FA Youth Academy League, Under 17, Sat Jan 23 1999Arsenal 2 Millwall 0Team: Graham Stack: Steven Santry (Cedric Itonga 15), Rohan Ricketts, Steven Sidwell (Brett Solkhan), Ben Chorley, Greg Oates, Jermaine Pennant, David Noble (Carlin Itonga 70), Jay Bothroyd, Joe Kuffour, Keith Fahey Scorers: Bothroyd, Fahey Whether the fact that this match was on a Saturday morning when the first team weren't playing, or perhaps the chance to check out the youngster who had commanded far too many column inches in the tabloids recently had attracted many amongst the crowd, for the audience for this game was substantially larger than the half dozen people who had watched the only other match I have yet to see at LC Friday before last, I don't know. I suppose i will find out when I next get up there on a Saturday if this crowd was more representative of how many get up there on a weekend. It wasn't huge (and i am not very good at estimating numbers) but perhaps 50 spectators were lined up down one side of the pitch, whilst on the other side, were the various substitutes of the two teams and all the other staff associated with the clubs, including Liam Brady, Don Givens, George Armstrong and Bob Wilson. Most of you probably want to hear news of the kid that according to the tabloid rumours, Dein has invested so much of the club's money in. Firstly let me repeat that I have it on good authority that for a change, none of what has been written in the last few days about Jermaine Pennant has any basis in the truth, for at that age, all the kids are on similar pay structures. Having heard this, I can only assume that if the club were involved in any kind of Dutch auction, where they had to ensure that the offer made was better than had been made by others, it has to be based on the amounts promised to Jermaine when he eventually signs pro forms in two years time. Two years is a very long time in a game where a career can be ended in the crunch of a single challenge, as i was horribly reminded today, when one of our kids was stretchered away in the first half. However I can't imagine Jermaine's pop was so shortsighted as to make such an important decision on his son's future based simply on which club was offering the most lucrative offer. From having heard Graham Barrett's tale of how he had trials with a number of clubs and was invited to visit many others. He said that whilst most of them offered facilities of a comparable standard, he couldn't help but be impressed by our set up and there was definitely something that set it apart and convinced him that he had an easy decision about where to place his future. You'll have to excuse my inability to recognise the kids at this stage and apart from three of the names below, the identities of any others was gleaned by driving mad other bystanders more familiar with the youngsters and by hearing the players call out the first names of their team mates. The goalie last Friday was Stuart Taylor but so weak are my facilities for recalling faces, I am not sure if the same kid was between the sticks today [Graham Stack]. Whoever it was had little to do, but when he was called into action, everything he did was accomplished with the sort of confidence one would expect from a goalkeeper who was under the scrutiny of a coach such as Bob Wilson. He had a few opportunities to prove his alertness despite having so little to do and the possibility of stiffening up in the cold and on each of these occasions he dashed from his goalline to sweep up very confidently, when the slightest error would have proved fatal. I remember at least one if not two (one in each half I think) occasions when he managed to tip over the bar, headed efforts that required him to lunge at full stretch to prevent losing his clean sheet. I am most vague about the back line consisting of a Jeff [Greg Oates?] and a Ben [Ben Chorley] in the centre, with the right back in the first half being a black kid, who I was told is called Rohan [Rohan Ricketts] (although this is not a familiar name of one of the U-17s). In the second half this kid moved into centre midfield. I haven't a clue who the right back was [Steven Santry], I can only tell you he was the victim of the crunching challenge and was replaced by Cedric Itonga, a confident young lad who will have to be careful of restricting his lippiness if he doesn't want to get into trouble. It was amusing to hear him order Jermaine about. They played in a 4-4-2 formation, with a midfield consisting of Keith Fahey another Irish youngster, A.N Other [Steven Sidwell] with bright ginger hair and David Noble. In a first half with no goals, David Noble was about the most impressive youngster on the pitch, a tall lad, who stood out for his impressive strong runs with the ball through the middle of the park. At half time I took the opportunity along with many others to nip back to the cafeteria, where most kindly, you can help yourself to tea and coffee from a very decent quality machine (although I was grateful for an elderly lady who was more familiar with the complicated way in which it operated) and in another nice touch, there were plates of biscuits on each table. On my visit during the week, this cafeteria was populated by some staff who no doubt provide more substantial sustenance for those who have been burning off all their calories (and no the distinctive waft of broccoli was not in evidence!!). It was the partner of this lady who I overheard asking for information from a club employee as we walked to the cafeteria. This old timer was obviously a regular who I wouldn't mind betting was been watching the Arsenal long before I was born, as everybody seemed to know him including Bob Wilson who stopped to chat with him in the cafeteria. I heard him elicit the name of David Noble as we walked along and I was correct in assuming that he too was asking the name