Lawrie Sanchez

[eirebhoy]

whats any of this got to do with sanchez?
Because he's proven himself working with "limited resources". I think we're a bit better than that, especially with the type of midfield players coming through.

[waide]

I think Waide in fairness is wearing some slightly orange tinted glasses. Finnan, Keane or a fit Duff are in no way average Premiership players. They are all some of the best players in their respective positions in the Premiership. The term average Premiership player could correctly be applied to the likes of David Healy, Stephen Hunt and John O' Shea. I'd even make the claim that Doyle is better than the average Premiership player and would consider him a good Premiership player but we can agree to disagree on this one as it's a matter of opinion. Finnan, Keane or Duff are not average players by any stretch however.YoungIrish,How can you class Duff as a top prem player when he has hardly kicked a ball in 2 or 3 seasons,granted keane may be slightly above average when playing for spurs but is held back at international level by the quality of players around him.Doyle has the potential to be a good quality striker but on the other hand he has to prove it for more than one season.You mentioned David Healy and his current form in the prem is not good,but when he plays for N I he is world class how do you logically explain that.Just to wind up i don't take pleasure in giving my views on players because they play for the republic,it's my honest opinion nothing to do with orange or green glasses.

[Qwerty]

YoungIrish,How can you class Duff as a top prem player when he has hardly kicked a ball in 2 or 3 seasons,granted keane may be slightly above average when playing for spurs but is held back at international level by the quality of players around him.Doyle has the potential to be a good quality striker but on the other hand he has to prove it for more than one season.You mentioned David Healy and his current form in the prem is not good,but when he plays for N I he is world class how do you logically explain that.Just to wind up i don't take pleasure in giving my views on players because they play for the republic,it's my honest opinion nothing to do with orange or green glasses.

Could you share your formula for determing what is average? Keane is always high on the scoring charts, has scored more goals that any English player this season in the Premiership and Spurs haven't even been playing well. If Duff returns from injury and returns to his former level then clearly he is above average. Quality goes to the top and if you are regualrly playing for a team that finishes in the top half of the table you are de facto above average.

Healy basically isn't premiership quality but his international record is excellent and he has scored some fantastic goals. I've seen NI play a few times in the past few years and they play neat football, they don't look like world beaters and all look like very modest players but they work hard and keep it simple. I saw them beat Spain and frankly they looked like a Championship side but they somehow made Spain look like a League One side.

[waide]

Could you share your formula for determing what is average? Keane is always high on the scoring charts, has scored more goals that any English player this season in the Premiership and Spurs haven't even been playing well. If Duff returns from injury and returns to his former level then clearly he is above average. Quality goes to the top and if you are regualrly playing for a team that finishes in the top half of the table you are de facto above average.

Healy basically isn't premiership quality but his international record is excellent and he has scored some fantastic goals. I've seen NI play a few times in the past few years and they play neat football, they don't look like world beaters and all look like very modest players but they work hard and keep it simple. I saw them beat Spain and frankly they looked like a Championship side but they somehow made Spain look like a League One side.Qwerty, Northern Ireland's secret for success at windsor is hard graft and also the atmosphere,althouch 15000 only can be seated the atmosphere generated is electric,the team are made up with mostly average premiership with one exeption,i would rate mcCartney as one of the better left backs in the premiership.i will be the first to admit that we are punching above our weight simply because of our home form.i disagree with Healy not being premier standard,if he is given a good run in any team the goals will come.I agree with you regarding Duff the problem has been his lack of fitness this past 2 seasons.

[Bungle]

Given is our only truly world class player. Richard Dunne and Steve Finnan would be easilly good enough to make the England team. Finnan is in my opinion the best right back in the premier league and Dunne is one of the best centre halves in the British game. Duff was world class. To be honest right now, I struggle to get enthusiastic about his return because he will probably be injured within 3 weeks.

Robbie Keane would make the England squad (bench player). He is a very good premiership player but Waide rightly says that he rarely cuts it at international level.

Doyle is a very good striker who could end up playing for one of the top sides in England if he keeps improving. He's a good all round striker with the will and the hunger to get better.

