There’s nowhere else to start today but with Bouldy’s Boys and the fact that Arsenal won the FA Youth Cup last night at Anfield.
Twenty years to the day of the famous league victory the youngsters, none of whom had been born at that stage, took to the field in the commemorative shirts and won the game 2-1. The goals came from Sanchez Watt and an Ayala own goal giving an aggregate scoreline of 6-2.
It’s the first time we’ve won the FA Youth Cup since 2001 when we beat Blackburn 6-3 on aggregate. Obviously people will have high hopes for many of these young players and rightly so, they look an extremely talented bunch but the reality is only a small number will make it at Arsenal. Have a look at the team from 2001:
Holloway, Bailey, Chorley, Sidwell, Svard, Garry, Volz, Ricketts, Itonga, Aliadiere, Thomas.
Of that 11 only one is now playing Premier League football (Sidwell), Aliadiere has just been relegated with Boro and Volz is at Ipswich, I think. The rest have drifted down the leagues and to foreign climes.
Now, I think this bunch of players is a bit special though with some incredible talent. Obviously all eyes are on Jack Wilshere and he’s had the ringing endorsement of none other than Liam Brady but there’s often an element of good fortune to a player making a breakthrough. It usually comes at the expense of another more senior player. Ashley Cole was on the brink of being sold when Silvinho was rather rapidly moved on in the summer of 2001, even look at Kieran Gibbs who made his mark when Gael Clichy was injured.
There are a number of blogs about the young players at Arsenal and very interesting they are too. I don’t think we’ve ever had such in-depth coverage of the kids and it does make a refreshing change. My worry is, and this is no disprespect to those blogs, is that they become household names very quickly and the level of expectation around them grows with that. So that when they get a chance in the first team we’re looking for them to reproduce the displays of youth games, we expect them to be ready to just slot in and make the vast jump to Premier League football without a problem.
And that’s not the case. It’s the exception rather than the rule. So my point is that we need, perhaps, to step back a bit and realise that while these are the best youths in the country, and deservedly so, they’ve got a lot more developing to do before they’re going to be ready for first team action. Most of them won’t see it. Those that do may struggle at first and we need to be aware of that and not as hyper-critical as we tend to be.
Anyway, it does seem to be putting a dampener on their fantastic achievement and that’s not my intention. Well done to all of them, all the squad that played their part and to Steve Bould whose progress through the coaching ranks is very encouraging.
Elsewhere it’s very quiet really, as you’d expect. That hasn’t stopped Patrice Evra breaking away from his Champions League final preparations to offer out Cesc Fabregas. Reacting to the challenge at Old Trafford last week he said:
If it amuses you to hit people, you do boxing, you do taekwondo, whatever you want. But you don’t play football. We will see each other again off the pitch and there will not be a referee to give me a red card.
What. A. Twat. Seriously, surely those are words worthy of a disrepute charge and while Evra might be a fine left back he’s got previous here. He was given a four match ban for fisticuffs with a Chelsea groundsman last season and the idea that he’d threaten the Arsenal captain with an off the field beating shows what he’s made of.
Here’s an idea Evra, if you don’t want to get kicked on a football pitch, keep your stupid mouth shut. And if you can’t handle being kicked on a football pitch and feel the need to ‘take it outside’, then maybe you might choose a more appropriate career like barfly or professional scumbag. I sincerely hope Messi turns him inside out tonight.
Speaking of which Robert Pires believes Thierry Henry could dedicate a goal to Arsenal fans if he scores against United tonight. I’d very much enjoy an Henry goal, especially an Henry winner, but it would make me purse my lips a little and think back to that chance late in the second half in Paris when he might have made it 2-0.
Anyway, water under the bridge now. Horrible, three-eyed fish, scum on top, bits of poo floating down it water, but water nonetheless. Despite the 2006 final I’m hoping Barcelona can do the business tonight and they can put in a performance like they did against Real Madrid a few weeks ago which was just sensational. Henry and Iniesta are both fit so that’s a big plus.
And did I mention that I hope a portal to another dimension opens up and that a hideous monster who devours his prey with razor sharp teeth, then vomits them back up, brings them back to life and then devours them again more slowly and much more painfully takes to the field and chooses Evra as his victim? I didn’t? How remiss of me. Well, I hope a portal to another dimension opens up and that a hideous monster who devours his prey with razor sharp teeth, then vomits them back up, brings them back to life and then devours them again more slowly and much more painfully takes to the field and chooses Evra as his victim.
Yesterday I mentioned the London Masters 5-a-side tournament and the Arsenal team is still available for sponsorship. Maybe something your business might interested in. For more info email Adam.
Finally for today some feedback wanted for this week’s Arsecast. What I’m looking for is your response to just one of the following questions:
Goal of the season? Player of the season? Performance/match of the season? Disappointment of the season? Hope for next season?
Choose just one of those questions and leave a voicemail on the Arseblog hotline. The number is as follows – from the UK call 020 3286 6360 and from outside the UK it’s +44 20 3286 6360. Remember, choose only one of the questions and try and keep your answer in the format below:
Hello, this is Bob from Arseville, my player of the season was Emmanuel Eboue because I am a mentalist.
Nothing more than 30-45 seconds. You have until tonight to get them in, I’ll go through them and broadcast some in the Arsecast on Friday.
Right then, that’ll be that. Have a good one.
