This evening I sat at home and watched the Newcastle v. Birmingham match just to see how the two Arsenal loanees would play. So I thought I'd do a match review on the two Arsenal youngsters' performances for those of you who couldn't bring themselves to watch the match or simply missed it.
The two Arsenal youngsters on show were Fabrice Muamba and Sebastian Larsson, whilst Niklas Bendtner is recovering from an ankle injury and did not play. It is shame that the young Dane is injured as he was developing so well this season and it remains to be seen how much game time he gets when he's fit and returns to the team.
Newcastle played poorly in the first half and looked almost jet-lagged or shell shocked from their heroics on the weekend. When I say heroics, you know what I mean. They beat some second rate side from the Seven Sisters Road. Let me re-phrase that sentence... Newcastle played poorly in the first half and looked almost jet-lagged or shell shocked from their efforts on the weekend.
After a while Newcastle woke up and Milner struck the ball from some 30 yards out and it sailed into the left side of the Birmingham net to get the Toon back in the match. As soon as I'd written the previous sentence, Newcastle fell asleep again and Taylor was sent off for pulling down Campbell on the edge of the area. He was the last man and he walked. Birmingham went 3-1 up from the ensuing free kick. Larsson and Campbell scored late on to humiliate the Toon even further.
Name: Fabrice Muamba
Number: 26
DOB: 6-4-1988
Nationality: English
Position: Defensive midfielder
Height: 6'2
Weight: 12st 4lbs
The obvious comparisons are made with Vieira and will continue to until the young man has made a name for himself. I don't like the idea of saying "someone is the next someone". I feel that it demeans the younger player and pigeon holes them. Why should Muamba or Diaby for that matter be referred to as the next Vieira? They are in fact the next Diaby and Muamba, both players of enormous potential.
He is a tall, leggy and combative midfielder but he seemed to sit in front of the back four for large parts of the first half. He chased back well, when he was caught behind the ball and challenged well for headers. He worked hard all night and was replaced with ten minutes to go.
I'd give him 7/10.
Name: Sebastian Larsson
Number: 7
DOB: 6-6-1985
Nationality: Swedish
Position: Right midfielder
Height: 5'10
Weight: 11st
Larsson looks like a boy amongst men in my opinion, which in itself is not a fatal flaw, as Michael Owen can testify. His tackling is persistent and energetic, in a similar vein to Ljungberg, but his forte is crossing the ball. He doesn't have bags of pace but perhaps with extra training he could develop his explosive power.
Larsson supplied a sublime cross for McSheffrey to slot home and stun the home fans. He then supplied the pass for Campbell to cross and force the own goal from Solano, which sent the visitors two up. His passing is confident and imaginative and but for poor finishing he could have set up another two in the first half.
Larsson took the free kick that followed the sending off and it rebounded off the wall to N'Gotty who put the visitors 3-1 up. In the 83rd minute Larsson was put through in the penalty box and calmly slotted home Birmingham's fourth. He picked up a knock in scoring and was replaced two minutes later.
Reports suggest that Larsson will sign a full-time contract with Birmingham in this transfer window, with an amount of £500,000 being mooted. At 21 he is still young but he has played well at Birmingham and they will get a good player for almost no money. I believe in some ways that his age is against him at Arsenal. He has undoubted talent but he hasn't developed as quickly as he should have and 'potential' isn't enough to get you in the first team squad at Arsenal. If he was still under 20 I don't think Wenger would be so willing to let him go, which is the case with both Muamba and Bendtner.
I'd give him 8.5/10.
To be honest, prior to kick off I was more interested in watching Muamba play tonight but Larsson stole the show. He was involved in all four Birmingham goals (before he was substituted) and I'm sure we'll see lots of him next year in the Premiership. I just hope that Arsenal put the price up after this performance because he's worth more than £500,000, that's for sure.
