Apparently, he's got goal of the season wrapped up, according to the Soccer Saturday pundits. Amazing, he hasn't scored in a good while, but if this doesn't cement his starting place for Ireland I don't know what will, surley he has to start now?
It was a brilliant overhead kick, so I hear. Should he start on the right, perhaps? Kerr said he wants to try Kilbane in the middle again.
I'd rather he didn't, we need to try him in the middle as our options are limited. I suppose he could easily start in the middle alongside Kilbane.
contender for goal of the month certainly......goal of the season, well that would be a stretch. short cross in from the right wing with delap smashing it it from around 8-10 yards. what impressed me was that he had very little time to react, especially considering our rory usually looks like he's just gotten out of bed. criminal defending from the spurs, there was nobody near him with only the keeper to beat. i think it's been something just short of two years since his last league goal which is a very poor return for a midfielder. he certainly deserves a shot at cementing a place for ireland - he's waited long enough. a more defensively minded central midfielder may be what we're looking for. realistically it could be his best chance of a game. we have precious little cover in the centre. holland's position would be the obvious choice IMHO. on a seperate issue - i'm reading from brimingham supporters that steve bruce should be considering putting morrison on the wing on a permanent basis. let's be honest - he's not a great striker but his work rate, constant chasing and half decent crossing make him a candidate for the position (like el diouf at liverpool). i'm not sure this would work for ireland but how about this line-up for the czech match? Given Carr, Dunne, O'Brien, O'Shea Morrison, Delap, Kilbane, Duff Reid Keane Kenny cunningham has been saying that he fears for his future at st. andrews. there is a good chance this could be his last season in the top flight with an impending transfer to one of the better first division clubs on the cards. will kenny still be around come the next world cup?
I've been a big fan of Delap for a long time and yesterday's goal was a peach. Let's hope he gets a start against the Czechs.
Definitely worth his place, he was astounding for Southampton the weekend, had a bit of inconsistent form this season but has always had injury problems, last season he more than proved his ability. John Gregory said before "he is the most under-rated player in the premiership, not many people realise his ability". I've said this before but I think it's best way to describe Delaps Irish career he started off with a few average games and never set the scene alight, ignored by an incompetant yorkshireman and has never really had the chance to recover the respect he deserves. Best Irish XI: Given Carr O'Brien Cunningham O'Shea Miller Delap A.Reid Duff Morrison Keane Players who should never play again: Matt Holland, Gary Breen, Ian Harte, Mark Kinsella, Gary Doherty, Graham Kavanagh, Glen Crowe
I dunno, Holland is still one of our better experienced midfielders and experience counts for a lot. Breen is a player who plays better for country rather than he club play suggests so I would keep him as a squad player. The rest I agree with.
i'm going to have to take issue on a few of the names mentioned - What has the doc done to deserve never playing for ireland again? he's a defender who has played full forward (because he was willing to play anywhere he was needed) and scored some important goals for us. spurs think he's good enough to be awarded a new contract and he is winning over is doubters with 'almost' assured displays in a very poor spurs full-back line. it took him longer than expected to come back from a broken leg but give him a year or so and i think he can be a great player for us! gary breen - i've said it before and i'll say it again, breen is a victim of unfashionable team syndrome. he's given everything for us but some people are never happy - can you tell me what in particular he has done to deserve this? there is a lot of competition for his place from players who play in the upper echelons of the EPL bu that does not mean that he should be automatically dropped, let alone 'never play for ireland again'. dunne and o'shea have had very mixed seasons and right now i would have doubts about either of them. breen has been there and done that. graham kavanagh - a VERY good 1st division player who can add much needed bite and leadership, sadly missing since roy left. his free kicks are rubbish but i can forgive him that. matt holland - ok, he's not great but we need him right now glen crowe - looked sharp against greece but unfortunately was a token cap for the eircom league. kinsella - a great pro but hasn't much left - pity! harte - fair enough! i'd feel sorry for him if he wasn't getting paid around 20k per week for nothing, drives a ferrari and has a blonde stunner for a wife. it's a tough life!
He's not a good defender and is definitely not a good forward. "Willing to play anywhere he's needed" sounds a bit like a player who's just happy to be playing atall. He seems a little obsessed with over-using his arms for a big lad who doesn't need to he gives away far too many free kicks from pushing and dragging opponents and has little or no presence on the ball or pace. He is the spurs "poor back line"! What he's done to deserve this? Absolutely nothing! He is a good organiser of the defence but his ability is seriously lacking. Too many times I watched him stroll into midfield trying to be the "Football playing" centre-back he'll never be and getting caught high up the pitch playing a poor ball. He too has no pace and is prone to the odd mistake or ten. Two reasons why West Ham went down ones called Repka the others called Breen. Prime example Man Utd 5 West Ham 0- Breen is at fault for every goal and thats no exaggeration A player too simple for the International game. Never gonna deliver a killer ball or split defence with a surging run, always prone to putting himself about too much giving away stupid free kicks and just not up to the pace of the game, will always slow down attacks. Ireland have never really been short of leaders just look at the captains over the past few years in the premiership. What we missed was a workhorse in the centre "et viola" Rory Delap. If we wanna compete with the big names we need to pick players who do it week in-week out. Need him for what exactly? A third division standard player. Need I mention that the Greece game was 0-0 and possibly the worst game I have ever seen. "Unfortunately a token cap"- a joke of a cap more like. Once again standards have to come into play, yes it was good to see him play but no i wouldn't want him against Gallas and Thuram in the WC Qualifiers.
