Best Irish XI Going Forward

sofireland

Having watched a "weakened" team last night take on the Czechs, and play quite well getting a point where they could have had three... what do you think our best XI would be assuming we would have everyone fit.

******GIVEN******

Finnan Dunne McShane O'Shea

A Reid Carsley Kilbane Duff

Keane Doyle

Bench
Kenny, A O'Brien, Carr, Morrison, Miller, Douglas, McGeady

After last nights display, i'd play McShane over O'Brien...

It'd be interesting to see what yis think

Seaneh

What happened to Steven reid?

Sure he would be better attacking and defensivly than Kilbane?

Nalz

              Given
       
Finnan   Dunne McShane  O'Shea

Duff    S Reid  Carsley   McGeady

           Keane Doyle


[U]Bench[/U]
Kenny, A O'Brien, Kelly, Morrison, Douglas, Kilbane, A Reid, A Lee.

Id probably play Steven Reid and McGeady ahead of Kilbane and Andy Reid

sofireland

Yeah, forgot about him, d'oh!

At least we've options!

Seaneh

also, surely Alan Quinn should be on the bench?

Nalz

Seaneh wrote:

also, surely Alan Quinn should be on the bench?

ahead of Kilbane,Douglas,A Reid or Miller?

Xavi6

Trilla wrote:

ahead of Kilbane,Douglas,A Reid or Miller?

Certainly ahead of Miller. For me he offers absolutely nothing.

Nalz

Xavi6 wrote:

Certainly ahead of Miller. For me he offers absolutely nothing.

yeah maybe, but Quinn isnt that much better...probably more game and a better grafter. But didnt McShane and Kelly play well last night? McShane reminded me of Phil Babb in his glory days. Hopefully he wont end up like him!! He looks good. O Shea wasnt bad either

Xavi6

Trilla wrote:

McShane reminded me of Phil Babb in his glory days. Hopefully he wont end up like him!!

Ha ha you've gone and cursed him now. He'll be out and about town bouncing up and down on cars by the time the next game comes around!!

sofireland

The commentator gave him the kiss of death about ten minutes before Ireland conceded!

"McShane has had a fantastic debut etc" he forgot to mention "so far" maybe if he had we'd have held out for the win

Quinn is a good player, but i think with Miller playing everyweek now, it'll be good for him,hopefully he can recapture some of that form he had at celtic

Gillie

*****Given*****
Finnan McShane Dunne O'Shea
Duff Carsley Kilbane McGeady
Keane Doyle

Bench: Elliot, S. Reid, Kenny, Morrison,, Douglas, A Reid, A Lee

Not sure if I have too many subs there!

_blank_

Kilbane in central midfield is a joke.

Xavi6

Can anyone explain why Alan Lee consistently makes the squad/bench? Ok he does score a few goals in the Championship but he's useless in general. I just find it baffling.

As for Kilbane in the middle, I'd prefer a Steven Reid/Lee Carsley combination.

Gillie

I'd have Kilbane there before Steven Reid - But that's me!

loyatemu

O'Shea should be dropped - he was largely responsible for their goal and is just not reliable enough.

robz150

I think he should stick with the same team until injuries/loss of form force Staunton to change it.

zAbbo

Formation was good last night, and I'd like to see it used again, slight variation here

---

Given

---

Finnan--McShane--Dunne--Kelly

---

Carsley

---

McGeady---S.Reid

---

Duff

---

Keane

---

---

Doyle

---

4-1-3-1-1

Bench. A.Reid, O'Sheat, Douglas, Lee, Henderson

Andy Reids set piece contribution is better than anyone in the team.


Robbie Keane needs to play the role of AM/F, dropping deep when required, I'd leave Doyle in the box, and get McGeady/Duff/Keane forward as much as they can.

Andrew 83

I'd at least have Harte on the bench, probably start him.

sundula

loyatemu wrote:

O'Shea should be dropped - he was largely responsible for their goal and is just not reliable enough.

