Hardly credible but yet another International Break is about to land on us. First up is Marcus Bettinelli who is in the England squad for the 'Charity Match' against USA and the Nations League game against Croatia. please log in to view this image If he gets on in the American one, will it count as a Full Cap?
Ryan Sessegnon is in the England U21 squad for games against Italy and Denmark. please log in to view this image
Steven Sessegnon is in the England U19 squad travelling to Turkey in the First round qualifier of the European Championship. Moldova and Iceland are also in the Group.
Anybody else think these "breaks" have affected us badly? We were doing fine in our first 4 League games with the new players doing well and/or getting fit. Then a whole wodge of the squad disappeared for the first two weeks of September. Them off they went again for the middle two weeks of October. And now the whole cycle is being repeated for the middle two weeks of November. Realise it's the same for all the teams but we had so many more newbies to acclimatise than others.
The full list of those that are off this time round - Senior Squad André-Frank Zambo Anguissa (Cameroon) – Africa Cup of Nations Qualifier & Friendly Floyd Ayité (Togo) – Africa Cup of Nations Qualifier Marcus Bettinelli (England) – Friendly & UEFA Nations League Cyrus Christie (Republic of Ireland) – Friendly & UEFA Nations League Ibrahima Cissé (Guinea) – Africa Cup of Nations Qualifier Luca de la Torre (United States) – Friendlies Stefan Johansen (Norway) – UEFA Nations League x2 Aleksandar Mitrović (Serbia) – UEFA Nations League x2 Jean Michaël Seri (Ivory Coast) – Africa Cup of Nations Qualifier U21s Ryan Sessegnon (England) – Friendlies U19s Steven Sessegnon (England) – European Qualifiers U18s Luca Ashby-Hammond (England) – Friendlies U17s Fabio Carvalho (England) – Friendlies Harvey Elliott (England) – Friendlies
England U19s are off to the perfect start with a 4-0 win over Moldova out in Turkey. And guess what ... Steven Sessegnon got the 4th goal.
And now of course Ranieri has to get to know his squad with half of them off on International duty. Most will return only a couple of days before the Southampton game, and much of that time will be taken up assessing there fitness. Not at all the best way to prepare. That said, the catalogue of pictures on the Official Site, showing a bit of his first training session, are encouraging in the way he appears to be immediately interacting with individual players. Particularly enjoyed snaps 21 and 23 - not sure exactly what he's explaining to a certain young man, who we all know on here, but like the moves !! Here's a link to the gallery of pics: http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2018/november/15/claudio-takes-training PS Scotty Parker is prominent early on and then there are 4 or 5 other backroom guys that I don't recognise. No new names/faces have yet been announced or posted by the Club.
Cracking performance this evening by Ryan Sess, playing out left, in England U21s win over Italy 2-1 at theirs.
This afternoon Serbia had a 2-1 home win over Montenegro in Group g of the International League thing. Aleksandar Mitrovic got their second goal with a deal of panache and confidence - Shortly after his confidence got the better of him and he 'dinked' a penalty over the bar.
After the game against England Luca de la Torre left the USA squad heading out to Italy. Instead he returned to Motspur Park to join in with the new Gaffer's training sessions. And, a note from the Club about the other guys who played at the weekend: "Jean Michael Seri scored for the Ivory Coast away to Guinea – who listed Ibrahima Cisse amongst the substitutes – on Sunday, a match which ended in a 1-1 draw. It was a result which means both teams have now qualified for next summer’s Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon. The host nation faced Morocco in Casablanca on Friday, with André-Frank Zambo Anguissa playing the full 90 minutes of their 2-0 defeat. Elsewhere in Africa, Floyd Ayité was involved from the off as Togo were dispatched 4-1 by a Riyad Mahrez inspired Algeria. Back in Europe, Stefan Johansen played just under an hour of Norway’s 1-1 draw in Slovenia, a result that keeps them top of Nations League C Group 3 ahead of their final match on Monday night. Finally, Cyrus Christie came off the bench for the closing stages of the Republic of Ireland’s goalless draw when they took on Northern Ireland in a friendly in Dublin on Thursday."
Well done England U18s and Luca Ashby-Hammond on winning the Pinatar Tournament. Four teams were involved. Previous results were: 2-2 v Germany 3-1 v Ireland And this evening they won 3-1 v Belgium.
After their win in Italy the England U21s hit 5 in Denmark tonight. The final score was 5-1 in favour of the Young Lions. Ryan Sessegnon came off the bench in the 72nd minute with the score at 3-1.
Serbia beat Lithiania 4-1 tonight and end up topping Group 4 in the Nations League. And yup, Mitro scored. He got their second goal. That means he finishes the year with 12 goals in 13 matches for Serbia.
And elsewhere: "Cyrus Christie played the full 90 minutes in Ireland’s 0-0 draw with Denmark. The result sees Ireland relegated to League C after finishing four points behind Wales in their Group. Stefan Johansen watched from the side lines in Norway’s 2-0 win over Cyprus. Two Ola Kamara goals moved Norway to the top of their group after Bulgaria failed to better their result. André-Frank Zambo Anguissa wasn’t involved in Cameroon’s defeat to Brazil. Richarlison with the only goal on the stroke of half time."
