Norway V Republic of Ireland - Wednesday, 20th August 2008 - Friendly

[hamburg paul]

http://www.justin.tv/widgets/jtv_live.r8713.swf?channel=tictalk

Excellent link and on now.

Thanks for the link Noely ,got last ten minutes of it ,if anybody is still on the link its now showing Scotland v Billy Boys and it seems as if someone is commentating it from his armchair !every second word is Fcuk!good laugh though ;)

[theworm2345]

Vids
44' Keane Goal: ShareBee (http://sharebee.com/b88fe349)
61' Reginiussen Goal: ShareBee (http://sharebee.com/fcf84fbb)

[irishultra]

'That guy Robinson for Setanta is great.

''Ireland are very good with the ball, not so good without it''

[geysir]

Thanks for the upload Worm.

[tetsujin1979]

Dolan complaining about Trap not being fluent in English after 6 months.
Yes, that's what's important.

[tetsujin1979]

John Giles reaction to the game on NewsTalk: http://media.putfile.com/Johnny-Giles-reacts-to-the-Ireland---Norway-game

[irishultra]

Pat Dolan, I like sometimes, but he is a gob****e.

Lads seriously I didn't think Steven Reid was that brilliant with the ball. Steven Gerrard with positional awareness :D

[Noelys Guitar]

John Giles reaction to the game on NewsTalk: http://media.putfile.com/Johnny-Giles-reacts-to-the-Ireland---Norway-game

Good one Tets. Interesting in that Giles seems to want Andy Reid to play instead of Duff.

[irishfan86]

I'll give my thoughts on the players:

Given- Solid as ever, nothing to be critical of. In fairness not tested much.

Finnan- Not one of his better games. Usually a very good crosser, but all he could do was hit Norwegian bodies today. Hopefully he can get out of Anfield and regain match sharpness before the qualifiers.

Dunne- Everything a centre-half should be. Fantastic block to save a goal in the first half.

O'Shea- A few scary moments, but a few good tackles in there as well. I'd rather Andy O'Brien in there to be honest.

Kilbane- Looked comfortable at times, but some of his pass-backs to Given and the centre-halfs were hospital balls. The commentators didn't seem critical of his part in Norway's goal, but I personally think it was a lack of focus.

Duff- Did well to keep possession, and made a nice play to set Keane up. Also had a deflected shot trouble the keeper. I'm still hoping he'll regain some of that speed he used to have as the season progresses, because he still can't beat players one on one like he used to.

Whelan- Shielded the back four well, but made a few sloppy passes.

S. Reid- Slotted right back into the team as if he'd never been missing. Happy to see him get some quality game time with the team before the qualifiers.

McGeady- Doesn't look fully fit. Lacking the pace to beat players one on one which is his greatest strength. Made some good moves at times, but was ineffective for large portions of the game.

Keane- Did well with limited service. Nice finish for the goal.

Doyle- Couldn't get involved at all. Further evidence for me that the Doyle-Keane partnership is not effective. In fairness didn't get a lot of service.

Kiely- I felt he could have done better on the Norway goal, by either punching or catching the ball into the box. Apart from that, not a lot of action for him, and I'm happy to have him back in the fold.

Kelly- Didn't look out of place after replacing Finnan.

Hunt- Impressive for the most part. Lively as ever, and will be a useful player for us in this campaign.

Murphy- gives us that aerial option. Would like to see him given the chance to partner Keane up top.

Overall, I was happy with the first half, and it's hard to judge the second because of the poor conditions.

[jaykay]

Thanks for putting up the Giles interview tets. Thought we played well in the first half. Controlled, patient possession for a change. Still missing the link up with the strikers though. I'm worried about Kilbane at left back, liable to a couple of errors in each game.

The Georgians are fairly poor against Wales.

[The Legend]

I'll give my thoughts on the players:

Murphy- gives us that aerial option. Would like to see him given the chance to partner Keane up top..

