NI Milk cup

starting lineup:

1 thomas cox
2 cameron stewart
3 joseph dudgeon
4 kenny strickland
6 matty james
7 chris curran
8 magnus eikrem
9 danny welbeck
10 evandro brandao
11 nicky ajose
12 joshua craddock

oliver gill missing out through injury, reece brown among the subs.
 
1-0 half-time, impressive performance. Strickland and James dominant at the back, Stewart getting forward well down the right, Ajose causing Benfica all manner of problems mainly on the left and Eikrem's pulling all the strings. should really have a bigger lead.
 
Eikrem and Stewart were the outstanding performers for me. Is Norwood in the squad?
 
Curran off, replaced by Kieran something (hard to make out from the commentator's pronunciation)?

we're massively on top at the minute but can't quite put the game to bed.
 
danny welbeck replaced by michael potts, rested for the final all being well.
 
Liam McClair on to give Magnus Eikrem a bit of a rest.

quite the nepotistic squad we've got out there with Reece Brown and Oliver Gill as well :D
 
very impressed by the lads in the squad this year. They knock it about well.
James, the CB looks quite good.
Choccy's son is a big fella..feck i still remember him writing about Liam in the United magazine!
 
all over, 2-0, scoreline seriously flatters Benfica. dominant performance against pretty limited opponents, several players really impressing - Stewart, Eikrem, Ajose, Brandao all very good, liked what i saw of Craddock in midfield, both centre-backs did everything asked of them very capably. thought Welbeck tried to do a bit too much on his own sometimes as he's been guilty of doing in the past, flashes of brilliance though. Thomas Cox perhaps a bit shaky in goal on crosses if we're being picky.

Eikrem just looks a class apart at this level, seems to always have an eternity on the ball, rarely wastes a pass and increasingly ready to mix it in the midfield considering his stature.
 
1 thomas cox - Sloppy at a couple of crosses. One good save

2 cameron stewart - Class going forward, solid defender. Impressive.

3 joseph dudgeon - Good defender, didn't get forward much.

4 kenny strickland - Big fella. Looked like a class act, but wasn't put under any real pressure. Got forward to good effect a few times.

6 matty james - Same as Strickland

7 chris curran - One or two good runs, but not too much involved.

8 magnus eikrem - Captain and playmaker. Made the midfield tick and is a great passer of the ball. Good engine and vision, but the lad is still tiny.

9 danny welbeck - Strange player. Seems uninterested at times, only to go past 2 defenders and play a great thru-ball the next minute. I've seen him a fair few times now, and he's always like that. Extreme potential though. Scored the second.

10 evandro brandao - This was the first time I saw him play and I was very impressed. Quick, strong, agressive and skillful. MOM

11 nicky ajose - Very lively down the left flank. Quick and skillful. Could've had a few goals with a bit of luck.

12 joshua craddock - Big, strong presence in midfield. Tidy, got the first goal.

The no#14 who came on for Curran - Kieran something - looked like a class act.
 
Elliott said:
Potts was 15, don't recall the other ones.
Click to expand...

Thanks !
I saw in another game that number 17 is very large.
So the subs are:
12. Joshua Craddock
13.
14. Kieran ....
15. Michael Potts
16.
17.
18.
Among these are:
Liam McClair
Reece Brown
Tom Roberts
 
the Kieran with the mysterious surname - the commentators were pronouncing it phonetically as 'jer-lily', although the northern irish accent may have distorted that a tad.

not sure Tom Roberts touched the ball after coming on so i've no idea what number he had. Liam McClair was definitely #17 though. i assume Oliver Gill is #5 seeing as that's the gap in tonight's starting eleven and he was a late withdrawal.
 
Oskar, you'll know this: Why isn't Norwood in the Milk Cup squad?
 
Final on later

United in Milk Cup final later. Interview with Dave Bushell on our local news earlier. at least final doesnt start until after Corrie...wonder if Claire will find about Ashley.
currently "northern ireland" losing 1-3 to israel in other match
 
Final

last minute......brazilians score 2-1.
Thank Christ I dont have to listen to Jackie Fullerton doing a commentary until next years Milk Cup. The man should be quietly pensioned off or sent somewhere that nobody watches......Chelsea TV perhaps.
 
Fluminense deserved their win. They were the much better team. The brilliant Brandao came off early with an injury and we were really stuck with no one up front as Welbeck drops deep all the time. That cost us dearly.
 
interesting to hear Brandao playing well.... I saw him in a couple of academy games on MUTV an he looked promising - strong and skillful... target man type
 
Our #14's name is Kieran Djialali btw. Anyone heard of him?
 
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