The future's bright for Bould

Arsenal youth-team coach Steve Bould believes several of his players can make an impact at senior level.



The former Gunners centre-back watched his under-18 side win the Academy Premier League Final 1-0 against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane on Sunday, writes Stewart Coggin.

Rhys Murphy scored the only goal of the match after half-time, and it was just reward for an Arsenal side who dominated much of the encounter, creating several chances along the way.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is renowned for the emphasis he places on youth, and on the evidence of this vibrant second-half performance, he may be able to look forward to promoting several players from the club's academy in the coming seasons.

"I think winning this and getting to the Youth Cup Final is the reward for the kids," Bould told premierleague.com. "The gaffer (Wenger) has openly spoken about the fact we have good young kids. We do believe we have good players, and lots are English, so there is a little crop who are going to break through at some stage. They have got a great start, they have great characters.

"The overall season has been fabulous in terms of results and the big thing for me as a coach is that we have players who the manager is looking at and talking about. We are having a bit of success at the moment, Kieran Gibbs has done fabulously in the first-team and hopefully we can get one or two more through."

decent outfit

Bould was full of praise for his players, especially central midfielders Francis Coquelin and Emmanuel Frimpong who turned in commanding displays in the middle of the pitch.

"I thought they (Coquelin and Frimpong) were fabulous. I thought we dominated the second-half, but in the first half they had more of the ball and we didn't really perform at the level we have been this year," he continued. "We asked them at half time to be a bit braver in terms of possession and I thought second-half we played particularly well, created chances and looked a decent outfit.

"I thought the back six from the start of the game were fabulous. I thought the four forward players didn't play as well as they could in the first-half, but they improved massively in the second-half. As I say, we were a much better team in the second-half."

Bould and his players will soon turn their attentions to the first leg of the FA Youth Cup final against Liverpool on Friday.

"It's another tough game and I hope the legs aren't too badly affected after this," he added. "We'll have a relax over the next couple of days and then start thinking about Liverpool."

Spurs coach Alex Inglethorpe admitted Arsenal deserved their win, but felt the match could prove important in his players' footballing education.

"I'm sure both teams are capable of playing better than they played," he said. "It was quite cagey, the first-half especially both teams were cancelling each other out and there weren't that many chances. We can certainly play better, but Arsenal deserve a lot of credit. They are an outstanding side who deserved it on the day. We didn't manage to find a way of solving the problems they presented us with.

"It was another experience for the players we've got, and another block in their development. I thought there were a lot of good players on view today."