UK clubs 2020/21 preseason [Archive]

tetsujin1979

16/07/2020, 9:06 AM

Thread for preseason games for UK clubs - mainly Scottish clubs, because the Premier League and Championship seasons still haven't ended!
Celtic start their preparations for the 2020/21 season in France this afternoon against Nice in the Veolia Trophy, and will play Lyon on Saturday followed by PSG on Tuesday
The full travelling squad hasn't been announced, but Luca Connell has featured in clips from training on their instagram - https://www.instagram.com/celticfc/

Eirambler

16/07/2020, 2:43 PM

Looks like the SPFL are going to significantly increase the number of loans allowed for Scottish clubs this year to help them bring in affordable players and because the reserve leagues may not take place.

Hopefully the five Irish lads at Celtic can get out and get some first team game time, ideally in the Premier Division, because none of them look like getting much of any game time at Celtic. Connell the only one anywhere close it seems.

Eirambler

16/07/2020, 3:11 PM

Connell does indeed make the bench for the first pre season game.

O'Connor, Afolabi, Okoflex and Coffey not in the 25 man squad (not a big shock).

tetsujin1979

16/07/2020, 3:12 PM

Connell named on the bench
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tetsujin1979

16/07/2020, 4:59 PM

Conor Henderson starting for Pirin Blagoevgrad against CSKA Sofia in a friendly

Eirambler

16/07/2020, 6:11 PM

Celtic used 22 of their 25 players tonight, effectively bringing on their second 11 during the second half. Connell was unused.

Olé Olé

16/07/2020, 9:35 PM

Conor Henderson starting for Pirin Blagoevgrad against CSKA Sofia in a friendly
Funny little one on Henderson's club. He's managed by ex-Norn Iron player, Warren Feeney, there.

Eirambler

18/07/2020, 8:53 PM

Celtic mixed things up a bit tonight for their second pre season game and also made 10 more changes in the second half. Even then Connell didn't get a run out.

Kingdom

19/07/2020, 7:35 PM

I know he's young, I know they bring young players through quickly, but they also buy a lot. I couldn't believe he went there, and I know he's been injured but he's gone from getting a lot of game time - to getting none.
Far from ideal for a player a lot have liked the looks of since he first emerged underage.

nigel-harps1954

20/07/2020, 10:54 PM

Celtic is a black hole pit for any young footballer. Especially under Lennon. Each one of those Irish lads would do well to get out of there at the earliest possible opportunity.

Eirambler

21/07/2020, 3:57 PM

Connell left out of the team again tonight. A lot of managers would want to make sure the whole squad starts a game on the pre season tour but not Neil. Surely this time he'll get a run out off the bench...

Kingdom

21/07/2020, 5:28 PM

To be fair to Lennon, his raison d'etre has to be getting the best squad together to ensure they get to #10. He won't give a crud after that. someone elses problem.

samhaydenjr

22/07/2020, 2:16 AM

Celtic is a black hole pit for any young footballer. Especially under Lennon. Each one of those Irish lads would do well to get out of there at the earliest possible opportunity.

Well, apart from Ajer, Frimpong, Johnston, Dembele and Edouard. Maybe we're getting a little too worried about the Celtic Quintet (notwithstanding the lack of competitive football available to them currently) - they're all still only 18-20 and Connell has, at least, been included for a squad to play three top French sides, while it's possible Afolabi would have been if COVID hadn't cut short his time at Dunfermline. O'Connor likewise didn't have much of a chance to impress at Partick. All three arrived at the border between their youth development and the start of their senior careers so the lack of a strong youth structure shouldn't hamper their development too much. However, loan spells at cash-strapped Scottish clubs next season would certainly help.

Eirambler

22/07/2020, 8:43 AM

Only Johnston out of that lot came through the Celtic youth setup though. And even he hasn't gotten as much game time as he needs or probably would have elsewhere. The others were just bought and pretty much put straight into the first team.

Going to play in Scotland is not in itself a problem, as long as the player is playing first team football it's no different to playing in the English lower divisions. The problem is the lack of quality and development in youth football here. The standard is truly terrible. If you're not getting first team football you're not playing anything like the quality of youth opposition that you need to be or would in England, and this is harming player development.