Sunderland fans would tell u he is actually total rubbish in the air and rarely makes an effort to even jump for a ball...

... a guy that might score 2-3 goals a season off his ass isnt any use for us i'm afraid.

[irishultra]

Nah I disagree, his link up play is good which is useful to us. I felt sorry for him when he came on, cause' like the whole team the field wasn't conjusive for his style.

McGeady showed he has great talent, but is just lacking something.

[irishfan86]

Sunderland fans would tell u he is actually total rubbish in the air and rarely makes an effort to even jump for a ball...

... a guy that might score 2-3 goals a season off his ass isnt any use for us i'm afraid.

He played most of the season on the wing for Sunderland last season, and scored some vital goals to help them stay up.

My main reason for wanting him to play up front has nothing to do with his goalscoring record, but rather Robbie's success with similar players in the past (Niall Quinn, Mido, Berbatov).

Obviously Murphy is not as good as Quinn or Berbatov, but he is a big strong forward who can flick balls down and add a little presence up top which can get the best out of Robbie.

[tetsujin1979]

If anyone is interested, I'll record the highlights from Setanta at 10:30 and stick them online somewhere?

[fergalr]

'That guy Robinson for Setanta is great.

''Ireland are very good with the ball, not so good without it''

That guy? Sheesh!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Robinson_(footballer)

But yes, he was great. "We were innocent in the 2nd half" - I liked that.

[tetsujin1979]

The first half started with Norway definitely in the ascendency, but for some close offside decisions, and a remarkable recovering save from Shay Given, we would have been behind. Reid and Whelan were struggling to gain, or keep possession, the front two saw little of the ball, and the two wingers were ineffectual.
Around the 15 minute mark, something happened to the team. Steven Reid started spraying passes with increasing accuracy, Whelan started anchoring the midfield effectively, and the 2 wingers started taking, and beating, their opposing players. One of the first chances for an Ireland goal came from Duff a free on the left. This marked the beginning of a long period of possession for the Irish team, with each player accurately making passes to available teammates. In previous regimes this time would have been shorted, and resulted in the loss of possession, but it seems Trapattoni has manged to organise the side better in three games than Staunton and Kerr did in their entire reigns.
The opening goal came after a Norwegian substitiution, Duff latching on to a throw, to release Robbie Keane into space. The Tallaght forward ran towards the Norwegian goal, turned the last defender, and shot through the goalkeeper's legs for a well deserved goal. Coming so close to the midway point, there was little left for the team in red to do before half time.
Having started with Shay Given for the first time, Trapattoni rewarded Dean Kiely for his display against Colombia with a run out in the second half.
As the downpour had intensified since the beginning of the game, the remaining 45 minutes really were played out in farcical conditions. The water was lodging all over the pitch, making any kind of attempt at intelligent passing redundant. Keane especially seemed to suffer from this, he had been playing deep, collecting the ball, playing one-two's, or balls into space. The weather completely ended this.
The equaliser came after a tackle from Steven Reid gave the Norwegians a free close to the bye-line, midway between the penalty area and the corner flag. Kiely came to claim the ball in the air, but misjudged its flight, and missed it. The ball rebounded off a surprised Kevin Kilbane into the path of the debuting Norwegian centre half to score a tap in.
As the game continued, a draw was seemingly accepted by both sides. The introduction of Stephen Hunt for McGeady added a spark to the Irish offence, but he did little to suggest he will become more than an impact player when McGeady and Duff are both fit.

I am genuinely encouraged by the first half performance, the positives being that the team seemed organised, confident and patient. There were very few misplaced passes, and those that did occur seemed to be because of the inclement weather, rather than any player at fault.

Reid omission was puzzling, but it's hard to argue with the result, and performance.

[shakermaker1982]

The Setanta boys were raving about how well we played in the first half but I thought we were poor at times. 2nd half was of no use to anybody because of the pitch. Terrible conditions meant players struggled to pass the ball more than 5-10 yards! It was like a game you'd see at school football.

