Adam Idah F. Celtic b.2001

[pineapple stu]

Had a look on a Norwich message board and the comments on Idah were very negative. Hard to judge what to make of that though as the comments about everyone were very negative.

Edit - it seems the fewest goals ever scored in an English league season (as in, not non-league) is 18, going back to 1899/1900. Norwich have 8 in half a season. Wow.

Norwich had two keepers and an U23 player on the bench but still couldn't fill it. But Palace were missing two of their best players in Zaha and Gallagher

[samhaydenjr]

Saw about half an hour of the game and Norwich were awful - Idah got no real chance to impact the game at all, but that didn't stop some losers from racially abusing him online: https://www.the42.ie/irish-striker-adam-idah-racially-abused-following-norwich-loss-5642111-Dec2021/

[pineapple stu]

On the bench today against Cardiff; one of five changes to the side

No idea what to make of that. Pukki is on the bench too so maybe they're doing the modern thing of resting people for the cup (though Pukki is coming back from injury of course)

But it seems an ideal game to give Idah a run, yet they've not taken it.

[tommy_c12000]

Pretty bad. Sargent been terrible again. Pukki on now, still no Idah with 63 minutes gone. I saw Smith making some sound bytes that Idah will be given chances this season. Idah can’t bank on this, push for a loan son

[tommy_c12000]

Norwich take the lead. A forlorn Idah still sitting on the bench behind Dean Smith’s celebrations. 80 minutes gone

[tommy_c12000]

On at 84 minutes….

[tommy_c12000]

Another chance for Adam starting vs west ham. Come on Adam, show us something!

Big Andy still out it seems, his back injury must be a bit more bothersome than originally thought

[liamoo11]

Another chance for Adam starting vs west ham. Come on Adam, show us something!

Big Andy still out it seems, his back injury must be a bit more bothersome than originally thought

Stress fracture wasn't it? Poor Joe hodge has been out nearly 12 months at this stage with what seemed to sound like a stress fracture in his spine

[Olé Olé]

He's looking better tonight. Playing up front with Pukki but moving into pockets between the centre halves and full backs and has a little more confidence than I've seen in a few games. Hopefully he can get some joy tonight.

[tommy_c12000]

Promising start, he’s much better more central. “Stress response” in his back is what I read for Andy, not sure what that is! Assume he has a back strain or something

[tommy_c12000]

Did ok. One nice bit of skill with a great shot that fabianski did well to tip onto post. Subbed on 75 minutes. Merits another start alongside Pukki methinks, hopefully Dean Smith agrees. Goals will come hopefully

[passinginterest]

Norwich fans on Twitter seem to be happy with his performance, they were annoyed he was taken off although seems to be a suggestion he might have got a knock.

One of the things that seems to hold him back is picking up little injuries every time he gets a start. Hopefully it’s nothing and this is the start of a run in the team. He seems to be better than any of the other options bar Pukki anyway.

[liamoo11]

Promising start, he’s much better more central. “Stress response” in his back is what I read for Andy, not sure what that is! Assume he has a back strain or something

It's a stress fracture packaged up positively

[ifk101]

Looked good, and highest rated Norwich player in match reports. Just needs to find consistency in his performances to push on from here + a goal would be a good confidence booster.

[liamoo11]

Looked good, and highest rated Norwich player in match reports. Just needs to find consistency in his performances to push on from here + a goal would be a good confidence booster.

I really think we will reap the benefits of idah having so much early senior games for ireland in the coming years

[ifk101]

I really think we will reap the benefits of idah having so much early senior games for ireland in the coming years

Hopefully. I think he has the attributes to be a quite a good 9 – good target, good strength, links play well, willing to make runs in behind, and has good feet. Consistency is the issue for me though (can also be due to him becoming too isolated in some games); for example, he was excellent away to Portugal but less effective in the following games (Azerbaijan + Serbia) and largely anonymous away to Luxembourg. That should improve with more senior football and with that he should start contributing with goals. Could have a free run as 9 with us in the next years going forward (dependent on how others (thinking Evan Ferguson here) develop).

