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Xlex
22/04/2003, 2:48 PM
Right Lads, Your strength is now a fair auld weekness... now I know its early days but a 5 goal deficit is hardly a great start, I really think that U.C.D will stay up, but getting the defense sorted must be a priority....

good luck with it...

@ndy
22/04/2003, 3:46 PM
Yeah, well it's early days, but you have a point. Last night Alan McNally was played at the back...??? Anyway, we'll keep calm. Usually bigger clubs get worried..we'll hope the run doesnt continue too long because last years turnaround was a once off...

John83
22/04/2003, 7:12 PM
Played 3, scored 0, conceeded 5.

The defense is hardly the biggest problem.

pineapple stu
22/04/2003, 8:26 PM
Compare it to the last two seasons -

2002/03 Played 3, conceded 6
2001/02 Played 3; conceded 7

Progress, methinks?!:)

Up front, we've more of a creative spark than ever before - the passes by Bambi Gallen and Gavin Whelan to set up Whelan (against Cork) and Johnny Martin (against Bohs) were of the highest order, and a calmer finisher would have stuck them away, which would have had us 1-0 up in both matches.

In the Irish Times to-day, Doolo was saying that he'll be going to the board to try and sign another player, but he didn't sound too hopeful...:(

UCD_4_Life
22/04/2003, 9:24 PM
Against Cork they won almost every header in midfield and anything that wasn't contested by Tony Mac in defence.

Normally we'd have Tony in the middle winning headers and Delaney at the back doing the same. We've got Niall Donnelly but he looks awkward on the ball and he was directly responsible for Cork's third on Friday (his botched clearance allowed yer man to cross it in for O'Flynn to score).

Soko
23/04/2003, 2:21 AM
Sorry to inform you there lads but winning headers against city is not very hard, particularily in the centre of the park. Against Pats with Osam and even tonight againsts bohs we were a poor second every time.

By the way if Doolin goes to the UCD board surely theres not enough money to buy anyone decent is there?

UCD_4_Life
23/04/2003, 2:29 AM
Originally posted by Soko
Sorry to inform you there lads but winning headers against city is not very hard, particularily in the centre of the park. Against Pats with Osam and even tonight againsts bohs we were a poor second every time.

By the way if Doolin goes to the UCD board surely theres not enough money to buy anyone decent is there?

I think he'll be asking for the money to actually pay a player rather than a transfer fee...

John83
23/04/2003, 10:01 AM
Originally posted by UCD_4_Life
I think he'll be asking for the money to actually pay a player rather than a transfer fee...

Probably. The idea being to get some striker on a free from a 1st division club in England.

@ndy
23/04/2003, 11:29 AM
Originally posted by pineapple stu
Up front, we've more of a creative spark than ever before - the passes by Bambi Gallen and Gavin Whelan to set up Whelan (against Cork) and Johnny Martin (against Bohs) were of the highest order, and a calmer finisher would have stuck them away, which would have had us 1-0 up in both matches.

It's a spark...thats all...a chance a game isnt good enough ...thats almost luck! But yeah, i definitely believe we played better football against skonto than i have ever seen us play. It needs to be developed. We played well against bohs aswell. I guess when you start playing bad sides you cant play good football cos the ball is never on the ground. We have to get better!

Aberdonian Stu
23/04/2003, 12:49 PM
I know you all praised his pre-season form but Bambi has done nothing in the opening three games to make me think he can make it in the Premier division. We don't have a proven goalscorer in the side at the mo, until Robbie Martin comes back we're going to be seriously impotent up front and even then we can't be certain that he'll do all that well.

midfieldgeneral
24/04/2003, 2:11 PM
i know all the talk has been about the lack of a real goalscoring threat but to be honest im not worried. Robbie Martin is coming back for fridays game and he'll give us a different option cause griffen, gallen and finn wont hurt defences in behind. Also there's another lad in the twenty ones, not sure of his name but saw him last year and he looks big and stong with a bit of pace. He might give an option as the season goes on.

however i would be more worried about the defence. Lets face it tony mc isnt the solution , he lacks authority and simply isnt good enough to command a defence at this level. He does a good job protecting the back four, but he not good enough defensively to be the last man. Niall Donnelly is the obvious replacement but he doesn'n look ready yet, so until another centre half is signed ally mc is the best option there with tony in front of him.

Doolo by the sounds of the latest interview is only going to be able to make one signing and that has to be a centre half it gives the squad way more options.

by the way apart from the lads playing at the moment who are the other players in the squad

lefty
24/04/2003, 4:49 PM
I dont think any decent 1st Division forward in England would decide to go to UCD. However if Doolo gets some cash we could hit teams in the Second Division that are being relegated such as Cheltenham.

Also this year as there is 2 teams from the 3rd Division getting automatically relegated to the Conference. We could hit these teams. We all know that Carlisle have some good Irish players and also Exeter have two good young Irish players like Rainier Moor and Cronin both good attacking players and it looks as if Exeter look set for relegation and im sure they would rather play in the Eircom League than the Conference.

There are a lot of good pros playing in the lower leagues in England and also there are players to nab from the Scottish and Northern Irish Leagues.

I hope we get someone in May/June become we are very much lacking in firepower at the moment. I think we need 2 forwards not 1.