Nathan Fraser came on to make his Wolves debut tonight and got himself an assist for Doherty's second before netting his first and Wolves fifth goal.
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Nathan Fraser came on to make his Wolves debut tonight and got himself an assist for Doherty's second before netting his first and Wolves fifth goal.
Good for him. What's his connection to Ireland? Born in England but can find no trace of how he qualifies.
Not in Mohan's U-19 squad named today, which seems odd.
It's for friendlies so you always get some lads left out for others who've never made a squad before. Don't think the U19s play qualifiers till November so they'll have games in October too.
Another goal for Fraser last night, against Notts County in the EFL Trophy, at 1:20 below
from the BBC reporter at Molineux
Quote:
Nathan Fraser is a local lad, born and bred in Wolverhampton, who has come through the club's academy and made it into the first-team.
He is 18-years-old, is a Republic of Ireland youth international and in three senior appearances for Wolves he has two goals.
Living the dream.
Highlights here for anyone who hasnt seen. Not only did he grab a tidy goal but he could have had a second but for a great save from the Brentford keeper and he played in Cunha for the winning penalty with a nice pass. Highlights from Hodge (nice to see him get a chance and 70 minutes under his belt), Doherty and Collins' goal in here too.
Is this lad still with us? Haven't seen his name in an underage squad for a while. He made his Premier League debut tonight.
Nothing since his only real involvement in the Euro qualifying round in September 2022 - if he keeps on his current trajectory, I don't think it would be a surprise to see him switch later this year, unless he states otherwise - the U21s only have the game against San Marino before September and, by then, an U21 call-up might be a bit of an insult . We really need to get him, Cannon and Delap to co-ordinate which of them will commit to us - surely we should get one of them, at least!Quote:
Originally Posted by Eirambler
He took part in an u19 training camp in January and then he missed the March camp with injury if I remember correctlyQuote:
Originally Posted by samhaydenjr
Really think there needs to be more of a concerted effort to bring these kids into the fold. This kid has been extremely highly rated at Wolves for a long time, is physically strong enough and banging them in for the U23’s for over a year, however Conor Carty (a Wolves reject) is preferred to him at U21 level?
Can’t help think that the parochial nepotism of favouring lads who came through the youth system in Ireland at the expense of lads brought up in the UK is going to be to our long term detriment. Exactly the same for Cannon who was tearing in up in the Championship for Preston, yet misfiring Parrott and Idah were prioritised over him. That Moron, Andrews was even at the Blackpool game where he tore their defence apart with his pace and power.
National Identity is a conundrum, especially for kids with mixed parentage. However, hopefully the new regime will put an arm round them and encourage them in; rather than treat them with suspicion and contempt as part of a Rice / Grealish hangover and seemingly make them prove their commitment, when their talent is evidently obvious.
To be fair, Conor Carty was playing at a senior level. Fraser was in under-23 level. That's not particularly a difficult choice.
They were both at Wolves at the same time. They gave Fraser a professional contract and released Carty. There's a lot more to consider here than whether a lad is playing football at that age.Quote:
Originally Posted by nigel-harps1954
Clearly somebody in Wolverhampton considered Fraser to have the better chance of being an elite level player.
I agree, I think Jim Crawford's thing about constantly favouring players playing senior football is a bit of a cop out to be honest. He needs to be able to look a bit deeper than that and work out who are the best players ability wise, not just what club games they play in, because an under 21 player at Wolves could be better or worse than a player playing senior football for another club. It depends on the ability of the player at that age, not necessarily the games they're playing in.
That's exactly what causes you to lose talented players like Tom Cannon. Players play u19s and then they're idle for years before appearing at 21s. Take Fraser - he was in a training camp in January 2023. Jim probably wouldn't use him at all till the qualification for the 2027 u21s. So you end up going 2 and a half years without representing Ireland. And if you're a 2004 kid like Luke Pearce at Southampton or Cian Coleman at Leeds, then it's 3 and a half years without representing Ireland. It's nature of their being a 2 year gap from 19s to 21s and it being a 2 year cycle.Quote:
Originally Posted by nigel-harps1954
It's also why we should definitely have an u20s team. It keeps really talented players on board every international window until they're ready and it gives them an opportunity to really demonstrate that theyre ready for the next level
Starts up front against Fulham. Great opportunity after coming off the bench and impressing recently.