of the number 8 who had impressed in the first half. As I reached the cafe with him, we were discussing the immense pressure on Jermaine Pennant, with all the brouhaha resulting from his transfer, This gentleman suggested it might take a year for everyone to forget about him, before he can relax and play to the best of his ability. Jermaine was the fourth member of the midfield playing down the right wing and whilst it was obvious from the few touches that he had on the ball, that he has been intimate with a football from a very early age and it was evident in his easy confidence that he is full of entertaining tricks and skills that are likely to delight us in years to come. You would have never believed from his nonchalant air, that this was the kid all the fuss was being made about, but I am sure that even the thickest of skins couldn't help but be affected to some extent by the focus of such an incredibly intense spotlight. It was nonetheless good to see that the fame hasn't gone to his head to the extent that he is now above tracking back and doing his fair share of donkey work, closing down and harrying when Millwall had the ball Similar to the way in which the Ginola/Spurs and Wimbledon match has been built up out of all proportion, so that the actual game was bound to be a non event, you could tangibly feel the air of anticipation every time Jermaine went anywhere near the ball, but it was likely that he was trying just a little bit too hard to create an immediate impression and we only saw fleeting instances of the proof that he is indeed a tantalising prodigy. The elderly gent said to me that if he turns out to be half as good as Geordie Armstrong, who was standing over in the distance, then we will be lucky. Thankfully the totally random fault of my particularly selective memory still allows me to reminisce on distant memories of this incredibly loyal servant and a particular favourite of mine as a kid (before I became enamoured with Ray Kennedy, when we gave him a lift to his parents hotel, after he had scored the goal on his birthday, that won us the league at WHL on that most memorable of nights in 71 and this particularly impressionable youngster was blown away, as Kennnedy overheard me remarking to my pal that they would never believe us at school the next day and insisted on signing my programme "To Bernard whom I travelled home with after the game," which will forever remain my most treasured piece of memorabilia and the story of which I am sure I will continue to bore you, whenever I get the opportunity :-) ), as Geordie flew down the wings at THOF. The elderly gent agreed with my comment that IMHO, the game is all the poorer for the loss of a tactic that was always so fruitful in days of yore and of which Geordie was the most effective proponent, that of taking the ball down the wing to the bye-line. He commented, when I suggested it seemed to be a dying art that it was for this reason he so likes Ryan Giggs. But to me even Giggs these days appears more prone to the tendency of cutting inside and heading towards goal. Anyone have ideas why wingers seem less prone to heading down the line with the ball, crossing only when they reach the bye-line?? With Pennant on the right-wing but playing mostly in a quite advanced position, the remainder of our strike force consisted of Jay Bothroyd and Joe Kuffour. It seems I was a little hasty to offer an opinion about Jay Bothroyd, especially considering it was from a game played in dreadful conditions. Having heard of his MoM performance at Preston and feeling somewhat guilty about my harsh words, I took this opportunity to take a closer look at Bothroyd. Whilst he is a particularly tall lad for his age, he is not as broad as I suggested and comparing him to a 16 stone Hartson is unfair. He is not overweight but is quite thickset and whilst he might need the occasional kick up the arse, he is not a lazy player in the style of Chris Wreh, but has this sort of lazy style that can easily give one the impression that he is not giving 100 per cent. It was far from true today, as he worked quite tirelessly. In this age group, the anomalies of size can be a massive advantage, so Jay is obviously instructed to make the most of this, as he came back to defend all the corners and set pieces. The lasting memory that I have of his performance is seeing him not only win so many high balls in the middle of the park, but managing to make sufficient contact to allow him to able to direct the knock on to a team mate in space. Anyone who plays the game will know that it is hard to be able to concentrate on winning the ball in the air, whilst having the ability at the same time to sense the best placed person to head it down to and accomplish both tasks at the same time. Jay got his name on the scoresheet again, about ten minutes into the second half. It was after the best bit of football from Jermaine Pennant, as he took the ball down the wing, proving his close control is impressive and ending his run with a perfect cross, picking out a team mate at the back stick. A final ball with the sort of precision that we have been all too unfamiliar with at THOF. Unfortunately Joe Kuffour fluffed his volley, but it fell kindly to Jay, he slotted it home from only five yards out. It might have been a simple finish, but one has to give the lad credit for being in the right place, at the right time and indeed that he coolly ensured that his finish was most importantly on target. One gets the feeling that the competition for the youngsters is so intense that you almost feel that they are at most times trying a little bit too hard to impress. (Although I must be careful making such sweeping statements having only seen two games). Evidence of this fact was manifested in the way that some of them tended to snatch at their chances whenever they had a sniff of