[tommy_c12000]

Apparently Smith told reporters that Idah had cramp. Hopefully he’s okay to start at home against Everton this weekend. Would be a great opportunity

[tommy_c12000]

A great opportunity for adam today against Everton, starts with Pukki up front. Omobamidele looks like he has another 2 to 3 weeks on sidelines

[joey B]

Off the mark in the premier league!

[tommy_c12000]

One touch and a toe poke past the goalkeeper for his first premier league goal. Wonderful to see. Let’s hope it’s a watershed moment. He’s playing pretty well

[tommy_c12000]

https://twitter.com/reptracker/status/1482374952351318019?s=21 Goal here

[Olé Olé]

Good first half overall by him. He did well against West Ham and looks sharp here and has a goal to boot. Great to see.

[Fixer82]

Well done to him.
Would like to see it from another angle.
Looks like a slightly heavy first touch

[SkStu]

Well done to him.
Would like to see it from another angle.
Looks like a slightly heavy first touch

It was a shocker of a first touch to be honest (there’s angles from behind the goal where you really see it) but he got the ball in the net.

Also he just had a backpass played straight to him, back to goal, with just the keeper to beat. Took a touch (he had to) and Everton recovered. He might have done better.

I have to say though, he’s played really well overall. Good hold up play, winning frees and corners. And the fans love him.

[seanfhear]

Needs to work on the first touch and scoring ~ ~ he probably has everything else ~ a fine physical specimen with pace.

[tommy_c12000]

Man of the match for me. He was immense. I suspect he will get the official award. Wonderful

[tommy_c12000]

BBC MOTM, interviewed by Limerick man Conor McNamara for it. Nice to see

[passinginterest]

This has made my day. Hopefully the first of many huge performances from him.

[Trequartista20]

Great to see. We've become used to a great deal of negative spin put against Irish players, their worth and their performances.

Let's finally celebrate an Irish player doing well and scoring at a very high level. The detractors will still be there, mouthing off of course, but I just don't care all the that much. I'm in too much of a good mood.

[samhaydenjr]

Terrific to see him get off the mark in the Premier League, particularly with a game-winning goal. Finally he has been given the time and service to show what he can do. And the fact that he could still finish in spite of an imperfect first touch (although shocking might be a bit of an overstatement SkStu) is even more encouraging. In fact, you could argue that it helped him, first by taking the ball away from the defender behind him; and second, by forcing him to finish instinctively rather than giving him a moment to think about scoring his first PL goal and possibly fluffing it.

I know some people are starting to feel that Idah may not live up to expectations, with a normal counter-argument that he's still young, as he isn't even 21 yet. But if we add up the minutes he's been afforded in his senior club career to date, it turns out that he has actually scored 7 goals in only 14.7 games, a strike rate of nearly 1 in 2, which is more impressive when you consider that a lot of his time has been garbage minutes at the end of games. I can still see him becoming our best striker quite soon, with only the possibility of somebody like Ferguson, Odubeko or Oko-Flex outshining him, which is a mouthwatering prospect

[Jd2793]

great to hear he had a stormer outside of the goal. hopefully that gives him some confidence to push on now for the season.

[SkStu]

Terrific to see him get off the mark in the Premier League, particularly with a game-winning goal. Finally he has been given the time and service to show what he can do. And the fact that he could still finish in spite of an imperfect first touch (although shocking might be a bit of an overstatement SkStu) is even more encouraging. In fact, you could argue that it helped him, first by taking the ball away from the defender behind him; and second, by forcing him to finish instinctively rather than giving him a moment to think about scoring his first PL goal and possibly fluffing it.

Another friend made the exact same argument and I don’t disagree! He did well to finish it, totally agree, and I should have been more clear about that in my post. Imperfect touch, a shocker of a touch… I say we are more in agreement than not LOL. I really like him by the way, just said what I saw.

