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Obafemi didn’t see much of the ball, but was industrious when he saw it. Long did reasonable when introduced. Important 2-1 win for Southampton with the 2 goals scored after Obafemi was subbed. So chances are he won’t start the next game. Hopefully he will though and get the run of games he so badly needs.
Such a pity Mick won't give Long his due shot.
I like Long and believe he should be in the squad. But he isn’t doing anything exceptional and this match was a perfect demonstration of his lack of killer instinct in front of goal. He was heavily involved while scuffing at least two half chances.
I don’t criticize Mick for examining alternatives even if it hasn’t worked out.
Not saying he should be always there and starting but when Scott Hogan is getting more chance, well...Quote:
Originally Posted by irishfan86
Two Irish teenagers last started on Saturday, 21 January 2006, when Joey O'Brien and Stephen Ireland and were both 19 when they lined out against each other for Bolton and Manchester City, respectively.Quote:
Originally Posted by tommy_c12000
Yeah, it was frustrating to watch - Southampton were rubbish when he was on and collectively woke up after he went off and suddenly started creating chances (although Boufal's arrival helped with that)Quote:
Originally Posted by tommy_c12000
Big chance again for him today vs Chelsea. Ings being rested ahead of big 6 pointer vs Palace on Saturday. Hopefully he does well
Fantastic goal
Opens the scoring with a cracker of a goal where he takes on the Chelsea defence and curls it into the top corner with his left. Beautiful.
Superb goal by Obafemi, top left corner finish with left. Just what his career needed, now just needs his hamstrings to remain intact
Any link lads for the goal
Doesnt get alot of love amongst Irish fans really compared to Connolly parrott and even afolabi. Bit like idah lads just dont seem to fancy him which seems odd to me. Just like idah he has pace, power good hold up and decent amount of goals underage. What's not to like?
Thanks. Great goal.Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Haven’t noticed the lack of love for Obafemi among irish fans. I’ve always liked Obafemi, his touch, vision and composure has been very impressive. I’d have higher hopes for him over Idah for sure. Main thing is getting game time and staying fit, can certainly go places if both of these occurQuote:
Originally Posted by liamoo11
He is defo an option for us against Slovakia. Mick might not think so though.
I wonder who is faster him or long
Obafemi is the tenth Irish player to score in the Premier League in the 2019/20 season
This is the first time ten, or more, players have scored in the same season since the 2016/17 season
And there's surely something about teenagers scoring that we can cling to.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sr4CJZ14aD4
Other video not work for my location.
Have I had too much brandy or would this team beat Slovakia
________Randy
Coleman Duffy Egan Steven's
Doherty Cullen McCarthy Connolly
---‐‐--------mcgoldrick
-------------- obafemi
Cullen is goosed long term I think but yeah I agree to an extent.
The way McGoldrick plays for us, he's better suited as a 10 with someone pacy off him. Whether that's Connolly or Obafemi is up for debate!
I think Cullen will be back playing within a month. Certainly well before our gameQuote:
Originally Posted by ColourfulPeanut
Fine finish!
McGoldrick needs to play as our number 10.
The two games that lost our instant qualification were the two games he missed.
He’s the linchpin.
I’d have Obafemi, Connolly, Long and McGoldrick as our strikers in the next squad
Ah that's great! I remember Bowyer saying "a long time" but never getting a follow up.Quote:
Originally Posted by Diggs246
I don't think he'll play barring a major injury crisis though. He's only played friendlies for us and Mick I going to stick with what he knows for such a high stakes game.
Same goes for Obafemi's chances I reckon!
I'd play Connolly on the left as it might well be his best position and it removes McClean who has been a good servant but not in the last 2 years
Good question - Long was clocked with the fastest speed in the PL in 2016/17 and the second fastest this season so far, while Obafemi has said he's faster than Mbappe. So either way, it's a tremendous weapon for us to have, if we can utilize it. In Long's case, we don't seem to have made full use of his pace through his career, with only his goals against Germany and Serbia (and maybe Moldova) coming as a result of him winning a footrace to a ball in behind. I mean, I know it flies in the face of the style of play a lot people want to see from Ireland, but wouldn't it be a good tactic to invite Slovakia or whoever to pressure us and when we gain possession, immediately belt it over the top for Long and/or Obafemi to chase, especially if their defenders are starting to tire?Quote:
Originally Posted by Diggs246
And with Egan, Long, McGoldrick, Coleman and McCarthy still to break their ducks for the season, plus the possibility of Parrott and/or Idah breaking through by the end of the season, it may well end up significantly higher than ten!Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Agree totally at this point, plus Robinson, unless Parrott plays and scores in the Cup for SpursQuote:
Originally Posted by Fixer82
Not in squad today. I was hopeful considering he only played 60 minutes on Thursday but wasn’t to be. Adams starts. Interestingly Smallbone is on bench...
