Elliot

[liam88]

Were you impressed?
I know he takes Robbie's place but would it work with him and Robbie up front at all? Mabye something to try in a friendly?

[Neish]

Was very impressed with his preformance tonight. Don't know if he would be able to play with Robbie Keane up front as they play the same position. But agree it should be tried mayb against Italy.

[Dawn_Run]

Was very impressed with his preformance tonight. Don't know if he would be able to play with Robbie Keane up front as they play the same position. But agree it should be tried mayb against Italy.

Elliot is versatile - that partnership would work imo. Defo bring him in in place of Clinton on last nights performance. Elliot had an alright first half but in the second half he was outstanding from the get-go. Didint stop running, chased balls down, battled for every ball, nicked the ball off defenders numerous times. Granted the opposition wasnt quality but it still needed to be done.

As for Morrison, deserves to be dropped for the offsides alone. Its pointless having someone up there that is going to stop every forward move before it starts by being offside. Someone teach him to take a look across the line...please.

Clinton needs to be kept on his toes and I think Elliot is the man to do it. Its good to have competition for such a position.

[Stuttgart88]

I thought he recovered very well from a poor first half (hardly his fault though - he barely saw the ball).

That run in the second half when the 'keeper saved it showed how much potential he has.

[onenilgameover]

I was very impressed..so no reason why kerr didn't swap him for keane on sat. Well done Stephen on a deserved MOTM. Well done Ireland too in what looked like dire condtions

[carnstien]

Guys it was against the Faroe Islands, you would expect him to be "impressive".

And in fairness he didn't exactly do anything out of the ordinary, he did well for the penalty but had two woeful misses in the first half, I'd hardly be lumping for him to take Clintons place just yet.

[NeilMcD]

I thought his attitude was spot on and it was a step above the rest of the team. He looked fresh and busy while others looked sluggish. I would very rarely blame a player for missing a chance. He should have scored but the most important thing was he did not think about it. he did not let it go to his head and his attitude in the second half was spot on as was his work rate. I think if Brian Kerr had of gone with him on Saturday instead of Kavanagh we would have had 3 points IMO. I am not so sure that Robbie and himself woudl work together and I do think Clinton is better against better opposition but he is not getting games for Birmingham and unless that changes I think Elliot will be putting serious threat for his place come the World Cup if we qualify.

[fosterdollar]

Credit where it's due to Elliot. Fair enough the opposition wasn't great but that didn't make Duff, Keane or Kilbane look any better, for example. On the contrary, in fact. He put in a hearty performance albeit one you would expect from someone trying to vie for a place in the team, coming from a second rate EPL club. His miss was terrible to see at the time but that was further to our bad luck at the weekend and the way last night's match (looked like it) was turning out. In fairness, looking back you can see that he was reaching slightly right for the rebound and his weight had allready moved in front of the ball. It was inevitable he was going to send the ball high and right. On another day he would have scored. Those chances are 50/50 at the best of times.

[tiktok]

Guys it was against the Faroe Islands, you would expect him to be "impressive".

You's expect them all to be impressive against the Faroes, but they weren't.
IMO Elliot is the only one that impressed.
Morrison for the record, was sh!te against the Faroes

[tetsujin1979]

You's expect them all to be impressive against the Faroes, but they weren't.
IMO Elliot is the only one that impressed.
Morrison for the record, was sh!te against the Faroes

That's a little unfair on Clinton, one offside goal that was a dodgy decision, one snapshot the keeper did well to get down to stop on the line, and got caught offside a lot. He was probably shattered after the weekend's game. Doc didn't do much more than him when he came on.

[eirebhoy]

Aye, lets not go overboard on the praise for Elliott. He had an excellent 45 minutes but he's not gonna start against France.

[NeilMcD]

Who is been over board here. I thoght it was an impressive debut and his attitude stood out above the other players IMO. He wont start against the French of course unless Robbie is injured but the point is now that Kerr should not be reluctant to throw him in instead of Robbie rather than go for Duff upfront. Elliot is a better striker and forward than Duff is.

[pete]

Morrison for the record, was sh!te against the Faroes

I didn't see the game last night but we all know Morrisson is a one trick pony. Sometimes he does that trick very well.

[fosterdollar]

Who is been over board here. I thoght it was an impressive debut and his attitude stood out above the other players IMO. He wont start against the French of course unless Robbie is injured but the point is now that Kerr should not be reluctant to throw him in instead of Robbie rather than go for Duff upfront. Elliot is a better striker and forward than Duff is.

This is absolutely spot on.

[eirebhoy]

Who is been over board here. I thoght it was an impressive debut and his attitude stood out above the other players IMO. He wont start against the French of course unless Robbie is injured but the point is now that Kerr should not be reluctant to throw him in instead of Robbie rather than go for Duff upfront. Elliot is a better striker and forward than Duff is.
Someone above said we should bring him in place of Morrison. Anyway, I've seen Elliott play 6 or 7 times now and knew what he was like. I was about to come down here at half time and say that performance is the reason Kerr didn't put him on on Saturday (he hadn't started a game in 2 and a half months because of bad form). He was woeful in the first half (it always seems harsh saying things like that about someone on their first comp. start but its true). He rarely passed it to an Irish jersey. A lot of people wouldn't have noticed this as we were all concentrating on someone scoring but my brother was roaring his head off at him and Morrison. Actually, my brother wanted him off the pitch at half time.