As I said subsequently, he really did play excellently and deserved his MOTM. A great day for him!! Onwards and upwards!

[irishfan86]

Having watched the whole match, obviously it was great to see the goal. But the more encouraging thing was Idah’s play as a whole. He’s really learning to use his body well (some good defensive plays too), and starting to understand his exceptional physical strength and the value of body positioning.

I don’t know the specifics of things but I wonder if the managerial change is benefitting him in some way — if Dean Smith is helping optimize his game, or a new member of Smith’s staff who wasn’t there before — but Idah honestly looks like a different player. Perhaps he was just due to kick on but he really is now turning that promise into the real thing. Hopefully this is just the start of something special.

[pineapple stu]

. I can still see him becoming our best striker quite soon, with only the possibility of somebody like Ferguson, Odubeko or Oko-Flex outshining him, which is a mouthwatering prospect
Jaysus Sam - I think you're one of the more informed posters here, but you don't half do extreme optimism!

I don't think it's hyper-critical to say that Idah's first touch in acres of space nearly cost him his goal, or that his one-on-one miss in the second half was as bad as you'll see. Let's also note an Everton side in disarray - 6 points from 39, which has got Benitez sacked.

It's great to see him getting game time, but one scrappy goal is long long way from forming half of a "mouthwatering" attacking partnership with one of three guys who've done nothing at senior level yet, one of whom isn't even sure if he wants to play for us!

Norwich - still on course to have the worst goalscoring record in English league history - have an easy-ish run of games coming up. Watford, Palace, Southampton, Brentford and Leeds in the next eight games (along with Wolves, Man City and Liverpool). Let's see how those go before setting him targets like yours! :)

[Olé Olé]

https://forum.pinkun.com/index.php?/topic/146697-idah/#comments

I enjoyed this thread, or most of it anyway. Many posters had been doubting him, it seems, but many seem delighted to have seen the improvement in the last two games. There seems to be a consensus that he is better partnered with Pukki for now and that the current management are putting a lot of effort into him and seeing the rewards.

[samhaydenjr]

Jaysus Sam - I think you're one of the more informed posters here, but you don't half do extreme optimism!

I don't think it's hyper-critical to say that Idah's first touch in acres of space nearly cost him his goal, or that his one-on-one miss in the second half was as bad as you'll see. Let's also note an Everton side in disarray - 6 points from 39, which has got Benitez sacked.

It's great to see him getting game time, but one scrappy goal is long long way from forming half of a "mouthwatering" attacking partnership with one of three guys who've done nothing at senior level yet, one of whom isn't even sure if he wants to play for us!

Norwich - still on course to have the worst goalscoring record in English league history - have an easy-ish run of games coming up. Watford, Palace, Southampton, Brentford and Leeds in the next eight games (along with Wolves, Man City and Liverpool). Let's see how those go before setting him targets like yours! :)

I expect ten goals from those games, at least!

Seriously, I know we've all been waiting on tenterhooks for one of the young strikers to be the next Robbie Keane and may be a little disappointed that there still isn't an obvious candidate, but that's probably because it's unlikely that one of them will be - but if we can get three of them capable of scoring 25-40 over their international careers, than that will be just as good - and that is still possible.

And while Connolly, Obafemi and Parrott seem to have moved backwards a little for now at least, it looks like Idah could still be one of those leading strikers - he's been working off scraps under Farke's system - Wikipedia says he's made 51 appearances but, as I noted, the minutes only add up to fewer than fifteen games. When he got full games, he played instead of Pukki and got little service - then Smith comes along, changes the system to play him and Pukki in the same team and 2/3 games in, he scores his first Premier League goal before his 21st birthday. While I exaggerated about ten goals in eight games, I don't think this will be his last league goal this season (unless he falls victim to the young Irish Striker Injury Curse). Not only that, I predict he'll score his first international goal in either the March friendlies or the Nations League.

