The Kids are Alright – Arsenal v Rotherham, October 03
I don’t think it says much about the state of English Football that Rotherham, currently 22nd in the First Division, couldn’t beat four of Arsenal’s most inconsistent players, two wonderkids, and a bunch of mini-me’s with a combined age of 12. Arsenal-Rotherham wasn’t exactly a glamour game, nor was it of a very high quality. Scrappy throughout – it was low level football illuminated by an unlikely pair of players. But for a tenner an Aliadiere goal, a last minute equaliser, a goalie sent off for deliberate handball (and boy was he unhappy about it), a fat-boy sub goalie whose distribution was, well, ****, and a 9-8 penalty shoot-out win was value for money in the extreme.
Kanu as captain is an unlikely choice. I know he’s captained Nigeria before, but when the languid one is the senior player on the pitch, leadership qualities are going to be in short supply. And they were. At no stage last night did either Edu, Wiltord, Cygan or Kanu step up and take charge of a game Wiltord at least clearly thought he was too good for. Cygan on the other hand, had the distinction of not being good enough for the occasion. Drawn out of position for no reason whatsoever, he wandered around distractedly, winning everything in the air (perhaps unsurprisingly) but depending on the uselessness of the Rotherham strikers, and Stathis Tavlaridis to get him out of trouble. Edu was ok, erratic with his distribution as ever. Kanu was ok, although his dummying technique has now extended so far as to make it impossible for him not to dummy himself whenever he tries to pull off a move. He’s a better midfielder than a forward incidentally, and actually tackles extremely well when he puts his mind to it. Wiltord ran around a lot, mostly to little purpose. Did a few 10 metre turning circle spins which blew some decent possession. Scored the winning penalty. The guy’s a schizophrenic, doesn’t do anything for five minutes, just standing forlornly on the wing wishing he was elsewhere, then goes on a manic run. Then stops. Again, like Kanu on the wing, he was better out wide than in the middle.
So what about the kids? The real reason for last night?
Best to start in order of seniority I suppose. Aliadiere scored, a competent finish on a ball that broke loose across the box from Wiltord via Kanu. Other than that, I have to say I don’t think he did very well – and all those screaming for him to be in the first XI probably ought to stop. I’d guess at the moment he’s learning how to be an out-and-out forward, a line-leader, and his movement doesn’t look entirely comfortable. He kept on going far too laterally across the edge of the box, and running into some typically robust first division defending. And his attempted flicks weren’t quite good enough – Wiltord’s and Kanu’s weren’t a whole heap better maybe, but they carried slightly more penetration, and were better conceived. I wouldn’t worry about Ali too much – he’s got until next August to really master this role, and he’s clearly a hard worker willing to stick to a task, but he’s not the solution at the moment. The 'They’re Not Henry Are They?' mystery will just have to continue for a while.
Cesc Fabregas was the money shot for last night. Only 16 and now Arsenal’s youngest ever player. He was remarkably involved, playing deeper than Edu, who like the rest of the senior players was extremely ill-disciplined about sticking to a position so the kids wouldn’t get dragged around. Cesc, first of all, has some serious growing to do. He’s tiny. Not as tiny as the Rotherham left back, who, as my friend said, could scarcely see over the ball. But very little. Hopefully his body will use that five years of growing time well. It strikes me at this stage he’ll be a midfield supply line, at whatever level he climbs to. Staying very central all night he was spraying some extremely well hit passes around – real Beckham/Gerrard style glory balls. Plus a few completely dangerously misplaced passes, and a shot that just about qualifies for the name. He was good, but he's got a long long road ahead of him.
Now for the revelations. Gael Clichy and Quincey Owusu-Abeyie were both goddamn excellent. Clichy was comprehensively man of the match. Assured, solid, and with a real eye for a pass and move he commanded authority for his position that no-one else on the pitch did. Should Cole get injured, which he will at some point, I have no doubts about this kid. He’s a definite talent.
