Gibraltar V Republic of Ireland - Saturday, 23rd March 2019 - Euro 2020 Qualifier

[samhaydenjr]

OKay, how about this?

_______________Randolph_______
_____Coleman____ Duffy____Egan
Doherty______________________Brady
_____Hendrick___Browne__O'Dowda__
_________Long_____McGoldrick_____

Coleman and Doherty to exchange positions every so often. Second-half subs (assuming no injuries): Stevens for Brady; Robinson for McGoldrick; and either McClean for O'Dowda or Maguire for Long

[backstothewall]

OKay, how about this?

_______________Randolph_______
_____Coleman____ Duffy____Egan
Doherty______________________Brady
_____Hendrick___Browne__O'Dowda__
_________Long_____McGoldrick_____

Coleman and Doherty to exchange positions every so often. Second-half subs (assuming no injuries): Stevens for Brady; Robinson for McGoldrick; and either McClean for O'Dowda or Maguire for Long

I've said what I've said about Gibraltar but that's very similar to what I would play against Georgia. Robinson would play in place of Curtis if fit but it looks unlikely (and possibly After in place of Hendrick)

________________Randolph_______________
______Coleman____Duffy____Egan_______
Doherty____Hendrick___Browne____Brady __O'Dowda_____McGoldrick_____Curtis__

[pineapple stu]

Not entirely sure a 3-7-0 formation is what's called for against Gibraltar tbh

[samhaydenjr]

I've said what I've said about Gibraltar but that's very similar to what I would play against Georgia. Robinson would play in place of Curtis if fit but it looks unlikely (and possibly After in place of Hendrick)

________________Randolph_______________
______Coleman____Duffy____Egan_______
Doherty____Hendrick___Browne____Brady __O'Dowda_____McGoldrick_____Curtis__

Then I guess my point is that this is still, to a large extent, an untested line-up, so a run-out for this eleven against Gibraltar would be far more beneficial in advance of the Georgia game than playing talented underage players who probably won't be playing high-level first team football for 12-18 months, if ever.

Sidenote: I has dismissed Conor Hourihane as serious contender a midfield role in the upcoming qualifiers, based on a recent game I saw where he was anonymous in an insipid performance by Villa and was substituted to cheers. Today he scored two goals, so what do I know?

[tricky_colour]

Where have we ever seen the likes? How could anyone contemplate something so crazy?

Short memories. (https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/match-reports/wales-4-1-republic-ireland-13204919?_ga=2.36126057.815233527.1551260037-267254142.1510316538)

It's Gibraltar. That side is easily good enough to put 9 past them. I'm suggesting this because we need to get some youth and pace into our side. We've looked utterly turgid since the Euros.

If we invest minutes into these lads now at 17 or 18 their development will benefit tremendously. With any luck by 20 they will be in the team on merit and will hopefully be part of our team for a decade or more to come. Fairly symptomatic of the issues we have been having in recent years that experimenting by giving a debut to a 17 year old kid who seems to be very highly regarded at Bayern Munich is deemed "hallucinogenic", while experimenting by giving a 3rd cap to a 32 year old playing in the English 3rd tier with Millwall is deemed as an entirely sensible approach.


I would not field too weak a team for they might put 9 by us.

[tricky_colour]

I've said what I've said about Gibraltar but that's very similar to what I would play against Georgia. Robinson would play in place of Curtis if fit but it looks unlikely (and possibly After in place of Hendrick)

________________Randolph_______________
______Coleman____Duffy____Egan_______
Doherty____Hendrick___Browne____Brady __O'Dowda_____McGoldrick_____Curtis__

Not sure we should be fielding a 7 man defence with Randolf up front, Gibraltar are not that good.

[mark12345]

OKay, how about this?

_______________Randolph_______
_____Coleman____ Duffy____Egan
Doherty______________________Brady
_____Hendrick___Browne__O'Dowda__
_________Long_____McGoldrick_____

Coleman and Doherty to exchange positions every so often. Second-half subs (assuming no injuries): Stevens for Brady; Robinson for McGoldrick; and either McClean for O'Dowda or Maguire for Long

Swap Stevens for Egan, Crowley for Hendrick and Maguire for Long. Might be a bit harsh on Egan as he is playing really well according to reports. But to keep the balance Stevens with the left foot would be optimal.
At the end of the day I want to see us playing the ball on the floor and this will be a good game to start that practice.
We are going to need goals and three points, but I would like to see, at some stage of this game, the Irish lads try to put together
some cohesive passing moves.

[IsMiseSean]

When is the squad being named?

