Clinton Morrison on Newcastle's EFL Cup win, Colchester's season so far and representing Ireland
Will Jackson 
With it being an international week, Clinton discusses Thomas Tuchel's first England squad and we've also picked out a couple of predictions for some upcoming games and paired them with some of our top football betting offers.
He also talks about what it means to represent Ireland despite being born in London, the state of the Ireland team right now, Colchester's fine recent form and Newcastle's EFL Cup win.
With two England games in the coming days, the Nations League playoffs and plenty of EFL to look at, we've got plenty of football free bets available now, and hope to see some enhanced odds offers before the big games take place.
So, looking ahead to the weekend, here's what Clinton had to say when speaking exclusively to Free Bets:
Newcastle Glory
Q: The EFL Cup final was a great day for the neutral but just how big was that for Newcastle fans?
It was a great day.
I thought Newcastle thoroughly deserved it. Liverpool looked leggy and couldn't get around. I think the game plan worked for Newcastle and they were a threat.
In midfield I thought Newcastle were strong and the three players in midfield were outstanding, Joelinton in particular. He's a menace when he plays like that. When you've got someone like Isak up front too you can cause problems and get you a goal from anywhere.
Big Dan Burn's probably had the best two or three weeks of his life!
Credit to Eddie Howe because Arne Slot has been fantastic all season, apart from the PSG game which was unfortunate. Newcastle were fantastic and thoroughly deserved the win and 70 years of hurt are over now.
Q: Would you expect them to go onto bigger and better things after this?
You would hope so.
They haven't spent crazy money like they said they would, and that's a PSR thing which has obviously disrupted them as they had to sell some young homegrown talent like Andersen.
When the owners first came in everyone was saying they're going to sign the likes of Mbappe, but you can't be going straight into that kind of market.
I think they've recruited ever so well. They'll go again in the summer. I think their main priority will be to try and keep over the Isak because everyone will come knocking on the door and I think their best option of keeping him is by playing in Europe. Winning a trophy guarantees Europa League but I think they want to qualify for the Champions League.
I think Isak is a player who wants to play in the Champions League and wants to win things. If they get Champions League, I think they keep Isak and they probably build a team around him and Bruno Guimaraes while bringing in more quality players. If they do that then Newcastle could be a force to be reckoned with for sure.
Q: And Eddie Howe has really proved himself as the man for the job, when some people might have doubted whether he could take them to that next level…
I think Eddie Howe's a brilliant young English manager. He was obviously linked to the England job but for whatever reason it didn't happen - maybe Newcastle wanted to keep him. There were a lot of rumours about whether he deserves it because there's always big pressure on when new owners come in, and everyone says will there be changes at the football club and do they want their own style of football? There's pressure on Eddie to deliver - he's at a club the size of Newcastle who didn't want anything for over 70 years.
He did well when they got into the Champions League but they had the Group of Death which was one of the hardest groups ever and they couldn’t get out of it.
But if you look at it now, I think the job he's done there has been first class. They've had a lot of injuries and suspensions and never moaned about it. He just got his head down and got on with it. Now they're reaping the rewards.
I think if they can do that from now to the end of the season, I do think top five might be enough to finish in the Champions League. Newcastle have a great chance. They just have to keep Isak and that midfield and they have a brilliant chance.
Q: In terms of Liverpool, they lost the Champions League and the final of the EFL Cup in the same week, with betting sites having them as favourites to win both. How should we view their season now, having at one point been on for a quadruple? Is it still a success?
I think it's a good season. I think you ask any professional footballer at the start of the season what trophy you want to win, the hardest would probably be the Premier League.
The Champions League, yeah it is hard but in the Premier League you play 38 games. In the Champions League you play nowhere near that many games, so I think it's much harder to win the Premier League.
There was pressure on Slot to deliver, and he has. I know they've had a bad week, but everyone can have a bad week. They just looked a bit tired and a bit lethargic after the PSG game went to extra time, it looked like it took a lot out of some of the players.