I agree a some games on the bench might be the kick in the *ole he needs. He hasnt played a decent game in ages for anyone, after seen mcshanes performance( one off fulke or not) it showed quite clearly the difference it made to have a player in a green shirt with some back bone.

cournioni

No sign of Kavanagh in any of the squads so far. He's not great but surely he's better than alot of the players in there.

Gillie

PORNAPSTER wrote:

No sign of Kavanagh in any of the squads so far. He's not great but surely he's better than alot of the players in there.

He seems to lose the plot a bit when playing for Ireland.
When he first got into the Ireland squad under Kerr I was really excited coz I thought he was a class player with Cardiff but he never impressed me too much when he pulled on the green shirt.
Shame really. To be fair he's had a lot of injury trouble also.

Rikand

---

Given

---

Finnan --- McShane --- Dunne --- Harte
McGeady -- Carsley --- S. Reid -- Duff

---

Doyle

---

Keane

---

PHB

---

Given

---

Finnan McShane Dunne O'Shea

A Reid Carsley Reid Duff

Keane Doyle

That's our best 11 imo, although I'd rather see Gibson played instead of Carlsey just in terms of building for the future

Chardee MacDennis

Rickylovesuall wrote:

---

Given

---

Finnan --- McShane --- Dunne --- Harte
McGeady -- Carsley --- S. Reid -- Duff

---

Doyle

---

Keane

---

agree with this 100%

Bounty Hunter

---

Given

---

Finnan --- McShane --- Dunne --- O'Shea
A Reid -- Carsley --- S. Reid -- Duff

---

Doyle

---

Keane

---

Bench: Henderson, S Kelly, I Harte, A O'Brien, K Kilbane, A McGready, Douglas, Morrison

sofireland

I think at the back we can really settle things down.

Nearly everyone has gone for dunne/mcshane, with finnan and o'shea/harte in defence. Which i think would be good

As for carsley, he's in there to do a job at the minute, hopefully stan won't drop him like a hot potatoe... but we need to be looking to the future as well in that position, and the future is NOT john o'shea!

eirebhoy

Did anybody notice how little we created when Reid went off last night? imo he's the intelligient player we have and he's probably got a better range of passing than any other player.

Obviously Given is a stick in. 3 of the back 4 pick itself after last night with a choice between Harte and O'Shea at left back.

In midfield, Carsley, Duff and S.Reid are certs for me. Then it's 3 out of the following 4 players for the rest of the team:
Keane, Doyle, McGeady, A.Reid.

I'd love a way to fit them all in but it's not possible. I really can't decide who I'd leave on the bench from the above 4. I suppose we'll have to see what form the players are in and chances are we'll have an injury or 2.

SpAcEd OuT

---

Given

---

Finnan--McShane--Dunne--Kelly

McGeady---S.Reid--Carsley---Duff

---

Keane--- Doyle

---

sundula

Andy Reid is the one player i would like to see get really fit - he needs to be doing 90minutes week in week out and he should really aiming to be 1st choice for Charlton. However i have a funny feeling he will be the Irish Darren Anderton

The1337_Stephen

zabbo wrote:

Formation was good last night, and I'd like to see it used again, slight variation here

---

Given

---

Finnan--McShane--Dunne--Kelly

---

Carsley

---

McGeady---S.Reid

---

Duff

---

Keane

---

---

Doyle

---

4-1-3-1-1

Bench. A.Reid, O'Sheat, Douglas, Lee, Henderson

Andy Reids set piece contribution is better than anyone in the team.


Robbie Keane needs to play the role of AM/F, dropping deep when required, I'd leave Doyle in the box, and get McGeady/Duff/Keane forward as much as they can.

Thanks you, someone agrees with me, Henderson is a better player then Kenny in my opinion, i really don't like him

Chucky the tree

i dont know how you can say a league 1 player is better then a premiership player.


Also, how many times have you seen Henderson?

Necronomicon

eirebhoy wrote:

Obviously Given is a stick in. 3 of the back 4 pick itself after last night with a choice between Harte and O'Shea at left back.

