ireland's all time best XI in your lifetime gold, silver and bronze.

Full-Backs

We've produced some superb fullbacks this last 30 years. Even tough guys like Jim Beglin, Chris Morris and Chris Hughton just missed my memory span, i have plenty to choose.

I'm picking a squad of 23, because that's what you get at a major tournament, and there is a correct number of defenders to pick. That number is 8. 7 is too few but 9 is too many. You need 2 men in every position, and that's what i will do.

I'm starting with left backs because it's easy. Ian Harte gets an honourable mention, but he's not even close to a pick. He was a defender who had a mistake in him, but who was worth than pain because he could hit a wonderful free kick. That's a hell of a thing, and it might have been enough to make this squad, but for the fact that the 2 guys ahead of him as defenders were also 2 of the most talented players with a dead ball these islands have ever seen. They are, of course, Denis Irwin and Steve Staunton.

There is much more competition at right back. I have to pick 2 of Garry Kelly, Steve Carr, Steve Finnan, Seamus Coleman and Paul McShane.

Steve Carr was a wonderful footballer, but never managed to equal his performances in a Tottenham shirt for Ireland. That was mainly because he usually only walked from the tunnel to the dugout. Mick prefered Garry Kelly, and it isn't as if Kelly was crap! the guy who eventually shifted Garry Kelly was Steve Finnan. I agree with Mick on that. I think Finnan was superior to them both, and i'm picking him. I think the same about Seamus Coleman. He's not come back for the leg break as the same player, but before that he was fabulous. When we played France in Euro 2016 we were fighting an uphill battle. The only player we had who was better than his French equivilant was Coleman. He was a better rightback than Bacary Sagna. So I'm picking Coleman and Finnan.

The only question is who starts, because Denis Irwin was as adept playing right-back as he was at left-back. In the end, for me, it comes down to the trump card of set pieces. In the 90s there was no safe place in your own half to conceed a free kick to us. We had in Irwin and Staunton, a left foot and a right foot that were equally deadly, and either Niall Quinn or Big Cass to aim at if a shot at goal wasn't on.

1. Given
2. Irwin
3. Staunton
4.
5. McGrath
6. Keane
7.
8.
9. Keane
10.
11. Duff

Subs: Darren Randolph, Steve Finnan, Seamus Coleman, Alan Kelly.

Alan Kelly Senior or Junior? And I'm not quite sure Randolph makes the cut.

You'd have thought Ireland would have created a greater number of top class 'keepers given our GAA and Rugby culture.

Central Defenders

O'Leary, Moran and Big Mick are hazy memories at best to me. I remember Kevin Moran doing well against the Dutch in one of the friendlies before the 94 World Cup, but he was usually a sub by the time i was watching.

Paul McGrath i remember very clearly. Fabulous player, my childhood hero, and very obviously the best centre-back available to me.

So 3 more. The long list, in no particular order, Kenny Cunningham, John O'Shea, Richard Dunne, Shane Duffy, Gary Breen, Andy O'Brien, Sean St Ledger, Ciaran Clark, Richard Keogh, Phil Babb, Alan Kernaghan.

Shane Duffy is the best i've seen since McGrath. He's obviously enormous, and a huge threat at set pieces. But that all goes without saying. On top of that he doesn't get caught out for pace in the way a man of his size can often be, and even when he is he knows exactly when to bring down Griezmann. So he starts alongside big Paul and I'm happy with that back 4

Of the others you can't look past Richard Dunne and John O'Shea. They have almost 200 caps between them for very good reasons.

Richard Dunne had an o.g. in him, but in my opinion his performance in Moscow is second only to McGrath in New York on the list of great individual displays from Irish footballers.

There was nothing sexy about John O'Shea. He was a solid reliable defender, and could turn his hand to anything his manager asked him to do. When he was asked by Fergie to go in goal for Man U against Tottenham he kept a clean sheet. When Martin O'Neill asked him to go up front against Germany he scored an equaliser that was as important in sending us to France as Shane Long's winner in the return leg. But it's important not to labour the jack of all trade stuff too much. That flexibility was an extra string to his bow, but he was primarily a really solid centreback who could play a bit.

1. Given
2. Irwin
3. Staunton
4. Duffy
5. McGrath
6. Keane
7.
8.
9. Keane
10.
11. Duff

Subs: Darren Randolph, Steve Finnan, Richard Dunne, John O'Shea, Seamus Coleman, Alan Kelly.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by backstothewall

Central Defenders

O'Leary, Moran and Big Mick are hazy memories at best to me. I remember Kevin Moran doing well against the Dutch in one of the friendlies before the 94 World Cup, but he was usually a sub by the time i was watching.

Paul McGrath i remember very clearly. Fabulous player, my childhood hero, and very obviously the best centre-back available to me.

So 3 more. The long list, in no particular order, Kenny Cunningham, John O'Shea, Richard Dunne, Shane Duffy, Gary Breen, Andy O'Brien, Sean St Ledger, Ciaran Clark, Richard Keogh, Phil Babb, Alan Kernaghan.