I still think it would be a fantastic season. Yes it will be difficult but at the start of the season, people thought Man City would dominate and if not them, then Arsenal. To beat both of them to it, i think its a fantastic season for Liverpool
Colchester on Fire
Q: I just wanted to talk about Colchester briefly. They’re a former club of yours and they’re absolutely flying at the moment. How much do you follow their results?
Obviously I do look out for my old clubs and with Colchester you’d always expect them to be fighting in mid-table or relegation, but when Danny Cowley was appointed, my eyes lit up.
You look at Danny Cowley, I've worked with him before and he's ambitious. He knows what he wants. He and his brother go to places and mostly get it right, and they’ve been on a great run. I thought they were well cut adrift but the run they've been on, I think they've just been fantastic.
The recruitment's been good, the chairman's backed him and it's so pleasing to see where Colchester are and I hope they continue this fantastic run.
I hope they do get into the playoff spots and hopefully have a chance of maybe getting promoted. I do think they've got a manager there who has the experience at that level and knows how to get teams promoted. There's a good togetherness there and I think the way Colchester are going at the moment, it's only positive signs.
Q: It’s five wins on the bounce, unbeaten since January and into the final play-off spot now as the form team in the league…
They've come from nowhere because a couple of weeks ago they were still cut adrift. I think a lot of the teams at the top are beating each other, so to get into that position they’ve done ever so well.
Long may it continue. I don't know if they can catch the top three, but I think to secure their place in the playoffs would be a fantastic season.
England under Thomas Tuchel
Q: Moving onto international football and Thomas Tuchel’s first couple of games in charge. What do you think we will see from a Tuchel side that will be different from Gareth Southgate?
Well, he will implement his own style. I think you've seen through training, it looks like there is a great atmosphere and a great togetherness.
I think Gareth kind of broke the mould and managed to get the players more together, because I think back in the day it was always split with the players keeping separate from each other, but it looks like there's a great togetherness and Thomas Tuchel has carried that on.
We'll have to see in his first game what style of play he’ll have. Will he play a three? Will he play a four? Who will be introduced? There were obviously raised eyebrows when squads came out and people were missing, people were in, but he's going to do it his way.
He's a proven winner and he's won stuff throughout his career. I think now it's time for him to just take England to that next level, which is trying to win the World Cup. That's what he's been brought in to do, to win the World Cup.
Q: Is that short-term goal reflected in the squad he has picked, with the likes of Henderson and Rashford back in the squad rather than the youngsters Lee Carsley picked?
Tuchel doesn’t have time for bringing youngsters in for the future. He can’t experiment. He needs to deliver and that's what the FA have brought him in to do.
That's why he's picked that squad. That's why Dan Burn probably thought at 32 going on 33, his time at international level was over but he's been brilliant for Newcastle this season when they've had injuries. He can play left back and center half. I think England only have one left back in the team and are quite short on center halves at the minute for injury.
There are opportunities for people like Jordan Henderson - who is not playing a lot of football for Ajax - maybe Tuchel wants him around for the experience in the dressing room to help a few of the youngsters.
Tuchel has gone with experience which I think he's always done as a manager with a blend of youth in there as well and that's probably what you need to go win a major tournament.
Q: Were you surprised with the Henderson selection?
I was surprised, I'm not going to lie.
I'm not going to sit here - and I know Jordan Henderson - and say I expected it, because I was surprised. I just thought his time had been and gone. He had a fantastic career, done well at international level and I thought someone like Gibbs-White had been outstanding and deserved his spot.
I know he's in the squad now because Cole Palmer pulled out, but I thought he was taking his place when really Gibbs White deserves it because he's been in fantastic form.
I get it, managers like experience. But he still had experience in Kyle Walker, Pickford, Declan Rice, even someone like Jude Bellingham. These guys all have that experience but when Henderson’s name was in that squad that came out, I think everyone was rubbing their eyes thinking it was a mistake.
