We do not have the players !!!!!

Trap junior wrote: lassassinblanc wrote: Agree 100%, Mentality is a big side to winning.   I remember reading that when England went to the 2006 WC the biggest regret Sven Goran Eriksson had was not bringing a Mental coach which he says could have helped the team.   If you look at the squad England brought to that WC it was massively talented just didn't work together.   Even look at our teams that went to the WC in 90 and 94 and Euros in 88 I wouldn't have called most of those players World beaters but we set the team out to be damn hard to play against and believed that team would have to fight to beat us. Luckily we have our own mental coach. Roy Keane

FREEWHEELER wrote: We've never "had the players", save for the 88-92 group which was exceptional (players were ageing by 1994).  Since Giles however instilled some discipline and organisation into the national team when he became Manager, we've shown we have bloody good players in our team and when you use those good players with solid and honest back up, you can achieve success in terms of qualifications.    We went from being a team who always competed no matter who the opposition was, to a team knowing we needed a miracle to get even a draw against a "strong" team.     It's a convenient, lazy, catch-all phrase used by too many supposed "experts".   The more I think back on the last couple of years of Trapattoni's reign, the angrier I get.

We've reached one tournament in the past 12 years. Our last glamour victory was 12 years ago.

The theories about our players are debatable. The evidence is indisputable.

Edited by planning - 18 Nov 2013 at 7:21pm

you would rather watch Germany v spain  than your team? then SOD off

I agree to a certain extent Baldy but you have to look at where all our players play their club football in their breakthrough years. Everyone comes through the British school of football which we all know is completely flawed. 

Blue Man wrote: I agree to a certain extent Baldy but you have to look at where all our players play their club football in their breakthrough years. Everyone comes through the British school of football which we all know is completely flawed.  Every year there's an Irish schoolboy side in the latter stages of the Milk Cup at both age groups beating world renowned names on the way. I've seen unbelievable players go across the channel after these tournaments and their talent is completely stifled and therefore conform to the British game. Most are then cast on the scrapheap at 18 and then comeback and drag their heels through the League of Ireland. We have had no shortage of talented players in years gone by but "making it in England" shouldn't be the barometer.

I agree but I do not think that conflicts with my point.

I think its quite possible for someone like ruud dokter to see issues with our system and structure and try to improve it and at the same time the manager to make the most of what he has and not throw is hands up to the sky and say we don't have the players.

Acknowledging your flaws and weaknesses in your structures does not have to lead to defeatism in the short term. We can long term plan and try to improve our structures and systems and still try to be competitive in qualifying groups.

Quite a lot of cross channel movement this summer for some of the LOIs younger talents. Think they could do better than league one and two, but will be interesting to see if these boys can play their way into contention for the senior side over the next couple of years. I suppose this kind of annual exodus is a big problem when it comes to development at home.

It's not club football.

You can't get rid of the dead wood. You can only work with the players that are available to you. There's not a lot of players that are not in the squad that would improve the squad.

Anyway the dead wood that you would get rid of will probably end up being first choice for MON\RK.

horsebox wrote: It's not club football. You can't get rid of the dead wood. You can only work with the players that are available to you. There's not a lot of players that are not in the squad that would improve the squad. Anyway the dead wood that you would get rid of will probably end up being first choice for MON\RK.

Maybe so. If they do we'll be struggling to qualify for the Euros and there wont be any contract extension. We badly need our core group of players fit. The likes of Brady, O Brien, Reid, Clark could all be starting and hopefully will be the case. There are 4 players that can replace Sledge, Ward, Walters and Stokes. The latter 2 should never be considered for a start on the wing or be switched there as in stokes' case. If so you may as well drop them..

Edited by Kerrzy - 20 Nov 2013 at 6:09pm

Kerrzy you sound like my granda does when he's yapping about the non alcoholic beer my ma buys him.