Academy V Arsenal Sat 12th 11am

[davieG]

http://arsenalyouth.wordpress.com/2009/09/...taining-affair/

[Wycombe Fox]

http://arsenalyouth.wordpress.com/2009/09/...taining-affair/

They also have a highly-rated goalkeeper in Rob Ambrusics, who many consider good enough for a Premier League club...

[Thracian]

So is the public allowed to watch or what?

[Steven]

http://arsenalyouth.wordpress.com/2009/09/...taining-affair/

Good coverage for an Academy game. Good on him.

[davieG]

From the Arsenal:

Arsenal’s Under 18’s lost their 100% winning record this morning by being crushed 4-2 against a hard working and exciting Leicester City side.

Luke Freeman’s 4th of the season combined with a Cedric Evina effort only proved to be consolations. All the plaudits go to Leicester who look a real side to be reckoned with.

source = http://youngguns.wordpress.com/2009/09/12/...-under-16s-win/

[lou]

From the Arsenal:

Arsenal’s Under 18’s lost their 100% winning record this morning by being crushed 4-2 against a hard working and exciting Leicester City side.

Luke Freeman’s 4th of the season combined with a Cedric Evina effort only proved to be consolations. All the plaudits go to Leicester who look a real side to be reckoned with.

source = http://youngguns.wordpress.com/2009/09/12/...-under-16s-win/

Absolutely brilliant!! Im sooo proud of them! Couldnt go today as out all day.. Ive not felt this proud since we saw them win the cup at the Stadium of Light.

I hope we keep hold of and USE some of these youngsters in the future!

[davieG]

Absolutely brilliant!! Im sooo proud of them! Couldnt go today as out all day.. Ive not felt this proud since we saw them win the cup at the Stadium of Light.

I hope we keep hold of and USE some of these youngsters in the future!

A bit of rare praise as well not only hard working, synonymous with LCFC it would seem no matter how we play and at what level but 'exciting'!

[leicesterisme]

Great result, lets hope a few of these lads make it to the first team!

[lou]

A bit of rare praise as well not only hard working, synonymous with LCFC it would seem no matter how we play and at what level but 'exciting'!

yeah I thought that too! Will look forward to seeing what they put in their report when they do it (arsenal) I thought they were very magnamous in their wording too. "A team to be reckoned with" wooooo the futures bright!

[lildave3]

Cracking result.

Our academy setup is bloody brilliant.

[Ashley]

They also have a highly-rated goalkeeper in Rob Ambrusics, who many consider good enough for a Premier League club...

I've been told that he turned down offers from a few Premiership clubs to join us.

[Ashley]

They also have a highly-rated goalkeeper in Rob Ambrusics, who many consider good enough for a Premier League club...

I've been told that he turned down offers from a few Premiership clubs to join us.

[Ashley]

They also have a highly-rated goalkeeper in Rob Ambrusics, who many consider good enough for a Premier League club...

I've been told that he turned down offers from a few Premiership clubs to join us.

[Thracian]

Leicester Under 18's 4 Arsenal Under 18's 2

City's own Red Adair, giant centre-back Cian Bolger, proved the master troubleshooter with two awesome back post headers which put City on the way to ending Arsenal's 100 per cent record this season at Belvoir Drive.

Although City turned 3-0 up at half-time with Bolger's goals and another by Eliot Chamberlain, Arsenal almost levelled in a stirring second half recovery.

Not only did they recover to 3-2 but they also created one brilliant chance to equalise before tiring City midfielder Craig King intercepted a poor pass out of defence, nutmegged a desperate defender and fed the ball through to Ade Yusseff to top home the simple goal that effectively clinched the game.

With Sunderland, Liverpool and Norwich having already fallen victims to City's relentless attacking this season, Arsenal were well aware of what to expect but they still had no answer to City's flame-haired centre-back Bolger.

First Schlupp set up Liam Moore to guide over the deep cross from which Boulger leapt for his first goal after 18 minutes. Next it was central midfielder Milnes who served as deliveryman with Boulger, once more, the "salmon" on the end for what was his third goal in two games.

Tom Parkes protected City's lead with a goalline clearance after Liam Moore had been caught being indecisive in defence but Moore turned provider just before half-time with a brilliantly volley pass over the Arsenal defence which created far more havoc than ever seemed likely.