In midfield, Carsley, Duff and S.Reid are certs for me. Then it's 3 out of the following 4 players for the rest of the team:
Keane, Doyle, McGeady, A.Reid.

I agree with this. Last night Carsley showed what he can offer and while he's playing well for an Everton team flying high in the Premiership, then let's keep him in the team. Steven Reid, goes without saying, he has made tremendous progress in the last year or so, even standing in as captain when Keane was injured. I think the two would form a very strong partnership.
Duff is also a cert, last night highlighted what he can bring to the team when he's in form.
I'd like to see Stan stick with 4-4-2, so that would leave a position available in midfield. Most people here have it as a straight choice between Andy Reid and McGeady. Personally, I'd opt for Reid. When fit and in form he is extremely creative, and if he can recapture his Nottingham Forest form at Charlton I think he'd be a great asset.

Up front is a no-brainer for me. A lot of people gave Keane stick over the weekend, which I think showed last night when he chased every ball down. Let's not forget his form for Spurs last season when he kept Defoe out of the team for much of the season. If any game highlighted what Keane can do when in form, it was the Spurs game against Sheffield United at the start of this season.
The other forward absolutely has to be Kevin Doyle. Morrison has had his moments in the green jersey, but Doyle is the future.

So, for me:

---

Given

---

Finnan

---

Dunne--McShane---O'Shea

---

A.Reid----Carsley---S.Reid----Duff----

---

---

Doyle

---

Keane

---

It also gives us a bit of flexibility in midfield, ie:

S.Reid----Carsley---A.Reid----Duff---

Andy Reid wasn't the answer to Spurs' left side problem, but some of his best moments came from the middle when he was at Forest.

Mad Dog

---

Given

---

Finnan

---

Dunne--O'Shea

---

Harte

---

A.Reid----Carsley---S.Reid----Duff----

---

---

Doyle---Keane

---

Much the same as everyone but I would go for
O'Shea and Dunne in the centre at the back
and Harte at left full purely on experience and
McShane will be one for the future on last
nights performance.

Big Ears

Paddy McCarthy is our second best centre-back after Dunne and I would play him ahead of Mcshane until the young centre-back can prove consistency(I just feel nervous with a 20 year old at centre back)

I would like to see S.reid brought in to replace Douglas and obviously Given to take back his spot .

Given , Finnan , Dunne McCarthy , O'Shea/Harte , Duff , Carlsey , S.Reid , A.Reid , Doyle , Keane .

A.Reid's fitness will usually let him down and McGeady would be the perfect impact sub to bring on the replace him , a lot better than Alan 'ive got nothing but pace' O'Brien .

c m

given

finnan dunne mcshane o shea


carsley s reid
mcgeady duff
a reid

keane
heres my explanation...well defense speaks for itsself...its the best weve got.midfield; i think if youve two hard players in cars and reidy itll give a good base for the 2 wide men to tare up the lines. similarly it will give andy reid space to hit some of those class passes into keane and the two wide me. 3 in the centre is clearly working and although it's hard to drop doyle i dont think 2 up front is the way to go.

c m

that didnt come out right

---

given

---

---finnan

---

dunne

---

mcshane

---

o shea---

---

carsley

---

s. reid

---

mcgeady

---

duff

---

---

a reid

---

---

keane

---

Little-Devil

Trilla wrote:

              Given
       
Finnan   Dunne McShane  O'Shea

Duff    S Reid  Carsley   McGeady

           Keane Doyle


[U]Bench[/U]
Kenny, A O'Brien, Kelly, Morrison, Douglas, Kilbane, A Reid, A Lee.

I agree with you trilla on this been are best team providing everone is fit. The bench i would have Alan Quinn and Liam Miller instead of Kilbane ( usless ) and Lee . Otherwise no complaints here.

Bounty Hunter

Little-Devil wrote:

The bench i would have Alan Quinn and Liam Miller instead of Kilbane ( usless ) and Lee . Otherwise no complaints here.

honestly i dont see what Lee brings to the squad at all and as for Kilbane although i have never been a fan of Zinedine Kilbane he does have his uses... like scoring goals against the Czechs or Backup for Duff on the left.

