Luca Connell on bench for Bolton today for I think first time. He is under 18 this season midfielder but we seem to play him left full a fair bit.
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Luca Connell on bench for Bolton today for I think first time. He is under 18 this season midfielder but we seem to play him left full a fair bit.
Came on in extra time.
He looked great for the U16s against Bosnia in the Euros. I think he was left back that day. Comfortable on the ball, terrier-like in defence. My thoughts at the time were that he was highly accomplished but at same time, tenacious full backs are two to a penny in underage football. He went off injured in that game and we were poorer without him. Kingdom and I watched that game together, I wonder does he agree. I said a few weeks ago on another thread (Nathan Collins was the prompt) that all but the keeper and central midfield in that team looked like they were beyond what you might expect. Connell was very much in my mind when I wrote that.
Knight who was one of those centre mid s was training with Derby's first team before Christmas.i have never been overly impressed with Coffey who played centre mid that day
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Yeah, he did nothing wrong but nothing particularly good either.
I do agree. I was in Georges Park spectacularly early that day and got to watch the teams warming up in a strong breeze. He stood out in the warm-up as he looked ready-to-go (quite a few didn't which worried me at the time). Certainly he looked tigerish that day, and was more than competent. We weren't as capable without him for two reasons. They made 3 changes to substitute him. They shuffled each of the defenders across the pitch one spot, with Max Murphy coming on making a balls up almost immediately upon the restart. The same lad got roasted a number of times against Belgium apparently.
It also broke up the Collins/Ledwidge partnership too, which was very impressive, although McEntee improved a huge amount when he went into the middle.
Knight is a very tidy player, one you could see take a big leap very quickly, as he appears to be very technical.
Gets on the bench tonight for first time in league
Starts tonight alongside Marc Wilson for Bolton up against Callum O'Dowdas Bristol City.
No Irish involved in tonight's other FA Cup game.
Nice assist
https://streamja.com/Kv6y
A strong performance in a conventional central midfield role. Clearly not the finished article but his class is clear. Impressive showing for a 17 year old and he plays with no fear — good range of passing and had the confidence/quality to take set pieces. Hopefully this opens the door for action in league play.
He had one play in particular near the end of the first half where he beat two Bristol players with a tidy spin, and of course picked up the assist for Bolton’s goal with a great cross.
EDIT: Just noticed a weird thing on his Wikipedia page where it says he chose Ireland for his “short term” international future...hopefully that’s not a sign of another upcoming tug of war because he looks the real deal.
Made his league bow tonight, playing 72 minutes in a 1-1 draw with Reading: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/46955104#tab-0
Fcuk just realized he is English born, I can hear the door knock from Southgate all the way from here and I’m on the other side of the world!
Wow that’s a new low, actually calling up a player who has a clear ambition to play for England...
If he has said his ambition is to play for England we should tell him to gtfo.
If there's any proof that he did say that, you should post it here
There’s no proof per se. just his wiki page. Interestingly, last week it said “he has committed his short term future to ireland”, now it says “his long term ambition is to represent England”. Not sure exactly what to make of it all but someone may just be faffing around with his account...
https://i.imgur.com/jcu4ZCj.png
Plot Thickens
The guy claiming to be Luca's uncle has a history of edits to Wikipedia that includes...
Sandra Vergara (Sophia's sister), Abbeyknockmoy GAA, Goulash, Hepatitis B, Devin Toner and the Little Drummer Girl.
Wow. :)
With a kid like this who has played a couple of first team games do ya call him up to the Ireland squad for the next qualifiers to see how he reacts? If he turns it down we wash our hands of him immediately, but if he turns up then you are getting him training with the squad early.
I cant make up my mind on whether we keep going as we are knowing we will get burned from time to time by the likes of Rice in the hopes that we get an Obafemi.
I'd call him up to the senior squad and bring him on in the last minute against Gibraltar. Problem solved and issue put to bed. Obviously if he refuses the call up then we have weeded him out early enough and he should not be picked again. If these lads think they are going to use us to audition for England then think again.
Starts today vs Swansea. Looks ominous however: https://www.google.com/amp/s/lionofv...al-allegiances I definitely agree in calling him up now to test his resolve, and forget about him if he refuses and concentrate on developing another young Irish player. He has played well in a number of championship games, so calling up is not completely crazy considering the potential long term gain, and also when considering the current standard of our midfield/left back areas
Damning indictment of English football that they have to resort to taking championship players off us.
Agree - the Welsh move quickly to build their team, capping young players like Ampadu - & in the process killing any potential for the hugely damaging speculation that seems to dog the Irish set up.
Unfortunately we seem to lack the wit, intent and agility to respond - rather take a pride in the stand we are taking to make them earn their place in the team. It's like taking candy from a baby......
I’m not going to get into the specifics but I know someone very close to that Irish team that was in the euros last summer.
There is absolutely no doubting the allegiances of any of those kids. Trust me on that.
That’s good to hear Kingdom, some talented players in there.I’d be inclined to agree though that the Gibraltar game is the ideal opportunity to solve a few future problems.Five minutes at the end of the game and we can enjoy the likes of Connell develop into a premier league player. It’s a cynical approach but we have to be a little tougher when these kids are being advised by cynical people.If a player refuses a senior competitive cap then he should not be taking the place of a committed player in our underage squads.We really do have to learn from the six month circus that Rice put us through.
Not doubting it. However, as these English born lads get a little older and England come calling and a real decision has to be made, then I presume the strength of their allegiance to us really becomes tested. Declan Rice & Jack Grealish have been clear examples of that.
Does anyone know if we were selected to send a team to Toulon in the summer? Or how likely it is we will be selected? I know Kenny mentioned trying to enter it. Potentially Connell could be part of a very competitive squad.
This article from Feb 14th suggests we may have been successful
http://www.echo.ie/sport/article/i-t...-players-kenny