Arsenal u18s still winless post-Wilshere after 1-0 defeat | OneFootball

New Arsenal u18 boss Adam Birchall is still on the hunt for a first win after his side came unstuck late against Reading on Saturday.

Adam Birchall with the Arsenal academy (Photo via Arsenal.com)

Since Jack Wilshere’s departure to Norwich City, Adam Birchall has been in charge of the Arsenal u18s, but his team haven’t quite managed to find their feet since the change.

Starting with a game against Norwich at the end of last month, Arsenal took a 2-0 lead before slipping to a 3-2 defeat in the final 25 minutes.

The Gunners then drew 1-1 against Crystal Palace, a much better result having come back from 1-0 down. But Saturday’s game against Reading didn’t continue that positive momentum.

Jack Wilshere working as a coach at Norwich City (Photo via Norwich City FC on Twitter)

To Arsenal’s credit, they did have the upper hand for much of the clash at Reading’s Bearwood Park Training Ground. The Gunners had 58% possession, 18 shots to Reading’s 13, and seven on target to Reading’s four.

But none of those Arsenal chances led to a goal, giving Reading the opportunity to take a late lead through Verrell George in the 85th minute.

This time around, the goal came too late for Arsenal to mount yet another comeback.

Dan Casey playing for the Arsenal academy (Photo via Casey on Instagram)

“Complete domination of the game, so I was really pleased with how many chances we created today,” Birchall said of the performance afterwards.

“The bits that matter are putting the ball in the net and stopping them doing that. It was one of their breakaways that they scored from.

“The big challenge to the players is to try to mature, grow up and understand that teams don’t go away now they’re older. They’re not going to turn up and just be able to win.

“We had a lot of the ball, entered dangerous areas and created chances but we weren’t able to take them.”

Arsenal u18 lineup vs Reading

Ranson, Salmon, Clarke, Sweet, Ismail, Ibrahim, Copley, Julienne, Zecevic-John, Harriman-Annous, Bailey-Joseph

Substitutes

O’Neill (for Zecevic-John, 46), Casey (for Salmon, 60), Oyetunde (for Bailey-Joseph, 61), Onyekachukwu (for Julienne, 90+1), Porter

What’s next?

The Arsenal u18s take on Crystal Palace back at London Colney on Saturday, November 23rd at 11:00 GMT.