And in relation to Idah, Connolly, Obafemi and Parrott together, they really do have plenty of time, especially when you consider when some of our best strikers scored their first top-flight goals:

John Aldridge - 27, going on 28
Tony Cascarino - 25, going on 26
Kevin Doyle - 22, going on 23
Jon Walters - 27

And as of now, Idah, Connolly and Obafemi have now scored more Premier League Goals (ten) before turning 22 than David Connolly, Daryl Murphy, Simon Cox and Andy Keogh did over their entire careers (six) and they amassed 133 Caps

So I think there's still plenty reason for optimism about our striking options over the next few years

[pineapple stu]

Michael Reddy scored in the Premier League at 19. Josh McEachren played six Champions League games before his 18th birthday and is now at MK Dons. One-off landmarks don't mean anything.

In terms of goals per minute, would you not include Idah's international stats (0 goals in 830 minutes)?

And are you suggesting we have players capable of 25-40 international goals each? Well clear as our second highest scorer ever? There's nothing to justify that optimism. I think a look back at your posts on the Troy Parrott thread might help bring you back down to earth :)

One thing I will say is I suggested Idah/Connolly/Parrott shouldn't be in the March squads unless their club situations changed. Idah's has (assuming he continues to start), and Connolly's has too in fairness.

Let's see where all three careers go in the next 12 months, but I don't see the point in setting such targets as 40 international goals. It can only lead to disappointment

[jbyrne]

made bbc team of the week.

as an aside... there are some on this forum who just cant help themselves but to continually pour cold water on any kind of omptimism. they seem to think its their role. its getting to be a real bore tbh...

[pineapple stu]

There's "any kind of optimism" and there's the optimism we're seeing. 40 goal strikers, unbeaten Nations League campaign a viable target, etc

A bit of realism is very much needed at times in that context

[elatedscum]

Michael Reddy scored in the Premier League at 19. Josh McEachren played six Champions League games before his 18th birthday and is now at MK Dons. One-off landmarks don't mean anything.

In terms of goals per minute, would you not include Idah's international stats (0 goals in 830 minutes)?

And are you suggesting we have players capable of 25-40 international goals each? Well clear as our second highest scorer ever? There's nothing to justify that optimism. I think a look back at your posts on the Troy Parrott thread might help bring you back down to earth :)

One thing I will say is I suggested Idah/Connolly/Parrott shouldn't be in the March squads unless their club situations changed. Idah's has (assuming he continues to start), and Connolly's has too in fairness.

Let's see where all three careers go in the next 12 months, but I don't see the point in setting such targets as 40 international goals. It can only lead to disappointment

If I was gambling, I'd bet one of Idah, Connolly, Parrott, Obafemi, Odubeko or Ferguson will score 25 goals for Ireland.

In order of probability: Ferguson, Idah, Connolly, Odubeko, Parrott, Obafemi. I'd guess 3/6 will score 10 goals for Ireland. There'll probably be a 7th contender who will emerge at about 24 as a genuine contender ala McGrath, Cullen, Ogbene etc. between Kayode, Afolabi, McAuley, Hale, Dean Williams, Danny Grant, Scully, Cannon, Carty etc etc - someone will bloom late.

There's also a decent crop of U19s now: Sinclair Armstrong, Johnny Kenny, Aido Emakhu, Calum Kavanagh, Cian Kavanagh, Luke Pearce - none strike you as being quite as good as those top 6 were/are but they're all good enough to be one talent jump away from real contenders. As for the 17s, it's Mark O'Mahony who's a natural goalscorer at Cork and Caden McLoughlin who is a great footballer but may end up in a different position in the long run if he doesn't get a bit more prolific.

[yurt]

Idah has been a stand out performer in Norwich's last 2 games and all of a sudden they are off the bottom of the foot of the table.

