Republic of Ireland Team Talk/News/Rumours 2020/2021 - see Mod Note in OP [18/11/20]

wadacrack

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

I see that young lad Bazunu is at Rochdale on loan. Obviously the Barry-Murphy Irish connection helps.

Goalkeeper seems like one of the few bright areas for this Irish team -Travers, Bazunu, and Kelleher. Three come along like buses.

Watching English soccer at the moment is very hard to take though. If a more 'persuasive' manager, or one with gravitas was in charge of Ireland things could have been so different.

There could have been the spine of a great side. Those goalies, and throw in the lads who got away Rice, Grealish, Bamford. Suddenly Ireland would have had a half decent side.

The Grealish and Rice situation really didn't do us any favours. The media over played it massively. Those players didn't owe us anything btw. This happens in international football and is a reflection of the modern world will live in. England have recently lost of Musiala of Bayern (He played all the way up undeage for England bar u16 level for Germany). The media is England did not react the same as we did in Ireland. The situation is different with the lack of talent in Ireland of course but we should have just respected the players decision. Both young players at the time.

johnnyryan89

Luca Connell gone on loan to Queens Park in the Scottish League Two until the end of the season.

Ferris_Bueller

sugarman wrote: »

u21 squad for Wales friendly

https://twitter.com/FAIreland/status/1372578581407281158

A fairly new crop of 21s alright with only O'Connor, Coventry and Afolabi featuring from the previous group.

Good to see lads like Rose, Odubeko and Noss in there as fairly sure they are all dual nationality players. Some others who are on the fringes of first team football too. Hard to know if it will be as strong as the last group but certainly better than most 21s squads we've had over the years.

Surprised to see Connell not in the squad. He has gotten a loan move to Queens Park today (Scottish League 2 :eek:).

eire4

Ferris_Bueller wrote: »

A fairly new crop of 21s alright with only O'Connor, Coventry and Afolabi featuring from the previous group.

Good to see lads like Rose, Odubeko and Noss in there as fairly sure they are all dual nationality players. Some others who are on the fringes of first team football too. Hard to know if it will be as strong as the last group but certainly better than most 21s squads we've had over the years.

Surprised to see Connell not in the squad. He has gotten a loan move to Queens Park today (Scottish League 2 :eek:).

Agreed surprised Connell is not in there he is still only 19.

henke

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

Luca Connell gone on loan to Queens Park in the Scottish League Two until the end of the season.

So the 4th Tier of Scottish football. That is so disappointing two years on from getting positive reviews in the English 2nd Tier.

johnnyryan89

eire4 wrote: »

Agreed surprised Connell is not in there he is still only 19.

Especially with this being his only U21s campaign given he was born in 2001, whereas Festy Ebosele was born in 2002 so still has two campaigns of U21s left.

His new loan move probably meant he was unavailable for selection. Crawford may have thought that getting settled in at his new club would be more beneficial in the long run than one friendly game, especially with him having played no games since moving to Celtic.

pgj2015

henke wrote: »

So the 4th Tier of Scottish football. That is so disappointing two years on from getting positive reviews in the English 2nd Tier.

Could they not find a League of Ireland club for him? it would be a better standard than Scottish league 2.

johnnyryan89

henke wrote: »

So the 4th Tier of Scottish football. That is so disappointing two years on from getting positive reviews in the English 2nd Tier.

You hope that this is only seen as a short loan to build minutes playing competitively with a local team before returning to compete with the seniors and at least Queens Park are top of League Two. So he'll be playing with a team who'll be in good form, unlike O'Connors move to Partick that time.

If it's not seen as that then he might as well have gone on loan to a LOI team as our season is only starting now.

The_Kew_Tour

All the lads that went to Celtic have regressed substantially since they joined them

johnnyryan89

pgj2015 wrote: »

Could they not find a League of Ireland club for him? it would be a better standard than Scottish league 2.