Arsenal's goalkeeper appeared to have the ball covered but he had to leave his penalty area to do so and the ball bounced over his head to leave a simple finish into the open goal for the lurking Chamberlain.

With former England and Arsenal captain and centre-back Tony Adams on the sideline, Arsenal rallied with attitude in the second half. Ground passing between the sluggish City backline had threatened in the first half and Arsenal soon used that pathway to their first goal.

They added a second with a brilliant curling shot into the far corner after City full-back George Taft had left his man to turn inside unchallenged.

City by this time had started to look tired, uncertain and collectively a bit bedraggled. But the introduction of Hicks and Norburn for Schlupp and Milnes plus a few choice instructions restored some organisation to City's play and, at last, they started challenging more quickly once again and stopped giving the ball away so cheaply.

Still they survived one particularly good opportunity and two or three half-chances before the relief of King's interception and Yusseff's coolly taken finish to make it 4-2.

The crowd looked to be about 300 - certainly enough to see the caterer run out of food - and all I spoke to agreed it was a wonderful contest.

Arsenal had some clever attackers and their scalp will be one that City will savour taking.

Man of the Match for me was Bolger. Okay he wasn't perfect in defence being a big man against very manoeuverable opponents but the Londoners never looked like coping with him in the air and his goals proved vital.

Yusseff and Chamberlain too did well in attack against tough opponents and Jorrin John remained a threat throughout yet still managed to do his share of vital closing down.

City main ratings:

Ambrusics 6

Moore 6.5

Bolger 8

Parkes 6.5

Taft 6

John 6.5,

Milnes 6

King 6

Sclupp 5,

Yusseff 7

Chamberlain 7.

[Milky]

Watch out for our under 12's. Apparently five or six potential prem players.

[Thracian]

Watch out for our under 12's. Apparently five or six potential prem players.

I wouldn't dream of watching the under 12s. In today's society it's probably an arrestable offence for a bloke of 60 to be seen watching under 12s football.

[Thracian]

I've been told that he turned down offers from a few Premiership clubs to join us.

Ambrusics is a promising goalkeeper but I've seen nothing yet to suggest he's necessarily Premiership material.

Today he made one outstanding save, deflecting a goalbound shot to safety with his outstretched leg.

He also dropped a clanger when hesitating in dealing with a through ball, allowing the forward to get there first and then enjoying the relief of seeing the resulting lob just clear the crossbar and bounce on the top of the net.

More worryingly he didn't seem to dominate his six yard box. Yes, having the likes of Boulger and Parkes at centre-back a goalkeeper might be forgiven for not thinking crosses are any big deal. But there were times when I thought he might have shown his presence and he didn't.

Premiership football is a distant dream for the guy just now. Having been privileged to work a little with Peter Shilton when he was not much short of the same age I can assure you that Ambrusics has a way to go yet.

But he still has time.

[dogadug]

Very promising

[MPH]

to get such a compliment from a team who are renowned for their ability to produce top quality young player after top quality young player really is a confidence booster.

[davieG]

From OS

Leicester City U18s 4 Arsenal U18s 2

Posted on: Sun 13 Sep 2009

Leicester City's Under-18s side overcame Arsenal's Under-18s 4-2 in a pulsating encounter at Belvoir Drive on Saturday morning.

Jon Rudkin's young charges now have four wins out of four, having made a superb start to the season with wins over Sunderland, Liverpool, Norwich and now Arsenal.

Two goals from Cian Bolger and one from Elliot Chamberlain left the Foxes 3-0 ahead at the interval. However, the young Gunners fought back during the second half and Steve Bould's men pulled it back to 3-2 with goals from Luke Freeman and Cedric Evina.

With less than twenty minutes remaining and nerves rising, Adi Yussef produced the goods to seal a well-earned 4-2 victory for City.

Academy Manager, Jon Rudkin, said: "This was a really pleasing result for us. The game was very exciting, with some outstanding interchanges of play demonstrated by both teams. I'm delighted for the lads and look forward to the next game away at Charlton Athletic on Saturday."

City team: Ambrusics, Moore, Taft, Milnes, Bolger, Parkes, John, King, Chamberlain, Yussef, Schlupp.

Arsenal team: McDermott, Byles, Brislen-Hall, Meade, Obed, Boateng, Ozyakup, Aneke, Afobe, Freeman, Evina.

