Martin O'Neill...

And neither have you. You listed clubs and said they are of a similar level! If you want me to respond, make an argument.

Our players are technically poor, our best player is a right-back and we relied on a player whose second touch is often a tackle, to get to a playoff. There is a huge problem with accepting reality on here.

MON should have gone after the Denmark embarrassment, but if you think we are going to improve ten-fold by appointing another manager you will be sorely disappointed.

Sweden are adding European under 21 champions to their ranks, we are adding journeymen with little more than heart.

Absolutely correct. The "we just don't have players" argument that gets trotted our here on the regular wrecks my head. So much can be achieved in modern international football by having an ethos/defined style of play and working hard at perfecting that style, no matter what it is. For the past 18 months our players simply look like they don't know what they're supposed to be doing out there. The buck stops with O'Neill. 

It's tiresome listing through players from other nations and matching them to ours but as a little example Knudsen (ipswich), Dalsgaard (Brentford) and Braithwaite (couldn't make it at Boro) helped to take Croatia to pens on Sunday. 

PM loves Martin 

Happens every WC.

I think the penny would drop if we could clone Marouane Fellaini 10 times, give out 10 Irish passports, play all of them in front of Darren Randolph, and finally wonder why we have 20% possession against Georgia when all of our players play for Manchester United.

The problem arises when you try to build a team of players from that. Obviously as an international team we can't go out and buy players to build a balanced side and lots of international teams are unbalanced. But our players for the most part fulfil a defined role at their clubs which is more often than not that they are recruited for their work rate, pace, physical strength or defensive attributes - meaning it doesn't matter if our players play in the Premier League or wherever else, in terms of figuring out how good they will actually all perform for us when put together. In our strongest squad, there are very very few players who would be considered technically of a very high standard, particularly in midfield where it is most sorely needed. Two who would be of that quality (Brady and Hendrick) have not performed for us since 2016. One (Hourihane) has looked awful in the games he has played so far, though that isn't to say he can't turn it around.

It's telling that Declan Rice has been such a revelation for us for the simple fact that he is comfortable in possession, can pick a smart pass, and remains composed. He is a 19 year old centre half coming off his first full season of professional football that we are playing in midfield and looks set to be a key player in the Nations League because of the fact that we don't have anyone else who can do this. 

 

You talk a lot of sense.

This is very accurate.