Queens Park are local and chances are he'll probably still train with Celtic for a bit while on loan. If there intension is to get him minutes competitively and build up his fitness before next season then logically it's a decent loan.

johnnyryan89

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

All the lads that went to Celtic have regressed substantially since they joined them

Apart from Connell the others haven't as both lads weren't playing senior football when they moved to Celtic and now they are getting minutes at senior level.

Francie Barrett

That under-21 squad actually looks quite strong all things considered. Lot of players there that have gotten senior minutes or are on the fringes of the senior squad. Great to see Odubeko there as well, hopefully that will end any speculation of him switching to England.

Francie Barrett

henke wrote: »

So the 4th Tier of Scottish football. That is so disappointing two years on from getting positive reviews in the English 2nd Tier.

How good was he actually though?

That year he was playing for Bolton, they were in a dire financial situation and ended up being relegated from the Championship. Connell played 10 games for them. Bolton won 0, drew 1, lost 9 when he played. That was the basis for a senior international call up and lost of media articles about him being a wonderkid.

Maybe the fact is people were so desperate for us to have a star they lost the run of themselves?

Kermit.de.frog

We are in a desperate place right now. Of course we want any players with decent potential.

I was looking up the 2026 World Cup in North America but got sad when I realised we aren't in contention to qualify. Not even close. Would have been amazing for Irish fans like 1994 I guess.

We are down with the Macedonias, Armenias and Northern Irelands and have been for years.

That's the reality so yeah of course we are going to get upset when potential stars walk away. We need all the talent we can get.

Christy Browne

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

We are in a desperate place right now. Of course we want any players with decent potential.

I was looking up the 2026 World Cup in North America but got sad when I realised we aren't in contention to qualify. Not even close. Would have been amazing for Irish fans like 1994 I guess.

We are down with the Macedonias, Armenias and Northern Irelands and have been for years.

That's the reality so yeah of course we are going to get upset when potential stars walk away. We need all the talent we can get.

I know things are bad at the moment but I wouldn't be writing us off for the next 5 years yet.

johnnyryan89

Francie Barrett wrote: »

How good was he actually though?

That year he was playing for Bolton, they were in a dire financial situation and ended up being relegated from the Championship. Connell played 10 games for them. Bolton won 0, drew 1, lost 9 when he played. That was the basis for a senior international call up and lost of media articles about him being a wonderkid.

Maybe the fact is people were so desperate for us to have a star they lost the run of themselves?

He was very good actually for a poor Bolton team. Bazunu has conceded 50 goals in 27 league games and Rochdale are bottom of the table. Just looking at that alone and you wonder is that lad even good, but watch Rochdale and you can see his individual quality shining at times but those in front of him are poor.

That's like looking at Hourihanes goals and assists record only and not looking at his all round play.

Banjaxed82

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

He was very good actually for a poor Bolton team. Bazunu has conceded 50 goals in 27 league games and Rochdale are bottom of the table. Just looking at that alone and you wonder is that lad even good, but watch Rochdale and you can see his individual quality shining at times but those in front of him are poor.

That's like looking at Hourihanes goals and assists record only and not looking at his all round play.

This is it. There's only so much a goalkeeper can do. Would Allison be keeping clean sheets in that Rochdale team?

You know a good keeper when you see it.

Ferris_Bueller

Of all players we have coming through I would be most confident in Bazunu becoming a champions league level player. He probably won't break through at City, but the coaching he has been getting there, combined with a decent amount of first team football at such a young age for a keeper.

Really don't know what to expect from the likes of Parrott, Idah, Connolly etc. A year ago I thought we had a real golden generation coming through. Now there are more doubts about what level they will make it to. I'm sure they will all have good careers but will they be any better than what we normally produce?

NewMan1982

We need to start giving the reserve goalkeepers more minutes in friendly games.

johnnyryan89

Ferris_Bueller wrote: »

Of all players we have coming through I would be most confident in Bazunu becoming a champions league level player. He probably won't break through at City, but the coaching he has been getting there, combined with a decent amount of first team football at such a young age for a keeper.

