Arsenal Under-18s coach Carl Laraman spoke to Arsenal.com after his side thrashed Peterborough United 6-1 in the FA Youth Cup on Monday.
Read a transcript of what he had to say below:
on a comprehensive win
It was a difficult evening with regards to the conditions and the pitch. We've done a lot of work in the last week or so on quick play. The surface through the middle was difficult to play so we were big on switching the ball and getting it wide to use our forward runners. We wanted to play with a high tempo and to be fair to the kids they did great.
on going for more goals in the second half
We said at half-time that 2-0 can be a funny scoreline because if they got one then they would have been back in it. But we got the third goal straight away in the second half and that sort of broke Peterborough's hearts. We were very efficient in the first half, which is what was required and then we got the third goal. We asked the kids to follow a plan and they've done it. After the third goal it was one-way traffic.
on the cup being a nice distraction to the league
We use our under-18 league to give experience to other players and for those who can't get in the Youth Cup sides. It's not a league for us, it's more about development where it's another session at the end of the week for the kids. To stay in the Youth Cup you've got to win and we've had two wins now where we've looked really decent. The league stuff is about developing players and so is the Youth Cup to a certain extent. It's great that we've won and we've played well. But we're looking for players who can play at the next level, deal with the pressure at the next level and can play against and with top-class players. That's what we're looking for and we shouldn't get away from the fact that we are still in a development situation.
on Daniel Crowley's performance
When Dan's in the top third and does it right he's a very good player but I don't want to highlight just Dan Crowley. I thought the team in general were very good and they followed a gameplan, they were efficient so I was pleased with everyone including the lads who came on and the lads who didn't play. It's a squad thing and I don't like to single out individual players but I'll give you that he played well.
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