Turkey vs ROI-- 23rd March

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   Going to be another long year of mainly drudgery by the looks of things. While you can't read too much in to a friendly result, or performance for that matter, the Turkey game was a continuation of 2017, our decent on occasion form under MON in 2016 seems like a long time ago. 
Can't add a lot to posts by Mac, Moleman, O'Shea & PM, among others, who have covered the issues very well. One of the scary things is that Rice looked better as an attacking midfielder than those who were picked to play there, and that isn't even his job. It is very early to make calls on the likes of Browne & Hourihane, but they have the look of squad men rather than 1st 11 men already. 

Even at 19, Rice will likely end up being our main man in midfield for the next few years, it might not even turn out to be his best position in the long term, but he'll end up there as it is the area we need him most/are weakest in. One of the most frustrating things was seeing McClean moved centrally after Horgan & Doherty were introduced, I have no idea how many times this has been tried now, and it has failed every single time. It will continue to fail every single time too, as it only serves to further expose his limitations as a footballer. He is a decent left winger, but it is literally the only position he is effective in (he isn't a left wing back any more than he is a centre forward) and how MON hasn't figured that much out at this stage is both worrying & well beyond my understanding. 

The 3-5-2, who knows. It could work V some teams in theory, but if we continue to carry passengers centrally like we did the other night, and continue to ask McClean to play in places well beyond his capabilities, it won't really matter. The lack of keeping the ball in midfield meant Maguire & Hogan were more or less redundant, and they got so little ball in the final third that it effectively meant we were wasting a 2nd body up there, one of them (Hogan was the more effective on the night) would have done.

MON made the point in the week that he doesn't see his job as a coach due to time limitations with the players, and questioned how much improving that a fella of 24/25/26 is going to make in a few days with the international squad, but nearly anyone can see we are a team crying out to be coached and have a defined style of play that doesn't involve Duffy booting it to either the opposition or one of the stands at every opportunity. That ''anyone'' doesn't include MON, Roy, Walford or Guppy though, and that looks like it's going to be a major issue until results & performances continue to prove they are collectively on the wrong track with this team. 