It was another notable night for the Arsenal academy yesterday, with Max Dowman and Andre Harriman-Annous making their Champions League debuts in the victory against Slavia Prague.
Dowman, aged just 15 years and 308 days, became the youngest player in Champions League history, while talented forward Harriman-Annous took another step forwards in his development as he made his second senior appearance.
There was further academy involvement in the squad, with goalkeeper Alexei Rojas being named on the bench as he received his first Champions League callup. Winger Charles Sagoe Jr was also called up to the first-team for the first time in two years.
Earlier in the day, however, there was a deeply disappointing 5-1 defeat for Arsenal U19s against the same opponents in the UEFA Youth League.
Arsenal have now suffered four defeats out of four in the competition and look set for another early exit with just two games remaining.
The absence of Dowman and Harriman-Annous as well as others like Marli Salmon (who received a late callup to the England squad for the U17 World Cup) certainly had an impact but there appears to be a deeper issue, with the Arsenal U19 side often lacking dynamism and cohesion.
Ceadach O’Neill worked hard up front and scored Arsenal’s goal having earlier inadvertently put the ball in his own net.
The academy in general have struggled for results recently, with the U18s also producing some concerning displays.
Arsenal are certainly succeeding with regards to the ultimate aim of the academy, which is to produce high quality players who are capable of challenging for involvement in the first-team squad.
Beyond that, though, there certainly seem to be some issues both in terms of coaching and a lack of recruitment.
—
Jeorge Bird is the author of www.arsenalyouth.wordpress.com Follow him on Twitter @jeorgebird
The post Contrasting fortunes for Arsenal youngsters in Prague appeared first on Arseblog News – the Arsenal news site.
Comments
0