Hunt is a player who I really like. As a Liverpool fan, I think he'd be a great signing.

s.Ireland can I believe reach the very top....whether that is with Ireland remains to be seen.

O'Shea has really missed the boat. He's content at being United's 12th man rather than fulfilling the world class potential that he has.

Apart from that, we have a motley crew of decent premiership players/very good championship players and our usual quota of highly promising young players.

Definitely good enough to have a very bright future with the right manager.

Regarding Northern Ireland, I really believe they have a very decent chace of qualifying for the nect world cup.

[CollegeTillIDie]

I am amazed at people even mentioning Damien Duff in the present circumstances.
He has suffered a potentially career ending injury. There is no guarantee he will ever play for Ireland again . He is the most talented treatment table visitor in the Irish squad.
He was missing for a lot of crucial games for Ireland this year. Perhaps his presence might have made a difference in getting some improved results. Everyone seems to think his recovery is 100% guaranteed. It's not and at this stage if he manages to play 5-6 games in a row for Newcastle I will reconsider.... IF he manages it.

[CollegeTillIDie]

Given is our only truly world class player. Richard Dunne and Steve Finnan would be easilly good enough to make the England team. Finnan is in my opinion the best right back in the premier league and Dunne is one of the best centre halves in the British game. Duff was world class. To be honest right now, I struggle to get enthusiastic about his return because he will probably be injured within 3 weeks.

Robbie Keane would make the England squad (bench player). He is a very good premiership player but Waide rightly says that he rarely cuts it at international level.

Doyle is a very good striker who could end up playing for one of the top sides in England if he keeps improving. He's a good all round striker with the will and the hunger to get better.

Hunt is a player who I really like. As a Liverpool fan, I think he'd be a great signing.

s.Ireland can I believe reach the very top....whether that is with Ireland remains to be seen.

O'Shea has really missed the boat. He's content at being United's 12th man rather than fulfilling the world class potential that he has.

Apart from that, we have a motley crew of decent premiership players/very good championship players and our usual quota of highly promising young players.

Definitely good enough to have a very bright future with the right manager.

Regarding Northern Ireland, I really believe they have a very decent chace of qualifying for the nect world cup.

Surely you cannot be serious? World Class potential? John has the attention span of a gnat. And I prefer to see him in midfield playing for Ireland where he can do less damage to us!

[Bungle]

No, I'm quite serious about O'Shea. In his first two seasons at United, he showed world class potential. He was a truly outstanding prospect. The downward spiral seemed to happen in his third season.

I remember Hansen, Lippi and Maldini among others all saying that he would go on to become a great.

Besides, despite his horrific performances for Ireland, I think he plays quite well for United.

[kingdomkerry]

No, I'm quite serious about O'Shea. In his first two seasons at United, he showed world class potential. He was a truly outstanding prospect. The downward spiral seemed to happen in his third season.

I remember Hansen, Lippi and Maldini among others all saying that he would go on to become a great.

Besides, despite his horrific performances for Ireland, I think he plays quite well for United.


I dont rate O Se. I thought he would develop in to a class centre half. He played there against switzerland away and embarassed himself. Remember he played there against slovakia and turned his arse to their last minute equaliser. Could you imagine Paul McGrath doing that.

Micls your pessimism is astounding. And there was i thinking cork people were cocky.

[GavinZac]

Micls your pessimism is astounding. And there was i thinking cork people were cocky.Cocky about ourselves. We can't be responsible for the rest of the dross the country produces.

[micls]

Micls your pessimism is astounding. And there was i thinking cork people were cocky.

Pessimism :confused: What have I been pessimistic about?

Im simply giving a rating of our players ability, optimism or pessimism don't come into the equation, or influence their ability.

Thats not to say I dont believe this team can achieve with the right manager

[cavan_fan]

I dont rate O Se. I thought he would develop in to a class centre half. He played there against switzerland away and embarassed himself. Remember he played there against slovakia and turned his arse to their last minute equaliser. Could you imagine Paul McGrath doing that.

Micls your pessimism is astounding. And there was i thinking cork people were cocky.

He was a wonderful prospect but suffered from 3 problems.

