Arsenal Vs Blackpool: Joe Willock display vindicates Freddie Ljungberg

Arsenal’s youngsters, led by Joe Willock, were prepared for senior football ahead of Saturday’s 3-0 win over Blackpool. Their displays, and Willock’s in particular, vindicate Freddie Ljungberg’s decision to push for inclusion in the Checkatrade trophy.

I turned on the TV to watch Arsenal’s opening FA Cup match of the season, a third-round tie away to Blackpool. The pitch was a swathe of brown and bruises, clearly unkept, a true lower-league auditorium. It was in this environment last season that the Gunners fell to Nottingham Forest in rather humiliating fashion. I was worried the same may happen again.

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I could not have been more wrong. Arsenal played with great professionalism and control. They scored the early goal, commanded the match in the midfield, and held a battling Blackpool who had their moments at arm’s length for the remainder of the match. In the end, it was comfortable.

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The team that Unai Emery selected had plenty of young players. The oldest member of the front four was 22. I was wary of how they would deal with playing against senior defenders, experienced, wily players who had mastered the dark arts and just knew how to manipulate their bodies — and their opponents — to protect their goal.

Well, the Arsenal youngster, with Joe Willock and his two goals chief among them, came through with flying colours. They passed the test easily, scoring three goals and create a hat-full of chances more.

As I was watching this oddly composed performance, I was drawn to something Freddie Ljungberg, now a youth coach at London Colney, said earlier in the season when asked about the reversing the decision to not enter a youth team into the Checkatrade Trophy (EFL Trophy):

"“It’s important for the players to be in atmospheres like this, on different pitches, in different dressing rooms. There were a lot of tackles flying in, that’s part of football. That’s why we want to be in this competition [EFL Trophy]. It’s different from youth football <…> Against men it’s different. They are physically stronger. I remember last week [a 6-2 loss to Cheltenham] someone told me Bukayo got pushed off the pitch and he was stood there asking ‘what happened here’. That doesn’t happen in youth football. It’s great education for them.”"

If there was a way to describe the performance of Willock and the other young players, it would be prepared. They were ready for what Blackpool were going to do to them. And that comes from experience, from playing games against senior teams, from making starts in the Europa League, from being pushed into the first-team training, not just remaining safe and training with the youth teams.

Willock especially was excellent. His two goals showed an added tactical nous that was not present last season. He occupied spaces that made him difficult to mark. He would drop deep, drift wide, even run in behind, all when the moment called for it. It was an intelligent performance that belied his years, as if he had been playing senior football for decades and knew just how to outmanoeuvre the opponent at each moment.

That is testament to Ljungberg, his coaching and his decision to thrust these young players into the EFL Trophy. They were tested and they came out the other end better for it. The future is bright at Arsenal.