[Bryn]

We evidently have one of the country's finest academies, it's a wonder that our club isn't synonymous with young talent in a similar way to Crystal Palace or Crewe.

[Fez of Mahrez]

We evidently have one of the country's finest academies, it's a wonder that our club isn't synonymous with young talent in a similar way to Crystal Palace or Crewe.

This may happen in the future but at present we haven't produced enough players at a decent level. Where the individuals from the current Academy side end up will be a big test because there seems to be a huge team spirit and work ethic in our Academy side which could result in the Under-18 side being more than the sum of its parts. When they move on, they struggle to replicate the individual successes they all achieved in our Academy. This has happened for a while, thinking of previous Academy stars like Louis Dodds.

I did a bit on Vital Football recently about where our Academy Premier League-winning side are now: http://leicester.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=169381

As for the current side, they really are a fantastic team to watch. It's exciting any time they get a corner because you know you're going to see Bolger and Parkes absolutely storming into the six-yard box to get on the end of it. Arsenal couldn't cope with that in the slightest. Jorrin John looks like a player who is trying desperately to ally work ethic with individual skill and even seeing the struggles suffered by Odhiambo, McKay, Dodds, Chambers and Kee, I would be surprised if Adi Yusseff doesn't achieve something for our first team. They really are a talented side and to see a City team beat Arsenal gives me great pride, even at Academy level. There were quite a few Arsenal fans there on Saturday and they acknowledged our team's talent even though the goals weren't really the product of any great individual skill or team play for the most part.

[davieG]

This may happen in the future but at present we haven't produced enough players at a decent level. Where the individuals from the current Academy side end up will be a big test because there seems to be a huge team spirit and work ethic in our Academy side which could result in the Under-18 side being more than the sum of its parts. When they move on, they struggle to replicate the individual successes they all achieved in our Academy. This has happened for a while, thinking of previous Academy stars like Louis Dodds.

I did a bit on Vital Football recently about where our Academy Premier League-winning side are now: http://leicester.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=169381

As for the current side, they really are a fantastic team to watch. It's exciting any time they get a corner because you know you're going to see Bolger and Parkes absolutely storming into the six-yard box to get on the end of it. Arsenal couldn't cope with that in the slightest. Jorrin John looks like a player who is trying desperately to ally work ethic with individual skill and even seeing the struggles suffered by Odhiambo, McKay, Dodds, Chambers and Kee, I would be surprised if Adi Yusseff doesn't achieve something for our first team. They really are a talented side and to see a City team beat Arsenal gives me great pride, even at Academy level. There were quite a few Arsenal fans there on Saturday and they acknowledged our team's talent even though the goals weren't really the product of any great individual skill or team play for the most part.

It would be good to see articles like that reaching a wider Leicester audience, have you tried getting the Merc to publish them along side your match reports.

[The Birch]

Sounds promising, hopefully a few will make it through to the first team eventually.

[Thracian]

When they move on, they struggle to replicate the individual successes they all achieved in our Academy. This has happened for a while, thinking of previous Academy stars like Louis Dodds.

It was all rather strange with Dodds.

Unlike say Porter, Wesolowski, Logan, Stearman, O'Grady and, later, Kingy, Dodds just never got a chance. He so nearly got a game at Hereford, and, in Kelly days, was set to be in the squad against Norwich away I seem to recall.

But it didn't happen and I'd love to hear an honest explanation as to why.

Kelly verbally rated him and famously described him as the most natural striker at the club. I also believe he felt guilty about never giving him a chance.

Cos this was the time when we preferred any old striker to a Kirby Muxloe lad who scored goals for fun at Academy and reserves level.

People like Horsfield and Cadamarteri, for instance. You really have to wonder why especially judging by the way Horsfield played. Yes, I know he was to be taken ill and I deeply sympathise about that. But he still kept getting picked for our side and not for any footballing reasons that I ever saw.

Since moving on Dodds has been a virtual ever present at places like Lincoln and Port Vale, finishing the recent seasons as top scorer or second top - and that's while often playing as an attacking midfielder. He seems to be highly rated at Vale from accounts that I've heard.

However the truth of what you say about Academy scholars finding it hard when they move away was perhaps hinted at by Billy Kee when he said he was enjoying his football at Accrington " but it's not the same as being here".