1 He's a lazy bugger!

2 The fact he is flexible meant that when he was a first choice player for Utd a few years ago it was in a variety of positions. I'm not sure he was ever given long enough in one position to chine and so slowly replacements were bought for all of them. I still think he should be a centre back given his physique but he has played comparatively little there.

3 He is happier being a sub at Utd than a regular key player at e.g Everton or Spurs. I'd be interested to know if Phil Neville gets more pleasure in being a key player for a moderately succesful Everton team than he would being an occasional sub in a title winning Utd team. O'Shea could do with the responsibility of leading a defence.

[macdermesser]

I can't make out O'shea either .. needless to say that he needs to move to develop the potential that is there .. but he won't move.

E6TVMtR6Xc0

anyone remember this ? Look at the slow motion at the end .. drag back and then smacks it with his right.

He was a bundle of nerves in Basle 2003 ... although he wasn't in great form for United either at the time .. think he was at fault for a couple of goals against Stuttgart in the Champions league around the same time.

[DmanDmythDledge]

I can't make out O'shea either .. needless to say that he needs to move to develop the potential that is there .. but he won't move.

anyone remember this ? Look at the slow motion at the end .. drag back and then smacks it with his right.

He was a bundle of nerves in Basle 2003 ... although he wasn't in great form for United either at the time .. think he was at fault for a couple of goals against Stuttgart in the Champions league around the same time.
That game against Newcastle was probably his best game as a left back for Man Utd. When Utd signed Heinze he started to get shunted all around the place.

I think that game against Stuttgart might have been one of his first as a left back. I remember Fergie switched him and Silvestre in one CL game all of a sudden.

Anyone remember this?
7gasxpPiews

[osarusan]

Having watched the Man. City vs Liverpool game today, I have to revise my opinion of Dunne. He was superb.

[shakermaker1982]

Having watched the Man. City vs Liverpool game today, I have to revise my opinion of Dunne. He was superb.

you never rated him until today? The guy has been a rock at Man City for a good number of years now. I think if he was at one of the big 4 or had an Italian sounding surname he'd be Andy Gray's favourite defender :cool:.

[Noelys Guitar]

you never rated him until today? The guy has been a rock at Man City for a good number of years now. I think if he was at one of the big 4 or had an Italian sounding surname he'd be Andy Gray's favourite defender :cool:.

Exactly. City's player of the season for the last 3 years. He had Torres in his back pocket today. I thought Finnan had an excellent game today too.

[TheJamaicanP.M.]

you never rated him until today? The guy has been a rock at Man City for a good number of years now. I think if he was at one of the big 4 or had an Italian sounding surname he'd be Andy Gray's favourite defender :cool:.

Agree fully. Even Andy Gray made reference to Dunne's ability to make outstanding recovery tackles today.

[AustinoAsprilla]

And back to Sanchez...

Can anyone give me an "intelligent reason" as to why he should not be next Ireland manager? Not liking him doesn't count.

Great record with N. Ireland and did well before at Wycombe and Sligo!. Quite unlucky as well with Fulham IMO, don't think he would have been relegated had he been there till the end of the season.

I think he's the best of what the bookies consider to be front runners...

[Stuttgart88]

I hear that he lost the Fulham dressing room due to his insistence on a long ball game.

[NeilMcD]

He is a long ball merchant and we do not have the players to play this game.

[EalingGreen]

And back to Sanchez...

Can anyone give me an "intelligent reason" as to why he should not be next Ireland manager?


Probably becase he won't want it? From my observation of Sanchez, he's an intensely ambitious individual. If he was installed as ROI manager, he would either fail or succeed (obviously).

If it is the former, then that could signal the end to his managerial career. And even should it be the latter, he risks making a name for himself as an "international" manager i.e. still unable to cut it in club football.

The only way I could see him accepting the ROI job is if they threw a huge wedge of cash at him. However, the necessary amount would likely be sufficient to attract other, better qualified candidates?

My guess is that Sanchez will attempt to re-start his club career in England with a Championship side, or an ambitious League One team. And unless the FAI is prepared to wait, I'd be surprised if Sanchez will make any decision in the next few months, whilst he assesses what club vacancies might arise. (He'll have enough cash in the bank after Fulham not to have to rush his decision, that's for sure!)

