Luxembourg v Republic of Ireland - Tuesday, 10th June 2025 - Friendly

[rebelmusic]

Finn looked comfortable for his mini cameo. I think it's like Ronnie said. End of season friendly and our best creative players missing.

Main takeaway is that Taylor has nailed down his place and Manning has worked his way into contention. We hit the woodwork twice and a goal disallowed.

Ferguson should not start and maybe no longer be called up until he's playing well at club level. I'm sorry, but he's been given enough chances and it's not good enough. The gulf between Parrot and him is immense and while Idah wasn't mind-blowing, at least he does a consistent press and has a bit of aggression about him

[CraftyToePoke]

So we get 45 seconds plus injury time of Finn and Lawal interrupted his holidays for nothing.

In which, to be fair, he did show more than Phillips comfortably & torpedoed my theory.

[Razors left peg]

you'd be generous to give ferguson more than 2/10.

Would you give anyone more than that?

Dire game, did think we improved a bit once Taylor came on. I thought Knight was worst player on pitch other than Phillips but yet he got man of match!

I actually liked the little cameo from Patrick, won the ball and moved it pretty well a couple of times. Looks a far better footballer than Phillips, but its not an argument for either of them to be near the team come Sept.

End of season friendly, we know we can be better

[zero]

Yeah please bring on Idah. Ferguson has been a ghost for most of this game.


Would you give anyone more than that?

Dire game, did think we improved a bit once Taylor came on. I thought Knight was worst player on pitch other than Phillips but yet he got man of match!

I actually liked the little cameo from Patrick, won the ball and moved it pretty well a couple of times. Looks a far better footballer than Phillips, but its not an argument for either of them to be near the team come Sept.

End of season friendly, we know we can be better

i thought O'Brien, Collins and o'shea were ok... parrott had a bit of movement. O'Leary did fine in goal. that's probably it really. i just thought that Ferguson, having not played much and needing a move, had an opportunity to make a statement but he was not on it at all. i would say it is a legitimate concern.

[texidub]

Inspirational. Heart stopping. Dreamlike. Legendary. These are words that I am saving up for the world cup qualifiers. See yis in September :)

[SkStu]

Finn looked comfortable for his mini cameo. I think it's like Ronnie said. End of season friendly and our best creative players missing.

Main takeaway is that Taylor has nailed down his place and Manning has worked his way into contention. We hit the woodwork twice and a goal disallowed.

Ferguson should not start and maybe no longer be called up until he's playing well at club level. I'm sorry, but he's been given enough chances and it's not good enough. The gulf between Parrot and him is immense and while Idah wasn't mind-blowing, at least he does a consistent press and has a bit of aggression about him

Agree with almost all of this. Still don’t think Ferguson should be dropped from the squad. But he’ll be looking nervously over his shoulder at how Cannon and the likes start the season. All in all, Idah has moved ahead of him - and I wouldn’t be his biggest fan at all.

[rebelmusic]

I thought Knight was very solid over both matches. I gave him stick last window but he's on a par with Cullen at this stage. Worthy successor to Whelan I feel. I do think whoever plays DM is exposed for criticism at matches like these but I'd argue that we'd have lost tonight if Knight wasn't playing.

[Razors left peg]

I thought Knight was very solid over both matches. I gave him stick last window but he's on a par with Cullen at this stage. Worthy successor to Whelan I feel. I do think whoever plays DM is exposed for criticism at matches like these but I'd argue that we'd have lost tonight if Knight wasn't playing.

Im old fashioned ( some would say old fart) .... but I like my midfielders to be able to complete basic passes, Knight looked incapable of that most of tonight. Yeah he ran around well, but Id like more than just that.

[CraftyToePoke]

Would you give anyone more than that?

O'Leary
Turned up how many times to make up the numbers in training for a country he has one grandparent from, has played every game for his club for two seasons and quietly waited his turn, in a nothing game, one really nice save, one superb kick right into Fergusons chest ( which he fcuked up ) and solid throughout, steady, calm & catching footballs.

[Razors left peg]

Agree with almost all of this. Still don’t think Ferguson should be dropped from the squad. But he’ll be looking nervously over his shoulder at how Cannon and the likes start the season. All in all, Idah has moved ahead of him - and I wouldn’t be his biggest fan at all.


