Ireland squad v Portugal

eirebhoy

The only changes from Croatia is Murphy for Colgan and both Roy and Morrison back.

Given (Newcastle), Kenny (Sheffield United), Murphy (Walsall)

Carr (Newcastle), Finnan (Liverpool)
O’Shea (Manchester United), Maybury (Leicester)
O’Brien (Newcastle), Breen (Sunderland), Doherty (Norwich), Cunningham (Birmingham), Dunne (Manchester City)

McGeady (Celtic), Barrett (Coventry)
Duff (Chelsea), A Reid (Tottenham)
Miller (Manchester United), Quinn (Sheffield United), Roy Keane (Manchester United), Kavanagh (Cardiff), Holland (Charlton), Kilbane (Everton)

Robbie Keane (Tottenham), Macken (Manchester City), Morrison (Birmingham), Lee (Cardiff), Elliott (Sunderland).

_blank_

eirebhoy wrote:

T

A Reid (Tottenham)

:eek:

Really?

LizardKing

Is Carr back fit ??

also imagine likely team to be close to ...

Given

Finnan
Cunningham
O'Brien
O'Shea/Carr

Duff
Keane
Holland
Kilbane

Keane
Morrison

eirebhoy

Yeah, Carr started for Newcastle at the weekend.

enda_4

LizardKing wrote:

also imagine likely team to be close to ...

Given

Finnan
Cunningham
O'Brien
O'Shea/Carr

Duff
Keane
Holland
Kilbane

Keane
Morrison

Good selection, like to see duff get a bit more freedom thou. Andy Reid another possible starter?

GuanYin

Absolutely lost as to why Alan Quinn makes the squad over Rory Delap.

He must have slept with Brian Kerr's daughter or something.... (although I met her one night in Club M........ and to be fair....)

KdjaCL

syke wrote:

Absolutely lost as to why Alan Quinn makes the squad over Rory Delap.

Kerr knows what Delap does at international level whish isnt much altho played nearly every game for soton , Quinn hasnt been given a chance yet.
Tbh would prefer to see Quinn play shows more promise.

kdjac

eirebhoy

Yeah, I like what I've seen of Quinn. A lot different to the other central midfielders in the squad while Delap would just add another Holland type player to the squad.

evilhomer

KdjaC wrote:

Kerr knows what Delap does at international level whish isnt much altho played nearly every game for soton , Quinn hasnt been given a chance yet.
Tbh would prefer to see Quinn play shows more promise.

have to agree, Quinn's workrate is phenomenal! he will run his socks off for the whole game and is not afraid to put the boot in!

he will become a really solid player for us in a few years i reckon, maybe not a regular starter but a really good option off the bench.

GuanYin

Just out of curiosity, if he is so good, why after all this time is he still with Weds?

KdjaCL

syke wrote:

Just out of curiosity, if he is so good, why after all this time is he still with Weds?

Quinn (Sheffield United)

kdjac

GuanYin

my bad....


even stilll......

eirebhoy

syke wrote:

Just out of curiosity, if he is so good, why after all this time is he still with Weds?

He's not. He joined Sheffield United this season and was one of the best player vs Villa.

KdjaCL

syke wrote:

.


even stilll......

Why are Wallsall Coventry Celtic and other ****e teams getting Irish internationals?

Be nice if they were all PL but we ireland so beggars cant be choosers.

kdjac

eirebhoy

KdjaC wrote:

...Celtic and other ****e teams getting Irish internationals?

How predictable.

Jivin Turkey

KdjaC wrote:

Kerr knows what Delap does at international level whish isnt much altho played nearly every game for soton , Quinn hasnt been given a chance yet.
Tbh would prefer to see Quinn play shows more promise.

Delap only has 11 caps, many of them from the bench. Kerr can hardly know "what Delap does at international level" based on that. Delaps 11 caps are over a 6 year period. He has only in the last two or three years established himself as a regular starter.

Quinn has 6 caps. He will be 26 before the Summer, and he has just made the step up from Division 2 to Division 1. He would want to be showing a lot more than "promise" at that age, and at that level.

I like the look of Quinn, but Delap definately deserves a chance. He has been a regular starter for a premiership side under 4(?) managers in the last 2/3 years. Im sure they see a lot more of him than anyone here.

eirebhoy

I've always said Delap deserves a chance but that JoeSoap fella has said a few times that he has been playing shít for Soton.

Jivin Turkey

eirebhoy wrote:

I've always said Delap deserves a chance but that JoeSoap fella has said a few times that he has been playing shít for Soton.

I havnt seen all that much of him to be honest, but as I said, he has been a regular under 4 managers, he cant have been playing that bad.

Im not saying he should be starting for Ireland though, but I mean he cant even make the squad. I mean Kerr picks Carr, Finnan and Maybury, why bother with Maybury? I dont rate him at all, and is there a need for a third right back? Delap could even fill that void should the need ever arrive.

eirebhoy

Jivin Turkey wrote:

why bother with Maybury? I dont rate him at all, and is there a need for a third right back? Delap could even fill that void should the need ever arrive.

Kerr has Maybury in the squad as a left back.

