2-0 now. Oko-Flex again, with a deflection.
Sinclair Armstrong is such a positive character. He'd light up any dressing room.
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2-0 now. Oko-Flex again, with a deflection.
Sinclair Armstrong is such a positive character. He'd light up any dressing room.
Nearly a lovely 3rd
Springett & Moran v good
Lawall very dominant
Finished with a 2-1 win. Conceded from distance in injury time.
U21s were pretty dominant throughout and really should have had at least one more goal
Still, job done, and now top of the group with three wins from three.
Turkey play San Marino later, with both teams on zero points.
Big game for the group on Tuesday night when Italy play Norway. Norway the early pace setters in the group with two wins from two, 14 goals scored(!!) and none conceded
Could do with Norway and Italy drawing. Would be good to go into the Novembers tough fixtures (Norway away, and Italy at home) top of the group.
Sinclair Armstrong looks like a bit of a unit, doesn't he.. some size compared to some of the rest of them
78 minutes gone between Latvia and Türkiye in Latvia and its 1-1, a result like this will make it a mountain to climb for Türkiye to qualify which will leave it a 3 way battle between ourselves, Norway & Italy for the final spots.
Türkiye weren't great when we played them admittedly but I would love to know how the hell Latvia got a draw versus Italy and potentially could get on here? They looked absolutely hopeless when we played them and we probably could/should have beaten by another goal or 2.
And just as i click send, latvia take the lead!!!
Latvia beat Türkiye 2-1 meaning one of our rivals to qualify is now severely damaged.
Obviously I only saw Latvia versus Ireland last week but how the hell have they beaten and drawn with Türkiye and Italy at home?
Italy 1-0 up on Norway at half time, the first goal they've conceded in the qualifiers
https://www.uefa.com/under21/match/2...aly-vs-norway/
Goalkeepers: Tiernan Brooks (Cork City, on loan from Notts County), Killian Cahill (Brighton & Hove Albion), Josh Keeley (Tottenham Hotspur)
Defenders: James Abankwah (Charlton Athletic, on loan from Udinese), Tayo Adaramola (Crystal Palace), Sam Curtis (St. Patrick’s Athletic), Anselmo Garcia MacNulty (PEC Zwolle), Sean Grehan (Crystal Palace), Bosun Lawal (Fleetwood Town, on loan from Celtic), Connor O’Riordan (Crewe Alexandra), Sean Roughan (Lincoln City)
Midfielders: Baba Adeeko (Wigan Athletic), Zak Gilsenan (Blackburn Rovers), Matt Healy (Royal Francs Borains), Kian Leavy (St. Patrick’s Athletic), Andrew Moran (Blackburn Rovers, on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion), Ollie O’Neill (Fulham), Killian Phillips (Wycombe Wanderers, on-loan from Crystal Palace)
Forward: Sinclair Armstrong (QPR), Conor Carty (St. Patrick’s Athletic, on loan from Bolton Wanderers), Aidomo Emakhu (Millwall), Johnny Kenny (Shamrock Rovers, on loan from Celtic), Armstrong Oko-Flex (FC Zurich), Tony Springett (Norwich City)
It’s a fairly uncontroversial squad.
Shame to see Hodge miss out but hopefully he comes back from surgery fully fit and can get a loan in January. Base of midfield looks a little light with Leavy coming in, I like Kian but I think he’s more of a replacement for Moran and Gilsenan rather than Hodge. Think Henry-Francis is also injured too, so a bit unlucky.
Tayo returning is the only defensive surprise. Would have been nice to see Finn or Vata maybe but no real complaints
Vata will probably be in the Under-19 squad, their qualifying round fixtures start next week
Yeah can see Vata being with the U19s for their qualifiers. Likely would have been a sub anyway and can see Crawford going with his usual conservative approach when playing better teams.
U19s also play on the 15th, 18th, and 21st. Would miss the Norway game which is on the 17th but a possiblity he joins up with the U21s if Moran moves up to the seniors for NZ.