It is a problem that has beset the Scottish national team for a decade or more now, Celtic are hoovering up almost all of the best young Scottish players but they mostly never break through into the first team and end up not playing any football until they're well into their 20s. By then the damage is done and they end up playing at lower levels than they might otherwise have done. It's a shame that five of our younger players are stuck in the same mess of a system.

Celtic are almost certainly going to buy another striker in the next couple of weeks on top of the three out and out strikers and a few additional forward players that they already have so Afolabi can forget about any notions of first team football this season. O'Connor would be about fourth choice right back at this stage and despite being able to cover a number of positions Connell hasn't been given a minute in three pre-season games. They are wasting their most important years of development at Celtic.

tommy_c12000

22/07/2020, 8:45 PM

Fully agree. Sad situation. What’s their play?

Push for loan now to another SPL club (up to 2 may be allowed if planned rule goes through, otherwise Celtic can only loan 1), and failing that, wait for the English league (realistically league 1, chance of lower tier championship) to start a month late? A season in Scottish tier 2 would be awful again. Or cut their losses and engineer move out of Celtic ASAP?

Eirambler

22/07/2020, 11:20 PM

tommy_c12000

24/07/2020, 12:05 PM

Loan rules in Scotland officially expanded. 6 loan players per team from 4; and 2 to clubs in same division from 1. They need to push to be one of the 2 SPL loaned players over the next week; if they’re not.... early loan south of the border

Eirambler

24/07/2020, 12:33 PM

This is good news. The scrapping of the reserve league and replacing it with more loans might actually be a useful long term strategy in Scotland, rather than just a short term fix for Covid.

My reading of the new rules is that clubs are limited to loaning in two players at most from a club in the same division, but I don't think clubs are limited to loaning out only two players to the same division (if that makes sense).

So, in other words, St Mirren could get two players on loan from Celtic at most, but there would be nothing to stop Celtic also loaning two players to Hamilton, two to St. Johnstone, two to Livingston and so on. So there should (finally) be opportunities here for youth players at Celtic to play football at a decent standard, as long as Celtic actually make a bit of an effort here.

Danny McNamara, who would be behind Lee O'Connor in the right back pecking order for Ireland Under 21s has gone on loan to St Johnstone for this season. I'd expect him to play a lot of first team football in the SPFL.

So there's really no point in O'Connor going down the divisions to the likes of Partick Thistle again, if he's staying in Scotland this season he needs to be playing in the top division. The obvious teams that you'd think would look to benefit from these rule changes would be the smallest teams in the division - so St Mirren, Hamilton, Livingston, Ross County and St. Johnstone would be the likely targets - they're pretty much all skint and need players. That said, the likes of Hibs have loaned in players from Celtic and Rangers in the past also.

youngirish

24/07/2020, 4:58 PM

Realistically I don't think any of those three will move permanently away from Celtic for this season. So the best bet is loan moves. As long as they get loan moves to SPL, English League 1 or at a push League 2 teams the season could be salvaged for them. Another loan move to the Scottish Championship would be disastrous, the standard is terrible and they won't develop playing down there.

I agree. Even the SPL is a mickey mouse league. Outside the top two the standard is shocking. Most English League 1 teams would fancy themselves to finish 3rd in that league. I'd like to know what sort of advice the three Irish lads were getting from their agents before making the move to Celtic because it was glaringly obvious to most people on this forum that it was very likely to be bad for their careers. Afolabi, after a fine U21 Euros, and Connell, who was highly rated at Bolton, must have at least had Championship clubs interested. Maybe Celtic have deeper pockets and the moves are more to do with money than their development as players which seems very short sighted.

tetsujin1979

26/07/2020, 1:47 PM

Connell named on the bench for Celtic again today. Five minutes to go, still on the bench
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Eirambler

26/07/2020, 1:54 PM

And that's where he stays. Four pre season games, named on the bench four times, zero minutes of game time.

