the lad murphy that was playing left back for birmingham yesterday(scored as well)…has he any irish blood in him…we could do with a left back in the irish set up…
not sure but think he is English , the scots were talking about calling him up if they could find any links when he played for the hibees - could be wrong though
wonder what shape of a team trap will put out in the 2 friendlies…have a feeling he could play a 4-5-1 or 4-2-3-1…
given
kelly dunne a.o brien finnan
carsley j.o brien
s.reid a.reid mcgeady
keane
wouldnt be too bad of a team with the likes of doyle hunt duff ireland kilbane o shea etc in reserve…
When are the squad meeting up. McGeady’s late arrival due to late finish of the SPL may possible hamper his involvement. Murphy is English.
Vidic won’t be playin as it’ll be 3 days after the Champions League and Stankovic has pulled out as Inter will be plaing the cup final.
[quote=“The Puke”]wonder what shape of a team trap will put out in the 2 friendlies…have a feeling he could play a 4-5-1 or 4-2-3-1…
given
kelly dunne a.o brien finnan
carsley j.o brien
s.reid a.reid mcgeady
keane
wouldnt be too bad of a team with the likes of doyle hunt duff ireland kilbane o shea etc in reserve…[/quote]
That isn’t a bad team. Unfortunately A O’Brien and Finnan won’t be included and McGeady will hardly play due to Celtic commitments.
There’s plenty of scope in that team though. There’s a handy 4-5-1 if we get a lead but it’s attacking as it stands. Certainly more than capable of keeping possession. The two Reids and Carsley are all good passers of the ball. McGeady has improved at this but obviously his focus is more on running with the ball. Haven’t seen enough of Joey O’Brien in a central role to know what he’s like there but you’d imagine we’d be capable of knocking it around a bit while still offering decent defensive protection.
All in all I suppose what I’m saying is that’s a decent team that could get results.
Sheasey will probbably start. 3 Premiership medals.
I just heard that Dean Kiely has been called up to the Irish Squad!
from www.rte.ie
Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni has named his first Irish squad when he announced a panel of 28 players for a training camp in Portugal, followed by friendlies with Serbia and Colombia.
Not one of the trio of Stephen Ireland, Steve Finnan and Andy O’Brien have been named in the panel after Trapattoni held talks with them about returning to the fold, but goalkeeper Dean Kiely returns to the Republic squad after previously retiring from international football in 2003.
Trapattoni insists the door is still open for Ireland, Finnan and O’Brien and said: ‘It is now up to them to decide what to do.’
John O’Shea, Aiden McGeady, Darren O’Dea, Richard Dunne and Robbie Keane were all left out of the training squad due to their late season exertions, but will link up with the squad for the friendlies on 24 and 29 May.
Shay Given, Lee Carsley, Kevin Kilbane, Steven Reid, Darron Gibson and Joey O’Brien all miss out through injury.
Trapattoni told the official FAI website: 'Any player who is not in this squad is still in my thoughts. Some players who were not in the preliminary squad are in this squad because they have impressed and are playing in positions where we had vacancies.
'We will continue to monitor every Irish player from the start of next season and if they impress they will be brought into the squad.
‘The next two weeks are important. It is my first opportunity to work with the players and I am looking forward to it. We will have two training games in Portugal and the games against Serbia and Colombia so I will get to see all the players playing.’
The kick-off time for the Serbian clash has been moved from 7.30pm to 7.45pm at Croke Park on Saturday 24 May.
Republic of Ireland squad:
Goalkeepers: Colin Doyle, Dean Kiely, Joe Murphy.
Defenders: Alex Bruce, Damien Delaney, Richard Dunne, Kevin Foley, Stephen Kelly, Paul McShane, Darren O’Dea, John O’Shea.
