Small in height or build? In height I would have thought he was average enough, not as tall as McCarthy, Hendrick or Meyler but definitely taller than Whelan, Gleeson and probably O'Kane.
There is something about O'Dowda I agree, and have always done. Not overly encouraging that he hasn't taken the Championship by storm but hopefully he can kick on. He definitely has a bit of quality about him.
Gleeson looks run of the mill any time I see him, more of what we have already, but I really haven't seen enough to write him in or out. O'Kane just looks to have something a bit different.
Who complained about O'Dowda being in the squad?
No complaints from me for MON picking Hourihane. His club form merited it but I think he fluffed the audition. He'll get another chance I'm sure.
I still think MON could have played a better hand last night with the cards he was dealt (or failed to pick up). But in each game we were so far from full strength that it's clear we shouldn't draw too many conclusions. In the context of the group and our injury situation a draw with Wales was perfectly decent.
Balls.ie did an interesting write-up on this very issue: https://www.balls.ie/football/aiden-mcgeady-4-362064Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
I wouldn't describe it as a hissy fit, but i remember the conversation
I didn't and still don't believe Randolph has done anything for either club or country that justifies making a change, but i was very pleased Westwood got his chance yesterday.
I've not had time to watch it back, so bar the goal I've only seen the game live. On the goal, while the wall was awful, i thought Westwood has to take a fair bit of the blame. The free kick was right in the corner, but there wasn't much pace on it. It goes past Westwood at a difficult height for a goalkeeper but it wasn't a case of Magnusson hitting a great freekick that went over the wall at speed and then dipped in the air. It went through the wall at head height at a fairly pedestrian ace and then dropped. It was only that lack of pace that allowed it to end up in the bottom corner.
The wall could and probably should have stopped it. But whose job is it the organise the wall? Westwood seemed to be giving instructions to Brady about how it should set up. Half of them jumping and half of them not bothering suggests either he wasn't clear, Brady cocked up the instruction, or that nobody said whether they should jump or not.
After it goes past the wall I'd expect my keeper to get something on it. On the replay i watched both his feet were planted as Magnusson struck the ball. By the time he gets his feet sorted it is already in. He never dives. Once it goes in his body language is pretty sheepy. I don't think he was terrible happy with his own efforts.
He hadn't had much to do up until then but he had looked fine up until that happened. After that i thought he looked nervy. He came out of his box a lot, and tends to ponder on the ball until someone is almost on top of him.
The coming out of his box is a mixed blessing. He cleaned up a potentially dangerous situation very well at one point, and he is quick off his line. However he just didn't look confident to me. I'll concede that that's maybe me unconsciously projecting my own bias onto him.
Similarly the delaying his clearances forces a member of the opposition to close him down and potentially creates a bit more space in midfield (and you are right about the distance he was getting).
But the combination of the two has the potential for disaster in my opinion.
If everyone is fit and i was picking 3 goalkeepers for a major tournament he would certainly make my squad though. For that reason I think it's important that he gets more game time in friendlies etc. But Randolph is the obvious first choice goalkeeper for me.
Last edited by backstothewall; 29/03/2017 at 2:39 PM.
Bring Back Belfast Celtic F.C.
Yep, I agree that KW himself felt he could have done better. I saw it in his body language too. He started going the right way but just stopped - but maybe in anticipation of a deflection. Had he continued he'd have made a decent save.
I was at Pats v Rovers on Saturday. Rovers' keeper (Cencinsky?) saved a similar shot that got through the wall. That shot actually had more pace.
I don't think a keeper can micro-organise his wall though. It's his job to line them up but after that it's up to the players to jump and get in the way.
Funny thing is, I probably prefer KW as a keeper but Randolph continues to do well. He made a hash of a punch on Friday but was very alert and dealt with Bale's free kick easily. He dealt with an under-hit back pass well too.
I'd be much happier if we were nitpicking over which forwards to pick!
