How would the reserves do in the Premiership? 4 April, 2007

One of the few positives we can take out of this season is the performance of our kids. It’s pretty well known that the Arsenal youngsters are an exiting and talented group. They’ve proved themselves at the top level in the Carling Cup and have beaten many top-flight teams. Some are now even considered first teamers despite their young age. Most reserve/youth players would easily get into Premiership sides and Arsene Wenger has put forward the question, how would an ‘Arsenal B’ side fare in the league? In Spain they have these ‘B teams’ in the football league. Real Madrid’s and Barcelona’s reserve sides now playing in the Segunda Division but they are not allowed to play in the same league so however well they do, they can’t get promoted. There is a whole reserve league here but it would be much more interesting if those sides were actually included in the top-level football leagues.

With players such as Connolly, Merida, Traore, Randall, Gilbert, Garry, Simpson and loads more I think our reserve team would be quite a match for many sides. Whether or not they’d be a Premiership side is another thing but I reckon they’d be pretty decent. Also, those young bodies enduring a full top-flight season is another factor. Here’s what Arsene had to say on the idea of reserve teams joining the football league:

“I would love it. What used to happen is that you had a Reserve League and an Under-18s League that was very important. What has happened now is the Under-18s League has transferred to the Reserve League while the Under-18s has lost a little. When you look at it these days, 90 per cent of the Reserve games are played with Under-18s players so one may have to be cut off. We have many players who play on Saturday [for the Under-18s] and on Monday for the Reserves. That means they play too many games and cannot practice.”

It’s an interesting idea but I don’t think it will happen. It would be nice for our reserves to officially beat Tottenham though.

There’s actually a bit of decent news about! But it’s not good news…Mathieu Flamini is leaving. He and his agent have confirmed he’ll look to move away in the summer. It’s a shame but if you think about it he’ll never get a run in the team. With Gilberto, Fabregas, Diaby and Possibly ahead of him and then Hleb/Rosicky who are natural centre midfielders he doesn’t really stand a chance. He did amazing last season at left back and god knows if we’d got to that final without him. He did well earlier in the season; he got a run in the side, scored a few goals and did really well against Chelsea. At least he’ll be leaving on a sort of high. He will be missed but to be honest, we have better players now.

Right I’ve got to go, see ya.