That is idiotic. Leave murphy with the 19s who are going to need everything to get out of that group and leave moran with the 21s .Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Pulling him out of the U19 squad the day before the group opener, against the hosts, is unnecessary
I'd say if the U21s were playing their first game at home they'd have left him in Albania for the opening game. Would assume they leave for Norway Thursday morning or Wednesday night so wanted Murphy heading back to Dublin today.Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
21s could easily have called up Goodrham or Vaughn or McJannett or Finn or Mullins to replace Moran. Can't see whoever it is starting anyway, Gilsenan probably replaces Moran in a like for like swap.Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Meanwhile there's a huge huge gap between Adam Murphy and Senan Mullen and the 19s are really light in that area with Ferizaj and Gibbard both injured.
Sinclair Armstrong was also on the provisional list for the seniors, so if all three are injured then I wouldn't be too surprised if he gets a call-up as well
Seniors could have had a look at Azaz, or Ronan, or Gallagher, or Taylor, as well and left Moran with the U21sQuote:
Originally Posted by elatedscum
Yeah - think i made that point when the senior squad was announced and people were criticising Kenny for not calling up Moran (that I was happier to have him with the 21s) and that in general I would have had Ronan in the squad. Seniors shouldn't have called up Moran, 21s shouldn't have called up MurphyQuote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Looks like 5-3-2
Ireland U21s Vs Norway: Keeley; Curtis, Lawal, O'Riordan, Garcia MacNulty (c), Roughan; Adeeko, Healy, Leavy; Armstrong, Emakhu
Brooks, Abankwah, Adaramola, Phillips, O'Neill, Springett, Okoflex, Kenny, and Murphy make up the bench. Gilsenan misses out through injury and supposedly were doubts around Springett going into this game.
Adventurous as ever Jim…
These are the types of team selections that led to Festy tearing up the championship for Derby in the last campaign and not even making the match day squad.
I like both Roughan and Curtis but Jesus, we’re basically set up to put 8 men behind the ball and hopefully counter with Armstrong and Emakhu
Don't think we can expect anything different from Jim when it comes to playing certain teams. We did similar at home to Turkey. Wouldn't surprise me if Moran being called up didn't bother Crawford as he isn't your stereotypical Crawford type player for these games.Quote:
Originally Posted by elatedscum
Almost as if he's trying to make it difficult for the group's top scoring team to score...
Poor defending from O'Riordan for the goal. Surprised he's playing in the center of the back three given Lawal is one of the best passers we've got on the team.
Emakhu deserved that goal. Himself and Armstrong getting through some work pressing the Norway defenders and have caused issues for Norway trying to play it out of defence.
Great work from Emakhu to win the ball back and then finish the rebound from Sinclair Armstrong’s shot,a promising looking pair of strikers….
The only criticism I can think of form an Irish perspective is we haven't troubled the keeper enough but other than that we've played some good football. A good away performance in a difficult venue against difficult opposition.
One thing I've noticed from all the underage teams this window is we play some football but seem to concede from pretty much every chance we concede. The key to getting a result here more than anything is prevent Norway from creating any chances...
Enjoyable game of football to watch in the first half. Really impressed with Emakhu. That's the best I've seen him play. I don't remember his work rate standing out so much like this when he was at Rovers. Think he's hitting another level after his year in England.
Would take a draw in the context of the group.
Don't have any issues with how we're set up away from home.
Norway not up to much in this game. If Crawford can get his subs right three points are there for the taking.
Fantastic link up from the 2 strikers for the second,great goal….
Nice finish from Armstrong too and nice to see after some of the chances he missed in other games
This ref has it in his mind that we are a physical side so appears to bee pigning us any time we have any coming together so particularly are the penalty box, and in it, we need to be super careful.
Right on cue!Quote:
Originally Posted by CSAD
And there we go, I was surprised he didnt give the first one tbh.Quote:
Originally Posted by joey B
And behind now,taking Emakhu off felt like a bad decision and it looks worse now…