Republic of Ireland Team 2023/24 [old thread]

There's mixed feeling online from the Southampton fans about this. Plenty are glad he's out of the team, with a fair amount of harsh Twitter comments saying so, and less harsh but still a fair amount happy on SaintsWeb fan's forum. A lot say although Gav is great with his feet, his shot stopping (especially low, hard and to his left) and dealing with crosses is bad. No argument there from me. Then there's a lot saying they wish he gets back quickly because they aren't happy with the backup keeper. Consensus seems to be that Gav has a few wobbles every game.

To me, as a huge admirer of Gav in his earlier days (I'm a Rover's fan too), I thought he was going to be the real deal, a top keeper. Now I think he'll be lower Championship or L1 at best. Now, the other lad a Liverpool, now I think he's got a better chance to make it, but the jury is still out (he also is prone to a few wobbles, although fewer than Gav) because he really needs to get regular first team football at a high level (Championship+) before he can be assessed.

I think we'd be a lot better off hiring someone who has no previous relationship with the FAI, the players, Ireland, and preferably someone who doesn't understand how incompetent the organisation is and what a basket case we are.

What I would give for a Trapattoni figure now. Someone who doesn't even speak English, who is totally confident and isn't interested in anything we think. We really badly need someone who doesn't respect us at all.

Problem as well is the format for the next World Cup.

Only the top team qualifies straight away, 2nd team plus Nations league into seeded playoffs.

Not too attractive.

With Ireland being an island, I might propose that the team joins the Oceania Football Confederation. Some mighty away trips there, as well.

Yeah, that's a bad blow for him. Southampton in with a strong shout of promotion and he likely would have been a starter in the Premier league for them.

And a shock to no-one

Clueless..

Needed a deep clean, not just Delaney

Dogs on the street knew it was definitely over last June after that Greek performance yet here we are.

Think Southampton would have brought in an experienced keeper next season like Bournemouth did with Neto. Put some pressure on Bazunu to perform.

Unfortunately for Bazunu now they'll definitely bring in a new keeper this summer even if they don't get promoted. If said keeper is performing for Southampton then Bazunu could find it hard to win his place back next season once fit.

Kerr was obviously brought in as an insurance policy to cover the interim post in case O'Shea walks. Him babysitting John for a couple of meaningless friendlies never made much sense to me.

Janne Andersson's contract finished in November 2023 and they hired the new manager end of Feb 2024.

The FAI are a running joke. As is the appointment of the senior manager. It should have been done months ago, then it was supposed to be this week. Now we've to wait at least another 4 months. Those in charge aren't up to the job.

Let’s leave aside the fact that we still don’t a manager for a moment. It’s hard to attract the perfect candidate, and so on.

What we have learned is that you cannot believe what the FAI say, they make it up as they go along. This is very damaging as we saw at the Oireachtas, the government won’t give funding to a dishonest shambles of an organization.

They always said the manager search was going very well. They said February, then they said March. Then they said early April. Then they said mid-April. Then they went silent again. Now they say September, but we all know this is just a meaningless timeframe.

Who would give this organization €863m and trust them with it ?

Remember how insulting that redacted email was to the Oireachtas, handed in late and only 45 minutes before the actual hearing.

They also breached their bailout conditions.

The manager search pales into insignificance among all their problems.

Don’t think that would be healthy for either player to be vying with each other for a starting spot both club and country. Kelleher has looked excellent as he got more game time. He will surely get a move to a bigger club than Southampton.

Think they'll more likely try to find themselves someone with experience that's maybe available on a free or brought in on loan. Don't think they'll spend big another young keeper.

Also wouldn't surprise if this long term injury to Bazunu see's Kelleher stay at Liverpool next season. With Bazunu out he's probably guaranteed the number 1 spot. So give it one more crack at Liverpool with there going to be some upheaval there this summer.