Fair enough points, although I would have thought going with Daryl Horgan might have been the "risk" option against Serbia as Horgan had/has yet to play in a competitive fixture. I think Horgan is a more dangerous and penetrative player than O'Dowda with an explosive yet deceptive burst of pace, but O'Neill clearly doesn't have enough faith in him yet, which is unfortunately. Of course, I do acknowledge it's all very subjective and personal preference can lead to bias or weigh heavily on whether or not one thinks O'Neill made a "safe" call or took a "risk".
Kevin Long's inclusion against Austria was an odd one. It was very much out-of-the-blue, but I'd actually put it in the reactive (rather than proactive) bracket. Two or three EPL appearances for Long in the run-up to that game appeared to heavily or disproportionately influence O'Neill's decision-making process at the time, as if it all-of-a-sudden proved to O'Neill that Long was a safe choice, and then Long was effectively dropped again for the next game for no apparent reason. Would O'Neill have checked Long out of his own volition and selected him purely on the basis of his own personal judgment if the player hadn't been fortunate enough to get those appearance for Burnley at the end of the last EPL season? It's hard to know. Personally, I don't think O'Neill's trust in his own judgment would stretch that far; it just seems very reliant on the calls of club managers, as if they provide O'Neill with a sort of defensive/supportive crutch, shoulder for potential blame-sharing or something to fall back upon if the call goes wrong. That's just how it seems to me.
Kevin Long's inclusion against Austria was an odd one. It was very much out-of-the-blue, but I'd actually put it in the reactive (rather than proactive) bracket. Two or three EPL appearances for Long in the run-up to that game appeared to heavily or disproportionately influence O'Neill's decision-making process at the time, as if it all-of-a-sudden proved to O'Neill that Long was a safe choice, and then Long was effectively dropped again for the next game for no apparent reason. Would O'Neill have checked Long out of his own volition and selected him purely on the basis of his own personal judgment if the player hadn't been fortunate enough to get those appearance for Burnley at the end of the last EPL season? It's hard to know. Personally, I don't think O'Neill's trust in his own judgment would stretch that far; it just seems very reliant on the calls of club managers, as if they provide O'Neill with a sort of defensive/supportive crutch, shoulder for potential blame-sharing or something to fall back upon if the call goes wrong. That's just how it seems to me.
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