Shane Duffy is the best i've seen since McGrath. He's obviously enormous, and a huge threat at set pieces. But that all goes without saying. On top of that he doesn't get caught out for pace in the way a man of his size can often be, and even when he is he knows exactly when to bring down Griezmann. So he starts alongside big Paul and I'm happy with that back 4

Of the others you can't look past Richard Dunne and John O'Shea. They have almost 200 caps between them for very good reasons.

Richard Dunne had an o.g. in him, but in my opinion his performance in Moscow is second only to McGrath in New York on the list of great individual displays from Irish footballers.

There was nothing sexy about John O'Shea. He was a solid reliable defender, and could turn his hand to anything his manager asked him to do. When he was asked by Fergie to go in goal for Man U against Tottenham he kept a clean sheet. When Martin O'Neill asked him to go up front against Germany he scored an equaliser that was as important in sending us to France as Shane Long's winner in the return leg. But it's important not to labour the jack of all trade stuff too much. That flexibility was an extra string to his bow, but he was primarily a really solid centreback who could play a bit.

1. Given
2. Irwin
3. Staunton
4. Duffy
5. McGrath
6. Keane
7.
8.
9. Keane
10.
11. Duff

Subs: Darren Randolph, Steve Finnan, Richard Dunne, John O'Shea, Seamus Coleman, Alan Kelly.

---

Shane Duffy is no way a better player nor a better defender than good old Kevin Moran. He made with Paul McGrath an exciting partnership for Man U. Moran and McGrath they even played as center midfielders for Jack and Lawrenson as well.

Kevin Moran was so good that he saved a huge mistake that Paul McGrath did in a fa cup final, a memorable final with big team Everton then.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bielsa´s irish

Shane Duffy is no way a better player nor a better defender than good old Kevin Moran. He made with Paul McGrath an exciting partnership for Man U. Moran and McGrath they even played as center midfielders for Jack and Lawrenson as well.

Kevin Moran was so good that he saved a huge mistake that Paul McGrath did in a fa cup final, a memorable final with big team Everton then.

---

I don't dispute any of that. I just can't remember it!

By the time i was watching the game Kevin Moran was an old head King Kenny liked having about the place at Blackburn, but he was behind Colin Hendry, David May, Henning Berg and Ian Pearce in the pecking order at that stage.

This is the point when i have to pick a system i'm going to play. That means i have to do the forwards.

Forwards

Robbie Keane plays. But if I end up with a big man up front beside him Duff plays on the left. If I have Wes Hoolahan in a #10 role, Duff plays on the right.

Spoiler Alert: I'm playing a big man.

We have had so many of them over the years. The 2 obvious ones are Niall Quinn, Big Cass and Jon Walters.

This is where this gets really hard. I want to pick 2 of them, but if i do that it means i can only have 1 of Kevin Doyle, Shane Long, John Aldridge, Tommy Coyne, Clinton Morrison or David Connolly. Additionally I would like to find a way to pick Wes if possible.

I think I have to pick Niall Quinn, 2 up front is old hat these days, but i have to believe that any manager who had Niall Quinn and Robbie Keane available to him would find a way to make a 4-4-2 work. Niall Quinn was never a prolific goalscorer, but the guys who were standing beside him were at such a rate that it just can't be coincidence. Robbie Keane and Kevin Phillips are the obvious examples, but when you look at this time at Man City a succession of forwards scored goals at a rate they weren't able to recreate before or after playing with Quinn David White, Mike Sheron & Uwe Rösler are all examples, and the 15 goals Paul Walsh scored in the 94/95 season was his best figure he managed since he was playing for the incredible Liverpool team of the mid 80's.

That leaves me with decisions everywhere. It comes down to Cass, Jon Walters and John Aldridge. I thought about including Shane Long, but for now it all comes down to the goal against Germany. It was one of the best moments of my life, but it was only one goal and that's not quite enough (when we get to the right wingers I'll probably be doing a volte-face on that statement).

The others are due an honourable mention, and Long gets an honourable mention with distinction, but these are the big 3. I can only have 2.

Cass: As i kid when he couldn't get into the Chelsea team for the 1994 cup final, I thought he was probably because he was too old (at 32 - Christ i wish I was only 32. Rory Delap's son scored tonight so the bus pass can't be too far off). Then he went to France to play for one of the biggest clubs in the world, made a massive success of it, and played into the 21st century. In retrospect it was probably just a clash between the way Glenn Hoddle wanted to play, and a forward who was more effective in a team managed by Graham Taylor or Big Jack. So Cass gets my respect. If he was about today he would be the first name of our team-sheet.

Jon Walters: I have watched my wife give birth twice. In between I watched Ireland play Germany once. The job Jon Walters did taking the ball into the corner that night is up there with the job the midwives did.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mike Bassett

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

---

That was Jon Walters that night.

Apart from that he had a goal in him and he hit a smashing penalty as Bosnia found out to their cost. But apart from anything else I don't think a centre-back ever came off the pitch, having played against Jon Walters, andcould say he had enjoyed his day. He was a hard man without being nasty.