Given - solid. Bailed O'Shea out after he made a howler.

Finnan - not match sharp at all. Needs to escape from the land of scouse asap.
Kilbane- average

Dunne - average. Didn't do anything wrong.

O'Shea - I'd strangle him if he was my partner at centre half. Every team will target him....please God let us unearth a new centre back. He is fine at full back because he is out of the way but he is a walking liability next to Dunne.

Whelan - Carsley with hair in the first half e.g. passed the ball backwards every time. Improved in the second half with some nice crunching tackles. The rain suits his game!

Duff - beautiful through ball for Keane. I thought he struggled on the right wing, we need to keep him on the left. Good that he got another 90 minutes.

McGeady - quiet game.

S Reid - best player on the pitch first half. Welcome back.

Doyle - didn't touch the ball.

Keane - worked hard, nice finish.

[Razors left peg]

Im over the moon with the game tonight. I would pretty much write off the second half because the conditions were beyond ridiculous. In the first half our passing was excellent as was our ball retention. We really looked like a team that has been well coached.Some of the little triangles that we were passing in in midfield were brilliant. Robbie was outstanding in first half, his work rate, touch and goal were all excellent. Whelan impressed me through out the game, hes a very tidy player and made alot of tackles,I still think Andy Reid is a much better option but I can see Traps thinking to a certain extent when away from home.Steven Reid is top class, simple as that, its vital that he says fit.
Im seriously looking forward to the real stuff starting now.

[Razors left peg]

Finnpark told us to watch how bad Robbie is tonight and that Murphy is a better player.... do you want to retract that comment bud:)

[eirebhoy]

That first half was very encouraging. Some of the passages of play were superb.

Steven Reid was class. I've been raving about him since he came back from injury. He looks to have everything a central midfielder needs. His positioning when the team have the ball is superb. He didn't seem entirely confined to the role Trap gave him and he got forward a bit. Even when Norway had the ball at one point he tracked a central midfielder almost to the Norway box. When Miller and Whelan played together they seemed afraid to upset the formation and certainly wouldn't be running towards the Norway box when Norway had the ball (or even when Ireland had the ball).

I don't know where Reid has got this confidence because I didn't think he had it 2 or 3 years ago but he demands the ball off teammates now. He encourages them by clapping their efforts and does his share of talking. His passing was excellent. Quick decision making and ball to feet. He linked the whole team together pretty much and brought so much of what we were lacking against Colombia.

Keane and Duff were excellent too I thought. Keane's touch was superb. Duff kept possession really well and was tracking back in last minute injury time. Good pass for Keane's goal and Keane's run was excellent.

Whelan did his job really well. Norway had most of the ball in the 2nd half and Whelan was winning a load of tackles. That's definitely the best I've seen him in defensive capacity.

Dunne was just what we've come to expect really. Superb player. Nice block to stop a certain goal in the first half and Givens save before that was also excellent.

O'Shea is just an average centre half. A safer option than McShane because you know what you're going to get but McShane's a lot more likely to dominate an opponent. I definitely favour the McShane-Dunne partnership after tonight. Maybe I'm just been paranoid towards a player I desperately want to succeed but if it was that ginger guy with the dodgy run struggling with the balls over the top tonight I think he'd be getting plenty of stick.

Anyway, we played like a really good football team in the first half tonight. I think I'll go with Robbie Keane and ignore the 2nd half.

[Junior]

McGeady- Doesn't look fully fit. Lacking the pace to beat players one on one which is his greatest strength. Made some good moves at times, but was ineffective for large portions of the game.


Not disagreeing that he had a fairly quiet game, though it was tidy. But this point annoys me when fans make it. McGeady doesnt have real pace and never has. He improved this part of his game last season with intense dedicated work with the Celtic backgroom staff, but still he doesnt have electrifiying pace where he just skins a fullback to the byeline. I would say 90% of the time when he skins someone, its from a standing position with the ball at his feet, quick feet and trickery his how he generally beats his man not with pace.