[NeilMcD]

Sanchez will do ok with average players as average players do not mind playing lump it up the pitch football. But he cannot work with Premiership players as they will not stand for the long ball tactics he likes to play.

[EalingGreen]

I hear that he lost the Fulham dressing room due to his insistence on a long ball game.

I daresay there will have been discontented individuals within the club - Sanchez is quite a pri ckly character. However, I'd be surprised if the dissent was widespread, or based on tactical differences, for two reasons.

First, the squad was almost entirely his, LS having got shot of 15 players and replaced them with 13 of his own. And since he will undoubtedly have discussed his plans with the new guys upon signing, it cannot have come as a shock to them what tactics he prefers.

Second, of the nine teams struggling towards the bottom of the Prem, the only two not to have suffered any hidings this season are Spurs and Fulham. Indeed, Fulham's only big defeat was 5-1 at WHL after LS left. The rest of their games under Sanchez were either narrow defeats or draws, which suggests a side that was at least attempting to compete. Indeed, for the majority of games they have often taken the lead, only to be pegged back or overtaken in the last few minutes.

Whatever else is the explanation, that doesn't sound to me like a team which is going out from the very start not wanting to play for their manager. Otherwise, even if they fluked a lead, the minute the opposition equalised you might expect Fulham to collapse and concede another 3 or 4.

From having seen Fulham half a dozen times this season, my guess is that post-Sanchez, certain players are just using "long-ball tactics" to attempt to justify their position - an excuse which will sound good to Hodgson, assuming he (RH) favours a passing game.

[EalingGreen]

He is a long ball merchant and we do not have the players to play this game.

Whilst the ROI do have some technically gifted players (Robbie Keane, Andy Read, Damien Duff in particular), and clearly more than e.g. NI, nonetheless you may be rating them better than they actually are. That is, recent poor performances can't wholly be explained by Staunton's tactical, motivational and selectorial ineptitude.

Someone elsewhere pointed to there being factions in the ROI dressing room. If correct, then eliminating that is more important (imo) than what style of football is employed. As such, if Sanchez were in charge, that would be the first thing he would address, and if the big names didn't like it, they'd be out the door before they even knew it - Sanchez would pick Eircom players sooner than appease any "Big Time Charlies" in the squad!

Moreover, the advantage of the long-ball game is that unlike in the English Premiership, international teams rarely come across it, so often struggle to cope with it. Which to a great extent explains why Jack Charlton was so successful when he was in charge - notwithstanding that some of his more gifted players (O'Leary, Brady etc) clearly weren't impressed.

Personally, I think Sanchez would do an excellent job as ROI manager but as I noted elsewhere, I doubt he'd accept it anytime soon.

[NeilMcD]

Whilst the ROI do have some technically gifted players (Robbie Keane, Andy Read, Damien Duff in particular), and clearly more than e.g. NI, nonetheless you may be rating them better than they actually are. That is, recent poor performances can't wholly be explained by Staunton's tactical, motivational and selectorial ineptitude.

Someone elsewhere pointed to there being factions in the ROI dressing room. If correct, then eliminating that is more important (imo) than what style of football is employed. As such, if Sanchez were in charge, that would be the first thing he would address, and if the big names didn't like it, they'd be out the door before they even knew it - Sanchez would pick Eircom players sooner than appease any "Big Time Charlies" in the squad!

Moreover, the advantage of the long-ball game is that unlike in the English Premiership, international teams rarely come across it, so often struggle to cope with it. Which to a great extent explains why Jack Charlton was so successful when he was in charge - notwithstanding that some of his more gifted players (O'Leary, Brady etc) clearly weren't impressed.

Personally, I think Sanchez would do an excellent job as ROI manager but as I noted elsewhere, I doubt he'd accept it anytime soon.



I never said we had good technical players but we do not have the players to play long ball football. We do not have big players to play the ball up to. We dont have chasers from midfield that would get on to these long balls. I am not saying we should play through the middle all the time but we do not have the players to play the Sanchez way.

