Borehamwood vs Arsenal
Borehamwood, Friday 13th July 2001
Friendly
Arsenal's visit to Borehamwood has become a regular feature of the pre-season schedule.
Borehamwood are a non-league side based close to Arsenal's training ground in Hertfordshire,
hence it is a convenient place to start the summer.
Additionally, Arsenal reserves have used Borehmawood as their home venue for a few seasons.
My initial newsreel report contained
some errors carried through from a Sporting Life report (which was the
only source of info at the time). Many thanks to the following
ArseWeb readers for sending their reports which provide a lot of interesting
stuff as well as correcting my errors.
The team was as follows (all subs coming on at half-time):
1 Stuart Taylor (Graham Stack)
2 Lee Dixon (Moritz Volz)
3 David Grondin
4 Steven Sidwell
5 Gilles Grimandi
6 Tony Adams (Liam Chilvers)
7 Graham Barrett
8 Gio van Bronckhorst (Rohan Ricketts)
9 Francis Jeffers (Jo Osei-Kuffour)
10 Dennis Bergkamp (Jeremie Aladiere)
11 Edu (Greg Oates)
Note that, Lee Francis Tone and Dennis apart, players were not necessarily
wearing squad numbers. So we still don't know what number Gio will wear.
Paul Burland writes...
David Grondin at Left Back (in the shop window no doubt)
Edu in left midfield was excellent, and to correct your report it was Edu
making a run in field who chipped a ball over the top for Bergkamp to run on
to and score. Jeffers looked very lively and direct.
Oh also got to meet and talk to Edu after the game, a really really friendly
guy (sentiments echoed by other correspondents).
Paul followed up with this full report...
Boreham Wood vs Arsenal
Friday 13th July 2001
It was a chilly damp typically English summer evening. The ground was packed full of eager fans hoping to catch a glimpse of
the new signings. All of us eager to get this exciting season underway. Boreham Wood is now the traditional Pre-Season
opener and after a 6-1 win and a 1-1 draw the previous 2 years I was curious to see how we'd fare this time around.
It was a fairly interesting line-up. Exciting to see some of our newer team members. Also interesting to note that Andy Goram
lined up in the Boreham Wood goal!
Arsenal started brightly, dominating play as expected. Barrett was wide right and Edu on the left. It was great to see our first
scoring chance come from a header, just wide by Jeffers. Jeffers looked very eager to impress and he made an impact after 8
minutes after good work by Edu and finally Van Brockhorst. Jeffers looked to have lost the chance but managed to bundle the
ball into the net! 1-0. It was great to see Arsenal score a scrappy goal, it's these goals we've missed.
Adams made one of his runs early and Edu was linking well with Bergkamp. Edu was renound for being an intelligent player at
Corinthians and he demonstrated some of that tonight. Edu was challenging well too, and his movement was allowing young
Grondin opportunity to move forward down the left. Edu used a back heel to good affect to create a chance for Van
Brockhorst on the edge of the box but his shot was over the bar.
About 30 minutes in Grimandi made a slip at the back allowing Boreham Wood to test young Taylor but he saved well. Barrett
was working very hard down the right, I could compare him to Freddy for his work ethic and talent. Arsenal were playing
good simple football. Van Brockhorst crossed but Jeffers shot was well saved, Adams and Edu both had efforts too.
Approaching h/t Grondin was caught out on the left and the resulting chance saw Taylor fumble but the rebound was struck
over the bar.
Edu was moving in field a lot and rotating with Van Brockhorst and Bergkamp to good affect. It was Edu's good ball over the
top that fell perfectly into Bergkamp’s path for him to coolly slot home. 2-0. Arsenal were cruising at 2-0 when the h/t whistle
blew.
Half time saw Arsene decide to test out all his young subs with one sweeping change. No doubt a chance for our young lads
to test themselves.
Stack for Taylor
Volz for Dixon
Chilvers for Adams
Oates for Edu (Grondin moved to left midfield)
Ricketts for Van Brockhorst
Osei-Kuffour for Jeffers
Aliadiere for Bergkamp
Arsenal continued to play good football but a succession of good runs and weak shots didn't test Boreham Wood's sub
goalie. Barrett and Volz were causing a lot of problems on the right. Both had very good chances, Volz hit the bar and Barrett
shot over a few times. Aliadiere showed a lot of talent and was unlucky with an audacious scissor kick attempt. Kuffour seems
to follow the Kanu school of play with a few neat tricks, he's only a small lad though and looked out of his depth at times.
