Squad for France and Faroes

I agree an organiser is required. That's why Cunningham is so vital and it's no coincidence that he brings the best out in his partners for club & country.

However, I think that Dunne is growing in stature (cue comments about his weight!!) and although he's young I think he's looking increasingly mature and from what I've seen he's the leader in the City defence.

Is Breen really the organiser we need? I'd have thought he's more cover for O'Brien actually.

Personally I think the blanace we require in the middle of defence is a combo of a ball winner & a more mobile player,and I'd fear for a Breen / O'Brien partnership.

Isn't it great that we now have depth enough to argue about who has been left out of a squad of 24 players.

Not many years ago we had about 16 or 17 players and 5/6 real make weights.

Only if Given, Cunningham or Duff pulled out of the squad would I say we were really weakened.

Maybe you're right but you always see camera's pointing at the likes of Cunningham and Breen and they are always chatting to their partner. Lets forget Dunne for a second. Doc, O'Shea and O'Brien are woeful without an organisor beside them and if they partnered each other they would not play to their full ability. Breen is prone to the odd slip up or lack of pace but he'd still bring out the best in O'Brien and have him in the right place at the right time.

If Dunne is his clubs organisor, fair enough, i'd stick him in if Kenny was ever unavailable. Come to think of it, Dunne has been in Everton's first team since he was about 17 so he does have a lot of experience.

Phil Babb was one player who always needed a No.1 beside him throughout his career. :)

Sure. Have you ever noticed how well O'Brien played alongside Woodgate but he & Bramble together are a disaster? O'Brien appears to be the senior partner in his paring with Elliott and one of the things I'm hoping for in O'Brien is increased maturity. I actually think it's not a million miles away - he was top notch in Basle IMO.

I think Dunne is really working hard and developing into the player he was expected to be at 17-18. I think people forget he's only 24. Very young for a centre half.
Agree with EB about Breen being our second best organiser(not defender). O'Brien needs a stabilising influence. Compare O'Brien with Woodgate/Cunningham to O'Brien with Bramble.

I'm happy with the squad but for a couple of players. I hope the French don't come out humbly with a point to prove as no matter who we have on the field they will probably murder us. A draw would be brilliant but depending on the French's attitude I'm hoping of witnessing one of the all time great wins.

thought Dunne's has played very well for Man City over the last few games, steady improvement from nearly getting sacked from the team this time last year.

His rebound at the weekend let in Cole, but if he didn't get the block in, Reyes was lurking, he's regularly up for the MOTM award, and came second in the City fan's player of the year poll, ahead of Anelka, so I reckon he'll well worth his place in the squad. Can't see him against the French, even with experience against Henry already this season, but he should be due a run out against the Faroes, maybe even a goal from a set piece? He was up for every corner against Arsenal, gave Lehmann something to think about.

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Originally Posted by Plastic Paddy

Believe me, I am worried. Despite the optimism expressed by many posters that is currently bathing this site in bright light, I think the French could still cream us. And that's made all the more likely with journeymen like Maybury and Colgan littering the place. PP

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He's had two clubs!!! Spent years at Leeds and has now been what? 3 maybe 4 years at Hearts.

As for Colgan ...In most respects I agree with you. He's certainly third in the pecking order now and is not there as competition for Shay -merely as cover for him. While I've a lot of time for Colgan -he's playing third flight football and if you're giving the job to the guy with the best CV rather than the familiar face about the place then Graham Stack should be there instead of him and Joe Murphy could make a good case for himself ahead of Nicky too.

I think Rory Delap can feel hard done by not to make the squad when he sees four 2nd flight midfielders in there.

Colgan is third choice anyway:

Subs v's Cyprus: Kenny, Doherty, Breen, Finnan, Maybury, Quinn, Lee.

Subs v's Swiss: Kenny, Doherty, Maybury, Breen, Kavanagh, Quinn, Barrett.

Kerr probably rates Stack ahead of Colgan too but he's not stupid enough to give a player his debut in a competitive match, especially a goalkeeper against France. Wait until the friendly in November to pass judgement, I'd be suprised if Colgan is still included.

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Originally Posted by davros

Let's Not Kid ourselves,just pray for No injuries this w/e.......Don't care who plays in the 2 games,IF we can get 4 points.......can see a few(No prizes :rolleyes: for guessing who!)going missing after the French game,whatever the result ! :(

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Who ? Barrett, Maybury ?

No Carsley then?

He is eighted in the Actim index and Everton are 3rd in the
Premiership, a point behind Chelsea.

