Thetownend.com

Don’t mind admitting that I’ll be watching this. I’m interested to see what we do when the opposition dominate possession.

We’ll be going. As an exiled Gooner, though as you should all know by now I support Swindon and follow Arsenal, it is always good to see how the upper echelons play in the flesh and the stars of tomorrow in action.

I will be watching it too, the daughter is an Arsenal supporter (Swindon her 2nd team).

Last season the Arse did quite well in this competition, they beat Ipswich 2-1, beat Gills on penalties, beat Crawley 2-1 and lost 3-0 to Wimbledon.

In the Ipswich game they had just 48% possession, at Crawley just 51% possession but in the Gills game they had a whopping 68% possession and agains Dons they had 70% (but still lost 3-0).

Their passing ratio was well over 80% in each game too and in every game they had less shots than their opposition, often half the amount.

There is no doubt they will play a possession based passing game, something nobody has really played against us so far this term, be interesting how many changes we will make as I expect Ward, Gilbert, Mitchell-Lawson, East and Parsons with cameos for Dabre and Angiuar.

At the moment, with their present form, we would probably be better playing an Arsenal 1st XI rather than the U23's.

I will not be spending money on this fixture

neither will i.

I may watch it in the background though

I won't be paying for this fixture either.

But I already have a season pass...

I bet the sneaky fuckers add that into their viewing figures regardless of whether or not I actually watch it.

And I ain't got no season pass
All I got's a moped ...

I'm not getting the connection

I've got a mop head for sale if that's any help.??

Refers to a song principally for my own amusement. Probably not your bag.

It helps to understand what you're quoting 😀

Ah, Funky Moped by Jasper Carrot. The A side to the Magic Roundabout which was the B side though the be side is what gained its success.

I was a mop head once but it all fell out. I moped about it for a while.

Fucking brilliant, saw him live in Bath, missus was eight months pregnant, both laughed so much thought she was about to drop !!.

I got it.  Im down with the youth

*The song is about 20 years old now.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGRxmYXi4Io

Aah,Jasper Carrott "I bought a golden goal ticket at Birmingham City,opened it up and it said October"

On me jols - Got plans.

May watch it later - if/when it rains.

Can't they just bring back the wassit combination reserve league thing instead of pretending that this shite is important? Used to like wandering into reserve games whilst skiving off college on a wednesday afternoon.

Either make it a wholly youth competition or incentivize by offering a place in the Europa Conference League for the winner.

Always wondered what the stewarding is like at FC Ararat Yerevan.

I will be watching as its covered in the season ticket iFollow cost, if I had to pay then I wouldn't.

Its a first team fixture that TBH probably shouldn't take place at all but I won't boycott it now as I want to support the club with its new start.

That and I want to see what the fringe players play like against a well organised team like Arsenal U21's.

BTW I changed the title to reflect its U21s this season and not U23s. Probably devaluing the competition even more by playing younger players in the eyes of many fans.

I fully expect Garner to change as many starters as he is allowed to by the rules (which I have no idea is now) but it gives the fringe players a chance to impress and push for a starting slot on Saturday with the probably continued absense of Grant due to isolation rules etc.

Another free "preseason/development" match so more time in the legs for several players. A chance for the more fringey ones to stake a claim.

It will be very much played like a Prem Development League match I would imagine.

... and k.o. at 7:00 pm.

I'm pretty ambivalent to this competition, it doesn't particularly offend me but in previous seasons I have completely ignored it, I just had no interest in it.

I think it speaks to just how much I've regained my STFC mojo that I'm really keen to see who plays tonight, where they play and how they play. I will therefore be watching. Last season I couldn't be fucked to even watch league games after Shrewsbury away (Sherydactyl's first game)...and Ipswich on Sky...

This for me too.

We'll have fun JJ  ;)

At least the Bus Station residents don't have to worry this evening!

I hated this competition in the past, but now I just want us to put a good side out and keep up the momentum.
It has been a fantastic start to the season, much more than we imagined.

I will be the one wearing a Swindon Shirt, keep an eye out for me ;)

:)

Ward, Odimayo, Iandolo (C), Crichlow, Mitchell-Lawson, Gilbert, Hunt, East, Aguiar, Parsons, Dabre.

SUBS | Wollacott, Conroy, Simpson, Payne, Gordon, Cowmeadow, Francis.

Like it. Good chance to some of the other squad players.

Apologies, yes - I won't be passing through your 'hood this evening.

Should be a 3-0 home win

What makes you think it's my hood?

Arsenal weakened tonight with England U21 call ups for their 3 best players Balogun, Smith-Rowe, and John-Jules apparently.

What sort of crowd is expected 1800-2500 maybe

Nice to hear my old mate Spud Herring on co comms.

I would guess far nearer 1,000 than 2,000.

