Adam Idah F. Celtic b.2001

[Olé Olé]

Idah is a victim of the current trend of only playing one striker/centre forward— he’ll never be ahead of Pukki. It’s a good point you raise.
This and the other issue is that he is very young to be that only centre forward. Very few centre forwards his age playing regularly. I make this point all the time but it's even more apparent when Pukki is going well. Pukki hit double digits in league goals once in the Finnish league when he was 21. The only time he achieved that in his career up until he got going at 26/27 in the Danish league and he has been consistently getting over 10 each season since.

[tetsujin1979]

Norwich are top of the Championship, and could secure promotion in the next few weeks, so whatever they're doing at the moment (I haven't seen much Championship football this season) it's clearly working
Unfortunately for us, right now that includes using Idah as a substitute

[elatedscum]

Idah has also had a couple of injuries I think. Has probably dramatically reduced his playing time

[kennedmc]

2 goals in 15 appearances seems underwhelming at first glance, but Idah has only played 283 minutes of league football this season, so really it's like 2 goals in 3 - I don't know why Farke doesn't give him better opportunities

Good point - appearances / goals can be misleading stat. To be fair he has been out injured for 2 - 3 months, Pukki been banging them in and they only tend to play with one out and out striker I think.

[samhaydenjr]

Yeah, I know that Idah's season has been affected by injury, Farke's one-striker formation and Pukki's form, but it's frustrating checking the results and seeing that Idah has come on after the 85-minute mark yet again - I mean, surely he merits at least 10-15 minutes on a regular basis

[Olé Olé]

I feel like he needs a loan for a prolonged period of games. I think of another out and out 9 like Tammy Abraham and the benefit that he got out of 3 loans to sides that were willing to make him their centre forward and play him every week. Harry Kane is another example from the years. I don't think Idah is likely to be comfortable or effective as a wide forward, and Norwich have a lot of options there, so he can't accumulate minutes and experience in those areas like young centre forwards have at other clubs e.g. Mason Greenwood. Calvert-Lewin.

From an Ireland perspective, we are obviously very keen for Idah to develop as soon as possible. I think he has the chance to be our centre forward for a long time and fits into Kenny's style ideally. That's probably leading to a little impatience on my side in terms of his development. I often forget how young he is. He turned 20 a couple of weeks ago. As much as I wish he went out on loan or a loan was planned after his recovery for the second half of the season, Norwich is probably a good place to be until the end of the season. Unless Pukki picks up an injury and Idah takes his place and thrives, there will have to be some very important discussions regarding his development this summer.

[Charlie Darwin]

Norwich are certs to go up so I suspect they will sign a striker in the summer and send Idah out on loan to the Championship. Might be best for all parties.

[tommy_c12000]

Goal today https://twitter.com/norwich_goals/status/1391011671246884865?s=21 after an overall disappointing season. Big preseason ahead!

[Trequartista20]

Decent finish.

[samhaydenjr]

Needs to be less patient next season - ask for more game-time or a loan move - dealing with scraps of garbage time and still scoring - when you add up his playing time, he's scored six goals in about eight games in his senior career (and that includes a full game against man United when the ball barely entered his half of the pitch)

[Stuttgart88]

Not sure if discussed elsewhere but I thought he was poor last night. Two very timid efforts with his right foot and poor decision making at times. He was set up beautifully in the first half for a right footed curler from 15 yards. It'd have been a very good goal but he caught it fat and straight at Kelleher. Missed his starting point by a matter of 2-3 metres I'd say and didn't even test Kelleher.

[paul_oshea]

Heard similar reports elsewhere. Really needs to be taking these chances, I don't mean against Liverpool as such but when he gets game time

[Olé Olé]

I don't disagree but what might stand to him is how bad Tzolis was beside him and Pukki was poor too when he came in.

[JR89]

I don't disagree but what might stand to him is how bad Tzolis was beside him and Pukki was poor too when he came in.

While Tzolis was poor he's technically a winger, and Pukki only came on for the last 20 minutes when the game was over. Think Norwich should have loaned Idah out this season and get him meaningful game time to develop. Last season was a decent chance to play more minutes but injuries ruined that, and can't see him picking up many minutes outside of cup games this season.

Pukki will be in the last year of his contract next season and Norwich will have to spend money to replace his goals if they want to remain a yo-yo club and keep getting that premier league money.

[passinginterest]

Big chance today after a positive impact from the bench in the Newcastle game.

[Demesne Lad]

Looks likely to be loaned out to Notts Forest in January, as Norwich want to recall Jordan Hughill from his loan at WBA. (www.the72.co.uk; www.sportsmole.co.uk).
I know he's young, but from what I've seen of him I'm not sure he has the hunger to be a significant goal-scorer at the top level.