He certainly made up for it in the second half though and deserves a lot of credit for coming back from that first half and deserved MOM.

[NeilMcD]

I thought he was decent in the first half, He played a nice ball through to Morrison in the first half but Morrison was offside. I thought he had a few nice touches and he movement and effort were excellent. I have seen him a good few times too both in the flesh and on tv. I think he has potential but I dont think him and robbie would work together at all. Our team lacks physical presence as it is and Robbie and Elliot upfront would be dominated in the air by most international teams. Hopefully Morrisson will have got 1st team football in August and by the time of the French game he will have confidence as he has been good so far in the early parts of this group. He was woeful last night but so were lots of players. But 3 points is 3 points. I think the reason people are concentrating on Elliot is due to the fact the rest of the teanm were so bad. He was the one bright spark.

[Stuttgart88]

Was poor form the reason Mick dropped / rested Elliott? I thought that given the importance of some of the games in the closing stgaes of the season, and after they had a bit of a wobble, I thought he just opted for the experience of Deane, Stewart etc.

Elliott actually came off the bench to instant effect against Ipswich away. A long ball to Deane was spotted immediately by Elliott who ran 20 yards to get to where exactly the ball dropped. It looked like a simple tap-in but he read the situation brillianly.

His goal at West ham was quality & he had a great effort well saved before that.

I agree he struggled to make any impact in first 45 minutes last night but the circumstances were entirely different. We really struggled to retain any meaningful possession & he was feeding off scraps at best.

[stojkovic]

Where are all those guys who said Elliot should not have come on, on Saturday ?

I know its only the Faroes, but he would have done better than Duff against Israel.

[FarBeag]

Yeah..Elliot did play better in the second half and deserved his MOTM performance simply for getting the ball rolling with his determination and will to win, but if any other of the more established players played anywhere near their potential i don't think he would have earned that tag.He is a great find and with a few runs in the premiership assuming he plays fairly regulary should be even a better situation for us.I also think we are being a little harsh on Morrison,he is no Henry but he does run his socks off and has scored a few important ones for us in this campaign.He was also Knackered like every other player there yesterday so i would continue with Clinton with Elliot waiting on the line if he is Sh*te.

[Reality Bites]

The big thing that stood out for me with Elliot in the second half was his Pace, he was leaving the backs for dead on several occasions and picking up balls and passes that would have over stretched most, Early days yet but as they say a truly great striker needs that yard of pace, Elliot may just have this. Did we ever have a striker with speed??

[Tipp Townie]

Doc didn't do much more than him when he came on.

I didnt think Doc did ANYTHING when he came on!

[Adrianovic]

Although it is hard to judge on last night's performance given the quality of the opposition and the quality of football that Ireland played, he looked encouraging and now, without doubt, should have been brought on for Robbie.

I think he did the off the ball things well, the running was superb and he made the most of trying to steal a march on the Faroes defence, whereas maybe others would have lacked the invention. OK, the miss was a glaring one, but hopefully that will never happen again and he did as well as possible with the run and shot saved by the keeper.

Obviously though, not worrying Clinton too much just yet. For the next qualifying campaign I think we will see more of Elliott at the forefront.

For what its worth, I believe Reid would have ran Elliott very close for that MOTM award. He was our only outlet going forward and it was Reid's effort which led to the keeper spilling to Elliott. Maybe this puts the fitness questions surrounding him to bed and Kerr might consider keeping him on for a bit longer now and then.

Also, I would have liked to have seen more substitutes come on last night. 2-0 up with 10 minutes to go, we could afford to give McCarthy a run out and collect his debut and see Steven Reid back into the fold, as Duff really was out on his feet. There's the argument that caps shouldn't just be given out like confetti, and that there has to be respect for the Faroes, but they weren't going to score 2 and this happens all the time in club football. If the lads have extended their season for a few weeks just for these games, perhaps it'd have been encouraging to give one or two more of them a look at competitive action.

Overall, last night was alright. The team were knackered. Someone else said that the Faroes is a banana skin waiting for somebody, and they are. I'm just thankful we got our 6 points from them and can move on.

Ade

[NeilMcD]

Lets hope its Israel that slip on that particular banana skin.

[zinedineontour]

Guys it was against the Faroe Islands, you would expect him to be "impressive".

And in fairness he didn't exactly do anything out of the ordinary, he did well for the penalty but had two woeful misses in the first half, I'd hardly be lumping for him to take Clintons place just yet.

It was against the faroes but why were duff and keane and morrison so bad then if it was only the faroes ? 2 awful misses did not see them ... one where he hit the post was not as easy as it lucked and the other chance i think you mean the one where he got it off the keeper was unlucky .... give the lad credit ffs .

[Stuttgart88]

Good point. Regardless of who it was against Elliott played better than nearly every other Irish player.

