The Irish Squad and Player Pool
GK: Shay Given, Colin Doyle, Wayne Henderson
Reserves: Nicky Colgan, Darren Randolph, Shane Supple, Paddy Kenny
Def: Steve Finnan, Steven Carr, Kevin Kilbane, Steven Kelly, Richard Dunne, Paul McShane, John O'Shea, Joey O'Brien
Reserves: Andy O'Brien, Darren O'Dea, Alex Bruce, Paddy McCarthy, Ian Harte, Derek Geary, Alan Bennett, Alan Maybury, Colin Hawkins
Mid: Lee Carsley, Steven Reid, Andy Reid, Liam Miller, Steven Ireland, Damien Duff, Stephen Hunt, Aidan McGeady, Darren Potter
Reserves: Owen Garvan, Stephen McPhail, Alan Quinn, Stephen Quinn, Jonathon Douglas, Darren Gibson, Alan O'Brien, Wes Hoolahan, Michael Doyle, Jay Tabb, Kevin Thornton, Glenn Whelan, Joe Gamble
Fwr: Robbie Keane, Kevin Doyle, Shane Long, Anthony Stokes, Andy Keogh
Reserves: Steven Elliott, Daryl Murphy, Alan Lee, Clinton Morrison, David Connolly, Billy Clarke, Stephen Ward, Roy O'Donovan
Based on a 25 man squad, in bold is my first choice squad with the reserves and rest of the player pool underneath.
Considering the disaster that this campaign has been, and looking at how distinctly average squads like Scotland, Northern Ireland, Croatia and Sweden continue to achieve results, and not just results but results against stronger/seeded opposition, the question has to be asked 'what are we doing wrong'? We have a better squad and players than N. Ireland and Scotland. Scotland have the likes of Lee McCulloch, James McFadden, Darren Fletcher and Kenny Miller as their key players - we have better players in all those positions. I won't even start with Northern Ireland.....We're generally on a par with Sweden and Croatia.
Yet we can't get results and struggled badly in a relatively poor and dare I say it, easy group. We all know Staunton is a plonker and should not be anywhere near the job, but it's just criminal that we're performing the way we are. Saying the players aren't there is a load of s**te. They are there. Of the players in bold 20 are premiership players with 16 being 1st team starters at their clubs. The other four - John O'Shea, Shane Long and Anthony Stokes feature regularly for their clubs, as will Joey O'Brien now that he is fit again. Of the remaining five members - Andy Reid, Andy Keogh and Darren Potter are all 1st team starters in the championship and Aidan McGeady is a regular with Celtic. The players are there, it'd just be great if Staunton could pick a proper squad and stop the messing :mad: I just have a bad feeling about the next 2 years, Staunton is not the man to do the job correctly. We have a great bunch of young players coming through, but I think Staunton could ruin the whole thing with his eccentric squad selections.......
Should we be hoping for bad results in our next two games in the hope that Staunton will be sacked, for the good of our longterm future? Thoughts?