[Diggs246]

Looks likely to be loaned out to Notts Forest in January, as Norwich want to recall Jordan Hughill from his loan at WBA. (www.the72.co.uk; www.sportsmole.co.uk).
I know he's young, but from what I've seen of him I'm not sure he has the hunger to be a significant goal-scorer at the top level.

I don't think hunger is the issue. He isnt good enough to be a premier league striker

[Olé Olé]

Get that pen out because this guy should be written off...

[pineapple stu]

In fairness, he's had a lot of chances now - 68 senior appearances and just six goals. Three of those came in his third game - so 3 in 65 since then. That's a poor record for a forward. I think you can certainly start to draw views based on it.

That said, Forest would probably be a better place than Norwich for him now anyway. Norwich are a waste of space in the Premier and playing up front for them must be hard work. At least playing for a mid-table side, even one tier lower, he'll likely get more chances. I think it's exactly what he needs at the moment.

[John83]

I don't think hunger is the issue. He isnt good enough to be a premier league striker
Lad's 20, and could come good yet. I think it's probably fairer to say he isn't currently good enough to be a premier league striker.

I would certainly be interested to see how he looks in a less overwhelmed team at a slightly lower level.

[seanfhear]

Lad's 20, and could come good yet. I think it's probably fairer to say he isn't currently good enough to be a premier league striker.

I would certainly be interested to see how he looks in a less overwhelmed team at a slightly lower level.
Very young, Loads of good physical attributes, He sure could come good yet.

[Razors left peg]

Im still on the fence with him but the Premiership isnt exactly littered with 20 year old strikers. To write him off already would be ridiculous

[Kingdom]

In fairness, he's had a lot of chances now - 68 senior appearances and just six goals. Three of those came in his third game - so 3 in 65 since then. That's a poor record for a forward. I think you can certainly start to draw views based on it.

That said, Forest would probably be a better place than Norwich for him now anyway. Norwich are a waste of space in the Premier and playing up front for them must be hard work. At least playing for a mid-table side, even one tier lower, he'll likely get more chances. I think it's exactly what he needs at the moment.

There was a stat focussing on Idah recently - certainly in the last week - others here are aware of it, where he's in the top 5 for most used substitutes in 2021 (or something along those lines), but his total mins on the pitch don't add up to a full game.
I've butchered the argument naturally, but it's more the jist. How many games has he played 60+ minutes, and how many of those games has he played back to back or on a run.

John Aldridge played 20 times for Ireland before scoring, and even then those two goals were against Malta, a 1yd faceplant, and then a penalty. He scored his next a year later against Turkey, and that despite winning 3 FD championships, one FA Cup, a league cup and two further league runners up, fa cup runners up and league cup runners up including two Golden boots. in that ireland period he played luxembourg twice, the north twice, and Egypt.


Good strikers go on barren runs, **** strikers go on great runs sometimes. Idah isn't Aldo, but it's nonsense to right him off. I think back to Slovakia - that goal goes in, and who knows what happens.

he needs consistent football, and he needs it immediately.

[nigel-harps1954]

He's played 143 minutes in 11 games this season. 68 of those minutes were in his first start against Spurs this weekend. In 9 of those games he's had the final ten minutes, or less, on the pitch.

Strikers are form players. They need to be playing consistently, and getting chances to score. I think it's fair to say he's not getting a chance at all and a loan move could do him the world of good.

[pineapple stu]

The John Aldridge comparison has been here before, and I don't know why. It's not remotely the same thing.

Coming on as a late sub so often is valid when looking at his stats - but then why's he not being considered for more game time nearly two years after grabbing a hat-trick on his third senior appearance?

I don't think people are writing him off - the loan move sounds exactly what he's been crying out for - but I do think he's being used too much in the senior side and it's not helping us. Look at how the game changed in Luxembourg when he was subbed off for example.

But let's hope he gets this loan move, and by the summer then we should have a better idea whether he's a player or not

[dynamo kerry]

I disagree that he was the problem against lux. Well he was but it's not his fault. Hes a number 9 and he played like one. With no service what is he to supposed to do?
Knight is an entirely different type of player and created a different system in field. It was a great substitution but not in my view any kind of comment on idah.

As for this nottm forest thing.. . I read that hugill is being sent back for being ineffective.. his stats are awful.

I don't see any quotes from the club except dean smith being supportive... if he gets 3 or 4 starts and scores 2.. he wont be going anywhere in Jan.

Impossible to analyse a kid like this with such awful game time to work with especially when their season has been a car crash.

