Like the best defence thread, but if everyones fit who'd you pick up front? I'd go with Morrison and Keane, because their styles suit each other so much, Keanes a provider who used his dribbling to get down the wings and causeing havoc, chipping in with the goals on a fairly regular basis, also his passing and crossing are very under rated and his flair is as good as anyones. Morrison is the striker, give him half a chance and he'll score, he gets chances to because he has great technique and pace, also with his power and strenght he physically fits with Keane so well, I reckon these two couldn't be more made for each other. But with Connolly looking like Maradona in division one, Lee and Sadlier emerging and Delap, Duff and Dohertys ability to play in those positions the options are there, who would you play? And if the board slows down again, yes, I probably will post a best mid field thread
best strike force? well keane is a no-brainer, but who to partner him... i had my doubts about morrison but then i had to eat some humble pie when he went and scored two against liverpool, which as it turns out is half his total for the entire season. i'm still not convinced he can make the grade, i can appreciate that the level of service at birmingham wouldn't be too good but he's consistently looks out of sorts against an adequate defence. i still say we need a larger forward to act as a target man that can draw defenders off keane. somebody with a good head that can nod the ball down, somebody with a presence in the box at corners, somebody who can mix it up a bit..... ...and luckily he's just started light training again at milwall. richie sadlier come on down!!!!!! as for the others - david connolly, on fire at the minute but can't be in the same team as keane alan lee, no comment until he gets a senior game rory delap, prefer him in midfield but an adequate stand-in gary doherty, i think we can agree his best position is full back pushing forward. throw him on with 10 minutes to go if we need a goal damien duff, NO!!!
I just don't think Keanes a good enough goal scorer to work with a target man, Morrisons international record on the other hand is fantastic and with his 4 goals for Birmingham is only 1 off Keane for Spur, 2 off his total record this year, with half the service. Keane and Quinn didn't exactly set the world on fire during the qualifyers, and he's one of the best target men around.
morrison was a sub in birmingham's last game and when he came on he played very poorly. is steve bruce beginning to think he wasted £5m on him? you talk about his international record for ireland - 3 goals in 9 appearances (33%) isn't that good, ok robbie is 9 in 40 (22.5%). and if we're to look at those goals: crotia - his debut for ireland, he scored into an empty net denmark - good goal, well taken russia - scored when we really needed a goal but he miss-hit it and it came off his shin. on the other hand, he's still young and his performances have been getting better so i'm not writing the guy off - yet! as for the whole target man debate i think we'll have to agree to disagree. ireland have never been prolific scorers, we have to accept that we don't have world class strikers. i just believe that a target man will maximise our attacking options. our history is littered with games where we managed to eek out a result we we push forward - route 1 if you will. personally i hate route 1 but every international team resorts to it at some stage. we saw time and time again under mmc tenure that kilbane and harte insisted on hoofing the ball into the box. for all the talent that duff and keane have they'll NEVER compete against defenders when we play like that.
Anyway, I wouldn't pay too much attention to Morrison being dropped, I always thought it'd be alot like Bellamy for Coventry, he managed 6 goals in a full season and some of them were penos and is hated by the Coventry fans and yet now that he's at a good club he's a revelation and current young player of the year, he, like Morrison, needs to be playing in a good side to score goals, he needs chances but, give him a chance and he will score and he has the pace and strenght to make it at the highest level, I hope someone does a Bobby Robson and buys Morrison so he can realise his potential.
certainly is an interesting idea. i would imagine steve bruce to be a good man-manager. he's highly regarded and is still being touted as a successor to alex ferguson. if anyone could nurture a player it's steve bruce. as for realising potential i would agree with you. i IMHO clinton needs to mature quite a bit first, i know he's young but he's so bloody arrogant (and not in the good way). he also needs to focus and learn how to read a game, he's ALWAYS out of position. he needs to develop his first touch, actually his control in general needs to advance quite a bit 'cause his goal scoring repertoire seems limited to toe-poking a goal from a low cross into the box.... ....and i think he needs to put on another stone in weight 'cause he's pushed off the ball too easily. but that's just me nit-picking!!