Midfielders: Damien Duff, Owen Garvan, Darron Gibson, Wes Hoolahan, Stephen Hunt, Aiden McGeady, Stephen McPhail, Liam Miller, Darren Potter, Andy Reid, Martin Rowlands, Sean Scannell, Glenn Whelan.
Forwards: Kevin Doyle, Robbie Keane, Andy Keogh, Shane Long, Daryl Murphy.
You honestly rate him shan or you taking the piss? A truely awful player for Ireland over last few years.
Are you taking the piss shan? O’Shea has been a truely awful player for Ireland over last few years. Comftorbaly been our worst player and thats saying something.
I don’t think he is Duffer…
Don’t follow the Championship but apparently this Liam Lawrence guy has been banging them in for Stoke from midfield last season
[quote=“The Puke”]wonder what shape of a team trap will put out in the 2 friendlies…have a feeling he could play a 4-5-1 or 4-2-3-1…
given
kelly dunne a.o brien finnan
carsley j.o brien
s.reid a.reid mcgeady
keane
wouldnt be too bad of a team with the likes of doyle hunt duff ireland kilbane o shea etc in reserve…[/quote]
Been meaning to start a thread on this Vomit. Not really as regards the upcoming friendlies but for the qualifying campaign.
Team of the future:
Given
Foley Dunne O’Dea Kilbane
Garvan A. Reid
Duff Keane McGeady
Doyle
That looks handy to me. I’ve only seen Foley twice but he’s been excellent both times. Linked with Sunderland at the mo. Would like to see him step up. Likes to get forward too.
Garvan I’m relying on hearsay but the reports are encouraging and apparently he’s an all-rounder.
Duff and McGeady are intentionally on the wrong flanks to cut in rather than get to the byline.
Oh also, can any of the Celtic fans objectively say that O’Dea is good enough?
Impossible to say. I’d seen a fair bit of him for the reserves before he played first team and didn’t think he’d be good enough. He captained the reserves at the time (last season) which was a fair achievement for an 18/19/20 year-old but played a bit at full back where he’s hopelessly too slow.
Then he came into the first team and after a couple of scary moments settled into the role really well. He struggled a bit for a partnership with McManus at first but they got it together and from then on he was excellent. Was very good away to Milan in the CL Round of 16 last year and that mirrored his form in the league too.
Dives in an awful lot for a centre half but always seems to get to the ball. Still I think that’s something that would get him caught out at the top level. He’s been unlucky with Celtic this season - getting injured at the wrong times and having to play right back in one game at Ibrox which was hard on a guy who’s all left foot and can’t play full back anyway. I think he deserves to play more often and I’d like to see him tried alongside McManus or Caldwell because I don’t have trust in that partnership.
Steve Finnan’s reportedly coming back into the set up. Prick. No coincidence that it’s after he’s been cast aside by Liverpool. None of the players really care about international football, therefore neither do I.
[FONT=Verdana][SIZE=2] When Johnny goes marching down the wing,
O’Shea! O’Shea!
When Johnny goes marching down the wing,
O’Shea! O’Shea!
When Johnny goes marching down the wing,
The Stretford End are gonna sing…
We all know that Johnny’s gonna score[/SIZE][/FONT]
Finnan has shown total committment when playing for Ireland even though he has been treated poorly over the years. I think its great he is coming back. Carr and O’Shea have continually been selected ahead of him even though they are not up to his standard and he has been regularly asked to play out of position and has never complained.
Bit of a sweeping statement saying none of the players care about it either. Could hardly say that Keane, Dunne, Given etc don’t care. Actual fact O’Shea is the only one who strikes me as not giving a shit. Would not put Finnan in the same boat as him for sure.
Like O’Shea, I don’t think Finnan’s been much of a player for Ireland. He never accepted or grasped the leadership role I would have expected from one of our few players who’s played at a high (champions league) level. He’s been alright and no better or no worse than that in my not very humble opinion. He used international football on his way up the ladder to get his move to Liverpool and then fooked us over when he’d made his money.