As a break from the political wranglings and ineptitudes of the golden triangle in merrion square (although i was annoyed to read that eircom are pulling/reducing the sponsorship of the national league and national teams partly because of all the bad pubicity of late) we should look to the upcoming scotland game. based on current form and allowing for the usual pre-friendly 'injuries', my team would be 4-5-1 Formation I'm very happy with the defense although I'd prefer a natural left back. our midfield give us fast attacking options from reid and partridge with overlapping support from carr and finnan. kilbane's resurgence has won me over for 1 more chance with healy and delap providing the chasing and passing. keane doing what he does best but no place for morrison. Given Carr , O'Shea, Dunne, Finnan Reid, Kilbane, Healy, Delap, Partridge Keane, (I know I'm going to be attacked for my non-inclusion of morrison, but hey! it's MY team)
I can see what your doing...the selection of players is fine bar giving KK another chance...only thing is that Keane wont be in the box...he plays as deep as any of those midfielders....the outcome being balls in the box with no one there...(a la spurs at the mo)....we need some physical presence up front - other than clint who have we got? closey
fair comment, but i saw keane restraining his floating role to the front third of the pitch, having 5 men in the middle will negate the need for him to drop back to get more of the ball - as he does at spurs. i was looking to delap in particular to provide the physical presence when we attack with kilbane providing defensive cover and healy biting everyone's ankles in the middle. IMHO, i think shoring up the midfield is of greater importance than playing two men up front - especially when morrison is prone lapses in concentration, thereby rendering him ineffective for large tracts of the game. we always manage to eek out a goal from somewhere and i think it's important not to loose against scotland bearing in mind our current situation (on and off the field). i would like to see kilbane get at least 45mins in the middle for ireland - we need to know our options if roy doesn't come back.
Again I find it hard to see why Healy merits a place in the starting line up. I am hoping that his immpending move to Leeds or Everton will allow him to become a regular in the Irish side, but at the moment he isn't playing. I know there will be a lot of substitutions made in Scotland, but I still wouldn't start him. Bring him on in the second half. With Holland's improved form, albeit at Division 1 level, he should be given the opportunity to make up for 2 woeful performances in the Euro qualifiers. We should start with our strongest possible side. With Duffer out, I too would be all in favour of giving Ritchie Partridge a shot on the wing. Robbie does need someone to play off and maybe it would be good for Morrison's failing confidence to get the nod on for this game. He does have the quality, he has played well for us ... I just hope his mammy stays home! Gary Breen certainly did himself no favours yesterday, so a center half pairing of O'Shea and Dunne would be interesting alright.
Holland is playing much better of late, but in fairness, Lee Carsley probably deserves a starting place ahead of everyone mentioned for the middle already. A certain amount of experimentation is required, but crucially we have to find the side that we will bring to the next 2 qualifiers. All is not lost yet, and I still believe we can win in Switzerland and at home to Russia - they are not that good! At the back O'Shea & Dunne would indeed be an interesting partnership, but don't rule out Andy O'Brien completely, while Kenny Cunningham still has something to offer. Gary Breen can be retired peacefully!
ok, but of the other options - kinsella, holland and carsely - only carsley is playing relatively well and when he has played for ireland in the past he's been somewhat lightweight. i'll have to take your word on holland getting better but his last few games for ireland have been absolute shockers - likewise kinsella. we need at least one creative box-to-box midfielder a-la roy. i think healy has the potential to become an great ireland player and while he doesn't feature for celtic, the fact that he can get a game for ireland (and play VERY well) says something for the guy. regular football - in a better league - will only make him better. i can think of no better showcase of his talents than a game against scotland where he can shown celtic exactly what they're loosing. there will be no other irish player more fired up than colin on feb 12th.
4-4-2 for me Morrison, Keane, Partridge, Delap, Carsley/Healy, Reid, Finnan, O'Shea, Cunningham, Carr, Kiely. I don't think Keane can play as a lone striker at all, also Kiely deserves more caps then he has, Given would still be number one but Kiely deserves chances. If Keane does return, the best idea would just be a token gesture of subbing him on in the last 10 minutes to give him another cap and to ease him back gently. Delap deserves a full 90 minutes, Carsley does too but Healy would love to prove it against Scotland I'd imagine so it's a straight toss up between those two, otherwise the rest picks itself really.
