Is this harsh/realistic

Lets put all national Loyalty aside for one second here lads and be honest
Given - Quality, no question. Top 10 in the world
Kilbane - Horror Show, Brutal, Useless, Liability
Dunne - Decent, error prone, gives it his all. Strong in the air
Sledge - Championship standard. No more.
Josh - Decent but also very error prone when in possesion. Has an awful tendancy to just hoof it when in green
Duff - More past it than Bill Hicks. Move over and let McGeady in
Whelan - Has a good shot and will run all day, but sure so would half the country
Andrews - Useless. Simple as
Lawrence - Decent. Should take Andrews spot in the middle as is made to play Centre Mid. Good in possesion. Can actually use the ball...cant believe Trap likes him! Shock!
Doyle - The ball goes up...the ball comes back...the ball goes up...the ball comes back.....EXTREMELY over rated!
Keane - Decent club player, scores against mediocre teams (Italy excluded, whats rare is wonderful) Spends more time on the wing swinging his arms than actually in the opposition box.
Subs
Hunt - Comedy Gold
McGeady - Bags of talent, needs to get a consistent run in the team. To think we can leave him out is laughable.
McShame - Nuff said......
Best - No your not....
Folan - If he had a pineapple on his head he would be Jason Lee

stupid stupid thread and this proves it..should be locked and deleted by a mod.

Keane - Decent club player, scores against mediocre teams (Italy excluded, whats rare is wonderful) Spends more time on the wing swinging his arms than actually in the opposition box.

an ceannaire - wind-up merchant. Spends a significant amount of time opening new threads re-covering issues which have been covered at length on other threads but injecting such ridiculous propositions that others feel obliged to respond

:D. Ceann-nothing like a bit of comedy in the morning. Kudos!

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Originally Posted by Duggie

stupid stupid thread and this proves it..should be locked and deleted by a mod.

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Agree .... no place for this type of crap

A cynic could argue most of those points except for Duff and McGeady where I think no matter who you are that's entirely unfair on both them.

Duff is not passed it, is having a great season for Fulham and has been ever consistent for us. I mean it's clear to see he retains possession better than anyone else on the pitch.

McGeady is overrated, has never done it for us and outside of one great season for Celtic has been inconsistent for them. Probably 4th choice winger at the moment and that isn't undeserved.

Duff's possession retention is a very good point. Unfortunately his first instinct now when getting the ball is to turn and pass back. Never more evident than on saturday night

Was it more evident on saturday before or after he skinned Sagna and left him for dead? Or maybe when he backheeled a 1-2 pass with Doyle?

Maybe he's cautious, but that's no bad thing. I'd rather caution than him be another McGeady and lose possession 90% of the time he tries to do something.

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Originally Posted by Fizzer

an ceannaire - wind-up merchant. Spends a significant amount of time opening new threads re-covering issues which have been covered at length on other threads but injecting such ridiculous propositions that others feel obliged to respond

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Yes, a troll, and THE THREAD SHOULD BE DELETED.

Given - Quality, no question. Top 10 in the world
Kilbane - Works hard, gets stuck in, makes it difficult for the opposition to get a decent ball in and people should stop slating him for an unlucky deflection against Bulgaria
Dunne - Decent, error prone, gives it his all. Strong in the air
Sledge - Lots of potential. Don't write him off
Josh - Solid for us.
Duff - Is playing really well for Fulham. It looks like Roy Hodgson is getting out of him what the comedy team at Newcastle couldn't
Whelan - Is one of Stoke's best midfielders, and is improving all the time. Works hard, tracks back, and has decent distribution
Andrews - Another hard worker, but tends to give the ball away
Lawrence - Is not a central midfielder. He has never played there for Stoke or Ireland. He's a wide player with great fitness and work ethic, and who is good from set pieces.
Doyle - Good in the air and a good finisher, by no means a world-beater, but he's good
Keane - Is sometimes frustrating to watch, but the statistics speak for themselves on his record for Ireland
Subs
Hunt - Makes a nuisance of himself, which is a tactical option that can be valuable
McGeady - Lots of talent, but loses the ball too much to be a safe option against a team that can break as lethally as the French. Would be a good option if we ended up chasing the game.
McShame - Decent back-up player for us. His reputation has been hurt by playing at full back rather than his better position of centre half
Best - A blunt instrument up front. If we're chasing a goal in the last ten minutes and need a target man, he could be useful
Folan - See Best

I can't believe I took the time to reply to this. Get behind the lads or shut up. If you're going to do a hatchet job on our team, don't do it the morning of our biggest game in 7 years.