It's a hard one to predict as for many youngsters it's a chance to see some stars in the making and it's a glorious early Autumn evening.

Tonights result is pretty meaningless really as long as we play well and the fringe players get some good game time, that said wins always breed confidence.

exactly

Looking at the betting today, we have gone from 5/2 to Evens.
Arsenal 10/11 to 5/2

Very strange with the side we are putting out.

Maybe the bookies have been reading the TEF comments where one pundit stated we should win 3-0

Your enduring interest in my travels in and around the area

Arsenals oldest starting player is just 19 tonight.

Way off the mark and you assume too much

Arsenals keeper looks a bit hopeless so far.

Town have started really brightly.

JML playing a central striker role with Gilbert in the number 10 position so far coming back and winning the ball.

Their shirt numbers are in inverse proportion to their age.

I cant remember the rules can you have a draw or do we go to penalties if all square at full time.

Arsenals first shot hits the post.

Some of the highest numbers I have seen on a pitch TBH.

1-0 Dabre.

Their keeper sounds dodgy as they come. Goal for Dabre.

Weak goal from 3 yards fumble by the keeper.

Kovaresque

Mo money, mo goals..

Apologies, I'll get my coat..

soapy tit wank Arsenal defending like the seniors.

Not just sounds, he is, could be worse than Kovar...maybe.

The Arsenal kovar :)

(I'm 3 minutes behind you lot)

Liking the early signs of Aguiar sp:

He looks pretty handy, better and more mobile than Gladwin so far.

Dabre's a livewire. :car:

This is actually quite enjoyable.

Hes very small, tricky and has a low centre of gravity playing wide right. A raw talent that needs a bit of polishing but is showing lots of promise.

I hope Parsons gets a goal, will do him no harm at all..

With their keeper I'd be shooting on sight...

Shame Simpson isnt playing I think he would do well against these centre backs.

Gilbert looks really classy too.

Not a fan of him taking corners though

Definately not.

We are playing a very high press game and its really entertaining to watch.

God their keeper is shocking.

Crichlow is rapid for a defender

Blimey the keeper saves a shot and nearly throws it into his own goal!

Last season we had defenders who looked like they were running through treacle...

He hasn't held a ball yet has he?

Haha, their keeper looks worse than keepers I played with at grass roots

Get Simpson on after 60 minutes. Should bag a goal or 2 to boost the confidence

He's here, he's there, he's every-Dabre-where!  :beers:

Dabre plays like he is playing in the park with his mates..  he's very energetic and excitable..

1-1. Good finish. No pressure on attacker though.

Good strike by the Arsenal winger, keeper slow to get down

1-1 not great keeping by Ward beaten at the near post.

Why haven't I heard the 1969 song yet?

Messi, Maradonna…

hmmm, good finish. but could Ward have done better. wrong angle to see

Iandolo looks pretty decent in their half, awful at times at the back though, given the ball away a few times already when defending.

I can't see him bringing him on unless he really has to..  he picks up a stupid injury and we have got a problem

If only! He is certainly small and chunky with a bit of skill and pace though.

I was trying to count how many times Ian Herring said "definitely" but gave up when he hit double figures.

Iandolo sells his pass short yet again.

He has looked atrocious in defence - 5+ yards off his man who scored and never closed down to stop the shot.  Several times has been sat in a left back spot but not been anywhere near a player to mark them.  I think he has really suffered from never having a set position - being flexible is one thing, but he hasn't managed to master any position as a result.  Having a cracker of a left boot can only get you so far.

2 decent takes by Ward there.

Aguiar showing a very nice touch or two.

All the youngsters that have came in today have done quite well TBH.

It's great having a few for the future again.

Swindon playing too slow. Arsenal much better on the ball but look dodgey when pressed in possession.

Who is the Arsenal manager, is it an ex player?  There is a really tall black dude in their dugout, looks like a basketball player, I assuming that is the manager - built like Carlton Palmer..
..

Dabre star of the 1st half. Very busy, very hardworking, popping up everywhere. Some lovely touches from Parsons. Gilbert looks good. Aguar very decent. Not bad from East as well.

Impressed with the new lads.

Arsenal keeper looks dreadful. Their big CF looks handy.

Aguiar looks handy

I'm still not convinced by Dabre, which will not be a popular opinion. certainly works incredibly hard though

Bit too tippy tappy at times.

Not too bad for a silly cup game.

Their keeper is a fan, surely?

Middle two for us look OK on the ball but a bit light weight.

Parsons has something about him but he lacks a bit of cockiness I think.  Gilbert is the improved version, he looks a talent, looking forward to seeing him bed in over the next couple of weeks.

Dabre is weird - it's like a kid playing 5-a-side.  I think he'd beat the same player five times if he could.  Needs a lot of work to get him ready for first team football though - at least the technique is there.