[sadloserkid]

I think there's very, very little writing off of Adam Idah going on here. A loan move could be the makings of him (though it hasn't been for Parrott. Not yet anyway) but he's having a bad year at club level. Idah's miss the other day wasn't encouraging though, the ball came to him fast any unexpectedly but it didn't say much for his finishing or composure. It's only one incident obviously but he needs to take off of these eventually.

[seanfhear]

He stuck his leg out at that one the other day and it went wide. A forward having a bit of form and luck and that flies in to the goal ~ Funny old game !

[pineapple stu]

I disagree that he was the problem against lux. Well he was but it's not his fault. Hes a number 9 and he played like one. With no service what is he to supposed to do?
OK - but what do we judge him on then?

13 caps for Ireland, an average of just over an hour on the pitch each time. No goals, and hasn't really gone close either. Came on for the last half hour against Andorra when they were tiring and we scored four, but Idah wasn't one of them. His finishing has been poor when he's got chances to be honest. He held the ball up really well in Portugal and that was probably his best game for us. But at the moment, that kind of makes him this generation's Conor Sammon - can hold the ball up, can't head or score.

Yes, he's 20 and yes, the loan move should be good for him (with slk's caution about how Parrott's move has gone). Someone said on another thread that we were being impatient with our young forwards - it was an interesting comment, though I think it's probably fairer to say that we're desperate. But as things stand at the moment, if we had options enough to leave Connolly, Idah and Parrott out of the March squads, I'd do that.

[Razors left peg]

He was just picked to start his 1st game under Dean Smith at the weekend. Lets judge him better if that continues to happen. Judging a lad when he normally get 5 mins per game is pointless. Also judging him on a lot of Ireland games is completely pointless too since we were struggling until recently.

As I said, Im still not convinced about him either, but to make sweeping judgements at this point is just nonsense.

[dynamo kerry]

OK - but what do we judge him on then?

13 caps for Ireland, an average of just over an hour on the pitch each time. No goals, and hasn't really gone close either. Came on for the last half hour against Andorra when they were tiring and we scored four, but Idah wasn't one of them. His finishing has been poor when he's got chances to be honest. He held the ball up really well in Portugal and that was probably his best game for us. But at the moment, that kind of makes him this generation's Conor Sammon - can hold the ball up, can't head or score.

Yes, he's 20 and yes, the loan move should be good for him (with slk's caution about how Parrott's move has gone). Someone said on another thread that we were being impatient with our young forwards - it was an interesting comment, though I think it's probably fairer to say that we're desperate. But as things stand at the moment, if we had options enough to leave Connolly, Idah and Parrott out of the March squads, I'd do that.

Of those games, several of them were kenny sorting out his team.. I still dont think idah fits with how kenny is deciding he needs to play. I dont think you can judge idah on anything we have seen so far. I was looking at dzekos stats earlier. At a similar age he was barely scoring in the Czech league. It's now really about how he manages his career from here I think. I hope he has a good agent. That said if smith starts him the next few games perhaps he will find his groove and composure.. he could be the next conor sammon but I really cant tell anything from what has been seen so far and if anyone else can they must be super smart in football and are wasted here ;).
(I appreciate you are not writing him off stu)

I would agree we dont need all 3 of parrot, connolly and idah in the squad if they have not made any strides in next 4 months.. robinson, maybe hogan, even will keane are more mature. Knight looks good further up the field. Knight appears to be thriving under pressure. Idah isn't appearing to cope as well but who knows what itll take for him to spark.

I'd be inclined to bring curtis up. Hes in decent form.

Idah, Connolly and parrot all did well in junior football..they cant all be write offs in seniors..

[pineapple stu]

Of those games, several of them were kenny sorting out his team.. I still dont think idah fits with how kenny is deciding he needs to play. I dont think you can judge idah on anything we have seen so far.
I suppose that goes back to my original question then though - what can you judge him on? I think 58 senior games - which is probably still about 20-30 games if you count the minutes only - is too much at this stage to write off as something you can't make any judgement on. And I think it's a bit worrying that he is only getting ten minutes here and there still. Dzeko - you're right, but I'm sure there's even more cases of players who struggled for goals in their career and who are now playing down the leagues. (Looking at random squads in the lower leagues, I found Barry Roche for example - 13 games for Forest, saved a penalty with his first touch in the Premier League, played most of his career for Morecambe in the fourth tier. Goalkeepers are a bit different but still, they're not at entirely different stages at age 20)

Big step up from junior ball to adult stuff. I agree it would seem very bad luck if none of Idah, Connolly or Parrott were to come good. I think it's equally unlikely all three will come good though.

