We thought that about that batch of U21 strikers tooQuote:
Originally Posted by Exgrad
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We thought that about that batch of U21 strikers tooQuote:
Originally Posted by Exgrad
Any idea who pulled out to make room for Lawal and Garcia-McNulty?
JP Finn it seems for Lawal. Finn's only playing the first game and then his mum is making him study for some exams.
It's not clear yet if there was a call off that resulted in AGM getting brought in. McGuinness and McEntee would be the senior centre backs in the squad with Omobamidele gone to the seniors.
Apparently Finn can't stay because he has exams, so it could be to cover for him after he leaves?
Finn is not committed. Absolutely ridiculous. Should never be called up again.
I hope he gets an F.
Hopefully he is committed to his exams = = Far more important. How many footballers who don’t make it and even some who do, have nothing to fall back on.Quote:
Originally Posted by Olé Olé
Why would you want a stupid footballer ?Quote:
Originally Posted by SkStu
Whatever about his exams, it seems beyond our national association to do the small bit of homework required to see if these lads are willing and in a position to accept these call ups before naming squads.
He's got the equivalent of his leaving cert starting on June 9th which runs till June 12th. The camp runs from today till when the last game ends on June 5th. I can see why it makes sense for him to miss the camp. Obviously they wanted him to travel up, spend the first 3 days with the camp and be involved in the first game and then go back home which seems like a good compromise but you can imagine why his mother would want him to miss the camp entirely...Quote:
Originally Posted by CraftyToePoke
Familiarity.Quote:
Originally Posted by seanfhear
Ssh. Don't tell the UCD lads. It's all part of Finn's master plan to get a scholarship and play in the LoI.
Why did he accept the call up, if he knew he had his l"eaving cert" coming up?
The Finn one is fairly straightforward I would say. He wasnt going to be in the squad for all the games due to the exams. He accepted the call up for the sake of appearances and to show he is going to be involved but the exams were always going to keep him out. I wouldnt be worried about him.
Alex Gilbert is a brentford player, so one more premier league player on the up
Because he didn't want to miss it I guess?Quote:
Originally Posted by Diggs246
Maher
Ebosele
McGuinness
McEntee
Richards
Coventry
Johansson
Watson
Grant
Wright
Kayode
is the starting team this morning. It's a virtual second string in terms of players eligible for us at this age group, but probably most of the missing players will not play again for the under 21s (Bazunu, Collins, Omobamidele, Knight, Idah, Parrott, Connolly) so this is similar to the kind of team we would expect to see in the qualifiers. Maybe a few like Finn, Hodge, O'Connor, Smallbone, Obafemi might come back in for the autumn.
Based on the first 20 minutes, I would have no issue with Johansson moving up to the senior squad. Coventry has been called up before. But Johansson makes him look ponderous. He has control, composure and lovely range of passing. The Swiss have attempted to crowd him out a couple of times but he has come out with the ball and a positive pass most times.
My point is not that he's the best player on the pitch or anything like that. It is just that he looks like a player we should integrate and stretch as soon as we can.
No MacNulty or Lawal. I was looking forward to seeing both players
Ireland absorbed a lot of Swiss pressure in first quarter and were sloppy for the goal. I think we look the better side this second quarter and have created a lot of chances, winning a good share of corners. Grant, Ebosele and, particularly, Wright have managed to create problems. Every time I see Wright he looks to have improved a bit on the last time. He still has a distance to go for senior level but he looks like a wide forward in a way that we don't have too many wide forwards.
Finished 2-0 to the Swiss. Plenty of effort from Ireland but no real quality in the final third. A familiar story unfortunately.
There were a few encouraging showings - I thought Johansson, Grant and the two wide players, Wright and Ebosele, looked good in the first half.
I'd have to say though there are a few others who have been around Ireland underage squads for a long time who look to have stalled in their development and probably won't feature at senior level. In a few cases you can clearly see the players that have gone out and played senior football kicking on and the ones that have stayed at Under 23 level stalling more often than not.
Ireland faded for the third quarter. Came back into it a little in the final quarter.
Overall, not a bad performance and some moments of quality and decent play and players. Lacked spark in the final third, whether due to lack of a penetrative 10 and 9 or lack of familiarity or time together amongst the squad.
Overall, I would not complain too much but hopefully the side can retain enough players to be more competitive in the qualifying games. Says I, seeking Johansson to move on up.. but I just think he would benefit a lot from that.
Yes, Wright, Ebosele, Grant and Johansson were my picks too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eirambler
As I said, I feel like Wright improves every time I see him. He keeps packing on the upper body strength. There was a side profile view of him in the second half and his shoulders are very round. On top of that, he has good delivery and pace and seems very aware in his movement. Hopefully he gets a campaign in League One or the Championship this season.
Ebosele is seriously game. Loves a tackle. Loves a dribble. Can find a pass. Prospect.
Overall it was to be expected, you could tell that Switzerland were far more cohesive and you could tell in how relaxed they were as everything came naturally for them, whereas we tried to make things happen too soon. There were good individual moments, we just need to mould a cohesive team from what we have and hopefully we get afew experienced players involved.
