The Under-18s Thread

[dino bravo]

Dowman easily the best player on the pitch, such a young Arsenal side full of 15 and 16 year olds did themselves proud and more than a match for their bigger and older opponents.

 

[teamsoutheast]

I thought both teams were impressive to be fair. Dowman was excellent as already mentioned. I wanna watch the game again as I missed most of ET but I wanted to see how well Bailey-Joseph did when he came on.

 

[Big Poppa]

Finished the game, lost 3-2 after extra time.

Interestingly, the game went almost exactly how I thought it would go. The younger lads giving a good account of themselves largely but United being a little too strong for them.

- Max Dowman really shone today and showed how good he is for his age. Was a prominent figure from start to finish, definitely the best player on the pitch. Needs to sort out that celly though, dunno what that was all about . I do think it's for the best though that he isn't able to play first team football yet. Obviously needs to cook more at youth level for a little longer, even though it's clearly easy for him.

- Marli Salmon and Ife Ibrahim were my biggest stocks rising from today (to borrow a phrase from ArsenalVision). I already knew Ife Ibrahim was good and he really stood up to United's midfield with a strong performance. Salmon on the other hand was so impressive, I genuinely didn't know he was quite that good. And he's also 15! To have a game that polished at CB in a big quarter-final at 15 years old is very impressive. Could we finally have a CB prospect out of Hale End?

- Will Sweet got a red at the end but I really enjoyed his passing today. Has impressed me at points this season. Likely won't make it at Arsenal but there's definitely a player there.

- Andre Annous will feel aggrieved that he didn't have the performance he wanted to have. His biggest weakness as a player is how easy it is for him to be shut out of the game. When he had the ball today, he was largely very good but he had so little of it that we never got to see it much. Spent most of the game chasing lost balls and occupying the CBs. Definitely ran more than anyone on the pitch. But he'll definitely be disappointed. Lots to work on for the kid. (I'm being a little hard I feel on reflection - he did have quite a few very good and impressive moments but I would have liked to see him get the ball and some shooting opportunities more).

- Brando Bailey-Joseph was bright when he came on and should have been on earlier. I thought Ceadach O'Neill was largely ineffectual and probably could have been replaced by Bailey-Joseph much earlier. He'll definitely be a starter for this comp next season. Zecevic-John was certainly a massive miss today aswell. We didn't have his pace and directness and it showed.

- I didn't love Louie Copley at RW but he scored from that position so it paid dividends. Like Annous, did a lot of running and worked hard. He's a good player and I think he'll make a really good B2B player when he's older.

- Our 2 left backs had solid games. Josh Ogunnaike was very good throughout I felt, even though he had a ton to deal with. Josh Tahou came on in the 2nd half of extra time and looked even better. I really like Tahou, I want to see more of him.

- Teshaun Murisa is a talented player but I thought this game was a bit too early for him and it showed. Worked his bollocks off aswell though and gave a decent account of himself in the end. Much prefer him at #6.

- Birchall was a bit scared of United, his selection and the nature of the performance initially showed that. It took Dowman and Ibrahim getting on the ball and a bit of fight from Annous in the first half hour to really drag us into the game. Had he started with Casey, maybe we concede earlier but maybe we would have also been more of a threat than we were.

All in all, thought we did pretty well against the more experienced side. Dowman, Salmon and Ibrahim were the major impressive players, with good cameos from Tahou and Bailey-Joseph later on.

Birchall was my classmate at secondary school in Maidstone, Kent in the late 90s. A bit surreal to see him doing what he’s doing but he always succeeded because he had (besides his talent), a certain level of discipline. I can see why he was trusted with the responsibility he’s been given but I can’t help agreeing he needed to take a bit more of a risk.

 

[MutableEarth]

From yesterday. Mad game. Another Dan Casey hattrick - Annous scores again aswell. Williams-Barnett another good Sp**s player.

EDIT: the midfield composition looked kinda funny. Copley-Casey-Dowman - all 3 are either 8s or 10s. Ife Ibrahim playing RB when he probably would have been a better fit for the game in midfield.

Defence arguably could have been better aswell. Callan Hamill joining will help the defence next season.

 

[Moe Szyslak]

Looks like the lads had a good win against Chelsea, to the tune of 2-3, just the other day. Zecevic-John and Ogunnaike among the goal scorers, along with an OG from Subuloye. Dowman looks good.

 

[db10_therza]

Wow first time I’ve seen clips of Dowman, what a talent. Plays like Ødegaard but with more running power.

Bruh - how you been sleeping on him for this long, or were you consciously avoiding the hype train?

 

[MutableEarth]

Looks like the lads had a good win against Chelsea, to the tune of 2-3, just the other day. Zecevic-John and Ogunnaike among the goal scorers, along with an OG from Subuloye. Dowman looks good.