How much does Lennon need to see his first 11? Because I've seen plenty of them and they're not that good, as PSG showed the last day.

Eirambler

27/07/2020, 10:00 AM

tetsujin1979

27/07/2020, 11:19 AM

Celtic have their second pre season game in the space of 24 hours today against Hibs (1:30pm kick off), so Lennon will be pretty much forced to play some different players - we'll see. Daryl Horgan could also potentially play for Hibs in this one.
Connell named on the bench again. He's one of only three substitutes - if he can't get on in this game, it's time to look for a move
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youngirish

27/07/2020, 11:39 AM

Connell named on the bench again. He's one of only three substitutes - if he can't get on in this game, it's time to look for a move

Agreed. Its a shame how much his career has stalled when you consider he was a Championship regular for Bolton at 17 a year and a half ago.

tommy_c12000

27/07/2020, 12:19 PM

That’s their B team according to twitter. I also read that Afolabi and Coffey were in Ireland last week, so presumably a firm line has been drawn between their “development” and first team squads, and the youth are still on holidays. Hence, only 3 subs, with A team rested ahead of Sunday’s opener.

Highlights the need for the Irish to get out ASAP and get some regular football. One post said O’Connor and Afolabi were injured, but this is unverified

Eirambler

27/07/2020, 1:22 PM

He really is the absolute last pick in their first team squad, even behind Griffiths who it seems spent most of the lockdown watching TV and eating chips.

I wonder is there something in his contract to say he has to be in the first team squad or something, because Lennon clearly hasn't the slightest bit of interest in him? It's almost like he's making a point of not starting him at this stage.

Just repeating myself at this stage but the rest of the Irish lads are throwing away their careers there as well. Sad to see.

Eirambler

27/07/2020, 1:42 PM

And he's finally on the pitch for a run out.

YouTube link to the match here if anyone wants to watch.

https://twitter.com/Freddie_23_23/status/1287741977719644160?s=19

Eirambler

27/07/2020, 2:27 PM

He played well when he came on, looks a lovely passer of the ball and played some lovely through passes. Had two long shots that were both well off target.

Will probably turn up next at Raith Rovers or somewhere around October time sadly.

tommy_c12000

27/07/2020, 2:32 PM

Twitter “raving” about his second half performance anyways. Poor guy can’t do any more...

Eirambler

27/07/2020, 2:52 PM

The problem is they've spent 2 million on Soro who was playing there in midfield today as well. Connell is probably the better player and given that he's three years younger almost certainly the better prospect, but if a space opens up in the Celtic midfield they'll almost certainly play the one they've spent a big fee on.

gally

27/07/2020, 3:51 PM

Saw the second half, indeed he did look very classy, but at best he will only get a few minutes every now and then, he needs to get out.

tetsujin1979

27/07/2020, 10:55 PM

Daryl Horgan scored for Hibs in their 1-1 draw with Aberdeen, who had Jonathan Hayes and Tommie Hoban(as a trialist) in their side, on Saturday
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tetsujin1979

18/08/2020, 9:32 AM

Aaron O'Driscoll has left Southampton by mutual consent. He is 21 so probably the right move for him to get a chance elsewhere. Will be interesting to see where he ends up next.

O'Driscoll is playing today for Mansfield against Nottingham Forest U23's. Corey O'Keeffe, who signed for them last week, is on the bench
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seanfhear

18/08/2020, 1:17 PM

Daryl Horgan scored for Hibs in their 1-1 draw with Aberdeen, who had Jonathan Hayes and Tommie Hoban(as a trialist) in their side, on Saturday
1287060514561036290Daryl Horgan didn’t look overly happy about scoring a fine goal. Is he happy at Hibs or are Hibs happy with him ? ?

Eirambler

18/08/2020, 2:05 PM

He's in the last year of a three year contract. No new contract offer yet from Hibs and he's been told to improve if he is to be kept on.

He is one of the highest earners at the club but is by no means a guaranteed starter when everyone is fit. All in all he has been a disappointment at Hibs so far, a small number of great individual moments but too often he has looked unfit and has needed to be subbed off around the hour mark after running out of steam. This leads to a sense of him being unprofessional by the Hibs support, although that may well be unfair on him.

