In the early matches: Liam Miller starts on the bench for Celtic away to Hibs. Thompson, Reid and McPhail all start for Nottingham Forest, and Cash and Barry Roche are on the bench. Reid scored in the 26th minute.
Leicester v Man United: O'Shea and Keane start for United. Keane got an early goal. Chelsea v Aston Villa: Duff starts for Chelsea. Again, Kinsella failed to make the Villa squad. Birmingham v Portsmouth: Cunningham starts, Morrison again only on the bench. No sign of Kenna. Southampton v Middlesbrough: No sign of Delap.
Division 1: Cardiff v Crewe: Boland and Kavenagh start. Coventry v Wigan: Staunton and Barrett start for Coventry, Doyle is on the bench. Norwich v Crystal Palace: Curtis Fleming starts for Palace. Walsall v Preston: Michael Keane starts for Preston. Watford v Ipswich: Stephen Kelly makes his first Watford start. Scott Fitzgerald is also in the side. Alan Mahon is injured for Ipswich. West Brom v Stoke: James O'Connor starts for West Brom, Murphy is on the bench. Clive Clarke starts for Stoke. Wimbledon v Burnley: Gareth Farrelly starts for Burnley @ Milton Keynes. Sunderland v Reading - Late kickoff.
Divison 2/3: Rusden and Diamonds v Stockport: Colgan starts for Stockport, Daly is on the bench. Sheffield Wednesday v Grimsby: Alan Quinn starts for Sheffield. Carlisle v Swansea: McGill, Byrne, McDonagh, Shelley, Murphy and Foran all start. Foran has scored. Lee Trundle, who is trying to declare, starts for Swansea, as does Kevin Nugent, who I think is Irish. Ben Burgess has scored again for Hull, and John Sheridan has scored for Oldham. How old is he? 38 or 39?
In last nights match: Given and O'Brien both played full matches in Newcastle's 3-2 loss to Arsenal. Graham Stack was on the bench.
Re: Re: Irish in Britain - Sept. 27/28 (R) According to soccernet, Miller came on for Maloney on 76'.
Re: Re: Re: Irish in Britain - Sept. 27/28 (R) apologies, I stand corrected. I watched the game live and didn't even notice that!!! from that you can say he did nothing of note.....
Butler man of the match no less. If he stays injury free this season he will break into the Irish side. I was singing his praises two years ago and nothings changed since then, he was just cursed with injuries last season, he is a top quality youngster. Healy and Breen were both excellent aswell I thought.
Charlton v Liverpool: Holland starts for Charlton, Finnan starts for Liverpool. Blackburn v Fulham: Alan Kelly is on the bench for Blackburn. Stephen Reid is still suspended. Everton v Leeds Lee Carsley starts for Everton, Kilbane is only on the bench. Gary Kelly starts for Leeds, Ian Harte is only on the bench. This is his last match before a 3 match ban, I think.
Carr and Keane start for Spurs at Man City. No sign of Dunne at all. Harte didn't come on for Leeds, I think that he won't have another opportunity before the Swiss match. Kilbane came on 75' for Everton. Holland and Finnan both had full matches.
It's not just you, but what more must he do to get a call up? On another note, given the form of Connolly and the fact that Morrison wont be sharp as he's not getting his game for Birmingham, I think Kerr should go with Connolly and Keane for the Switzerland game.
I'm not liking the form of our players heading into the Swiss game. Morrison can't be started, but I don't think that Connolly and Keane will work well together. Breen is back playing for Sunderland, which is a big boost. I don't think Dunne should start, and Breen and O'Brien were far too shaky against Turkey, and the Swiss game is not the time to be messing about with risky partnerships. Harte won't play again before the match, and Stephen Reid is no option on the right. I'd hate to have to stick Finnan on the left, but I think that's what might have to be done: Given Carr Breen O'Shea Finnan Duff Healy Holland Kilbane Keane Doherty I don't like it, but I think it might be the best options. What do you lads think?
