TV3 Players of the Season

[Druss]

Did anybody else feel the urge to throw something heavy at the TV last night? What a pile of crap!

For those who didn't see it, Damien "I can talk proper"Richardson and Noel "****" King were each asked to pick a team of players who they thought represented the best the Eircom League had to offer this year.

Naturally Shels and Bohs dominated. No complaints there.
Richardson picked one City player. George O'Callaghan. (He also picked Dan O'Connor in goals )

King started by saying that "I didn't pick any Munster players" (surprised he had even heard of the place). He then made some snide remark about Georges workrate to justify not picking him.
In all fairness has he even seen him play?? One of the few complaints i have about George is that sometimes he tries too hard, and ends up dropping too deep when City are under pressure.

Both of them had the same strikers, Glenn Crowe and Jason Byrne. Again, no real complaints, over the full season. However they both also said that they wouldn't have considered anyone else.

What, not even the guy who was comfortably in front of them until he got injured? The guy who had three goals in their own goal of the season competition, who played and scored at international level? Apparently not.

King summed up by saying that only players from Longford, Bohs and Shels were worthy of his attention.

Richardson got the task of summing up Cork Citys season. We've done very well apparently.
He was then asked by Trevor Welsh if, given that we had improved over this season, we were capable of going on to improve and finish second or first and breaking the Bohs\Shels stranglehold next year.
The answer (drumroll please) is "No".

I sat waiting on the edge of my seat to hear what brilliant tactical reasons Ricco could give for this. Did we need a bigger squad, a new midfielder, more money, or just to fire Dolan and give him the job?
No, the reason City cannot win the league next year is we finished too far behind this year.
Should someone tell St James's Gate about this?They won back in 1921, which according to Riccos logic means they are probably still champions.

[A face]

Did you expect anything else from that pair ??

They are a credit to the league alright .... tóssers !!

[tiktok]

To be fair (well more to Rico, King's a muppet) if you look at the threads that were on foot.ie where we all set down our teams of the season, GOC was the only city player to feature consistently (even on votes from city fans) and in many cases we were rejigging line ups just to include him.

Flynny would have been in there barring injury, but man for man, Bohs and Shels do have the better players:-
Defensively, our best (Murray) would do well to get on their sides (and before I'm leapt on, his current partner Coughlan couldn't get on the Bohs team this season).
In midfield we all know we don't compete with them.
Up front we do, but Byrne especially was great this season.

Once Pat and Lennox see where we're lacking, and where we can build, it's not a problem going into next year.

[liamon]

I don't think we're going to win the league next year, bar something silly from Bohs and Shels.

We improved this year and got back into third place. We'll need to strengthen midfield and defence extensively if we want to challenge next year. Can't see CCFC closing the gap in the coming months sufficiently. We'll be closer, may nick second, but not yet good enough to be champs. I think we should look forward to a serious title challenge in 2005.

Hope I'm wrong and Lennox goes out and buys the players we need to challenge for the title in January, but I'd be surprised.

JOF couldn't really be considered for team of the season, as he missed so much of it.

Don't know how Georege wasn't even considered though. OK, he didn't score very many, but he's the most creative player in the league.

[liamon]

Just looking at today’s indo and they also had a (brief) review of the 2003 season.

No CCFC players on the team of the season.

Every striker in the league seemed to get a honourable mention, except O’Flynn and GOC.


And Richmond park has the best atmosphere, apparently when you pack 4,000 into it. When does that happen?

The only mention we got was the match day programme, which is much improved this season. Well, isn't it nice not to get completely ignored.........

[SÓC]

Originally posted by liamon
I don't think we're going to win the league next year, bar something silly from Bohs and Shels.

We improved this year and got back into third place. We'll need to strengthen midfield and defence extensively if we want to challenge next year. Can't see CCFC closing the gap in the coming months sufficiently. We'll be closer, may nick second, but not yet good enough to be champs. I think we should look forward to a serious title challenge in 2005.

Hope I'm wrong and Lennox goes out and buys the players we need to challenge for the title in January, but I'd be surprised.

JOF couldn't really be considered for team of the season, as he missed so much of it.

Don't know how Georege wasn't even considered though. OK, he didn't score very many, but he's the most creative player in the league.

Lennox made himself clear in his Match Day Mag notes that he doesnt expect us to win the league next season. He's aiming for 2005. He's being realistic, not going for broke in one season is a wise move.

[Druss]

I don't think we can win the league either. But if we don't win it, it won't be because we finished so far of the pace this year.
I also said that i didn't think O'Flynn should be in the final line up, but he should have been mentioned as a contender due to his outstanding form for most of the season.
And now the Independent has no city players on its team either??

[pete]

In fairness to Rico he can hardly predict who city will bring in during the close season. Based on current squad we have zero chance of winning the league next season.

Personally I think O'Flynn has had a better season than Crowe but can't argue too much against him as he 2nd highest scorer.

Rico basically changed his formation to fit George into the team. Kinger looked like he couldn't find a position for him.

Only O'Flynn & George are anywhere near inclusion to a league team of the year.

[James]

duno bout that pete
i think kevin doyle wud have been close enough
thought he had a great season

[Dodge]

Originally posted by James
duno bout that pete
i think kevin doyle wud have been close enough
thought he had a great season

All clubs have players like that. Stars for their team but when you think about it, not really the best in the league. I'm not saying Doyle wouldn't be in the top 2/3 wide right players (definitely not in top 5 strikers)

IMO Adamson has been the outstanding keeper in the league but the TV3 lads didn't mention it. Not that big a deal really

[pete]

Originally posted by Dodge
All clubs have players like that. Stars for their team but when you think about it, not really the best in the league.

Would agree with that.

IMO league has been short of quality left backs for years. Can't say i'd rate el Khebir that much & Webb only got in recent seasons cos no competition.

[Druss]

I'd include Doyle, George and possibly Hoggy.

Pete, i don't think Rico should or could predict who we are going to bring in. But why can't he give an intelligent reason as to why we can't finish first or second?
That was the question. Can City improve next season and if not why?
Most people in this thread have given good reasons as to why we can't win. Is it too much to expect a professional analyst to do the same?

[pete]

I may be wrong but thought Rico was asked if we could win the league.

Programme was only so long & Rico has correctly identified cits problems many times this season - lack of experienced players & defending too deep.