[carnstien]

It was against the faroes but why were duff and keane and morrison so bad then if it was only the faroes ? 2 awful misses did not see them ... one where he hit the post was not as easy as it lucked and the other chance i think you mean the one where he got it off the keeper was unlucky .... give the lad credit ffs .
I'm not saying he was bad, I just don't think his performance was as incredible as people are making out. Personally I think he was woeful in the first half and improved significantly in the second. And yes he was better than the likes of Duff and Keane, who were, as you pointed out dreadful.

I just think its crazy that people are suggesting that he replace Morrison on the back of one reasonable performace against The Faroe Islands!

[Donal81]

I'm not sure how technically gifted Elliot is but he really looked like he wanted to play. He showed for the ball so much and could often be found winning it in our own half! I like Clinton and I think his record for Ireland speaks for itself but Elliot should definitely be brought closer to the first-team. The only thing is that, at the moment, he seems like an inferior version of both Robbie and Clinton. When we bring on the Doc, it's to offer an aerial presence in the last 20 minutes. If we were to bring on Elliot, what could he offer that Robbie or Clinton don't already offer in spades? I was delighted to see him play and I think he'll feature more and more but that would be my only concern. His attitude seems excellent.

[zinedineontour]

I'm not saying he was bad, I just don't think his performance was as incredible as people are making out. Personally I think he was woeful in the first half and improved significantly in the second. And yes he was better than the likes of Duff and Keane, who were, as you pointed out dreadful.

I just think its crazy that people are suggesting that he replace Morrison on the back of one reasonable performace against The Faroe Islands!

I agree i would still play clinton against the french ... just give us a viable option if things are not working out up front ..took elliott a while to get into game but was very impressive in second half ..

[thejollyrodger]

Elliott is going to need about 10-15 games at international level before he becomes really good. he should get as many games as possible IMO. he has a lot more speed than clint or robbie. he looks at his best when we hit them on the break and play a quick ball to elliott. he has to work on his physic though.

Clint has done well for us but i think he is a bit lazy or something.. he isnt really trying at club level

[tetsujin1979]

Kerr will probably still start with Robbie and Clinton in the Italy game in August, I'd imagine the starting XI from that game will start against France (barring injury and suspension), but I do expect Elliott to play some part in the Italy game, and should be a member of every squad from here on in

[OwlsFan]

Just a cautionary note on Elliott. I remember Connolly against Romania in Bucharest. He was brilliant that day - we played the dreaded 5 across the middle if I recall correctly and Connolly was everywhere up front and played a strormer. The rest, as they say, is history :(

A lot will depend on whether he gets a run in the Sunderland team and scores on a regular basis. I'm not sure he's the Messiah yet. One swallow (the bird!!) doesn't make a summer.

[Stuttgart88]

From FIFA.com after the World Youth Cup in 2003, when FIFA selected 12 players from the tournament, Elliott being one, likely to be a future star.

Stephen Eliott (IRL):
If anyone was ever born with an eye for goal, it is this young lad. A tireless worker up front for the Irish, the Manchester City forward impressed by virtue of his clinical finishing. Popping up as if from nowhere, he chalked up 3 goals, include a splendid angled header against Saudi Arabia. No slouch, he is also physically fine-tuned and blessed with a cool head in front of goal. Gerry Smith, coach of the Greens is effusive in his praise of his young colt: “Eliott is a genuine goalscorer, a boy who can get you a goal at any time and in any way,” he enthused after the match against the Ivorians.

I know I'm biased but Elliott is the most instinctive goalscorer we've produced in years. Outside the box or tap ins, right foot, left foot. This guy has it lads, i'm telling yiz, I really believe it. Even the way he shrugged off the Farooe defenders, despite being pulled & took a direct beeline for goal on Wednesday was really encouraging in my view.

[OwlsFan]

I know I'm biased but Elliott is the most instinctive goalscorer we've produced in years. Outside the box or tap ins, right foot, left foot. This guy has it lads, i'm telling yiz, I really believe it. Even the way he shrugged off the Farooe defenders, despite being pulled & took a direct beeline for goal on Wednesday was really encouraging in my view.

Why are you biased ? You a Black Cats fan ?

Let's hope you're right.

[Stuttgart88]

Irish bias only.

[geysir]

Someone above said we should bring him in place of Morrison. Anyway, I've seen Elliott play 6 or 7 times now and knew what he was like. I was about to come down here at half time and say that performance is the reason Kerr didn't put him on on Saturday (he hadn't started a game in 2 and a half months because of bad form). He was woeful in the first half (it always seems harsh saying things like that about someone on their first comp. start but its true). He rarely passed it to an Irish jersey. A lot of people wouldn't have noticed this as we were all concentrating on someone scoring but my brother was roaring his head off at him and Morrison. Actually, my brother wanted him off the pitch at half time.

He certainly made up for it in the second half though and deserves a lot of credit for coming back from that first half and deserved MOM.

Kerr quote on Elliot
"In the game against Celtic and in the two to three days before the game with Israel, I felt he didn't look sharp and the break at the end of the season had not done him any good," reflected Kerr.
"But in training ahead of this game he did, and with the opposition, and less pressure away from home, I felt he would have more of a chance to show what he could do, and he did it nicely."