Arsenal thread | 2025/26

[bridgeno1]

Its taken them years but they seem to have found their Darren Anderton

Bukayo Saka: Arsenal forward set to miss up to four weeks

Bukayo Saka is set to miss Arsenal's game at Liverpool on Sunday as well as England's World Cup qualification double-header next month.

www.bbc.co.uk

I think Arteta treating Saka like a Shire Horse over the past few seasons doesn't help. Even when we've been a few goals up he's kept Saka on the pitch and now we wonder why he's picking up injuries and actually looks knackered. Having Madueke in the squad should help though.

 

[thegoatsthegoat]

You’re making up stuff I never said. Nor is it tosh, there is loads of research on the subject. Look it up.

You are taking a general comment personally. If City played a 15 year old and he looked good we all would be buzzing about the prospect. I don't need to look it up, there are examples of youngsters playing from a younger age and being fine (Rooney) and examples of others who don't, who may not reach their potential or may get injuries. Injuries happen though, countless top players who don't come on the scene as a kid get injuries and careers fall off. It's football.

It's also to show him he has a genuine key player status future at Arsenal. He's not signed professional terms yet - any club can waltz in and get him on a free and many will be trying to do just that so by giving him minutes early on the club shows he has a clear path to being a 1st team regular. His key position is as a 10 but we are playing him on the right as he doesn't yet have the physicality to play in the middle of the pitch against PL players.

The lad who scored for Liverpool last night came in the summer from Chelsea's academy - all the Chelsea focus on FFP 'profits' on selling homegrown players on and buying in billions of players may well have contributed to the lad thinking he'd get a better chance of making the 1st team at Liverpool instead of being treated like a sellable asset at Chelsea. So nurturing talent is key - these guys are also less likely to leave. Our star players are people like Saka, Saliba etc. Saliba I reckon will leave to go to Madrid in a year or so as in his mind that's the ultimate dream. For the home grown lads like Saka, Lewis-Skelly etc they are already living their dream playing for their hometown club and far less likely to want to move on which is why youth development is so key for the culture of the club.

Nurturing the right talent is key, look at us with Lewis. We will see, I don't think giving him a cameo at 15 will sway him, he will want to stay or go. Arsenal are heavy hitters in the transfer market these days and should you become dominant, the less kids will come through.

 

[bridgeno1]

You are taking a general comment personally. If City played a 15 year old and he looked good we all would be buzzing about the prospect. I don't need to look it up, there are examples of youngsters playing from a younger age and being fine (Rooney) and examples of others who don't, who may not reach their potential or may get injuries. Injuries happen though, countless top players who don't come on the scene as a kid get injuries and careers fall off. It's football.


Nurturing the right talent is key, look at us with Lewis. We will see, I don't think giving him a cameo at 15 will sway him, he will want to stay or go. Arsenal are heavy hitters in the transfer market these days and should you become dominant, the less kids will come through.

Well for the last couple of years the kids who weren't quite good enough have gone to United! (Heaven, Obi).

We do seem to have a decent conveyor belt of talent coming through the Hale End academy (Nwaneri, Lewis-Skelly, now Dowman plus there's a few other lads highly rated as well). I love it when a kid comes through the ranks - much better than buying in a player in my book.

 

[TonyColemansbagofapples]

It was on the softer side and he was looking for it, but it was a pen. But I agree it's sad that players are coached to gain these advantages but Dowman isn't the 1st and won't be the last. VAR is there to check and if a player is deemed to have dived a yellow card will be issued We only got 2 penalties all of last season so if we are teaching our players to look for pens we are doing a bad job of it.

Makes no difference how many penalties you got last year. He did the same thing in a pre season friendly. He’s a diver and I’ll continue to call him out for it.
I watch a lot of academy football and he does it on a regular basis.

 

[Gordyola]

Apparently the tarquins won 5-1.
And played a 15 year old.
F... me!
Wish it was us!!!
Cunts.

