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The Under-23s Thread

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
Trusted ⭐
How have Ballard, Medley, McGuinness and Clarke done on loan?

We’ve got about 8 CB’s currently inside the club at youth level so a few will have to be sold permanently you’d imagine.
Think they are all having decent loans. McGuinness has impressed and I think Ballard is already a fan favorite.

I just wish the coaching at our youth level was better. I think we have a decent level of talent there still but it's doing the kids no favor setting them so badly up every game.
Yeah they've all had respectable loans but I think both McGuinness and Ballard have stood out a lot. Both physically imposing and good on the ball. Ballard in particular has had a strong season.

Not sure what's going to happen with them but we'll have to see in the Summer - considering the plethora of young CBs let alone the seniors currently at the club.

I also happen to agree that we do have a decent level of talent but at the moment there's a core of players with decent 1st team prospects that should be prioritised a little more than they currently are. Again, speaks more to coaching more than anything else.
 

jus2nang

Active Member
I also happen to agree that we do have a decent level of talent but at the moment there's a core of players with decent 1st team prospects that should be prioritised a little more than they currently are. Again, speaks more to coaching more than anything else.
Who out of the current U23s (any position) would you say would be ready next season to either go out on loan or get some first team minutes?
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
Trusted ⭐
Who out of the current U23s (any position) would you say would be ready next season to either go out on loan or get some first team minutes?
Easy answer for me - Miguel Azeez. He's the best player in that team, even better than Ben Cottrell, who I think is pretty much the leader at that level. Much is made of Balogun's brilliance but I think he'd still struggle to carry that CF role. He may fare better than Nketiah owing to his better technical quality on the ball, but given the attackers I've seen struggle at first team level, there's no guarantee even with a talent as huge as Balogun.

For me, Azeez has the best and most transferable attributes to the first team. He's improved his defensive application immensely, his energy and movement are such an underrated facet of his game that he could play a meaningful role as both a playmaking #6 and as a box-to-box #8 and his passing range is excellent. Add to that his dribbling ability under pressure and he's definitely a player that can put quite a bit of impetus into an improving but ultimately still stale midfield.

Think the other three who are close are the aforementioned Balogun and Cottrell (the latter I think needs a good loan), and Kido Taylor-Hart. I think he's acclimatized very quickly to U23 football and with almost 2/3rds of a season at this level under his belt, I'd like to see him challenged a little further. He'd have to sign the deal on the table but he's one I think could be a darkhorse at LW because of his technical ability and athleticism. Could potentially succeed where Nelson seems likely to fail (sadly).
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
Trusted ⭐
Hoping Azeez can become Partey's midfield partner next season.
Best we can hope for is for him to be where Elneny is. It's way too early to rely on Azeez at this stage but he's capable of slotting in for some games and doing a job. He's a huge talent but to start next to Partey for 30+ games next season is too much IMO. I'd have him as 4th choice.
 

DasBootist

Well-Known Member
Best we can hope for is for him to be where Elneny is. It's way too early to rely on Azeez at this stage but he's capable of slotting in for some games and doing a job. He's a huge talent but to start next to Partey for 30+ games next season is too much IMO. I'd have him as 4th choice.
You are the go-to guy for Arsenal youth players on this forum-much respect-but I'm pretty sure Saka's rise into becoming our best player has taken you by surprise.
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
Trusted ⭐
You are the go-to guy for Arsenal youth players on this forum-much respect-but I'm pretty sure Saka's rise into becoming our best player has taken you by surprise.
Definitely. Given his trajectory so far, I expected him to be a prominent squad member - probably on the level that Nketiah was; a rotational attacker who can easily slot in. I absolutely didn't expect him to be our best player at all, let alone our best so soon! He's surpassed even my lofty expectations.

A lot of the recent younger players have done quite well in terms of where I thought they would end up, with Reiss being the only notable disappointment so far. I expected him to be close to where Saka is now (not quite best player but prominent). Him not even making squads is quite painful considering how high I rate him. I did expect more from AMN and Nketiah to be fair but both at least have played or are playing PL football with some degree of regularity of late.

The last few years led to me calling for more Hale End presence in the team due to how crap the team was. The team is looking a little better so far so I'm less inclined to shoehorn Hale Enders in unless they're likely contributors. The next lot will probably have a bit more work to do to get in the team. I think the next influx will be a little slow - not much new presence for a couple of seasons outside of Azeez and maybe a couple defenders.
 

Hunta

Established Member
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Country: England
Azeez will at best be 5th choice CM next season. Haven’t seen enough of him this season but before that he was awful defensively, worse than Xhaka who the majority hate, so unless he’s massively improved I don’t see him becoming a main player in 21/22.

Arteta seems to treat youth players like Pep, unless you’re a guaranteed star you won’t get many minutes. We might not even get EL football next season and our LC draws the last few years have been terrible with little chance of youth players getting a chance.

Looking at the u23s I think the best bet is Oyegoke or Norton-Cuffy making a massive impact and getting a debut, can see the club not signing a RB in the summer knowing they have those two coming through.
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
Trusted ⭐
Azeez will at best be 5th choice CM next season. Haven’t seen enough of him this season but before that he was awful defensively, worse than Xhaka who the majority hate, so unless he’s massively improved I don’t see him becoming a main player in 21/22.

