Should we give up football?

In fairness, last season there was enough movement, and players starting at various places to make it look like we actually had a decent enough squad. Nothing spectacular, but functional. The problem is that the big moves players enjoyed (Doherty, Duffy, Hendrick) all proved to be disappointments. Players like Obafemi finished 2019/2020 in good form and fell out of favour. Sheffield United's form plummeted (bringing with them Stevens, McGoldrick and Egan). Troy Parrott had a shot at the Championship that didnt go well. Alan Browne is still stuck in the Championship. Hourihane started last season in Villa's team only to lose out to Barkley. Harry Arter is not playing at Forest, and hasn't for age. Molumby's spell at Preston wasnt nearly as good as his spell at Millwall. Long scored a few at Bournemouth and then disappeared. We can now through Randolph into the mix as he has fallen into the slot at West Ham that is effectively a training ground keeper. The list goes on. We can now add to this Brady being unattached, Robinson and O'Shea dropping a division (not necessarily the worst thing), Horgan and McClean dropping into League 1.

I think Kenny can put out a decent defensive unit for these games but getting the ball to midfield will be a struggle, who's going to hold possession for us... 

horsebox wrote: The minute Kenny names his team, people will be on having a pop. X shouldn't be playing and Y hasn't done anything etc..

Some fans think it's ridiculous that Kenny hasn't gotten us competing for 2nd place and a play off 

horsebox wrote: The bigger picture is the game on Saturday and then Tuesday. The likely hood of us getting a result against Portugal away from home is very remote, it's damage limitation. Kenny has learned (the hard way) that the players can't play back to back games. So I would expect wholesale changes for the game  - I wouldn't be surprised to see the likes on Hendrick, McClean and even Hourihane playing against Portugal and then being rotated against Azerbaijan.  If some of those players DO start, people will be giving out. It's very difficult to call to be fair.

kevin100 wrote:   Silva was 50m correct? Doherty is our most expensive player 15m it would definitely be close anyways. O'Shea and Robinson would cost a few quid out of West Brom both may individually cost double figures beyond that god knows!  100%.

kevin100 wrote: I think the middle ground point is a good one! I like Cullen think he's decent will continue to improve and Browne has been okay but my hope for example is between Kilkenny  Knight Molumby Johansson Coventry Taylor Smallbone Doyle Hayes Noss Moran and other lads you can name plenty promising young players we will be having a conversation in 3 years time that 3 of the above named are ahead of them in the starting line up/better players.  We just have very few senior players of note Coleman Doherty Egan Duffy Clark Cullen Robinson approaching senior status beyond that I hope in 2 years time the squad is filled with younger players coming up and improving. That's unfortunately the issue here.

Het-field wrote: kevin100 wrote: I think the middle ground point is a good one! I like Cullen think he's decent will continue to improve and Browne has been okay but my hope for example is between Kilkenny  Knight Molumby Johansson Coventry Taylor Smallbone Doyle Hayes Noss Moran and other lads you can name plenty promising young players we will be having a conversation in 3 years time that 3 of the above named are ahead of them in the starting line up/better players.  We just have very few senior players of note Coleman Doherty Egan Duffy Clark Cullen Robinson approaching senior status beyond that I hope in 2 years time the squad is filled with younger players coming up and improving. That's unfortunately the issue here.  And the difficult thing is, when you thing about our historic middle ground, while it might not have been a group of world beaters, it was lads who could compete on an international stage. They could enter the fray and do a job. I think of lads like Alan McLoughlin (RIP), David Kelly, Jason McAteer, Lee Carsley, Mark Kennedy, Alan Kernaghan, David Connolly, Eddie McGoldrick, Jeff Kenna. I could even think of lads like Tony Cascarino whose most prominent  campaign came at the age of 34/35 when he scored 7 goals as we tried to qualify for France 98. A strong middle ground keeps you competitive. It walls you off from injury and loss of form, when you can diversify your squad like that. All the lads I mentioned above I can think of key contributions made during their time in an Irish jersey. And when qualifying for Japan and Korea we had some excellent players, surrounded by a critical mass of top middle ground players that navigated a really tough group. Now I just feel that our 'tried and trusted' are in truth what would historically comprise the middle ground, and more than a few of those who occupy the space now wouldn't be considered for a call up, historically. Totally agree with your two year timeline, as that will give a chance to bridge the gap.

 

problem no1 with a majority of our lads is they have given up playing. Hanging around at medium sized English clubs hoping for a game every two weeks.