[EalingGreen]

I never said we had good technical players but we do not have the players to play long ball football. We do not have big players to play the ball up to. We dont have chasers from midfield that would get on to these long balls. I am not saying we should play through the middle all the time but we do not have the players to play the Sanchez way.

From my observation, it is a bit of a mischaracterisation of LS's tactics with NI to call them "long ball". To me, that suggests a team where the keeper or defenders immediately hoof it long down the middle the moment they get the ball, for a greyhound or poacher to get behind the opposing defenders and hit it early. As such, the midfield tends to get bypassed and so is usually made up of "scrappers", employed to frustrate the opposition, rather than play a part in building the teams own attacks.

Whereas with NI, it was more subtle than that. The key to LS's tactics were to get the ball to Healy in space, in order to capitalise on his workrate and phenomenal accuracy in finishing. As such, LS invariably employed a big guy up front, not in order to get beyond his marker, but in order to create room for Healy. This was augmented by the fact that LS usually employed two wingers down the flanks who, along with the midfielders, were instructed to play it quickly forward to one or other of the two front guys, not long. Otherwise, merely hoofing it long in the direction of Healy, who's neither big nor especially quick, would have seen him either outmuscled by opposition defenders or outpaced by a keeper coming quickly off his line.

[NeilMcD]

I think it works that your defenders get it long to the big man who either nods it out to the wingers or nods it back to Healy who then takes a strike at goal. If it goes out to the wingers they whip the crosses in pretty quickly as well to the big man and healy picks up the pieces and gets anything that is going in and around the box. It bypasses the midfield and does not encourage your players to play through the middle and is all about getting the ball into the last third as quickly as possible and playing from there.

Charlton did it and Sanchez did it with Northern IReland and I don't believe we have the players to play that way.

[Stuttgart88]

If anyone who was concvinced that Jewell was the right man, then I'd guess the same people would appreciate Sanchez' merits, no?

He'd be an underwhelming candidate for me and, as said above, I'm not sure he'd want it anyway.

[NeilMcD]

I dont think that Jewell is a long ball guy to be honest.

[EalingGreen]

I think it works that your defenders get it long to the big man who either nods it out to the wingers or nods it back to Healy who then takes a strike at goal. If it goes out to the wingers they whip the crosses in pretty quickly as well to the big man and healy picks up the pieces and gets anything that is going in and around the box. It bypasses the midfield and does not encourage your players to play through the middle and is all about getting the ball into the last third as quickly as possible and playing from there.

Charlton did it and Sanchez did it with Northern IReland and I don't believe we have the players to play that way.

That's really not how it worked with NI under LS, since I simply don't recall our defenders hoofing it down the middle and certainly never the big guy (Quinn or Lafferty) ever "nodding it out to the wingers". (Granted, Taylor did set up a couple of goals for Healy via a quick punt down the field, but that was an ad hoc response to heavy pressure, where the opposition were caught forward, rather than a pre-planned tactic)

Sanchez relied heavily on wide players (Gillespie or Jones on the right, Elliott, Brunt or Sproule on the left), who hit a mixture of early crosses, through passes or pull-backs from the byline.

His centre midfield was usually a combination of a ball-winner (Johnson or Clingan) alongside a more creative player (Davis).

In all cases, they were instructed to get the ball forward quickly, but it was as often to Healy cutting in from either flank or timing a late run as it was to the big guy, it was as often via the wings as it was through the middle and it was more often along the deck than up in the air, since regardless of position, Healy was the usual target. As such, his goals were of every type (close-in, from distance, headers, either foot, through on the keeper, chipped from the edge of the box etc).

Therefore, the key was in Healy's mobility, perpetual work rate and accuracy, with the player on the ball to get it forward quickly and all the other players instructed to provide physical support and take defenders away from him.

