Adam Birchall offered a balanced review of his under-18s side's performance following the 1-1 draw with Leicester City in the U18 Premier League South.
Our young Gunners fought back through Andre Harriman-Annous' header after conceding early in the East Midlands, with the head coach encouraged in his team's response.
"Mixed. On one hand, obviously, we want to win the game.
"The challenge to the players was to find more moments to be mature and manage the game a bit better than recent weeks but we started slow, conceding really early, and that was a disappointment to me.
"Having said that, the personality, which I always bring up about this group of players, to bounce back and get the next chance was good to see.
"I thought overall, we had the more dangerous moments. We just lacked that final pass or that final finish to really see the game off and win it. There are more positives than negatives, but obviously we want to win the game."
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U18s report: Leicester City 1-1 Arsenal](https://www.arsenal.com/fixture/under-18/2026-May-02/leicester-city-u18-1-1-under-18-match-report?utm_source=arsenaldotcom&utm_medium=embedded-article&utm_campaign=news)
After the early setback, Adam viewed it as an important development in the player's learning experience and was keen to see how his side would react in finding a route back into the game. "It's less about telling them stuff," he said. "Your body language as a coach is really important, as you can see when you score.
"As a developer, I think it's also about watching and seeing how they respond to the lads. We wanted them to take ownership in those moments as well, to reset, play again and be self-regulating.
'So that's interesting. That's always a part of coaching, seeing how they do that. And I thought we had some leaders on the pitch today that really helped us do that."
Adam mentioned senior inclusions in the squad that were available following the conclusion of our Premier League 2 campaign.
With several of our young Gunners playing up an age group this season, Adam's has operated with a youthful squad but was pleased to see those promoted players take the opportunity to gain valuable minutes within their own age level against the Foxes.
"At the end of the day, games are for development. I think the lads have done really well to play under-21s football this year, and they've learned a lot from it.
"I think there's also a place for them to play in their own age group as well and get more success, which I definitely saw today.
"I thought Andre was very, very good, and it was nice to see Mooney in a different light as well, playing in his own age group, which everyone forgets. So that was good.
"I think it helps the younger boys, because they have been doing really well without winning games. And that's why I wanted to try to reflect that in the performance with the win today.
"It was good for them to have the older players around them to learn from. And yes, this will be, in part, the UEFA Youth League team next year."
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