QuoteMeow.....Originally Posted by OwlsFan
Can't get away from trials, eh ?
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
Meow.....
West Ham streaming their game against Mainz on their website: https://www.whufc.com/mainz-live-stream
Rice starting, Cullen on the bench
"Robbie Brady appeared to suffer an injury setback as he limped off before half-time." (Lancashire Evening Telegraph). Not good news for Burnley or Ireland.
Coaimhin Kelleher interviewed about his apperances for Liverpool in preseason: https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/aca...ason-interview
Dean Ebbe and Cillian Sheridan on target tonight in Europa League.
Glen McAuley scored from the penalty spot for Liverpool U23s against Gyor Fc's first team in Hungary. I think this is his first at U23 level and hopefully bodes well for the season - still only 18 years of age - a good season at U23 level would be an excellent step forward in his career: https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/aca...raw-in-hungary
yes This Is a big season for him. He Scored also in their Second under 23 game in preseason. With brewster injured until christmas and Danny ings on the way out and woodburn, Wilson and Kent On loan hopefully he can nail down a startiing role for the 23s
Good to know.
Elsewhere Mark Travers (the 19-year-old goalkeeper who scored on loan at Weymouth) was an unused sub for Bournemouth against Real Betis: https://www.afcb.co.uk/matches/first...tis?tab=lineup. Now they are also playing Marseille tomorrow so this might have been a game more for fringe players so I guess it's not as exciting as Caoimhin Kelleher keeping a clean sheet in The Big House, but still... he also signed a long-term contract recently so he's making positive steps: http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/spo...cherries-deal/
Cullen and Rice were both second-half subs for West Ham against Angers: https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/...-season-action
Interestingly, Travers did make the bench for that game against Marseille. Also Bournemouth left three goalkeepers go in July so their first-team stopper list is down to Begovic, Boruc (who's now 38) and 20-year-old Aaron Ramsdale, so perhaps Travers is closer to matchday squads than we might have thought.
With the pre-season coming to a close I just thought I'd quickly review how Irish prospects have fared. Generally, I guess there was no massive breakthrough for Irish youngsters this summer but there were some potentially interesting developments:
- The big headline would probably be teenager Caoimhin Kelleher's three sub appearances for Liverpool, including two in glamour friendlies in the States. However, any excitement about this is tempered by his position as goalkeeper, where you don't get to come on as a sub for the last ten minutes of competitive fixtures, and also by the fact that Liverpool have just signed one of the best 'keepers in the world. But hopefully it's a sign that he may see some first-team action sooner rather than later, either in a Cup competition, or perhaps through a loan.
- The other big story is Ryan Nolan becoming the third Irishman to play in a senior game for Inter. While he only featured in one game, he was on the subs' bench for most, if not all, of their other fixtures. So here's hoping that he can keep his position into the new season and perhaps start to get some game-time. but at this point we should really be looking to have him involved in the U21 team's last Euro qualifiers, particularly if Declan Rice is moved up to the senior team for the Nations' League games.
- Speaking of Rice, he seems to have continued to enhance his reputation at West Ham, with more composed performances, including a couple in midfield, where MON seems to want to place him. Also at West Ham, Josh Cullen has managed to feature in a couple of games, so hopefully he will keep his place in the first-team squad, at least, and maybe start to get some time in EPL games.
- Our central defence is starting to develop some much-needed depth - Jimmy Dunne has featured in most of Burnley's friendlies (although not in their Europa League tie with Aberdeen); Tommie Hoban returned to first-team action for Watford before being sent on loan to Aberdeen, where he has shown some versatility by playing at left-back (another position where we could do with some depth); and John Egan continued his steady career advancement by signing for Sheffield United.
- Down at Brighton, Aaron Connolly and Daniel Mandroiu made a couple of appearances for the first team before returning to the U23s - hopefully they will be able to build on the experience and impress enough to return to senior level next season. Richie Towell also featured but it looks like dropping a level might be the best move, with a return to Rotherham being mentioned (where youngster Joshua Kayode got some pre-season minutes)
- In Preston Irish news, Sean Maguire bagged a bunch of goals before injuring himself, Callum Robinson got a couple, Daryl Horgan seems to have dispelled rumours that he is on the out (although the same could not be said for Andy Boyle, Kevin O'Connor and Eoin Doyle - in fact Doyle has moved on already) and Graham Burke has done enough to be included in the matchday squad for their opening Championship game. Also they signed U17 goalie Jimmy Corcoran
- Among more experienced players, Greg Cunningham is on the verge of completing a full career turnaround, establishing himself immediately in the Cardiff first team and setting himself up to return to the EPL, eight years after his last appearance. Meanwhile David McGoldrick put the disappointment of another injury-hit season and being let go by Ipswich behind him by signing for Sheffield United and promptly scoring against Inter Milan
There are a bunch of other youngsters who we might have liked to see feature more, but still have plenty of time to establish themselves, like Masterson, Wilson, Idah, Cassidy, McAuley, Afolabi, Obafemi, Drinan (who got 15 minutes for Sutton yesterday) etc and, given the developments that have taken place, we can afford to be patient with them.
So, even though there were no performances that merited a serious "call him up MON!" response there are a few new names for our management team and us to monitor over the next few months and hopefully by this time next year, we'll be talking about a couple of them as full internationals
Last edited by samhaydenjr; 05/08/2018 at 8:52 PM.
Burnley's final preseason game was a 2-0 loss to Espanyol yesterday. Long, Dunne, Hendrick and Walters all started.
Walters and Long both went close to scoring early on. All four players completed 90 minutes, so more than likely will not start their Europa League tie against Istanbul Basaksehir on Thursday
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