[TrapAPony]

When is the squad being named?
Thursday

[tetsujin1979]

Randolph/Westwood
Coleman Duffy Egan
Doherty Browne Arter Brady
Hendrick/Hourihane
McGoldrick Maguire

Either/or in goals, I've no preference. Westwood to let him know he's still in the manager's thoughts, Randolph because he hasn't done anything to deserve losing the number 1 jersey. To be perfectly honest if either of them have anything to do for the game, we've bigger problems
Coleman and Doherty to switch, i.e. Coleman pushes up, Doherty goes into defence, and vice versa
Duffy and Egan to do centre half stuff, Duffy the obvious target at set pieces
Browne in the holding role, Arter pushing forward
Brady crossing, because Brady
Either/or in the hole behind the front two. Hourihane in decent form for Villa, Hendrick getting back into the first team at Burnley

[passinginterest]

Most likely team;
Randolph
Coleman, Duffy, Keogh, Brady
Browne, Arter, Hendrick, O'Dowda
Maguire, Long

I don't think there's likely to be any experimentation. It'll be close to full strength and lots of experience. Probably a back 4 with the full-backs pushed right on. Diamond in the middle with Arter holding, Hendrick and Browne in front and O'Dowda floating off the front. Long and Maguire up front.

Hourihane, Doherty and McLean or McGeady will get off the bench. Maybe McGoldrick or Curtis off the bench either.

I just can't see there being any major experimentation. It'll be experience and form, even though it is only Gibraltar. Mick is not there to build anything, it's a one campaign stint, he won't take any chances.

[Kingdom]

Yeah, any bullishness I was having about new personnel is gone, if anything I'm more concerned with comments attributed to him about coleman and doherty.

I think he's going to go with this:

Randz
Coleman, Duffy, Keogh, Stevens
---Hourihane---Arter---Brady
------McGoldrick--McClean----
--------------Long---------------

[Park_Lane]

Randolph
Coleman Duffy Stevens
Williams
Doherty Hendrick Arthur McClean
McGoldrick/Browne
Maguire

Holding Mid needs to be able to pass and set the tempo, until McCarthy is fit, I will go with williams, who is a really nice passer of the ball. Stevens and coleman in the three is controversial but Stevens has being played there for SU recently and his is a really good footballer in decent form. You have to have Doherty in his best position! Arthur in with Hendrick as I dont trust Jeff beside anyone who doesnt work. Brady in and out of Burnleys team so have left him out.

[DeLorean]

Amond and Collins set to be including in Mick's provisional squad today, according to John Fallon - https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/padraig-amond-and-james-collins-to-get-the-nod-as-mick-mccarthy-names-first-ireland-squad-37887772.html

[DeLorean]

And Dan McDonnell predicts the squad - https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/daniel-mcdonnell-mick-mccarthys-squad-to-highlight-continued-importance-of-the-tried-and-trusted-37883778.html


Daniel McDonnell's Ireland squad

Goalkeepers: Darren Randolph, Keiren Westwood, Caoimhin Kelleher
Defenders: Seamus Coleman, Matt Doherty, Enda Stevens, Cyrus Christie, Shane Duffy, Ciaran Clark, Kevin Long, John Egan
Midfielders: James McClean, Callum O'Dowda, Jeff Hendrick, Robbie Brady, Alan Browne, Conor Hourihane, Shaun Williams, Alan Judge, Daryl Horgan, Harry Arter
Strikers: Shane Long, David McGoldrick, Seán Maguire, Aiden O'Brien, James Collins, Ronan Curtis

[TrapAPony]

Amond and Collins set to be including in Mick's provisional squad today, according to John Fallon - https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/padraig-amond-and-james-collins-to-get-the-nod-as-mick-mccarthy-names-first-ireland-squad-37887772.html

League 1 is bad enough but Amond is 31 in April and playing in League 2. Sure he got the odd goal in the FA Cup, but it is atrocious stuff, whether provisional squad or not, to be calling up a player from that league. It is setting the bar at an extremely low level altogether. I'll believe it when I see it.

[DeLorean]

League 1 is bad enough but Amond is 31 in April and playing in League 2. Sure he got the odd goal in the FA Cup but it is atrocious stuff whether provisional squad or not to be calling up a player from that league. It is setting the bar at an extremely low level altogether.

I'm not sure John Fallon has got much right recently.

[TrapAPony]

I'm not sure John Fallon has got much right recently.

Just by him mentioning that McCarthy could turn to Richard Stearman tells me that he hasn't a clue.

