Arsenal's young guns set the standard

Arsenal are a rather special team, for many reasons. Manager Arsene Wenger has been in the job for more than a decade, which is an achievement in itself. In a day and age whereby managers come and go like candidates to be Sir Alan Sugar’s apprentice, 10 years in the job deserves a gold medal.

Secondly, the players he possesses in his vastly-talented squad. Down the years Wenger has constructed a young, agile, attacking side and has received a lot of criticism for not having a big ball-winner in the ranks. Especially since Patrick Vieira left. However, evidence this season suggests that Wenger knows exactly what he is doing.

Arsenal won the FA Youth Cup last season, which goes a long way to underlining the enormous potential that the next generation at the Emirates possess. Now, most of those players have gained some form of first-team experience, whether as a late substitute in the Premier League or even Champions League, or maybe starting in the early rounds of the Carling Cup. At some stage, that potential has been on show, and boy have people been impressed.

The recent 2-1 victory over Liverpool in the Carling Cup completely emphasises where Arsenal stand in relation to other sides in the League when it comes to their ’second string’ team. Compare the likes of Craig Eastmond, Kerrea Gilbert, and Kieran Gibbs to Liverpool’s Damien Plessis, Philipp Degen, and Emiliano Insua, and the Arsenal guys are streets ahead in terms of talent and ability. Even though Degen and Insua are full Internationals, the standard of Arsenal’s teenagers is far higher than that of Liverpool’s.

Throughout the age groups Arsenal’s youngsters are taught nothing but how to keep possession of the ball. There’s very little on anything else. Credit must be given to the backroom staff and Academy coaches at Arsenal who clearly do a wonderful job of improving these youngsters and making them exceptional footballers. At times during the Liverpool match, they kept the ball for 20+ passes whilst playing one and two touch football; just an incredible thing to be able to do at the age of 17/18/19 against Premier League opposition.

Arsene Wenger is without doubt the best in the world at getting the best out of his young guns, and inspiring them to play out of their skin. Year after year more talent is brought in from abroad, and brought through the youth ranks to compete at the highest level, and year after year they impress. It’s like a conveyor belt of outstanding talent.
So Arsenal have set the standard when it comes to their Youth development system and the players they bring through. The question is, will anybody be able to compete with them in 5/10 years time?

The fact that Arsenal haven’t won any silverware in the last 5 years may suggest that all the hard work pumped into the academy is going to waste. However, it takes time to develop a side of such raw talent into one that will become world-beaters if you like. Take Cesc Fabregas for example. A couple of years ago he was an outstanding player, but there were still aspects to his game that needed improvement and honing. Now he seems to be the complete player. With several players of similar potential to Fabregas coming through, if they can reach maximum potential in the next few years then Arsenal have a team full of superstars in the making. 5 or 6 Cesc Fabregas’ in the side makes for a cup-winning generation.

It’s worrying for the other sides in the Premier League that they don’t have the same potential. It’s unquestionable that Manchester United have a world-class youth setup, and the same goes for Chelsea, but neither side has brought through the kind of talent that Arsenal are showing off, perhaps with the exception of Federico Macheda. As for Chelsea, well their side is made of over-30’s with very little youth being filtered through. Roman’s billions have obviously blocked the route for youngsters through to the first team. That’s probably another area that Arsenal have got right.

The Gunners have spent money on recruiting players from around the world (e.g Andrei Arshavin, Thomas Vermaelen) but they’ve also left plenty of room to enable them to filter through their youngsters in order to give them invaluable experience at the top level. It’s an area that other teams can take example from in order to progress their homegrown footballers.

One thing that will be interesting to see this season with Arsenal, is that if they make it to the final of the Carling Cup or FA Cup with the youngsters they’re putting out, will Wenger stick with them for that crunch game against, say, Manchester United with the Rooney’s and Berbatov’s? One thing’s for sure; Arsenal will be a side to look out for in the next few years, and they’ll have a few players who make it very big in the footballing world.

Xavi: Fabregas has Barca DNA

Really Xav, really? If we're being hyper-critical of this statement we'd say it's not physically possible. But I'm sure Cesc appreciates it.

So, Xavi and Cesc - Spanish National teammates, former Barcelona teammates (although they never played together), and general good mates. The little Barca maestro has expressed his desire to play alongside Fabregas on a day-to-day basis at Camp Nou, a statement that risks infuritating Arsenal who have never previously taken kindly to 'tapping-up', and false rumours. But who does?

"I'd like to play with him", Xavi told Spanish newspaper El Mundo Deportivo. "I've always said that in the National team I link up with Cesc very well, despite the fact that many say we can't play together". Oh the famous 'they can't play together'. Gerrard & Lamps. Proven. Ballack & Lamps. Dubious. Xavi and Cesc? Surely not.

Xavi went on to say, "we demonstrated in the final of the European Championship that isn't true. I especially hope that Cesc comes. He is a football player with Barca DNA and he is showing at Arsenal that he is on another level".

I'm not sure Mr. Wenger will be too happy with Xavi's comments, but Footballers will do anything these days to get to play with their mates.

So, if Fab does leave the Gooners, where would it leave them? Have they got sufficient backup? Would they need to purchase more than one player to replace him? Would it be a mistake to rejoin Barca? These are all questions that probably will be answered one day, although I can't see Cesc leaving just yet. For the Premier League, I sincerely hope not.

