Team for tonight

[Schumi]

------------------Colgan--------------------
Finnan------O'Brien-------Breen--------Harte
Duff------Kinsella------Healy---------Kilbane
---------Connolly----------Doherty---------

Not sure about the formation. Duff might be on the right or in a free role or something else entirely.

[NigeSausagepump]

Disappointing in fairness.

Seems like Kerr is using Ireland games to give players a run who aren't regulars with their clubs (Kinsella, Harte, Doherty) rather than blooding new talent. We know full well what the aforementioned trio can and cannot do - shouldn't friendlies be about seeing what the likes of Andy Reid, Liam Miller etc can do in a green shirt rather than trying to help out of favour players regain full fitness?

[pineapple stu]

Not four weeks before a vital clash like Switzerland away. We know what the squad's going to be, so we have to see if we can get anything extra out of it that we don't already know. Breen's a definite starter, so we have to look for a partner for him - I'd say O'Brien will come off at half-time for Dunne. Kinsella, Finnan, Doherty and Connolly were all left out of the starting XI v. Russia, so we need to make sure they get games under their belt or they'll be out of the loop entirely. Had to play Colgan - wouldn't mind seeing Murphy getting a debut either.

The time for blooding new players is February-May, not a month before the biggest game of the group when you know you're not going to be calling on untried players. And in fairness, Kerr has already brought a couple of players through - the likes of Alan Quinn and Alan Lee, with a couple of others as well possibly.

[Peadar]

Originally posted by Schumi
Not sure about the formation.

Well it would appear to be 4-3-1-2 with Duff in a free role behind the front 2.
I think it leaves us with a weak mid-field and a lot of work for an unproven back 4 to do.
We'll be shipping goals tonight.
What odds will I get on 1-3?

[petef]

Duff on the right is a waste of time, I'm getting increasingly frusrtated with Kerrs selections, hes basically reverting to what McCarthy did. The times when Ranieri has experimented with Duff on the right have been fruitless.
Miller has got a number of starts this season for a team that is about to embark on champions league football, also Andy Reid has been in the form of his life. Why he persists with Kilbane I'll never know (he got man of the match but the guy never crosses the ball). Anyone who is not playing regular first team football should not really be considered. Although McPhail has had a number of good performances for Forest his inclusion baffles me as they are his first games in god knows how long.

[petef]

The last time Duff was in a free role it was the disastrous Albania game. I think the team sometimes suffers from the notion that Duff always has to be included at whatever the cost. Sometimes I think this is where Kerr may be out of his depth when dealing with top players as his experience has been somewhat limited.
I dont know what team Turkey are putting out tonight but I dont fancy our chances.

[pete]

Originally posted by pineapple stu
The time for blooding new players is February-May, not a month before the biggest game of the group when you know you're not going to be calling on untried players.

Agreed. This is a friendly solely as preparatuion for the Switzerland game.

I don't think Duff should play. I know its a big IF but an injury for him would kill any hopes of a result in Switzerland. Reid was useless on saturday but i'd give him another chance to see what he made of. Turkey will be difficult opposition.

[elroy]

no i think duff should play 55/60 mins tonight then bring on reid.
Would like to see mcphail maybe get a run late on.
Hopefully tonight Connolly might finally do for us what he's been doing in england the last 2 years.

I have got a horrible feeling about tonight though-Turkey are a very good and the 11 we have out tonight isnt exactly encouraging.

[Slash/ED]

I think now IS the time to be trying people out. If we had some injuries in the mid field, I'd much rather we saw that Miller can do tonight so we'd have confidence playing him if needed, we know what Kinsella can do at this stage and, unfortunutely, the answer is 'not much'

Look at England, if you will, were they thinking "lets not throw Rooney in so close to an important qualifyer" no, gave him a go in a friendly, then he went and destroyed Turkey when that qualifyer rolled up. The same goes for Reid, the fact is Andy Reid and Liam Miller are as good and probably better then the other options in our squad, we need to get them all the caps we can in friendlys so when the important matches roll around they're capable of coming in. I'd rather an uncapped untested Miller then a tried and failed McPhail anyway if injuries forced our hand against the Swiss.

I'm very disappointed with that selection, of all the things I thought I might have a problem with when we appointed Kerr, not trying youth out wasn't one I expected.

[Peadar]

Originally posted by Slash/ED
of all the things I thought I might have a problem with when we appointed Kerr, not trying youth out wasn't one I expected.
I don't think Kerr has put his stamp on the team yet because he believed the squad he inherited was good enough to qualify from a weak group.
He surely wants to bring in new players but too many changes would disrupt the squad and have a negative affect on the confidence of the players.

[NigeSausagepump]

Originally posted by Slash/ED
I think now IS the time to be trying people out. If we had some injuries in the mid field, I'd much rather we saw that Miller can do tonight so we'd have confidence playing him if needed, we know what Kinsella can do at this stage and, unfortunutely, the answer is 'not much'



Agreed.

What's the point in starting someone like Kinsella tonight. We know exactly what he can (and can't) do. Is it the international manager's role to give someone a game who can't get one with his club? No. It's his job to find out the best players for the Irish team. He (and we) know full well what some of those players have to offer. Someone like Kinsella isn't good enough to get into an average Villa midfield, and I'd contend he's not good enough for an average Irish midfield either. Playing someone like him will tell Kerr absolutely nothing new - ostensibly he's only being played to get a game under his belt. Surely not the raison d'etre of the Irish national team.

I would say the same for Harte and Doherty.

[pineapple stu]

Originally posted by petef
The last time Duff was in a free role it was the disastrous Albania game.

Actually, the last time Duff played in the free role was the successful Norway game, when he scored the only goal.

Duff also played very well on the right wing against Spain in the World Cup.

As for throwing players into a vital game, what about the Iceland game when Kilbane made his debut? Didn't play for two years after that. What about the Macedonia game when Holland made his debut? You can't throw people straight into a game as important as the upcoming game in Basel. If you're not going to play a player, why pick him for a friendly the previous month?

Also, I might be hearing too much British press waffle, but Rooney strikes me as being a class above the likes of Miller and Reid, two players who I can't see "destroying" the Swiss.