Is this the weakest Irish team in memory?

[nigel-harps1954]

Why do they have to be Premier League players though? The fact is that some of our Championship players are better than their Premier League equivalents, and this has been the case for a few years. We don't have such a high class of player that we can make the distinction.

Basically pointing out that people have been saying we have so little players playing in the Premier League when in fact we could almost put out two teams of Premier League players. The fact of the matter is, playing regularly at a higher standard has to be looked at seriously.



There's very little difference between that team and the team that started against the Faroes


Westwood
Coleman O'Dea O'Shea Wilson
McGeady Andrews McCarthy Brady
Walters Keane

As Paul pointed out, there's 5 differences. O'Dea being a particular weak link makes a big difference. Jurys out on Keane at this stage, but all being said and done, Long is a better option now.


Sweden in particular is a very bold statement and probably Austria too - who are getting better.

It's a bold statement surely, but I stand by it.


I meant in terms of talent or ability.
It's hard to compare Westwood and Bunn at the moment
I'd pick Dunne over O'Dea, although he was injured at the time and probably would have started otherwise
Brady over McClean, clearly has offered more in the last few games
Gibson over Andrews, although he was injured at the time and probably wouldn't have been in the squad anyway
It's a judgement call between Keane and Long right now

Basically, the biggest difference between the side nigel picked and the side Trapattoni sent out is Gibson

I did say it's a potential team.

[SkStu]

That's my whole point. The pool of players we have to choose from is the weakest I've seen since I started watching the Irish team in the 80s.

But wouldn't that be in almost exact sequence with the Bosman ruling and the subsequent influx of "foreigners" into English football? And this influx has not slowed down, in fact it has increased to the point that discussion is around how it has damaged the english player pool. In other words, we can no longer expect to have high numbers of regular premiership starters, our players have been and will now be predominantly a mix of premier and championship. Our players will not be as high profile as they once were - I think it's inevitable that this happened and its not necessarily a reflection that our pool are "less talented". They're just in a pool of wider/greater talent.

In short, it's a bit of a lame debate or point to discuss. I think we have kept our talent level pretty close to what it has been in the past (with fewer exceptional players but more depth in our quality) but we will never again have a manager refuse to pick players who weren't playing regular, first team, premiership football, as was Jack Charltons mandate once upon a time.

[Murfinator]

The FAI are a joke of an organisation who couldn't organize a booze up in a brewery.

A sinking ship? Are you sure about that? I expect the Premier League to get even better with the new TV deal kicking in and more players like Suarez coming to England to make the big money. How much money would a player like Stephen Ireland be on if he was with a German team? Maybe half?

Not necessarily a sinking ship financially but certainly as a major force in the European game.

It's a bit of a false premise to say more money will fix the EPL's problems, the richest clubs in Europe at the moment are the likes of Anzhi, Man City, PSG and Galatasary. None of them particularly successful at developing players. If anything clubs having less money to spend might benefit the EPL teams, being forced to develop their grassroots rather than import their entire squad. It'd be something if the Irish lads were getting to play alongside and against the best players in the world but that isn't happening either. It's becoming a bit embarrassing now with the EPL becoming a dumping ground for failed La Liga and Bundesliga talent (Cazorla, Arteta, Almunia, Holtby, Mertesacker, Podolski, Michu, Huth etc) while the likes of Goetze, Reus, Hummels, Kroos, Messi, Munian, delfouneso, alba, Draxler, Bender twins etc are streamlined on a path towards becoming the worlds best.

We've almost all our lads coming through a country with a notoriously poor youth and development system, playing with and against mediocre talent and lining their pockets at such a rate it discourages them from going somewhere else with a better footballing landscape. The leagues in Portugal, Spain, Germany, Holland and France especially continue to churn out top quality young players year after year, players who can actually compete at the highest level and master the art of complex skills such as passing a ball. It'd be so much more beneficial for us in the long run if incentives were given to young players to aim for those academies.

I don't really know how the FAI expects to fix the problem, sit around and wait/hope for the English FA to fix their problem (the same problem) and leech off the results if they work?