All the strikers, Ali, Wiltord, Kanu, seemed to be doing mini-Henry impressions last night, trying to run from deep and out-trick prosaic opposition. Only Quincey however, only 17 and not even a reserve team player yet, managed to do it effectively. He’s a real bag of tricks, and made the Rotherham defenders look really stupid on 3 or 4 occasions. Unlucky with his penalty, but should move through the team very well as Bentley and Aliadiere achieve first team status full-time next year. And boy did he enjoy winning. Went completely crazy – which both Kanu and Wiltord seemed to appreciate. That was a heartening sight – the pleasure all the kids got out of winning. And the way the first teamers reacted. I guess it’s partly because winning keeps the kids dreams of making it at Arsenal alive, when realistically only the four I’ve mentioned might do so in the long-term.
Justin Hoyte and Jerome Thomas might move up. Might. They were both pretty solid last night, but little more. Thomas likes coming in-field a lot, and given that Kanu, Edu and Wiltord all over-occupied that space, it got a bit messy, but he looked ok. Hoyte was out-shone by Clichy, and is the third-choice full back when Volz comes back, but seems competent enough.
Stathis Tavlaridis gave his all, and was better than Cygan. But then so were both Rotherham centre-backs. Cygan was dreadful, Tavlaridis eager. He’ll never be a first-teamer. Graham Stack didn’t have much to do, but needs to work on his kicking. Ryan Smith is a child, a nippy child, but plays like a kid in the park. If I missed anyone else, well, I didn’t notice them, so they can’t have been very good.
It’s hard, Wenger can watch all the reserve-team football he wants, but only in those situations can he really judge the youth teamers. And well, they struggled against a team in the basement of the first division. What’s that supposed to mean? Wenger knows all about Aliadiere and Clichy by this stage, will have been pleased by Cesc, and surprised by Quincey. Like I said at the beginning, the game probably says more about the lack of authority of the senior players on the field, and about the lack of true quality outside the Premiership than it does about them. But that’s football, you get few goes in a competitive environment to prove your worth. Four players did last night, those four definitely have a future at Arsenal; a heap probably don’t.
It was a good night out. I don’t think there’s much more to say than that.
I don’t think it says much about the state of English Football that Rotherham, currently 22nd in the First Division, couldn’t beat four of Arsenal’s most inconsistent players, two wonderkids, and a bunch of mini-me’s with a combined age of 12. Arsenal-Rotherham wasn’t exactly a glamour game, nor was it of a very high quality. Scrappy throughout – it was low level football illuminated by an unlikely pair of players. But for a tenner an Aliadiere goal, a last minute equaliser, a goalie sent off for deliberate handball (and boy was he unhappy about it), a fat-boy sub goalie whose distribution was, well, ****, and a 9-8 penalty shoot-out win was value for money in the extreme.
Kanu as captain is an unlikely choice. I know he’s captained Nigeria before, but when the languid one is the senior player on the pitch, leadership qualities are going to be in short supply. And they were. At no stage last night did either Edu, Wiltord, Cygan or Kanu step up and take charge of a game Wiltord at least clearly thought he was too good for. Cygan on the other hand, had the distinction of not being good enough for the occasion. Drawn out of position for no reason whatsoever, he wandered around distractedly, winning everything in the air (perhaps unsurprisingly) but depending on the uselessness of the Rotherham strikers, and Stathis Tavlaridis to get him out of trouble. Edu was ok, erratic with his distribution as ever. Kanu was ok, although his dummying technique has now extended so far as to make it impossible for him not to dummy himself whenever he tries to pull off a move. He’s a better midfielder than a forward incidentally, and actually tackles extremely well when he puts his mind to it. Wiltord ran around a lot, mostly to little purpose. Did a few 10 metre turning circle spins which blew some decent possession. Scored the winning penalty. The guy’s a schizophrenic, doesn’t do anything for five minutes, just standing forlornly on the wing wishing he was elsewhere, then goes on a manic run. Then stops. Again, like Kanu on the wing, he was better out wide than in the middle.
So what about the kids? The real reason for last night?