Really don't know what to expect from the likes of Parrott, Idah, Connolly etc. A year ago I thought we had a real golden generation coming through. Now there are more doubts about what level they will make it to. I'm sure they will all have good careers but will they be any better than what we normally produce?

I'd be most confident about Bazunu also, but wouldn't rule out him breaking through at City unless they spend big money for another keeper in the next three to five years as Ederson is nine years older than Bazunu who now has a few seasons to gain his first team experience to show City he can be their number one.

Don't think we know what to make of Idah because he's only getting minutes here and there, and the Norwich manager thinks it's better for him to stay there currently and learn rather than send him out on loan for the time being. Pretty sure he made a comment to that degree when asked about a loan move for Idah. Southampton have a similar enough policy.

Connolly is a weird one because the lad was a lethal finisher at U23 playing CF, and now looks a shadow of the player when in front of goal. He's played his best stuff with our U21s when playing LW in a 4-2-3-1, and don't think Brighton are ever going to play like that. Think Connolly could thrive at a different clubt. His ego could also be a problem because there's always been talk about him being cocky.

Parrott I honestly think would be better off playing with a team outside of the UK while developing. He's more of a 10 than a 9, and is there many teams in England who use a striker as their 10 rather than a midfielder, especially outside of the PL. Don't think you see it in the PL either unless the player is top class like Rooney was.

Francie Barrett

https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2021/0318/1204801-kenny-understands-concerns-over-goalkeeper-experience/

Westwood was keen to play, but not available due to broken ribs.

Kelleher will start if available, Travers second choice otherwise.

Keogh still in Kenny's thoughts for Autumn.

Confident about Connolly being ready, less so with McClean.

Kenny defended Duffy, but sort of made it sound like he could be dropped.

Parrott not likely to start against Serbia.

I think by naming a 29 man squad, his idea will be to play an experienced line-up against Serbia and Luxembourg with the notion of giving the fringe players a chance against Qatar.

For Forks Sake

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

Connolly is a weird one because the lad was a lethal finisher at U23 playing CF, and now looks a shadow of the player when in front of goal. He's played his best stuff with our U21s when playing LW in a 4-2-3-1, and don't think Brighton are ever going to play like that. Think Connolly could thrive at a different clubt. His ego could also be a problem because there's always been talk about him being cocky.

Speaking of which.....:D

https://www.the42.ie/aaron-connolly-10-5385274-Mar2021/

BRIGHTON AND REPUBLIC of Ireland forward Aaron Connolly has been disciplined by the club for a breach of coronavirus restrictions.

The 21-year-old Republic of Ireland international reportedly invited a woman into a house in which he had been staying.

Seagulls manager Graham Potter said: “It’s something we have dealt with internally, the club is dealing with it.

“Clearly, a mistake has been made. Our position is quite clear. The players know their responsibilities, they know what they should or shouldn’t be doing.

“Aaron’s made a mistake, we’ve dealt with that and we have to move on. He’s a human being. These things happen.

“Clearly, it’s not something we’re happy about, but it’s been dealt with.”

pgj2015

For Forks Sake wrote: »

Speaking of which.....:D

https://www.the42.ie/aaron-connolly-10-5385274-Mar2021/

It would be more in his line to work on his finishing.

johnnyryan89

pgj2015 wrote: »

It would be more in his line to work on his finishing.

Well there's apparently a sex tape recorded, so video evidence to see if his finishing has improved

pgj2015

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

Well there's apparently a sex tape recorded, so video evidence to see if his finishing has improved

He looks like a right cheeky prick, I can well believe he is very cocky.

johnnyryan89

So Jim Crawford has said that John Joe Patrick Finn is on board with playing for Ireland and would have been selected for the U21s training camp if he wasn't injured.