As UEFA's stats show, Healy was actually flagged offside more times than any other player in the Euro qualifiers:
http://www.uefa.com/competitions/euro/statistics/players/typestat=o/index.html
For most players, you'd just say that he was inept, except that he scored more goals than anyone else:
http://www.uefa.com/competitions/euro/statistics/players/typestat=gs/index.html
He also had the 3rd highest number of attempts on target:
http://www.uefa.com/competitions/euro/statistics/players/typestat=sg/index.html
However, when it came to the number of shots off target, he was only 10th equal (alongside Robbie Keane!)
http://www.uefa.com/competitions/euro/statistics/players/typestat=sw/index.html

What this says is that Healy worked incredibly hard, forever pushing defences to the limit all along the front line, so that when he did get the ball away from a defender within scoring range, his extremely accurate finishing (i.e not just on target, but beyond the keeper) did the rest.

And the other significant statistic about Healy is that he played every one of the 13 scoreless games before Sanchez took over.

Therefore, it is clear to me that with NI, Sanchez quickly found a system to suit the players available to him, without that system being Route One (long ball).

Which is why I feel that if he were given the ROI job, he'd also have to work with the players available to him, and therefore have to find the system which best suited them.

Moreover, on the question of attitude, he'd quickly sort out those whose attitude is suspect, thereby concentrating on the players he trusted.

If I were Delaney, I'd instruct the Selection Panel to camp out on Sanchez's doorstep every night until he signed, since he's proven with NI that he can transform an underperforming team at international level, and with the better basic talent available to him in the ROI squad, I think he'd be as good a bet to qualify as anyone esle who is realistically available.

But as I say, I doubt if he'd accept ;)

[Superhoops]

Do we really need any failed Premiership manager, the list is endless?

[Superhoops]

If I were Delaney, I'd instruct the Selection Panel to camp out on Sanchez's doorstep every night until he signed, since he's proven with NI that he can transform an underperforming team at international level, and with the better basic talent available to him in the ROI squad, I think he'd be as good a bet to qualify as anyone esle who is realistically available.
If he couldn't transform an underperforming team at Fulham why could he do it for us?

[elroy]

If he couldn't transform an underperforming team at Fulham why could he do it for us?

Did he really get any time with Fulham though in fairness? he saved them from relegation last season, when they looked to be heading down. This season hasnt gone well with him but I dont think he got much time really

[EalingGreen]

If he couldn't transform an underperforming team at Fulham why could he do it for us?

He couldn't transform an underperforming team at Fulham given 17 League games, but that is hardly the same as saying he couldn't do it at all.

I accept that it is possible he wasn't up to it, but I don't accept that it was proven. After allowing Sanchez to completely revamp the entire set-up* during the summer, it seems to me that Fayed panicked when it didn't produce instant results.


* - 15 players out + 13 in at a net cost of just under £20 million (= £1.8m per player), plus a whole new coaching team etc.

[shakermaker1982]

has Sanchez been interviewed (the media seem to be in the dark as much as does - sweet all rumours doing the rounds)? I'd rather have him Dalglish that is for sure - at least he's done something in this century but I'd have my reservations about his direct stlye of play but at the end of the day we'd judge him on results not style.

[Steve Bruce]

Former Fulham and Northern Ireland boss Lawrie Sanchez is to be interviewed for the vacant Republic of Ireland job.
Sanchez, sacked by Fulham in December, is expected to meet with the three-man panel set up by the FAI to search for a successor to Steve Staunton.

Ray Houghton, Don Givens and Don Howe are expected to meet Sanchez although he is not regarded as a frontrunner.

It is believed the FAI hopes to name a manager before the end of January as the Republic face Brazil on 6 February.

Givens was in Bulgaria on Tuesday with FAI chief executive John Delaney and president David Blood to fiinalise the fixtures for the Republic's forthcoming World Cup qualifying campaign

From BBC

[RogerMilla]

would you recommend him steve ?

[Steve Bruce]

would you recommend him steve ?

Before he took over at Northern Ireland. We could only sell out the ground in the very biggest of matches. Players regularly pulled out of the squad, we couldn’t score goals and to hit the nail in the head, we where an embarrassment to International football and ourselves.

Lawrie Sanchez’s took over and his first aim was to get the goal-scoring (or lack of) monkey off our back. He did that in his first game. The next thing he tried to do was start building the confidence in our team and start moving up the rankings. We had a tour of the Caribbean, which was very successful, Healy broke the NI goal scoring record and our confidence grew.