goal and far too many sailed the wrong side of the goal posts. As for Joe Kuffour, most every time he had the ball a shout went up from a spectator nearby to where I stood on the halfway line "Go on little Joe." As much as Jay makes the most of the advantage of his height, Joe Kuffour suffers from the fact that at this age, his lack of size and weight ensures he has to work twice as hard. He is a very industrious youngster who really puts himself about and I had to sympathise as he struggled with the opposition centre backs, whose weight advantage made it very hard for him when competing for a ball. Also you could see him struggling as he received the ball with his back to his marker trying to hold them off. It must be hard for those in charge, to avoid picking teams full of the tallest and the strongest, for at this age they are most likely to succeed. However in the knowledge that come adulthood, these things even themselves out somewhat, the schnips in the squad (who are often the most skilful) the opportunity to learn how to make the most of their attributes and gain the abilities that they will need to avoid being muscled off the ball by all the big centre backs they will come across in the future. However since results are often the yardstick by which success is measured, it must be hard to resist the temptation to put out teams that are most likely to succeed. Our second and the goal that sealed the result came about ten minutes after the first. Keith Fahey at 16, is currently the youngest of the Irish contingent at the club. He seemed very tentative at the start of the game, playing on the right side of midfield. However he must have received instructions to get more involved in the second, moving into the centre of the park and perhaps feeling more confident once his slightly more established (I believe) team mate had gone off. He scored the second with a virtual replica of Manu Petit's free kick at Preston, from almost the same position, perhaps slightly nearer the goal. Whilst distance might give the keeper more time to save such a shot, it can also benefit the taker, for the modern balls have that much more chance of being able to complete the arc from the curl put on the shot, where for example it is curled around the edge of a wall and has that extra distance to curl back inside the post. Needless to say it was an impressive effort from a dead ball situation. I think it was the lad with the bright ginger hair who was replaced in the second half by Carlin Itonga, who is apparently the brother (by far the quieter sibling) of Cedric. I would like to have more information on these two, for whilst they are definitely not twins, I wonder how come they are playing in the same age group. Cedric very nearly got himself in trouble with a very officious ref, who wouldn't take any lip. I found it amusing that the ref seemed to feel it necessary to impose his authority on these kids and whilst there weren't too many bookings, there was plenty of tutting on the sidelines at the ref's needless interference with play for petty matters like foul throws that simply stopped the flow of the game. If you ask me there was an element of the sort of feeling from him that he wasn't going to take any threat to his authority from these privileged spoilt brats (ie. he perhaps showed a little jealousy that they have a chance he might have been denied as a youngster) To prove his credentials as an Arsenal player, Pennant got his name taken seconds before the final whistle (in his first ever game in an Arsenal shirt!!) for simply complaining to the linesman and rightly so as far as most of us were concerned for a very late and incorrect offside decision. I can only assume he swore at the man, because he certainly didn't protest too vehemently. Perhaps the refs are justified in cracking down on this sort of thing at such an early age to try and prevent them learning bad habits but if refs are to book every player who swears, we will be lucky to end up with enough players on the pitch for a game!! At such close proximity, it is more obvious just how many close decisions the referees get wrong and it becomes clearer why the players get so frustrated The heads of the Millwall youngsters inevitably dropped after the second goal and the game petered out somewhat. But what I found most enjoyable about watching the youngsters play is their boundless enthusiasm. Brady and his team have installed some great habits in these kids. It is great to hear them constantly talking to each other, from front to back, with the cliche disciplines having been so drummed into them that you constantly hear the shouts of "second ball" "get out" etc. Another great habit that ensures that team spirit is fostered is that the lads ensure that they thank each other every single time a pass is made in their direction, even if it goes astray. If things remain as they are, we are going to struggle to find 1600 quid for our season tickets in June (assuming they don't go up any more!!). I will have to do whatever it takes to ensure we don't lose our prized seats at THOF (even if it means getting out the double barrelled, stripy shirts and swag bags) but if for any reason I was prevented from taking my place in the stands on a regular basis, I would gladly settle for watching the youngsters every week. There is an enthusiasm about them that some tired old pros find it hard to muster occasionally and it is great watching them play with such commitment. I flinched at more than the odd challenge, fearing for the fitness of some of the youngsters, knowing how desperate it must be to find your career wrecked in what some might think was not exactly a vital match, but then you try telling these kids that, flying high as they are at the top of the U-17 Academy League. report by Bernard Azulay
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