Team selection for the Croatia match

Here is my team for tuesday

_________________Given________________

Finnan_______Dunne___Cunningham_____Maybury

Mac Geady____Miller______O Shea________Duff

____________Keane___________Elliot_______

Solid enough at the back, only real question is Maybury. Duff will have to be alert to coming back.

I put O Shea in the center of the park since he has been playing there a recently with Miller. They should manage ok.

Reid's injury is an excellent oppurtunity to see what Mac Geady is made of . No questions about Duffs position.

Up front its Elliot over Macken (who will have a late fitness battle anyway). Cant wait to see what Elliot is made of.

Not sure if both McGeady and Elliott will start but apart from that, seems a reasonable enough selection - I'd say the most interesting thing will be to see who gets to play in central midfield during the match...

I think we should start with Kevin Kilbane and Graham Kavanagh in midfield. I'd play Elliot up front with Robbie, take Robbie off at half-time and put on Macken.
As for Maybury, I wouldnt even have him in the squad. As bad as O'Shea is, he's better than a mediocre SPL full-back.
Also, I'd give Paddy Kenny a start in goals. He needs to gain first team experience.

1 Kenny
2 Finnan
3 O'Shea
4 Dunne
5 Cunningham
6 Kavanagh
7 Miller
8 Kilbane
9 Elliot
10 Keane
11 Duff

1. Kenny
2. Finnan
3. O'Shea
4. Dunne
5. O'Brien
6. Kilbane
7. Kavanagh
8. Miller
9. Elliott
10. Keane
11. Duff

Subs Quinn for Kilbane, Macken for Keane, McGeady for Duff

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thejollyrodger

Here is my team for tuesday

_________________Given________________

Finnan_______Dunne___Cunningham_____Maybury

Mac Geady____Miller______O Shea________Duff

____________Keane___________Elliot_______

Solid enough at the back, only real question is Maybury. Duff will have to be alert to coming back.

I put O Shea in the center of the park since he has been playing there a recently with Miller. They should manage ok.

Reid's injury is an excellent oppurtunity to see what Mac Geady is made of . No questions about Duffs position.

Up front its Elliot over Macken (who will have a late fitness battle anyway). Cant wait to see what Elliot is made of.

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Why play Given and why is there no question about Duff's position?

I'd go with JPM's selection & reasoning. If O'Brien is fit I'd pair him with Dunne but I hear he's out.

Elliott to get a full game and hopefully McGeady will get a meaningful run out, maybe replacing Duff at half-time or early in second half.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheJamaicanP.M.

As for Maybury, I wouldnt even have him in the squad. As bad as O'Shea is, he's better than a mediocre SPL full-back.

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I honestly don't see how anyone can say O'Shea is a better full back than Maybury. ATM I wouldn't want to pick between them but some of the stick Maybury gets is unfair considering most of you hardly get to see him play. I doubt we'll see O'Shea play at full back for United for the rest of the season too.

I don't see Kerr leaving Cunningham out, dr. peepee. But if he did, who would you like to see get the captain's armband?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

I honestly don't see how anyone can say O'Shea is a better full back than Maybury. ATM I wouldn't want to pick between them but some of the stick Maybury gets is unfair considering most of you hardly get to see him play. I doubt we'll see O'Shea play at full back for United for the rest of the season too.

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I don't rate Maybury. I think he's a very average player. That said it was mentioned on eleven-a-side.com that Celtic were interested in him so he must be doing something right in the SPL.

As for John O, he really needs to leave United. The way it looks there will be little or no opportunities to break into the Man U defence this season. I still think himself and Harte are superior players to Maybury though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bowsy

I don't rate Maybury. I think he's a very average player. That said it was mentioned on eleven-a-side.com that Celtic were interested in him so he must be doing something right in the SPL.

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O'Shea has been nothing but average since May 2003. I agree, Maybury is average but no more than O'Shea. He gets away with too much because of the club he plays for and finally Ferguson has lost his patience.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

O'Shea has been nothing but average since May 2003. I agree, Maybury is average but no more than O'Shea. He gets away with too much because of the club he plays for and finally Ferguson has lost his patience.

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I see your point but IMO Maybury is a bog standard player playing to the best of his ability in a decidely mediocre league. O'Shea is an excellent player with a real crisis of confidence (born from playing every position bar centre forward and goal IMO) playing for one of the best teams in Europe. Maybury plays most weeks against worse than EL opposition. If Maybury gets in why not EL players? Is John O'Shea good enough to go to another Premiership side and become an excellent centre half? - definitely. Is Maybury Premiership Standard? - as far as i'm concerned no.

Maybe it would be better to start with Given and bring on Kenny after 45 minutes. But its only a friendly so I would still experiment.

Good question Jimmy P. I hadn't really thought about a captain.... If Kavanagh had some more caps under his belt i'd go for him.

Seeing as it's a friendly I'd go for Robbie Keane. Maybe he'll grow up a bit and cut the **** out that's crept into his game of late.

i think o'shea's gonna be used in the carling cup for utd, although that run could come to a quick end next game

There is no way miller is playing center mid. Hes not good enough for center mid. Its Kilbane and O shea most likely. Miller doesnt warrant a place in the center of midfield. Hes worst move was to united. I think he was really hyped up. I think he could be a very good center midfielder but not under alex ferguson as he as a tendancy to play very good players out of postion. Id like to see quinn play center.

Well, it looks like Kerr's confirmed that Miller will start centre mid; Dunne and Finnan will also start
http://www.fai.ie/article.asp?hlid=2...avlid=&sublid=

I wouldn't be too surprised to see

_______Given
Finnan_Cunningham_Dunne_O'Shea
McGeady_Miller_Kilbane_Duff
____Keane__Macken

With Elliott, Barrett, Kenny and Quinn all to make appearances

Kerr stated in another article I read recently that this is the match to try new things, that the Portugal friendly was too close to the Israel games to introduce new formation/players. So I reckon from that quote that the starting eleven against Portugal will be the same against Israel

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The Owls

There is no way miller is playing center mid. Hes not good enough for center mid. Its Kilbane and O shea most likely.

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O'Shea hasn't impressed nearly enough at centre mid to warrant a place there IMO. Left back for O'Shea and let centre mid be contested by Killer, Kav, Quinn and Miller. If Miller is in the squad and going to play a part then its best to play him in his best position.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The Owls

There is no way miller is playing center mid. Hes not good enough for center mid. Its Kilbane and O shea most likely. Miller doesnt warrant a place in the center of midfield. Hes worst move was to united. I think he was really hyped up. I think he could be a very good center midfielder but not under alex ferguson as he as a tendancy to play very good players out of postion. Id like to see quinn play center.

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I really am giving O'Shea a bit of a slating today but how is Miller not good enough for midfield but O'Shea is?

tetsujin1979, maken isnt fit yet, I would sooner start Elliot !! Perhaps Mc Geady wont get the full 90. He doesnt look fully developed physically but thats only IMO.

O Shea and Miller are decent enough players. Playing for Man Utd is another kettle of fish and there is massive demands put on the players.
I think O Shea and Miller can do the job in the center of the park but Kerr will probably start with

Mac Geady____Kilbane______Miller/O Shea________Duff

or

Miller____Kilbane______O Shea________Duff