[dynamo kerry]

I'll start by agreeing with your last point stu. The odds of all 3 coming good are slim.

With idah I think he has a decent attitude so I have a feeling he can be the pick of the 3 but the question is how fast can he do it.

I think we are both nearly on the fence except I feel like you're asking "why isn't he doing more?" While I'm asking " what does he need to succeed?"

Give him 10 to 12 starts in a functioning side and I think we can judge him then. If that's a loan so be it. He has enough bits and pieces of experience that if the decision making and talent is there he should make use of a good run if hes given it.

I think we need to reevaluate what "making it" looks like though. The competition is way worse than 15 years ago. We are old enough to remember kenny Cunningham playing 300 plus games in the premier league. I dont think kenny would get a kick beyond the championship now.

[passinginterest]

I think Dean Smith had relatively positive things to say about Idah after the Spurs game. He showed his hold up ability and pace in the chance he created for Pukki, then he showed his lack of confidence in the one he missed. A lot of criticism from fans for getting caught offside, but I think that can be a match sharpness issue too. I'd love to see Smith give him the next 3 or 4 games to see if he can make the partnership with Pukki work. Let's not forget, according to Farke, he trained the least of any player in the senior squad last season due to covid and injury impacting, so his development and game time were seriously impacted. He's not getting games for the under 23's so there's no way he can be anywhere near match fit.

I remember watching the Toulon tournament and he came into that having not played in a while, he was poor first game , touch was off and wasn't sharp and got better with each game. He just strikes me as someone who needs to play every game to be sharp and he's shown at every level up to now, that once he starts scoring he doesn't stop. If he doesn't get that game time in the next few week, or he does and it doesn't work out, hopefully he'll get that loan in the new year and a run of games in the championship. I still think he's going to be a top half premier league striker. The game against Sweden for the under 21s in Tallaght convinced me, he was unplayable at times in that game.

Farke quote is in this article; https://www.the42.ie/adam-idah-norwich-3-5587768-Oct2021/


Idah, Farke revealed, was available for the fewest amount of sessions last season because of knee, ankle and hernia injuries, not to mention a positive Covid-19 test.

“He was the outfield player with the lowest availability on the training pitch and it was the reason he was not playing at Championship level,” he told The42.

[pineapple stu]

I think we are both nearly on the fence except I feel like you're asking "why isn't he doing more?" While I'm asking " what does he need to succeed?"
I guess the question I'm really asking is "Is he good enough right now?", and I'm not seeing that he is. I know he's young and I know we're really stuck for forward options, but I'm not seeing why he's featuring so prominently.

I think in fairness to Kenny, he is having to make a purse out of a sow's ear to an extent, and he's gambled with other players and it's worked out ok so far (Idah's club teammate being an obvious example).

I think a player like Nathan Collins does give reasons to be excited (not least the fact that a Premier League club spent £12m on him, but also the UCD connection :) ), and I don't see Idah as being in that bracket to be honest. Or Omo had that great performance against Serbia and that makes you think "We might have a player here", but again I've not seen a comparative performance from Idah.

But yeah, as I've said before, let's hope he gets a loan move and see what happens then. And if he ends up being a solid second tier forward, well that's still better than what we have at the moment.

[Exgrad]

Could have sworn i saw Idah and Connolly play in the premier league last weekend. They would both be making big impacts if they were in the Championship, its good that they are getting Premier Leauge experience early in their careers though, as that it where they will play most of their football.

[seanfhear]

Perhaps he needs a good Eve to give him a boost.

[pineapple stu]

Could have sworn i saw Idah and Connolly play in the premier league last weekend. They would both be making big impacts if they were in the Championship, its good that they are getting Premier Leauge experience early in their careers though, as that it where they will play most of their football.
Idah was in the Championship last season and didn't make any impact. Parrott - in a similar boat - is in League One and not making a big impact. (He's doing ok, but not making a big impact). There's no guarantee at all that the Premier League is where they will play most of their careers.

I'm don't think your analysis stacks up; it seems more wishful than anything tbh. I think it's as unhelpful as saying "He's crap; we should write him off now and forget about him" (which I don't think anyone is actually saying)

[Demesne Lad]

Troy Parrott: 18 appearances for MK Dons, 4 goals. Scott Twine also joined the Dons during the summer. He is 2.5 years older - 9 goals from 22 appearances. Parrott and Idah might yet come good at Championship level, but for goal scoring I'll be watching Anthony Scully, as are Blackburn Rovers and others.