Interesting that the two Swiss scorers have around 100 top flight club appearances between them. That's better than a good chunk of our senior squad. Just shows again the value of having a proper domestic league.
Both had less than the Irish CFQuote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
Apparently this is the only match the Swiss u21s are playing so obviously they must have went full throttle whereas we will likely rotate more.
No they didn't? Kayode 64 league games, none higher than League Two. Stergiou has 75 league games, all in the Swiss top flight which is probably a higher levelQuote:
Originally Posted by CSAD
Apologies, when you said goalscorer I thought you meant CF for some reason.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
Unless you are talking about PL/bundeliga/La Liga level I don’t think the level is all that important at this stage in your career. It’s like being in college studying pre med but working as a cashier in Costa, it’s about adding work experience to your CV even if the job isn’t all that extravagant compared to the career you want.
The childishness and immaturity of some of the responses on here are ridiculous.Quote:
Originally Posted by Olé Olé
Finn is 17 - he is a minor - neither he nor the FAI have any say in what his mother wants or doesn't want for him. I commend her for ensuring that her son receives an education before committing to football.
Furthermore, nobody would even be discussing Finn if Ryan Nolan hadn't signed with Gatafe 9 months ago - give the kid a break and stop with the nonsense.
Hang on, was the original poster serious?? Presumed he was joking.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jolly Red Giant
Sarcasm radar failure here I'd say, might want to get yours serviced there JRG :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Jolly Red Giant
Yeah, I think it's good that Kayode is playing senior football at all, though Conference North is a low level and I'd probably not count those games. But even it's a different game compared to playing underage stuff all the time.Quote:
Originally Posted by CSAD
But some of the Swiss guys have much more exposure again - Imeri, Sohm, Stergiou with 50+ Swiss top flight games already. Okafor is their star player but wasn't involved today; not sure why. It kind of puts the hype about, say, Conor Coventry into perspective when his equivalent experience is 7 games with Lincoln. I think no-one in the squad bar Kayode has more than 25 senior league games. The reports I've seen indicate the Swiss were comfortable winners, and it's probably not surprising as their players do seem to be a step ahead in their careers than ours.
On a similar note btw, Colm Whelan set a goal for UCD in our 3-2 win in Athlone on Friday and really should have scored one himself too. You can see clips below at 1:25 and 2:25. Again, this is the LoI First Division, and you have to keep that in mind when evaluating him!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I21_RouOhw
He's not committed to Ireland. If he can write his name and kick a ball then what education does he need? Ludicrous. Should never be called up again.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jolly Red Giant
I'm bloody joking, pal. You're really searching hard to get your hit of outrage.
He’s playing L2 but will possibly be playing L1 next season. He does have the look of a player who will be a real late bloomer so while he isn’t doing amazingly now he is definitely someone I’d keep an eye on, a lot of championship clubs were sniffing around so they see it also.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
It’s not just club level though, everyone outside of the defense had atleast 6 appearances I believe compared to Ireland who bar Coventry had no more than 3 and it was telling throughout. Coventry seriously needs to think about his career now, either leave on loan or leave altogether if the opportunity for first team minutes isn’t there. Over the 90 they were but between the two goals it was very even but Ireland were very rusty and struggled to get Into the match until about the 20th minute and after that looked more than a match albeit struggled to create chances and after the second went in it knocked the stuffing out of the team and Switzerland looked comfortable after that.
Yeah Colm is doing great, at his point in his career he is in the right place but hopefully in the next few years he steps up the ladder.
"He'll possibly be playing L1 next season" really isn't a ringing endorsement in fairness.
Given how bad the senior team is, we need a bumper crop of 21s for a couple of years in a row to build the seniors up again. Yes, there's promising players there and we'll pick up a couple of senior regulars out of it. But the experience of the Swiss team puts our lot in perspective. It'd have me quite concerned for the future.
Not sharing the doom and gloom. Missing perhaps a more influential player in the 10 position, and granted there was a relatively high degree of slopiness in our play (goals were avoidable imo and dead ball deliveries were poor), but I think there's more positive than negative aspects to be taken from a work in progress. But we'll see how we get on in the next 2 games.
He was playing league 2 so playing league 1 is the next step in the ladder, it’s about playing games at his age rather than excelling at his age.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
You should also take into perspective that the Irish u21s are missing 10+ players whereas the Swiss were only missing 3 (Okafor,Ndoye,Omrageric) players who’d realistically be in contention. That’s perspective.
That's a bit of a leap of faith in fairness.Quote:
Originally Posted by CSAD
Also a big difference between playing Conference North and Swiss Super League. Yes, playing games is important, but it's not the be all and end all. The level matters too.
I did take it into consideration when I mentioned the senior squad in my original post. The U21s in the senior squad with fewer league games include Bazunu, Parrott, O'Connor, Omibamidele, Molumby, Knight and Idah. The U21s in the senior squad with more league games are...no-one. Then you can add in Kelleher, Travers and Connolly who have also played fewer games and I'm not sure if they're still eligible.Quote:
Originally Posted by CSAD
But we have to go down the foreign academy route because we don't have a sufficiently strong domestic league to bring new players into, and other nations are showing us up for that. We can't keep putting all our eggs in one basket.
How good is the Swiss league? Comparable to League One?