I can't understand people slagging off Breen. Does the fact he's been class nearly every time he's played for us in the last four years, and has been preforming brilliantly for Sunderland mean nothing? And I was one of his critics, perfectly prepared to accept I was wrong.
I'm not going to get into the nitty gritty of it as others have already tackled it to some extent, but Mackannovic, your initial comment makes you out to be an uneducated clown and your follow ups merely confirm it.
Flag waving Leprechaun, Uncle Tom?-Methinks so! I quite simply being realistic if we are going to play the best international sides in the world we have to play our best players. With the exception of Andy Reid who more than likely will be playing at a higher level next season I think I've put forward a good side made up of our current best performers at the highest level. Matt Holland is the most unproductive player in any shirt lately, the only time he appears to play well is when he scores, in the Cameroon game in the World Cup he was nowhere to be seen until he scored and I can't quite understand how he managed to hold a place on the right of midfield(where once again he was lost) against Brazil. As for Gary Breen he reason he's playing well for Sunderland is because he's now playing against his standard of footballer, he showed he wasn't able to cope with the VanNistlerooys and the Owens last season and seems to be alot more at home with his Ricardo Fullers and Ade Akinbyis. He hasn't being playing well for us for the past 4 years he's being playing quite average for the past four years with a good game against Saudi Arabia wedged in there somewhere. Oh and I must include Phil Babb in that list and possibly Jason McAteer.
Like, say, the captain of a team vying for a Champions League spot in the EPL? Look, I'm not saying that Holland should be a 100% definite starter, but it is sheer stupidity to say he should never play for us again.
Well maybe to say he should never even be on the bench again is a bit of a rash statement but definitely not starting. I suppose he could go on and fill a space and do absolutely nothing per usual if we are really stuck.
Hmmmmm....while Holland has been involved in a few of Ireland's stinkers recently (think Switzerland away), how many others were also responsible, and how many fair/good/great results since '01 have not involved Holland? Wasn't the Portugal away game in 2000? You can't have it both ways - hammer him for the inconsistent games and forget about his effective games. Pick a side.
What effective games exactly? I seem to remember we drew against Portugal twice when we should have won, drew against Holland when we should've won. How many of those fair/good/great results was Ian Harte involved in? Does that meen he should play? No, I don't think so. I've picked my side and now that we have better players I think it's best for all of us if he does a Mark Kinsella and slowly fades into the shadows.
I think the game last night has firmly answered my questions on Matt Holland would you agree?(Obviously not!) He hardly touched the ball in the whole game and for the first 25minutes of the 2nd half he didn't touch it once, Delap did more within 5 minutes of coming on than Holland did in 65 minutes. Now to me that seems a bit worrying when the player who's supposedly is linking up the play and acting as an anchorman in midfield doesn't touch the ball.
everybody here more or less agrees with you that holland hasn't been playing well, for quite a while if we're being honest. what we took exception to was you saying that he (among others) should never play for ireland again. holland is obviously a talented player - there is a very good chance that charlton fans will vote him player of the year - but he hasn't brought that drive to ireland. while we're on the subject how did you rate doherty's performance - another of those on your list. personally, i though he was excellent until he had to come off and to a lesser extent ian harte. without these it would've been a different result. if we are to progress as a team we need to have ALL our players available. surely we limit of chances of success if we decide we don't want certain players anymore because they are going through a dip in form. what sort of signal does that send out?
Given the time of the season obviously the poorer players are going to get chances to play. But in major competition the players I have listed would not be able to keep pace, in essence it was a 2nd team friendly on both sides considering the time of year. Had this game been in a qualifier you wouldn't even dream of seeing Doherty play centre-back, Harte and Maybury at full-back and to a certain extent Holland in midfield. Kerr goes on about blooding a few new players yet not one of the starting 11 last night were making their debut and with the exception of Maybury and Reid had 10 or more caps to their names. A dip in form is not three years Holland has never been up to the international game and very rarely gets involved in a match to a major extent. Gary Doherty didn't do much although he didn't have much to do, I 'd imagine if the Czechs had a full strength midfield i.e. Smicer, Rosicky, Nedved and Berger alot more would have been played to feet up front and they would have been a bit more creative with their passing but in fairness you can only play against whats put in front of you and I don't think he was tested enough. As for Harte I wasn't impressed, yet again. He was caught in possession too many times for my liking on another day he could've and should've been punished for his mistakes. Played very one dimensional every thing played up the wing to Duffs feet nothing too adventurous, nothing inside and caught out of position a number of times when the Czechs broke. Baros when he got into the right corner gave him a roasting and Harte posed no real problems for the Czech right wing(when they got into position).
Do you have anything encouraging to say at all, something that might give us some hope for the future, some crumb of comfort perhaps? Looks like we're going to be stuck in the doldrums of despair for years to come and here's me after booking flights to Switzerland & France only a couple of months ago, wish I hadn't bothered now.
It's hardly the death of Irish soccer as we know it that a few players recently haven't been up to the pace but such is life, people come-people go! Kerr should be taking these friendlies if not to his best XI to the players with little international experience like Miller, Douglas, Reid, Delap and Alan Lee. These are gnna be the players for the next few years and possibly, hopefully, the world cup squad so he should use this opportunity to "break them in". Instead of wheeling out the same old players who just aren't up to standard and trying to be their buddy and ressurect a career slowly tipping over the cliff. Sure Kerr has been hailed as the god of Irish Youth Soccer yet is still reluctant to give these players a chance to shine when they clearly are doing for their clubs some better than the old hacks he continues to reel out.