I watched this game on Chelsea's website on the way to work. Dowman was, indeed, very good (as he often is).

Zecevic-John really interests me a lot. Like Andre Harriman-Annous, a lot needs to happen for him to be a serious thing at Arsenal but they both sure do have all the physical and technical attributes to be a big deal. Zecevic-John in particular is such a massive threat. He's very quick, but he also actually has the final action to hurt teams. I don't think I've ever seen him not be threatening in a game, even if he's not having the best day.

The most interesting player in this game for me was the #7, Brando Bailey-Joseph. He's still pretty under the radar as far as prospects go but for me he's the one who has the biggest potential in the attacking areas. At any given point, he can turn an entire game on its head. Invaluable ability to have. Quick acceleration, great dribbling and a danger in the final 3rd. I need to see a wing with both him and Zecevic-John.

Also probably one of the most underrated prospects at the club is Ife Ibrahim and he had another solid game. Yet another who falls into the bracket of "could be really good, but probably doesn't make it" but when he plays well he's extremely good.



I thought Brayden Clarke and Sam Chapman actually had good games in defence despite conceding two. Ranson did really well to save the penalty aswell.

 

[MutableEarth]

Surprised he hasn't featured more for U18s.

 

[Geofranco]

I watched this game on Chelsea's website on the way to work. Dowman was, indeed, very good (as he often is).

Zecevic-John really interests me a lot. Like Andre Harriman-Annous, a lot needs to happen for him to be a serious thing at Arsenal but they both sure do have all the physical and technical attributes to be a big deal. Zecevic-John in particular is such a massive threat. He's very quick, but he also actually has the final action to hurt teams. I don't think I've ever seen him not be threatening in a game, even if he's not having the best day.

The most interesting player in this game for me was the #7, Brando Bailey-Joseph. He's still pretty under the radar as far as prospects go but for me he's the one who has the biggest potential in the attacking areas. At any given point, he can turn an entire game on its head. Invaluable ability to have. Quick acceleration, great dribbling and a danger in the final 3rd. I need to see a wing with both him and Zecevic-John.

Also probably one of the most underrated prospects at the club is Ife Ibrahim and he had another solid game. Yet another who falls into the bracket of "could be really good, but probably doesn't make it" but when he plays well he's extremely good.



I thought Brayden Clarke and Sam Chapman actually had good games in defence despite conceding two. Ranson did really well to save the penalty aswell.

I gotta watch more Zecevic-John, haven't seen a lot of him to really gage how I feel on his potential. I like the look of Ife Ibrahim from what I saw in the FA youth cup game against Man United. I feel if he was bit more agile and powerful he could be a serious prospect.

 

[MutableEarth]

I gotta watch more Zecevic-John, haven't seen a lot of him to really gage how I feel on his potential. I like the look of Ife Ibrahim from what I saw in the FA youth cup game against Man United. I feel if he was bit more agile and powerful he could be a serious prospect.

Zecevic-John is a hard one to gauge because while he isn't as heralded, a cursory glance over his game in a 90 minute match and you'll come away thinking "jeez, that kid is a threat". He arguably could have had even more goals this season. I think he might be more of a goal threat than even Annous tbh.



On Ibrahim, I think the agility and power is there within him. Got a decent frame to grow into. Still just 17! I think what I'd like to see is him lean into his passing a bit more. He seems to relish the battles and the press which is fine because he is quite good there but I really think his USP is actually his passing. Can go from metronomic to line-breaking in an instant - with both feet too. He has competition from Teshaun Murisa though. Similar player with a similar ceiling, only Murisa slightly smaller.

 

[Halend]

Bit early but looking at Aydan Heaven's first two games for Man Utd looks really good and another example of Arsenal not maximizing our youth development in terms of sales.

 

[GDeep™]

Bit early but looking at Aydan Heaven's first two games for Man Utd looks really good and another example of Arsenal not maximizing our youth development in terms of sales.

How did he go to Utd for 1M? He’s probably already worth 20M after his last few performances.

 

[Halend]

How did he go to Utd for 1M? He’s probably already worth 20M after his last few performances.

Most likely, another Hutchinson situation

 

[MutableEarth]

Bit early but looking at Aydan Heaven's first two games for Man Utd looks really good and another example of Arsenal not maximizing our youth development in terms of sales.

Ehhh kind of, another Chido case in which we did what would normally be enough to keep him but feel like he had his heart set on leaving. In fairness, not much of a way in for him whereas at United with a 3 man defence and a ton of injuries there's more of a window there. Not to say he isn't a good talent but when you've got guys like Gabriel, Calafiori etc in front of you, you have to take a bet on yourself.

