UEFA Youth League Arsenal v Galatasaray Wednesday 1 October 2014

by Andrew Crawshaw

As you all know Arsenal dominated the game and ran out winners by five goals to one. The scoreline fully reflected the way that a youthful Arsenal team dominated the game and was a true reflection of the performances of the two teams on the day. For a full report on the game I would recommend the Match report- Crowley outstanding as Arsenal U19s thrash Galatasaray from Jeorge Bird’s Arsenal Youth Blog – he is the ‘go to’ guy for information on the younger teams and players. There is also a brief highlights clip currently on Arsenal Player. I would hope that they would have more extended coverage available soon as they carried the full game live.

Here are my thoughts on the game and the peripherals.

Meadow Park is the home of Borehamwood and also Arsenal Ladies, they allow half price entry to their own games on production of an Arsenal season ticket, so if you are able to go when there isn’t a game at the Emirates it’s worth thinking about. The ground is about a 15 minute walk from Elstree and Borehamwood BR station along the Shenley Road (the high street) and go left at the roundabout then into the public car park and through the far corner. The High Street has the usual range of Coffee shops and a variety of restaurants and pubs so food to suit all tastes is available. The Elstree studios are at the far end of the High Street and continue their history of Film production to this day (although currently more for TV than Cinema).

The cost for entry to the game was Nothing – free

I arrived in plenty of time and had a wide choice of seats, there are stands along both long sides of the ground with perfectly adequate seating. Having had coffee and a sandwich at one of the national chains of coffee shops on the High Street, I didn’t need anything from the Lunch Box in the ground but if you are in need of tea, coffee, burgers, hot dogs, bacon rolls etc they are all very good from past experience. There is also good phone signal and even BT Wi-FI available within the ground.

The opening salvo’s in the game were fairly cagey, both teams feeling each other out, Arsenal having the better attacking opportunities with an early chance for Hinds who shot over, twice during the first half the young guns hit the woodwork, Crowley hitting the angle of bar and upright and Iwobi finding the bottom of the post. At the other end Huddart had to be alert to stop a good effort from Galatasaray. At the end of the half, Zelalem who was playing as the deeper lying midfielder, came to life, dribbled past three defenders and scored his first Arsenal goal with an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net.

Halftime and we were one nil up having been by far the better team but without the goals to show for our dominance. That soon changed in the second half.

The second goal came from a run down the Left side by Willock, he passed to the full back Moore on an overlapping run, his low cross into the box was swept home by Hinds for a great team goal.

The third was scored by Willock following a cross from the right hand side with a cool finish under the keeper. The fourth was a thundering shot from Iwobi along the ground from the right hand side of the goal.

The last Arsenal goal was a penalty by Crowley after he was fouled in the area. He immediately grabbed the ball and made it quite clear that he wasn’t letting anyone else take it.

The Galatasaray goal came with about the last kick of the game with substitute Kopuz striking home from the edge of the penalty area when Arsenal had failed to clear properly.

It was an outstanding team performance by the young Arsenal players, five goals all scored by a different player. Players for particular mention are the goalkeeper Ryan Huddart who is a great prospect for the future and was alert throughout the game and couldn’t do anything about the goal; Daniel Crowley, who has a similar influence to Wilshere at the same age, and was driving the team forward throughout. Everyone else played their part in a thoroughly dominant performance.

By the way the referee was excellent, called fouls as they occurred and spotted the foul on Crowley for which he correctly awarded a penalty – a refreshing change.

Four in the afternoon and how to fill the time before the kick off at the Emirates in the evening. The journey to the Emirates looked to be about an hour to an hour and a half depending on the combination of busses and trains chosen and I was feeling peckish. I had been talking through the game to one of the regular away supporters and I apologise to him but I really cannot remember his name. He suggested the Golden Plaice on Shenley Road, a local Fish and Chip restaurant he had used before. Fish and Chips sounded good to me so we walked there. A most excellent choice and one I would wholeheartedly recommend to others. Good fish, good chips, mushy peas or salad and at a very reasonable price.

Onwards then to the Emirates for a desert of four more goals. A really good day out and I would hope that a few more of you will be encouraged to make the effort to get to the U19s European games in the future.

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