Chido Obi Martin

it's gonna take special players to break into the squad
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It should be "its gonna take special players to break into the first XI". The squad, competing in 4 competitions, should be supplemented by academy players. City do it - and many are good but far from special. Liverpool do it - 16 academy players used in their title winning season. All successful teams do it.
Not putting Nwaneri or MLS on at 4 up to Lens by HT was a wasted opportunity, the dead rubber a wasted opportunity. The cups - including the Liverpool game were they would have been playing their peers from academy level - were largely wasted opportunities.

He did give Nwaneri a run out at 5 up to West Ham - but only because Jorginho pressured him into it. Then Nwaneri was not seen on the bench again, with the likes of Sweet and Bandeira preferred - Arteta wasn't going to let that happen again!!

Artetas whole squad management is poor. Fringe players get nowhere near enough game time - for example ESR was MotM against Luton then got 12 minutes for the rest of the season. Vieira came on for 45 against Sheff Utd, did well, didn't play again for months.
Giving game time to Cedric and Elneny, after trying to get rid of them, at the expense of young players another error. Now both are gone, but so are the players who would have benefitted from game time. Maybe ACD and Walters would have signed on if they had been given a chance.
None of the youngsters he was bought have been developed - Sambi, Vieira, Nuno etc.

Not necessarily on Arteta, but most clubs have a natural refreshing that we just haven't done. The likes of Nketiah, Nelson broke through, reached a peak and should have been sold and replaced a couple of years ago by the next ones through. Then same for them, unless they develop into first XI players. You could even put ESR in there - but no way was he one to sell a couple of years back. That is something we haven't done at all. The ones brought through stagnated at a level below what we need, the ones below left for nominal fees.


We also don't seem to have any good relations with other clubs in terms of loans - Sturm Graz is turning into a decent link-up, but we don't seem to have the strong links in England that other clubs do. That is another failure, again not on Arteta.

comment by T-BAD (U11806)
posted 22 minutes ago
comment by Darren The String Fletcher (U10026)
posted 34 seconds ago
Arteta doesn’t even give youth players opportunities in dead rubbers, does he?
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Not really, but we haven't really had any dead rubbers. We didn't get much in the way of easy cup draws & the last two years the title has gone pretty much to the wire.

We also don't often do the City thing of going 3-0 up by HT and then being able to rotate heavily.
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I’ve seen it mentioned by Arsenal fans that he doesn’t do it the European dead rubbers you’ve had or cup ties, and it’s something that goes beyond just the last two years.

DJ basically summed it up well, he seems to find it hard to trust new players and loves a small versatile squad, so that leaves youth players with very little opportunity.

I don't think we've had a huge amount of standouts off the top of my head, but we should be using 2-3 players to supplement the squad each season and we simply don't.

I think before the last two years he was just trying to change the mentality and his job was on the line at one point, so I imagine he didn't wanna turn to youth when he needed results. Since then I remember us having maybe two dead rubbers.

Basically I think it's an area he should be looking to improve (and something Edu and Mertesacker should be pushing him to do), but I wouldn't write him off completely yet as he's had other priorities.

Our youngest first team player is Saka - turning 23 in 5 or 6 weeks. Calafiori will come in a few months younger, but then there is no-one with even notable senior loan experienc (assuming as we must Patino and BNC aren't staying).

That, to me, is 5 years of neglect and failure as a club in terms of youth development.

comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 9 minutes ago
Our youngest first team player is Saka - turning 23 in 5 or 6 weeks. Calafiori will come in a few months younger, but then there is no-one with even notable senior loan experienc (assuming as we must Patino and BNC aren't staying).

That, to me, is 5 years of neglect and failure as a club in terms of youth development.
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I think so, but I think it's a knock on from changing the way we operate as a club and that's got us very close to the top, so I don't really begrudge it hugely over that period of time.

If we continue that neglect beyond this point then that's where the serious questions have to be asked IMO.

That may be the case, but I suspect it’s part of the reason why someone like this kid may want to leave the club to go to one that will give opportunities to youth players. It is what it is.

Yeah both can be true and hopefully it's the catalyst we need to realize that now we're in a better position with our first team squad we need to give the youth more attention to ensure a fruitful future.

Though, you don’t necessarily need to do that. Loads of clubs are successful without giving opportunities to youth players.

It’s just whether clubs are prepared to lose youth players as a result of that.

comment by Darren The String Fletcher (U10026)
posted 1 hour, 11 minutes ago


Though, you don’t necessarily need to do that. Loads of clubs are successful without giving opportunities to youth players.

It’s just whether clubs are prepared to lose youth players as a result of that.
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Not many do though. Bayern, Barca, PSG, City, Liverpool for example all being through their own youth.

Even Madrid have traditionally done this but still sign very young talent who tend to supplement the squad by their early 20s.

Not with any regularity, other than Barca.

You should go and look at how many players leave PSG’s academy because there’s been no pathway to the first team since Qatar bought them.