Liam Lawrence

[zinedineontour]

Hopefully Lennie will get into the squad for the Sweden game his performances deserve a call up anyway .. It be nice to have someone naturally right footed on the right wing instead of duff or andy reid .. Though we have not been getting the results our play deserves lawrence has been excellent for us .. I was over at the chelsea game yday and was man of the match ...

[FarBeag]

If he qualifies to play for us and wants to play for us,i say why not.If he is the Nolan/Kitson 'I am Irish now because England do not want me type' he can get lost.I saw him play on a few occasions and he looks a good player.

[zinedineontour]

He got his passport last year and wants to play for us .. Talked to him last season and he really does want to play for us and was hoping he might get a call from kerr. Very good player who is now adapting well to the premiership .. If only the others around him could do the same !!

[as_i_say]

anyone know how he qualifies?

[Plastic Paddy]

That's good enough for me. Let's get him in the next squad then.

Stan, are you reading this? ;) :D


anyone know how he qualifies?

His mother is Irish AFAIK.

:ball: PP

[zinedineontour]

anyone know how he qualifies?

Yeah his mams Irish ... When he joined sund he got talking to elliott and breen who told him to get his irish passport sorted. Kerr came to watch him once but never but him in the squad .. hopefully stan will give him a run in sweden game ..

[shakermaker1982]

put him in, anything is better than Doherty and Kilbane!

[tetsujin1979]

from http://www.safc.com/news/?page_id=8725
Liam Lawrence hopes to catch the eye of new Republic of Ireland boss Steve Staunton.

Lawrence qualifies to play for Ireland through his grandfather, despite being born of English parents, and hopes to become part of a new chapter in Irish football.

Staunton replaced Brian Kerr as Ireland manager this week and is on the look-out for new players ahead of his first game in charge, against Sweden on March 1.

Lawrence, who scored against Chelsea on Sunday, is ambitious to play international football after establishing himself at the Stadium of Light over the last 18 months.


It would be a fantastic challenge for me. It's important I concentrate on Sunderland but if I do that and play well, I can only improve my chances of playing international football

The Black Cats midfielder has found some form in recent weeks and is hoping it leads to an international chance. He said: "I'd love to be involved with Ireland.

"It's a fresh start for the Ireland national team after appointing Steve Staunton and although I've had no contact with them yet, I've applied for an Irish passport.

"It would be a fantastic challenge for me. It's important I concentrate on my career with Sunderland, but if I do that and I keep playing well, then I can only improve my chances of playing international football."

[Den Perry]

from http://www.safc.com/news/?page_id=8725
Liam Lawrence hopes to catch the eye of new Republic of Ireland boss Steve Staunton.

Lawrence qualifies to play for Ireland through his grandfather, despite being born of English parents, and hopes to become part of a new chapter in Irish football.

Staunton replaced Brian Kerr as Ireland manager this week and is on the look-out for new players ahead of his first game in charge, against Sweden on March 1.

Lawrence, who scored against Chelsea on Sunday, is ambitious to play international football after establishing himself at the Stadium of Light over the last 18 months.



The Black Cats midfielder has found some form in recent weeks and is hoping it leads to an international chance. He said: "I'd love to be involved with Ireland.

"It's a fresh start for the Ireland national team after appointing Steve Staunton and although I've had no contact with them yet, I've applied for an Irish passport.

"It would be a fantastic challenge for me. It's important I concentrate on my career with Sunderland, but if I do that and I keep playing well, then I can only improve my chances of playing international football."

Liam I can arrange the passport thingfor you.....

[Qwerty]

Yeah his mams Irish ... When he joined sund he got talking to elliott and breen who told him to get his irish passport sorted. Kerr came to watch him once but never but him in the squad .. hopefully stan will give him a run in sweden game ..

I think Givens tried to get him into the U21 but he had passport problems back then, that was when he was with Mansfield.

[zinedineontour]

I think Givens tried to get him into the U21 but he had passport problems back then, that was when he was with Mansfield.

Yeah have to say from talking to the lad hes not one of the " I cant get my game for england so ill play for Ireland.. types " he does seem committed and is putting in very decent performances for sund at the moment so should have no problem adapting to international football ..

[Stuttgart88]

Under Kerr, how often if ever did we ever make a substitution whereby we replaced tired legs with an equally capable alternative? Or put it another way, with only one or two exceptions we could almost always predict Kerr's teams.

