Craig certainly seems more rounded than Savage atm. I think he should definitely be playing if we've got a midfield three. Perhaps having Craig and Hutch as DMs, with Wing being more advanced would be something to look at in the league.Fox Talbot Really impressed with Craig tonight, and in previous cameos. He’s way ahead of Savage and needs to be in the team or bench at very least.
Vickers is a little star.Did more useful and entertaining stuff in 80 mins thanAzeez has managed all season. I’d start him.
Kelvin played well. My first look at Wareham, he looked a possible, put himself about, won a few headers. Mbengue lively but went off injured. Didn’t like Mukairu.
Very enjoyable game. Three pens, two missed, one red card, seven goals, loads of missed chances, a few heavy tackles. Holmes lucky to stay on, thought their guy unlucky to be sent off, nothing more than a stern challenge, Kinibbs was fine a couple of minutes later.
Looked busy going in, maybe 3,000 including walk-ups?
Vickers out wide was interesting to see; he did well out there. His ball control always seemed to cause their full-back problems. He wouldn't be up against strong CBs out wide; his biggest weakness is literally his weakness. I think he'd need to bulk up a bit to be a central attacker, but that's less of an issue out wide. His decision making has certainly been better than Azeez's this season.
Ehib did well, as expected; was a shame he didn't score his penalty to get a hat-trick - good save from the keeper though. Wareham reminds me a bit of Simon Church - shows lots of energy, works well and shows the right attitude, but is a bit raw. If he keeps working on his game, he could be a player who'll break into the first team squad regularly within a year.
Mbengue did alright. It was certainly a good idea to give him a go at DM/CM. If Yiadom is going to be RB going forward, Mbengue will get more opportunities at DM this season. Hopefully it was only something minor like cramp that forced him off (as it appeared to be).
Mukairu seems quick, but doesn't appear to have much else about his game. He does seem like a player who could progress well with a side who plays attacking, direct football - which isn't what we're going for under Selles.
I'm not sure any of the penalties should've been given as penalties; thought the red card was the correct decision; can't remember the Holmes incident to comment. Ended up as 3,015 with 498 Arsenal fans.
Very comfortable night, which got more comfortable as first team players like Wing, Knibbs and Smith came off the bench. Can't say I was overly impressed by any of the Arsenal players - although Nelson's foot work for their second goal was good (although he's someone who's played a decent amount of Premier League football over the past few years) and their goalkeeper did well. They had a lot of possession, but didn't really look too threatening with the ball.
I think it showed the gap between U21 football and first team football well. Even with a large number of players who were playing U21 football recently (Ehib, Vickers, Craig, Carson, Wareham), we looked a level above that Arsenal U21 side despite us being bottom of League One (albeit a side that's competing in basically all our League One matches).
