Image: Arsenal
On the face of it, Arsenal’s academy appears to be doing rather well at present, with hugely talented prospects such as Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ethan Nwaneri and Max Dowman stepping up to the first-team, while Andre Harriman-Annous and Marli Salmon are also very highly regarded.
On a deeper level, however, there have been major problems at youth level this season, with the defeat to Cardiff City last night (which saw Arsenal U21s exit the Vertu Trophy) the latest in a long line of disappointing results.
In fact, across U21, U19 and U18 levels, Arsenal have now gone 13 games without a victory – the last success was for the U21s against Derby County on September 26th.
David Horseman was brought in as elite player development coach on September 19th but although he won his first game in charge against Newport he hasn’t overseen a victory since.
The decision to appoint Max Porter as U21 coach following Mehmet Ali’s departure in the summer has also drawn criticism.
Furthermore, Adam Birchall’s U18 side started the season well but have been woeful in recent games and have frequently lacked cohesion.
There appears to be a wider issue with regards to coaching in the academy, with some coaches perhaps better as assistants or individual development coaches rather than being the head coach for a particular level.
In some cases, especially defensively, players aren’t of the required standard which has led to frequent mistakes being made and many goals being conceded.
Some will argue that results at academy level mean very little, with development being the main focus.
That is true to an extent but at a club such as Arsenal surely every academy player, at least at some stage in their development, should be somebody who either has the potential to be a success at the club or alternatively be sold for a significant fee.
The squad planning for the U21s this summer was hugely concerning and it is rather baffling that professional contracts were given to Daniel Oyetunde and Cam’ron Ismail only for them to not be considered to play in U21 games.
Too often this season Arsenal youth sides have conceded soon after scoring, while they have often lacked discipline and a team mentality.
There are positives for the future – the U16s squad contains a lot of good prospects who helped the club to win the Premier League National Tournament last weekend.
The U21 squad for next season should also be more settled with the likes of Theo Julienne, Louis Zecevic John, Jack Porter, Khari Ranson and Ceadach O’Neill all set to be full-time players at that level, while first years Brando Bailey-Joseph and Josiah King have recently broken into the squad.
Overall, though, the progression of stellar talents into the first-team shouldn’t disguise the fact that it has, to a large extent, been an awful first half of the season at academy level.
The FA Youth Cup, in which Arsenal will enter the third round in December, will provide a change to salvage something from this campaign.