Jay Emmanuel-Thomas
A snippet of Jay Emmanuel-Thomas' ability on the ball can be found
on YouTube (videos not found), but, unfortunately,the cameras were
not on hand to capture his wonder-goal against Charlton last
week.The 16 year-old beat the goalkeeper from around the halfway
line to level the scores:
It was better than Beckhams, he beams. Their goalkeeper came
out of his area to keep the ball in play so as to hit it long.
James Dunne chased him down and the keeper panicked and cleared
the ball straight to me. I was inside our half on the left flank. I
could see the keeper was struggling to get back to his goal and so
I touched the ball forward a yard or so into their half before
taking a shot. The ball flew inch perfect into the goal. It was
definitely better than Beckhams. The youngster also delivered a
vital cross late on in the game to ensure the Gunners received a
share of the points.
Jay is happy with his season so far: Its been good. We had a hard
pre-season with a lot of running but I got used to training every
day quite quickly, he reports. We were all a little bit sore for
a few days but after that it was fine. Things have been made easier
for me in terms of travelling because I am now in digs in Barnet.
If I had stayed at home in Forest Gate, I would have to get up at
6.30 every morning to catch the 7.30 train to get in to training on
time. Fortunately I can now use that extra time for recovery, says
the powerfully built 6 ft 2 inch scholar: I really feel like I am
going to have a good season.
Jay has shown he is comfortable whether being played at left-back,
centre-back, centre midfield or even on the wing: I played left
midfield in a training game with the first team at the end of last
season and I think I did quite well. I feel I can adapt well to
whatever position I am asked to play, which has been mainly
left-back this season.
When Jay trained with the first team he was still a schoolboy, but
he was the only youth player to go up that day and so when he
needed to pair up for certain drills, he was partnered with a great
servant of Arsenal, who was also a product of the youth system, Ray
Parlour: Ray had come back to join the first team to do some extra
training. He was in good spirits, but we didnt really get a chance
to talk because we were both concentrating so hard. In the game we
played that day, continues Jay. I was on the left wing against
Emmanuel Eboue. It was so good for me to sample the pace of the
game. Even though it was a training match, it was played at a fast
pace. Everyone was focused but relaxed. Emmanuel was quite funny,
he recalls, and everyone made me feel very comfortable.
Comfort was not an apt description of the games the youngsters
experienced in Malaysia: It was hot!, exclaims Jay: Over 37
degrees. We were playing and simply could not catch our breath. The
air was so warm and it was so humid, when you breathed the air in
you did not feel as you gained any benefit from it. The only time
we had a chance to get some recovery was when someone was getting
treatment. The lads from Flamengo and Milan were more used to
playing in hot conditions and it showed. If I ever face such
conditions again, at least I will now know what to expect and Ill
make sure that I take on plenty of water, before, during and after
the game. There was also added value to the experience: We all
stayed on an island off Malaysia in a big villa and it was
fantastic. We were able to use the beach, go canoeing and we all
had a good time together. It definitely helped with team spirit and
got us looking forward to the new season.
Jays targets for the new term are clear: I played in the reserves
five times last year and scored too. My target for this season is
to feature in at least ten games, but hopefully up
to 15. Im enjoying training and working hard and I hope that I can
keep improving to play regularly for the Under-18s and
Reserves.