While I agree that we aren't maximising youth development in terms of sales, can't really say Heaven is one of them given we offered him a contract and he turned it down. The £1m we got was simply compensation money rather than an actual sale given he hadn't actually signed a pro deal with us yet. Same with Chido. United did a number on us by offering more money at scholarship stage when they weren't signed pros yet. Annoying but not much we could have done.

What I will say is that it looks as though we're about to bring through similar level (if not better) talents in the likes of Salmon, Stachow and potentially Hamill (technically not Hale End but a youth signing).

Hutchinson is more of a claim given he had actually signed pro with us but we never pulled the trigger on debuting him and he was never close to even a loan out until it was too late.

 

[lomekian]

Ehhh kind of, another Chido case in which we did what would normally be enough to keep him but feel like he had his heart set on leaving. In fairness, not much of a way in for him whereas at United with a 3 man defence and a ton of injuries there's more of a window there. Not to say he isn't a good talent but when you've got guys like Gabriel, Calafiori etc in front of you, you have to take a bet on yourself.

While I agree that we aren't maximising youth development in terms of sales, can't really say Heaven is one of them given we offered him a contract and he turned it down. The £1m we got was simply compensation money rather than an actual sale given he hadn't actually signed a pro deal with us yet. Same with Chido. United did a number on us by offering more money at scholarship stage when they weren't signed pros yet. Annoying but not much we could have done.

What I will say is that it looks as though we're about to bring through similar level (if not better) talents in the likes of Salmon, Stachow and potentially Hamill (technically not Hale End but a youth signing).

Hutchinson is more of a claim given he had actually signed pro with us but we never pulled the trigger on debuting him and he was never close to even a loan out until it was too late.

Heaven, like all our departees that we wanted to keep was another who joined Hale End late (from WHU I think) - career kids looking for the next opportunity - which is entirely fair enough, but not the same as the the kids who have been at the club since primary school. Encouraging start for him at Utd, but if they weren't injury riddled at the back, he wouldn't be on the bench, let alone getting good minutes. Much better fit as a back 3 CB than a back 2. Tbh, I'll be surprised if he makes at this level. Despite a couple of good moments looked nervy against us, and given his relatively recent positional change, I don't think he reads things like a defender.

Ultimately the writing was on the wall with heaven for a while, as we spent a year or more trying to get him to sign pro terms. Once it became pretty clear he wasn't going to sign, his opportunities dried up. As you say, as with Chido, MONEY talks. As does the fact that Utd are pretty mediocre at the moment, so in theory there may be more opportunities. Irony re Chido is that were he still here, with our injuries, he would have had more game time.

Hutchinson was one for whom timing was wrong. His contract situation meant we had to sell him, but he had too many players ahead of him in his final season. The other factors were 1) Chelsea doubled our wage offer. 2) He was a Chelsea fan who grew up near their training ground, and had already been released by them before coming to Arsenal. 3) Arsenal had a loan lined up for him for 22/23, but he decided not to renew, before being sent on a loan at the same level. Ideally we should have given him minutes in 21/22 season, but its hard to justify later into the season, when he was stalling over his contract. Main thing is we agreed a sale and a sell on, and tbh, he's probably not at the level we need anyway, like 95% of youth players.

Chido is the only departee that I am worried about, and he was only with us for like 2 years, so wasn't that embedded in the club.

The only kids in recent years I've been super excited about were ESR, Nelson, Saka, Balogun, Ethan & MLS. I liked Biereth too, but didn't see him progressing so quickly. Eddie I liked but ultimately he didn't have anything outstanding to be a top man at a big club - but his game was very pro-football friendly. I was briefly excitied by Azeez, who had so much ability, but lacked urgency and did terribly on loan. Obviously Dowman is the next one we have to keep. Others coming up are more at that Biereth/Eddie level - they have a chance to play at the top level, but none are screaming elite potential yet. That said, the overall quality is much more even than the old days, when there were lots coming through that were obviously barely going to make it at any pro-level. Accordingly, we need to improve our exposure and loan usage, so that those who aren't good enough for Arsenal can still show their value and make us some £££ - like City/Chelsea have done so well

 

[MutableEarth]

Arsenal beat Leicester 4-3 today.

Brando Bailey-Joseph scored a brace and assisted a goal for Daniel Oyetunde aswell. Ceadach O'Neill opened the scoring in the first half.

Bailey-Joseph once again showing his quality. He's definitely got next.

 

[MutableEarth]

Arsenal beat Leicester 4-3 today.

Brando Bailey-Joseph scored a brace and assisted a goal for Daniel Oyetunde aswell. Ceadach O'Neill opened the scoring in the first half.

Bailey-Joseph once again showing his quality. He's definitely got next.

One of his goals yesterday.

 

[MutableEarth]