Iandolo has gradually got worse as the half wore on.

Back two are OK, not given up much but I'd love for them to get a bit rougher.  The Arsenal forward is quite neat and tidy, so you'd want one of these two to use their physical presence and ruffle him up a bit.

Taylor Hart looks handy for them

We had 52% os the possession in the first half!

Just answered my own question - manager is Steve Bould, so not the basketball player that I was looking at..

Absolutely, THE stand out player in their side, big build and strong and fast too.

Just looked at their squad - 36 players in their under 21 squad - blimey

Manager is Kevin Betsy and I think he is the fella you were looking at.

Poor effort from Gilbert from distance, should have done far better at hit the target.

Strikers hit from Crichlow, their GK turns up and makes the save

Kevin Betsy was a little fella, used to play for Charlton right?  Soccerbase says that Steve Bould is the manager

Poor miss from JML after a great run.

Everything but the goal.

Good block by Ward.

JML should have scored there again.

Yeah, a striker he ain't

I was just going to say, I like him, a lot, but hes no striker.

According to google, Steve Bould has been sacked after 33 years with the club.

Yep, he looks decent for sure, but he is not a finisher

A shame to see Garner risking senior plays for this competition.

Nah Betsy was a bit of lanky winger type. Think you're thinking of Kevin Lisbie.

Simpson, Payne and Conroy on for JML, Crithlow and Gilbert.

You are right, I am..  good memory

why risk 3 first team players

I think it shows Garner wants to win the game no matter what competition it is.

I think it is more about getting more minutes into them, and Arsenal do not look likely to commit a lot of nasty fouls.  Another pre-season game for them.

We were worrying that the team never had a pre-season. Don't see why he shouldn't take this opportunity to give everyone some minutes.

Also took off three players who will feature in the first team squad.

2-1 Conroy. Or Dabre!

I think it was an own goal off of a Conroy header

They all count...

Absolutely

Will have to look closely, Conroy headed it almost in but it was deflected a bit but Dabre turned away like he got the last touch, probably just exuberance by him.

2452 is decent.

2452

Sent from my SM-A125F

Att: 2,452

👍👍

keep this up and in 3 or 4 years time they'll be back to JPT level crowds

Not to shabby, about the same as FGR for a L2 game.

Gone down as a Taylor-Hart own goal

Bigger crowd than big spenders Salford get in the league

He has been quite impressive so deserves a goal.

Agreed :D

I like the look of the left back Lopez.

If he wants to add a few more in the same net, we won't complain...

GK saves from Simpson with his bollocks - brave lad

"Matej Kovar has been called up to the full Czech squad."

fml  :eek:

Expect the Czech national team to struggle for a bit if that is the calibre of player that they have coming through

Fuck me this Arsenal keeper needs to treat himself to some new gloves

Simpson looking very good here.

Lisa Left Back Lopez?

Sent from my SM-A125F

yup, at this level he's been brilliant . strong and decisive.

if he can adjust to League 2 a bit more he's going to be a real handful (not that he's been rubbish)

Doncaster 6-0 down at home ...

Sent from my XQ-AD51

The clock must be ticking for Wellens

Decent performance and some very promising games from some of the fringe players. Shame about the result.

I assume this is similar to when Joe Lewis ended up in the England squad.
They needed three keepers who could join the squad without any travel restrictions?
Probably a call up of convenience.

Maybe...

I know in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter. But 6-0... He's going to be living on borrowed time very soon.

Why?

Good win and keeps the momentum going. Harry Parsons could do with going out on loan at a non league team. Shows glimpses of good play but struggled against Arsenal under 18s.

Dabre looked good but by no means the finished article. Again if he isn’t near the first team plans then I would ship him out on loan for experience.

decent run out from the fringe players.
no injuries
not a bad evening

Decent friendly.

Some of the youngsters/fringe players look to have something to work with.

Dabre is very rough - great trickery and balance, not sure he has much idea where he is going.

Simpson showed we could employ a variation on Plan A - he looked very dangerous running into the channels.  If we can play those balls from time to time it will stretch defences and give us more space.

Gilbert looks like he will become a handful.

Overall, good run out, more minutes in the legs.

Agular impressed most for me tonight out of the youngsters - he looks closest to the first team out of the bunch.  Probably shaded MOTM for me out of those that played the 90

Crazy to think we have a real good bunch of youngsters there that we can seemingly work with

One more win and we go into the next phase. Remind me who we have?

I know its only the boycott, but....we actually won a cup game :eek:

That was quite an entertaining watch, glad I watched it.

Aguiar the stand out performer, East did well as did Gilbert and Dabre, JML is a good player but struggles in front of goal.

Over all very impressed witht he youngsters, Ward could have done a bit better with the goal otherwise pretty faultless IMO.