Tchaikovsky

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

So Jim Crawford has said that John Joe Patrick Finn is on board with playing for Ireland and would have been selected for the U21s training camp if he wasn't injured.

Excellent news. Good to see Conor Noss in too, although I'm not up on his progress with BMG.

Banjaxed82

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

So Jim Crawford has said that John Joe Patrick Finn is on board with playing for Ireland and would have been selected for the U21s training camp if he wasn't injured.

Is any use though? Or is it more of a case of..."Holy sh!t we have teenager player in La Liga"?

Anyone know what type of player he is?

Francie Barrett

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

He was very good actually for a poor Bolton team.

I guess we will see. If he's as good as you say, then part-time Scottish football should be an absolute cakewalk for him.

Francie Barrett

Banjaxed82 wrote: »

Is any use though? Or is it more of a case of..."Holy sh!t we have teenager player in La Liga"?

Anyone know what type of player he is?

I have watched most of the minutes he has picked up. First thing you will notice about him is that he is absolutely massive. He only recently turned 17 and he was probably the tallest outfield player in all the games in which he featured. I am actually a bit worried he could end up being too tall, especially since he could keep growing for another 3-4 years. We'll just have to wait and see how he develops on that front.

He was initially played out wide, but to be honest, he didn't really look at all comfortable in that role. He didn't appear to have the burst of acceleration, or the trickery to go past full-back's and didn't really make an impact in those games. He was played more centrally in his later games, my guess is that his where his future lies, as a box-to-box type number 8, he certainly has the physical presence and athleticism to fill that role. His ability on the ball and passing looked ok, maybe a little loose at times. He is obviously still very young, and La Liga is a very high level, so obviously more games will be needed before we can judge him on this.

Banjaxed82

Francie Barrett wrote: »

I have watched most of the minutes he has picked up. First thing you will notice about him is that he is absolutely massive. He only recently turned 17 and he was probably the tallest outfield player in all the games in which he featured. I am actually a bit worried he could end up being too tall, especially since he could keep growing for another 3-4 years. We'll just have to wait and see how he develops on that front.

He was initially played out wide, but to be honest, he didn't really look at all comfortable in that role. He didn't appear to have the burst of acceleration, or the trickery to go past full-back's and didn't really make an impact in those games. He was played more centrally in his later games, my guess is that his where his future lies, as a box-to-box type number 8, he certainly has the physical presence and athleticism to fill that role. His ability on the ball and passing looked ok, maybe a little loose at times. He is obviously still very young, and La Liga is a very high level, so obviously more games will be needed before we can judge him on this.

Seems like another player in the mould of Knight/Molumby.

Was hoping for something more like.... Xavi

Anyway, will interesting to see his progress.

johnnyryan89

Francie Barrett wrote: »

I guess we will see.

Or you could watch his games he played when at Bolton ya know to form an opinion. Also doubt better teams than Bolton wouldn't have been after a skinny 17 year old whose a left back by trade if he wasn't performing.

Pawwed Rig

Banjaxed82 wrote: »

Is any use though? Or is it more of a case of..."Holy sh!t we have teenager player in La Liga"?

If we had a teenager playing in the EPL.people would be creaming themselves. This is good news. Hopefully he can be a good player

pjohnson

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

If we had a teenager playing in the EPL.people would be screaming themselves. This is good news. Hopefully he can be a good player

A here gway with your EPL, a teenager playing in League One gets hearts racing.

franglan

Well if we can get a clamour for Parrot to be in an Ireland squad before he's made his club's senior debut we can clamour for John Joe for the next senior squad announcement surely.

Francie Barrett

Parrott benched, perhaps Paul Cook doesn't fancy him.

celt262

Francie Barrett wrote: »

Parrott benched, perhaps Paul Cook doesn't fancy him.