On Westwood, I was watching him needless to say behind the goal. He had the wall organised but then it was moved back about 3 yards to the line the ref had drawn and he shouted a few instructions but no one listened and he gave up. They did move a taller player to the middle of the wall and a smaller one to the left I think. Much and all as I hate to admit it, he was flatfooted when it nestled in the net. I was surprised he didn't save it. On the positive side his distribution was better than Randolph and he fed the ball out to the full backs far more often than Randolph.
As to the game itself, we had a team which never played together before so I am neither shocked at the result nor at the performance. I was pleasantly surprised at the size of the crowd.
What did we learn, if we can learn anything from one game:
- (a) McGeady, who many wanted to start against Wales, is still the McGeady we love and who frustrates us. The standard in the Championship is dire (trust me) and a series of good games for Preston does not mean he is a new man. That said, he is one of the few Irish players who get us on our feet, only to sit down again. I still think he can produce that bit of magic so worth a squad place.
- (b) Hourihane - very reluctant to judge him on one game but did not have a great game and always took the easy option. Maybe with more experience, more confidence will come. Possible blame in the goal. Worth a squad place.
- (c) Doyle: it told us that he is not the player he once was and alas that injury he got playing for us really knocked him back. Not worth a squad place.
+ (d) Horgan put in some excellent crosses but with no natural striker they were wasted.
+ (e) Continued tactic of pretending to take a short corner which draws two defenders away for our one man. Surprised everyone doesn't do this.
- (f) A lot of people were attending an international for the first time. You can imagine their thoughts on what they saw.
+ (g) Austria only drew at home to Finland. No world beaters either.
- (h) McLean was ineffective in the role given to him. + You have to admire his energy and determination.
- (i) Looks like we have to rely on a 34 year old playing in the second tier of English football for our inspiration and whom the management were originally ambivalent about.
- (j) What has happened to the Jeff Hendrick of the Euros ?
+++ We're joint top of the group with our main competitors still to come to us. We need to practice big time on set pieces because with the retirement of Robbie chances from open play will be at a premium.
Last edited by OwlsFan; 29/03/2017 at 4:25 PM.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
Ah yeah, but at least the days of that bluffer Robbie Keane being in the squad are behind us.
Looks like your lunch mates pretty much ended up being right, Owls.
The strikers issue is a problem. The consensus seems to be that Doyle should have been named in his last squad, but who on earth should we be picking in his place? Maybe time to try setting up cups of coffee with Patrick Bamford, Will Keane and Scott Hogan again!
Last edited by backstothewall; 29/03/2017 at 6:54 PM.
Bring Back Belfast Celtic F.C.
Definitely not Rooney or Sheridan either. The obvious answer is Scott Hogan but that has all died down for some reason. Is he just not interested or is it just not discussed because he was injured at the time??
Another problem we have is how uncreative we are without someone like Hoolahan. Even worse is that people seem to forget that he will be 36 by the time we/if we qualify for the World Cup. We need someone coming through there too.
"We lost because we didn't win"- Ronaldo
we have Long, Walters and Murphy to be fair - theres goals in that trio. And some other options (Pilkington, Sheridan spring to mind) available at senior and youth levels. I don't quite think we are as desperate as being made out. The issue is around creativity and the absence of creative spark in the middle three when we are down Hoolohan. Brady may grow into such a role for us. I don't think it is alarm bells quite yet.
The striker issue is just the most glaring one I think - it's far from the only one. I've been saying it for a while here; we've a shortage of players worse than I've known in almost 30 years following the team. People are (rightly) pointing out that Hoolahan is a big loss - but he's 34. Who's coming through to replace him? McGeady in the centre? Horgan, maybe? But he's a while away from Hoolahan's level of experience yet. O'Dowda? Not overly positive reviews about him here.
We still have very much the same team from the Euros, which was the oldest squad in the competition then and is a year older now. Our underage teams are largely poor, there's no professional league at home to develop players and the FAI think the LoI is great for providing ten senior internationals (including Horgan and Boyle now) when actually that's a really poor return.
I still think we're in for a long Scotland-esque spell in the doldrums.
30 and two 34 years old SkStu. We are in trouble very soon if MON doesn't solve it.
35 in May which is even worse, and as I said above he will 36 by the time we get to Russia, that's if we get there.