Brought a 15yr old (nearly 16) on when it was 4:0 he looked ok he certainly has learnt the art of doing to win a pen and it was against Leeds who were frankly dreadful the best they did is deal with the wonder kid Diveman is his name I think

 

[Gordyola]

Arsenal’s playing of a 15 year old is worrying. Men grow until they are 21 and overreaching physical activity in the teens is likely to cause permanent damage.
Trevor Francis carried Birmingham on his back for several years from the age of 16. By the time he was 23/24 his life had become a never ending round of injury and recovery. Before he joined us he had been off injured for 6 months and he only played twenty odd games for us that year. At Sampdoria he played just over 60 games in four years, a worse record than even Johnny Stones.
The kid at Arsenal should be getting protection from the regulations but the restrictions needed are just not there. The Olympics have age restrictions as does pro tennis and many other sports, but football I think has none. If he is as good as they say, let us hope they do not wreck him.

In fairness he only came on when it was 4:0 I doubt very much he will play a lot this season for the first tarquins They have already ruined Saka

 

[KS55]

You are taking a general comment personally. If City played a 15 year old and he looked good we all would be buzzing about the prospect. I don't need to look it up, there are examples of youngsters playing from a younger age and being fine (Rooney) and examples of others who don't, who may not reach their potential or may get injuries. Injuries happen though, countless top players who don't come on the scene as a kid get injuries and careers fall off. It's football.


Nurturing the right talent is key, look at us with Lewis. We will see, I don't think giving him a cameo at 15 will sway him, he will want to stay or go. Arsenal are heavy hitters in the transfer market these days and should you become dominant, the less kids will come through.

Well, if you have such great knowledge that you don’t need to look it up try this, for example. I take it all these academics are talking tosh. How much training has Dowman been doing to reach this level?

Trainability of Young Athletes and Overtraining - PMC

Exercise adaptations to strength, anaerobic and aerobic training have been extensively studied in adults, however, young people appear to respond differently to such exercise stimulus in comparison to adults. In addition, because overtraining in ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[KS55]

In fairness he only came on when it was 4:0 I doubt very much he will play a lot this season for the first tarquins They have already ruined Saka

Yep. The concern has to be how much training has Dowman been doing to reach this level. A study in the US suggested 30% of pro soccer players were overtrained.
There was a big row in British swimming some years back with swimmers claiming exhaustion from overtraining.
There really ought to be regulatory limits based on age, similar to the newish regs on heading in training. Most clubs I’m sure will be responsible most of the time but a set of regs would be beneficial.
City have had a few 15 year old debutants over the years: Glyn Pardoe, Paul Aimson spring to mind.

 

[thegoatsthegoat]

Well, if you have such great knowledge that you don’t need to look it up try this, for example. I take it all these academics are talking tosh. How much training has Dowman been doing to reach this level?

Trainability of Young Athletes and Overtraining - PMC

Exercise adaptations to strength, anaerobic and aerobic training have been extensively studied in adults, however, young people appear to respond differently to such exercise stimulus in comparison to adults. In addition, because overtraining in ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Over training? You mean training normally through the ranks and getting a cameo due to looking good. He won't be training any more or less than players of that age. I imagine the experts who train and watch these kids know more than us. I also didn't believe there was a correct age a player can play in the first team.

 

[Gordyola]

Yep. The concern has to be how much training has Dowman been doing to reach this level. A study in the US suggested 30% of pro soccer players were overtrained.
There was a big row in British swimming some years back with swimmers claiming exhaustion from overtraining.
There really ought to be regulatory limits based on age, similar to the newish regs on heading in training. Most clubs I’m sure will be responsible most of the time but a set of regs would be beneficial.
City have had a few 15 year old debutants over the years: Glyn Pardoe, Paul Aimson spring to mind.

I’m sure that Paul Lake highlighted how many games he had played as a kid and wondered if his ACL was a consequence he did speak from having completed his physio degree This was in the days before clubs restricted them playing for other than the club and so I might have improved and they also play on better surfaces under sports science however it’s still a lot of games at an early age

 

[KS55]

I’m sure that Paul Lake highlighted how many games he had played as a kid and wondered if his ACL was a consequence he did speak from having completed his physio degree This was in the days before clubs restricted them playing for other than the club and so I might have improved and they also play on better surfaces under sports science however it’s still a lot of games at an early age

Yes, I’m sure that was a factor. There must also be queries over Paul Moulden and Michael Johnson. The latter may be an example of how over training affects mental and emotional health, which is well documented.
Cases need studying closely though and we can only guess from the outside.

