Arsenal kids find it tough
Arsenal youth coach Don Howe believes his side did nothing to improve their chances of first-team call-ups by losing the second leg of the FA Youth Cup Final at Ewood Park.
The Gunners retained the trophy 6-3 on aggregate, despite the 3-1 defeat by Blackburn, but Howe said his players did not look ready for senior football on last night's performance even though Arsenal became only the fourth club to win the competition in successive seasons.
He said: "Sometimes they look as though they're ready, sometimes they don't - like last night."
Manager Arsene Wenger's backroom staff had recruited some of the best young players in England, Europe and Africa and fielded a starting lineup that boasted the talents of Sebastian Svard (Denmark), Moritz Volz (Germany), Carlin Itonga (Congo) and Jeremie Aliadiere (France). The young stars may have had an off night but Arsenal's expensively-assembled squad nevertheless remain the benchmark for youth teams in England at the moment.
Howe, irritated by their mediocre display yet happy with the overall victory said: "The FA Youth Cup is always a good thing to win and it is not easy. You have to play some really good teams to get through.
"We're playing the best players in the country with good players. They've done very well. It became a tight game but we expected that. Give Blackburn credit, they had a go at it."
Howe added that it will be up to Wenger to decide when the youngsters will get their chance to earn their spurs with the senior team. "I don't know. I've got no idea, ask Arsene Wenger," he said.
