Kerr & Woodward

[Stuttgart88]

I just posted this on soccercentral.ie but would like to see if anyone on this board agree / disagree or can add anything:

Are there parallels between Kerr & Woodward at the moment?

Woodward says the current Lions are the best prepared & organised ever. The hotels, facilities, itineraries etc. are highly professional but on the pitch set-pieces, selections etc. have been poor & conservative. The same could be said of the Irish set-up.

Players are being played in the wrong positions despite having impressed in their natural position (Josh Lewsey for the Lions - Damien Duff against Israel). Others with a touch of flair (Murphy, Henson, Williams) are left on the bench, if they even make it that far (McGeady, Elliott). Woodward is selecting some players based on past reputation, not form. Carr & O'Shea fall into this category IMO.

Also, both lost a key player to a shoulder injury that should have been penalised more severely early in an important game!

A massive difference of course is that Woodward has a wealth of talent to draw upon whereas Kerr has only a few genuine class players that he has to build a team around.

[drinkfeckarse]

Don't know about Kerr but Woodwards a tool. His team selection last week just proved it.

[OwlsFan]

Yes, you can have all the proper facilities etc etc but if your tactics are wrong or you pick the incorrect team, you'll still screw up.

[Jerry The Saint]

Others with a touch of flair (Murphy, Henson, Williams) are left on the bench, if they even make it that far (McGeady, Elliott).

That's not really a fair comparison - Henson and Williams have already proved themselves at a high level, McGeady and Elliott are more like, say, Tommy Bowe and Gavin Duffy. It's easy for fans and journalists to call for the likes of McGeady to be given a chance and moan when he's not selected but it seems to me a lot of this is based on the fact that he hasn't had a chance to screw up yet. We've been through this many times before with people screaming for the likes of O'Shea and Miller to be thrown in at the start of their careers only to change their mind if they seem to be disappointing at the higher level.

As you say, Woodward has the advantage of picking the best players from 3 strong squads (+ some token Scots :p ) but it was always fixed in his mind to stick with the players who had the experience of beating the Southern Hemisphere teams on their own patch and winning the WC. Of course, it was risky and has backfired badly. Like Kerr though, he has a chance to prove the doubters wrong over the next week.