[irishfan86]

Not disagreeing that he had a fairly quiet game, though it was tidy. But this point annoys me when fans make it. McGeady doesnt have real pace and never has. He improved this part of his game last season with intense dedicated work with the Celtic backgroom staff, but still he doesnt have electrifiying pace where he just skins a fullback to the byeline. I would say 90% of the time when he skins someone, its from a standing position with the ball at his feet, quick feet and trickery his how he generally beats his man not with pace.

I watch almost all of Celtic's matches, and McGeady does have pace. Maybe the defenders in international football are faster than in the SPL, but for whatever reason he can't break away from players with Ireland like he can for Celtic.

That's why I'm considering it a fitness problem, in that he has lacked that acceleration in the first couple of games for Celtic as well this season.

But you watch him play AC Milan last season and tell me that he doesn't have pace. He was running past half their team at times.

[Junior]

That first half was very encouraging. Some of the passages of play were superb.

Steven Reid was class. I've been raving about him since he came back from injury. He looks to have everything a central midfielder needs. His positioning when the team have the ball is superb. He didn't seem entirely confined to the role Trap gave him and he got forward a bit. Even when Norway had the ball at one point he tracked a central midfielder almost to the Norway box. When Miller and Whelan played together they seemed afraid to upset the formation and certainly wouldn't be running towards the Norway box when Norway had the ball (or even when Ireland had the ball).

I don't know where Reid has got this confidence because I didn't think he had it 2 or 3 years ago but he demands the ball off teammates now. He encourages them by clapping their efforts and does his share of talking. His passing was excellent. Quick decision making and ball to feet. He linked the whole team together pretty much and brought so much of what we were lacking against Colombia.

Keane and Duff were excellent too I thought. Keane's touch was superb. Duff kept possession really well and was tracking back in last minute injury time. Good pass for Keane's goal and Keane's run was excellent.

Whelan did his job really well. Norway had most of the ball in the 2nd half and Whelan was winning a load of tackles. That's definitely the best I've seen him in defensive capacity.

Dunne was just what we've come to expect really. Superb player. Nice block to stop a certain goal in the first half and Givens save before that was also excellent.

O'Shea is just an average centre half. A safer option than McShane because you know what you're going to get but McShane's a lot more likely to dominate an opponent. I definitely favour the McShane-Dunne partnership after tonight. Maybe I'm just been paranoid towards a player I desperately want to succeed but if it was that ginger guy with the dodgy run struggling with the balls over the top tonight I think he'd be getting plenty of stick.

Anyway, we played like a really good football team in the first half tonight. I think I'll go with Robbie Keane and ignore the 2nd half.

And no mention of McGeady eirebhoy? must have been quiet!!

I liked the Whelan / Reid Partnership in the middle thought both played well, not quite sure how we try and fitt Andy in their somewhere now???

[Junior]

I watch almost all of Celtic's matches, and McGeady does have pace. Maybe the defenders in international football are faster than in the SPL, but for whatever reason he can't break away from players with Ireland like he can for Celtic.

That's why I'm considering it a fitness problem, in that he has lacked that acceleration in the first couple of games for Celtic as well this season.

But you watch him play AC Milan last season and tell me that he doesn't have pace. He was running past half their team at times.

As do I (season ticket holder), Im not saying he is slow but pace is not his key attribute, never has been and never will be. He's improved it but generally you either have it or you dont.

I dont dispute after only 2 games of the competitive season that he obviously wont be at full strength.

[eirebhoy]

And no mention of McGeady eirebhoy? must have been quiet!!
I'd agree with irishfan86 in that he's not performing to his best but I doubt it's to do with fitness with Strachan as his coach. He carried his Celtic form into this game in that he's having difficulty beating players. Thankfully he didn't try to beat players much and as you said he kept it simple mostly. His link up with Keane was encouraging.

