U23 players 2019/20

[CraftyToePoke]

Tarkowski looking like he got through lockdown on pizza and Mee having a real struggle.

[Eirambler]

Kian Flanagan the next man out the door, let go by Crystal Palace. Was once the brightest prospect in their academy but hasn't kicked on for some reason. Hard to know how it will go for him from here - the kind of player that could either rebuild his career in the lower leagues and make it back to the top or could have fallen out of the game completely in a year or two.

Hopefully a club at around League 1 level takes a chance on him and he can get some senior game time. This is not the best year to be looking for a lower league club though, nearly everyone is cutting back at that level.

[tetsujin1979]

Flanagan had a trial with Southend earlier in the season, but nothing came of it.
Wasn't happy that there's no real link between their U23/reserve side and their senior side - https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/palac...ugh-the-ranks/

[elatedscum]

Any time I’ve seen him play for u18s and u23s, probably over the last 5 years, I thought he was excellent - generally the best player on the pitch. Has needed first team football for a long time...

definitely someone who could kick in quickly if he hits the ground running at his next club

[tommy_c12000]

COVID-19 provides an unexpected opportunity for our young Irish players? A silver lining. What do people think?

Clubs have reduced financial resources, and will remain cautious with contracts and transfer fees given the ongoing uncertainty of the course of COVID. Older players less likely to get the short term contracts they would have pre-COVID. Delayed season ending, trimming many squads to bare minimum with expanded subs permitted. Clubs will turn to youth out of necessity rather than by choice. We are already seeing Masterson reap the benefits of this. Fantastic opportunity for our youth players! Hopefully, LOI can restart soon also and continue the development of youth players within our national system

[Eirambler]

Two more out the door, Conor Tee at Leicester and Aaron O'Driscoll at Southampton have both been let go.

On the upside Boric is leaving Bournemouth. If they go down Ramsdale might be sold and Travers could get a run at the keeper spot.

[liamoo11]

Two more out the door, Conor Tee at Leicester and Aaron O'Driscoll at Southampton have both been let go.

On the upside Boric is leaving Bournemouth. If they go down Ramsdale might be sold and Travers could get a run at the keeper spot.

Thanks. O Driscoll could still have a fine career great education at city and Southampton really needed to get out on loan this season like o connor did so successfully at gillingham .

[Olé Olé]

Dan Rose - the kid that has signed for Schalke from Everton- was interviewed by the Athletic, alongside his father. It turns out his mother is Irish. It also turns out Kenny is taking a fantastic and hands-on approach with our underage players.

From the article:
That potential is recognised widely. Rose is dual-national — Neil is English and Orla, his mother, is Irish — and he played in the Republic of Ireland’s Under-17 European Championship qualifying fixtures last year, when they topped their group (the finals, planned for this month, have been cancelled). He has also attended camps with England and there has been contact with Tim Dittmer, the FA’s head of goalkeeping. “I get the impression they’ve been monitoring him for some time,” Neil says.

Neil recently received a call from Stephen Kenny, Ireland’s new senior manager. “The phone went and I almost dropped cold on the floor,” he says. “Stephen was great; lovely, really friendly. He wanted to know what Dan had enjoyed about Ireland to date, about the transfer to Schalke and how it was going to work, where he was going to live and so forth.

“He talked about how he was really hoping Dan could show his quality this year and was looking forward to seeing what the future might hold with Ireland. He said he’d got his coaches looking out for him. It’s clear that Stephen wants to influence all the under-age teams, so that he can see where there may be players moving through and where they might make an impact in due course. He wished Dan all the best.”

Perhaps, somewhere down the line, another decision will be required, although for now, Rose’s mind is set. “I can play for both Ireland and England, but at the moment Ireland is the country I want to play for,” he says. “They’ve put their faith in me and I think they deserve my loyalty back. That’s what I feel. There are some good Irish keepers at the moment, especially in the first team, but hopefully I can be in that set-up quite soon.”

