Arsenal U21s – Cause for concern or is it ‘just pre-season’?

You shouldn’t read anything into pre-season, or so the old adage goes.

With Arsenal U21s this summer, however, you cannot help but be a little concerned with the current state of affairs.

After a commendable 2-2 draw with Boreham Wood, defeats against St Albans, Rapid Vienna II, Enfield Town and Chelmsford City have followed.

There is just one more pre-season game, away to Monaco II next week, before the new Premier League 2 season gets underway (the fixtures for which, ridiculously, haven’t been publicly announced yet, although Arsenal will start against Fulham).

Why have the U21s struggled? Firstly the departures of a host of players with a wealth of U21 experience has inevitably had an impact, with the likes of Nathan Butler-Oyedeji, Khayon Edwards, Jimi Gower, Salah-Eddine, Michal Rosiak and more all leaving this summer.

The sudden departure of coach Mehmet Ali is also a factor and Arsenal have yet to (at least publicly) announce a replacement. Max Porter has been in interim charge but perhaps hasn’t had the best of auditions so far.

Then it must be stated that some of the club’s most talented youngsters have been with the first-team in Asia.

Of those, however, Josh Nichols and Ismeal Kabia have surely now played at U21 level for long enough and require loan spells.

Louie Copley has minimal experience of U21 football but will have learnt a lot from training with the first-team and seems ready to be a key player for the U21s this season with his unique blend of physical and technical qualities.

Max Dowman, Marli Salmon and Andre Harriman-Annous would certainly bolster the U21 squad, although it remains to be seen how much Dowman will be playing at that level this season.

There will inevitably be various points during the season when the aforementioned trio will be training with the first-team and therefore absent for U21 games, which means the second string will require greater depth.

The core U21 squad is very small at present and many of those players have only just signed their first professional contracts, so a period of adaptation will be required.

In terms of new signings, midfielder Demiane Agustien looks talented and left-back Marcell Washington reads the game well.

Further recruits are required though and it seems like the club are aware of this fact – a winger featured as a trialist against Chelmsford and Arsenal looked to be on the verge of signing striker Will Wright before he elected to join Liverpool instead.

Another striker seems a necessity and more defensive cover may also be a requirement.

There have been concerns about the U21s starting games slowly and conceding goals very early on in matches.

The purpose of the academy is ultimately to produce players for the first-team and if the likes of Dowman and perhaps eventually Salmon can make the breakthrough then that objective will be fulfilled.

However, you always want to try and have as many talented youngsters at the club as possible to create difficult decisions with regards to who will eventually make the step up.

A lot of Arsenal’s best prospects at present appear to be those who are technically below the U21 age group. However, some of them could end up having an important part to play at that level. U16 winger Kyran Thompson, for instance, has been involved with the U21s in pre-season.

Given time, matters could eventually improve for the U21s. There may well be some teething problems along the way, however, as a new group of players search for cohesion.

Clarity on the head coach position would be a positive start and the return of some important players may also help matters.