Mehmet Ali was pleased with his team’s performance, despite losing 2-1 away to Enfield in pre-season on Tuesday night.
Enfield took the lead through Marcus Wyllie and Trialist B made it 2-0 for them in the second half, before Daniel Casey pulled one back for our under-21s.
“It was a really entertaining game and we were really pleased with a lot of the first year and second year scholars to step up and play at this level so early on,” Mehmet said after the match. “There were lots of positives from this evening.
“I thought we controlled the game really well. They were a back five in the first half and there wasn’t a lot of space in behind them. We could’ve been better having shots from in front. You make one sloppy mistake and they capitalised on it.
“But credit to our second half team. They changed, went to a four and there was more space in between the lines and our boys exploited that really well. We had opportunities to score goals and we didn’t take them, but I thought it was a good game.
“We conceded from a throw-in and then Dan Casey scored a great goal, so overall lots of positives. It’s a shame to lose, but we’re really pleased with a lot of the work that we’ve done in pre-season from under-18s and 21s to put on the performanc that the boys did tonight.”
Mehmet has been able to use a wide variety of academy youngsters in our two pre-season games so far, which is another positive to take.
“We love these pre-season fixtures where you play in front of a big crowd,” he added. “I think there were over 1000 people here this evening and they were chanting against them, and I think that was really good for our lads to experience, playing in this kind of environment on a dry pitch.
“Some of them unfortunately realistically are going to end up at this level and they have to understand that they have to find ways of competing and dominating if they do get the opportunity to play at this level. For us it’s a great exposure to play against men and for the lads to have it early on in their careers is really positive.
“If they can deal with it and find strategies to cope with it, it’s going to put them in good stead moving forwards, especially if they’re going to play for Arsenal’s first team.”
Next up, our under-21s Rapid Vienna at X-Bionic Sphere for an 11am (BST) kick-off on Saturday, July 27.
“Pre-season for the under-21s is never easy because we’ve got a lot of lads supporting the first team and they’re going to be training tomorrow and have got to try to impress Mikel and the guys,” Mehmet said.
“Then you’ve got the group just below that and we’ve got a tour that we’re going to on Sunday. We’re not quite sure yet what players we’re going to have and who is going to be going where. That’s the beauty of under-21s - my message is always to be ready for whatever opportunities or experiences are put in front of you and we’ll keep helping them with that.”
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