Eddie, Nelson, Azeez, Balogun, and Kido Taylor-Hart are all playing together for the U23s right now if anybody is interested in watching.
They are playing 4-3-3 with Reiss and Taylor-Hart as the twin 8s and Azeez the holder. Maybe that’s just a way to fit everybody into the team but maybe they’re trying to see if Reiss has a future in central midfield.
Update: Annnnnddd Nelson has a bad giveaway playing out from the back that leads to an easy goal. Just getting him ready for the first team I guess.
We’ve been absolutely awful overall, so its a little hard to tell. Balogun and Moller are strikers playing on the wings, I don’t think Nelson or Taylor-Hart have played a lot in central midfield before. We look totally disjointed and clueless in possession so neither Balogun or Eddie have gotten the ball much, at the same time neither is doing much to help the situation either.
Azeez has been largely good except for one mistake. I really want to see him with the first team next year.
I’ve watched him play 4-5 times now so not that much but enough to get a sense. Really composed on the ball and in possession, good passing range, seems pretty natural moving without the ball and finding pockets of space, not a physical monster but decent size and quick enough for it not to be a liability at the next level. He profiles as a DLP type but recently I’ve seen him get forward impressively too, with some good combination and a good shot from range. So he could actually have an all action game that just needs to be unlocked a bit.
I think realistically he could play in the cups next season and maybe a couple sub appearances in the league. Expecting anything more is asking a lot of him and I have trouble seeing Arteta being the kind of manager who might take that kind of risk, particularly at this position.
For me the big question is whether he could be the 4th CM (essentially taking Elneny’s role), assuming we keep Partey and Xhaka and add one other (ideally someone new, but I’m afraid it’ll be Ceballos). I think it would be a bit of a gamble, maybe one worth taking but also not one Arteta is likely to take.
Sure. I don’t mind that we haven’t seen him yet tbh.
He’s 18. His time will come if he’s patient. He can be more involved in the cup competitions next season and he can earn his way into the first team if he’s up for it.
From the same game as the thunderstrike above, I also really like this little cutback pass from Azeez to start the move for this other goal. He lulls the defenders into thinking he’s just going to play the easy ball to the RB or drop it off to the CB and instead cuts it right to a guy between the lines. He definitely has some moxie to his game.
Some strong indications that Kido Taylor-Hart might have signed a new deal. He was the other high ceiling youth player (along with Balogun) that the club was struggling to tie down, so this would be more good news from the academy if true.