James Collins has described Friday evening’s Premier League 2 performance against Arsenal as ‘excellent’.
Wolves under-21s became just the second team all season to defeat the Gunners, as Ty Barnett’s brace secured a 2-1 victory at Aggborough. Head coach Collins believes his side got exactly what they deserved and has praised a number of individual displays within the team performance and in particular, Barnett’s.
On taking all three points
“You don’t beat Arsenal very often and you always have to work to beat Arsenal. I thought the performance was excellent.
“We spoke about not over playing from goal kicks because we knew how good they were at pressing high up the pitch. We wanted to get some control in the middle of the pitch and then play our football – I thought we did that.
“There were a couple of moments they had – Jimmy made a brilliant save. But we hit the bar and had another good chance in the first half so I think we thoroughly deserved to win.”
On bouncing back from the Bournemouth defeat
“It’s always funny in development football because those results do happen with young players but there always seems to be a bit of a panic by everyone else other than us that it shouldn’t happen. Every so often you get one of them.
“We learnt a lot about ourselves. The boys had a players meeting this week without us coaches there and took some ownership which is brilliant. They took some things from Bournemouth which is great.
“They’ve gone out tonight and, in their heads, almost proved everybody wrong that we are a good team, we do have good players.
“In league football, you have to do that. Winning tonight isn’t the be-all and end-all, losing to Bournemouth isn’t the be-all and end-all.
“It’s not first-team football, it’s development football. I think there were great signs of development tonight.”
On individual displays
“I thought Ty (Barnett) worked his socks off, scored a brilliant goal. He’s becoming a man. Alfie Pond was outstanding defending the outside space which he hasn’t been asked to do a lot and I thought he did that brilliantly, as did Nigel (Lonwijk).
“The goalkeeper (Jimmy Storer) who got sent off the last time he played hasn’t made a fuss, hasn’t moaned about it. He just got on with it and played like that.
“There’s loads of learning, loads of development as always. It’s always nice to win football matches and to beat Arsenal who have only lost once all season is a great achievement.”
On Ty Barnett’s goals and performance
“His first goal is his ability – his technique is outstanding with both feet. The second goal is what he needs to do more of, and he knows that.
“He’s running in there more than he ever did. That’s his game – he has to make impact on the game. You have to score goals, make goals and then also do the work.
“Maybe as a young kid he didn’t have to do the third bit because you don’t when you’re a kid and you’re a good player.
“He’s learning that and he’s getting better all the time. He’s got loads to come, loads still to go and I’m sure he’ll be the first to admit that. It was a good night for him tonight and he deserves it for the work he’s put in.”