Id forgotten about Cannon almost. If Ferguson goes through another season like this one next year then he absolutely will deserve to get dropped from the squad, but Im like you I dont think we are there just yet. I cant figure him out, we seen the talent. That wasnt a mirage, but it looks like hes lost everything that made him good. Theres no strength, movement off the ball is gone, lacking pace and really does look like hes lost his way.

I dont know what the answer for him is at this point, but he better have a plan over the next 2 months to figure it out or he could end up being the biggest disappointment I can remember as an Ireland fan for a prospect not making it

[Eirambler]

O'Leary
Turned up how many times to make up the numbers in training for a country he has one grandparent from, has played every game for his club for two seasons and quietly waited his turn, in a nothing game, one really nice save, one superb kick right into Fergusons chest ( which he fcuked up ) and solid throughout, steady, calm & catching footballs.

Fair. If that's his only ever cap (and it probably will be with Kelleher, Bazunu and Travers on the scene and all younger than him and Keeley coming through as well) then it's a well deserved one.

[EalingGreen]

Serious question, but what are Luxembourg like? (NI are in the same qualifying group as them.)

[seanfhear]

Is it time to try Ferguson and Phillips at centre-back yet ?

[zero]

Serious question, but what are Luxembourg like? (NI are in the same qualifying group as them.)

not a bad side. a bit like andorra with better players. they try to play decent football and have one or two good players but are weak up top. keep an ok shape but are vulnerable to counter attacks and quick passes behind.

ni would be disappointed not to take full points but they won't be cheap points, keep pressing and high energy levels - should just about be enough.

[pineapple stu]

Surely Luxembourg would be similar to the Luxembourg side the North drew with in November and beat in September?

[Crosby87]

Down to the socks.

[CraftyToePoke]

Fair. If that's his only ever cap (and it probably will be with Kelleher, Bazunu and Travers on the scene and all younger than him and Keeley coming through as well) then it's a well deserved one.

I don't think he sees it that way. Bazunu has a serious injury on his record now & potential unfulfilled doesn't amount to anything. Travers, he'll see himself as better than & could have a point there. Keeley has had one good loan a division down. He's in his prime, undisputed number one at a play offs club in the same division as two, (maybe three of the others for the coming season more than likely) with a finals we can't but qualify for coming soon & I think that's his long game, being in that squad if the chips fall his way & tonight he gave a fine first impression.

He won't win many caps but he might go to a finals these squad turn ups are the groundwork & fair play to him. He's a decent keeper.

[elatedscum]

Ref was really ****. Allowed them to foul and bully and leave bad late tackles without ever pulling them up for it - from the first minute to the last.

O’Leary did well when called upon. Very happy for him.

Thought we were really poor. Probably should have scored 5 though anyway. The two that hit the woodwork, Parrott’s close range miss and offside goal, the McAteer dragged shot where he could have passed instead, Taylor’s other shot from distance, Idah’s acrobatic effort from close range

Positives: defenders did fine at least defensively, Taylor and Ebosele and Finn’s cameos were really positives, kept a clean sheet.

Negatives: shame about Brady’s injury, Ferguson gave us absolutely nothing, Luxembourg a country with 600k population were able to dominate possession against us

[joey B]

When’s the last time a senior international match didn’t have a studio analysis panel? Must be fairly rare ….

[osarusan]

Good to see the manager giving a pretty honest evaluation of the performance, describing it as 'a negative answer to a question', instead of dressing it up as some kind of work in progress.

[pineapple stu]

Thought we were really poor. Probably should have scored 5 though anyway. The two that hit the woodwork, Parrott’s close range miss and offside goal, the McAteer dragged shot where he could have passed instead, Taylor’s other shot from distance, Idah’s acrobatic effort from close range
In fairness, if we should have scored 5 by that metric (including an offside goal and an acrobatic effort that still went about five yards over), we should still have lost when you count O'Leary's two good saves (the only saves of note in the game), Luxembourg hitting the woodwork, etc.

It was a dreadful performance which I do think doesn't bode well for September at all, but in the end of the day it was also a June friendly where we'd left out a few players who would otherwise have started, albeit none of them are exactly world beaters either.

