Arsenal coach hit with UEFA suspension after 'insulting' incident

Arsenal's youth coach David Horseman has been hit with a suspension by UEFA.

Recently joining the Gunners from Manchester United, where he briefly served as assistant manager for the under-21s side, Horseman has quickly found himself in his first controversy.

He's been slapped with a one-match ban by UEFA for "insulting players or others present" during Arsenal U19s recent UEFA Youth League match against Athletic Club.

The governing body's full statement read: "Arsenal FC Youth Incident and sanction: • Insulting players or other present at the match (Mr. David Horseman, staff member), Art. 15(1)(a)(iv) DR  Suspension: one (1) UEFA club competition match."

Back on Tuesday, September 16, Arsenal were beaten 3-1 in Bilbao, with Manex Lozano Carmona netting two goals either side of an equaliser from Arsenal's young talent Brando Nyle Bailey-Joseph. Elijah Gift later scored a penalty to make it 3-1.

It remains unclear whether Arsenal can appeal the ban.

Horseman was set to lead the young Gunners in their next UEFA Youth League match against Olympiacos on October 1.

Interestingly, Horseman commented on his team's performance in Bilbao, the very game that led to his suspension.

Speaking to the official Arsenal website, he said: "I think we grew, we got better after half-time. We had a really good period where we scored and probably should have scored again and the game does look different then.

"Since then, there's been some really good work done. I think the boys are in much better condition because obviously we had some issues with that, so we've developed and grown from there.

"What you probably learn is that Bilbao and Olympiacos have an under-19s team; we don't. We have under-18s and under-21s, so we all play the Arsenal way and we try to play as close to the first team as possible.

"The boys are not always in the same training group, so although that sounds probably not like a big deal, relationships are created over a period of time, you've got to look at how good the relationships are in our first team to see they've created them and they train them every day."

Horseman began the campaign as assistant manager of United's U21s squad.

However, he suddenly departed the club fewer than two weeks ago to link up with the north Londoners.

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