Mysterousy Solved, only Clinton Morrison... Morrison in a jam Birmingham City striker Clinton Morrison is likely to be named on the bench for Saturday’s game against Manchester United but the Irish international was dropped for a completely different reason on St. Stephen’s Day. The 23-year-old got stuck in a traffic jam on his return from London, where he had spent Christmas Day with his mother Angela, and only arrived at St. Andrew’s 30 minutes before kick-off against Everton. However Morrison accepts full responsibility and says he understands why Steve Bruce dropped him for the game. “The gaffer didn’t pick me because I turned up late. I got to the ground with only half an hour before kick-off. I had been in London for Christmas and didn’t travel back until the morning of the game. “There was a lot more traffic than I expected, so I got delayed. I told the manager what happened but he wasn’t that happy with me and I can’t really blame him for putting me on the bench,” said Morrison. The former Crystal Palace striker is nursing an ankle knock and is unlikely to start against United on Saturday. “I am definitely looking forward to going to Old Trafford and being up against Manchester United but I am not sure if I will play because I have an ankle injury.” ------- He ended up playing anyway. I think Morrison is actually quite strong, I don't see him pushed off the ball that much. Morrison style is simple, use his pace and finishing and poach goals, for this to work he needs the chances created for him unlike a Robbie Keane who could score for any side, this is why he and Keane would work so well for each other. Keane is such a creative player but his one on one finishing is very poor, let Keane do the creative work with his dribbling and Morrison finishes the chances, keep in mind in his 9 caps he's played what, one full match and 80 minutes, the rest were little 20 minute bits here and there, and he's scored 3 times. Morrison was never gonna hit 20 goals for Birmingham, because, like Bellers at Coventry, he needs to be at a good club to score goals, with respect to the Brummies. If he went to, say Newcastle, he would score an absolute bag full, and when Ireland are doing their usual (Dominaiting teams but not getting what they deserve, as soon against Spain, Cameroon and Germany for example) Morrison is the man you want to get you a simple goal. He's scored 4 times for Birmingham this year and I've seen him get 5 chances, the other was against Fulham and it was from a tight angle and the keeper made a good save, we've not had this kind of player since the great man himself, Aldo, and even then he played a different role for us. I think the boy is absolute class at what he does and would start him against any country in the world. BTW, Keanos got 14 goals for us (16 if that pre world cup warm up counts) not 9.
Re: Mysterousy Solved, only Clinton Morrison... i stand corrected slash. i got the information from the fai website, silly of me to think it was up to date!
Typical FAI preformance then, I believe he hit his 9th as far back as the Russia friendly, then hit his 10th against Denmark, and who says these people are incompetent?
Re: Mysterousy Solved, only Clinton Morrison... Ahh now, don't go overboard - 4 goals from 5 chances all season? 5 chances?
Re: Mysterousy Solved, only Clinton Morrison... You mean with Steve (God) Finnan playing in defense? Oh! The humanity! The best ever defender - who can play in every position in any team in any era - let in a goal? Maybe he was injured or dropped? Please tell me that's so. Or not.
Re: Re: Mysterousy Solved, only Clinton Morrison... That's all I've seen, I've not seen them live every time alright but he's hardly been getting 8 chances a match it's fair to say.
Not to start a flame war or anything... but how about the idea of starting all 3 of Keane, Connolly and Morrison, with Robbie K playing in the hole behind the other 2 as an attacking midfielder/forward? He has enough balls skills and draw/tie-up defenders, allowing the other to find space. If we go with 2 up front then I'd lean towards keane and Morrison. Connolly and Keane are too similar to my mind, even if Connolly has been bagging buckets of goals recently in 1st Div. (Wasn't Morrison bagging a similar tally this time last year with Crystal Palace?) Morrison is physically stonger too, you need at least one man front who can't be horsed off the ball easily. He is a bit too cocky though, hopefully he'll grow up soon.
It's an idea if we want to tinker with the formation, I'd presume then we'd be playing wingbacks? Can't think of many better then Stevie Carr and Finnan could probably do a job as one too. As for being cocky, it'll help in some ways, put it this way if it's a pressure sitation and he gets a chance that we simply must score, similar to Keane V Germany in the world cup, then he's not likely to bottle it is he?
I was thinking something like a 4-3-1-2 as opposed to a 5-3-2 (or it's 3-5-2 twin), with Carr and Finnan coming forward as needed. This does have it's drawbacks, it pushes Duff more into the centre as opposed to being and out and out winger etc and is very vurnerable to the counter when the full/wing backs are forward, but it could be an exciting option though. Something like Given Carr O'Shea Cunningham Finnan Holland RoyK Duff RobbieK Connolly Morrison As regards Morrison's cockiness, I fully agree that a degree of that is very helpful in the self confidence department, but I'd hate to see him get too big for his britches. He's good, but he's not world class, so as long as his attitude doesn't cause any problems I'm fine with it.
It leaves us a bit short of width and if you're relying on your full backs it could lead us open to the counter but it's very exciting, it'd be an option against the small countries of the group to wrap up some good goal difference which has always been our weakness, I just feel that to pull that off you'd have to take the controversial decision of dropping Duff for someone like Carsley or Healy, as getting a firm grip on mid field would be essential and we'd have enough flair without him, but, could you really drop Damien Duff if you were the manager Ireland?
How about a sort of Real Madrid formation? Given Carr-------O'Shea---Cunningham-----Finnan --------------Keane---Holland----------------- ----Reid----------RobKeane-----------Duff -------------------Morrison----------------- We have two excellent attacking fullbacks and two great Defensive Midfielders to support the defence. Then we can allow the attacking quartet of Reid, Keane, Duff and Morrison the freedom to cause as much damage as possible. + Apparently Richie Partridge is scoring all sorts of spectacular goals for Coventry...
More then spectacular, he scored one of the best goals I've ever seen. Picked up the ball at least 20 yards in his own half, ran the pitch leaving everyone for dead before curling one in from outside the box into the top corner, you had to see it to believe it. BTW, that formation looks VERY impressive and really plays into our strenghts, we could do alot worse then trying it out in a friendly match.