Good run out against a young Arse side, saying that we had 4 players under 19 and a very young team, Gilbert 19, Parsons 18, Dabre 18, JML 21, Simpson 19, Aguiar 20, Odimayo 21, Critchlow 22, East 23.

Plymouth and Newport.

I think I will go to Plymouth away as I will be down there on the day

The distance this club has come in 6 weeks is staggering. Not only is the first XI good, the back-ups aren't bad either! Plenty of young players for a good coaching set up to work with.

Great perspective, and 2,500 odd for the Paint/Pizza Pot!

Be stupid not to !!. :pint: :pint:

I think the game highlighted, again, our lack of a natural goalscorer.

A small thing, but did anyone notice how many foul throw ins Arsenal managed? Don’t they bother about these things nowadays?

Got an eye for a player?

Just watched the extended highlights. Looked very different to league football.Scruffy goals. Lots of time and space in midfield. Our players looked very small compared to theirs. Agree that we don't look strong up top. Thought Ward was lucky with the one that hit the post. Couldn't make sense of the MotM thread based on the highlights.

I paid to watch it and was pleasantly surprised. The game was played with intensity and a high press from both sides and the quality of our reserves was encouraging. I thought Dabre was a live wire. Simpson looked dangerous when he came on but I do feel like he often forced himself out wide rather than going towards goal. It is also encouraging to see that the winning mentality appears to be there regardless of the competition.

I agree totally, it appears that Garner does not share our view though.

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/sport/19557462.swindon-town-will-not-look-sign-free-agent-striker-ben-garner/

Not that i care too much for the comp but it was good to see them playing a few key players and making the subs to win it. I quite liked that

Definately better than risking them from the start, I have no problem with Garner actually wanting to win games even if a lot of fans don't like this cup its still a 1st team game.

I didn't. unnecessary risk!

I'd rather we played nothing but fringe players and stopped lending this abomination of a competition any credence.

It's still the same competition that could be the gateway to changes that might spell the end for some league clubs. That's not changed just because people are getting used to it. The more it's legitimized, the closer those changes get.

Does the club get any prize money for winning a group game or is it just for progressing from the group?

If yes, it may be enough to pay off Stevenage!

Nice to win a cup game. Any cup game!

Unfortunately, the club cant think like the fans for these sorts of things. They want people through the doors and need every penny they can get at the moment so they will need to play some important players,if that means supporting them at the moment for this bollocks comp then so be it.

Absolutely 100%.

Answering me own question.

Participation fees - £20,000

Group stage draw - £5,000

Group stage win - £10,000

Round of 32 - £20,000

Last 16 - £40,000

So we’ve got £30,000 already from it.

I know. I'm not criticizing the club. The FA/EFL have us (and other clubs) over a barrel.

But that does not sway my opinion. I'd rather every team, including us, didn't play a single senior player.

^^^^ ditto.

if it was a reserve cup it would have purpose and better parity with the prem teams.

we could actually develop our own youths

It has swayed mine but for one year only

fair enough.

the club sure does need the money and deserves all the support we can give.

I bought a shirt this year 😁

I still aint fucking going unless we get to Wembley  ;)

A couple of articles on Arsenals young keeper Ejeheri, they obviously rate him very highly.

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/12135484/ovie-ejeheri-arsenal-goalkeeper-wanted-by-england-nigeria-and-uganda

https://www.goal.com/en/news/how-driven-competitor-ejeheri-can-break-into-arsenals-first-team-/e4s3qb69uan5z4gqnawaruea

I know you are joking. But I wouldn't go even if they comp'd me a ticket!

Yep.

I think i will go to a couple this year tbh

I actually didn’t go last night in the end for a number of reasons but my son and a couple of his mates did. Waiting for a match debrief from him. It is my intention to support the club especially this season as much as I can so intend unless work gets in the way to go to other matches.

We actually beat FGR 1-0 last season in the same cup so wins in this cup are not that unusual TBH we average 1 year!

Literally the day before we appointed Sheridactyl as boss.

And the rest, as they say, is prehistory.

I ain't going if we do.   Shit competition,  shit ground, shit atmosphere.  End of.

Well if you’re not going, I’m not going.

Good to know :-)

We'll all come round to your place and have a barbeque.    :pint: :pint: :pint:

Inclined to be in the FH camp with regards to the potential damage the current format of this competition can do to league clubs.

I'm all for treating it like a "Reserves Cup" or "Development Cup" but there needs to be parity across all clubs competing or the carrot for winning the cup should be some kind of access to the qualifiers of a comp in Europe. It's this part which cheeses me off the most.

Although 14/15 pages on here, after a win in the "Pointless Pizza Cup" and a turn out of 2.5k does speak in part for itself.