team v Croatia

[drummerboy]

Kenny:
Finnan, Breen, Dunne, O’Shea
Miller, Kavanagh, Kilbane, Duff
Keane, Elliott

It will be interesting to see who will captain the team?

[Condex]

It will be interesting to see who will captain the team?

I would think it would be Kilbane...

[JimmyP]

Breen over Cunningham?
Thought Breen was awful in the Bulgaria game.
I thought Miller was starting centre mid?

[Schumi]

I thought Miller was starting centre mid?
He's well down the pecking order for centre midfield and we're a bit short on the right so it makes more sense to try him on the right.

[tetsujin1979]

Good to see Elliott starting, with any luck McGeady will play right midfield. I've seen him play once already for Celtic, so it's Elliott I'm really excited about.

[roboyle]

I know friendlies are a chance to experiment but am I alone in thinking that playing Breen has little or no value towards preparing for later qualifiers or potentially the World Cup... I thought the Doc was better than Breen when he came on against Bulgaria (??) and Dunne, OBrien and Cunningham would be the top three in the pecking order (with Doc as the emergency fourth choice)???

[tetsujin1979]

I know friendlies are a chance to experiment but am I alone in thinking that playing Breen has little or no value towards preparing for later qualifiers or potentially the World Cup... I thought the Doc was better than Breen when he came on against Bulgaria (??) and Dunne, OBrien and Cunningham would be the top three in the pecking order (with Doc as the emergency fourth choice)???

To be fair to Breen (now there's something I never thought I'd say!) he is playing first team football for Sunderland, whereas the Doc is keeping the bench warm for Norwich lately.

[drummerboy]

The Doc is not even on the bench at Norwich. Not sure what has happened there but young Bently was suspended for a training ground prank that went wrong, maybe the Doc was also involved and has also been benched.

[roboyle]

To be fair to Breen (now there's something I never thought I'd say!) he is playing first team football for Sunderland, whereas the Doc is keeping the bench warm for Norwich lately.

Yeah that's fair enough - one of the lads here at work just told me he was MOTM at the wekeend too...

[Irish_Praha]

Yeah we have to have some extra options if both O'Brien and Cunningham are injured/suspended somewhere down the line. Giving these two a run out together is not such a bad idea but Breen shouldn't get anywhere near the pitch if we have no injuries for a competitive game.

[tetsujin1979]

The Doc is not even on the bench at Norwich. Not sure what has happened there but young Bently was suspended for a training ground prank that went wrong, maybe the Doc was also involved and has also been benched.

He didn't want to do some training exercise, so he did a Peter Kay Smith's beer ad on it, hoofed it across the training ground. Noone knows if he said "'ave it" though ;) Manager wasn't too impressed so he got dropped for 2 games. Dunno if Doc was involved, I'd guess not, he's known for not stepping out of line. I only noticed today Helveg is kept on the bench too, World Cups, European Cups, Champion's League with AC Milan, and he can't get on for Norwich?? What's going on there??

[iasc1]

i would like to see miller moved into the middle of the park when mcgeady comes on, duff and mcgeady as wingers sounds a very interesting prospect, with keane and elliott up front, good for the future.

[eirebhoy]

I'd love to see the midfield line looking like this:

Miller----Kavanagh---Kilbane
----------Duffer-----------
----Elliott-----Keane-------

Lads. Other than Cunningham, Breen is the only No.1 centre half (organiser) in the squad so has to play if you want to see Dunne at his best. Dunne needs a No.1 beside him (just like O'Brien) and if Kerr feels Cunningham needs a rest Breen is the only other option. No matter how little you rate Breen, we'd be destroyed with a centre half partership of O'Brien-Dunne even though they are better technically than Breen.

The No.1 centre half is probably the most important player on the pitch and neither Dunne, Doc or O'Brien are anywhere near No.1's. Sometimes, no matter how experienced you are you'll never become a No.1, ask Phil Babb. ;)

[zinedineontour]

yeah was at the sunderland leicester game at the weekend and Breeno was outstanding . Makes he huge difference when in the sunderland side. Never let Ireland down and deffo a better option than the likes of Doherty ..

[eirebhoy]

BTW. I've absolutely no doubt that for these qualifiers unless there's a huge downturn in form, if Cunningham is ever out injured Breen will be his replacement, if O'Brien is ever out injured Dunne will be his replacement.

[Adrianovic]

I'm quite happy with that team, it does what it needs to do. Experiments but gives some old heads a run out and a bit of the main team too.

Roll on the game.