[Predator]

That's four unbeaten for HH, but we are back to not winning matches. I thought the tactical approach was all wrong and it was summed up by our midfield, which was slack, particularly in the first half. The stats tell the story. Luxembourg dominated the ball (58% to 42% possession, 501 passes to our 362). They also had nearly twice as many shots as us.
I get the logic of leaving the majority of the Championship players out, but at the same time I think we needed to use this window to get the best team settled.

[Kingdom]

Evan Ferguson, with the absolute greatest of respects, needs a kick up the hole.

[Kingdom]

Ref was really ****. Allowed them to foul and bully and leave bad late tackles without ever pulling them up for it - from the first minute to the last.

And we more or less allowed them to bully us. Yet again Parrot stands up for himself (NZ Lansdowne springs to mind) and there's no backup. Taylor a couple of times got stuck right in to be fair too.

the only time this squad of players ever looks ready to stand up for itself is when Molumby is playing centre midfield and with all due consideration given to our other options in there, none of them impact a game to that much of an extent that they are head and shoulders above him.

[seanfhear]

Evan Ferguson, with the absolute greatest of respects, needs a kick up the hole.The Evan Ferguson enigma is another job for Sam Spade, either he is carrying an injury, or something else has gone on that we don't know about ?

[elatedscum]

In fairness, if we should have scored 5 by that metric (including an offside goal and an acrobatic effort that still went about five yards over), we should still have lost when you count O'Leary's two good saves (the only saves of note in the game), Luxembourg hitting the woodwork, etc.


Did Luxembourg hit the woodwork? Maybe I've already begun to wipe the match from my memory but all I can remember of note is the two O'Leary saves and the shot that deflected over the bar.

I think it's fair enough looking at the offside goal, from the perspective that the run just needed to be timed a little better and he's still in. It wasn't the fact he was offside that made the chance. If you ran that as a drill in training, he beats the offside trap and is one on one with the keeper more than 50% of the time. The other Parrott chance is also a real sitter, he just can't get it out of his feet. Idah's chance, difficult but from that range if he hits the target, it should be a goal.

[elatedscum]

And we more or less allowed them to bully us. Yet again Parrot stands up for himself (NZ Lansdowne springs to mind) and there's no backup. Taylor a couple of times got stuck right in to be fair too.

the only time this squad of players ever looks ready to stand up for itself is when Molumby is playing centre midfield and with all due consideration given to our other options in there, none of them impact a game to that much of an extent that they are head and shoulders above him.

Who are the midfielders to choose from? Cullen, Knight, Taylor, Smallbone, Molumby, Azaz, McGrath in the first group - and Finn, Moran, Phillips, Lawal, Browne in the group below, where we've tended to select 5 players in total. It's a real group of decent players with absolutely no one bringing the level up. All basically borderline top tier championship players but that's about it.

Looking back, I really think giving Finn just 5 minutes across the 2 games was a total waste. If you'd have seen him for 45 minutes, you'd have a real sense if he's up to the level - instead we have a 5 minute cameo where he looked really good but you'd be afraid to call him up and expose him in a competitive fixture

[pineapple stu]

Did Luxembourg hit the woodwork? Maybe I've already begun to wipe the match from my memory but all I can remember of note is the two O'Leary saves and the shot that deflected over the bar.
I thought they had one onto the top of the bar, though the BBC match stats disagrees. (I will acknowledge my eyes glazing over at regular intervals during the 90...) But swap in that deflected shot instead and it's the same point. You can't accumulate all our chances and half chances and offside chances into a biased conclusion (like "Probably should have scored 5") without doing the same for Luxembourg. And they definitely had chances of their own.

Bottom line is "If Idah hits the target, it should be a goal" is just "If my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle". If Idah was a better striker, it might have been a goal. But he's not a better striker, so it wasn't probably a goal.

[SkStu]

Looking back, I really think giving Finn just 5 minutes across the 2 games was a total waste. If you'd have seen him for 45 minutes, you'd have a real sense if he's up to the level - instead we have a 5 minute cameo where he looked really good but you'd be afraid to call him up and expose him in a competitive fixture

Totally agree. I wasnt bothered that he didnt start or didnt come on sooner as i just interpreted it to mean that Phillips > Finn > Honohan but once he had his cameo i was left thinking there is definitely a player there that might improve us - but that you just could not justify him replacing any of the current crop of squad midfielders based on that sample. That feels like a missed opportunity (or poor judgement) from HH.