[irishfan86]

As do I (season ticket holder), Im not saying he is slow but pace is not his key attribute, never has been and never will be. He's improved it but generally you either have it or you dont.

I dont dispute after only 2 games of the competitive season that he obviously wont be at full strength.

I think we're on the same page. I agree that trickery is his main weapon, but his acceleration really improved last season.

But as you say, it seems to be something he needs to work at as opposed to something that comes naturally for him.

[ken foree]

If anyone is interested, I'll record the highlights from Setanta at 10:30 and stick them online somewhere?

yes please and thanks if you get to it

[TheBoss]

I was very happy with the 1st Half performance, we outplayed Norway on their pitch remember, that is a real positive. 2nd Half played itself really, either team struggled with the pitch and it ruined the game in the end. I saw enough in the 1st Half to give me some confidence ahead of the Euro's.

I was surprised to see Georgia beat Wales, they had many of their better players not playing in this game, most of that team that played will not be playing against us, Wales were good enough to beat them though.

A disappointing 2-2 draw for Italy, gives us a little hope, we far better than Austria and they managed 2 goals in Italy, more of the same in next April.

Cyprus getting hammered 4-1 by the Swiss, still shows that they play open football and do not have the defence to cope with it.

2-1 win for Bulgaria in Bosnia, is a decent result, not an easy place to go, but Berbatov is main threat as we know, without him, they are not as good as us.

[tetsujin1979]

yes please and thanks if you get to it
I recorded the match, although it missed a minute or two in the middle of the first half. It's pure uncompressed video though, so it's well over 3 GB of data.
Can anyone recommend a decent DivX or XviD encoder? If I can get it down under a gigabyte in total, I should be able to upload it somewhere
I recorded the comments from Dolan and Robinson at the end of the highlights package as well, I should be able to add them to youtube

[irishfan86]

I recorded the match, although it missed a minute or two in the middle of the first half. It's pure uncompressed video though, so it's well over 3 GB of data.
Can anyone recommend a decent DivX or XviD encoder? If I can get it down under a gigabyte in total, I should be able to upload it somewhere
I recorded the comments from Dolan and Robinson at the end of the highlights package as well, I should be able to add them to youtube

I use autoGK. You can compress the file size to whatever you want, and it will reduce quality accordingly. 450mb a half is very good quality, but even 300mb per half is good. Up to you, I don't know your upload speed etc. Here's the link:

http://www.autogk.me.uk/

[NeilMcD]

I might be tempted to play Andy Reid instead of Mc Geady

[eirebhoy]

I recorded the match, although it missed a minute or two in the middle of the first half. It's pure uncompressed video though, so it's well over 3 GB of data.
Can anyone recommend a decent DivX or XviD encoder? If I can get it down under a gigabyte in total, I should be able to upload it somewhere
I recorded the comments from Dolan and Robinson at the end of the highlights package as well, I should be able to add them to youtube
I don't know if this is any help:
http://www.soccerpulse.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=159743

[Wexford Delboy]

keane is one o my favourite player but hes a greedy **** when it comes to giving doyle passes its like he doesnt respect his position in the team atal..it was very obvious doyle was gettin very frustrated with keanes reluctance to pass it to him and this can oly be bad for the future partnership

[Mayo_Bhoy]

A disappointing 2-2 draw for Italy, gives us a little hope, we far better than Austria and they managed 2 goals in Italy, more of the same in next April.

That match wasnt in Italy. It was played in Paris

[Stuttgart88]

I was actually quite happy with that.

I'm disregarding the second half as it was a farce and the conditions completely took some of our better first half performers down a couple of levels. That said, the conditions had nothing to do with Kiely's error or failure to organise from corners in the second half. Great cushioned header from Kilbane - a touch of real class!