 

[Vienna_70]

Arsenal’s playing of a 15 year old is worrying. Men grow until they are 21 and overreaching physical activity in the teens is likely to cause permanent damage.
Trevor Francis carried Birmingham on his back for several years from the age of 16. By the time he was 23/24 his life had become a never ending round of injury and recovery. Before he joined us he had been off injured for 6 months and he only played twenty odd games for us that year. At Sampdoria he played just over 60 games in four years, a worse record than even Johnny Stones.
The kid at Arsenal should be getting protection from the regulations but the restrictions needed are just not there. The Olympics have age restrictions as does pro tennis and many other sports, but football I think has none. If he is as good as they say, let us hope they do not wreck him.

They should let him go out on loan.

Isn’t that what all the so-called experts were telling Pep he should do with Phil?

 

[Vienna_70]

Whilst a 15 year old playing weekly would be worrying, we won't see much of this lad. Are you claiming they shouldn't play regular until 21? Load of tosh and a weird angle to bash Arsenal which is funny but it seems anything they do just gets pelters. There are examples either way of younger players either fizzling out or having a great career.

Shrek was played nearly every game by both Everton and the rags, and was, to all intents and purposes, finished by the time he was 28.

 

[Vienna_70]

Yep. The concern has to be how much training has Dowman been doing to reach this level. A study in the US suggested 30% of pro soccer players were overtrained.
There was a big row in British swimming some years back with swimmers claiming exhaustion from overtraining.
There really ought to be regulatory limits based on age, similar to the newish regs on heading in training. Most clubs I’m sure will be responsible most of the time but a set of regs would be beneficial.
City have had a few 15 year old debutants over the years: Glyn Pardoe, Paul Aimson spring to mind.

And wasn’t Karim Rekik second only to the Mighty Glyn as our youngest ever first team player?

I’ve just looked him up, and he’s 30. That don’t half make me feel old.

 

[AFCAndy]

Shrek was played nearly every game by both Everton and the rags, and was, to all intents and purposes, finished by the time he was 28.

He had 1 of his best seasons when he was 28. I'd consider him prime at least into the last league title when he put up good numbers as a 10 when he was 29 when United last won the league. Still smashed 10 PL goals as a 33yo for Everton

And that was all with a sloppy lifestyle too

Then you have Messi and CR7 playing constantly since they were 17 into their late 30s/40s.

 

[AFCAndy]

They should let him go out on loan.

Isn’t that what all the so-called experts were telling Pep he should do with Phil?

I don't think you can legally send a 15yo out on loan. And I'm not sure it'd wise for most 16-17yos IMO

 

[Vienna_70]

I don't think you can legally send a 15yo out on loan. And I'm not sure it'd wise for most 16-17yos IMO

It was a tongue-in-cheek remark, because that was all we got from the idiot media, when Pep was developing Foden.

 

[KS55]

And wasn’t Karim Rekik second only to the Mighty Glyn as our youngest ever first team player?

I’ve just looked him up, and he’s 30. That don’t half make me feel old.

I’d quite forgotten Rekik, the one time wonder boy.

 

[GunnerGer]

Arsenal’s playing of a 15 year old is worrying. Men grow until they are 21 and overreaching physical activity in the teens is likely to cause permanent damage.
Trevor Francis carried Birmingham on his back for several years from the age of 16. By the time he was 23/24 his life had become a never ending round of injury and recovery. Before he joined us he had been off injured for 6 months and he only played twenty odd games for us that year. At Sampdoria he played just over 60 games in four years, a worse record than even Johnny Stones.
The kid at Arsenal should be getting protection from the regulations but the restrictions needed are just not there. The Olympics have age restrictions as does pro tennis and many other sports, but football I think has none. If he is as good as they say, let us hope they do not wreck him.

There are restrictions, he couldn't play last season for instance because to play in the Premier League you need to have turned 15 on or before August 31st of that season.

I'm sure he'll be managed correctly, with what Arsenal now have in the squad, he certainly won't be doing the heavy lifting in the team over the next year or 2, cameo's & some early round cup games i think will be what he gets.

 

[bridgeno1]

Just had a look at the CL table. Damn, we just can't catch a break.