[Eirambler]

Really encouraging stuff from Kenny.

Rose, I suspect, may not stay with us. Too many "at the moment" comments in the interviews I've seen from him recently.

[Olé Olé]

Grealish and his representatives were starting and finishing every sentence with those three words throughout his teens.

[Eirambler]

Smallbone starts for Southampton. Hopefully Kenny has been in touch with him in a similar way to what he has done with Rose.

Looking back at it now it's surprising that he didn't take him to Toulon last year given that some of the players from that squad look nowhere near Premier League or even Football League standard in a few cases a year on.

[Olé Olé]

Looks like he assisted Ings for the first but came off for Armstrong on 65 minutes.

[samhaydenjr]

Smallbone starts for Southampton. Hopefully Kenny has been in touch with him in a similar way to what he has done with Rose.

Looking back at it now it's surprising that he didn't take him to Toulon last year given that some of the players from that squad look nowhere near Premier League or even Football League standard in a few cases a year on.

Yes, at this point a call-up for one or more of the Nations League games would be justified, particularly if he plays a part in Southampton's remaining games, so Kenny should definitely be talking to him about making that final commitment.

[elatedscum]

Looking back at it now it's surprising that he didn't take him to Toulon last year given that some of the players from that squad look nowhere near Premier League or even Football League standard in a few cases a year on.

i suppose the number 8 / number 10s were: Molumby, Ronan, Knight and Taylor. All of whom have had very successful seasons.

I think Mandriou is the only other player to be called up (as far as I remember, Brandon Kavanagh was a late call up for the first squad against Luxemburg but I think Smallbone would have been in Russia with the u19s when that happened). Mandriou is as talented as anyone in the squad. Whether he'll work hard enough over the next few years is probably a different matter - and you could easily see him regress rather than progress but Mandriou could easily be playing week in, week out in the championship right now...

Parrott played in the No.10 role at some point too when Ronan was injured.

Anyway, great to have all those options coming through - I'd think Smallbone merits a call-up to the senior side on the back of his current performances.

[CraftyToePoke]

Any time I’ve seen him play for u18s and u23s, probably over the last 5 years, I thought he was excellent - generally the best player on the pitch. Has needed first team football for a long time...

definitely someone who could kick in quickly if he hits the ground running at his next club

Any idea yet on where he might be going next ?

[Olé Olé]

Manning got an assist for QPR and Flashscore have him down as playing central midfield.

[Olé Olé]

Connolly has a thankless task here so far tonight. The first half has seen Brighton's midfield disappear and Connolly live off clipped long balls from the back three of Brighton. He's won a few frees which have been about the only platform Brighton have had to gain a little territory.

[tommy_c12000]

Molumby rested. Hopefully, millwall will continue to play him for the rest of the season, now that they have nothing to play for they may be tempted to develope their own players.

Masterson dropped after 2 poor performances, with Cameron replacing him (usually plays defensive midfield) - if Masterson can’t hold down a centre back spot for the rest of the season when there’s only 2 “true” centre backs available then you have to be pessimistic about his long term prospects.

Collins selected at right back again by Michael O’Neill and replaced after 71 minutes - 3-0 down to Wigan. Really disappointing to see Collins not being given a proper chance at centre back, considering the poor performances from Batth, Chester (who was inexplicably brought in on loan), Indi; and the fact Shawcross looks past it and is struggling with injuries.

Connolly isolated, Maupay joins him for second half. Frustrating to watch. Apart from picking up a couple of his trademark free kicks, and one nice layoff...he hasn’t done anything.

Overall, poor night for our youngsters

[Eirambler]

Something of a forgotten man in terms of our young attacking players but Ryan Cassidy has been offered a two year contract extension by Watford. He would probably benefit from them being relegated to be honest.

[liamoo11]

Something of a forgotten man in terms of our young attacking players but Ryan Cassidy has been offered a two year contract extension by Watford. He would probably benefit from them being relegated to be honest.

That's great it seems to have been a quite season for him