Bartley and Watt in action again

 

Picture courtesy of theFA.com

Sanchez Watt and Kyle Bartley both played 40 minutes in the Algarve Tournament as England u-17s won 2-0 against France. Bartley was solid in the tackle and helped to keep a clean sheet in the first half, whilst Watt showed some good touches before being substituted. Gilles Sunu was in action for France.

England’s next game is against Portugal on Tuesday.

Loan watch: Vela fails to shine in defeat

Seven young Arsenal players are on loan at other clubs until the end of the season in order to gain experience. They are Mark Randall and Kieran Gibbs, who are at Burnley and Norwich respictively, Jay Simpson is with Millwall whilst Fran Merida, Carlos Vela and Pedro Silva are all in Spain with Real Sociedad, Osasuna and Salamanca. Vincent van den Berg is with Go Ahead Eagles. Keep up to date on their progress here…

Carlos Vela played 84 minutes as Barcelona snatched a 1-0 win right at the death thanks to Xavi’s late strike after good work from Giovani Dos Santos.

In the first half, Vela didn’t have much space and was constantly crowded out by the Barcelona defenders. He had one half chance that he hit wide.

He didn’t fare much better in the second, as he was stranded in midfield. He was fouled by Eric Abidal but his team-mates wasted the resulting free-kick.

It may not have been the most convincing performance from Carlos and I expected to see more of him tonight, but you have to realise how young he is and the fact that he was playing against Barcelona away. It’s another part of the learning curve for him though and hopefully he’ll put in a decent performance in the next game.

Two other youngsters currently on loan in Spain are Fran Merida and Pedro Silva. Fran’s Real Sociedad side drew 1-1 at home to SD Eibar and Pedro played 90 minutes as Salamanca lost 2-1 to Sevilla’s B team.

Big test ahead for Vela

Well, today Carlos Vela’s Osasuna take on Barcelona in La Liga and it should be a cracking game to watch. Hopefully Carlos will be involved and if he were to get on the scoresheet then it would underline his potential as a future superstar. He has done really well so far in Spain, his work-rate and technical ability are second to none, whilst he certainly knows where the goal is. It should be intresting as there’s an added incentive for Barca seeing as Real Madrid lost to Almeria yesterday, so they will be up for it but Carlos should be up for the task. A couple of other loanees; Pedro Silva and Fran Merida may also be in action today and of course we will keep you informed of how they get on.

Kyle Bartley and Sanchez Watt were both in action for England u-17s yesterday in the Algarve tournament as they helped the Three Lions beat Denmark 3-0. Bartley played the whole game, whilst Watt was substituted at half-time. They take on France today, with the squad likely to be rotated to avoid tiredness.

The pair’s international commitments meant that they were absent for the 2-0 home defeat to West Ham in the Academy League yesterday morning at London Colney, here’s the West Ham report.

There’s more on Luke Freeman, as Arséne Wenger talks about the qualities he will bring to the club, whilst West Ham u-18s coach Tony Carr talks about how his Hammers side kept him Luke quiet yesterday.

Thanks for reading and there’ll be more tomorrow.