Have you listened to a single word Keane has said over the last few months or are you just determined to drive him into the looney bin altogether. I'd love to be in the dressing room when a supposedly underqualified Brian Kerr takes him aside and says "Roy, good man, thanks for coming to this friendly game. Now I'm not going to make you the captain for today or even play you from the start, but I'll bring you on for the last 10 minutes to give you another cap for your collection and ease you into things. I am very serious about this managerial thing mind". If it's industrial style language you're looking for, you'll get it in abundance then!
Would this be your first choice for the forthcoming 'must win' fixtures in Albania/Georgia? This looks like an exciting youthful side, however in Tirana/Tiblisi when nothing less than 6 points will do, would you have an entire midfiled with caps, probably short of double figures in total, along with Oshea partnering Cunnuingham for (im assuming) the first time. Experience is not to be underestimated, and I while I agree that all of these youngsters/fringe players deserve a chance, Im not sure it should be in the same game at once. All of the above is irrelavent if you would pick a different team for Alb/Geo!!! Jnr
Only for the Scotland match, for one Duff should hopefully be back "Have you listened to a single word Keane has said over the last few months or are you just determined to drive him into the looney bin altogether. I'd love to be in the dressing room when a supposedly underqualified Brian Kerr takes him aside and says "Roy, good man, thanks for coming to this friendly game. Now I'm not going to make you the captain for today or even play you from the start, but I'll bring you on for the last 10 minutes to give you another cap for your collection and ease you into things. I am very serious about this managerial thing mind". If it's industrial style language you're looking for, you'll get it in abundance then!" Yeah cos Roy Keane always takes friendlys so seriously....
You really don't get it, do you Slash? Are you a schoolboy by any chance? Surely you can't have a job with the amount of time you spend on here. Anyone that can post in excess of 1200 messages in 9 months, on this board alone, has some serious time management issues that need sorting! Not for the first time you completely miss the point!
The point is if Keane is too come back the public will want to know if he is or not straight away and a decision will have to be made, that will involve possibley picking him for this friendly, the best way to get Man U to co operate which, like it or not, is a big factor is to promise them we will use Keane spareingly otherwise he'll pick up one of his 'injuries'. So put him in the squad, give the young guns their chance to prove themselves and bring Keane on late on so we can see him in an Ireland shirt again. Otherwise leave him out completley, there's no way he'll play the full 90 minutes that's for sure.
To keep the conversation at the current level it'd be alot like trying to explain the concept of staying on topic in a thread to a two year old, or possibley even you.
I honestly think we'll put in a preformance like we did against Denmark in the pre world cup friendly, everyone will be well up for it and there's alot of youth emerging with a point to prove. 3-0 I think, with Morrison and Keane getting on the scoresheet, one of them with a single the other with a brace and Partridge will hopefully put in a preformance like he's been doing all season for Coventry.
Do you think you're psychic or something? I don't suppose you know what minute the first goal will be scored in? On the basis of the nonsense you've been going on with here recently, particularly today, I suspect you're about 9 or 10 years of age.
wow! is it cold in here today or just me? it's a pity that personal opinions can't be expressed - whether we agree with them or not - without some people launching into personal attacks. i thought this was a DISCUSSION forum.
My team without “Emperor” Roy, and Damian Duff. Kiely Carr Cunningham Dunne O’Shea Finnan Healy Delap Reid Crowe Keane 4-3-3 with a tight midfield, The versatile ‘god’ Finnan (who has experience of playing in a central midfield role before) would play less wide than normal. Carr and Reid would provide the width on the right and Robbie and O’Shea on the left. This leaves Crowe as the out-and-out centre forward and target man. I don't know what the score will be but I do know that we will give the jocks one hell of a whopping Jonah
Re: Re: Scotland Game Heaven Forbid you offer a prediction when you were asked what you think will happen...
Lets get back to the subject.... I think Kerr will have to name is squad by the end of Wednesday because the squads are supposed to be announced 14 days before the games. I'm sure Roy will not be there, but I wonder if Crowe and/or Connolly get in...