Miguel Azeez has had to be patient for first-team involvement since returning from his loan spell at Portsmouth, but yesterday was a notable occasion for the youngster.
Azeez was initially named as the extra man for Arsenal’s game against Brighton but he was promoted to the substitutes bench as Mazeed Ogungbo was a late withdrawal.
Although Azeez is still waiting for his Premier League debut, his involvement with the squad was a reward for some encouraging performances for Arsenal at U23 level of late.
It has been a somewhat strange season for Azeez. After catching the eye towards the end of pre-season, he joined Portsmouth on loan.
Azeez’s spell at Portsmouth didn’t work out quite as expected and he didn’t play as much as had been hoped but he did still gain some useful experience of being in a first-team environment.
Upon returning to Arsenal’s U23 squad, Azeez struggled a little initially and appeared devoid of confidence.
One of the main criticisms levelled at Azeez is that, for all the technical ability he possesses, he doesn’t always dominate games and take them by the scruff of the neck.
Of late, however, the 19-year-old has been playing with much more freedom and his performances have been of a high standard.
Azeez’s aim for the remainder of the campaign will be to make his Premier League debut, with another loan spell likely next season.
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Jeorge Bird is the author of www.arsenalyouth.wordpress.com Follow him on Twitter @jeorgebird
I’ve always thought he should be pushing sambi for a place… can’t be much worse with him in midfield than the shambles during the first half yesterday can it?? Neither Odegaard nor Smith Rowe is a central midfielder built for the premier League… Arteta should stop those experiments! Who knows? Jack may just have put in a shift…
I’m afraid it can get worse. Arteta is an excellent up and coming manager. He’s smart, knows what he wants and is very meticulous and hard working. But he’s not ready for a major club like Arsenal and he’s especially not well suited for managing such a young squad. Azeez and the others will need a much more experienced hand if we are to build a title winning team.
There may be lots of valid criticisms of Arteta as a manager, but I am surprised that you would think “he’s especially not well suited for managing such a young squad.” The evidence is he has done pretty well precisely with a young squad. The typical narrative–which may be wrong–is that a new manager like Arteta, unless he was a generational superstar like Cruyff or Zidane, has much more difficulty with big stars than with young players.
Perhaps you’re right, but I still feel that with such a young inexperienced squad, we’d have been better served by a steady experienced manager. There’s just too much inexperience running through the whole set-up at the moment
Like Big Sam?
The most successful Project Yourh was ManU’s 2995/6 squad and they have a very seasoned Ferguson plus Cantona to guide them. Our own experiment with the Fabregas squad came agonizingly close to glory and had Wenger guiding the process. I just can’t think of a situation where such a young squad as we now have achieved success without having an experienced manager at the helm.
I agree with you on Azeez, watched him a couple of years back when we played Duldalk? in Ueropa, man he was good that day, bossing the middle field. Lessor opposition yes but because we are experimenting all the time we can throw him in
What are you talking about? Sambi is excellent and was one of our best players against Brighton. He’s a future captain of Belgium!
Fuck me, everyone loses their head after a couple of bad results.
Target this season – top 6. Well on course, we’re just gutted that top 4 is slipping away…..it’s still possible though so stop being so fucking negative !!! 👊💥
Sorry, re-read and I don’t think you were saying Sambi is shit. I agree Ø and ESR are not CMs so Xhaka should be there, not Azeez……
We need to stick to 4-2-3-1 and find a solution at number 9 IMHO x
Give Biereth a shot… if you’re good enough you’re old enough.
Having said that – for all my crits of Eddie on here – he was lively when he came on vs Brighton.
I mean if Xhaka somehow remains as LB, than besides Sambi it is somehow an option, but for stability I would much prefer to play Elneny.
The main criticism is equally valid for the first teams last few outings.
The loan to Portsmouth didn’t work out as expected but he’s still an excellent young player. If we end up in the Europa League it could be a blessing for a few youngsters like him who’re on the fringes of the first team. In the unlikely scenario that we make the Champions League then they all need to be loaned out, we can’t have them wasting time with just a couple of games in the cups.
He could be a big fish in a small pond. The epl is even a bigger pond/pool.
He could be out of his depth and deflate his confidence.
Hopefully it wont be the case
That bloke behind him in the picture could have been useful to us about now too!!!!
Can’t we recall Hector for the rest of the season? I’m afraid Tomi’s leg is going to gang up with KT’s for the rest of the season.
Shame that Maitland-Niles didn’t stick around. The 3 positions he has played in the first team are the 3 positions up for grabs now. However, I am a believer that if a player is leaving the club next month he should be stood aside to give others their chances. Laca, Elneny and Nketiah are definite leavers. I would prefer to Bierith, Hutchinson and Azeez placed ahead of them for a place on the bench. I disagree about Odegaard he could be a deep lying playmaker in a 433. Personally I would try ESR as a false 9 with Martinelli and… Read more »
One for next season.