[MylesNotMiley]

The Evan Ferguson enigma is another job for Sam Spade, either he is carrying an injury, or something else has gone on that we don't know about ?

Where does he go from here?

He's not getting in the Brighton team anytime soon. I get the feeling Hurlezer doesn't rate him. I can't see many EPL clubs lining up to take him, even on a loan. Too much of a risk for the promoted clubs.

Championship?

[CraftyToePoke]

Where does he go from here?

He could do worse than take a Cullen / Parrott approach & go do well in a decent European league, he'd have options you'd imagine, and probably better than those two had. It won't suit the EPL purists but so what, he just needs to do well somewhere ( as Idah did as well ) & then take a look at his choices. The least worthwhile one is the Brighton bench. There were Everton rumours last week but they seem a little hopeful, obviously glad to be wrong about that if so, new stadium, very strong finish to the season, upwardly mobile club, warhorse manager.

[Razors left peg]

He could do worse than take a Cullen / Parrott approach & go do well in a decent European league, he'd have options you'd imagine, and probably better than those two had. It won't suit the EPL purists but so what, he just needs to do well somewhere ( as Idah did as well ) & then take a look at his choices. The least worthwhile one is the Brighton bench. There were Everton rumours last week but they seem a little hopeful, obviously glad to be wrong about that if so, new stadium, very strong finish to the season, upwardly mobile club, warhorse manager.

Theres a lot to be said for getting out of the spotlight a little bit too. A move to a top flight team on the Continent I think is 100% what he needs right now, not some slog with the likes of Millwall or Stoke who are more in interested in trying not to lose than actively trying to play.

At 20 theres still a lot of development needed for him and he has shown that he is a good ball player, Id hope he goes somewhere that can bring that back and not somewhere that would try to turn him into a version of Duncan Ferguson

[elatedscum]

he's a bit of a victim of his own success. Brighton still think they potentially have a very valuable asset on their hands, so are unwilling to sell for pennies on the pound, which leaves him with just loan moves. As we saw with West Ham, unless he's immediately contributing and if his performances over the last 2 seasons are anything to go by, he may not, it may be difficult for him to get the necessary minutes to have a real impact...

[rebelmusic]

he's a bit of a victim of his own success. Brighton still think they potentially have a very valuable asset on their hands, so are unwilling to sell for pennies on the pound, which leaves him with just loan moves. As we saw with West Ham, unless he's immediately contributing and if his performances over the last 2 seasons are anything to go by, he may not, it may be difficult for him to get the necessary minutes to have a real impact...

Surely a deal with add-ons could be made based on goals scored or a percentage on resell value? Brighton have smart accounting when it comes to making a lot of profit from their academies so I'd be really surprised if they can't come up with a solution to monetize his potential

[John83]

We saw already how Liverpool handled the Kelleher situation with a buyback clause. There are definitely ways to hedge against underselling a player with a high ceiling.

[Acornvilla]

I thought they had one onto the top of the bar, though the BBC match stats disagrees. (I will acknowledge my eyes glazing over at regular intervals during the 90...) But swap in that deflected shot instead and it's the same point. You can't accumulate all our chances and half chances and offside chances into a biased conclusion (like "Probably should have scored 5") without doing the same for Luxembourg. And they definitely had chances of their own.

Bottom line is "If Idah hits the target, it should be a goal" is just "If my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle". If Idah was a better striker, it might have been a goal. But he's not a better striker, so it wasn't probably a goal.
We had two hit the bar, Taylor's sounds like what you're describing? So maybe who did what is getting mudled up, I can't remember them hitting it fwiw, but I was also barely paying attention, the game was awful. Maybe no one was paying enough attention to know what actually happened :D


As Max O' Leary's biggest advocate I am happy to see the man finally get his cap, it might be the only one he ever gets, but he deserves it for always showing up and playing consistently at the level he has.


On the Evan chat, I think Brighton are likely to lose a forward, Welbeck won't keep the level he has up forever either, Evan will get his shot to impress in pre season, apparently the January interest from Chelsea and Man United was real, so I am sure he is still rated and considered someone of great potential/value, but it is going to be the biggest few months of his career to date, it has to go well, he has to stay fit. Having a big long term contract at Brighton means they have to try and make the most of him and not bin him off yet IMO.

