John Egan |
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Banjaxed
Liam Brady Joined: 21 Feb 2014 Status: Offline Points: 2965 |
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Clark will surely start. With egan now out it seems highly unlikely that Kenny would axe Duffy from the centre-back pairing. Getting less optimistic by the day given the players available to us (and the form of those players)
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Fozz
Liam Brady Joined: 08 Oct 2019 Location: Dublin Status: Offline Points: 2248 |
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Yep, Duffy/Clark would seem the obvious choice.
A ballsy choice would be to star Clark/O'Shea but I fear Kenny's Achilles could be his over-reliance on players who are in poor form - we shall see what midfield trio he picks which will tell us a lot about that too. |
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Banjaxed
Liam Brady Joined: 21 Feb 2014 Status: Offline Points: 2965 |
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Agree on the ballsy choice. Would say that his midfield choice will be the defining choice he makes though. Kenny must be acutely aware that a loss to Serbia in game 1 puts us in a terrible up hill battle. The traditionally pragmatic choice of starting the likes of Duffy Hendrick McCarthy in a "tough away game", I feel will unfortunately definitely not lead to a win, and everything just points to a loss. So many regulars in poor form and certain players just not suited to the system means the idea of playing "safe" options might be anything but.
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DalyerRegular
500 Club la la la Joined: 15 Mar 2015 Location: Ireland Status: Offline Points: 680 |
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Recall for Keogh?
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Nialler
Liam Brady Joined: 20 Aug 2019 Status: Offline Points: 1490 |
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Would be my inclination. It is a world cup qualifier away from home. I would be less inclined to take risks in defence. Him and Clark would be the smartest play. But I am pretty sure it will be Duffy and Clark.
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Hotlips_Hoolahan
Jack Charlton Joined: 04 Aug 2020 Status: Offline Points: 6615 |
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Huddersfield are in awful form ATM and Keogh would be part of the reason for that. Their defense is ramshackle stuff. I'd have Clark, Long, O'Shea and Duffy ahead of him. Lenihan if we were in a pinch. We need to get away from this business of calling up players of that age anyways once they've been phased out of the side [whether for on the pitch or off the pitch reasons]. Similarly, bringing Whelan back hurt us in the last campaign, and I think bringing McGeady back in this campaign would just make us even more ponderous and slow in the final third.
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Banjaxed
Liam Brady Joined: 21 Feb 2014 Status: Offline Points: 2965 |
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The thing is under this new management, what's considered more of a risk? Duffy has all the experience leadership qualities needed for a game like this, but he is incompatible with how Kenny wants to play. (leaving aside his shocking club form) Dara O'Shea for example obviously lacks the necessary experience but has the qualities that Kenny would desire in a centre-back. If O'Shea had Clark next to him I would have no issues as I think Clark is more than experienced. I think the old way of reasoning under the previous 3 managers made sense when it came to choosing certain players. But we can no longer trot out the old "experience" line if they fundamentally don't suit the system. All the experience in the world isn't going to make a difference if you struggle to hold onto the ball for more than a few of seconds without losing it or lump it up the field in a panic (usually because another "experienced" midfielder isn't helping you out looking for the ball). There is a slight chance that we can make Duffy work, but it's only going to happen if we have a sitting midfielder who is constantly going to come looking for the ball and always be an outlet for Duffy and the other central defender. If you isolate Duffy and leave him on his own you reap the consequences. |
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Left foot
Ray Houghton Joined: 16 Aug 2019 Location: London Status: Offline Points: 0 |
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Surely a back four of the below is our strongest available lineup? Coleman Long Clarke Stevens Midfield should see two holding players for the Serbia game. I would hope for mccarthy and cullen but probably unlikely
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horsebox
Robbie Keane Born n bred in darndale. Joined: 03 Feb 2010 Location: Ireland Status: Offline Points: 34859 |
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I can't see Clark playing the Serbia game.
