Iāve never particularly rated him but if McCarthy got back to full fitness heād be our best option alongside Cullen at the base of midfield youād think.
What are the chances heāll even break into Celticās first 11 though? @Rocko @Bandage
Jaysus surely we canāt expect to build a midfield around a Jonah like McCarthy at this stage. He simply cannot be depended upon to turn up
Our midfield options are deplorable. We didnāt know how good we had it with Whelo for so long. I donāt think trying to turn centre halves into midfielders generally works either no matter how good they are on the ball
Agreed. But McCarthy has never been anything but a massive disappointment from an injury pov. Itās tough on him, but itās been soul destroying for us
Rice would be our best player as a centre mid even if hes below the level required for one of the top top countries.
Looks like Kelleher might get a start for Liverpool the weekend as FIFA are banning any players from playing who werenāt released by their clubs for internationals.
Thatās great stuff from FIFA also.
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He certainly has a chance to play the majority of games once he gets up to fitness. Not sure if his recent absence was Covid related or not - conflicting stories on that. But Celtic need him to play a large number of games because itās where there is least cover. So he shouldnāt be short on game time unless he gets injuries or his form is particularly poor.
I do wonder how much heāll be committed to Ireland though. Purely speculating but heās been dropped or overlooked a few times and if his focus is on playing games I wouldnāt be surprised if he wasnāt overly committed.
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Yeah heās never been overly committed even earlier in his career. Rumours he was going to switch to Scotland at one stage. Looked it up there and he only has 43 caps which is terrible considering heās probably been in all of the managerās ideal first 11s since after Euro 2012
Heāll get cup games this year alsoā¦ Hopefully he performs. The two boys could be battling for the no.1 for the next 10-15 yearsā¦
Just please, someone find us a forward!
Could bazunu not just flat out end kellihers international career or vice versa? Have there been any examples of players battling it out for a keeper slot and getting picked on form from game to game ala Mayo in GAA? One of them might play holding midfield
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One will surely spend a time injured at some point.
Is it not a midfielder or two weāre more stuck for?
My kingdom for a David Connolly.
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Jerzey Dudek and Chris Kirkland at Liverpool 2001-2004.
Yes and noā¦ Ideally we get someone composed that can pull the strings but weāll never get one of those nor will we play the type of football where weāll probably pass around teamsā¦ Weāll always have workhorses and runners but they can work tooā¦ Playing 5-3-2 and getting joy down the wings or breaking at paceā¦ We badly, badly need a finisher of any sort. Idah is young but will need club footballā¦ Connolly is not a finisherā¦
I think midfielders and wingers is what weāre really missing going forward. You would think one of Idah, Parrott, Obafemi or Connolly could make something of themselves, most likely Idah.
Knight is better than Molumby but they are similar style runners in midfield. Conor Coventry could be one to watch there, I think he just got a loan move to the championship and is generally very impressive for the u21s. Gavin Kilkenny as well at Bournemouth but I havenāt seen as much of him
De Gea and Lindegaard.
Ogbene could be the game change for me on the wing. Blistering pace which we badly need.
Thatās what I thought. Theyāre not really ready yet but thereās more options/potential there than there has been in a long time surely.
Iāve been really impressed by Bazunu and I predicted BEFORE last nightās game that heāll earn 100+ caps for us. Iām now revising that upwards to 150+. Heās absolutely unreal good.
Re McCarthy, @Rocko mentioned the COVID rumours. He missed the last few Celtic games and had looked rusty enough in his appearances from the bench before that. I just donāt think Ireland can rely on him. If I recall correctly, Kenny made a point of talking him up when he got the job a year ago and said heād be crucial to the team. Think he played the first game in Bulgaria and then cried off injured. Has he even played any games after that? He was also with the squad for the international window when we played England but left the squad for family reasons. I think his father might have passed away around then, although I might have that wrong. He was good in the lead up to and in Euro 2016 but hasnāt raised a gallop since then.
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