Djourou sidelined for 6 months

Arsenal centre-half Johan Djourou has been ruled out of action for up to 6 months after undergoing knee surgery. The Swiss International sustained the injury last month prior to a friendly with Italy.

So where does this leave Arsenal?

Having sold Kolo Toure to Manchester City, Djourou would have been confident of staking a claim for a regular place in Arsene Wenger's side. The arrival of Thomas Vermaelen from Ajax probably dispelled those hopes slightly, but with Arsenal also looking to offload Philippe Senderos in the near future, Djourou would have been near the front of Wenger's plans.

With the transfer window now closed, and with only 3 fit central defenders, Arsenal may have a couple of problems, should William Gallas, Vermaelen, or Senderos pick up knocks. It may open the door for a couple of youngsters to make the break through to the first team, or perhaps Wenger may even draft in a replacement on loan, as there is no deadline for loan signings in England.

Whatever the reaction to Djourou's injury, a few questions will be raised of Arsenal's backline. Gallas and Vermaelen have made very impressive starts to the season, in particular the Belgian who has a £10m price tag to live up to. Other teams will be taking note of the Gunner's lack of depth in this department, so it'll be fundamental for them to try and keep Gallas and Vermaelen fit. Alexandre Song is a player who has filled in at centre-half in the past, but you certainly wouldn't rely on him to fill the vacancy on a permanent basis.

A few things to ponder then, for Mr. Wenger.

He's neven going anywhere!

Is it just me or does anyone else think that the name Neven Subotic belongs in a Bond movie? Or perhaps a disease on your feet?

Subotic has recently been linked with a move to Arsenal but his agent, Stephen Kelly (very Football, no?), claims it is all speculation: “There is nothing in the reports linking Neven with Arsenal.. He only recently signed a new 5-year deal at Dortmund and it would take big money for any move to happen”. He says it like spending big money is a novelty.

The Gooners aren’t the only team to have shown interest in the 20-year old 6ft4 Centre-Half (that’s scary – i’m 17 and already 6ft3!). Last season, Everton expressed their desire to bring a then teenager to Goodison, but nothing ever came of it.

Arsenal have been looking to fill the gap that Kolo Toure has left since his departure to Manchester City. First they tried luring Federico Fazio, the young Argentine, to London, in vain, and now they seem to have missed out on Subotic – although you should never believe anything an agent says. It’s usually bull.

Subotic Fact-ory:
Born 10th December 1988.
Parents Zeljko and Svetlana.
Moved to Germany in 1994, before moving to Salt Lake City in 99.
Spotted by Mr. Kelly playing for USA under17’s in Netherlands.
Signed by Mainz where he made his First-Team debut at the end of the 06-07 season.
Signed for Dortmund in June 2008 on 5-year contract.
Has represented Serbia 4 times and has scored 1 goal.

Seems like a very interesting chap, does our Subo. Oh god, lets not call him that – any association with Susan Boyle can’t be a good thing.

Battle of Britain part 1..

We usually have to wait until the latter stages of the Uefa Champions League before we are treated to the mouth-watering prospect of a match between two British (usually two English) teams facing each other. However, Christmas has come early this year and our present? Celtic vs Arsenal in the final qualifying round for Europe's most illustrious trophy.

It will be the first time ever the sides play each other in a competitive fixture, and Tony Mowbray's men will be sure to cause an upset when they host the Gunners at Celtic Park in mid-August. Celtic's victory in the pre-season Wembley Cup tournament, in which they beat Tottenham, will give them confidence ahead of the clash with Spurs' North London Rivals.

As for Arsenal, they need to put behind them some dubious season starts in the last few years and make sure they're at the races come 2 or 3 weeks time.

No doubt should all English participants make it through to the knockout stages of this year's competition, we will be in for a lot more 'Battle of Britain' match-ups. The most notorious and frequent of recent years has been Liverpool vs Chelsea, a fixture that always brings a disappointed sigh from Blues fans when their ball is picked from the infamous Champions League bowl. Liverpool certainly have the wool over Chelsea in this competition, so I won't be complaining should there be yet another replay of this match.

I always look forward to an England v England clash in the Quarters, Semis or even Final. Something about it just makes it more enjoyable and exciting than watching the Italian teams, or the Spanish battle it out against each other. Possibly because both teams play in the League that we watch, and we know that they'll always provide exciting attacking football usually thrown in with a bit of drama. But the fans seem to rise to the occasion as well. There seems nothing better than to get one over on your League rivals in a European competition, hence why Liverpool are practically invincible at Anfield when it comes to playing Chelsea in this competition, although one could argue about that in the last year or two.

They make the best matches because they have the best players and the best fans, who make the best atmosphere. I've never been that interested in watching a Champions League match between two sides from Italy, Spain or any other country for that matter, neither have I been interested in watching a match between sides not from this country. The English League, the players involved, and the charismatic, energetic, fanatic supporters make for brilliant England-on-England tussles.

Other matches to look out for in this, the final stage before we progress to the groups, are Fiorentina's 1st leg visit to Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon, and French Champions Lyon hosting Belgian outfit Anderlecht.