Ipswich boss praises Arsenal & Max Dowman

Arsenal breezed to a 4-2 win over Ipswich Town in the League Cup on Tuesday night, with two goals for the hosts in the final half-hour of the match making the contest look closer than it really was.

But despite watching his team largely played off the park, Ipswich manager Gary O’Neil didn’t sound bitter in his post-match press conference.

“Arsenal [are] one of my favourite teams to watch and to study, for the work that Mikel’s done there,” O’Neil admitted. “It’s a very humble team as well, there’s no superstars in it, there’s no one that doesn’t get their work done.”

Max Dowman was obviously a big part of the Arsenal win, scoring early in both the first and second halves to put the game beyond Ipswich. O’Neil had plenty of praise for the Gunners youngster as well.

“I’ve definitely not had a 16-year-old as good as Max Dowman around my group!” O’Neil said. “I think Mikel has so many good players that you can manage Max Dowman however you want, you can give him as much time as he needs. You can drop him in when it fits.

“If the game got tough for him, you’ve got Odegaard sat there ready to come on and help if he needs to. So I think he’s in a great spot. He’s got one of the best coaches around.

“I’m sure, as I said, the future is bright for him, because of the surroundings that he has. I would expect Max Dowman to be given the best opportunity to be as good as he can be at Arsenal Football Club.”

Arsenal will certainly hope so, as it seems the club have a real talent on their hands with Dowman. What the youngster is doing is largely unprecedented, and that creates some complications with managing expectations and forging a well-balanced pathway.

But if Arsenal can get it right, they have a player who could have a long career at the top level.