Doesn't seem all that likely that they will mount a proper escape challenge but that win buys them a few more weeks of not being done and dusted. Seems likely now that he will be nailed for another couple games now.

The common sound bite has been that he just needs a run and he'll get a goal and from there he will have a chance to kick on. The next 6 weeks now will go a long way to seeing if he will have a meaning premier league career or not.

It's not inconceivable that Idah could start 10-15 more games this season, get 5+ goals and Norwich stay up. Then who knows where that could lead.

I wouldn't bet on that happening but it was a million miles away in October and now it's only a few 100 miles away so feeling a lot more optimistic about Idahs potential.

[samhaydenjr]

Michael Reddy scored in the Premier League at 19. Josh McEachren played six Champions League games before his 18th birthday and is now at MK Dons. One-off landmarks don't mean anything.

In terms of goals per minute, would you not include Idah's international stats (0 goals in 830 minutes)?

And are you suggesting we have players capable of 25-40 international goals each? Well clear as our second highest scorer ever? There's nothing to justify that optimism. I think a look back at your posts on the Troy Parrott thread might help bring you back down to earth :)

One thing I will say is I suggested Idah/Connolly/Parrott shouldn't be in the March squads unless their club situations changed. Idah's has (assuming he continues to start), and Connolly's has too in fairness.

Let's see where all three careers go in the next 12 months, but I don't see the point in setting such targets as 40 international goals. It can only lead to disappointment

Had a really detailed response to this but lost it - the gist was, yes we have a number of young forwards who are still well on track for very good careers and that I can see a number of them breaking Quinn's record of 21, even Robinson might catch him. In part this will be down to playing more games, particularly against lesser teams. I noted again how late Aldridge started scoring for us, how Idah's first bunch of caps were during a really low spell for the team when nobody was scoring and how he, Obafemi and Connolly have already played more EPL football than Reddy and McEachran. So I think that, while I can't predict it for certain, I think any of the following players could well break Quinn's mark - Robinson, Idah, Connolly, Obafemi, Parrott, Ferguson, Odubeko, Okoflex, Zefi and Kavanagh (who just scored a hat-trick for Middlesbrough's U23s while still being U18-eligible) So while, yes we do have to wait and see a bit longer, I still feel there is plenty of cause for optimism as we are seeing developments in this department almost weekly

[sadloserkid]

as an aside... there are some on this forum who just cant help themselves but to continually pour cold water on any kind of omptimism. they seem to think its their role. its getting to be a real bore tbh...

I'm on the other side of this JB, I find the continual assertions that lads are well on track to be top class based on nothing more than their passport to be jarringly misplaced and a bit boring. I much prefer a discussion where people make counterpoints and then more counterpoints are made to that and a bit of a discussion is had in a generally polite and even friendly fashion. If I wanted a flame war or an echo chamber I'd be reading twitter.

[liamoo11]

I'm on the other side of this JB, I find the continual assertions that lads are well on track to be top class based on nothing more than their passport to be jarringly misplaced and a bit boring. I much prefer a discussion where people make counterpoints and then more counterpoints are made to that and a bit of a discussion is had in a generally polite and even friendly fashion. If I wanted a flame war or an echo chamber I'd be reading twitter.

I agree with you on this. What has made this forum fun over the years is that it encourages discussion and a bit of indept analysis of issues in a respectful manner. To me it was what always made it stand out from ybig. I'd feel it was a big loss if we lost that discussion and balance on here .

For me the over optimism of new players is I think because how bleak things looked 3 or 4 years ago. I have attached the report https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/45351104 of the hammering wales gave us in 2018 where they looked like they had this endless pool of talented youngsters and we looked so stale with no youth on the horizon. Like the rest of us on here back then I felt positive about the players we had in our underage sides at the time including Idah but it was hard not to feel depressed when all you read and heard on the media and from the wider public was that we had no talent and no hope on the horizon. As you say though best not to go to the other extreme now especially when we have achieved nothing to date. Now if we win our nations league group then it's lose our minds time!

