Arsenal under-18s head coach was encouraged by his side’s second-half response despite defeat to Reading.
Goals on either side of half-time gave the visitors control of the contest before Louis Zecevic John’s excellent finish pulled one back for the young Gunners. We pushed for an equaliser late on, but Reading held firm to secure all three points.
“I’m disappointed with both the first-half performance and, of course, the result,” Birchall said. “We challenged the players to build on the previous win and, as I’ve said in recent interviews, we want winning to become a habit. In the first half, we found it really difficult. We improved a lot in the second half, but ultimately it wasn’t enough.
“There were positives after the break, but overall we’re disappointed.”
Read more
U18s report: Arsenal 1-2 Reading
On the difference between the two halves, he added:
“I think it came down to how we used the ball. In the first half, we were far too vertical. We played in straight lines and didn’t switch play across the back line enough, which meant we weren’t creating gaps in midfield.
“When we started to move the ball better in the second half, you could really see the difference. Our goal summed that up perfectly, it was probably the best team goal we’ve scored this season. The movement created more space, Reading found it harder to cover, and our midfielders were able to get on the ball more often, use the wide areas and create chances.
“We just weren’t able to take enough of those chances, but for me that was the key difference between the two halves.”
On the impact of the substitutes:
“The substitutes came on and made an impact, which is definitely a positive. They have to learn how to influence games in those moments.
“Overall, our style of play and the number of chances we created in the second half were much better. We showed more energy and intensity with the ball, but we were still disappointed with what we conceded without it. Even so, the second-half performance was definitely an improvement.”
Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