I felt during the last campaign that Kerr had in mind his first XI and everyone else was peripheral. If he made the call that the rest weren't good enough then that's fine. It's his job as manager to make those calls. Though I still feel that players like Quinn, Steve Reid, Delap (at one point in time anyway) and to a lesser extent McGeady always got a tough time from Kerr whilst others like Miller were extremely fortunate to have kept their places. You could add Harte to the list of "aggrieved" though I have to be honest I wasn't convinced he should have been called back though he did well when he was.

But now, we have credible options in several positions & hopefully KK as a CM isn't considered one of them! Myabe it's tough on Kerr as the likes of Ireland hadn't broken thru, Miller was rotting in MUFC's reserves. But having the likes of Lawrence on board would be great. Competition between he & Andy Reid for example will be a good thing.

[Fergie's Son]

While watching today's Sunderland-WBA game the announcers referred to Liam Lawrence as Irish. The heading under his name noted that he is awaiting a call-up to the Irish squad.

Is he any good? Is this a good call up? What does he offer to Ireland? He played on the right against WBA and looked handy enough. Tough tackler and laid on a nice pass for Le Tallac's goal.

[superfrank]

Holds an Irish paasport, I think he's a second or third generation Irish.

He looks a good player, which is good seen as he's in a struggling team. Scored a cracker against Fulham a while ago. Left-foot volley from the edge of the box, I **** you not.

[Fergie's Son]

So who would he replace on the team? Put another way, what does he offer Ireland?

[tricky_colour]

I guess he offers another 'option' if nothing else if he is eligible and willing to
play.

[Stuttgart88]

Put another way, what does he offer Ireland?
another option.

especially of someone like andy reid is injured / out of form / tired late in a game. we never once used the bench to any effect in the last campaign.

[zinedineontour]

well seeing as andy reid isnt a right footer than it will be good to have a natural right footer in the side .. playing very well at the moment full of confidence and will be very good addition to the squad ..

[Greenbod]

Not Irish in any way either...

He is an Irish passport holder, and as such , has as much right to call himself Irish as any other Irish citizen.

[shakermaker1982]

do we have any right wingers on the books? Not the last time I looked. Steven Reid can play there but much better in the middle of the part.

[NeilMcD]

Young guy called Adolf is a pretty decent right winger.

[shakermaker1982]

haha very good.

So long as it's not some Tory called Maggie from Grantham!!!

[Paddy Garcia]

This guy is playing really well at the moment. Driving Stoke towards the play offs, scoring and making goals.

I cannot understand why he is not given a chance to show what he can do.

[OwlsFan]

This guy is playing really well at the moment. Driving Stoke towards the play offs, scoring and making goals.

I cannot understand why he is not given a chance to show what he can do.

If he is that good why is he playing for Stoke and let go by Sunderland? Very hard to stop the downward spiral once it starts. next we'll be hearing calls to reinstate Mark Kennedy because he scored a good goal for Palace today :rolleyes:

[DmanDmythDledge]

If he is that good why is he playing for Stoke and let go by Sunderland?
By that same logic Thierry Henry is crap because he was deemed good enough by Man Utd scouts when playing for Monaco.

[gustavo]

He was let go not because of footballing reasons but because of "extra curricular" activies with himself and some team mates and a young lady which was subsequently leaked onto the internet.

[OwlsFan]

By that same logic Thierry Henry is crap because he was deemed good enough by Man Utd scouts when playing for Monaco.


Not a good analogy and not only because Man U are not a bigger club that Arsenal in terms of being able to attract players.

I see Lawrence is decribed in Wikipedia as a "porn star" :D He apparently only played in about half of Sunderland's games when they were in the Premiership but I have seen a lot of him in the Championship, where my eyes are directed, and he has impressed when I have seen him. Hopefully he may pull up his trousers and res(e)rect his career.

[bwagner]

Did Stan fall out with this guy??????

[geysir]

Why do you ask???????

[bwagner]

well he called him up for the sweden game ,then never called him up after that.
scored some great goals for sunderland and stoke over the last 2 years

[ifk101]

well he called him up for the sweden game ,then never called him up after that.
scored some great goals for sunderland and stoke over the last 2 years

Don't you know that it's not Stan who picks the squad/team?

[lionelhutz]

Don't you know that it's not Stan who picks the squad/team?

Who picks the team so - his wife??

[ifk101]

Who picks the team so - his wife??

Criteria for selection.

1. You're not from Cork
2. Your name is Stephen or Joe
3. You don't play your football in Ireland
4. You're related to somebody working at the FAI, if 1,2 and 3 don't disqualify you
5. You're on first names basis with Pat Devlin, if 1,2 and 3 don't disqualify you.