Arteta seems to treat youth players like Pep, unless you’re a guaranteed star you won’t get many minutes. We might not even get EL football next season and our LC draws the last few years have been terrible with little chance of youth players getting a chance.

Looking at the u23s I think the best bet is Oyegoke or Norton-Cuffy making a massive impact and getting a debut, can see the club not signing a RB in the summer knowing they have those two coming through.
He has improved a lot, is easily the best player for that team and has provided as good a defensive presence as the nominal DM in Akinola. He's closer than anyone else. I agree ultimately though, I don't see him being more than 4th or 5th choice. Depending on how much football may be available to him, I'd even consider a loan. I think he needs a much bigger challenge next season.

Not sure I agree on the RBs though, as talented as they are. I'd love to see them in that kind of position aswell as I think they're very capable, but Oyegoke seemingly has played everywhere else except RB recently (a reverse AMN if you will) and Norton-Cuffy has been kept out by Alebiosu - a player not as talented but older. I hope to see one of them make that type of impact. Either one will do for me, both very similar with high ceilings IMO. Norton-Cuffy younger, seems more sturdy defensively but I'm a big Oyegoke fan - think he has very good awareness and is more skilful in attack IMO.
 

Hunta

Established Member
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Country: England
He has improved a lot, is easily the best player for that team and has provided as good a defensive presence as the nominal DM in Akinola. He's closer than anyone else. I agree ultimately though, I don't see him being more than 4th or 5th choice. Depending on how much football may be available to him, I'd even consider a loan. I think he needs a much bigger challenge next season.

Not sure I agree on the RBs though, as talented as they are. I'd love to see them in that kind of position aswell as I think they're very capable, but Oyegoke seemingly has played everywhere else except RB recently (a reverse AMN if you will) and Norton-Cuffy has been kept out by Alebiosu - a player not as talented but older. I hope to see one of them make that type of impact. Either one will do for me, both very similar with high ceilings IMO. Norton-Cuffy younger, seems more sturdy defensively but I'm a big Oyegoke fan - think he has very good awareness and is more skilful in attack IMO.
Not seen much of Norton-Cuffy but read he’s class.
 

Football Manager

Copy & Paste Merchant
How could Azeez get into the first team when Matt Smith, Cottrell, Cirjan, ESR, Ceballos, Ødegaard are all technically better than him?

Maybe he should focus on defending, be the Flamini of our team, let the more technically capable players to play their beautiful football.
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
Trusted ⭐
How could Azeez get into the first team when Matt Smith, Cottrell, Cirjan, ESR, Ceballos, Ødegaard are all technically better than him?

Maybe he should focus on defending, be the Flamini of our team, let the more technically capable players to play their beautiful football.
full

He's as good a technician as all of them at the very least :lol: . He has a better first touch and more purposeful dribbling than at least 3 of the names mentioned. Just because he is also capable physically does not diminish his actual technical quality at all, which is of a very high standard and extremely comparable to every player you just named. You talk about technique - do you even know what it is at this point? :lol: Come on man. And don't bother spamming any of those videos either, I've seen all of them and I've seen more of these players than you.

BTW Balogun has finally scored after a barren spell. It's 1-1 vs Everton. Over 5 mins left.
 

Football Manager

Copy & Paste Merchant
full

He's as good a technician as all of them at the very least :lol: . He has a better first touch and more purposeful dribbling than at least 3 of the names mentioned. Just because he is also capable physically does not diminish his actual technical quality at all, which is of a very high standard and extremely comparable to every player you just named. You talk about technique - do you even know what it is at this point? :lol: Come on man. And don't bother spamming any of those videos either, I've seen all of them and I've seen more of these players than you.

BTW Balogun has finally scored after a barren spell. It's 1-1 vs Everton. Over 5 mins left.
Azeez’s style is nothing like hleb/nasri/fabregas/cazorla/rosicky/iniesta/busquets/xavi or even Ødegaard/ceballos...

Azeez is too direct. He chooses to drive forward when he should slow down and use a few one touch passes to progress the ball.

Not enough of a baller to me.

I am not sure why. Somehow you loved to underrate Matt, Cirjan and Cottrell.
 
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MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
Trusted ⭐
Azeez’s style is nothing like hleb/nasri/fabregas/cazorla/rosicky/iniesta/busquets/xavi or even Ødegaard/ceballos...

Azeez is too direct. He chooses to drive forward when he should slow down and use a few one touch passes to progress the ball.

Not enough of a baller to me.

I am not sure why. Somehow you loved to underrate Matt, Cirjan and Cottrell.
You know very well that I've heavily praised all 3 of those players on numerous occasions. Yes, their relative lack of athleticism is always going to count against them in the PL - a fact that you convenient like to ignore to push your agenda.

Azeez is too direct because he likes to pass forward :lol:

Azeez isn't small and seemingly doesn't play tiki-taka football because he happens to be relatively tall and athletic :lol:

Azeez can't be technical because he's not exactly like [insert Barca footballer circa 2008-12] :lol:

This tells me that you don't actually watch the matches as often as you say you do, because you would know that Azeez does in fact slow down the play and play one touch passes every direction to help the flow of the game - in fact, I've been begging for him to do more because he is capable of more.

Not enough of a baller - he's the best baller in Hale End right now ffs.
 

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