Friday, March 29, 2024

Should Arsene Wenger have more faith in academy players?

The more I think about youth players coming through at Arsenal, the more I feel we are very rash with our management of them in most cases. I am going to be looking at both previous and current players Arsenal have thrown into the deep end at a very young age to see whether it was down to faith or desperation.

I am going to start with Craig Eastmond. I’m aware that he is no longer at the club but when Eastmond was in and around the first team back in 2009 I remember watching him in the League Cup  and thought he was a good prospect. He was clearly talented but to start him away from home against Bolton in the league to battle with brutes such as Kevin Davies was the wrong move in my opinion. There’s nothing wrong with starting young players in big games, but they need some form of regular playing time so that it isn’t a shock to their system. Eastmond had a few cup appearances to his name and was then thrown into a game far above his physical level. For me this was the wrong move and Eastmond not featuring again apart from an FA Cup defeat to Stoke where he struggled suggests it was more out of desperation/injuries than being talented.

Next is Francis Coquelin, who like Eastmond is no longer with us but only temporarily. Coquelin was a decent player in our youth team, showing good energy & defensive attributes which lead Wenger to give him his debut in the FA Cup loss mentioned above in his secondary position (right back). Seeing as Stoke away has always given us nightmares & they were full strength, its no surprise that Coquelin looked far out of his depth. The most important thing other than a run of games for a player is to play in their best position. Coquelin was a defensive midfielder being played at right back against the likes of Ricardo Fuller at 19 or so years old. Coquelin didn’t feature in any games again that season and it wasn’t until 2 seasons later that he was given another chance, against Man United in a narrow 8-2 defeat.. After that it was Tottenham away. These aren’t the kind of games you give to young players unless you are desperate, which we were due to Song’s suspension & Wilshere/Diaby being injured.

Moving on we have Nico Yennaris. A talented defender/defensive midfielder who like the others had a few cup appearances to his name but once again was thrown into a game far, far beyond his level. Yennaris replaced Djourou at right back, against Man United. Djourou was absolutely roasted by Nani so I’m not sure what made Wenger think giving Yennaris his debut would do the defence or Yennaris any good, especially as we were trailing. Yennaris performed well, standing up to Nani remarkably for someone so raw & he even put some decent crosses in. However, it just proved to be another situation where we were desperate and had no other alternative because Yennaris didn’t play again that season and was sold this week to Brentford. In fairness it must be said that our luck with injuries was horrendous at that time, having both right backs injured can’t be predicted but surely stick with Djourou rather than throw in a kid.

You could say that I am being very harsh on both the players & Wenger, but young players need consistent games. Any youth player that was talented enough Wenger stuck with such as Fabregas, Ramsey, Wilshere, Gibbs & many more. He stuck with them because he believed in them despite bad games & mistakes but was constantly proven right. Throwing Coquelin, Eastmond & Yennaris into games far above their level when we had no alternatives isn’t showing faith in them. Recently, he’s shown faith in Gnabry, whose introduction has helped the team win several games this season.

The list goes on and includes players such as Oxlade-Chamberlain who was brought on for his debut in the 8-2 defeat to United with no prior Premier League experience & Serge Gnabry who was given starts against the likes of Stoke & Swansea this season due to injuries. However it must be said that Gnabry was brilliant in both games in attack and defend. Again, I would like to emphasise that I am not questioning the quality of the players or Wenger’s ability to manage youth players. I am trying to show that a lot have been thrown in at the deep end and could have done with loans before such as Wilshere, some fans consider even Jenkinson still not ready because in 2 years he has only really started due to rotation or injury.

The major point as well is that a lot of these debuts were possibly down to not having enough squad depth or not managing other players well enough to the point that they got injured. I am all for youth introduction and integration but for the sake of the team and the player, its better for both if the team are winning (Zelalem vs Coventry) or if the player has loan experience (Wilshere).
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Photo by Ras Dam

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