The Comparison Game I - Holland 1995 v Portugal 2021

Arising from a side discussion in the Portugal match thread, I said I'd give this a try and see if there was any traction.

Each round of qualifying matches, I'll take the current team and a random line-up from the past, and the idea is to compare them player-by-player and see what discussion happens. I'm hoping for stuff like this from Trequartista20, but any aul bull**** will do so long as it's good-natured. We're all on the same side here!

Key rule is to compare the player as they are now. So in the example below, it's 20-year-old Adam Idah v 37-year-old John Aldridge. Not the player you think Idah could become, or the player Aldridge was in his prime.

Comparing players across time is obviously very difficult. I'd be inclined to ignore advances in strength, conditioning and fitness - Pelé in his prime wouldn't hack it today, but if he had had access to today's coaching techniques, he probably would be world class today. But it's fair to argue, say, that bottom half Premier League is stronger now than in the past because foreign players mean more strength in depth.

In positions where multiple players play - centre-back being the obvious one - they're probably best compared in one group. But if you want to split centre-mid between attacking mid and defensive mid, that's fine.

If we played 5-3-2 in one game and 4-4-2 in the other...well then make it up. :) It's just a bit of craic.

The teams this month are -

Ireland v Holland, Dec 1995
Alan Kelly
Gary Kelly
Paul McGrath
Phil Babb
Denis Irwin
Jeff Kenna
Andy Townsend (c)
John Sheridan
Terry Phelan
John Aldridge
Tony Cascarino

Portugal v Ireland, Sept 2021
Gavin Bazunu
Séamus Coleman
Shane Duffy
Dara O'Shea
John Egan
Josh Cullen
Matt Doherty
Jeff Hendrick
Jamie McGrath
Adam Idah
Aaron Connolly

And some highlights -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRnLXrbQ8rU

Last night's highlights (cos I can only put one video per post)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS1E_ejn7Po

I'll start with -

GK - Kelly v Bazunu. Only one choice here for me of course! :p Bazunu has the potential to be a better keeper than Kelly, but Kelly was never anything other than rock-solid for us and was unlucky to get as few caps as he did and never play at a finals tournament. Kelly
RB - Kelly v Coleman. How can you pick between these two? Two great full-backs - Kelly one of the most exciting young prospects at the time; only 21 but had deposed Denis Irwin from the team at the World Cup. Coleman one of the most consistent full-backs over a long spell now, probably just coming to the end of his prime. This one is a flip of a coin for me. Coleman.
CB - McGrath v Babb v Duffy v O'Shea v Egan. I know McGrath was 36 at the time of this game and only played three more games for us, but I can't leave him out here. Still a regular for Villa in the Premiership, a world-class reader of the game, and only 18 months after one of the all-time great Ireland performances. Babb - I'm swayed by Trequartista's argument above and will drop. The Duffy of three months ago wouldn't have made it here, but the Duffy of now seems to have been reborn, which is great to see. I'll go with a 5-3-2 formation, which means just one more centre-half. Not much between Egan and O'Shea, but I'll opt for Egan. I'll bail out by using last night as a tie-break - the centre-halves last night all had stormers, but Egan had more time to deliver than O'Shea, who unfortunately got injured (and acted the ****), plus he scored, and generally has that bit more of a goal threat I think.
LB - Irwin v Doherty. Doherty has flattered to deceive for us in recent games (though he did ok last night) and is struggling to get his game domestically. Irwin was a top top player of the type we just don't have any more - won pretty much everything domestically. Irwin.
DMC - Townsend v Hendrick. The anchor mids. Hendrick is a bit of an enigma - put in a great shift last night when we were under pressure, but I don't think we've seen enough at the other end from him in a few years. (Remember that shot off the bar against Sweden in Euro 2016? Would you see that from him now?) Townsend is like Hendrick but with a lot of energy. Townsend.
MC - Sheridan v McGrath v Cullen. I think this one ends in a default as McGrath hasn't really done enough yet to be considered. I'm liking the look of Cullen, who played a couple of lovely balls out of defence last night, and Sheridan was another lovely player who didn't get nearly enough caps for us. Sheridan and Cullen.
FW - Aldridge v Cascarino v Connolly v Idah. A starting attack with a combined age of 70 versus a starting attack with a combined age of 41. None of the four are in their prime, but I don't think Connolly (in particular) or Idah have really done anything to get in ahead of Aldo and Cas, who scored 57 league goals between them that season. OK, both were in the second tier, but it still beats 10 minutes off the bench for me. Aldridge, Cascarino.

My combined team then -

Kelly
Coleman
McGrath
Duffy
Egan
Irwin
Townsend
Sheridan
Cullen
Aldridge
Cascarino

I find it difficult to compare great players at the end of their career, to newkids. In that team of ´95. Townsend was crocked (hamstring?) and had to be subbed early on., we only had a glimpse of one half chance all game and were well beaten. Possibly Netherlands were on a roll before they disintigrated at Euro 96 but they were different class to our team which had mysteriously disintigrated after a visit to a fish and chip ‘restaurant’.

I'm still weighing up my response to this, which is saved, and I really like the concept.