[Diggs246]

Just by him mentioning that McCarthy could turn to Richard Stearman tells me that he hasn't a clue.

Its fake news. No chance of that.

[TrapAPony]

https://foot.ie/attachment.php?attachmentid=2775&stc=1

[DeLorean]

38 players. Okay, that doesn't tell us much.

[tetsujin1979]

Bloody hell. That's actually depressing.

[TrapAPony]

38 players. Okay, that doesn't tell us much.

Almost exact same players as before. No additions, nothing. There is nobody 'new' there that will make any sort of a difference whatsoever.

[DeLorean]

Almost exact same players as before. No additions, nothing. There is nobody 'new' there that will make any sort of a difference whatsoever.

I wasn't really expecting much else, given our potential recruits are all works in progress. I thought it might be a smaller provisional squad though so we'd get an idea of the way he's thinking, but there are literally no exclusions worth mentioning? Maybe Liam Kelly, at a push, but he's barely making Reading squads.

[Kingdom]

GK: (3) Randolph, Westie, Kelleher;
FB: (3) Coleman, Doherty, Stevens;
CB: (4) Duffy, Egan, Long, Dunne
DM: (2) Arter, Williams
Wing: (3) McGeady, Horgan, McClean;
CM/AM: (6) Judge, Hendrick, Browne, Brady, O'Dowda, McGoldrick;
ST: (3) Maguire, Collins, Curtis;

Total: 24.

I'm justifying the above with the following logic:
1 recognised left-back in Stevens, given Brady and McClean's versatility. Doherty has to be considered a right-wing also. With regard to the strikers, we need strikers who can score goals. Long is not scoring goals. neither is O'Brien. I don't consider McGoldrick a striker, he's a link man who scores goals. Horgan is playing well. If I was to drop 1 to make a 23, I'd probably drop McGeady. I think the above squad I've whittled down, gives plenty of options to vary the tactics too. I'm assuming greg cunningham is still injured.

From that I'd go with:

vGib:

------------------Westwood--------------
--------Coleman---Duffy---Stevens----
-------------------Williams----------------
Doherty----------Browne--------Horgan
----------ODowda-------McGoldrick-----
-------------------Maguire-----------------

vs Geo:

------------------Westwood--------------
Coleman-----Duffy----Egan-----Stevens
-------------------Williams----------------
Doherty----------Browne--------ODowda
-----------------McGoldrick----------------
-------------------Maguire-----------------

[TrapAPony]

Bamford says he wants to join up according to Mick and he is expected in the June squad.

[Kingdom]

Bamford and Crowley improve the squad in a positive way in an attacking sense. In that regard, you'd have to be fearful for someone like Judge, or Hourihane, if you're weighing up possible replacements.

[TrapAPony]

Bamford and Crowley improve the squad in a positive way in an attacking sense.

Robinson and Obafemi to come back too. Attacking options will be grand when all fit and available.

[Kingdom]

Robinson and Obafemi to come back too. Attacking options will be grand when all fit and available.

We've not seen much from Obafemi to justify the hype - yet. I haven't anyway. Robinson has looked good in a green jersey, because he wants to get on the ball and attack defenders. Bamford potentially is the wild-card.

I suppose it will be interesting to see what style of play he employs. We'll get an idea from his midfield choices. I saw quotes attributed to him saying he won't pick Doherty and Coleman, therefore I'd assume he won't play with wingers, because Doherty is the only one you could put wide right at the moment.
In that situation is he expected to play 2 up top and have the runners coming from central areas. between centre back and full back rather than outside the full-back. Interesting times.

eg:

------------------------Maguire-------------------------

-------Bamford------------------------R/son/McG-------
^^^^ ^^^^
-----------------Browne-------Hendrick-----------------
^^^------------------Williams-----------------------^^^
Stevens-----------------------------------------Coleman

[Park_Lane]

Crowley worth checking out. Maybe Graham Carey at plymouth but he seems to have gone off the boil lately, over 30 also.

The short termism of McCarthys contract is going to lead to him taking a short term view with regards to recruits, asking players to pro long careers and blooding young players. Its not his fault really. We wanted a revolution but this will have to be postponed until Kenny takes over.

Looking at the squad briefly, I'd cull Meyler, Whelan, Keogh, Almond, Mcgeady, Hogan straight away.

surprised Josh didnt get a mention!

