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A Teenage Arsenal With Myles Lewis Skelly becoming a sensation on his England debut, I decided to take a look at Arsenal players who were teenage debutants for England and this is what I came up with courtesy of http://englandfootballonline.com/TeamPlyrs/PlyrsYoung.html I also decided to pick my best 11 from all the players in the above list but with my usual criteria. Cliff Bastin - his scoring record stood a long time Players I considered Cliff Bastin Walcott Wiltshire Chambers Chamberlain Skelly Saka Sterling Jack Butland Duncan Edwards Jude Bellingham Wayne Rooney M Owen John Barnes Micah Richards Luke Shaw Rio Ferdinand Jimmy Greaves Ray Wilkins J Woodgate Wes Brown Team I selected Jack Butland Chambers, Skelly, Ferdinand, Wes Brown Chamberlain, Wiltshire, Bellingham Saka, Bastin, Walcott Theo Walcott - still the youngest player ever to play for England Cliff Bastin 21 caps 12 goals Theo Walcott 47 caps 8 goals Jack Wiltshire 34 caps 2 goals Calum Chambers 3 caps 0 goals Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain 35 caps 7 goals Myles Lewis Skelly 2 caps 1 goal Bukayo Saka 43 caps 12 goals How I made my selection Raheem Sterling also made it but I don’t feel he should be on the list as he didn’t play for Arsenal and England at the same time so far and maybe never will. With seven players I couldn’t make a team but I have decided to automatically include Arsenal players and pick the best of the rest. I also stuck to players from my own era although I included the legendary Cliff Bastin as Arsenal players were automatic. I filled the team out with Jack Butland in goal. Goalkeepers rarely get a teenage chance nor do defenders so pickings were harder there. I went for Chambers and Skelly as full backs and Rio Ferdinand as the only true top class defender from the rest. I chose Wes Brown to partner him but with 23 England caps he can hardly be called a legend. Should I have included Raheem Sterling? Attack and midfield had plenty of options but after deciding that Duncan Edwards, being before my time, couldn’t be included I left him out despite a lot of pundits reckoning him to be the greatest ever. I decided on a 4 3 3 and put Chamberlain, Wiltshire and Jude Bellingham in there. Ray Wilkins was also a serious contender but Bellingham really looks class. A very strong front three Upfront I put Saka, Bastin and Walcott, with Wayne Rooney, Jimmy Greaves, John Barnes and Michael Owen strong contenders. It is a strong side and as a few of these are still playing it could get even better. Nwaneri could easily come in there soon as well. Saka - Our best teenager ever? The fact that there are only 69 teenagers to play for England shows how unusual it is to get such a chance. Players have rarely come through the academy to the first team at that age so they won’t be picked. It does happen at small countries as academy players at top teams are considered better options than players who have never got out of the lower divisions. Many Irish players have this distinction with Robbie Keane among the most prominent. Jack Butland was the only goalkeeper I noticed on the list I feel only Bukayo Saka of the above is a contender for playing in the greatest English team of all time although Skelly and Nwaneri may make that category over time. Walcott, surprisingly, has the most caps although surely Saka will overtake him. Saka does have the most goals along with Cliff Bastin although Bastin achieved his in only 21 games. He must have been some player. Many players don’t make it For those of you who are younger among my readers, I can assure you of one thing, Walcott, Wiltshire, Chambers and Oxlade-Chamberlain were players who we were pretty certain, in the early days of their careers, would go on to true greatness. Injuries were the bane of their lives and they never quite managed to hit the heights their talent would surely have taken them. I have read that Saka’s injury is among that category in that it can be difficult to fully recover from. He is a player I want to see back to his best and, for me, if they waited until they were sure, I would not object. Yes, he would be a great boost for our small hope in the Premier League and against Real Madrid and the rest in the Champions League but I would prefer to take no chances. We need him to be at his best. I have waited all my life for Champions League success and this year may be one of our best chances but still I would view Saka’s career as more important. Ethan Nwaneri - could he be our next teenager to play for England? Arsenal, with seven teenage players, are among the top teams to have had many players with such a distinction. Max Dorman is already touted as being the next big thing and let’s hope that happens. Judging by the past, a goalkeeper and defenders are the most rare so it might take some time until we can fit the rest of the team but we are getting there, and I guess maybe Sterling has a right to be included. He is an Arsenal player who played for England at 17. I wasn’t sure if it was fair to include him. Our superstar teenagers Myles Lewis-Skelly prompted this discussion and having seen him live a few times now I can say I just love watching him play. And I really love how the big superstar names around him like Partey, Jorginho, Odegaard, Rice, etc., have no problem giving him the ball knowing that he can do great things with it. Nwaneri the same. They know giving these players the ball is the right thing to do, they are fearless, they are strong, and superb footballers. They could be the mainstays of the team for many years. We need to nurture them, support them, allow them to grow and make mistakes, and we could have the new Xavi and Iniesta for example. Both have an eye for goal as well and it is difficult to be sure what their final positions could be. Both must be worth a fortune so we must keep them. And also to encourage the new kids coming along. Myles Lewis-Skelly - ready to become a great? Excelsior to the teenagers and c’mon the Arsenal.