For me, the most poignant post on this forum for a long while was Billsthoughts saying his Spanish mate watched us play Brazil and it wasn't even football, just aimless, speculative hoofing. I agreed fully.

From about 10/15 minutes onwards I though we looked cohesive and balanced and our midfield did just what you want a midfield to do. Both Reid and Whelan looked for the ball and passed it purposefully and accurately. They also held their own defensively. The benefit of having Steven Reid back fit and played in position was obvious. Long may he stay fit.

I thought Whelan looked much better than he did alongside Miller (quelle surprise?). Room for improvement but he did most of the right things. I'd still prefer both Reids together mind you.

Both the wingers looked lively and for the most part we played at a very high tempo and in the right way. We were able to sustain pressure in their end of the pitch - thanks to Reid and Whelan picking up the cleared balls and playing them back well - and we deserved our goal.

Our defenders fed the midfield more often than playing it long and both Dunne & O'Shea actually carried the ball forward regularly before passing it.

Doyle & Keane didn't function that well as a partnership I thought.

Sure there were errors and lapses in concentration and defensive situations we didn't deal with well, but the important thing is that for the first time in ages we looked cohesive, balanced and functional.

Yes, it's the very least you'd expect but it's something we haven't seen from our senior side in a few years.

[Kingdom]

The first half started....... but it's hard to argue with the result, and performance.

great post! Summed everything up perfectly. I was disappointed by Kevin Kilbane. I've long been a supporter of him but I would be just as comfortable playing Delaney there.

The only players who disappointed me happened to be the ones who aren't playing for their clubs, mainly Finnan Kilbane, and to a lesser extent O'Shea.
Can we afford to be carrying players anymore? I'm not so sure.

[joe_barry80]

That match wasnt in Italy. It was played in Paris

It was in Nice

[Wolfie]

Some real signs of encouragement during some periods of the first half.

At least some components of the spine of the team played well - Dunne, Reid, Keane.

Its still up for debate as to who should best partner each of them.

O'Shea is not the answer at Centre Half, even with our paltry alternatives. I know Joey O'Brien is substantively a midfielder but I think he would be a more solid option than O'Shea. O'Shea has two default settings for Ireland 1) Jittery 2) Dozy. Sometimes he's employed both of these methods during the course of a game.

As predicted, Whelan had a more solid and effective game alongside Reid as opposed to Miller. Last night was far from justification enough to discard Andy Reid but its becoming apparent that Andy is in competition with McGeady, Duff or even Doyle for a starting place.

The Doyle / Keane partnership has had long enough time to gel and that fact its not working has to be faced up to. When you compare the likes of Keane / Quinn or even Keane / Morrison it doesn't measure up.

All that said, theres the very early signs of a ship steadying..............

[seanfhear]

If someone like george graham got a hold of o shea maybe he could instill the concentration needed for a centrehalf position.I dont think he will master the position until he gets continous play there at club level (even then its not certain)and thats unlikely at utd.

[Stuttgart88]

keane is one o my favourite player but hes a greedy **** when it comes to giving doyle passes its like he doesnt respect his position in the team atal..it was very obvious doyle was gettin very frustrated with keanes reluctance to pass it to him and this can oly be bad for the future partnershipHmm, purple & yellow tinted glasss? :)

There was one occasion in the first half where Keane played it right instead of back inside to Doyle - a definite error in choice I thought.

For Robbie's goal, although Doyle was inside him, I watched the replay a few times and each time I saw no way that keane could have squared it to Doyle. He'd have had to play it through the defender, any further ahead and the keeper would have got it first.

[Duggie]

i didnt see the game just the clips - robbie took his goal well thank God. im a little worried over doyle - needs to start scoring again for reading. murphy might be a better option for a while. disappointed andy didnt come in - maybe the conditions had something to do with that. overall id say not a bad display.

