Swindon vs Arsenal U21 EFL Trophy Matchday Thread

[Ƭ̵̬̊: The Artist Formerly Known as CWIG]

Yes one with 22 caps for Estonia and one with 3 caps for Mexico, probably unheard of in the EFL Trophy before I would think.

And we have Shade with 2 caps as well.

Stoke used to play Charlie Adam and Peter Crouch in their B Team. Do you still get the 3 over age players or has that been nixed?

[Ƭ̵̬̊: The Artist Formerly Known as CWIG]

Benn Ward is a Dylan Kadji level loan. Absolutely no use to us.

Has looked a fish out of water so far, hasn't he? Sounds like a bit of a panic one when Clayton got injured. I'd rather play Minturn.

[pach_uk]

Enjoyable game to watch for a tenner. Some skillfull players from Arsenal, but reality is that none are likely to go on to have a long term career at the club, and most will end up at L1/L2/National League level within a few years! Thoughts on a few of the team:

Ward (L) - great shot shopper, but terrible on the ground and with Arsenal playing a high press he never wanted to do anything apart from lash the ball forward for most of the game.  Never going to be more than a backup for us.

Ward (B) - sorry, but he looks a million miles off the quality of player we need.  Caught for pace and positioning on many occasions.

Hart - he is clearly young and has plenty to learn, but there was something Shaun Taylor about his general demenour on the pitch and some whole-hearted challenges. Give him 2-3 years of senior football and you can see the potential

Kanu - you have to love his committment and willingness to put himself about.

Wakeling - I thought especially in the first 15-20mins of the 2nd half he looked sharp, made some lovely runs that weren't picked up, and led the line well before he faded as Arsenal took control of the game.

Shade - how does a player manage to look so bloody disinterested.  This could have been a golden chance to come on, blitz the LWB role for 20mins and convince us he was the left sided messiah. Instead he looked disengaged.

[Batch]

Sunday league stuff in here. Rush keepers?

[Batch]

on shade he has just come back from injury, so maybe playing within himself?

[UTR]

Enjoyable game to watch for a tenner. Some skillfull players from Arsenal, but reality is that none are likely to go on to have a long term career at the club, and most will end up at L1/L2/National League level within a few years! Thoughts on a few of the team:

Ward (L) - great shot shopper, but terrible on the ground and with Arsenal playing a high press he never wanted to do anything apart from lash the ball forward for most of the game.  Never going to be more than a backup for us.

Ward (B) - sorry, but he looks a million miles off the quality of player we need.  Caught for pace and positioning on many occasions.

Hart - he is clearly young and has plenty to learn, but there was something Shaun Taylor about his general demenour on the pitch and some whole-hearted challenges. Give him 2-3 years of senior football and you can see the potential

Kanu - you have to love his committment and willingness to put himself about.

Wakeling - I thought especially in the first 15-20mins of the 2nd half he looked sharp, made some lovely runs that weren't picked up, and led the line well before he faded as Arsenal took control of the game.

Shade - how does a player manage to look so bloody disinterested.  This could have been a golden chance to come on, blitz the LWB role for 20mins and convince us he was the left sided messiah. Instead he looked disengaged.

Interesting you say that because Ethan Nwaneri, Myles Lewis Skelly and Cozier Duberry are all tipped to go onto have very good careers. Arsenal thought they might lose Nwaneri to City or Chelsea recently.

[Peter Venkman]

on shade he has just come back from injury, so maybe playing within himself?

Shade played like Shade always plays.

[Nemo]

Shade played like Shade always plays.

To be fair he was really good in the EFL Trophy as a centre forward last year. He did absolutely play like this in all the league games though!

On the level of development from these sides I thought it was interesting to look back at the U21 teams we've played over the last few years.

Arsenal U21 22/23 http://swindon-town-fc.co.uk/MatchCentre.asp?MatchID=20221201
Charlie Patino is now at Swansea, he was the standout. There's a few of that team who played yesterday

Chelsea U21 20/21 http://swindon-town-fc.co.uk/MatchCentre.asp?MatchID=20201201
Lots of names here - Ian Maatsen, Marc Guehi, Tariq Lamptey, Billy Gilmour, Armando Broja and er... Tariq Uwakwe and Marcel Lavinier

Chelsea U21 19/20 http://swindon-town-fc.co.uk/MatchCentre.asp?MatchID=20191201
Similar team to the year after, but with George McEachran

West Ham U21 17/18 http://swindon-town-fc.co.uk/MatchCentre.asp?MatchID=20181201
Grady Diangana as a sub - and Dan Kemp! Not much else

[Peter Venkman]

To be fair he was really good in the EFL Trophy as a centre forward last year. He did absolutely play like this in all the league games though!

He was fiarly good when they played him up front as a lone striker and allowed to wander doing what he does and creating problems for defenders.

As soon as you tie him down to a position he struggles in knowing his duties, as a sub to come on and create random havoc and do what he wants he could be useful.

[Ticker45]

........Shade - how does a player manage to look so bloody disinterested.  This could have been a golden chance to come on, blitz the LWB role for 20mins and convince us he was the left sided messiah. Instead he looked disengaged.

My thoughts exactly, his body language from the moment he came on was one of "what am I doing here". He just did not get really involved, talking back to the bench more than once and just seem to amble around. Not a good look for someone who should be fighting for a first team place.

[Nemo]

Mild trivia, with thanks to Rich Banyard (answer on Twitter, so easy to come across).

With Tariq Uwakwe scoring yesterday, players with surnames beginning with 25 of the 26 letters of the latin alphabet have now scored for Town - only X has failed to register entirely, probably because we have never had a player whose surname begins with X.

At the other end though... who can guess what the highest scoring first letter of surname is for STFC? (all time, men's first team only).

[DV]

M

[Peter Venkman]

Stoke used to play Charlie Adam and Peter Crouch in their B Team. Do you still get the 3 over age players or has that been nixed?

I understand you can field 2 over 21 aged players now only.