Scores today against West Ham, having started with Long up front.I really think he has potential to do great things for us, sometimes forget he’s still only 19.I like his pace and link up play but the most striking thing about him for me is how relaxed he is in front of goal.
Excellent point - his goal against Chelsea was top class but, perhaps more importantly, he scored both his other goals in spite of not being ideally set up to shoot. For his debut goal, the ball was under his feet, yet he dug it out and forced it on goal before he got closed down. For today's effort the ball came at him very quickly - the commentators I was watching seemed to imply he was lucky to score but in fact he managed to sort his feet very well to direct it towards goal and maybe got a little bit of deserved luck with it looping past Fabianski.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fizzer
Also, did he attempt to do an Irish jig in celebration?
Sounds like you were watching NBC where the co-commentator described him hitting the ball into the ground first and was very lucky. I didn’t see that, thought it was an excellent side foot finish curling high away from keeper.
Overall, Obafemi was very poor again today, goal apart, as I said in Smallbone thread. He has impressed me less and less as season has gone on, his link up play and ball protection has deteriorated and he looks unfit. For me, it is still very much touch and go whether he makes it consistently as a premier league striker, consider in his publicized “lack of professionalism” and I become even more pessimistic. He should be happy with an under 21 place in a few weeks, and try to impress at this level.
Long was also poor today, but he deserves to be a stop gap measure for playoffs, but can’t see him playing with us beyond this summer. Agree Hogan should be on the bench given current form for playoffs.
Hah yeah Sam, now you mention it, it does look like a bit of a jig.I agree on the finish, he’s made something that’s really hard to execute look easy/lucky.Most players are skying that chance.
Given your excellent history of identifying the players who’ll make it, I hope you’re wrong on this one Tommy. The ‘lack of professionalism’ stuff seems to have originated with Hasenhuttl so must be based on something, but I would say it’s hard to put an old head on young shoulders. As a counter to that, he has bags of natural ability and in all honesty I’d much rather have a team full of naturally brilliant messers than consummate professionals.Robbie was criticised throughout his career for contributing goals and not much more so I’d be fine with Obafemi losing the ball now and again if he can score goals for us.We’ve plenty of lads who can hold up the ball.
I agree he wasn't at his best yesterday, although with limited supply against a well-marshalled West ham defense and he never really got a chance to run at them - his hold-up play is usually very good so I wouldn't dismiss him on the basis of one below-par game, where he actually scored.Quote:
Originally Posted by tommy_c12000
Regarding the "lack of professionalism" comment from Hassenhuttl, I thought it was an odd thing to say as he prefaced it by praising Obafemi's ability and workrate in training. But it did come just after Obafemi had complained publicly that he wasn't getting enough time on the pitch, so perhaps Hassenhuttl was just telling him to keep his thoughts on team selection in-house. If so, it's not a major issue.
I'm pretty sure its his diet which is his issueQuote:
Originally Posted by samhaydenjr
Vote early, vote often for Obafemi in Tuttosport's annual Golden Boy awards: https://www.tuttosport.com/sondaggi/...00_nomination/
Very strange the reference to the nationalities in there. I would say that it is a funny one to refer to Ethan Ampadu as Welsh- Ghanaian. His father was born to an Irish mother and Ghanaian father in England and grew up in Ireland.
That's not even half as strange as his middle name
Wha is the Golden Boy? never heard of it beforeQuote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Honestly hadn't heard of it before today myself, but it's been around for a while - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Boy_(award)Quote:
Originally Posted by Fixer82
Wow, if he won, he'd be in rarefied company - in all likelihood, it's got to be Erling Braut HalandQuote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
More public criticism/encouragement of Obafemi from the Southampton manager.
https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/18551732.amp/