Birchall pleased to see U18s get over the line | Interview

Adam Birchall was pleased to see our under-18s convert a good performance against West Ham United into a win.

Our young Gunners fell behind in the sixth-minute, but battled back to win 2-1 in east London thanks to goals from Evan Mooney and Louis Zecevic-John.

“We’re really pleased,” Birchall said after the game, “a big challenge over the last month for the lads has been to turn our good performances into wins and make winning a habit.

“That’s an important thing for young players. Definitely over the last month I’ve seen performances that should be wins, so today, to put on a performance and get the win was really, really pleasing.

“It should have been easier, in my opinion, we had so many high-value chances. But I think we showed a lot more maturity in controlling and managing the game. Overall, a pleasing day.”

Our standout player at Little Heath Sports Ground in Tuesday’s game was Louis Zecevic-John, who not only scored the winner, but did so out of position at right-back.

Birchall sung Zecevic-John’s praises, but while admitting he was “really impressed” our under-18s head coach was “not surprised” by the winger-turned-full-back’s performance.

“We played him there last year, I think it was against Luton in the unde-17s. He’s a player that is versatile, you see his physicality, he’s able to get up and down.

“I thought his aerial duels were outstanding today, but his ability also to travel with the ball. So I think we all gave him a round of applause (in the dressing room) just because he’s playing out of position… or is he?”

Zecevic-John is one of many players who have played several positions for our academy teams this season, across under-18s, under-19s and under-21s level.

Birchall emphasised how important it is for young players to have that versatility that will improve their chances of turning professional.

“I think all players, if you’re a good football player, I think you can play in multiple positions. It’s just whether it fits into our principles of play and our style and what we want to do.

“So I think Louis showed today that he’s intelligent enough to play at right-back. But as a right-winger, for example, at times he finds himself defending deep in 1v1 duels against opposition wingers or full-backs.

“The position does match a little bit in terms of what he’s been asked to do, but yeah, it’s really important that players can do it.”

With plenty of the focus on our attacking players after we scored two excellent goals, Birchall was also keen to highlight our defensive qualities in seeing out the result.

“We had to second year under-18s playing with the first years, which we haven’t really had a lot this season; it’s probably one of the oldest teams we’ve put out this year. But that was mainly in attacking areas, apart from Kari in goal and Josh at left-back.

“I though Pat (Stachow) and Abraham (Owusu-Gyasi) at centre-back did really, really well and showed a lot of leadership in terms of helping us defend low, and I think that was a good part of the game.

“Although we didn’t run away with the score, it kept it edgy and it asked things of players that have to try and get a career. As a winger foe example, Brando, can he get back and defend on the edge of the box on crosses? Things like that, rather than thinking about attacking all the time.

“So yeah, the game brought up different challenges and I was pleased the players rose to them; I enjoyed today.”