[backstothewall]

Republic of Ireland Provisional Squad

Goalkeepers: Darren Randolph (Middlesbrough), Keiren Westwood (Sheffield Wednesday), Caoimhin Kelleher (Liverpool), Kieran O'Hara (Macclesfield Town*), Mark Travers (Bournemouth)

Defenders: Seamus Coleman (Everton), Matt Doherty (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Cyrus Christie (Fulham), Richard Keogh (Derby County), John Egan (Sheffield United), Shane Duffy (Brighton & Hove Albion), Kevin Long (Burnley), Jimmy Dunne (Sunderland*), Enda Stevens (Sheffield United), Derrick Williams (Blackburn Rovers), Stephen Ward (Burnley)

Midfielders: Aiden McGeady (Sunderland), Alan Judge (Ipswich Town), James McCarthy (Everton), Jeff Hendrick (Burnley), Conor Hourihane (Aston Villa), Alan Browne (Preston North End), Harry Arter (Cardiff City*), Glenn Whelan (Aston Villa), David Meyler (Coventry City*), Shaun Williams (Millwall), Robbie Brady (Burnley), Callum O'Dowda (Bristol City), James McClean (Stoke City), Daryl Horgan (Hibernian)

Forwards: Shane Long (Southampton), Sean Maguire (Preston North End), Ronan Curtis (Portsmouth), Scott Hogan (Sheffield United*), Aiden O'Brien (Millwall), David McGoldrick (Sheffield United), James Collins (Luton Town), Padraig Amond (Newport County)

[Olé Olé]

A lot more League One and Two than I would like.

[IsMiseSean]

That forward line is depressing.

[backstothewall]

That forward line is depressing.

I don't see that some of those guys offer more than the likes of Parrott or Idah. Are League 1 & 2 really a better standard than Premier League 2?

[TerryPhelan]

I gather Parrott is injured and has been ruled out of selection for the u21s. No idea about Idah.

[Kingdom]

Onloy thing I'd say about Parrott, is that he could suffer physically just now.

[tetsujin1979]

Have to imagine at least one of them will be named in the under 21 squad, and if not there they'll have to be in the under 19 squad for the elite qualifiers starting on the 20th

[backstothewall]

Onloy thing I'd say about Parrott, is that he could suffer physically just now.

He might. It's a risk.

But then Again. He might not. There is only one way to find out.

Sadly I'm old enough to remember the last time Mick was faced with this situation. Aldo and Cass had gobe and there was talk of call ups for guys like Sean Devine or Lee Trundle who were scoring goals down the divisions. In the end Mick didn't go down that path and instead gave caps to kids like David Connolly, Keith O'Neill and Robbie Keane.

If ever there was a game when on paper it looked like a young forward might get kicked out of it it was April 22nd 1998. Argentina came to the old Lansdowne Road a 17 year old Robbie Keane made his home debut up front alongside Quinner. Argentina had Nelson Vivas, Roberto Sensini and Roberto Ayala in defence, none of whom were likely to allow themselves to be embarrassed because they went easy on some punk kid.

Robbie tortured them. Ortega was unplayable and the Argies beat us 2-0, but the next day the guy people were talking about was a scrawny teenager who looked like he was going home to finish his homework after the match.

[Eminence Grise]

OK, not much to get excited about there. It seems we're going be going game to game for a while. I think L2, and even L1, should be no-go areas unless there is an outstanding young prospect ripping it up. Still: are Collins and Amond capable of scoring against Gibraltar? I think so. Is Dunne good enough to help shut them out? Yes. Like his first stint I think there'll be a utilitarian approach (Dave Savage, Liam Daish!) until Mick can integrate three or four good prospects and ease out older or lower standard players. I'd hope that by the end of the year we'll see three or four players (Obafemi, Crowley, Bamford, and a wild card) with four or five caps apiece.

[backstothewall]

Robbie's highlights
https://youtu.be/WHjr4arcEp8

Interview with him and Mick after the game
https://youtu.be/qNp--iX8FWQ

[mark12345]

Randolph

Coleman Duffy Stevens
Doherty Browne Arter Brady
Maguire McGoldrick O'Dowda

Plenty of attacking intent there, I would say.

[centre mid]

The Defence and Midfield are reasonable ok, its a shame Obafemi is out as he is something different upfront to what we've had for a while, a bit of pace

[nigel-harps1954]

I don't see that some of those guys offer more than the likes of Parrott or Idah. Are League 1 & 2 really a better standard than Premier League 2?

The difference is they're playing senior football. They're playing in front of crowds, and they're playing competitively.

[Razors left peg]

He might. It's a risk.

But then Again. He might not. There is only one way to find out.

