Afternoon you lot, I quiet weekend with us not playing until Monday evening. A few half decent games to keep an eye on the scores, hopefully a win for West Ham and can Southampton put a spanner in the works of the Mancs, the red half that is and then we have Palace at Citeh, another cricket score maybe..?
Well enough about all the others…. After yet another mix and match team for the Doncaster game on Wednesday it bugs me that Arsene is forever picking so called young talented players, yes he gives them a chance in the first team which is great but then continuously plays them out of position.
It’s been mentioned on here several times that the problem young players have is bridging the gap from youth football to first team football, we have these talented youngsters who when we do give them a chance to shine in the first team we persist in playing them out of position. I’d think it was sensible to give them the best opportunity to thrive on their debut’s and when they have limited first team experience and that again surely means we play them in their favoured positions. What’s the point in playing them if we run the risk they have a bad game due to being out of position, their confidence takes a knock and what have they actually learnt from their experience apart from the fact the crowd and media are unforgiving and mistakes are normally taken advantage off much to their detriment. I think this runs the risk of the young players going backwards, Arsene says he likes the players to learn new positions and to appreciate the game more, have awareness but surely that should be for youth games and friendlies where a mistake can be sorted out by the coaches during the game and afterwards, the game is also far less frantic and important where as mistakes are maybe not pounced upon like in first team matches.
Players need to blooded into the first team slowly, pressure taken off of them where as reports of how special they are at youth level they need to have expectations lowered and for the process to be made as easy as possible for their integration into senior football. We’ve seen it so often where seasoned professionals are expected to fill into a role or to cover a position and some struggle but it’s short term and confidence isn’t an issue but the square pegs and round holes scenario for the youngsters is fundamentally wrong in it’s approach in my opinion.
We need to safeguard the future of these players that we have high hopes for and for that the manager has to take responsibility in making sure they are used carefully and properly, over many seasons I think we have seen good young players suffer due to the way they are used and pushed around all over the pitch just as an experiment to see how they react and adapt. It’s unfair and it’s daft when we have also invested so much time effort and finances in trying to groom these young players to be good enough for senior football.
If these young players are to succeed and flourish then we as a club and our manager needs to look at how players were handled previously and rethink the whole process of playing them for the sake of it and to play them out of position, some will maybe say sink or swim but does that do the club or the player any good..? use them to the best of their ability and see if they sink or swim and then maybe we will have a few more coming through to make it at first team level. It’s sorely needed that’s for sure as a few home grown “proper” Arsenal kids making the grade maybe won’t lay down and die when the going gets tough in some of the matches where our players have gone AWOL.
Enjoy your day.
Morning all.
Nice post, Wath.
Kids should learn football and be played in various positions when they are KIDS.
There really shouldn’t be a need to teach players how to play the game when they’re 18-20, they should only need the finishing touches applied.
Is Wenger lost in that, or is he not trusting the youth system at the club?
Something’s wrong, and that’s stating the obvious, but too many seemingly talent s players drift into the side, and are gone just as quickly.
Food for thought there Wath.
We all have our own opinions as to who should play and where, but ultimately thats what the manager and his staff get paid to decide.
We may disagree with many decisions, but at the end of the day it doesn’t mean we are right, or that he is wrong.
We can point to examples of where we think he did the wrong thing, but that’s all.
Ultimately he will lose his job if his decisions are unanimously thought to be always wrong. As for playing unfit players to enable them to be able to play 90 minutes in the first team, personally I agree, but many feel he is wrong. That is our prerogative as fans.
We can’t all agree though can we? Otherwise this would be a boring blog, where we just ditto what someone else posts. no point in that, imo.
This was from the previous post but, I would hate Kev to miss it!
Kev, I see you’ve had an early Xmas present. TfL have withdrawn Uber’s licence. They, apparently aren’t ‘fit for purpose’ too many inside cab assaults!
And good riddance.
Old saying, .”if you’re good enough you’re old enough! ”
Look at Rashford or Rooney or Brady etc etc as a coach you know fine well who will make it and who won’t. Sure you’ll get some calls wrong but not many, Any Cole comes to mind but there aren’t many that slip through the net.
This is not in defence of Wenger but I think he knows fine well who the very few players he’s got that are in with a genuine chance of making the big time. Iwobi he sees as a player although there are many that don’t! He does have flashes of brilliance but, he’s just quite consistent enough, yet.
The real problem when it comes to playing the kids is that they aren’t allowed to make any mistakes, they cannot serve an apprenticeship in the first team, too much at stake if they cock up! And, presently Wenger’s fear of failure just disallows him from blooding too many youngsters at any one time. The milk cup team may contain 2 or 3 kids the FA cup, depending upon the opposition, again only 1 or 2. It’s a very limited pool and so they progress at a very slow rate, very very slow!
Sunny day here, you’ll be pleased to know!
Wenger’s record in developing young players is on a par with his winning anything in Europe. Appalling.
Wavy, the issue with kids not being allowed to make mistakes due to pressure from fans etc based on winning is therefore another reason to play the young players in their proper positions so as to lessen the possibility of failure… surely thats common sense if you are indeed going to play them and give them the chance. The issue is play them and allow them to succeed and flourish not risk failure and ruining their confidence..?
Meerkat, unfit players now have the option to play under 23’s which helps but also agree injured players returning to fitness need games and have no issue with that but playing players out of position just does my nut in and he does it time and time again..!
I suppose the notion of playing all players in at least 10 different positions is to make them aware of team shuffling to give them an insight of how to play against a player in opposition playing in a situation they have experienced themselves. It’s the old “total football” philosophy, developed,by,Ajax in the seventies. Wenger you might argue is still stuck in a time warp, although it’s not a bad way to blood the children, good experience really, however, not at a high level of performance. As you say it can be confidence sapping if applied to the wrong player at the wrong time and the wrong place. Foolish really. A bit of common sense needs applying to the experimentation of players playing in alternative positions. I mean, look what it did for the Ox, hahahahahahaha!
