Fifteen minutes at the San Siro yesterday to bring him level with Robbie Keane 's appearance record in Serie A. https://www.udinese.it/news/squad/inter-3-1-udinese
Yeah bar Festy and Killian Phillips (assuming Hodge is with seniors) I can't really think of other RBs and even CMs are of short supply. Though CB is kinda the same cause there's no one from last year's U21s underage and the only 03 CBs I believe are Bosun Lawal and Garcia McNulty.
Abankwah was the RB for the 03 U19s and Curtis is the current RB though could see Curtis flipping between U21s and U19s next season unless Abankwah is gonna be used as a CB for the U21s.
Henry Francis at Arsenal partnered McJannet for the 03 campaign and St Pat's have a couple of 03 CMs but how have they being developing. There's Finn Benoa but he hasn't been involved since a couple of U19s friendlies in 2021.
Two 05 players I'm hoping get fast tracked as Vata and Ferizaj. Anytime I've watched that age group they've been the two that have impressed me the most.
They've got a friendly against Iceland in March but wouldn't be disrupting the U19s because of one game next month. Gonna have plenty of time in June to look at whoever he wants from the 04 and 05 age group.
It's why I also think a training camp should have been called in November to get lads in early when none of the underage groups were clashing.
Fifteen minutes at the San Siro yesterday to bring him level with Robbie Keane 's appearance record in Serie A. https://www.udinese.it/news/squad/inter-3-1-udinese
Who doesn't want him called up?
For me it's between him and Andy Lyons for the next in line at fullback
I'd agree, there's not really any negative sentiment about him, just a lack of urgency about experimenting at right wing-back. If he keeps getting playing time in Serie A, he'll get his chance sooner or later.
You can't spell failure without FAI
Danny McNamara has played virtually every game for Millwall who are currently 7th in the championship with 1 or 2 games in hand on all their competitors. If they were even to draw the game in hand, they’d be in 4th place. (started 28/32 games this season, averaging 85 mins per start with one sub appearance in the other 4 games)
You could certainly argue that the top of the championship is better than the bottom of Serie A. He’s just turned 24 as well, so he’s at a good age.
I’d have no issue playing Festy against Latvia but McNamara would be my next in line at right back. After that, it’s any of Lyons, Kioso and Ebosele - perhaps followed by Lee O’Connor as the 5th backup. Until he’s playing there a bit more regularly, I’d question Festy’s defensive chops and see him as a better winger than a wing back.
Conversely, there have definitely been games against weaker opposition where that’s been our issue, that our wing backs haven’t had the pace to attack and really get at teams who sit deep. Ogbene has seemed the obvious option (instead of Browne or Coleman) but Festy certainly feels like a good option in that role.
Last edited by elatedscum; 21/02/2023 at 12:47 AM.
McNamara is an odd one. Kenny doesn't seem to rate him. I honestly haven't seen him much.
The reason I mentioned Lyons is that I think he has something a bit special. There's a bit of Coleman and Matt Doherty about him, I can see him being a regular in Premiership sooner rather than later
From past experience, we know Kenny treats friendly games seriously to try to save his job instead of developing players. So I don't see anyone being tried out. Ebosele getting a call up again or any of the others is kind of irrelevant if that's the case.
Kenny consistently picked O'Connor over McNamara at Under 21 level also. Another serious blind spot there alright, it's very strange that he has never called him up considering that he played Alan Browne out of position there last summer after he gave up on Christie. I'd have McNamara well ahead of Festy for the RWB spot as well, for one thing he can actually defend.
Would have no problem with Festy getting a call up, but he'd need to be a wide forward/second striker for us at this point in time.
Lyons isn't exactly standing out in a poor Blackpool team so has plenty to prove in terms of the step up in standard he's currently trying to take on.
Is CJ Hamilton totally out of the picture now? He got on the pitch ahead of Ebosele for his cap last summer.
Wouldn't say I don't want him called up, I just don't see the benefit of bringing in a player who's not getting game time at club level. If he starts getting games at Udinese, fair enough, but until then, 54 minutes of league action over an entire season doesn't do it for me.
I'd love to see him kick on, I think he has great potential, but he's not doing enough currently to earn his place in the squad.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
Do people think the wing backs will be McClean and Doherty or Doherty and Coleman?
I would prefer the latter myself
Coleman and McClean for France I can see and Doherty for Latvia with Brady and O'Dowda sharing minutes.
Versus Latvia he can come on with 20.mins to go take off matt or Seamus
The problem is it will probably still be 0-0 and Kenny won't risk anything
Our young guys need game time. We missed a good opportunity to give Evan Ferguson a game v malta. He will now start against France world cup finalists.
I meant who are you replacing in the squad to accommodate Festy? Not just for Latvia but on a permanent basis, assuming that is what you are proposing. Do you retire Coleman or Doherty or do you take out Ogbene or Robinson in favour of Festy's versatility? Its not just as simple as call someone up, they have to take someones place.
Bookmarks