[NeilMcD]

And another thing is he scored. There is certainly a view out there amongst the more rural fans that Robbie Keane is a little upstart from Dublin and that more honest lads like Hunt and Doyle are legends.

[paul_oshea]

lads i think we should only count the first half, and use that as a measuring stick, ireland were very good in particular steven reid. Mcgeady and duff switched flanks and got stuck in well, the passing was accurate and neat. The 1 most important thing was in the past when an attack broke down it was cleared and either a0 the oppossition countered or b) the ball would be cleared out to an oppossing player and the attack broken down, yesterday reid was there for nearly every ball in the first half that got cleared only to set up another attack, his position and his passing was what we have really lacked in the last while.

Very happy with yesterday, and i can see this being the start of something good if we can keep it up and move it up another notch again.

Why was kevin kilbane doing his Kane impression from WWE, like he just received a slap on the chest from the back of the hand?!

[Duggie]

And another thing is he scored. There is certainly a view out there amongst the more rural fans that Robbie Keane is a little upstart from Dublin and that more honest lads like Hunt and Doyle are legends.

im rural and i think keano is a pure legend, love the guy. hunt and doyle arent in his class if were been honest. should never be dropped IMO.

[youngirish]

Not a bad performance at least the team looked like they had a game plan going forward which is a bonus over the dark days under Staunton and to a lesser extent Kerr when we were clueless when in the attacking third of the pitch. McGeady was decent but nowhere near the level some on here have deluded themselves into thinking he is capable of reaching. Duff, Reid, Dunne, Given and Keane were all impressive. Hunt looked decent when he came on.

Negatives were the two usual suspects. Kilbane and O'Shea. Kilbane cost us the three points with his shocking head across goal (he had plenty of time to knock it out for the corner) while O'Shea looked suspect on more than one occasion and will be punished against a higher class of attacking player. When can we finally see a team free of at least one of these two on a regular basis?

Doyle was a passenger for most of the game. Whelan isn't international standard and neither is Daryl Murphy though to be fair he won a few flick ons when he came on. I'd have given Joey O'Brien another opportunity in midfield ahead of the likes of Whelan and Miller as he's looked good there on occasion when playing for Bolton.

[Duggie]

dont think kilbane is to blame for the goal. it was kiely's fault. the ball came to quickly at kilbane for him to react it seemed.

[shakermaker1982]

how far away is McShane from recovering fully from his injury? We need him at centre back. O'Shea can go to left back. Might be useful for his height at set pieces.

Players/Positions that are no longer up for grabs include:

GK - Given
RB - Finnan
CB - Dunne
LW - Duff
CM -S Reid
FW- R Keane

so in my eyes we have 5 key positions that are still up for grabs. I'd see the following players in the Trap's plans over the next few months and it clearly shows how thin on the ground we are in terms of quality.

LB - Kilbane, O'Shea, S Kelly and Delaney.
CB - O'Shea, Joey O'Brien, A Bruce and McShane
Centre Mid - A Reid, Whelan, Miller, Joey O'Brien, Carsley
RM - McGeady and Hunt
FW - Doyle, Long, Folan, Clinton and Murphy

Liam Lawrence may come in the fold at some point if he gets some game time at Stoke. Fingers crossed Scannell and Jamie McCarthy continue to improve this season because we may need them at some point during the campaign.

[centre mid]

If Finnan is not getting any game time with Liverpool I dot think he can be a cert for us. Kelly might be a better option.

[shakermaker1982]

If Finnan is not getting any game time with Liverpool I dot think he can be a cert for us. Kelly might be a better option.

if he is still at Liverpool rotting away then I agree. Rust never sleeps. Fingers crossed Fulham or another PL club come in and snap him up. Benitez is a fool :D

[blobbyblob]

Hope I dont upset anyone here but this question is legit -

Would it be fair to say that Robbie Keane doesn't do partnerships at international and as a result his own goal rate is so high but Irelands success has suffered as a result?