I'll paste something I posted somewhere else.... Given - I doubt anyone will disagree... Carr - Fairly obvious choice, played well against City today. Since I've Finnan in another position Carr is automatic choice really. Finnan - As a left back. With Cunningham out I'd move O'Shea inside and a choice between Finnan out of position or Harte at all would favour the Liverpool man in my eyes. O'Shea - Moved to central defence, his favoured position, with the abscence of Cunningham. His pace there will be crucial given the Swiss style of play, we need someone like O'Shea there. Breen - Another superb preformance for Sunderland against Reading, he was outstanding. He's confident right now and I can't really see anyone leaving him out. Duff - While Kilbane played alright in the last two preformances people are getting carried away. He works hard yes but he lacks the quality to really create chances. Duff, as our best player should be played in the position where he does the most damage, left wing. Reid - Last two preformances aside, Reids been great for us so far. My only concern will be his club suspension which will see him lacking sharpness, but there's not much competition wide right really. Healy - Lacking fitness recently for us, that problem is now solved. Has been commanding in his two starts in central mid field for Sunderland and when on form can pass a ball better then anyone in our side too. Now his sharpness is back he can produce what he did against Georgia. Holland - I'm not his biggest fan but Delap wont be ready for this one and he played well against Russia. It's him or Kinsella and you have to give it to Holland every time, though in the future I'd favour Delap. Keane - Can't see any debate there. Connolly - I'm a massive Morrison fan, but, he's out of favour for Birmingham and hasn't played alot so he wont be sharp or at his best. Connolly, on the other hand, is on fire. Banging them in for West Ham and a cracker against Turkey, this could be his match. Bring Morrison on with 20 minutes to go if we need a goal. Touchwood on the injury front, as for captaincy, Breen would be my choice.
Obviously Holland will get the captaincy for this one. Brian likes him, he has done the job before and has captained at club level for quite a few years now. Steve Finnan won't be playing at left back either. Brian knows we have to score and wants to play Harte as he is our best option to break down a packed Swiss defence with his crossing and deadball ability. Mr. Finnan will however get the nod over Stephen Reid on the right side of midfield however.
all well and good talking about scoring but the fact is as the home team Switzerland wont just sit back they'll attack us, and any side that attacks us will immeditaly go for our giant weakness at left back if Harte plays.
I'd tend to go along with the idea of playing Finnan ahead of Carr for this one. Carr's defending has been surprisingly suspect over the last few months so it would give us additional cover, and also they are both attack minded players and there were signs that they were starting to read each other when we got a run together before. Reid was very disappointing last time out & hasn't been playing for Blackburn thanks to that stupid sending off. That leaves Hartey in alright if O'Shea is moved to the centre - not convinced he will be though, Ritchie Dunne's giant elphant's ass could yet come to our aid.
I hope not, I don't think Breen and Dunne have the pace or mobility to cope with the Swiss style of play. Aswell as that, Dunne wont be sharp as he can't even make the Man City bench, I'd much rather see O'Brien in there if O'Shea stays left back.
Agree there with most of that. Truth is that Carr has been very suspect in his last few games both going forward and covering back. He is definitely not the player he was before his injury. He seems to have lost a yard or two. I'm also not sold on Reid - he has been very iffy when he has played, seeming almost not to be really interested. He had a great game when he came against Cameroon in the WC and that's where he made his reputation. He was then only very so-so when he came on against Germany and since then when he has played, I would wonder, what with his injury, lack of playing time and his apparent lack of interest, if his head is where it should be. Interesting thing about Dunne is that he has usually gotten the job done when called upon. He played very well away to Portugal and home to Holland during the WCQs, and at both times was dropped in only because of injuries. For a player who was not a first team pick, he acquitted himself rather well. That's the interesting thing about perception, I suppose. The take on Reid is that he is electric, similarily with Carr, yet both have not really produced the goods for Ireland recently. Kilbane and Harte are generally seen as liabilities, due to horrible WCs and Dunne seems to live up or down to his reputation as the Honey Monster, yet in recent games all have been the opposite of their respective reputations. Funny old game and all that I suppose........