Seaneh

Given
Finnan -- McShane--Dunne--Harte

McGeady/A.Reid -- Carsley -- S.Reid -- Duff

Keane -- Doyle

Subs: O'Shea, Douglas, Kelly, J. O'Brien, Lee, Morrison, Kilbane, Henderson.


Paddy Kenny has NO education in football, taken from some part time team at 21 and, fair play to him, made it to the PL because Warnock likes somehting about him (Warnock has signed him for 2 clubs) but his lack of technique is showing, he never played at a decaint underage level and it shows, he makes a lot of very amature mistakes.

Pigman II

                   Given

  Finnan - O'Shea - Dunne - Kelly

  Duff - Carsley - S.Reid  - Kilbane

             Keane - Doyle

Bench
====
Kenny, McGeady, McShane, Morrison, Douglas ....


This is hard for me to say (as I'm no fan of O'Shea) and I'd love to jump on the bandwagon like the rest of you and laud McShane til I've lost my voice but 1 game does not make the player and til he plays consistently like he did last Wednesday my jury is still out on him. I hope/wish to be proved too conservative about him tho tho. I think O'Shea has potential to be a better CB than LB/DCM and that's why I've stuck him in there. Still if McShane keeps it up I'd make a switch there fairly soon.

Did anybody notice how little we created when Reid went off last night? imo he's the intelligient player we have and he's probably got a better range of passing than any other player.

Fatboy is good from an attacking POV but I still consider him too light-weight when it comes to a scrap.

eirebhoy

Pigman II wrote:

Fatboy is good from an attacking POV but I still consider him too light-weight when it comes to a scrap.

I think central midfield is his position for the future. He likes to get stuck in. When he was playing on the wing at Spurs only Tiainio (sp?) was putting in more tackles than him. I always say this but he really reminds me of Emre. Emre was once a left winger too and a similar height to Reid. Both have similar attributes.

btw - I think people will be calling him fat until he retires but he's not. Just a big chest.

GuanYin

One game against a poor opponent does not a good player make.

Fair play to mcShane, he's one for the future, if we made it to 2008 he would be in contention if he played as well as he did on wednesday, but he's playing reserve football at present.

Personally, I wouldn't like to see him play first choice in this round of qualifying, not least because if he messes up at any stage, the effect may set him back.

Many would say O'Shea was always poor, but to my mind, the swiss game was the nail in his international performance coffin.

DapperGent

---

Given

---

Finnan----Dunne--McShane

---

Harte

---

---

S.Reid--Carsley--A.Reid

---

---Keane

---

Duff

---

---

Doyle

---

casanova_kid

Given, Carr, Dunne, McShane, Kelly, Finnan, Douglas, Carsley, Duff, Doyle, Keane.
I know that's a very defensive team, but we really don't have any creative players that will dig in aswell.

Reganio 2

..................Given...............
Finnan McShane Dunne O'shea
McGeady Ireland Kavanagh Duff
...............Keane Doyle..........
Subs: Kenny, O'Brien, Harte, Kilbane, A. Reid, Douglas, Elliot.

That's my team can build for the future with some of them players as well.

GuanYin

Has anyone mentioned Stokes? He scored his first professional league goal for Falkirk (on loan from Arsenal) which brings him to 2 goals total in 6 games for the scottish side.

Wenger regards him highly (he's mentioned him in the same breath as Fabregas) and he's been prolific for the Gunners youth.

Be interesting to see how he develops at Falkirk. He may find it tough going back at the Gunners, strikers seems to be in abundance!

Pepe LeFrits

Stokes scored a hat-trick for Falkirk over the weekend, and got an assist too. He's now got 7 goals in 8 games for Falkirk, and must surely be in contention for a spot on the bench against San Marino.

eirebhoy

I'd say he'll be in the B squad for the match the previous night. Richie Foran has been playing in Scotland for 2 years and the majority of people hardly know him. Stokes is already a famous name in Scotland which is a good sign.