Have we accidentally stumbled upon a new tactic? Are Myles Lewis Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri already first team regulars? Neither are necessarily playing in their best positions and I am not sure what their best positions are. Seemingly Lewis Skelly is a midfielder and Nwaneri a 10 but is that the reality? Is Saka a full back? That’s where he broke through into the first team. I feel that the Merino situation has transfixed the fans. People are arguing that Calafiori should be our striker. Everything is in flux regarding positions but our team are near the top and a strong run now could even get us the title, but only with a Liverpool collapse that is unlikely to happen. Myles Lewis-Skelly. But where should he play? Two areas that we are happy with though are Myles and Ethan. They look superb. They could get fast tracked into the England side. They look certain to make a major contribution there. And yet in what position? And is it really necessary to have a fixed position? Supposing we had five six players that could play many positions, is that not a great asset? How could opposing managers figure out their tactics if they don’t know where our players are playing? Maybe that is the next tactical switch to come? We no longer use fixed positions but change them up several times during a match? A bit like Tyson Fury switching from southpaw to orthodox and back again during his fights. We switch and we win At the moment I feel that along with Mikel Merino, Lewis Skelly, Ethan Nwaneri, Jurrien Timber, Ricardo Calafiori, Kai Havertz and Declan Rice could play several positions from attack to defence. Could you imagine the chaos caused by four, five or six players switching during a game and switching back again repeatedly? The opposition would be mesmerized. Ethan Nwaneri - could he be the new Ian Wright? Can you imagine the commentators the first time this was tried? They would say what’s going on here, lots of players are out of position? Have Arsenal lost their minds and players are running wherever they want to. Arteta will have a heart attack. But it would be actually Arteta’s plan. One player being in an strange position happens all the time in football and normally someone tries to cover but what about as a deliberate policy? You would need players capable of playing several positions at a top level but I feel that is possible for certain players. Heart attacks for defenders Maybe tiki taka and the high press has had their day and something new needs to be tried? A truer version of total football that is dynamic, and capable of instant change. Havertz goes into the centre strikers position, then Merino, then Nwaneri, etc. Defenders would be wondering what to do, and who best to take what player. Kai Havertz - nobody knows what his best position is. What do you think? Could it work? I don’t see why not. It could give us access to that most crucial of margins, goals in our favour. Maybe this striker injury deficit has thrown up a new way of thinking about the game. We are looking at all our players in the strikers role, it seems but what about the rest? The only changes we sometimes see at the moment in football is sometimes teams switch wingers when they feel a fullback is giving a winger a hard time. But can you imagine many switches regularly throughout a game? Goalkeepers and defenders having heart attacks would become the norm. They might even get frustrated and lash out at our players and get sent off.. That would be a nice change with other teams getting the red cards. Same old Arsenal? Never Of course Arteta would be accused of cheating again as he is with the set pieces. Pundits-and I am looking at you two Carragher and Neville, would be saying this is not fair, we don’t know what positions Arsenal’s players are playing in, they keep changing them, it’s not fair. Mikel Merino - will he stay in the middle? But would us fans care if we kept winning? Of course not. I even have a name for this new tactic and it is the Switcheroo. The moans from all the non Arsenal fans would be deafening, same old Arsenal, always cheating. Ricardo Calafiori - the new Roberto Baggio? C’mon Mikel Arteta, listen to this Irishman, bring on the Switcheroo and let’s win all our games until the other teams catch up and start copying you. We might get a few years particularly if Per Mertesacker starts training all the Academy players in the Switcheroo. And hey, I don’t want any money for this but a nice club level season ticket for free would be nice.