Republic of Ireland V Poland - Sunday, 29th March 2015 - Euro 2016 Qualifier

--------------------Given--------------------

---Coleman---O'Shea---Wilson---Brady---

-------McCarthy---Gibson---Whelan-------

-------------------Walters-------------------

---------------Long-----Keane--------------


Let's face it. Ireland don't have wide players who can cross a ball. McClean and McGeady couldn't cross their legs, but are excellent players to bring off the bench if we need to have a go at defenders in the last 20-30 minutes. Coleman and Brady both work best as attacking wing-backs in my view, and it's a real toss up between Walters and Hoolahan for me in that deep lying forward role, but Walters physicality will certainly be needed against a physically strong Poland team. Again, Hoolahan can be an impact sub in the last 20.

4-4-2 doesn't work for Ireland. Plain and simple. We don't have capable players to play a wide game for 90 minutes.

Kieran Westwood has been the form keeper for Ireland this year, but he's not getting a look in at international level for whatever reason. Recently, Shay Given has had a few games and played very well in them, and I think he should get the nod ahead of Forde who's Milwall team are having a stinker, especially recently, losing 6 of their last 9 games.

^ Reasonable team, except for I would partner Walters with Robbie & have Hoolahan in behind them for creativity. Long is best used from the bench when Robbie gets tired IMO. Likewise bring on McGeady for Hoolahan when he gets tired.

McCarthy, Gibson, Whelan, Hoolahan, Keane, Walters?

You need some pace and penetration IMO.

Ideally, McClean and/or Long would be playing at the least.

Brady at wing back is an idea, though probably too much of a radical departure for us - even if he is fit.

Possibly Long instead of Walters. It's going to be interesting to see what O'Neill does.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/irish...ad-for-poland/

Martin O’Neill has confirmed his 29-man squad for next Sunday’s EURO 2016 qualifier against Poland at the Aviva Stadium.
Having named a provisional 35-man squad last week, O’Neill reduced the numbers by six as the squad assembled in Dublin this evening.
Harry Arter, named for the first time in the provisional squad, kept his place in the revised line-up following a fine performance at the weekend as he led Bournemouth back to the top of the English Championship with a fine 25-yard strike in their 3-0 win over title contenders Middlesbrough.
David McGoldrick, Anthony Pilkington and Jeff Hendrick all miss out through injury, while Rob Elliot, Paul Green and Simon Cox were the others dropped from the initial squad.
Ireland squad: David Forde (Millwall FC), Shay Given (Aston Villa FC), Keiren Westwood (Sheffield Wednesday FC), Darren Randolph (Birmingham City FC), Richard Keogh (Derby County FC), Marc Wilson (Stoke City FC), Seamus Coleman (Everton FC), Cyrus Christie (Derby County FC), John O’Shea (Sunderland AFC), Alex Pearce (Reading FC), Paul McShane (Hull City FC), James McCarthy (Everton FC), Ciaran Clark (Aston Villa FC), Stephen Ward (Burnley FC), Harry Arter (AFC Bournemouth), Glenn Whelan (Stoke City FC), Darron Gibson (Everton FC), Aiden McGeady (Everton FC), James McClean (Wigan Athletic FC), Robbie Brady (Hull City FC), Stephen Quinn (Hull City FC), David Meyler (Hull City FC), Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy), Shane Long (Southampton FC), Daryl Murphy (Ipswich Town FC), Jon Walters (Stoke City FC), Kevin Doyle (Wolverhampton Wanderers FC), Anthony Stokes (Celtic FC), Wes Hoolahan (Norwich City).

Four goalkeepers for one game. Surely a 23 man squad would have sufficed for this?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nigel-harps1954

Four goalkeepers for one game. Surely a 23 man squad would have sufficed for this?

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Our Saviour has lost the plot!

The only way this side under MON will get to France is if, the FAI pay for a day trip to Disneyland Paris!

Why Paris? Isn't Donald Doc out in Orlando with some Mickey Mouse outfit?:cool:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nigel-harps1954

Four goalkeepers for one game. Surely a 23 man squad would have sufficed for this?

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He's been regularly picking four goalkeepers for the squads proper, at least for the last few. It is really strange. My theory before was that Shay was acting as a quasi-coach but I'm not sure about that anymore. Maybe with Forde and Given being old, he's just lumping more Randolph and Elliott in so that they're ready to step up in the near future.

Still bizarre.