[tetsujin1979]

Criteria for selection.
1. You're not from Cork
Stephen Ireland, Liam Miller, Colin Doyle

2. Your name is Stephen or Joe
Please.

3. You don't play your football in Ireland
Joe Gamble, Jason Byrne, Graham Gartland should have been on the plane, there was a call in from a Drogheda official to NewsTalk last night to confirm they did not stop him from leaving, he simply didn't check his messages in time.

[Qwerty]

And we can proudly add Stephen O'Halloran to that list of Corkmen.

[geysir]

Who picks the team so - his wife??

It would be Liam Brady who has the most knowledgeable wife in football.

[RogerMilla]

It would be Liam Brady who has the most knowledgeable wife in football.

tell me more !!

[geysir]

tell me more !!
What track your mind is on? :)
Football matters?

[Paddy Garcia]

Lawrence has played very well indeed in the second half of the season & I believe could well have made a difference in some of the games where we struggled.

He should have been given an opportunity in an earlier friendly.

[ollie]

It would be Liam Brady who has the most knowledgeable wife in football.

I hope your not mixing her up with Karen Brady at Birmingham...?

[irishbaz]

Scored twice last night and appears to be playing te best football of his career at Stoke who are now one point clear at the top of the championship. I think he plays right midfield (dont quote me on it) but he is a serious option for us . He would give a balance to the team with duff or mc geady able to play on the left he can can score goals from that position as well surly along with Clinton must be pushing for a call up!!!!!!

[Rossi]

He is on Soccer AM this morning.Asked Trappatoni to pick him!

[Irish_Praha]

Scored twice last night and appears to be playing te best football of his career at Stoke who are now one point clear at the top of the championship. I think he plays right midfield (dont quote me on it) but he is a serious option for us . He would give a balance to the team with duff or mc geady able to play on the left he can can score goals from that position as well surly along with Clinton must be pushing for a call up!!!!!!

I agree. I wrote this a few weeks ago in another thread but for the right wing we have potentially Miller, Duff, McGeady, the two Reids, Ireland and Lawrence. You could argue that the two Reids, Ireland and Miller look much more comfortable in CMF and should only be played on the right when we have no other options. Also one of Duff and McGeady should be played at LMF with Hunt as back-up. That leaves us with Lawrence competing with Duff or McGeady for RMF. El Trap will probably employ a different system than 4-4-2 without out and out wingers and I'm not sure where that would leave Lawrence but as Baz says he's in great form at the moment and IMO he deserves at least a place in the squad. I reckon he would inject some much-needed energy into the team.

[Noelys Guitar]

He gave up the booze after his son was born last year. Looks a much more complete player now. Good dead ball delivery can score goals and no longer seems to drift out of games. Plus he is bigger than most of our players and uses his size to upset defenders.

[shakermaker1982]

I came in half drunk last night and saw his two goals on SSN. I wake up this morning and he's on Soccer AM! I really hope Stoke go up, a few Irish lads in the side and the more players we can get playing in the PL will be a big help down the line. A few of us on here wanted him in the squad for the Brazil game, good crosser of the ball and puts in some good balls from free kicks and crossers.

[kingdomkerry]

I think any Irish player has to prove himeself in a premier league before being worthy of a place on the team. But i dont see any harm in calling him in to the squad for serbia

[eirebhoy]

12 goals and 15 assists this season!

[Philly]

I think any Irish player has to prove himeself in a premier league before being worthy of a place on the team. But i dont see any harm in calling him in to the squad for serbia

That's not possible though, is it? If that was the sole criteria we used to pick players, we wouldn't be able to fill the bench most days. Liam seems to be playing excellent, why not call him up. He was never really given a shot at it before.

[Stuttgart88]

Definitely deserving of a squad place and possibly even a starter. He's a good player and bigger than most other options. I wonder if he'd be able to play central midfield. He seems a much better all round player than Kilbane for example but with similar physical attributes.

I actually think his teammate Rory Delap is also deserving of a squad place. He can play as a classic "holding" player (aagggh I said it), primarily defensive but giving and taking simple passes, and can cover at RB. Given his physique I've often thought he could play well as a CB.

[Stuttgart88]

I think any Irish player has to prove himeself in a premier league before being worthy of a place on the team. But i dont see any harm in calling him in to the squad for serbiahasn't lawrence already played in the EPL, and done OK too. I see no harm in the better Championship players filling squad places if their form and their role warrant it.