We also beat England, which pushed our confidence through the roof, and the passion and pride was restored.

His style of play was based on Northern Irelands strength. Sanchez seen that David Healy was more effective with a big man next to him. So he stuck James Quinn up front with him even though Quinn wasn’t international standard, it was the only big man at the time we had. So the long ball was effective in that it got bumped up to Quinn, Quinn would knock the defence about the ball falls to Healy and Healy would score.

We later got a few more technically better players coming through (Brunt for example) and Gillespie found his form and spark again and we did change our play to suit that but again because our players are not world class gifted players balls still came in from the deep end. Sanchez then brought Kyle Lafferty in place of Quinn. Lafferty was still very wet behind the ears and imo wasn’t initially good enough, Sanchez obviously seen his potential and he was steadly increased his ability to play at this level.

Anyway my point is Sanchez has a long term goal, but he sets a lot of short term goals to get to his long term goals. (well that’s what he done with NI). He will examine ROI’s strong point and he examine your weak points as well and he’ll set his tactics accordingly.

Fortunately for yourselves, managing the ROI wouldn’t be much different. ROI supporters are similar type of supporters as NI(Passion, noise etc). The big plus with ROI is that you have a far bigger pool of players and also some very good players in top teams. Although I wouldn’t go as far as to say you have world class players.

Personally I think Sanchez would bring back a lot of Irish Passion and with better players than NI(although not as good a team at the moment) I think he’ll run you close to qualifying to the World Cup.

But I don’t think he’ll get the job as there seems to be a few in front of him in the pecking order.

Oh PS: I would have offered Sanchez the job at NI instead of Worthless

[onephillyhughes]

Why wouldn't we take Sanchez? Suddenly we're too good to take a manager who proved he is a quality international manager? Give it a rest, he would be perfect if his international record is anything to go by.

[Not Brazil]

Sanchez had three great results with Northern Ireland - versus England (who are hughely overrated), Spain and Sweden, all at Windsor Park.

Some Northern Irelasnd fans tend to forget some of the dross he served us up at home and abroad too - absolutely ****e.

I hope he does get the ROI job.;)

[Kingdom]

Sanchez had three great results with Northern Ireland - versus England (who are hughely overrated), Spain and Sweden, all at Windsor Park.

Some Northern Irelasnd fans tend to forget some of the dross he served us up at home and abroad too - absolutely ****e.

I hope he does get the ROI job.;)

Good point. While a lot of us marvelled at the results garnered in the last campaign, what undone them was the results home and away to Iceland, and away to Latvia. Fair enough he was in charge only for Iceland in Windsor, but we need a manager capable of raising the bar for all games.
We can't afford any slip ups in this campaign.

[Cabs88]

seeing as there talkin about wimbledon old boys, what about Joe Kinnear ;)

[Paulh]

If he couldn't transform an underperforming team at Fulham why could he do it for us?

Exactly right.

Sanchez did a great job at NI - getting a team of mostly average players to gel as a team. However, his "tactics" were very basic - long ball to a big CF and knock the ball down for Healy.

He was exposed at Fulham - spent a fortune on players but just tried the same tactics as with NI. This doesn't work in the EPL as he found to his cost.

Also, while Healy profited from Sanchez's system at NI (and fair play to him) he is now being exposed as being a chamionship player as opposed to an EPL player. Sanchez also spent a lot of money on other NI players to try and replicate his NI "system" i.e. Hughes, Baird and Davis - to date only Hughes has been any value for money.

The RoI have some very good players (Finnan, Dunne, Reid(s), McGeady, Hunt, Duff, Doyle, Keane). We do not need to rely on the long ball system and wouldn't be utilising our resources to full advantage if we did.

I'm afraid that Sanchez is a "one-trick pony". He shows no ability to alter tactics from his usual formula when it isn't working and has no record of improving really class players by good coaching.

Frankly, for all his off-field antics, I'd rather have Venables who does have a track record of succesfully coaching top class players and is highly regarded as a coach and tactician.

Good luck to Sanchez in the future but he's not the right man for us and I certainly wouldn't be happy if he got the job above Venables or Hoddle or Coppell.