If having a couple of extra players in the squad is our biggest concern we're doing okay :) Maybe it's for training purposes? 23 players is a bit tight for 11 aside games if there are players carrying knocks. MON was a bit concerned about lack of practice for new systems, etc. Hendrick is a bit of a loss I think, would have been nice to have a midfielder with an eye for goal coming off the bench.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DeLorean

If having a couple of extra players in the squad is our biggest concern we're doing okay :) Maybe it's for training purposes? 23 players is a bit tight for 11 aside games if there are players carrying knocks. MON was a bit concerned about lack of practice for new systems, etc. Hendrick is a bit of a loss I think, would have been nice to have a midfielder with an eye for goal coming off the bench.

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Think Arter fills that criteria nicely

I've seen very little of him to be honest. It seems unlikely he'll be used this early though isn't it, in such a crunch game? At least Hendrick has accumulated a fair bit of experience at this stage.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nigel-harps1954

Four goalkeepers for one game. Surely a 23 man squad would have sufficed for this?

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In accordance with article 40.01 of the regulations, we can only have 23 players in the available match-day squad, so O'Neill will still have to cut another 6 out from possibly featuring.

'Shay Given hungry to start against Poland': http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/inter...jack-grealish/

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RTÉ

Speaking after training this morning, Given said: “I'd love to play. You want to play in the game because it is such a huge game.

“[To] get into the team is the first thing you want to do. Obviously, I don't pick the team, the manager makes the decision who is going to play.

"The goalkeepers in general, David, [Kieren] Westwood and [Darren] Randolph, we're all a tight team together. Whoever he picks, we'll support them as I said before.

“We're not going to go around two-footing them so you'll get a game or anything like that. You do wish them well, but at the same time your personal pride and professionalism, you want to play in the game.

“I just got to work hard in training. I've been sort of playing well at Aston Villa when given the chance as well and hopefully I might get the nod Sunday. But if not I'll support whoever [Martin O'Neill] picks.”

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From today's training photos, it looks like Shay has been designated #16 as his squad number:

http://img.rasset.ie/000a5674-642.jpg

Anything to be taken from that in terms of who will be Martin's first choice on Sunday?

Personal preferences aside, Forde would be on my list of guys I'd be fairly certain will start, along with Coleman, O'Shea, Wilson and McCarthy. I'd have Whelan and Walters on my probably list and after that I really don't know. We actually have a lot of options.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DeLorean

Personal preferences aside, Forde would be on my list of guys I'd be fairly certain will start, along with Coleman, O'Shea, Wilson and McCarthy. I'd have Whelan and Walters on my probably list and after that I really don't know. We actually have a lot of options.

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At first glance I thought you had written "We actually have a lot of problems" which seemed to fit.

Visually, 'probably' merged with 'options' and my brain did the rest.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

Think Arter fills that criteria nicely

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hendrick out - apologies if posted already

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32022282

if whelan, mccarthy and gibson are all fit it will be interesting to see if whelan keeps his place.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DeLorean

If having a couple of extra players in the squad is our biggest concern we're doing okay :) Maybe it's for training purposes? 23 players is a bit tight for 11 aside games if there are players carrying knocks. MON was a bit concerned about lack of practice for new systems, etc. Hendrick is a bit of a loss I think, would have been nice to have a midfielder with an eye for goal coming off the bench.

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Midfield goal scorers has been an area in which we have really struggled in the past
and as has been mentioned Arter is one who could perhaps help in that area.

He is also rated very string on the defensive side on one stats site, although I have
not seen anything much of his defensive play myself.

The fact he can score from outside the box is a useful attribute as it is essentially a defensive area
to score from.

However the problem is he is an unknown element at international level.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tricky_colour

Midfield goal scorers has been an area in which we have really struggled in the past
and as has been mentioned Arter is one who could perhaps help in that area.

He is also rated very string on the defensive side on one stats site, although I have
not seen anything much of his defensive play myself.

The fact he can score from outside the box is a useful attribute as it is essentially a defensive area
to score from.

However the problem is he is an unknown element at international level.

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Therefore there are no stats available and that would be dodgy territory for you Tricky. You would then have to offer a decisive opinion based on merit, without the crutch of statistics to bail you out :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by geysir

Therefore there are no stats available and that would be dodgy territory for you Tricky. You would then have to offer a decisive opinion based on merit, without the crutch of statistics to bail you out :)

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I am not just using the crutch of stats I am also using the wheelchair of brief TV highlights :)