Best to start in order of seniority I suppose. Aliadiere scored, a competent finish on a ball that broke loose across the box from Wiltord via Kanu. Other than that, I have to say I don’t think he did very well – and all those screaming for him to be in the first XI probably ought to stop. I’d guess at the moment he’s learning how to be an out-and-out forward, a line-leader, and his movement doesn’t look entirely comfortable. He kept on going far too laterally across the edge of the box, and running into some typically robust first division defending. And his attempted flicks weren’t quite good enough – Wiltord’s and Kanu’s weren’t a whole heap better maybe, but they carried slightly more penetration, and were better conceived. I wouldn’t worry about Ali too much – he’s got until next August to really master this role, and he’s clearly a hard worker willing to stick to a task, but he’s not the solution at the moment. The 'They’re Not Henry Are They?' mystery will just have to continue for a while.
Cesc Fabregas was the money shot for last night. Only 16 and now Arsenal’s youngest ever player. He was remarkably involved, playing deeper than Edu, who like the rest of the senior players was extremely ill-disciplined about sticking to a position so the kids wouldn’t get dragged around. Cesc, first of all, has some serious growing to do. He’s tiny. Not as tiny as the Rotherham left back, who, as my friend said, could scarcely see over the ball. But very little. Hopefully his body will use that five years of growing time well. It strikes me at this stage he’ll be a midfield supply line, at whatever level he climbs to. Staying very central all night he was spraying some extremely well hit passes around – real Beckham/Gerrard style glory balls. Plus a few completely dangerously misplaced passes, and a shot that just about qualifies for the name. He was good, but he's got a long long road ahead of him.
Now for the revelations. Gael Clichy and Quincey Owusu-Abeyie were both goddamn excellent. Clichy was comprehensively man of the match. Assured, solid, and with a real eye for a pass and move he commanded authority for his position that no-one else on the pitch did. Should Cole get injured, which he will at some point, I have no doubts about this kid. He’s a definite talent.
All the strikers, Ali, Wiltord, Kanu, seemed to be doing mini-Henry impressions last night, trying to run from deep and out-trick prosaic opposition. Only Quincey however, only 17 and not even a reserve team player yet, managed to do it effectively. He’s a real bag of tricks, and made the Rotherham defenders look really stupid on 3 or 4 occasions. Unlucky with his penalty, but should move through the team very well as Bentley and Aliadiere achieve first team status full-time next year. And boy did he enjoy winning. Went completely crazy – which both Kanu and Wiltord seemed to appreciate. That was a heartening sight – the pleasure all the kids got out of winning. And the way the first teamers reacted. I guess it’s partly because winning keeps the kids dreams of making it at Arsenal alive, when realistically only the four I’ve mentioned might do so in the long-term.
Justin Hoyte and Jerome Thomas might move up. Might. They were both pretty solid last night, but little more. Thomas likes coming in-field a lot, and given that Kanu, Edu and Wiltord all over-occupied that space, it got a bit messy, but he looked ok. Hoyte was out-shone by Clichy, and is the third-choice full back when Volz comes back, but seems competent enough.
Stathis Tavlaridis gave his all, and was better than Cygan. But then so were both Rotherham centre-backs. Cygan was dreadful, Tavlaridis eager. He’ll never be a first-teamer. Graham Stack didn’t have much to do, but needs to work on his kicking. Ryan Smith is a child, a nippy child, but plays like a kid in the park. If I missed anyone else, well, I didn’t notice them, so they can’t have been very good.
It’s hard, Wenger can watch all the reserve-team football he wants, but only in those situations can he really judge the youth teamers. And well, they struggled against a team in the basement of the first division. What’s that supposed to mean? Wenger knows all about Aliadiere and Clichy by this stage, will have been pleased by Cesc, and surprised by Quincey. Like I said at the beginning, the game probably says more about the lack of authority of the senior players on the field, and about the lack of true quality outside the Premiership than it does about them. But that’s football, you get few goes in a competitive environment to prove your worth. Four players did last night, those four definitely have a future at Arsenal; a heap probably don’t.
It was a good night out. I don’t think there’s much more to say than that.