[Jerry The Saint]

seeing as there talkin about wimbledon old boys, what about Joe Kinnear ;)


Certainly makes a lot more sense than Johnny Giles.

[Maroon 7]

Don't think long-ball Larry Sanchez would be the man for us.

If we still had a Quinn or a Cascarino up front then maybe but we have a team full of ball players (Keane, Doyle, McGeady, Reid, Duff, Ireland, etc) and not particularly big ones either. Don't think we'd be playing to their strengths by launching scud missiles at our front two.

[Drumcondra 69er]

Exactly right.

Sanchez did a great job at NI - getting a team of mostly average players to gel as a team. However, his "tactics" were very basic - long ball to a big CF and knock the ball down for Healy.

He was exposed at Fulham - spent a fortune on players but just tried the same tactics as with NI. This doesn't work in the EPL as he found to his cost.

Also, while Healy profited from Sanchez's system at NI (and fair play to him) he is now being exposed as being a chamionship player as opposed to an EPL player. Sanchez also spent a lot of money on other NI players to try and replicate his NI "system" i.e. Hughes, Baird and Davis - to date only Hughes has been any value for money.

The RoI have some very good players (Finnan, Dunne, Reid(s), McGeady, Hunt, Duff, Doyle, Keane). We do not need to rely on the long ball system and wouldn't be utilising our resources to full advantage if we did.

I'm afraid that Sanchez is a "one-trick pony". He shows no ability to alter tactics from his usual formula when it isn't working and has no record of improving really class players by good coaching.

Frankly, for all his off-field antics, I'd rather have Venables who does have a track record of succesfully coaching top class players and is highly regarded as a coach and tactician.

Good luck to Sanchez in the future but he's not the right man for us and I certainly wouldn't be happy if he got the job above Venables or Hoddle or Coppell.

You are Paul Hyland and I claim my Five Euro!! :D

[Not Brazil]

Good point. While a lot of us marvelled at the results garnered in the last campaign, what undone them was the results home and away to Iceland, and away to Latvia. Fair enough he was in charge only for Iceland in Windsor

In over 30 years of watching Northern Ireland, the home defeat by Iceland under Sanchez was one of the most tactically inept managerial performances I have witnessed.

You may recall the Sanchez "hissy fit" when the media here had the audacity to call the performance for what it was - absolutely abysmal.

No doubt that Sanchez give us Norn Iron fans some nights to remember - but some of us don't forget the days and nights under Sanchez when things weren't quite so fantastic.

A quick look at his managerial record with Northern Ireland will reveal some absolute howler results, hidden in amongst the three really good ones.

[Steve Bruce]

In over 30 years of watching Northern Ireland, the home defeat by Iceland under Sanchez was one of the most tactically inept managerial performances I have witnessed.

You may recall the Sanchez "hissy fit" when the media here had the audacity to call the performance for what it was - absolutely abysmal.

No doubt that Sanchez give us Norn Iron fans some nights to remember - but some of us don't forget the days and nights under Sanchez when things weren't quite so fantastic.

A quick look at his managerial record with Northern Ireland will reveal some absolute howler results, hidden in amongst the three really good ones.

No harming but I disagree and he had us top of our group and in a very healthy position.

Worthless took over we got beat by 2 inferior teams on the road because Worthless changed our style of play and wanted to change things for the sake of changing things.

Sanchez done a great job and just because he left us in the middle of a campaign doesn't change that.

Northern Ireland supporters are bitter because he left and 99% where not saying what you are saying now when he was still coaching NI. He done a tremendous job

[Not Brazil]

No harming but I disagree and he had us top of our group and in a very healthy position.

Worthless took over we got beat by 2 inferior teams on the road because Worthless changed our style of play and wanted to change things for the sake of changing things.


Just one small fact:

Even without the benefit of any experimental friendlies, ie. having been chucked in at the deep end after Sanchez bolted, Nigel Worthington's record in charge of his first six Northern Ireland matches is superior to Sanchez's record in his first six games in charge.:eek::eek::eek:

Sanchez lacked conviction, confidence and patience.