Last edited by TrapAPony; 29/03/2017 at 8:33 PM.
"We lost because we didn't win"- Ronaldo
Sure, I agree our medium to long term prospects don't look healthy but I think what I am saying is that there is time to turn it around. Long and Murphy have another 4-5 years left in them so we just need to bring in another two prospects during that time. In terms of this qualifying campaign, it looks like we have sufficient strength in depth to create and score the goals that will get us to the WC. Sorry, that was my context.
It is funny, I got challenged quite strongly before this campaign started for suggesting that post Euro16 was the right time to get our next level of players on board and primed (granted, my suggestions were founded on a very incorrect assumption that we wouldn't make the top 2 of this group). Most people who challenged felt that we should play our strongest and most experienced players to try and get us to Russia. So, I suppose we cant have it both ways. My preference has now changed massively. I think we need to go with what we know until the end of this qualification campaign and use all available friendly opportunities to bed in our less experienced players and, if we qualify, use early 2018 to bring more players through and on board.
Also, I agree with PineappleStu completely with respect to the FAI. They have a greater responsibility to the future of Irish football than the current management team. It is they who have failed to develop the league to a standard whereby we have ready talent to choose from and it is they who are not ensuring our young players are able to compete with other young players from around Europe and the World to be ready to make the leap from underage to Senior football in a professional league and it is they who continue to rely on a wing and a prayer that O'Neill can charm qualified but reluctant individuals into declaring for us.
And finally, I have been proclaiming that the end is near since 2007...I have been forced to recognize that sometimes this sh!t just sorts itself out and players come through. I don't think it is the right strategy (see my last paragraph) but so far it has kept us afloat.
There is a lot in what you say in an overall excellent post, but we have been scoring from open play post RK, including two in the finals Vs Sweden & Italy no less. Into this campaign and Hendrick, Coleman, Long & McClean have all registered from open play at key times in big games and some more than once and we have begun to beat higher ranked sides while registering more from play than set pieces. I think there is remarkable credit due to MON here, yes, it relies on Wes but at least he uses him properly, not like his predecessor who had us delivering unwatchable muck while telling us it had to be thus as we had no one good enough to play differently.
We are joint top with Wales sent away having failed to beat us when they needed to and thought they would, and we wont have to field a side as weakened as that again unless an awful lot of bad luck comes our way. It was ugly, it threw away (temporarily I hope) the periodic green shoots of passing & possession focused play which have been beginning to emerge in our game, which have been so welcome to finally see. But we didn't lose and we could have still edged it.
Iceland was a hard watch, granted but if Hourihane doesn't duck - and I believe he has been given a very easy ride for that in reports and on here - then we draw, a clean sheet etc, small margins. There has seemingly been more discussion of KW's foot position etc than the guy in the wall, I repeat, in the effing wall, who ducked on his debut for his country. MON mentioned it though. But there we go, on and up.
I feel positive, overall, and of course the second half of the campaign will define it more than the first, but we are doing well and while not playing total football, its not always caveman football either (the last two games and their mitigating circumstances apart). We are half decent, it's a nice time to be watching the side and we have waited a good bit to say thatso I am enjoying it.
We will probably need to beat Serbia at home to top it, but then again we beat Germany. Long scored ... also from open play
Well said to both of you's.
What is MON's contract situation? Is he a long haul manager now? If they went to Russia and didnt do well and went home after 3 games would he likely still be the man?
I don't think anyone is defending him ducking. It obviously shouldn't have happened. The nuance in KWs foot position maybe just makes for more interesting conversation.
Bring Back Belfast Celtic F.C.
He is 34 SkStu. I don't see him playing for Ireland at 38/39 years of age, I would hope not anyway. Might as well bring back Aldridge and Quinn if that is the case.Pretty bleak that we have just Long really. After that we need to hope that some young Irish striker turns out to be very good or that we recruit someone worthwhile.
Last edited by TrapAPony; 29/03/2017 at 8:39 PM.
"We lost because we didn't win"- Ronaldo
Not sure what MON is supposed to do about it tbh. He can make more players, but it'll be 18 years before that impacts the senior team.
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