[Exgrad]

Idah was in the Championship last season and didn't make any impact. Parrott - in a similar boat - is in League One and not making a big impact. (He's doing ok, but not making a big impact). There's no guarantee at all that the Premier League is where they will play most of their careers.

I'm don't think your analysis stacks up; it seems more wishful than anything tbh. I think it's as unhelpful as saying "He's crap; we should write him off now and forget about him" (which I don't think anyone is actually saying)

Didnt mention Parrott. Idah barley got a kick last season due to injuries, covid etc, but still scored important goals, and wasn't loaned out when they got promoted. Both are playing in the premier league at the age of 20 and 21, and i don't think that should be discounted easily. There is loads more to come from both of them, along with the inconsistency of being a young player tyring to make a mark in the top league in world football.

[pineapple stu]

I mentioned Parrott as evidence against your sweeping statement that Idah and Connolly "would both be making big impacts if they were in the Championship". I don't think it's necessarily the case, as Parrott, who has also played in the Premier League, shows.

Idah scored three goals last year. Norwich would still have won the league without those three goals (in fact, one of them was after they had already won the league). I don't think you can count any of them as "important" really.

Yes, both are playing in the PL at 20/21, but I'm not sure why you're continuing to overlook that players have done that before and gone on to settle at third tier or so for their careers.

Demesne Lad's post is interesting - I think Scully does have a better claim to a call-up at the moment. 20 goals in two calendar years at third tier level; a goal every other game this season. OK, it's still third tier which we really want to move away from, but he knows where the net it. He's two years older than Idah/Connolly/Parrott so they could of course be at that level in two years. But Scully is at that level now.

[dynamo kerry]

I guess the question I'm really asking is "Is he good enough right now?", and I'm not seeing that he is.

I think a player like Nathan Collins does give reasons to be excited (not least the fact that a Premier League club spent £12m on him, but also the UCD connection :) ), and I don't see Idah as being in that bracket to be honest. .

As a fellow college grad (1994 to 2003) I love a good connection but isn't this one a bit tenuous..;)

I am still sticking my neck out slightly that stars have not aligned for idah just yet.

I also agree that no one is going to pay 12m for idah currently.

Someone like collins who played a handful of games and got that move, was going to be good.. the scouts must have been all over it. I firmly believe that when someone is really really good, it is well known around the network. Those few players that actually stand out at a young age.. like sterling did

[pineapple stu]

When you watch UCD, you take all the connections you can, and brother of a player will do! :)

But yeah, I don't think there's very much between our views on this as you've said. I actually think I'd rather he got a loan move to Forest than got more game time at Norwich. Going to be hard to make an impression up front in that Norwich team (even if Pukki is giving it a go in fairness)

[dynamo kerry]

When you watch UCD, you take all the connections you can, and brother of a player will do! :)

But yeah, I don't think there's very much between our views on this as you've said. I actually think I'd rather he got a loan move to Forest than got more game time at Norwich. Going to be hard to make an impression up front in that Norwich team (even if Pukki is giving it a go in fairness)

The season Derek swan came to play was my favourite.

All will be revealed if he starts against united...

[Diggs246]

He will have a good pro career, but premier league striker is just isn't guys.

I know there are cases where strikers develop late drogba and I think even robert lewandowski, but Im not sure our guy will be banging them in week in week out at the highest level

[pineapple stu]

All will be revealed if he starts against united...
I'm not sure if that was ever going to reveal everything, but in the event, he spent the 90 minutes on the bench.

Let's hope that loan rumour is true

[dynamo kerry]

I'm not sure if that was ever going to reveal everything, but in the event, he spent the 90 minutes on the bench.

Let's hope that loan rumour is true

Well I was eagerly looking at that myself. Not sure forest are the club though. Grabban has 9 and they seem to be scoring just fine. I was just looking and they have a Danish fella on loan who is playing 20 games so far for the return of 3 goals. Perhaps of they are replacing him. I'd hate to see adam go and have to benchwarm watching a poor man's pukki

Hopefully he has options

[MancIrishWolf]

Starts today against Palace away. Great opportunity to stake his claim.

[pineapple stu]

1-0 down already unfortunately.

I hadn't realised quite how bad Norwich's attacking threat was this season. 8 goals in 18 before today, which is on course to break the record for fewest goals in a Premier League season (20). Pukki, who's presumably injured today, has five of those.

You wonder will Pukki leave over the summer - he's done enough to show he could play at a better side, but at 31 time's running out for one last good move. That'd be good for Idah - although Norwich could just sign a replacement with their parachute money too.

[tommy_c12000]

Hopefully he can join Connolly on loan in January in Championship or something similar, after his performance today. The talent is there, but he needs regular game time…a common theme