Jivin Turkey

eirebhoy wrote:

Kerr has Maybury in the squad as a left back.

But hes an even worse left back than right back. He would be my third choice left back behind O'Shea and Finnan (not sure in what order).

KdjaCL

"best of a bad lot" springs to mind.



kdjac

Jivin Turkey

KdjaC wrote:

"best of a bad lot" springs to mind.

And that may be so, but that bad lot is significantly better than the bad lot playing at Hearts or Sheffield Wednesday (up until the Summer), or Coventry.

KdjaCL

Jivin Turkey wrote:

And that may be so, but that bad lot is significantly better than the bad lot playing at Hearts or Sheffield Wednesday (up until the Summer), or Coventry.

Gets worse if you look at the fringe players.
We need 11+ PL standard or higher , never really gonna happen everytime one player joins a PL team another gets relegated / me looks at Doherty.


kdjac

eirebhoy

Our first team now are all premiership players.

Given

O'Shea
Carr / Finnan
Cunningham
O'Brien / Dunne

Duff
Reid
Kilbane
Keane

Morrison
Keane

KdjaCL

eirebhoy wrote:

Our first team now are all premiership players.

Given Regular

O'Shea Bit part player
Carr tampax man / Finnan dunno seems to get his game
Cunningham regular
O'Brien HA fcuked at New / Dunne regular now

Duff regular
Reid unknown
Kilbane regular
Keane kinda regular

Morrison fcuked longterm
Keane unkown

Now all we need is them to play every week

kdjac

Slash/ED

We're in a good position if we can leave a premiership regular, Delap, and La Liga regular, Harte, out of the squad altogether I suppose. I think squad depth wise we're pretty healthy atm, we're far better off than we were not long ago anyway. Even some of the players in the first division or SPL are excellent propsects at worse like Elliot and McGeady, who has proven himself at CL level.

Anyway, as I've said elsewhere, I'd love to see us experiment with a Chelsea style formation as it suits the players alot imo.

Basically, stick Robbie Keane in for Drogba/Gudjohnsen then behind him you've got Duff doing the same role and McGeady doing Robbens role. Play Reid in the advantaced mid field position ala Lampard, Keane in the holding role in mid field like Makelele and Kilbane in for Tiago, with whatever back five we pick. Worth a try imo, I'd love to see what would happen with that team.

Johnny_the_fox

Slash/ED wrote:

Anyway, as I've said elsewhere, I'd love to see us experiment with a Chelsea style formation as it suits the players alot imo.

Basically, stick Robbie Keane in for Drogba/Gudjohnsen then behind him you've got Duff doing the same role and McGeady doing Robbens role. Play Reid in the advantaced mid field position ala Lampard, Keane in the holding role in mid field like Makelele and Kilbane in for Tiago, with whatever back five we pick. Worth a try imo, I'd love to see what would happen with that team.

... like the way you are thinking there... but Robbie Keane isnt scoring goals as late, so 'we' would need to play two fowards/strikers.

Slash/ED

Robbie Keane has around a one goal in two starts average this season for club and country, he's our current top scorer in the world cup qualifiers with 3 goals in 4 games.

eirebhoy

Portugal announce decent squad:

Goalkeepers: Ricardo Pereira (Sporting), Quim Silva (Braga).

Defenders: Paulo Ferreira (Chelsea), Jorge Andrade (Deportivo Coruna), Marco Caneira (Valencia), Fernando Meira (Stuttgart), Rogerio Matias (Vitoria Guimaraes).

Midfielders: Costinha (Porto), Armando Petit (Benfica), Manuel Fernandes (Benfica), Hugo Viana (Sporting), Deco (Barcelona), Tiago (Chelsea), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Simao Sabrosa (Benfica).

Strikers: Pauleta (Paris St Germain), Nuno Gomes (Benfica), Luis Boa Morte (Fulham).

Pigman II

Johnny_the_fox wrote:

Robbie Keane isnt scoring goals as late,

In fairness he hasn't done too bad with 7 PL goals in 18 starts. That's pretty impressive when you take into consideration he's been play a fair few of those games on the left wing.

syke wrote:

Delap. He must have slept with Brian Kerr's daughter or something.... (although I met her one night in Club M........ and to be fair....)

Really? Well I met one of Kerrs nieces once and to be fair ... I'd rather still be in the squad.

eirebhoy

No suprise

thejollyrodger

typical, as i have posted elsewhere...

best of luck to him, it will give one of the other players a chance to partner Zindane kilbane in the center of the pitch, maybe miller

Pigman II

eirebhoy wrote:

No suprise

Ah well. Here's hoping the traitor's feeling better in time for the Manchester derby on the 13th.

eirebhoy

thejollyrodger wrote:

best of luck to him, it will give one of the other players a chance to partner Zindane kilbane in the center of the pitch, maybe miller

Miller, my arse.

d22ontour

i would like to see alan quinn being given a start

GuanYin

Miller has been crap this season.

Given
Carr Cunningham OBrien Finnan
Reid Kilbane O'Shea Duff
Morrisson Keane


is our best team

evilhomer

eirebhoy wrote:

Portugal announce decent squad:

Goalkeepers: Ricardo Pereira (Sporting), Quim Silva (Braga).