The way things stand at the moment, It will be Duffy and O'Shea with Stevens at left back. |
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It was far across the sea,
When the devil got a hold of me, He wouldn't set me free, So he kept me soul for ransom. na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na. I'm a sailor man from Glasgow to |
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Banjaxed
Liam Brady Joined: 21 Feb 2014 Status: Offline Points: 2965 |
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I'd agree about Cullen. but if you're gonna be playing two holding midfielders your advance midfielder would want to be Wes hoolahan in his pomp. Whoever is playing the advanced role is gonna have to do an awful lot of creative work and an awful lot of pulling of the strings in midfield. I don't see that one player who has that ability to do it themselves. I think we just have to go at 1 sitter and 2 in front... Cullen (sitter) Knight (box to box energy) Hourihane (advanced) ... Maybe Browne. But remain unconvinced. Bottom line we need somebody more creative than either of those two. It's the same old issue with Ireland, we're just lacking that consistent creative force in the final third.
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Nialler
Liam Brady Joined: 20 Aug 2019 Status: Offline Points: 1490 |
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I would be happy enough with that. I think Since Coleman has been playing further forward for Everton on occasion now and doing really well when I have seen him we should play him there for Ireland. Right midfield is our weakest position and I like the idea of Connolly playing higher wide left on the other side and getting him on the ball as much as possible. We are shocking playing through the middle and I think focusing most of our play out wide and getting it there fast would serve us well with the ball. Hendrick, Hourihane Brady etc are actually ok in the final third in and around the box they just don't know how to get it there
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Nialler
Liam Brady Joined: 20 Aug 2019 Status: Offline Points: 1490 |
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I think Duffy is a big risk. His head is gone like
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Fozz
Liam Brady Joined: 08 Oct 2019 Location: Dublin Status: Offline Points: 2248 |
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A bit like how Covid is gonna get worse in late March and April and then improve a lot for Summer, Ireland could be in a major doldrum in March and...er....improve after Summer?
I expect a loss in Belgrade and a win home to Lux. Then the home match v Serbia is huge, but we could be beyond 2nd place by the time that swings around. Could be a blessing we then have no matches until the new season. |
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Banjaxed
Liam Brady Joined: 21 Feb 2014 Status: Offline Points: 2965 |
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the thing is even if you're being optimistic it's not like we've had the same exact first 11 for last 8 games and they'll eventually click next month.
next month looks like a another mishmash of players who probably haven't played with each other. The only thing you can possibly hope for is that Kenny puts out a team that clicks not out of design, but purely based on the players he has available. His luck may turn purely by necessity to start certain players.
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Donegalman
Liam Brady Joined: 16 Jun 2015 Location: Donegal Status: Offline Points: 1650 |
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We had as close to a full team against Slovakia with the exceptions of Connolly, Idah and Coleman who all could start in Serbia. That was the best performance under Kenny so far. The camp was then terrible hit by Covid and we had something like 13 players not involved for the Wales game 3 days later and I’m sure most would agree we absolutely deserved the draw having been the better team and were pushing for a winner until McClean got sent off. Serbia hadn’t even a manager a few days ago, possibly still don’t, so for all the doom and gloom there is surrounding the team neither us or Serbia are in great places. It’s international football after all the team can only click to a certain extent with the lack of time a manager has to prepare the squad before games. Realistically our team is at a level where there’s not a huge difference if we have 1/2 starters missing. Would Clark for Egan, Coleman for Doherty, Knight for Molumby make a huge difference? Probably not really. The nature of international football with players going back to there clubs for a few months at a time much can change.
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ripbomb
500 Club la la la Joined: 13 May 2012 Status: Offline Points: 668 |
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[QUOTE=horsebox]I can't see Clark playing the Serbia game.
The way things stand at the moment, It will be Duffy and O'Shea with Stevens at left back. |
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horsebox
Robbie Keane Born n bred in darndale. Joined: 03 Feb 2010 Location: Ireland Status: Offline Points: 34859 |
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Possibly - But he wasn't available for Kenny's 8 games. So he's down the pecking order and we have a lot of cover in this area. And he's just as liable to make a game changing mistake as any of the others. I'd more worried about our midfield and forward selection. |
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It was far across the sea,
When the devil got a hold of me, He wouldn't set me free, So he kept me soul for ransom. na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na. I'm a sailor man from Glasgow to |
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irishmufc
Robbie Keane I love Vulvas Joined: 09 Aug 2011 Location: Dublin Status: Offline Points: 25085 |
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Was just gonna make this point. It's the one area of the pitch that we are relatively strong in squad wise. Egan is one of our best defenders so he's still a loss all the same.
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Wings? They're only the band The Beatles could have been.
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