Is it just me, or are we getting worse? Reading going down is a big blow, means we have only 5 players likely to be 30+ game players in the Premiership. McGeady is the only one guaranteed Champions League action, as Keanes place is open to dispute.
What ye reckon is our strongest team for the Georgia game, and the greater tests that lie ahead?
Squad: Given (Newcastle), Kiely (West Brom), Bruce (Ipswich), Delaney (QPR), Dunne (Manchester City), Finnan (Liverpool), Foley (Wolves), Kilbane (Wigan), J O’Brien (Bolton), O’Shea (Manchester United), Duff (Newcastle), Hunt (Reading), McGeady (Celtic), Miller (Sunderland), A Reid (Sunderland), S Reid (Blackburn), Whelan (Stoke), Doyle (Reading), Keane (Liverpool), Keogh (Wolves), Long (Reading), Murphy (Sunderland).
Is Carsley retired or what? He could still have a role to play. I’ve been advocating 4-3-3 for Ireland for a while to allow us to get bodies in central midfield. The amount of teams with basic technique who keep the ball away from us for the majority of games by simply playing around our midfield 2 while possession starved wingers stand out on the wing has been a bit of an annoyance for me. It looks like they’re going to invest some responsibility in O’Shea and play him in the centre. If we had two holding midfield players in the middle accompanied by someone with creativity and more licence to get forward like Ireland or A Reid and then a front three of Duff, Keane and McGeady then that would be a decent side in my opinion. Obviously Duff and McGeady as wide attackers would drop back into midfield when we don’t have the ball to make a 4-5-1. There is also the potential to be fluid with players switching wings etc. Something like this:
Given,
Finnan, O’Shea, Dunne, Kilbane,
S Reid, Carsley, Ireland / A Reid,
McGeady, Keane, Duff.
[quote=“Bandage”]Is Carsley retired or what? He could still have a role to play. I’ve been advocating 4-3-3 for Ireland for a while to allow us to get bodies in central midfield. The amount of teams with basic technique who keep the ball away from us for the majority of games by simply playing around our midfield 2 while possession starved wingers stand out on the wing has been a bit of an annoyance for me. It looks like they’re going to invest some responsibility in O’Shea and play him in the centre. If we had two holding midfield players in the middle accompanied by someone with creativity and more licence to get forward like Ireland or A Reid and then a front three of Duff, Keane and McGeady then that would be a decent side in my opinion. Obviously Duff and McGeady as wide attackers would drop back into midfield when we don’t have the ball to make a 4-5-1. There is also the potential to be fluid with players switching wings etc. Something like this:
Given,
Finnan, O’Shea, Dunne, Kilbane,
S Reid, Carsley, Ireland / A Reid,
McGeady, Keane, Duff.[/quote]
Stephen Ireland has said he is “not ready to return to the squad yet”…while it was ok for a 33 year old roy keane to pick and choose his international matches, thus little toe rag needs the shit kicked out of him pronto…
Actually, does he qualify for the “greatest cunt in Ireland thread” coz he’s in top 5 no problem
The only saving grace about our group is that it is fairly even as bulgaria are no great shakes while italy will be somewhat in transition…a lot of tough away games but if we are solid away from home and get a few 1 nil wins or 0-0 draws on the road and then we should finish in the top two…would have liked to have seen the likes of owen garvan in the squad…
[quote=“myboyblue”]Carso is injured after the weekend.
Its a pathetic outfit there but with a decent system and discipline we should be more than competitive.[/quote]
That’s the key point. It’s an average enough squad with probably 4 or 5 good players in there. But with good organisation and players committed to the gameplan and system and who know their specific roles inside out then we can make ourselves hard to beat at a minimum and challenge for qualification if all goes well. Even though being organised and set up well tactically would seem like a basic prerequisite for success, it was something well beyond the previous shambolic regime. I still have my doubts about Trap mind you.