Great to see. Liam Manning commentating on his work ethic and his current physical conditioning, best shape he has seen Michael in. Perhaps he has matured and has turned the corner. Let’s hope he pushes on for a strong end to the season along with Connolly, Parrott and Idah
Swansea's best player according to this:
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/...tings-23083243
As much as I'd probably have Hogan over Collins in the context of the next Ireland squad, I'd of course have a fully-fit, in-form Obafemi over both.
Let's hope he can stay in the team and continue playing well and scoring.
So how about this for a forward list for the March friendlies? Robinson, Idah, Connolly and Obafemi plus one from Hogan and Keane. Obafemi has got to get some significant game time - he's proven in the last few weeks that he can be a serious weapon, but he's only got ten minutes of international playing time under his belt - time to give him a proper shot
Unfortunately I think kenny won't go near him. He was scoring in the Premier league and not picked
If memory serves in kennys first squad and he had a petulant reaction on twitter
The excuse was he liked to play in a 2 and we were playing with just 1 up top and 2 wingers at that stage. Obviously now we are playing 532 because of Barry s influence so that doesn't stack up as an excuse.Originally Posted by Diggs246
Liam manning should have enough on his plate developing parrott and Coventry for us without worrying too much about what obafemi is eating down in Swansea!
the goal today illustrated pretty well both obafemi's strengths and weaknesses. the move begins with him making a good run for the centre half on the ball. if the centre half hits a ball into space, he's in. instead the ball is played into his feet, maybe under hit. he turns and tries to burst into the space but he takes a pretty awful touch which pushes him away from goal and straight towards a covering defender who duly clears it. it's pretty awful and he'll often look terrible like that. you'll watch a game or a portion of a game and he looks like the worst player on the pitch, as if he can't handle the level (as he often was for ireland u21s). the second part of the move is the opposite. the ball is cleared to the right side of the pitch where cyrus christie picks it up. obafemi shows good movement and awareness and pace as he ghosts in at the back post. the finish isn't hard but the key how he gets there and basically beats two defenders who should be in a better position than him to get to the ball
i can see why kenny would include him but i can also see why he'd be left out. he's only started 5 league games this season for swansea and one cup game. he's clocked up about 800 mins of football across the season and scored 3 goals, which isn't electric. Scott Hogan who has scored 10 in the same league is perhaps competing for the same squad. probably another month until the squad is announced. if fit, i'd expect idah and robinson are sure things. then the likes of connolly, parrott, obafemi, keane, hogan and collins are pushing for 2 places.
2 more goals so far today. Looking more and more likely to receive a call up
Playing regularly in the championship, scoring goals and delivering assists. He’s working hard, clearly has matured and is still only 21. A call up is a no brainer, especially with Idah out. We don’t have much else, Connolly has shown flashes but has overall been disappointing with Middlesborough so far. No need to succumb to league one level (apart from Parrott of course, who has redeemed himself!)
Certainly hope so, just hope that Kenny doesn’t have one of those stubborn streaks that seem to afflict Irish managers when it comes to certain selections.
Well said
I will be pleasantly surprised if he is picked
True! Had Liam Manning on my brain for some reason! With Russel Martins MK Dons history I guess!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cT1_nFbIuh4 Goals and assist here. Solid outing. We don’t have a lot else happening up front right now so he should be involved in March for sure. I hope there’s no small mindedness from Kenny. Let’s see what Obafemi can do, he has a long way to go but today was promising
Yeah, four goals in six indicate that he's hit his stride at Swansea - over the last half-dozen games, apart from Mitrovic, he's the form striker in the Championship. His previous goals have shown him to have good fox-in-the-box instincts plus one worldie against Chelsea. But these two goals show what a weapon his pace can be as well as indicating that he is comfortable when he's clean through. He definitely needs to be given time in March, particularly with the uncertainty over some of the NL fixtures.
There should be no way he's not selected for the next squad. If there's an issue there Kenny needs to build a bridge. When you compare Obafemi's current form to the bulk of the rest of our options, mostly slogging away in the Championship or playing the division below... surely a no brainer?
Initially Kenny talked about him not fitting into. 433 formation, well we haven’t been playing that formation in recent games in any case. In terms of finding an identity and competitive edge, the one thing we are beginning to develop with some established and emerging players is pace. Obafemi has that along with an ability to finish.
yeah good point, with the switch of formations if we decide to go 3-4-1-2 obafemi would be a good foil for someone like idah. his pace in behind would be invaluable. interesting to see will kenny call him up.
After watching the highlights, Kenny would be insane not to call him up.
Also worth watching is Obafemi's short interview on Youtube with Swansea's YT channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1TN-_jEWFA
I remember watching an interview with Robbie Keane when he was just breaking through (Who are you playing next week, Robbie?" "I dunno....but I'll probably score against 'em!!") and Obafemi reminded me of that. He's fit, happy, clearly matured a lot, he's confident, can finish, scores goals. Fantastic stuff.
Is the squad announced next week?
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