Ade

[Slash/ED]

I thought he said Miller would start in central mid field? :confused: I'm disappointed not to see him there. Would have liked to have seen McGeady start too.

[eirebhoy]

I thought he said Miller would start in central mid field? :confused: I'm disappointed not to see him there. Would have liked to have seen McGeady start too.
Something like this comes up every time we play. :) We don't know what position the players will be playing until the match kicks off. For all we know Paddy Kenny could be playing up front. ;) I have a feeling the midfield will line out as I have it in a previous post.

[Slash/ED]

Something like this comes up every time we play. :) We don't know what position the players will be playing until the match kicks off. For all we know Paddy Kenny could be playing up front. ;) I have a feeling the midfield will line out as I have it in a previous post.

He's still on the right in that team too :D

[eirebhoy]

He's still on the right in that team too :D
Just to make it clearer I'll do the full team I'd like to see line out:

-----------------Kenny--------------------

Finnan-------Breen-----Dunne-------O'Shea

--------Miller---Kavanagh---Kilbane---------

------------------Duff----------------------
---------Elliott-----------Keane-------------

Just like Brazil!!! ;)

[Irish_Praha]

It could be a MF of:
Duff ----- Miller-----Kav------ Kilbane
I hope not though

[skbio_toronto]

I'm excited at the prospect of young Elliot's first run out in a senior international. He's a similar build to Robbie, but going on the admittedly limited visual evidence I've seen, he's a damn sight better at holding up the ball and linking the play. None of those useless step overs that Robbie (as we all know) uses far too much.

Kerr has also seen fit to give fiert choice reserve players such as Kenny, Dunne and Killer Kavanagh.

No complaints here. Kerr has chosen pretty much the same 11 I would have gone along with. As for Gary Breen begrudgers out there. Keeping in mind his general performance level for Ireland and the fact he's now 4th choice should be heeded.

SKBIO-TOR

[eirebhoy]

Kerr's going with the team I have up there. 3 in midfield with Duffer behind the front two. Should be interesting.

Kilbane is captain.

[iasc1]

Pretty poor game, thought Finnan, Miller and Duff played very well, Elliott did well on his debut. Thought Kavanagh had a poor game

[eirebhoy]

Thought Kavanagh had a poor game
Its pretty hard to be impressed with the holding midfielder in Kerr's team because he doesn't do much of note. We haven't been impressed with Holland or Keane in that role since Kerr took over. He did the job that was asked and that is all he can do. Also, you have to bare in mind that he never plays the holding midfield role for Cardiff.

[Slash/ED]

One thing is frustrating me about Kerr, why does he treat these friendlys like competitive games? Okay, he tried a new formation, but giving McGeady only around 2 minutes was stupid. It should be about blooding these players, now look what will happen come the next competitive match if McGeady is playing well at club level we wont be able to pick him as people will bemoan his 'lack of international experience'. Thought the formation, the way he laid it out, was odd too. Elliot on the right with Keane in the middle didn't make too much sense for me, Keane is the man who likes to drop deep and Elliot is an out and out goal scorer who at times was playing right back. It wasn't fair on Elliot imo, though he did well in spite of it, shouldn't have come off.

I also find it worrying how high up Quinn and Barrett are in the pecking order. Both have been rejects by poor first division sides and aren't exactly starring in the lower leagues as it is, they shouldn't be near the team and if we have a few injuries and have to rely on these, I wont be happy.

On the plus side mind you, Miller impressed me. Some superb passing, he's the best passer in our mid field and is very creative. Would have liked to have seen him be a bit more physical, but his technique is excellent. Finnan and Duff played well too, O'Shea was either poor or superb, his performance went so up and down, but it was mostly a flat and very poor game where neither side played near their potential. Still, we beat a decent team, so you can't complain too much.

[Condex]

Kenny - looked very dodgy in goals,callup Stack

O'Shea - Poor
Finnan - Excellent
Miller - Very good second half
Dunne - A few stray passes but otherwise very good

Kavanagh - like an Italian tank has only got a reverse gear
Keane - His usual scored scored a goal caught off side a lot, fell over a lot
no good one on one with the keeper.

Elliott - Ran around all night & good controol was much better than Keane

[thejollyrodger]

well it is a friendly in the middle of no where in terms of fixtures for either team so I dont think either team would would be really pushing the boat out.

I thought Miller did very well. He gave the ball away on a few occasions and had that "over awed" look at the start. But he looks very creative and set Duff up for his run. I think he just needs more games at the higher level.

Robbie was unlucky about the offside's . I think he could have got another one. Still needs to work on the 1on1 keeper.

Dunne played well, just his concentration is the problem.