Rick, Essex dig out another unlikely victory against Hampshire. Are they going to become another team of Invincibles???
I love winners, don’t you?
Early day Wavy, early days, but thanks to the Met Police there’s light at the end of the tunnel.
With major investors like Blackrock, Goldman Sachs, the Saudis and the Qataris that tax evading mob aren’t going anywhere without a fight, but it’s positive.
And with George Osborne as the editor you should be prepared for a lot of anti Khan and TfL guff from the Standard. I mean George has to earn his wedge from Blackrock.
Afternoon Rico (where ever you are) and the house.
Wavy that was a incredible win .Out for 79 made to follow on and then win by 108 is the sign of a
outstanding team.
What makes it so good 9 of the squad are Essex boys who have all come through the second team. 4 of them were born in Leytonstone with 2 of the 4 ( Lawrence and Sam Cook todays match winners) have just celebrated their 20th birthday.
Some ones doing things right there Wavy wish they would have a word with Gatting & co.
Wath todays post is in keeping with the excellant posts that Rico has written this week.
I will comment on it later.
Evening all and thanks Wath……….between me and you and we wont let the others know……..do you have to wear Rico`s clothes went you stand in for her ? 😆
I`d love to see us go back a bit and play the youth in the League Cup. One of the best and most enjoyable games I have ever seen was our 6-0 win over Sheff Utd when the average age of our team was…Na na na nineteen…………na na na nineteen………youngest ever Arsenal team to play a competitive match !……thought Vela was going to be the dogs…………..
Gary Speed and Ugo Ehiogu both too young to pass away……. 🙁
Carlos vela another one mismanaged by wenger!
Superb hatrick!
Unfortunately LC Rico’s clobber is a bit baggy for me mate she is a bit of a lump but don’t tell her i told you 😉 no doubt Micko will squeal…..
Rick, agree fantastic achievement, and a major turnaround by Essex from the ‘Grayson’ years. It just shows what a new team all working together can do. Much credit to Ronnie Irani, and coaches Silverwood and McGrath. Unfortunately I expect Yorkshire or England will poach one or both though. And tremendous captain Ryan Ten Doe and great bunch of young homegrown players, even Chef junior in the last few games.
Interesting to see that Amazon and Facebook are actively considering bidding for Premier League TV rights, which is just what we need, more American investment (interference) in English (ha ha ha) football…
Whose gonna pay for that then?
Well we are, that’s right the fans.
Not if you don’t buy to watch Kev…. a right boring old Arsenal news day…!
That’s true Wath, but there’ll be plenty of folks around the world who will participate.
I doubt that we’ll get much joy from any of the games today, not that we’re gonna compete in the EPL this season, Arsenal are a cup team.
Don’t even think we a cup team unless we gt decent ‘draws’…. The worldwide tv rights are where the dosh is as fans in the UK are realising the games and bundles on tv to view are a right piss take. The worldwide popularity of the premier league is still massive so why the demand is there the tv companies and the like will still bid huge amounts for the coverage rights as they know they will make a killing. All that does in my mid is raise wage expectations from players and we’ll see transfers carry on escalating until the big bang….!
totts 2 up …
Hate Monday night games !……………we`ll be playing catch up with all the games going our way ! 🙁
So now we are a massive 9 points behind the Mancs and City.
Notwithstanding the goal difference.
Is there any Arsenal supporters in blogland or anywhere, who still think that we’re In with a chance of winning, nah that’s laughable, let’s say competing, for the EPL title?
It`s the sign of times ahead, Kev !……………………..and to keep on both sides of the fence, we`ll never have a chance whilst the win double are on board in charge !…………………..in case you dont know who I mean…………….one`s surname begins with W……….and the other begins with K………….so that`s ……..W an`K
So I`m W an` K Out !……………………………some blinded fools are W an`K In !………………………………do I really have to say, that`s why they went blind in the first place ?…… hahaha
First, we must look for those who are behind; then, try to climb up at the table.
Kev, we were never a chance.
How anyone would think a club that was already behind the 8 ball could win the League after buying fewer players than clubs that were already stronger than us is amazing, but I doubt there’d be many, anyway…..could there be lol
Scott, there was never a chance as soon as Wenger signed his new 2 year contract.
And it’s been that way for about 10 years.
I watched MotD and Man City looked absolutely sublime.
Chelsea turned over Stoke and made it look easy, having a beast in midfield helped.
Can you imagine how laboured Arsenal are going to be on Monday?
Yer, I can. When crap opposes thugs, usually there’s only one outcome. Arsenal to win by one goal but not with eleven players on the pitch after 90 minutes!
Hope? I se no hope, only hardshopes, ( John Lewis?)
Hard shops not shopes ffs!
I get that JM, we must be able to take care of the sides below us before we can challenge again the teams above, we,ve already proved we,ve a bit to go to challenge above us, so your right , the mentality and motivation monday will go along to proving if are we up for the fight.
Arsenal are one of the biggest payers in the EPL so holding onto Ramsey and Welbeck shouldn’t be insurmountable.
But we need to get it sorted before the turn of the year, we badly need some good news on contracts.
Retaining Welbeck and Ramsey will have a positive effect on everyone connected to the club, so let’s hope that our new contracts negotiator can get these deals over the as we’re gonna need Ramsey particularly when Ozil leaves and Welbeck as well because Alexis and Giroud could be gone by next summer?
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.mirror.co.uk/sport/row-zed/contracts-expiring-arsenal-liverpool-manchester-10992840.amp
New post up