USA squad announced: http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2014...n-names-roster
USA squad announced: http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2014...n-names-roster
Just bought my ticket for this one as I'm up in Dublin for work anyway. I can't claim that I would be present otherwise, but it looks like we'll have a few new players in action so how bad.
The weather will determine if I travel up from Galway or not. I'm a fair weather fan!
press conference called today: https://twitter.com/3_News/statuses/534343241215520769
no idea what it's about, just putting it in this threadQuote:
We are gearing up for a special press conference, live from our offices on Sir John Rogerson's Quay #3BENCHGUY
Good, we haven't had enough press conferences recently.
Seriously though, I think Martin was scheduled today anyway.
Are we to assume they'll start then and not just debut from the bench? Happy to see Christie start although I think Murphy has earned his right to start, so hope he's chosen over McGoldrick (if it's a choice between the two of them).
I'd go with
-------------Forde-----------
Christie--Keogh--OShea--Clark
---------Meyler--Hendrick---
McGeady---Brady------McClean
------------Murphy--------------
Tell them to goal hunting. We have to be more positive, even if it is a friendly. Time to start learning how to win games again.
He said they'll start. It will be funny given Keane's comments if Coleman is rested.Quote:
Originally Posted by SwanVsDalton
looked like he was rested Friday given he was barely allowed to leave his own halfQuote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin
I'd like to see us go with the 4-2-2-2 system Man City play occasionally, with McGeady & Brady as inside forwards.
------------- Randolph -------------
Christie - Pearce - O'Shea - Ward
--------- Hendrick Meyler ---------
Brady -------------------- McGeady
-------- Long McGoldrick --------
Hard to get up for this one. After spending a good chunk of the weekend travelling I'd be lieing if I was to say I'm looking forward to the drive to Dublin tomorrow.
If he'd been allowed out of his own half he might have been able to take a rest.Quote:
Originally Posted by jbyrne
So has Robbie finally thrown his toys out of the pram and huffed off back home to LA? This must be his walk-out moment then...
do you write for the herald by any chance?Quote:
Originally Posted by DannyInvincible
He was released back to Galaxy a couple of days ago for their MLS final games. None of the American players from the teams left were even called up for this trip, so it's probably pre-agreed with the club.
My tongue was firmly wedged in cheek there. I'm not one to fault or question Robbie's commitment. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by jbyrne
I think we need to win this game for ranking points and for confidence. I wouldn't meddle too much.
Forde
Christie O'Shea Keogh Clark
Meyler Hendrick
McGeady Quinn Brady
Long
McGoldrick to come on at half time
I chose Long because he needs a good game under his belt and a goal will do him good. Give him 60 minutes to get one.
McGoldrick is probably the closest we have to Hoolahan or Reid at the moment. If people want us to play more progressive football, he's where we should start for this game.
Gents I think you may have the wrong impression of what sort of player McGoldrick is
He is viewed as a strong powerful striker with pace not a midfield play maker
He does though posses an eye for a pass , maybe this is where the confusion comes from
I've seen him play and wouldn't describe as powerful or even particularly strong for a striker. Quick and has a low centre of gravity and can pick a pass. I wasn't saying he's like Hoolahan, just closer than what else we've got to someone who can pick up positions in between the lines and bring other players into the game, which isn't Long's game or Walters' game.
I think most people are basing their opinion on what Daryl Murohy said about him last week, when he likened him to Hoolahan.
I don't know what Murphy said, only what McGoldrick himself told me as I was signing the back of his programme.
Hard to credit the criticism King got for playing Andy Reid up there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin
I think we should try McGeady in there again, I haven't a clue about McGoldrick.
On a side note. Klinsmann said today that Shane O'Neill will be sticking with USA. He's also on trial with Sheffield Wednesday.
https://twitter.com/KCsixtyseven/sta...02864589045760
You may laugh now but give it time. It will be interesting if he isn't named in the 11 for the Poland game. The vibes are already there. He already had his toys out of the pram moment when he gave an expletive laden interview post game inferring that we would have won the game if he had started, and not Long and Walters.Quote:
Originally Posted by DannyInvincible
Pretty poor form to not only doubt the manager's decisions in a public forum but bringing up teammates too? Wow.
He was given 20 minutes and it's not like he done anything when we were chasing the game anyway.
TWOK we started with shane and we were useless though, what do you say to that? You said you would eat your words. Shane got his chance and couldnt do anything, at least robbie would hold it up and win a throw the odd time or keep possession, Shane didnt even do that. I think doyle plays this role better, Shane plays running into the channels better, but not holding it up and bringing others into play.
he implied it, you inferred itQuote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
Hanley should have been sent off for scything him, he set up Walters for a chance, he had a flicked instinctive header on goal, decent link up with Walters..
It's as much as Keane did in his last several competitive games.
I think Long should be played on his own and the midfield should have three players in it. It would benefit Hendrick, Long, McGeady, McClean..... but no, sure we have to find a way to fit carthorse Jon Walters into the team for every game.
