Bring Delap in as throw in coach and we might entice his young lad to declare for us. Win win
We need to get some German manager in, go back to long ball, call it geggenpressing and thatāll get the OTBNG+ crowd on board.
Obamidele would make a great DCM btw. I think itāll be his position once someone figures it out
Some nordie u17 is gone to West Hamā¦ Kelly. Can we pinch him? We need to go back stealing nordies.
We generally get the pick of the Northern Catholics, bar the Tyrone lads who are loyal to the Queen.
Except the ones who play for Liverpool
To be fair the likes of Stephen Cox and Paul Green were starting back in 2012. The core of Keane, Duff, Given, Oā Shea and Dunne were past their peak by then and Kevin Doyleās goals were starting to dry up. Still a far better group than today of course but not as strong as some would believe. Our big controversy at the time was Kevin Foley being left out of the 23.
When men were men
Adaramola is Palace left back. Has played FA Cup for Palace. Vieira speaks highly of him. Surely worth a punt. Stevens cant move.
We have a mediocre playing pool, at best, but a good manager would certainly be getting a lot more out of that group than Kenny is.
Iām bored saying it here but there has been far too much talk about the improved brand of football we are/were playing under his watch. I havenāt seen that at all. Weāve been slow and predictable and lacking any sort of attacking identity. Limited teams have found us simple to defend against. Any team can keep the ball around their defence, especially if they start with 3 centre backs. But that sort of possession is dull and far less appealing than a more direct style.
You can make cases for lots of different players in place of those who are currently in the squad but itās almost impossible to justify the selections because there is no coherent gameplan to build a team around. A left sided centre back would make a difference on the ball if we stick to that formation but then that reinforces the problems we have in the middle where we donāt have any way of linking the play from the defenders to our isolated attackers.
We wonāt move the ball quickly with Duffy at the back. Heās just not capable of it. We want to play a possession based game but we have 3 centre backs who are slow on the ball and a full back who canāt really cope either. Duffy is our biggest goal threat still (in our modern possession football) so shouldnāt necessarily be removed but then you need to adapt the tactics to accommodate his shortcomings.
Every manager has their favourites (and certainly Trap, MON and Mick had players they were (frustratingly) loyal to. But Kenny is loyal to players that donāt seem to
suit the system or donāt seem to be making a huge effort. The squad and team selections are an odd blend of reflecting club appearances for some and others get to keep their place because they have the jersey currently and club games donāt matter.
I donāt really have a point here other than to say this team donāt seem to have much of a point to them at all. Itās hard to think we could be any worse under virtually any other manager we could give the job to.
At the moment there is no guile and no athleticism
Iād be open to a 3 in the midfield with the two lads and Knight
We were so confident going into that Euro 2012, tāwas unreal.
Croatia no problem, Italy easy, draw against Spain to top the Group
Jack Charltonās son would do better than Stephen Kenny.
The Kenny fantasists love pointing out that we have a squad full of League 1 players. We certainly donāt have any stars akin to Bale for Wales but the vast majority of our squad are still at least championship. Stevens and Egan were much maligned last night but were a penalty shootout away from potentially being back in the Prem. Doherty, Coleman, Duffy and Collins all played Premier League football this season out of our defensive options. Callum Robinson and Michael Obafemi are decent championship forwards. Itās barely 12 months ago that CR7 scored a brace against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Knight and Ebosele very promising championship regulars from this season. Gav Baz premier league bound this summer.
Slim pickings compared to previous generations but still eminently capable of beating the minnows and sneaking the occasional draw against better quality opposition. Weāre not even reaching par under Stephen Kenny.
We have a very good goalkeeper, good depth of no nonsense centre halves and a bit of pace up top. Those are your strengths and you build around them. It doesnāt have to be hoofball up to a battering ram but we should certainly looking to be a solid side without the ball who can soak up pressure and break at pace on the counter and occasionally look to press up the field.
There seems to be a debate on twitter and from the journalists that it is either what we have at the moment or back to caveman football. But why canāt we find a style in the middle which actually plays to our strengths and the players we have. The likes of Lennon and Hughton would probably improve things but not by much and would both be fairly suboptimal appointments as well.
Davy Fitz is available
When weāve played similar in the past we usually couldnāt link it through midfield to attack. Knight looks to have some bit of football and at least shows for it but his cowardly actions last night put a black mark on himā¦ We sit deep we donāt have the players to play it out other than a hoof. We try play expansive football and itās too laboured and predictable. We need a few grannies to step up here and produce a long lost Irish passport so we can get an influx of players.
If Knight had two lads who could get around the pitch playing midfield with him, it would help him immensely. He is well regarded and will get a decent move this summer probably.
I think he might have been trying to roll the Ukranian lad in that instance last night, but the Ukrainian read his intentions and nipped in. He needs to do the simple stuff first and hopefully he learns.
I wouldnāt hold being kicked out of Southampton against Obafemi. Ivan Toney, Pukki and plenty others had to drop levels to get back.
Fair enough. Lets hope he turns out to be more shane long than aaron connolly.