Arsenal reserve matchAvon Insurance Combination, 28th November 1996Arsenal 3 (Read 2, Clarke) West Ham 0Arsenal: Bartram, McGowan, Clarke(Taylor 85), Rose, Marshall, Gislason, Selley, Hughes, Read (Rankin 84), Kiwomya, Shaw (Black 84)West Ham: can't be bothered to type in but no first team regulars though their keeper Roberto Mancinelli was rather good til our third goal. Reasonable perfomance really. Clown Vince had very little to do but still made some howlers in particular in backpass and clearances. We dictated the game scoring at the end of the first half after about 5-6 chances. Second half they pushed forward creating space allowing us a lot of forward runs resulting in a Clarke header earlier on and then a Read one on one near the end which he finished badly but the keeper conspired to miss it. We looked best on the wings with McGowan having a great game (INMO) and Clarke ghosting past their defence on a regular basis. Both this wing backs (we are still playing 532) have a lot of pace and really scared the hammers defence. In the middle we lacked bite (bit like the first team!) and Shaw had a poor game, though he did do a few moves that were a bit special. Was chatting to a Peterborough fan on Saturday who reckons he is a great player (had him on loan), and I still think he has some talent. Selley did not look completely match fit, and Hughes was a bit inconsequential except for a ridicolous attempt to lob their keeper ... from inside our half! We laughed as he tried it, but it dipped so much that it almost went in! Our best option through the middle was ... ...Matthew Rose. This man is class. He kept taking the ball out of defence looking for someone to pass to, and then when noone appeared just ran all the way into their half creating many chances and almost scoring himself - also defended pretty well too! The other centrebacks, Valur Gislason and Scott Marshall looked pretty composed although they didn't have a lot to do. The strikers Read and Kiwomya ran a lot and dropped deep to help others, but their finishing was pretty poor. None of the subs was on long enough for me to judge, but they all tried when they came on and we were unlucky not to get four.
As for whether they can step up to the big time:
These are all just my opinions and there is a BIG gap in standard between the premiership and this, but I think we should try out at least some of them - perhaps in matches we are winning by a comfortable margin (e.g Leeds). With 5 on the bench we can afford to take a risk - I would put McGowan and Rose on it now - they are both better that Morrow (IMHO). However where we need to invest is MIDFIELD. We really need a Schwarz/Ince type character and there is noone in the squad that fits the bill - it is a waste of Vieira and Platt is not up to it. report by Peter Swingewood copyright belongs to original author where credited. otherwise © Rupert Ward, ArseWeb MMV ArseWeb is NOT the official Arsenal site. The (excellent) official site is here |