Defenders: Paulo Ferreira (Chelsea), Jorge Andrade (Deportivo Coruna), Marco Caneira (Valencia), Fernando Meira (Stuttgart), Rogerio Matias (Vitoria Guimaraes).

Midfielders: Costinha (Porto), Armando Petit (Benfica), Manuel Fernandes (Benfica), Hugo Viana (Sporting), Deco (Barcelona), Tiago (Chelsea), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Simao Sabrosa (Benfica).

Strikers: Pauleta (Paris St Germain), Nuno Gomes (Benfica), Luis Boa Morte (Fulham).

No Maniche, is he injured?
is Hugo Viana playing well for Sporting Lisbon?
He was never up to much when he played for Newcastle after all the money we payed for him!

Big Ears

I know he's getting on a bit , but in my opinion Kavanagh is our third choice cenrtal midfielder and therefore I think he should start . If Keane is injured for a qualifier Kavanagh will most likely start , and it would do him no harm getting some more international expierience . Either that or try out Quinn .

thejollyrodger

much the same, I would just try a few players, like Dunne and Elliott

________________Given
Carr___Dunne_______OBrien___Finnan
Reid___Kilbane_____ O'Shea_____ Duff
________Elliott______ Keane

I would really like Kerr to give another crack at the 4-3-3

________________Given
Carr___Dunne_______OBrien___Finnan
????______Kilbane_____ O'Shea
Reid___Elliott/Keane_____ Duff

I cant really be arsed think of who to put in midfiield there in the 4-3-3 :P

PHB

actually miller hasnt played all season

thejollyrodger

Elliott has to be given a crack up front, did anyone see him score that goal yesterday, left foot screamer from outside the penality area !!

eirebhoy

Kavanagh >>>>>> O'Shea.

evilhomer

since carr will probably be out i would say the team will be

---

Given

---

Finnan

---

Cunningham

---

Dunne/O'Brien----O'Shea

Duff

---

Kavanagh

---

Kilbane

---

Reid

---

Keane

---

Morrison

---

Dunne deserves a chance after his great performances for man city this season.
Elliott does deserve a chance upfront also since morrison isn't playing regular football

PHB

O'Shea is not onlya better player than Kavenagh, not only has more international experiance, not only has more high level club experiance, is on a much much better run of form than Kavenagh.
Is Carr definally out?
I assumed that Cunningham wasn't going to play, due to the fact hes old and its a friendly, and that O'Brien and Dunne would be in the centre of defense, No?

eirebhoy

My arse is O'Shea better than Kav in central midfield. A late developer Kav was but potential doesn't count for anything if we're playing tomorrow.

Carr only came over to train.

LizardKing

Probable teams (from ireland.com)

---

Republic of Ireland: Shay Given; Steve Finnan, Andy O'Brien, Richard Dunne, John O'Shea; Kevin Kilbane, Matt Holland, Liam Miller, Damien Duff; Robbie Keane, Clinton Morrison

Portugal: Ricardo Pereira; Paulo Ferreira, Jorge Andrade, Fernando Meira, Marco Caneira; Armando Petit, Hugo Viana, Deco, Simao Sabrosa, Cristiano Ronaldo, Pauleta.

Referee: Matt Messias (England)

---

I'd prefer to see Reid in the starting line up , although miller could do well (he needs to impress a few doubters )

eirebhoy

Kerr confirmed Duff would start on the left, Reid on the right with Keane and Morrison up front. Given and O'Shea will also start and he'll play his strongest team. The last point is interesting, I'd like to see who he feels is in his strongest team. Kavanagh/Holland and O'Brien/Dunne are the only ones that are hard to predict.

Dont be at yourself

Kavanagh/Holland is fairly meaningless as they're going to bench warmers when Keane gets over his shocking injury.

Along with the central defence, I don't think the RB spot is a closed book. There's not much to seperate Carr and Finnan in my mind.

eirebhoy

NekkidBibleMan wrote:

Kavanagh/Holland is fairly meaningless as they're going to bench warmers when Keane gets over his shocking injury.

Thats if Kilbane and Keane are available for every game which I wouldn't want to count on.

we won't find out anthing about Carr/Finnan as Carr won't be playing.

Big Ears

Kavanagh has been excellent when he's played and I would rather him than : Holland , O'Shea , Miller , Carsley(retired I beleive) , Delap , Quinn and any other contenders for a starting place in the centre other than Keane and Kilbane .

Dunne has got to play ahead of O'Brien(Im not talking about this friendly , but about qualifyers ) , O'Brien can be dodgy at times . Eliott deserves at least 45 minutes . Barret deserves a part , in some part of the action , so does Quinn , and so does McGeady , I would also like to see Maybury get some time aswell , and thats pretty much the subs I want to see used .

evilhomer

if cunningham isn't playing it will be interesting to see the O'Brien Dunne partnership, it will probably be the partnership for the future.
would have thought that kerr would play Duff on the right since he has played there alot with robben on the left this season.