You wouldn’t expect Henderson to play that much but he has been a brilliant player with a brilliant character. But it will be good for the youngsters, because whenever you’re at a game he plays in, there is only one voice you can hear on a pitch and that is Jordan Henderson. - he doesn’t shut up. He’s always helping and encouraging people, so he will be a good person around the dressing room - not that that should be enough to get picked, but I think that’s what Tuchel is looking at.
Representing Ireland
Q: There has been some talk about Tuchel as a German taking charge of England. As someone who was born in London and represented the Republic of Ireland, did you ever have any issues with that kind of thing? Did you have to work extra hard to be accepted?
Yeah, I feel you always have to work extra hard because obviously with my London accent, you go over to Ireland, you do have a few doubts when you're going to play football in another country where you weren't born.
Are you going to be accepted and appreciated? You always have that at the back of your mind. I was a bit nervous, but then as soon as I went over there, they made me feel so welcome.
The Irish fans were fantastic to me. I remember scoring on my debut against Croatia, and the stadium was bouncing. I've always had a good rapport with them.
I would understand why some people would have reservations because it is difficult if you’re not born in the country, and maybe people find it difficult to accept you, but I was always accepted by the Irish fans and that’s why I appreciate them and love them, and still have a lot of time for them now.
They accepted me not being born in that country.
I don’t know how England fans will react to Thomas Tuchel, but if you’re winning matches as a manager, then that’s all fans want to see.
I scored goals for Ireland and worked hard for them, and I don’t think they ever forgot that. It was big for me to play for Ireland. I sat down with my family - particularly my Grandma, who is Irish - to discuss it, and she was all for it which made my choice much easier. I have no regrets whatsoever, its one of the best decisions I made in my football career.
Republic of Ireland
Q: The Ireland side has a couple of big games ahead of them against Bulgaria in the Nations League play-offs. How big are these games?
They're all big games. Every international game is a big game, when we were playing for Ireland, there were no friendlies at all, we wanted to win every game and were very competitive and never knew when we were beaten.
These are still big games. They need to progress, move forward to World Cup qualifiers.
We need to get to a major tournament again and give these Irish fans something to cheer about.
These are massive games and there's no friendlies when you're put on that green shirt for Ireland, that's for sure. We go out to win when representing the country.
Q: The squad obviously isn’t what it was back in your day, but how do you see that squad and how they’re shaping up and where they can get to?
It's very young.
We can't keep harping on back to our day when our squad was fantastic. We had a lot of people that were playing Premier League football week in, week out. So it's a different kind of level now. There's a lot of young players in there and the new manager's got to go in there with his coaching staff and assess the team.
There are injuries to big players like Szmodics, but you still have to pick players to go and try and get a result.
We’ll never have a loads of players to pick from like England because it's just totally different. So the FAI need to invest and look at the younger players coming through the League of Ireland.
There are talented players. You've seen people like Seamus Coleman go to Everton and have a fantastic career. So these players that come through the League of Ireland, that's where Ireland have to start looking.
It's gonna take time but sometimes you don't get enough time as an international manager and you need to hit the ground running and get results. But it doesn't help that there's a lot of injuries at the moment, but the squad has still got talented players that need to start producing.
Q: So the players are there, the pathway into the game just needs to be improved?
The players are not at the level of the top international players and everyone knows that.
I'm not speaking out of turn about any of the players because there are talented players who are delivering and playing well. I like Evan Ferguson, I think he's going to be a superstar, but he’s just not had a lot of football at the moment but he has got the potential to be the number nine for Ireland for many years. And there's a lot of other talent. Finn Azaz, who's playing at Middlesbrough, I like him. He's a talented player. So there are players in that squad that are really talented.
It's just a matter of time. I'm always positive because when you've got fans like the Irish fans, they'll always get behind the team. Win, lose or draw, they'll always get behind the team. They'll stick with their team. That's what the group of players need to know. Once they put on that green jersey, they're representing their country and they have to give 100%.
