Reserves, Loanees & Youngsters

[Letters]

There was one season when I thought he looked pretty decent but then he started throwing them in and never really recovered.

[GP]

https://streamable.com/pqu1

Posted it on the Champions League thread last night.

Roma were already down to 9 men at that point.

[Niall_Quinn]

Jack destroys the gypos until the caravan trash use their ref.



You can see how Wilshere gets injured and how it won't be long until he's injured again. His first touch is sometime a bit loose but his commitment is 100% all the time. So he sets himself up for his own medicine ball moments. If somebody could work with him on that first touch, which is probably more down to concentration than technique. Unfortunately, we have Wenger.

But are we really thinking of selling a kid who has grown up here, is probably the biggest Arsenal fan in the squad, and is better than anything we already have in the middle? Selling this guy so we can retain Coquelin. Or Elneny. Or Ramsey. Or Xhaka? Really?

It's hard to estimate just how big a fuck-up Wenger is. He destroys players. Grinds them to oblivion, with his bullshit, cowardly, tippety-tap nothing ball. No wonder he doesn't want Wilshere. Jack has way too much heart. It almost seems like he wants to win at all costs. Wenger just hasn't been able to train it out of him. Plus Jack's a dirty, English scrote rather than a French pansy. In the PL, what possible use could we have for our own version of Alli or Rooney? Teach him to dive like those guys and he'd be worth an extra 10 points a season.

[GP]

Reece Nelson is the real deal.

I don't remember ever seeing a talent like that in the academy.

[Niall_Quinn]

Anelka was the best I ever saw at that level. Then Cesc inches behind. These two were self contained pros from the get-go and immune to Wenger.

[GP]

Anelka was the best I ever saw at that level. Then Cesc inches behind. These two were self contained pros from the get-go and immune to Wenger.

Neither of those were in the academy. First team squad pretty much immediately.

[Niall_Quinn]

Neither of those were in the academy. First team squad pretty much immediately.

Fair point, but I was more talking about youngsters around which a buzz had developed before they made their senior debut. These days we hear too much about "wonderkids" and "the next ..." and when you eventually see them play you ask, WTF? Remembering Anelka pitch up, push the ball and then burn the defence before burying it, not an ounce of hype. High octane talent. It was like Owen, same pre-debut build up around Liverpool at that time too. These were real football players with big futures ahead of them. Now I think it's more a marketing exercise. Latest example, Zelalem, or whatever his name is. Where is he now? Hopefully still on track but shouldn't he be ripping it up by this stage?

That said, the kids who played out the pre-season did look good. Better than we have seen in recent years. Not, take your breath away wonderful, but good.

[GP]

Fair point, but I was more talking about youngsters around which a buzz had developed before they made their senior debut. These days we hear too much about "wonderkids" and "the next ..." and when you eventually see them play you ask, WTF? Remembering Anelka pitch up, push the ball and then burn the defence before burying it, not an ounce of hype. High octane talent. It was like Owen, same pre-debut build up around Liverpool at that time too. These were real football players with big futures ahead of them. Now I think it's more a marketing exercise. Latest example, Zelalem, or whatever his name is. Where is he now? Hopefully still on track but shouldn't he be ripping it up by this stage?

That said, the kids who played out the pre-season did look good. Better than we have seen in recent years. Not, take your breath away wonderful, but good.

Zelalem is pure hype, nothing to back it up. Why? Because he's American.
Jeff Adelaide is similar, so it Naitland-Miles.

Nelson, though. There's something there.

[Niall_Quinn]

Chris Sutton

It does not get much lower than getting sent off in an Under-23 match - but it may take something like this for Jack Wilshere to realise he must get his act together.

Really? So feigning a head injury and rolling around to get an opponent sent off? That's not lower than Wilshere showing frustration by bumping into an opponent, having just been chopped down by a dirty bastard in the making? Cheating? At U23 level? That's an early start, even by PL standards. But the cheats don't seem to get a mention.

As an aside, because the football itself is never as important to some people, Wilshere had an excellent game and should never have been sent off. Just a few facts that you'd think might be appealing for a so-called analyst. And the fact Jack turned up to play at that level, leaving his ego to one side and then giving 100% effort and commitment, well a few stars that get all the limelight and plaudits could maybe learn a thing or two from that.

Get an honest job Sutton. Get your act together. Nothing lower than a football pundit these days.

[Niall_Quinn]

Wenger is definitely not involved with the coaching of this team. Far too much forward momentum, energy, ambition. This is how the first team could play if Wenger was taken out of the equation.

Of course the defence looks as suspect as any Arsenal defence, so maybe Wenger has some input there?

Also interesting to see the extreme bias of the officials extends all the way down. A good lesson for the youngsters.

Love the enthusiasm and talent of some of these players. Wenger will have a hell of a job training it out of them if they make the step up.