At the weekend, the Arsenal u23s slipped to their first defeat since the opening day of the season, with Liverpool comfortable 3-0 victors at Anfield. Whilst the result shouldn’t be cause for any real concern, it does provide a bit of a reality check, and a reminder that the players still have room to grow in youth football.
The Arsenal u23s have been in strong form over the last couple of months, with new head coach Kevin Betsy leading them on an unbeaten run of eight games.
Betsy’s side thrashed London rivals Chelsea and beat Spurs away from home, they managed a 3-1 win over a Manchester United side containing Phil Jones and Dean Henderson, and they returned home from league leaders Manchester City with a well-earned point.
Betsy also led the u21s (the same team in all but name) to a dramatic victory over Newport County’s senior side over the international break.
Somewhat inevitably, this has led to quite a lot of hype for some of the individuals within the side. It’s not possible for Arsenal fans to watch a youth team performing well without many complaining that one player or another isn’t playing for the first team, or out on loan.
The side that faced Liverpool’s u23s at the weekend had plenty of players that are often touted for first-team call-ups. Folarin Balogun, Charlie Patino, Omar Rekik, Omari Hutchinson, and Joel Lopez have all had supporters calling for first-team chances at one point or another. Even Salah-Eddine Oulad M’hand, more recently.
But a strong side in great form full of talented players came away from Anfield with their first scoreless performance of the season, and they conceded three disappointing goals to a struggling Liverpool u23 team.
Balogun and Patino are two of Arsenal’s biggest youth talents, and the two with the most valid claims to senior opportunities in the near future. Yet Balogun struggled to get involved in the chances at all, whilst Patino was directly at fault for Liverpool’s third goal and had a role in their second.
Balogun was recently nominated for the Premier League 2 Player of the Month award, and he’s scored six goals in five games for the u23s this season. I do believe he could be playing weekly for a lower-league club on loan, or coming off the bench for Mikel Arteta. He’s definitely the closest.
I just don’t fully subscribe to the notion that he’s outgrown youth football, and I hold that same view even more strongly for any of the others. For me, they’re all still missing the consistency to perform to the same level on a weekly basis.
They can work on that whether they’re playing for Doncaster Rovers or the Arsenal u23s, because it’s more about what they bring to a game than the challenges their opponents present.
The talk around Patino has only grown with Jack Wilshere’s return to the club as a temporary youth coach, due to the similarities in their game and their position. And just to be clear, Patino has earned every bit of praise he’s been given. It’s clear he has a bright future.
Still, Wilshere is as well placed as anyone to remind us that playing 50 senior games a season as a teenager doesn’t necessarily guarantee a long career at the top. It’s not a bad thing to take your time, nor to make your mistakes and learn from them in lower-profile fixtures. Let Patino at least complete one year in the u23s before rushing him on.
The u23s look set to have a good season, certainly much better than the last. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if some of the top performers earned loan spells in January, and I would encourage Arteta to give them chances when he can. We just don’t need the melodrama every time a young player has a good game.