It's a quick turnaround from Friday, maybe the players haven't recovered enough to start?
Teams out and it’s the usual issue I have with Crawford’s teams, after a good result despite the performance on Friday he goes and makes 5/6 changes to the team and the question I have is why are players like Kerrigan and Kayode for example coming in when they didn’t even come off the bench Friday?
It's a quick turnaround from Friday, maybe the players haven't recovered enough to start?
Think the midfield is possibly better balanced than playing two 6's in Coventry and Kilkenny together. Would have started O'Neill over Kerrigan and kept Mipo in the team unless he's out because of fitness issues. Bagan not being in the squad would point to him being injured.
Thank god Kenny Cunningham isn't doing commentary. Listening to Fallon talk before the game and she puts the usual talking heads to shame. Though not surprising when you consider she's worked as an opposition analyst.
I'm slightly surprised how how far down the order of strikers Ferguson seems to be.
My issue is why did none of these changes come off the bench versus Bosnia? We are needlessly making this difficult on ourselves and if we fail to win Crawford won’t have a leg to stand on.
Scrappy first 7 which I guess is what you get when name pretty much a complete random team…makes Crawford selection even more baffling
After a poor start they’ve dominated the 15 mins leading up to the goal. In terms of the changes. Wright is the only “forward” starting in the same role and he been very quiet so maybe justifies the fatigue reasoning for rotating them.
I like Smallbone deeper too. Could see him taking that spot from Hendrick in the senior team fairly soon. Kerrigan and Noss have had some good touches. Adaramola has looked pretty good and I still don’t see anything in Kayode to suggest he’s up to this level.
Great time to score just before half time and what a hit from Smallbone too. Have been impressed with Smallbone and has looked better tonight played centrally in a deeper role.
Lovely hit - though I think the keeper will be annoyed as it seemed to go through his hands? But the seniors could take note! They seem to be too reluctant to have a go at times
Enjoying watching Kerrigan as well; his usual swagger is transferring well to this level
Few thoughts at half time
Adaramola is fast. Seriously fast. He's outpaced the opposition winger at least three times.
O'Connor was the best player in the opening twenty minutes, not as important as we got to grips with the opposition
McGuinness is an absolute unit
Smallbone is a step ahead of everyone on the pitch
Noss has had some nice touches. He might have the ability, but I don't know if he had the physicality for senior football
Oh sweet - this aged well!Originally Posted by pineapple stu
two up
Hopefully Italy beat Sweden later this week rendering our game against them a dead rubber, and maybe get Smallbone in with the seniors. Has looked real good tonight.
Super third goal. First big involvement at this level for Ferguson, good strength, pace and composure to driver the final ball.
how did he miss the late header though.. 😳
I wasn’t able to watch the game unfortunately. Some questions:
How was Cashin on the ball? I know he’s solid defensively, but I haven’t seen him on the ball enough to know.
Adaramola had a good game it seems? The thoughts of him and Ebosele as wing backs being covered by O’Shea and Collins behind, with Omobamidele centrally is incredibly appealing! I see Coventry may be interested in loaning him for next season, championship would seem like a great move if he can guarantee himself first team football.
Anybody/thing else impress you?
I'd rather see that game end in a draw. We'll have a chance of automatic qualification with the knowledge of a playoff place already secured.
Smallbone's chance in the seniors will come.
Cashin was fine, lost the number 9 at one stage and it ended with half a chance. Solid enough on the ball but maybe lacks a bit of physical presence. Would probably be better in a back three.
Adaramola looks like a natural wing back. Lightning quick and I think that allowed him to recover a few times when maybe his positioning wasn’t 100%.
Ferguson will be very disappointed to have missed the headed rebound, think it just came up a little high on him, I was right behind the goal and really couldn’t believe it hadn’t gone in. Got a nice snap on the phone of the seconds before the second goal, where you can see all the defenders have followed the ball to the back post and Kerrigan is alone waiting for it to come back across.
Smallbone was outstanding. I was surprised didn’t take him off after the 3rd because he put in a huge shift. I think I saw a stat that he covered 12k the last day, he must have covered 15 tonight.
They’ll be disappointed to give away a sloppy goal, although on balance Montenegro had a few chances so the score line was probably fair.
Thought Cashin was very tidy on the ball. Even mugged off a Montenegrin attacker on the edge of the 6 yard box before slipping a pass through the lines to midfield.
I really like the look of Adaramola. He's a tenacious defender. Gave the Montenegro forwards enough of it in one on one situations. And has pace going forward and backward. He looks a very good prospect at that age.
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