Hopefully will be in u21 squad next week, I'm not totally convinced he's with us so will be interesting to see
Played well by the sounds of it. Big lad and holds the ball up well - not dissimilar from Ferguson. Also concerned by his commitment - although can’t help think the parochial mindset of the previous regime, favouring lesser players who have come through the Wolves academy like Conor Carty at his expense will have helped - need to make these players feel wanted. No idea of his family background - however hopefully he was draped in green as a kid, as could be a valuable asset.
https://www.molineuxmix.co.uk/forum/....734837/page-2
It's a year and a half since he played for us, which definitely raises the question of whether he's actually still with us or not. If he's not named in a squad this month I think we'll have our answer.
The Under 21s would be the appropriate squad for him if he is still with us.
always a chance Jim is picking Jonny Kenny and Conor Carty ahead of him…
Carty is out until the end of the year with an acl tear
If he's starting games for a PL side he has to be in the conversation for a senior call-up.
Instead of who?Quote:
Originally Posted by Trequartista20
He's not in the frame for a senior call up. Unless you were just looking to capture him internationally, which friendlies wouldn't do anyway as we know all too well.
It’d start the process to 4 caps, which is what you need unless we’re qualifying for international tournaments. I’m not saying we should but if he were to start scoring between now and the end of the season, it might be in our interest to have already started the process now.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eirambler
It’s a bit of a complicated one cause I think you need one competitive fixture anyway, so if that’s the case, it’d be September before an uncapped player became tied. But you could get him caps in friendlies between now and then so that his 4th game is in September rather than his first call in September and then there’s another window till he’s capped fully
Yes, that's the correct interpretation of the rules. Friendlies on their own are no use, he could play for us in a friendly in March and declare for England in April. But they can count towards the four caps as long as at least one of the four is competitive.
A guy starts in a Premier League game, he's good enough to be in our squad.
I think that's too simplistic a take. Plenty of Irish players have started Premier League games down the years who weren't international standard. Joe Hodge started a game last season, and I don't think he's ready even now. Wolves are short on strikers, aren't they - presumably that might be contributing to him getting starts.
I'm not saying he should start, but surely worth calling into the squad. We have Evan Ferguson and not much else for striking options.
The beauty of squads is they're not limited to a set number of places. Don't have to drop one player for another player. John O'Shea can call up 30 players rather than 29 players for example.Quote:
Originally Posted by Razors left peg
Which he should. It's two friendlies with an interim management. Call some young lads in to train with the seniors. Especially with the U21s only having one game so their camp is gonna end on March 22nd. Should be having lads join up with the seniors when they arrive back to Dublin after the U21s game.
Exactly.
I can never understand it when people make this claim.
We are going through an extremely indifferent phase, don't have a settled squad nor a permanent manager, and are clearly in state of flux at the moment, so the above point seems rather redundant.
The cult of the Premiership is strong with some lads. Let Frazer actually do something in football and earn his call up. Right now he would be rightly behind Sinclair Armstrong in the u21 squad.
We do this all the time, and in fairness Ive done it myself with Hodge when he played a few games for Wolves. Frazer has had one start for a poor team in the Premiership. In the summer they'll prob invest and he'll be on loan next season. He might be a really good player and he might force his way into the squad soon, but hes not there yet.... Sh1t we dont even really know if he wants to play for us. Hes never even been in an u21 squad and we have plenty of pretty good young strikers. Its not a situation where we have an old bunch and we need to move some on. It was the same with Cannon. We all lost our minds over him, and now hes a bench player in the championship and I wouldnt think too many would argue for him to be called up this month.
Call him to u21s. If he doesnt want to turn up there then we learn how much he actually wants to play for us.
FFS we capped Joey Lapira at one point. This guy (Fraser) has started a match in the Premier League. Let's try not to mess this up again, call him into the senior squad and make him feel welcome.
In fairness, capoping Lapira doesn't mean we have carte blanche to cap anyone and everyone. The points against are well made.
Yeah Joe Lapira worked out well...
Bringing Joe Lapria into the conversation to boost your argument is a sign that your argument has failed
I repeat, always a chance that Jim is picking Carty over him ?Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
I wouldn’t describe Wolves as a poor team. They’re 9th. A point behind Brighton, two points behind West Ham and they’ve been absolutely robbed by referees and VAR this season.Quote:
Originally Posted by Razors left peg