[elatedscum]

wrote this earlier today:

"i'd say Evan's value in the market went from £70-100m in summer 2025 to £50m last summer to probably £30m this summer. They'd certainly be selling low now."

i just saw Brighton have bought an 18 year old Greek striker from Olympiakos for £30m today. i wonder if he moves ahead of Evan in the rankings or if it makes it more likely that Evan will move on.

[CraftyToePoke]

wrote this earlier today:

"i'd say Evan's value in the market went from £70-100m in summer 2025 to £50m last summer to probably £30m this summer. They'd certainly be selling low now."

i just saw Brighton have bought an 18 year old Greek striker from Olympiakos for £30m today. i wonder if he moves ahead of Evan in the rankings or if it makes it more likely that Evan will move on.

What's the point of guesstimating his plummeting value in the first place ?
Whatever he was, or however much it was speculated he was worth two years ago, is as much an irrelevance in this as plucking figures now like you are.
If he fixes whatever is wrong with him ( and those odds keep getting longer ) he will have a career relevant to our national side, if he doesn't, he wont, same as Connolly and Obafemi don't.

You are worth what someone is willing to pay for you, not a penny more or less & none of that really matters to us Ireland supporters perspective on this anyway.

[elatedscum]

What's the point of guesstimating his plummeting value in the first place ?
Whatever he was, or however much it was speculated he was worth two years ago, is as much an irrelevance in this as plucking figures now like you are.
If he fixes whatever is wrong with him ( and those odds keep getting longer ) he will have a career relevant to our national side, if he doesn't, he wont, same as Connolly and Obafemi don't.

You are worth what someone is willing to pay for you, not a penny more or less & none of that really matters to us Ireland supporters perspective on this anyway.

It's as much to illustrate that if you're Brighton, you might try find a path where you can rebuild that value, either with an intelligent loan move or reintegrating him into the squad - if you loaned him to say Freiburg and he played and he scored 20-25 goals in the Bundesliga, then suddenly he returns to that price range. Saying that, from a club perspective there's always a time to sell. If Brighton had sold Aaron Connolly in summer 2020, just after his breakout, they could have made tens of millions off it, instead of him being released on a free.

As an Ireland fan, I think you'd want Evan to have a similar move to Troy. Move to a team where he's an undoubted starter in a league which is good enough for people to take notice but maybe not a level where he will go on barren runs that would make him lose his confidence or his place in the side. The issue is clubs similar to AZ could never afford someone like Evan. They paid €8m for Parrott plus a 20% sell on clause. Shay Given linked him with Celtic today - but similarly Celtic have the finances for Idah but nowhere close to what Evan would command. Even in Germany, the teams that could afford to buy Evan are probably just the likes of Bayern, Leverkusen, Dortmund and Leipzig - below that they just wouldn't have the finances. And all the clubs that have the finances to get a deal done (and would be willing to take a chance on him) aren't going to bring him in as a starter. Like say at £25m, he'd probably be very attractive to Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea - just to take a punt that he pans out rather than having to pay £95m or whatever United paid for Anthony, Hojlund etc. Whereas at £25m, pretty much every non champions league club in Europe is ruled out immediately. Unfortunately, he needs the game time that a non-elite club can offer.

To go back to the Bundesliga, a friend of mine works for SC Freiburg so I always keep an eye on them. They came 5th last season, failing to reach the Champions League on the final day of the season and their record signing is €10m (this year and also 4 years ago - same fee). Maybe a newly promoted Premier League side could afford him and try do something similar to what Ipswich did with Liam Delap? That's perhaps the best route for Evan...

If I'm Brighton, I'm working out three separate plans - one to reintegrate, one to loan and one to sell and depending on the offers you receive for him and how well he does in pre-season, you judge which is the best course of action and go from there.

[tetsujin1979]

wrote this earlier today:

"i'd say Evan's value in the market went from £70-100m in summer 2025 to £50m last summer to probably £30m this summer. They'd certainly be selling low now."

i just saw Brighton have bought an 18 year old Greek striker from Olympiakos for £30m today. i wonder if he moves ahead of Evan in the rankings or if it makes it more likely that Evan will move on.

It's probably worse for Mark O'Mahony than Ferguson.

[CraftyToePoke]

As an Ireland fan, I think you'd want Evan to have a similar move to Troy. If I'm Brighton, I'm working out three separate plans

The Cullen / Parrott / Idah or similar pathways were already covered though in the discussion & you're not Brighton, any more than this is a Brighton forum.



