some dud from derry ahead of mcgeady :lol:
to be fair a wealth of LOI experience doesnt count for much
What is McLean like? Have only seen glimpses. Big and strong but lacking in technical ability the highlights are indicating.
Coleman must be injured at the moment. Moyes has a peculiar habit of playing players in the wrong positions but it is worrying that Tony Hibbert and Phil Neville are getting starts ahead of him at right back. Donovan will have the right wing slot sorted for the next while.
Giles and Dunphy see a player playing well once or twice and reckon he should be straight in the Irish side. When they saw Coleman playing well must have been last season.
LOI experience isn’t going to win him a call-up on its own but it’s fairly relevant in deciding how good a player McClean is. I don’t think he actually played particularly well in any game I saw him play for Derry but he was certainly earning good reviews there. It’s more the farcical situtation of Dunphy and Giles seeing a player once or twice, passing judgement, and then holding onto that view for a long time without other evidence to sway them either way. Ronaldo springs to mind as a similar case in the opposite direction.
Obviously I hope both Coleman and McClean become great players for Ireland but Coleman in particular has a lot of improving to do. I think it was only Chewy and I who stood firm on not buying into the hype when he hit the byline in 3 games in a row last year.
In fairness I do do rate Colema quite highly, he had a great attitude and drive about him, but on the few occasions I have seen him at right back he has been an absolute bomb scare and is still quite raw technique wise. As KIB says when Moyes is consistently picking Hibbert ahead of him it tells his own story. I do find it quite irksome when people keep saying that he should be thrown in at right back in the Irish team when his club manager has publically started that he needs to improve defensively before he will get a run here at club level.
There was some completely over the top reactions on here when Trap didn’t bring him on as a sub against Norway 18 months ago
[quote=“chewy louie, post: 634146”]
In fairness I do do rate Colema quite highly, he had a great attitude and drive about him, but on the few occasions I have seen him at right back he has been an absolute bomb scare and is still quite raw technique wise. As KIB says when Moyes is consistently picking Hibbert ahead of him it tells his own story. I do find it quite irksome when people keep saying that he should be thrown in at right back in the Irish team when his club manager has publically started that he needs to improve defensively before he will get a run here at club level.
There was some completely over the top reactions on here when Trap didn’t bring him on as a sub against Norway 18 months ago[/quote]
I rate him too and he’s ahead of McClean anyway in my book. But he’s not a fullback, yet anyway, and not better than Fahey or Hunt as wing cover at the moment.
Going by Trap’s way of thinking I would say the 23 will be olong the following lines
Keepers: Gievn, Westwood, Forde*
Righ backs: O’Shea, Kelly
Centre backs: Dunne, St Ledger, O’Dea, McShane*
Left Backs: Ward, Cunnigham*
Central Midfield: Whelan, Andrews, Fahey, Gibson*
Wide Midfield: Duff, McGeady, Hunt
Attackers: Keane, Doyle, Long, Walters, Cox*
The ones with the * beside there names will be the ones under pressure but the rest are nailed on barring injury
Alternates: Colin Doyle, Kevin Foley(if fit), Marc Wilson, Shane Duffy, Kevin Kilbane, Seamus Coleman, James McCarthy, James McClean, David Meyler (if he can get some more game time), Liam Lawrence Andy Keogh, Leon Best. Doubt too many others will come into the reckoning unless the likes of Steven Reid return
Coleman in particular? Would say he has done more in the EPL all the same than McLean.
I was calling for him to come into the Irish side midway through last season alright 
to be fair he was doing well, had an edge to his game. Did well against Ashley Cole and others. Felt we were in dire need of new blood in the side and he seemed a good fit. Now he is struggling to make an argument for a place in the squad. We have enough players that depend more on grunt than guile too I suppose.
[quote=“KIB man, post: 634149”]
Coleman in particular? Would say he has done more in the EPL all the same than McLean.
I was calling for him to come into the Irish side midway through last season alright to be fair he was doing well, had an edge to his game. Did well against Ashley Cole and others. Felt we were in dire need of new blood in the side and he seemed a good fit. Now he is struggling to make an argument for a place in the squad. We have enough players that depend more on grunt than guile too I suppose.[/quote]
I phrased that badly. What I mean is both will probably have to improve but McClean is a bit more of an unknown quantity. We’ve seen enough of Coleman to know improvement is required.
