Watch Arsenal kid’s bow against Fulham
History was being made while Arsenal ended the 20009/10 campaign in style a week ago.
Henri Lansbury made his Premier League debut against Fulham following a bright loan spell at Watford which earned him a long-term contract at Arsenal earlier this season.
And like Kierran Gibbs – who debuted in 2007’s Emirates Cup – Lansbury did not look out of sorts at all during his first team bow.
Below was the 20-year-old’s decent cameo last Sunday.
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I will much prefer this kid taking the occasional midfield role than skinny, light-weight Eastmond any day!
Lets not hate on Eastmond, but I agree Lansbury is better.
Eastmond plays in Song’s position. Lansbury is a more offensive player, so he wouldn’t get picked over Eastmond at CDM.
That’s what I am saying. Eastmond is being played in the wrong position. I’m not trying to bash the boy but he appears too short and light-weight for one of the most physically demanding positions in football, which is defensive midfield.
Even big Abou finds it hard to play DM so it’s surely Wenger’s risk in deploying a small teenager in a position meant for the ‘dogs and tigers’ of footballers (the Essien’s, Makelele’s and Gattuso’s.)
Flamini appeared a small guy but he had the incredible energy and strength to back it up. Eastmond is small but he is not that and it is not his fault.
Again, I don’t blame the boy – it’s Wenger who often threw him out there into fire (like he always does with kids). I do know that Eastmond has been playing in that DM role for the reserves but the boy doesn’t appear ready physically.
That’s why I said if Wenger was to throw out another youngster in midfield, then I’ll rather have it be Lansbury than Eastmond because the former has more stamina on the ball and is more of a ‘Ramsey’.
In fact, this is a major concern in our squad. It seems like we only have ONE defensive midfielder in the 25-man squad and that’s Alex Song. Denilson is not a DM, neither is Diaby and definitely not Eastmond.
That said, I miss the year 2007/08 when we were rich of four DM’s in one squad with Diarra, Flamini, Gilberto and Song all available.
Ever since we cleared three of them out, Wenger has continuously seemed confused in playing attacking midfielders at DM or naming a line-up without a DM when Song is not around.
WE NEED MORE DEFENSIVE-MINDED PLAYERS IN THIS F**KING SQUAD, god damn it!!!
Agreed
I met him on Friday night at Hertfordshire University’s club called the Forum. I spoke to him, he doesn’t seem cocky, just a general person. I said I hope he makes it next season at Arsenal.. let’s hope he does!
Really? Out getting his drink on or what? 😉
Ye he offered to buy us some drinks but I said no.. I didn’t realised who it was till after.. so I went up to him just to make sure. But I’m sure he was allowed to as it was end of the season.
i pressed L1 and O to score with vela the lob
what kind of fulham squad did we play against last week .was it decent or a bunch of their reserves
Dude, Eastmond is just 19, he is almost 6 foot tall and has time to develop physicality; he is taller than all the guys you mention as DMs, and yes he is of course not nearly as good as any of them but there is no way you know that he can’t eventually be that good. I bet if he was running around like crazy, showing this “engine” you speak of, you would say he is pulling the “headless chicken” act – a la Flamini before his one great season.
That said, I completely agree that we need another DM, especially because Eastmond is definitely not ready yet, but that’s no excuse to declare someone has failed even before they got a real chance.
So, with Lansbury back – give him the chance .Having played in the rough and tough of the Campionship League if he is not ready now when will he be. Send Eastmond on loan and let a team like Watford groomhim for us. With Wiltshire surely ready and our Welsh hero back by Christmas. we should be OK there.LaurieB