It just shows that the step up from the LoI can be greater than a lot of people realise, even just to the not at all outstanding level of the Scottish Premier.

RiffRaff

18/08/2020, 10:15 PM

To be fair, he got his move on the back of his performances in Europe, some of which were outstanding against very decent opposition. Very disappointing that he never was able ti build on that.

samhaydenjr

21/08/2020, 12:08 AM

Time to start trawling Football clubs' websites for signs of progress of our players - and the first one I go to is a promising one: Festy Ebosele (playing at left-back) came on for the second half of Derby County's game against Peterborough and scored the winner. Does this mean there's a possibility of him breaking through this season?
https://www.dcfc.co.uk/news/2020/08/derby-kick-off-pre-season-with-victory-over-posh

Jordan Shipley scored for Coventry against Wolves' U23s

https://www.ccfc.co.uk/news/2020/august/report-wolves-u23-1-1-sky-blues/

Our top scorer in England's top two divisions last season, James Collins, grabbed a hat-trick as Luton hammered Berkhamsted. Eunan O'Kane was involved in the build-up for two of his goals. Glen Rea and Peter Kioso also featured:

https://www.lutontown.co.uk/news/2020/august/berkhamsted-report/

elatedscum

21/08/2020, 12:20 AM

Festy is very promising and talented, while also being a genuinely nice and grounded kid. He’s very young to break through but stranger things have happened I guess. Still learning how to play full back. Long run, could see him stay at full back or revert to the wing

samhaydenjr

21/08/2020, 1:05 AM

Olé Olé

21/08/2020, 5:17 AM

Down in League One, Aaron Drinan is the first of our long list of young strikers to hit the target with a brace for Ipswich in the first of a double-header against Colchester. Alan Judge scored the only goal in the second game which Corrie Ndaba also played in:
https://www.itfc.co.uk/news/2020/august/colchester-0-town-4/
https://www.itfc.co.uk/news/2020/august/second-match-colchester-v-town/

I saw Drinan had got two goals and wondered the opposition. It would be a great turnaround if he got games for them after stop and start loans at various levels. Stephen Ward has also signed for them.

Eirambler

21/08/2020, 7:00 AM

Festy has a great chance. Very highly rated at Derby and at about the best club he could be with in terms of giving young players a shot. Could well make his senior club debut this coming season.

samhaydenjr

23/08/2020, 2:32 AM

Festy has a great chance. Very highly rated at Derby and at about the best club he could be with in terms of giving young players a shot. Could well make his senior club debut this coming season.

Yeah, he looked good against the Czechs in the U17s before getting sent off

- Anyway, Adam Idah has opened his account for the pre-season, with a goal in Norwich's 6-0 defeat of MK Dons - https://www.canaries.co.uk/News/2020/august/match-report-for-pre-season-friendly-to-mk-dons
- Masterson, Manning and Shodipo all featured in QPRs victory over AFC Wimbledon
- The Mansfield v Rotherham game featured Charsley, O'Keefe, O'Driscoll, Sweeney and Ogbene: https://www.themillers.co.uk/news/2020/august/report---mansfield-v-rotherham/
- Drinan, Judge and Ndaba all played in Ipswich's 3-0 defeat to Spurs: https://www.itfc.co.uk/news/2020/august/tottenham-3-0-town/

elatedscum

23/08/2020, 11:38 PM

Apparently Aaron Connolly scored 2 in Brighton’s first friendly. Warren O’Hora has gone on loan to MK Dons. Not sure if that was mentioned anywhere

OMTY

25/08/2020, 12:23 PM

Posted this in Cullen's thread but if that needs to be removed by the mods feel free.

Josh Cullen starting midfield for West Ham v Wycombe. Randolph and Coventry starting in another West Ham team v Ipswich. Both teams seem to have a split of first team players with reserves and academey. Wycombe team looks stronger overall.

Coventry has the number 11. Don't know if that's a sign that he is going to be higher up the pecking order or just a spare number they had.