will be under his tutelage. Although I think McGuinness and Clarke have improved significantly and even Medley got better as a CB. As long as Bould is doing his job with the development of the players, I don't think him losing a few games in an uncompetitive league is a big deal.

I keep going back to that Lucassen interview from a while back, so many gems. I remember him saying a player's development is a bigger priority than results at youth level. He said he would even move players around to increase their understanding of the game.

I'd prefer to adopt this Dutch footballing philosophy, where developing an understanding of the game is more valuable than winning largely inconsequential games at youth level.

I imagine it'll be a few more intakes before we see real results though.
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
Trusted ⭐
I keep going back to that Lucassen interview from a while back, so many gems. I remember him saying a player's development is a bigger priority than results at youth level. He said he would even move players around to increase their understanding of the game.

I'd prefer to adopt this Dutch footballing philosophy, where developing an understanding of the game is more valuable than winning largely inconsequential games at youth level.

I imagine it'll be a few more intakes before we see real results though.
Yeah, Lucassen's interview gave an insight into what his role was and what he was doing and I'm so glad we hired him. I knew as soon as I looked into his resume he was going to be impressive for us. The work he had done in Germany with not just Hoffenheim but with the entire German set-up (from the players to the coaches) cemented this as a huge get for Arsenal. Per and Lucassen are really beginning to impress me and there's a huge chance that we see an exponential improvement in the academy return.

We're already seeing people move around as it is. Cirjan's playing RW, Oyegoke playing CB and DM in a number of games, Alebiosu moving to RB. It makes me wonder what's going to happen with the U18s this year and how they're gonna be used.

We're already beginning to see marginal results IMO, we've just had the largest intake in a while and it's full of potential PL quality players if developed right. We've got a type of player for every position, even left back which has been a bit weak for the last few years (bar Thompson, who we let leave, he turned out alright IMO). Jeffcott is meant to be really good so I'm hoping to see him. Even the older kids, there's far more strategy and care going into their development. A lot of people seem to be upset at so many of our youngsters going to League 1, but it makes sense - most of them have barely any experience to their names and Championship teams won't trust them enough to give them the game time they need.

Like you, I'm waiting for the real results though!
 

jmsmtthw28

Established Member
Trusted ⭐
Ye you guys are being too harsh on Bould
Its a new side with most of our regulars loaned out, we are giving kids a chance so result is secondary, its all about development and Bould should be judged on that
 

AbouCuéllar

Author of A-M essays 📚
Meh, I remember that famous Chelsea team with Lewis Baker, Jay Dasilva, Izzy Brown, etc. etc. that everyone raved about, didn't do them any good for their careers tbh to be part of such a winning youth side. Don't think results mean much.

I read from Jorge Bird that he's a really calm and quality distributor of the ball, if that's true he looks like a complete GK prospect honestly...was surprised to read that, is that true?

Jeffcott is meant to be really good so I'm hoping to see him.

Really? I had him pegged as likely the weakest of the class. What makes him an interesting prospect?

If even Jeffcott is good, what an intake...not really a non-prospect in the lot it seems? Except for maybe Henry-Francis? What's Levi Laing like, I had him also pegged as one of the likely non-prospects but now I've seen him mentioned a few times as an interesting prospect on twitter...
 
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