[quote=“chewy louie, post: 634148”]Going by Trap’s way of thinking I would say the 23 will be olong the following lines
Keepers: Gievn, Westwood, Forde*
Righ backs: O’Shea, Kelly
Centre backs: Dunne, St Ledger, O’Dea, McShane*
Left Backs: Ward, Cunnigham*
Central Midfield: Whelan, Andrews, Fahey, Gibson*
Wide Midfield: Duff, McGeady, Hunt
Attackers: Keane, Doyle, Long, Walters, Cox*
The ones with the * beside there names will be the ones under pressure but the rest are nailed on barring injury
Alternates: Colin Doyle, Kevin Foley(if fit), Marc Wilson, Shane Duffy, Kevin Kilbane, Seamus Coleman, James McCarthy, James McClean, David Meyler (if he can get some more game time), Liam Lawrence Andy Keogh, Leon Best. Doubt too many others will come into the reckoning unless the likes of Steven Reid return[/quote]
The strikers remains the most interesting area. I think Trap really trusts Cox so I think he’s nailed on. In fact the 5 of them are barring injuries IMO so maybe it’s not an intersting area at all.
I think Cox is more certain of a place in the 22 than Doyle but I think both will go.
I agree that we needed new blood but playing Coleman at right back or dropping one of either McGeady or Duff wasn’t the answer either. We badly needed it in the middle of midfield but the problem was that there were no real credible alternatives. In fairness to Ward the Russia game aside he has done well, i don’t rate him all that highly but he has put in some decent displays while the likes of Cox, Westwood Walters and O’Dea have all done well when brought in for qualifiers and are now establihed squad members, I don’t think there are too many players that you could say have been hard done by by Trap, some of them have blotted their own copy books like Reid, Stokes, Wilson etc while others just don’t suit the style of football we play and aren’t good enough for us to change the team to accomodate them like houlahan and McCarthy. I don’t think it was Trap conservatism that has kept Coleman out of the side and it has more to do with the fact that he sees McGeady, Duff and Hunt as superior players at this point in time.
Best to nip this in the bud early. It’s 23 players these days larry.
I forgot Ciaran Clark, who will also be in the mix
Clark is surely in the mix. Would love to see him play in midfield for Villa for the rest of the season. But I fear a move to left back for him at the weekend. Think Warnock has finally played himself out of the team.
As an individual Clark has far more to his game than a few of those options in midfield and defence. Think Trap could see him as a good fit too for his system but he’ll have to do well in a couple of friendlies to get into contention.
To be honest, Russia showed what a good side could do to our system. I think it would be foolish not to have players even on the bench who could change the shape of the way we play, Hoolahan the main one. But Trap won’t agree with that
I don’t see Greg Cunningham doing enough between now and the end of the season to get in the squad. I would prefer for Coleman or McCarthy to get in as midfielders and maybe rely on the versatility of the likes of O’Shea and Kelly to cover Ward.
Although Trap was definitely quoted as saying that defenders are more likely to pick up suspensions and that he’ll need adequate cover at the back. So it’s probably more likely that we’ll go 8-7-5 rather than 7-8-5 in terms of the defence, midfield, striker split.
If we do go with 8 defenders then I’d have Kelly, O’Shea, Dunne, St Ledger, O’Dea and Ward as certainties. It kind of scared me seeing McShane on chewy’s list too but he’s a real possibility given there may be 2 spots up for grabs between him, Foley, Cunningham, Wilson etc. The fact the latter two have been out of the picture for a while puts McShane in a strong position to make it. Of course, I’d still have Kilbane in the squad. Legend.
I forgot about Ciarán Clark too. He should be in the shake up for one of those remaining defensive spots.
The thing with Cunnigham is that he was a regular in the squad for a good 9 months while he was a reserve with Man City, keeping Ward out of the squad and winning 3 or 4 caps in the process so he is obviously rated by management. he had a very good spell on loan at Leicester til he broke his leg and would most definately have been involved in the squad for the past 12 months or so only for the injury. Given that he is playing week in week out for Notts Forest (although they are struggling) I think he will get recalled for the Czech match. I too would like to see Kilbane go but doubt it will happen and I would say that if it comes down to a case of Clark and Cunnigham for the second left back slot Cunnigham will get it as it is his natural position.
I also agree with regards McShane but i have the feeling he will be brought ash the 4th choice centre half, he won’t see game time but i feel that Trap would probably have more trust in him to fill a gap in the back 4 than the likes of Marc Wilson
Dont forget that McShane has captained Ireland under Trap, much and all as it will irk many, he will go.
It’s not so long ago that Dunphy and Giles were calling for the inclusion of Fabregas in the Spanish team in Euro 2008 ahead of David Silva, whom they had some disparaging things to say about despite having never seen him play. Now Giles is saying that Silva is one of the best players in the EPL.
Or saying Thomas Muller was rubbish.