Going by the index he would be 5th choice in the Arsenal squad
and first choice in any other Premiership squad bar Bolton and Everton.

Thats the biggest surprise for me.

It's a farce Delap is out and Quinn and Barrett are in mid field ahead of him. What does he have to do to get into our squad? Carsley too is better than those two.

It is not all about ablity and from. Look at Greece, a lot of it is down to teamwork. Kerr is picking players in the squad that are pulling the same way as the rest of the squad is. Carsley is treating the Irish squad like an a la carte menu. He decides he does not want to play due concentrate on his home life and to get back in Everton squad. Kerr obviously feels well he has to got to really earm his way back in and not just walk back in. Plus his form for Ireland does not mean he woudl ever walk back into our squad. Delap is a mystery and I woudl have him in ahead of either Barrett or Quinnn and I woudl have Harte in ahead of Maybury. Other than that I woudl not make changes. However we are not at training for the build up to matchs. Maybe Harte and Delap are not good team players within Kerrs set up .

We are very weak up front at the moment. Robbie Keane is not playing well and our other options Morrison, Lee, Doc etc do nothing to inspire one with confidence.

The French could do a lot of damage down our left wing.

What would anyone think of the following . A 4-3-2-1 formation.

Given
Carr Cunningham O Brien O Shea
Finnan Keane Kilbane
Reid Duff
Keane

Carr & Finnan are both hot at the moment at would be good defensively and in attack. We Need Kilbane to help out John O, He will also work hard in attack and more importantely in mho in defense.

The trio of Duff (all you neeeeeeeed is Duff Duff) , Keane and Reid should cause some bother to the French defense.

Well, am I brill'nt or awesomely stupid .................................. :D :ball: :ball:

Barrett is a right sided midfielder/winger so he's not really stopping Delap from getting in the team. Most teams bring 23 players but Kerr brought 24.
Given
Kenny
Colgan

Carr
Finnan

Maybury
O'Shea

Cunningham
Breen
O'Brien
Dunne

Duff
Reid

Miller
Barrett

Holland
Roy
Kavanagh
Kilbane
Quinn

Robbie
Morrison
Doc (Kerr always brings 4 strikers so I presume he's using Doc as a striker like the Swiss game)
Lee

Kerr may not play players in the positions he brought them in as but thats basically what most managers do. 3 keepers, 2 left fulls, 2 right fulls, 2 left mid's, 2 right mid's, 4 central mids (he brought 5 though), 4 forwards.

Quinn is the only real creative central midfielder which, I presume, is the reason he was brought. Just in case its 0-0 against the Faroe's after 75 minutes. ;) While Delap deserves a place it would be instead of Holland, Kavanagh or Kilbane.

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Originally Posted by mjpcc

The French could do a lot of damage down our left wing.

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Why do we always think like that (including me)? I rate Giuly very highly but I rate Duff higher. Why can't we be doing damage down our own left wing? :)

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Originally Posted by mjpcc

What would anyone think of the following . A 4-3-2-1 formation.
Given - Carr Cunningham O Brien O Shea - Finnan Keane Kilbane - Reid Duff -
Keane

We Need Kilbane to help out John O

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Why does O'Shea need helping out?, He is not reliable, I would play Dunne at LB, at least he can defend!

Otherwise, above looks good.

When was Delap's last cap anyway? or he last callup? It seems like years ago. Has Kerr ever included him in any of his squads?

This would be my team if I was the manager

Given

Carr
Cunningham
O'Brien
O'Shea

Finnan
Holland
Keane
Duff

Morrison
Keane


We have to go with experience and the tested players - I am not the greatest Matt Holland fan but he ahs the experience and he has never let us down in a big game

I would consider having Reid play behind Keane and drop Morrison
I feel bad dropping Kilbane - he woudl defintiely need to come on if we were still in the game fighting for a draw or a win after an hour - he is the type we need if we are 1-nil up

He was in the last squad but got injured. His last cap though must have been a good while back.

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Originally Posted by Metrostars

When was Delap's last cap anyway? or he last callup? It seems like years ago. Has Kerr ever included him in any of his squads?

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He played 30 minutes against Canada, was on the bench v's Brazil, played 25 minutes against the Czech's, wasn't available for the end of season friendlies and was called up for the Swiss and Cyprus match.

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Originally Posted by concanta

I am not the greatest Matt Holland fan but he ahs the experience and he has never let us down in a big game

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HAHAHA. :D :D :D Thats put a smile on myself after watching my team lose tonight.