SQUAD Greece (A) - Gibralter (H) June 2023

The O'Shea wrote: Banjaxed wrote: Neil Farrugia. Hmmm. His inclusion tells me Kenny's internal loyalty to what a player could/can be gets the better of him. Had been constantly doing it with Ireland squads. Needs to lose his romantic/idealistic side of how he sees players and be more cutthroat. Farrugia is a classy player, he's probably the player in the LOI with the best mix of skill and physical attributes to make it at a high level. I had a feeling Kenny would include him, he's a big fan of his.

You Tell Me wrote: Interesting squad and good to see the likes of Cannon and McNamara in there. Mark McGuinness is a surprising omission though and I hope it's not a case that he turned down a call up or anything like that. Obviously we have a lot of centre backs, but his ceiling is absolutely miles above Sean McLoughlin's. Interesting also that he's bringing over two keepers from Ireland to make up the numbers rather than digging any deeper into the GK pool in England (e.g. Jack Bonham at Stoke). But to be fair, after the three regular keepers and O'Leary, there's a big drop off in quality anyway.

Doubt he was called up and don't think he'd turn down a call up. Especially just for a training squad. His only other possible option is NI and think it's too early in his career before he'd consider them.

Interesting that Omobamidele wasn't named and think maybe with Lenihan he's probably letting him get a rest in since his season only finished last night.

Disappointed not to see Azaz or Coventry named in the squad. Two midfielders we should be looking closer at and hoping they can start breaking through next season.

Just see Omobamidele is injured.

Edited by J89 - 18 May 2023 at 10:04am

I would say it's a bit strange we didn't just name say, a 30 man squad to get a look at everyone. Guys like McGuinness, Coventry, Azaz, Szmodics and Mandroiu are very unlucky not to be included. Bonham can count himself unlucky to be behind Talbot and Maher as well, he's playing at a higher level and tbh is just a better keeper. A bigger squad might also have afforded us the chance to cast an eye over more fringe younger players like Armstrong and Vaughan, but what can you do.

Banjaxed wrote: The O'Shea wrote: Banjaxed wrote: Neil Farrugia. Hmmm. His inclusion tells me Kenny's internal loyalty to what a player could/can be gets the better of him. Had been constantly doing it with Ireland squads. Needs to lose his romantic/idealistic side of how he sees players and be more cutthroat. Farrugia is a classy player, he's probably the player in the LOI with the best mix of skill and physical attributes to make it at a high level. I had a feeling Kenny would include him, he's a big fan of his. I'm saying this from the perspective of watching him a lot. Kenny still sees the player of the under 21's. The potential. I get that. Loyalty is an admiral trait to have, but there is a tipping point, and Kenny I feel is blinded by loyalty at times.  Neil has some petty decent performances this season. I get Kenny calling him up, absolutely. I just didn't see an Ireland call up. Once again, another samey player in the forward line, who is no improvement (if that) on what we have.

The O'Shea wrote: Banjaxed wrote: Neil Farrugia. Hmmm. His inclusion tells me Kenny's internal loyalty to what a player could/can be gets the better of him. Had been constantly doing it with Ireland squads. Needs to lose his romantic/idealistic side of how he sees players and be more cutthroat. Farrugia is a classy player, he's probably the player in the LOI with the best mix of skill and physical attributes to make it at a high level. I had a feeling Kenny would include him, he's a big fan of his.

Azaz should have been looked at.

Azaz,Omobamidele,Connell,Coventry all notable omissions?

Fruice wrote: Azaz should have been looked at. Especially in this type of a meet up nothing to lose

I think he's struggled for fitness towards the tail end of this season. He's probably being given the summer to recover now.

J89 wrote: kevin100 wrote: Azaz,Omobamidele,Connell,Coventry all notable omissions? What is the story with Omobamidele? With rumours of a transfer is that his focus over the next week or two? Fair enough if it is. Also the lack of urgency to bring in fresh faces into the midfield places compared to other areas on the pitch has been a bit disappointing particularly now we have a few playing well and making progress like Connell and Coventry.  Also no disrespect to McLoughlin who is an honest pro no doubt but with the CB options we have it would be absolutely ridiculous having him on the pitch as anything other then 9th choice. Omobamidele is injured and Connell is still involved in the play offs.