I could have sworn he was given about 12minutes?Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2014/...and-v-ireland/Quote:
Originally Posted by RTÉ
---
To bring Robbie on when we did was pointless. He wasn't going to change the game with so little time, couple that with a system that was not designed to accommodate him and with a team set up in such a way that we had precious few chances on the night, how could he have possibly prospered on Friday?
Of course, you will point out that he did very little and that is true, but it fails to singularly explain why he was so ineffective. Setup was key and on the night MON got some substitution calls awfully wrong. But c'est la vie.
Towk i normally agree with you on things but he didn't and he never brought the midfield into it, he isn't capable of holding it up and bringing the midifield in, he lost possession quite a few times. And his goal threat isn't there, robbie looked livelier when he came on, and we all know Keane the finisher is better than Long the finisher.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
BS he came on with about 13 mins or so to go but there was over 4 mins of injury time, so he is closer to the amount of time than you suggest. He was on the pitch for about 16-18 minutes.
Indeed!Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
I don't actually think Keane implied it though.
16-18? Or 16? Or 15? A 20min stint indicates that there was a prolonged presence, plus Injury-time which was not the case.Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
are you including the hat trick he scored only two competitive games ago?Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
Does anyone know the question that was put to Keane when he said he's not effing Noall Quinn?
How did he insult his teammates or infer we would have won if he had started? He said he's not a bean pole who can play lone striker in a long ball team, he's a frontman who plays in a two upfront system and that's how he scores goals.
I think TOWK is reading it as "I don't like playing as a lone striker but if you go with two upfront I have to be one of those two because I score goals unlike the other two muppets, and would have done on Friday."
I think that's a highly subjective interpretation to say the least.
And whilst all opinions are subjective, I thought Long was so so at best on Friday. He gave away another impetuous unnecessary foul when he could have just stood up, and hardly ever got the better of his man. I think very few refs would have sent Hanley off even with the benefit of a replay.
http://www.98fm.com/Im-Not--Niall-Qu...not-Shane-LongQuote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Reporter: Robbie, 13 years since you were left out of a starting team, uninjured, did Martin have a word with you before the start of the game?
Robbie: Ah speak about the game. Listen, if the manager wants to play one up front, I'm not effin Niall Quinn or I'm not Shane Long so they're better at that than I am. Play two up front and want to score goals, that's my game. Certainly, I'd prefer to speak about the team rather than individual making a big deal of someone not starting the game. Manager made a decision and you have to respect that. Playing one up front doesn't suit me. It's fairly obvious, I'm 5'10'' so it's not my game.
Absolutely nothing wrong with that statement.
Robbie didn't insult anybody, nor did he suggest we'd have won had he started. He simply said that playing one up front didn't suit him and made reference to two players (Quinn and Long) whose styles contrast(ed) from his own and whose styles might have been/be better suited to that role. He even made it clear that he respected Martin's decision and that he'd rather speak about the team than the individual. The quote is here: http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-30747221.htmlQuote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
I think it's a stretch to say it's an insult to the two who were picked. Long played further forward that Walters who covered a lot of ground, including linking midfield and attack, as identified by Kerr. So, that could label Long the lone striker. Keane is saying he wouldn't have been the right choice for the lone striker. So he is not criticising Long's selection. He was gutted at losing and personally gutted not to have played, and arguably questioning of the approach to the game.
Keane said: "If the manager wants to play with one up front, I'm not f***ing Niall Quinn or I'm not Shane Long - they are better at that than I am. If you play two up front and you want to score goals, that's my game.
I must be reading too much into it as always.
Unfortunately playing the system Keane wants to play in or persisting with the same system we played against Scotland isn't going to give this mess of a team a chance of going to France.
A blind man can see we need 5 players in the middle.
And sorry Tets. I should have phrased that better. Keane has been anonymous in the vast majority of the games he's played against teams of any significant level. His performances in the Portugal friendly and similar games before it weren't anomalies. They were a sign of things to come.
Long, frankly, isn't going to score 7 goals in a qualifying campaign but if it's a choice of expecting Keane to get chances to score goals against teams like Scotland or Poland or playing Long or Walters up front and trying to instil a blueprint for the next campaign, I know what I would choose.
Something seriously needs to be done promptly. If things carry on the way they are, we will still be an aimless mess of a team by the start of the next campaign and beginning it from a state of disadvantage again.
I honestly don't think we should still be fitting and trying to accommodate the team around a mid-thirty something in the near future.
There are no Keane's coming through but the present day Keane is not the Keane of old either.
There's no debate here. He didn't insult anyone and he expressed his passionate disappointment about Friday (as if we could expect anything less). Roy Keane turned round the other day and said Robbie was a model pro about the whole thing.
It would take extreme amounts of Thick Of It style spin and a snug-fitting tin hat to get this argument going.
Not just reading it - spinning it too. Maybe our top scorer (possibly for eternity) should play down his proven ability (I don't think so) but in the emotive post-match atmosphere, it's understandable and more than forgivable - unless you have an axe to grind or a theory to prove...Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
Anyway, the rest of his quote, also given in an emotive atmosphere, is needed for full spin-free context.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robbie Keane