General Reserves Talk

[nick gould]

So can someone tell us about Z Medley. He is 18 and was on the bench in a premier league game.

 

[MutableEarth]

So can someone tell us about Z Medley. He is 18 and was on the bench in a premier league game.

Tall central defender at 6'4 - comes from Chelsea's academy but he's a boyhood Gooner. Good on the ball and good in the air. More cerebral than aggressive, but powerful in his own right. Used to be a winger (!) so is quite adept at bringing the ball out from the back.

Can be quite error prone at times, have seen him make a few costly errors but the pros so far outweigh the cons and he's improved massively since coming to the club. He's formed impressive partnerships with Dinos Mavropanos (another big lad at 6'4) and Danny Ballard - both aggressive, front-foot defenders. So he is a good complement to our overall defensive style as he's relatively mobile and adept at stepping in quickly but prefers a more cerebral approach. He's also left footed.

 

[MutableEarth]

https://player.arsenal.com/video/u-23s-everton-h-highlights

Highlights from last nights U23 top of the table clash.

Everton look really good.

Ballard is a f*cking colossus. Surprised it wasn't him who made the bench instead of Medley but Medley is taller and left footed.

Smith looked good during the build up of that one chance. Hope to see more of him in the U23s. Solid talent IMO.

Saka looking direct as usual.

Nketiah with a rare off day. Any other game and he scores those 2 chances!

 

[nick gould]

Tall central defender at 6'4 - comes from Chelsea's academy but he's a boyhood Gooner. Good on the ball and good in the air. More cerebral than aggressive, but powerful in his own right. Used to be a winger (!) so is quite adept at bringing the ball out from the back.

Can be quite error prone at times, have seen him make a few costly errors but the pros so far outweigh the cons and he's improved massively since coming to the club. He's formed impressive partnerships with Dinos Mavropanos (another big lad at 6'4) and Danny Ballard - both aggressive, front-foot defenders. So he is a good complement to our overall defensive style as he's relatively mobile and adept at stepping in quickly but prefers a more cerebral approach. He's also left footed.

Does it mean he is better than our other academy defenders ( except panos of course)?

 

[MutableEarth]

Does it mean he is better than our other academy defenders ( except panos of course)?

IMO no. Ballard is better IMO. Pleguezuelo has more experience too.

Medley has promise though and he could turn out to be better.

 

[MutableEarth]

 

[MutableEarth]

If you're all free tomorrow:

Arsenal U23s are away at Swansea tomorrow (7pm kick off) and Swansea's website is kindly streaming the match live. The link is here;

https://www.swanseacity.com/media/23449

We're currently joint-top (Everton lead the league on goal difference) and will likely have a decent lineup owing to the likes of Nketiah and Willock not making the 18 much these days. Willock might be injured as he did not play on Monday. I predict the lineup will be

Iliev
Pleguezuelo Ballard Medley Bola
Olayinka Gilmour
John-Jules Burton Saka
Nketiah
​

Smith-Rowe might not make it back in time for the trip, and it could be Willock instead. Gilmour back from suspension will strengthen the midfield as he's been very good this season. Having Olayinka there might make the midfield a bit too workmanlike but with Burton in the side there might be enough creativity. And Willock might be available so he could play ahead of Olayinka. Should be an interesting game to watch, and I'm looking forward to seeing John-Jules, Saka and Nketiah in action.

 

[MutableEarth]

Thought this would be the case.

Hopefully they don't pull a Jeff with him.

 

[MutableEarth]

AMN starting!

Thompson starts at LB too.

 

[MutableEarth]

Very interesting line-up!

Iliev
Pleguezuelo Ballard Medley Thompson
Gilmour Smith
AMN Olayinka Coyle
Nketiah
​

This should be intriguing.

 

[Sniper Mik]

AMN starting!

Thompson starts at LB too.

Needs minutes under his belt. Hopefully makes the squad for Blackpool, although it might come a bit too soon.

 

[dbig]

Any stream?

 

[MutableEarth]

Any stream?

Look up the page!

 

[dbig]

Look up the page!

How did I miss that? Must have had more drinks than i thought.

 

[nick gould]

Swans tv is now offline.

 

[krackpot]

Looks like Swansea have scored.

 

[MutableEarth]

1-0 to the Swans at HT.

Terrible game so far. We look sluggish and unbothered other than the CBs and Olayinka. Nketiah not in the game. AMN looks like a man who hasn't played in 2 months. Coyle is game but ineffective. Looks like he would be better centrally.

I think we need Saka off the bench to add some verve to the game. Maybe take off one of the deeper midfielders.

 

[Plutarch]

I've just turned on the stream. We're losing 1-0 at half time. So, time for a better second half, I hope.

 

[NieThePiet]

Flashscore said, we scored.

 

[Plutarch]

Arsenal equalise, deflected shot from Gilmour. The second half has been mostly pressure from Arsenal.