If I'm Brighton, I'm working out three separate plans

Have you considered perhaps writing to Brighton ?
A strongly worded advice letter.

Make as many plans as you ( or Brighton ) like, they're all of Canhamesque power point presentation relevance if the lad doesn't remember how to do what he's paid to do really soon, very much like your layers of valuations & pure speculation earlier.

What he's worth to his club will be dictated by how he recovers from this very long blip, what he's worth to his club is an irrelevance on an Ireland forum, his form, his goals & assists are.

[Razors left peg]

Im as big a fan as any, but right now there's no one paying close to 30 million for him. That move to West Ham was as poor a move as possible and did massive damage to his reputation. It made me even wonder if hes going down the wrong road. However, a good season somewhere, and all of a sudden hes a 21 year old hot prospect again... but another season like this one and he might never recover

[elatedscum]

Im as big a fan as any, but right now there's no one paying close to 30 million for him. That move to West Ham was as poor a move as possible and did massive damage to his reputation. It made me even wonder if hes going down the wrong road. However, a good season somewhere, and all of a sudden hes a 21 year old hot prospect again... but another season like this one and he might never recover

That’s exactly the point. Almost no one at the level he needs to go can afford the money Brighton would want. But there’s so much potential that Brighton won’t sell him crazy cheap, he still has 4 years left on his deal. Financially, I theoretically could see a big side gambling on him, had Chelsea not signed Delap for example, they buy Evan for €30m on a 7 year contract and loan him to Strasbourg for a season and hope they strike gold.

Brighton themselves have just spent €35m and €25m on two teenage Greek strikers who had 7 and 14 league goals in their careers to their name across the Greek league and German second division, neither has ever been capped for their countries.

The loan was awful for Evan’s reputation and development, although Brighton did receive “a significant fee”. I kinda still think you’re picking Evan over them.

Given all of the above, a loan seems the likely option, either to Europe, to a promoted side or a championship side.

[Acornvilla]

I think he's as likely to have a good pre season and be back starting for them as he is to be loaned out tbh. We just don't really know where he is physically or if there's an underlying issue, but he seems like a fella that takes a while to get up to speed, missing pre season is something it looks like his body currently can't afford to do. On a level playing field I'm hopeful he'll show Brighton he's very much worth persisting with, those Greek teens will probably need a year or two to bed in themselves in any case, they're not his competition just yet.

As said further down, Mark O' Mahoney is probably the one who needs the loan.

[osarusan]

I think it'd be worth stepping down to whatever level he can be more or less guaranteed to be banging in 20+ goals a season.

Gets him game time, gets him noticed, a better club will take a punt on him.

[Razors left peg]

I think he's as likely to have a good pre season and be back starting for them as he is to be loaned out tbh. We just don't really know where he is physically or if there's an underlying issue, but he seems like a fella that takes a while to get up to speed, missing pre season is something it looks like his body currently can't afford to do. On a level playing field I'm hopeful he'll show Brighton he's very much worth persisting with, those Greek teens will probably need a year or two to bed in themselves in any case, they're not his competition just yet.

As said further down, Mark O' Mahoney is probably the one who needs the loan.

Hes been trying to get up to speed for the best part of 18 months now. However he does it he needs to figure out a way to get super fit this summer and develop a bit of a selfish streak.

This might sound a bit stupid, but he actually comes across as too nice. I would have liked to have seen a bit of a tantrum at how West Ham went. I'd like to hear a few leaks from his camp about how he might have been treated badly or something. Some stories that might defend his reputation, even if its just spin. Have a bit of fight. Theres just nothing at all, we never see him boll0cking anyone for not making the right pass etc. There just seems to be an acceptance of everything. Even Idah in the last camp was complaining about game time, even if it was a bit of nonsense from out point of view Idah fully believes hes Irelands best striker and should be starting. I know that Ferguson is younger, but he needs to get that arrogance that he is entitled to be playing and if hes not picked its outrageous. Last week in the NL final Yamal kinda blanked Ronaldo when shaking hands, my 1st thought was "cocky little cnut", and he is, but the self confidence is off the charts and he doesnt care who he upsets....Ferguson needs to start ruffling a few feathers this summer