The game rolled on to the final whistle and Arsenal had won 2-0. With that I made my way down to talk to Edu who had made
his way back to the bench. He's a really friendly guy and I'm sure he'll make an impact this year on and off the field.
In addition I'd like to give my opinion on the young hopefuls on display since we don't get too many chances to see these
young lads in action:
- Taylor
- Looks the part, could feature as a backup in the future but will he want to play 2nd fiddle?
- Stack
- An exciting live wire goalie, short but athletic and a great passer! Will he be able to take that into the first team? Only
18 and one to watch.
- Grondin
- No doubt playing in the shop window. Will do well in a lower league team.
(Rupe adds - Grondin is likely to be loaned to Beveren for the season)
- Chilvers
- He's a composed player but we have quite a few young centre backs, another candidate for transfer.
- Oakes
- Looked lively down the left but yet again most likely to move to a lower club.
- Volz
- Was great for the first 20 minutes of the 2nd half. No doubt a talented young man. Two footed and composed, very
German. I expect he'll play in the Worthington this year.
- Barrett
- Captain of the youth team 2 years ago and still only 19. He's an old head on young shoulders. Looked very
composed and very hard working. Has a nice touch. I'd expect to see him making the bench at least a few times this year and
with luck may feature in a few games.
- Sidwell
- He's your perfect work horse midfielder. Similar style to Parlour. Needs a few lucky breaks to make the first team any
time soon but Wenger does reward hard work.
- Ricketts
- He's been saying he should make the first team and he played like a player who was trying too hard to impress.
Was caught a few times over playing the ball. No doubt he has talent but does he have the mental fabric?
- Osei-Kuffour
- Has scored goals in the Reserves and youth teams. Will need sometime on loan to improve against bigger
players. Since he doesn't have size I struggle to see him making the first team.
- Aliadiere
- This lad is only 18 but looks to be a wonderful talent. He has a great touch and an eye for goal. Hit a few wicked
shots. Wenger seems to view him as an Anelka style player. I feel he may see at least a Worthington Cup chance this year
and a run in the reserves.
emember too that some of our best prospects were not playing tonight Pennant, Noble & Halls. I do believe that Arsenal can
now begin to reap the rewards of the youth system.
Also worth a mention are Edu and Jeffers. It's safe to say we've seen very little of Edu so far he's a player who has a great
amount of ability combined with a good attitude, I expect him to begin to play an important role this year. Jeffers looked much
as I imagined. He showed a good turn of pace, an eye for goal, tenacity and a desire to win. If he stays clear of injury we'll see
him making and immediate impact.
Add to the mix Campbell and Wright and you see why we're all in eager anticipation this year. The Pre-Season is now under
way... Next stop Rushden & Diamonds... Come On Arsenal!
Marcos Nathanao writes...
Actually it was Edu that played a perfect pass to Bergkamp for the second goal.
He played brilliantly for the first half (before all first teamers
including himself were substituted). He has excellent vision and a good work ethic,
willing to keep stuck in with challenges and jump for the ball.
Jeffers made a nuisance of himself. Bergkamp and Edu seemed to link up well,
they both have a good mind for the game.
Anyway here's the
starting lineup:
Taylor in goal, Grondin (back from the blue!!!) at left back, Dixon right back,
Grimandi and Adams in the middle. Edu left midfield with Gio
and Sidwell in the middle and Barrett on the right. Bergkamp and Jeffers up front.
Good to see Barrett back in there. He played the full 90 minutes, and very well.
Edu switched to more of a free role later in the half, along
with Bergkamp and Gio slipping back.
Grondin played well first half but it was clear that Edu was making space for
him because second half he disappeared a little. Volz played well at right back
and the defence was rarely troubled. Our young strikers need to learn how to hit
the ball hard, they seemed to want to pass the ball into the net.
One last little note before I fall asleep, Rohan Rikkets (sp??) played 2nd half.
The guy is selfish with the ball and seemed annoyed at his
team-mates half the time. I thought he'd gone and now I really don't care!
(Rupe adds: Ricketts has turned down a pro contract at Arsenal, see
here, but is still at Arsenal for now. Not too
happy to be so, by the sound of it).
Thanks also to Dave Archer, Peter Staniforth, Paul Jenkins, Danny Fahey and Ken Sterne.
Other reports
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