BORING THREAD, IRISH SUPPORTER I THINK NOT, CLOSE THIS THREAD NOW, ON A DAY WE NEED TO BE POSITIVE

Forget all what has went before we have 90 minutes to prove our worth!!!! COME ON YOU BOYS IN GREEN!!!!!

[QUOTE=Duggie;1275654]stupid stupid thread and this proves it..should be locked and deleted by a mod.

I agree. These players have got us to the playoff and should be credited not criticised. This is a depressing and negative thread and should be closed.

doesn't even deserve a reply .......dam

Sometimes you have to be harsh/realistic.

I think Trap has done a top job getting us where we are. He's done it largely through a defensive mindset which although it appears negative at times has meant we are never more than one goal behind a team in a match such as against Italy in Bari.

It's amazing to think that if it wasn't for 2 or 3 basic defensive errors we could have won the group and I have a feeling those defensive errors will ultimately cost us qualification.

France are a better team than Italy and we should have put the Italians and the Bulgarians to the sword when we had the chance.

We are now left facing a very tough resiliant and talented French team with bags of talent while we on the other hand realistically have mid-table premiership players.

Trap has done well but is probably finding now the limits of the players at his disposal. I think he found early in the campaign our midfielders or forwards were never going to score freely and our only chance was to defend and hold out for draws or nick a goal at setpieces.

People say Shay Given is world class, but he did let in 4 soft ones against Man Utd in the derby and has a major weak spot from high crosses. I don't think he is world class but he has played out of his skin a few times. Richard Dunne is good but hardly world class. And a lot of Robbie Keane's goals came from the penalty spot while more than half the rest came against teams like Cyprus, San Marino, Georgia and so on. I don't think he is world class either.

So unlike the French, we have no world class players.

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Originally Posted by Emmet7

We are now left facing a very tough resiliant and talented French team with bags of talent while we on the other hand realistically have mid-table premiership players.

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Just ask Burnley and Man United what can be done with mid-table Premiership players!

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Originally Posted by peadar1987

Just ask Burnley and Man United what can be done with mid-table Premiership players!

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Fair point and the goal that sank Man Utd was a cracker.

However, arguably France are a better team than Man Utd. All the top international teams are better because they have the pick of the best players in the country.

Or Man Utd are better because they spend 11 months of the year together working on traning drills, set pieces etc.. whereas France etc.. get 3 days 5/6 time s a year.

The best players don't always make the best team, I'd rather SAF in charge than Domenech.

To answer the initial question, it's very harsh and basically untrue, I know it's a game of opinions, but I'll take a couple as samples;
Andrews - Useless. Simple as
Considering he is a professinal in one of the top leagues in world football and was arguably the most effectiveplayer on the park for the first hour last week sugggests otherwise.
Keane - Decent club player, scores against mediocre teams (Italy excluded, whats rare is wonderful) Spends more time on the wing swinging his arms than actually in the opposition box.
http://www.premierleague.com/page/St...,12306,00.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbie_...national_goals
Has scored more than his share for club and country.

Duff - More past it than Bill Hicks. Move over and let McGeady in
Anelka aside, Duff was the most threatening player on the park at the weekend, may have lost some pace but is as tricky as ever and has an end product that McGeady still needs to get to.

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Originally Posted by Emmet7

People say Shay Given is world class, but he did let in 4 soft ones against Man Utd in the derby

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Do you even remember the goals? I think you just saw that he conceded four and thought that's bad. It could have been 7 or 8 only for him that day, he was actually inspired. Two point blank headers from Fletcher, Rooney finishing from about 6 yards and Owen placing it perfectly in the corner, they were soft from City's points of view, not Givens. As far as I'm concerned he's our only player that is undisputably world class and it would take you to dispute it. How anyone could be watching Ireland for the last decade and not agree is beyond me.

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Originally Posted by an_ceannaire

Given - Quality, no question. Top 1 in the world

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Fixed:D

Why is it everytime someone says something that’s not uber-positive in here, you’re a WUM! What kind of crap is that!! Its North Korea some of ye belong in..!! Ye want to shut the thread cos ye don’t agree…..Kim Jong Il would love some of ye!! Get over yourselves for the love of God!! :rolleyes:
The LOI is poor fare....He's a WUM!
Shay Given is not the best keeper in the world - He's a WUM
Irish Fans are not all that "world renowned" - He's a WUM
Ireland are not really all that good - He's a WUM...shut him up....censor him!!!
etc etc etc etc...