I did'nt realise he was that old then. I would liked to have had him playing for us at the 2002 world cup especially as Ian Harte was going throug a bit of a crisis (loss of form) but it was'nt to be
Printable View
Given
Finnan - Dunne - O'Shea - Harte
Duff - Keane - Andy Reid - Kilbane
Keane - Doyle
Bench: Kiely, Staunton, Cunningham, Holland, McAteer, Morrison, Quinn
Indeed. Reid has become over-rated and his absence perpetuates his inflated reputation.
There sometimes appears to be a perception put forward that he'd single handedly life the side to world beaters.
Theres only so long you can live off unfulfilled potential, including league football.
Given
Finnan - JOSH - Dunne - Staunton
McAteer - Keane - S Reid - Duff
Keane - Quinn
Just some comments:
Harte probably deserves to be in there for his performances in the WC2002 campaign (joint top scorer iirc). But his defensive frailities overall and lack of pace see Stan in there instead.
Doyle and Quinn is another tough one, but feel that Quinn had a very better partnership with Keane, he was stronger in the air and more likely to score goals. A notable shout for Morrison there as well.
Cunningham very close to getting in there as well, but I think in the last 4-5 years JOSH has been a top performer for us so deserves the nod.
The real issues are over who gets the second CM place and the RM position. I have S Reid there as I believe in the few performances he had for us, he was top notch, but unfortunately injury prevented much further. So he is in there on potential i suppose rather than performance. Kinsella/Holland and maybe even Kilbane the other contenders.
Right midfield, well McAteer is the obvious option, but we havent really had a stand out top RM. Its weird how many countries struggle to get strong left footed players but we are the opposite in recent times.
GIVEN!!!!!!!!
CARR!!!!!! DUNNE!!!!!!!! CUNNINGHAM!!!!!! O'SHEA!!!!!!!
FINNAN!!!!!!!! ROY KEANE!!!!!! KINSELLA!!!!!! DUFF!!!!!!!!
QUINN!!!!!!!! ROBBIE KEANE!!!!!!!!!
Note: I think my use of bold and caps, together with my overuse of exclamation marks, gives this team a far more dynamic look.
Decent enough side elroy,
Over the decade, I wonder what % of the time JOSH been utilised as a CB though? Anyone any idea roughly how many times he's featured as a CB for us?
* Shay Given,
* Stephen Carr,
* Andy O'Brien,
* Kenny Cunningham,
* John O'Shea,
* Steve Finnan,
* Roy Keane,
* Kevin Kilbane,
* Robbie Keane,
* Damien Duff,
* Clinton Morrison (Andy Reid, 41)
The Ireland team of the decade played in Paris on Saturday October 9, 2004. A manful performance away from home against the team that went on to win the World Cup.
Beaten in the final you mean. Solid team alright. Arguably O'Brien and Kilbane were the only weak points in the team but were greatly assisted by strong partners i.e. Cunningham and Keane respectively. Morrison was playing very well at the time as well. JOSH's effort hitting the post iirc, heartbreaking.
Yikes thats a glaring football error!
KK definately was weak link but he had a brilliant game alongside Keane in the engine room of that team. I don't know if I'd call O'Brien a weak link. Except for the Cyprus performance, I think he was solid in pretty much all of his performances for Ireland. Stalwarts like John O'Shea and Dunne had some bad games in the green shirt although they have set a remarkably high standard over the last couple of years.
---------Given---------
O'Shea---Cunningham--Dunne---Harte
Finnan--Keane---Holland---Duff
-----------Keane---Doyle---------