Last night saw the return of our beloved Croatian Eduardo Dudu Da Silva in the lineup of Arsenal Reserves at Underhill. In 45 minutes of play before being retired with a mild hamstring pull of the right thigh, Eduardo showed glimpses of his former self, despite having been out of the game for 10 months. After 3 minutes he could have had a penalty claim, after twelve minutes saw his first of several efforts on goal. His best being a left foot effort on 21 minutes that saw his technique try to curve the ball just inside the near post of the Portsmouth keeper. He also contributed in trying the win the ball back in midfield with a lunging tackle. This was what we all wanted to see.
The tense psychology associated with the renewal of physical contact was removed at a stroke with that tackle, and it appears that despite our fears, Eduardo has suffered no significant mental effects. Whilst it will be several weeks before he returns the full first team squad, the fact that he made such an impact upon his return to professional football is very encouraging. The game finally ended win a vital 2-nil win for the reserves with a stunning left foot shot from just outside the area from Keiran Gibbs, and a good finish from Mark Randall in the dying seconds after a Bergkamp like slide rule pass from midfielder Fran Merida. Arsenal Reserves now lie second in the table, one point behind leaders Aston Villa who they beat in the last game.
Elsewhere the club announced that it had reached a long term contractual agreement with Reserves skipper Gavin Hoyte. The statement on Arse com read
“Arsenal can confirm that young defender Gavin Hoyte has signed a new long term contract with the Club.
England Youth International Hoyte (18), has been with Arsenal since the age of nine and signed professional terms with the Club in September 2007.”
Finally on a note that has been handed to me by the department for foreign affairs at the club, managed by Dutch public relations officer Iam Takin de Piss, the Arsenal Reserves are going to relocate from their current home at Underhill in Barnet, to join a Stadium share with Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. Tottenham who announced their stadium to the world yesterday revealed the source of their inspiration for the design of their 60,000 enterprise.
Chairman Mr Levy said…
"The brief I gave the architects KSS was to design an iconic stadium that would be one of the best in Europe.”