Sadly I'm old enough to remember the last time Mick was faced with this situation. Aldo and Cass had gobe and there was talk of call ups for guys like Sean Devine or Lee Trundle who were scoring goals down the divisions. In the end Mick didn't go down that path and instead gave caps to kids like David Connolly, Keith O'Neill and Robbie Keane.

If ever there was a game when on paper it looked like a young forward might get kicked out of it it was April 22nd 1998. Argentina came to the old Lansdowne Road a 17 year old Robbie Keane made his home debut up front alongside Quinner. Argentina had Nelson Vivas, Roberto Sensini and Roberto Ayala in defence, none of whom were likely to allow themselves to be embarrassed because they went easy on some punk kid.

Robbie tortured them. Ortega was unplayable and the Argies beat us 2-0, but the next day the guy people were talking about was a scrawny teenager who looked like he was going home to finish his homework after the match.

Im pretty sure Robbie was in the Wolves first team by then

[SkStu]

He was - and had scored quite a few of his 11 Championship goals that season at that point

[pineapple stu]

I wasn't really expecting much else, given our potential recruits are all works in progress. I thought it might be a smaller provisional squad though so we'd get an idea of the way he's thinking, but there are literally no exclusions worth mentioning? Maybe Liam Kelly, at a push, but he's barely making Reading squads.
I'd agree with that.

I'd be more interested to see what differences there are between Mick's Ireland and Martin's Ireland. We know we don't have much strength in depth these days - but the style of play under O'Neill was surely the biggest bone of contention.

Going to be hard to judge that against Gibraltar, with all respect to them, but still, I think it'll be the first real point of interest, not the new call-ups

[Fizzer]

Glenn Whelan’s a bit of a surprise is he? Mick must be a bit worried about McCarthy’s lack of games and Ater’s form.
I think if you’re not going to use the game to blood fresh faces then it’s one to play form players in.Might be made for McGeady, O’Dowda and even Amond.

[backstothewall]

He was in the Wolves team, and if we had someone of that age in that position I'd be suggesting they play. But we don't.

He got his chance because Steve Bull got injured and he grabbed it with both hands. But do you guys think it would have made any difference if he hadn't been in the Wolves team? Hypothetically if Steve Bull hadn't been injured should Mick have played Sean Devine against Argentina or gone with the kid from Wolves Reserves?

Personally I think Robbie was ready at 17. I think he would have played the same game no matter what. Watching it back he had no ringcraft to his game at all at that age. He was getting by based on God given talent and running around like a headless Duracell bunny

The hardest thing for a talented kid that age to get in today's game is a chance to show how good they are. I don't think we have to wait for the modern equivalent of Steve Bull getting injured. The one advantage we have being a small country is that we can give their career a bit of a leg up ourselves.

Say we are well ahead against Gibraltar and we put Idah on at half time. Even if he doesn't do much it'll get a write up in the local paper over there. The club will post about it on their social media. Daniel Farke will be asked if he will get a chance in the team between now and the end of the season. It all just moves him that bit closer to the front of the queue.

We might have to kiss a few frogs before we find our prince but in life you have to give fate a chance to intervene.

[Olé Olé]

Only realising now reading an article on the 42 that Darragh Lenihan and Greg Cunningham didn't make the cut. Surprised with both. Derrick Williams doesn't get a run at Blackburn.

[samhaydenjr]

Republic of Ireland Provisional Squad

Goalkeepers: Darren Randolph (Middlesbrough), Keiren Westwood (Sheffield Wednesday), Caoimhin Kelleher (Liverpool), Kieran O'Hara (Macclesfield Town*), Mark Travers (Bournemouth)

I guess I stand corrected on my earlier "never win anything with kids" attitude, well as far as the keepers are concerned anyway (plus maybe Jimmy Dunne)


That forward line is depressing.

Yeah, it's quite frustrating, as it feels like we're close to having an embarrassment of riches - if it wasn't for injury (Obafemi, Robinson, Keane, Maguire during the Nations League), goalscoring droughts of talented strikers (Long, Hogan), starting the paperwork too late (Bamford, Keane), players only finding real form in the second half of their careers (Collins, Amond) and talented youngsters not quite being ready yet (Parrott, Idah, Connolly, Afolabi, McAuley, Cassidy, Roache, Keena, Oko-Flex if he comes on board)


Only realising now reading an article on the 42 that Darragh Lenihan and Greg Cunningham didn't make the cut. Surprised with both. Derrick Williams doesn't get a run at Blackburn.

Lenihan out injured until after the international break: https://www.lancs.live/sport/football/football-news/blackburn-rovers-boss-gives-injury-15904631