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We are probably at the level of an Everton or Aston Villa and so would finish in between 5th and 10th place in the Premiership. Even with France's great players would they break into the top four? Probably just about. Then again Villa beat Chelsea and Liverpool.
I donit know if we are as high as everton or villa, i see us conceding little but also scoring little and getting too many draws to be within the top 6 or so teams in the premiership.
With our players we would be in the Championship man. France would be an upper mid table team in the Premiership.Quote:
Originally Posted by Noelys Guitar
The big four would be Brazil, Spain, Germany and Italy.
Ireland would struggle not to get relegated. Sure we have good players like Given, Keane, Dunne, O'Shea, Duff etc but we have no depth which is what you need in the Premiership given injuries etc. I'd say we'd finish somewhere between 15-18 in the table.
France, on the other hand, would run away with the thing. First place. No question.
You are on a wind up surely, I'd say Ireland would finish about mid table, France about 4th.Quote:
Originally Posted by Colbert Report
The way I see it:
Given - probably best keeper in the premiership
O'Shea - top 4 standard
Kilbane - lower premiership/upper championship standard
Dunne - top 6 standard
Ledger - lower premiership/upper championship standard
Whelan - lower premiership standard
Andrews - lower premiership/upper championship standard
Duff - mid table standard
McGeady - mid table standard
Doyle - mid table standard
Keane - top 6 standard
So on average we are about mid table.
I'd say that French team would be dynamite if they were playing with each other every week. The fact that Clichy is such a big loss to Arsenal yet no loss at all to France could be seen as one example of how strong they are. I'm sure there are examples to the contrary also though. I don't think we'd be in danger of relegation really. If we sorted our centre midfield out we'd be well above that level. We've a far better team overall than Hull, Birmingham, Portsmouth, Wolves, Blackburn and probably a couple more. Those clubs could only dream of having players like Given, Dunne, O'Shea and Keane. Duff is also way above that level only for his injury record. I'd say we'd be about mid-table maybe but the midfield would have to be sorted out as I don't think our current system would work over that amount of games.
I actually interpreted the question in a different way. I took it as the Premiership would be made up from all International teams in which case we would be relegation fodder or upper Championship.Quote:
Originally Posted by Morbo
Anyway the smaller countries in International football are more competitive than the smaller club teams simply because the big International teams can't poach all their best players.
We would struggle to finish higher than fifteenth simply because of the weakness we have in central midfield. Whelan, Andrews and Gibson simply wouldn't get it done over a 38 match season. Now, throw Steven Reid, Andy Reid, and Stephen Ireland into the mix and you're talking a whole different ballgame.
I think the chief reason we would struggle would not be because of the strength of the first XI. Don't get me wrong, I do think that our current central midfield pairing as listed above is a cause for concern. However, the difference in league football, and most certainly in the EPL, is more often decided by players 12 through 18. And right now, we do not have any great quality in the depth of the squad. Good honest players alright, but none of them top quality.
The point about France not missing Clichy is the important one. While we have some players that many of us would rate and like to see in the squad (I'd love to see Andy Reid being rolled onto the pitch in Paris to set up a Hunt winner), we have to look at the squad picked by Trap as being the squad we work from. And in that case, we are short handed.
would we miss our second choice left back, arguably eddie nolan at the minute? no team would miss their second choice left back if the first choice one is fit!Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluebeard
the thing is how much you would miss your first choice if he got injured. In france's case, clichy would be fine cover for evra. In our case, can you imagine Eddie Nolan coming in? He's a fine young footballer but the injury to Clichy demonstrates the difference in strength in depth.
I suppose that is also the point you made, but no-one misses players who aren't in the starting XI at international level, unless the starting XI are also unavailable.
I also note a small problem with what you want to happen in Paris. It's not the Andy Reid thing, its the fact you have him setting up a Hunt winner..... unless we are playing two left wingers (three if Duff is fit) it's quite an unlikely scenario.
On the level of a side like Fulham would be about right for traps team. A side that'd get a lot of draws and be difficult to beat but would struggle to score.
Add Ireland and Andy Reid to the side and you're looking at a solid top half outfit.
I'd say we'd be like a stoke overachieving....Spain=Arsenal, Brazil=Chelsea, Liverpool=Italy, Man U= Germany...what do ya think
He probably wants A. Reid playing CMF not as a winger, which I would agree with.Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
if we were talking in international terms, id say we'd be vying with Ipswich (Peoples Republic of Cork) for last place in the Championship... :pQuote:
Originally Posted by briancool21
I recall Bordeaux beating the BIG CLUB 5-0 or DUBLIN as French television called them back then, if that helps.
France would be like Bohs and Ireland would be Sligo Rovers.
God yeah I remember those games. Bordeaux had Zidane and Dugarry, anybody else of note Bohs people? I remember Dugarry got the winner at Dalymount but some Bohs fella was really unlucky with a great effort off the crossbar, who was he?Quote:
Originally Posted by ifk101
i think its cos the bearded one, is from waterford, as are both hunts. I'd also hazard a guess he meant noel(even though he isn't included).Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
I was at the FA Youth Cup Final at the Emirates in May and came away thinking Arsenal's U18s would beat Ireland's senior tream!
Ya that might be true, they would probably beat their senior team too, thats the problem with arsenal, wegner and his science project.