[jbyrne]

I'm on the other side of this JB, I find the continual assertions that lads are well on track to be top class based on nothing more than their passport to be jarringly misplaced and a bit boring. I much prefer a discussion where people make counterpoints and then more counterpoints are made to that and a bit of a discussion is had in a generally polite and even friendly fashion. If I wanted a flame war or an echo chamber I'd be reading twitter.

its not just on how players are progressing or not.... its also ROI team performances, SK, etc etc.
Its the same few voices constantly jumping on any kind of optimism or positives. we are not expecting Idah, or any of our young strikers, to be the next robbie keane but a young irish lad getting his first EPL goal, getting MOTM for the 2nd game in a row and making a respected team of the week is a positive to me and others

[passinginterest]

I've been backing Idah for a long time and saying if he gets games he'll make the breakthrough. I think, if he starts the next 8 league games for Norwich he'll score at least 3 more goals. If he doesn't, I'll donate a tenner the the forum charity of choice!

[sadloserkid]

its not just on how players are progressing or not.... its also ROI team performances, SK, etc etc.
Its the same few voices constantly jumping on any kind of optimism or positives. we are not expecting Idah, or any of our young strikers, to be the next robbie keane but a young irish lad getting his first EPL goal, getting MOTM for the 2nd game in a row and making a respected team of the week is a positive to me and others

Fair enough. I honestly don't see Idah's first PL goal being spun as a negative by anybody at all though, it's just various degrees of positivity between "it's good and hopefully a sign of continued improvement from here" and "this goal means that a half dozen young strikers are likely to score 25-40 international goals". Nothing wrong with a different sense of perspective, the outcome is likely to be somewhere in the middle anyway.

[third policeman]

Fair enough. I honestly don't see Idah's first PL goal being spun as a negative by anybody at all though, it's just various degrees of positivity between "it's good and hopefully a sign of continued improvement from here" and "this goal means that a half dozen young strikers are likely to score 25-40 international goals". Nothing wrong with a different sense of perspective, the outcome is likely to be somewhere in the middle anyway.

I do think it’s significant that his recent performances have been whilst playing as part of a front two. He’s looked very isolated playing for Ireland and generally hasn’t looked like scoring or even getting into scoring positions. It’s something that Kenny / Barry need to think about. The change to a back three was about recognising our strengths, maybe time to play Robinson and Idah as two central strikers with the width coming from proper wing backs. The formation would give us an extra body in midfield as well.

[tetsujin1979]

I've been backing Idah for a long time and saying if he gets games he'll make the breakthrough. I think, if he starts the next 8 league games for Norwich he'll score at least 3 more goals. If he doesn't, I'll donate a tenner the the forum charity of choice!

Noted

[pineapple stu]

I'm on the other side of this JB, I find the continual assertions that lads are well on track to be top class based on nothing more than their passport to be jarringly misplaced and a bit boring. I much prefer a discussion where people make counterpoints and then more counterpoints are made to that and a bit of a discussion is had in a generally polite and even friendly fashion. If I wanted a flame war or an echo chamber I'd be reading twitter.
That's exactly it for me. I mean, if he scores again at the weekend there's some will have him up for a Ballon d'Or nomination in 12 months.

By way of context, this is a post from sam on the Aaron Connolly thread - three years ago!


OK then... Obafemi is now a Premier League scorer and full international, Connolly is on the verge of his league debut for Luton, Afolabi is lining up a move to Millwall, Kayode is in matchday squads for Rotherham, Keena scored in the Scottish Cup and is in Hearts' matchday squads, Parrott is training with the Spurs first team and Oko-Flex is scoring regularly for Celtic's reserves. The wave is starting to crest lads

Like I say, the insight into variously obscure up-and-coming youngsters on here is great, but jaysus, a sense of perspective is needed (as slk has outlined perfectly for me). A sense of perspective is not negativity.