Under-18s head coach Adam Birchall was delighted with our performance in a big 5 - 2 win over Southampton on Saturday.
Despite going a goal down after 16 minutes, we equalised just ten minutes later through Dan Casey.
Two more goals from Casey secured his hat-trick and put us in control before the midfielder turned provider to set up Zecevic-John for our fourth.
The Saints pulled a goal back from a set piece in the 86th minute, but we showed our character once again with a stoppage time goal from substitute Alex Marciniak.
On the performance…
“Yeah I said to the boys that we should be pleased with the scoreline, obviously winning the game but also to score five goals is really pleasing.
“I didn’t think we were anywhere near our best to start the game, for the first 30 minutes we were too passive, that was something we had to fix at half-time. It was really important that we learn from that because we were on the back foot during that period and could’ve been more goals down.
“But credit to the boys, they showed personality again, I was really pleased with their mindset in the second half.”
On the importance of our character…
“It’s vital for them to have a career. You have to have the mentality every day, on and off the pitch, to really try and find your next level. Certainly for them as scholars it’s about learning the behaviours that will help them and that really starts with their mentality.
“We’re big on that (mentality) at training, and then we use the games to assess it as well. I was pleased again as well with that in the second half, but I wasn’t pleased with the first 30 minutes today.”
On Dan Casey’s performance…
“Dan’s really reliable with his finishing actions, he’s got really good technical efficiency in the final moments. When you speak to Dan and I spoke to him, the importance of his teammates in the goals today, Louis (Zecevic) John and Daniel (Oyetunde), really epitomise what we’re about at Arsenal.
“If someone’s in a better position, give them the ball in and around the box. Yes, Dan will get the plaudits today, but there were some real brilliant moments from the team and individuals.”
On integrating new players…
“It’s great! We’ve had a bit of illness actually this week in the camp so it’s created a lot of opportunities. I thought Jack did really well in goal today, Brando created the pass before the key pass on Dan Casey’s goal.
“There’s opportunities for young players, I think I said it after the Norwich game, we want to give opportunities to young players and if they’re good enough, they’re old enough. The opportunity is there, today I’m pleased they’ve stepped up and taken the opportunity.
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