Great piece of skill to beat the defenders. Pretty awful piece of goalkeeping though innit? Size of the gap at the near post was ridiculous.

was thinking that the defending in general was poor even though the skill was great... and yeah, the keeper left an "Almunia-sized gap" at the near post

5 days later

Bartley was The Blades' man of the match yesterday against Millwall, apparently. Sheffield won the game with 1-0. I saw a quick highlight clip where he made two Sagnaesque blocks to prevent what looked like all but certain goals. He's getting a lot of applauds from their fans for his fine performances this season.

good to hear.. get himself "battle-tested" in the Championship and then make the transition to the Prem

That JET goal has over a million views as was on some french TV goals of the week program. A lot of coverage for a reserve team goal.

US: Yeah, it will do him a world of good. It's all about playing regularly at this stage. It's hard to believe that Bartley is still nineteen when you look at him. He's grown even further since the last time he played for us. He must be close to 6 ft 4 now. Physically he's a monster.

England u18s are playing not far away tonight and might pop down to see how Chuks and Nico do.

Well I went. Bloody cold (had been foggy all day).

Aneke had a mare. In his defence the pitch had a frozen strip from end to end but his performance could best be described as having a Heskey.

Nico on the other hand was absolutely superb. Playing left side of two in 4-2-3-1 he was playing alongside the captain. Played deep for much of the first half but the longer the game went on the more he took control of the midfield and by half time he was the stand out player. Assured, calm and extremely tidy he really came into his own in the second half when he seemed to have sussed the game out and played with a bit more freedom going forward - but he chose the times to go superbly.

Very impressed with Nico.

That's great to hear. I really think Yennaris has a future here. Whenever I've seen him he's been exactly like you describe. Always looks a level above his teammates in terms of maturity and technical ability.

Klaus wrote:

That's great to hear. I really think Yennaris has a future here. Whenever I've seen him he's been exactly like you describe. Always looks a level above his teammates in terms of maturity and technical ability.

He's a really good kid as well. Nice family, well brought up. Always respectful and attentive to his coaches at Hale End, and very modest as well.

How has Yennaris been growing size-wise? I don't think I've seen a picture of his full body in at least a year, but I remember him having a relatively small structure. Has he been growing anymore now that he's at that age?

dave_rwr wrote:

How has Yennaris been growing size-wise? I don't think I've seen a picture of his full body in at least a year, but I remember him having a relatively small structure. Has he been growing anymore now that he's at that age?

He didn't look big but he didn't look small. Was chatting with him after the u18s match at the new place last term and he was rather little. Then again I'm rather tall so...

In terms of strength though he had no problems at all. Seemed very strong in the tackle and came through a couple of scrambles with the ball. Can't remember him getting knocked of the ball either.

I think he's one of those players that quietly works his way through the system without appearing to make waves or getting too much attention. Think he's a long term keeper, difficult as it is to judge at this age.

6 days later

Ramsey currently playing for the reserves against Wolves, as is Almunia.

I have been reading the live text on ATVO, hope he comes out unscathed. I can't wait for him to be back, Ramsey that is.

he's only scheduled to play 45 minutes.. he came off after half

looks like he came through pretty unscathed and from what i could read, didnt look all that out of place, which is good

Could he be on the bench against Wigan in the Cup?

I think he will need more time but the next reserves game is on the 7th of December.

personally i dont think we will see him in the first team (barring injuries) until after the new year... he needs more than 1 or 2 reserve games runouts before he could even be considered for the bench (IMO)

Last day of transfer window for the lower leagues and Wenger said JET may go out on loan because he needs games.

Ramsey gone to forest for a month apparently.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/nottm_forest/9227061.stm

Nottingham Forest have signed Arsenal's Wales international midfielder Aaron Ramsey on loan until 3 January 2011.

Ramsey suffered fractures to the tibia and fibula of his right leg against Stoke in February but made his comeback for Arsenal reserves this week.

The 19-year-old joined the Gunners from Championship side Cardiff City for £5m in June 2008.

Ramsay, who has scored twice in 11 caps for Wales, has made 27 league appearances for Arsene Wenger's side.