Have my doubts about this lad

SomethingElse

He's managed to play his way out of the team at both levels. He still has plenty of time to make it, but the signs aren't promising.

johnnyryan89

Francie Barrett wrote: »

Parrott benched, perhaps Paul Cook doesn't fancy him.

Hope all our players are benched this weekend for Wednesdays game. Also he's a loan signing with a new manager more than likely assessing his squad for next season, which Parrott won't be there.

Francie Barrett

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

Also he's a loan signing with a new manager more than likely assessing his squad for next season, which Parrott won't be there.

He was dropped for Keanan Bennetts, another loanee from Borussia Monchengladbach. Also, Ipswich are also on the cusp of the play-offs, surely makes sense they play their strongest team in the final push?

I watched Ipswichs last game.

He didnt do much wrong, but also didnt impose himself over supposed lesser opposition.

They played with a gale in the first half and couldn't get any advanced ball in the Fleetwood half.
Didnt get any better playing against the wind.

Francie Barrett

Curtis assists with a whipped in corner to equalise for Portsmouth.

Francie Barrett

Luca Connell starting.

https://twitter.com/queensparkfc/status/1373277112816263168?s=09

Francie Barrett

Francie Barrett wrote: »

Curtis assists with a whipped in corner to equalise for Portsmouth.

Goal for Harness, Curtis did well with the assist. Nice finish from Harness too.

tastyt

Sign of the times lads when we are talking about lads starting in LG 1 and for Queens Park . Ah well, hopefully we will get an unexpected lift on Wednesday evening, it’s badly needed.

I presume a decent performance on Wednesday, without being hammered and a win scoring a couple of goals from play against Luxembourg is an acceptable weeks work this week ? I think most of us would accept that , anything in Serbia is a bonus but we need to be competitive

KungPao

We’re going to be walloped on Wednesday. Sad but true. We are desperate these days.
And forget about the likes of Parrot. Will never amount to anything more than an Anthony Stokes. Obafemi? Headless chicken. Connolly probably the best of them, and he doesn’t know where the goal is, and could be in the championship next season.

We’re finished as occasional qualifiers/ playoffs. Even Azerbaijan will probably play us off the park.

Duff

KungPao wrote: »

We’re going to be walloped on Wednesday. Sad but true. We are desperate these days.
And forget about the likes of Parrot. Will never amount to anything more than an Anthony Stokes. Obafemi? Headless chicken. Connolly probably the best of them, and he doesn’t know where the goal is, and could be in the championship next season.

We’re finished as occasional qualifiers/ playoffs. Even Azerbaijan will probably play us off the park.

That's some crystal ball you have there. Any chance of the lotto numbers?

Francie Barrett

Curtis was a little quiet in the first half for Portsmouth, but was probably the best player on the pitch in the second and was deservedly rewarded with two assists. He's really horrible to play against as well, seemed to draw lots of fouls and yellow cards from opponents by contesting everything. Harness was a little quieter, but had a few decent spells and was very good in some of the rapid interchanges of play that Portsmouth had in the second half.

Really hope Portsmouth can go on a run now and get promotion. They're a really progressive ball playing team who are trying to do things right.

Francie Barrett

tastyt wrote: »

Sign of the times lads when we are talking about lads starting in LG 1 and for Queens Park .

Now that you've mentioned it, looks like he's got an assist.

https://twitter.com/queensparkfc/status/1373296326964883461

Too early to call him up to the senior team?

Francie Barrett

gilberto_eire wrote: »

I watched Ipswichs last game.

He didnt do much wrong, but also didnt impose himself over supposed lesser opposition.

They played with a gale in the first half and couldn't get any advanced ball in the Fleetwood half.
Didnt get any better playing against the wind.

I am not sure where Parrott goes from here. Based on what I've seen so far, he looks a long way off being the standard required to make it at Spurs and I would be very surprised if they decide to keep in the squad for next season. Given that his opportunities there are going to be limited/non-existent, he's either going to have to go on loan again, or find a permanent move.