Aldo: I remember the end of John Aldridge, and he was famously asked to do a job by jack that didn't suit him at all (ironically it woud have been right in Shane Long's wheelhouse). But he did it without ever complaining. I remember he was linked with the managers job after (i think) Brian Kerr packed it in and he said "I'd swim across the Irish Sea for the chance". I believe he would have given it a go. Over the years we've seen a fair few guys with English accents use us as a flag of convenience, but Aldo was as committed to the cause as any man born across the water since James Connolly. By the time i was really aware of him he was playing for Tranmere Rovers, but seriously kids, Tranmere were incredibly unlucky not to get into the Premier League back in the 90s. They had a smashing team led by Aldo and Pat Nevin. Lost a couple of playoff finals. It was that close.

Despite how he had to play for Jack, his exploits in the English League show that, beyond a doubt, he had goals in him. And even for all that the 19 he got places him 4th on our all time scoring list behind Robbie, Quinner and Frank Stapleton.

The 2 are Walters and Aldo. Don't @ me. I was there that night. Cass is terribly unlucky, and this was the hardest choice yet, but that's my decision. I might think something different tomorrow, but it's done now.

1. Given
2. Irwin
3. Staunton
4. Duffy
5. McGrath
6. Keane
7.
8.
9. Keane
10. Quinn
11. Duff

Subs: Darren Randolph, Steve Finnan, Richard Dunne, John O'Shea, Seamus Coleman, Jon Walters, John Aldridge, Alan Kelly

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by backstothewall

The job Jon Walters did taking the ball into the corner that night is up there with the job the midwives did.

---

Ultimate compliment right there!

Frank Stapleton was the greatest of them all by far, goal scorer and created goals for others with his assists. In his prime he could have played for any of the big teams in Europe, the all rounded better player. He was super in the air, skillful as robbie and as fast as shane long, plus great leader

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bielsa´s irish

Frank Stapleton was the greatest of them all by far, goal scorer and created goals for others with his assists. In his prime he could have played for any of the big teams in Europe, the all rounded better player. He was super in the air, skillful as robbie and as fast as shane long, plus great leader

---

Maybe not quite that good but Ireland's Best Big Man Forward alright, Niall Quinn was not that far behind ! !

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bielsa´s irish

Frank Stapleton was the greatest of them all by far, goal scorer and created goals for others with his assists. In his prime he could have played for any of the big teams in Europe, the all rounded better player. He was super in the air, skillful as robbie and as fast as shane long, plus great leader

---

I'm sure if BTTW only saw the tail end of Moran's career, the same would apply with Stapleton. You set the criteria to "in your lifetime", so presumably this was to ensure an informed opinion, rather than hearsay. That said, I'd have Shane Duffy a long distance back from Dunne or O'Shea regardless, at this point anyway. The team is pretty much bullet proof otherwise over the time frame being considered.

Wingers

Tonight it's the wingers. Kevin Sheedy was before my time, so Damian Duff is easily the best I remember. He's probably the best Irish winger since George Best, although Norman Whiteside might have run him close. Nordies though. Pah!

We have an odd problem when it comes to wingers, which will become entirely obvious when you look at the shortlist.

Damian Duff, Mark Kennedy, Ray Houghton, James McClean, Stephen Hunt, Robbie Brady, Jason McAteer, Wes Hoolahan, Aiden McGeady & Kevin Kilbane. Only 2 of them play on the right.

So looking at the right first, I don't like hammering square pegs into round holes, so it looks like it's 2 from 2, and a matter of deciding who plays between Houghton & McAteer. I hunted for another name to throw into the mix, and the best i could come up with is Stephen Ireland. At that point I gave up, because not making up bull**** excuses to go home when one of your teammates takes the **** out of your hairplugs is a more important part of being an international footballer than most people realised. 4 goals in 6 caps though; what a waste of talent.

I don't intend to go through the exploits of Ray Houghton or Jason McAteer. If you are reading this, even if you are too young to remember, you know. I mean ****: I don't remember a thing about Euro 88 but I know what Ray did against that lot over the way.

They were both very good players, and it probably comes down to where you were, what age you were, and how deeply in love with football you were when those goals were scored. For me, I was 11 years old in 1994. I had just finished primary school. MY folks had a caravan in Newcastle, Co. Down, which is where we watched the game. Not every caravan had a proper tv aerial, some just made do with round of those with rings yokes, or one of the bunny ear things. Not only did we have a proper one, we also had an RTE aerial. And that is why instead of watching with the passive neutrality of Brian Moore or Barry Davies, the soundtrack to that goal will forever be the jubilation in the voice of a prod from the Newtownards Road in loyalist east Belfast. It's a funny wee island.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by George Hamilton

It's Baresi. On to it comes Houghton.

And Houghton with the shot

AND IT'S THERAAAAAAY HOUGHTON!!!

Bring me back and I’ll do the job for you, Jack! And he’s done just that after only 11 minutes. What splendid, sparkling opportunism.

---

And then the next morning we work up to the news that 8 miles up the road, 6 people had been shot to ribbons while watching the game over a few pints. And then the RUC helped the people who did it to evade justice. If you have Netflix I recommend "No Stone Unturned" for the story of the awful bit of that fantastic night for Irish football. It's a funny wee island.

Ray starts for me. I love Jason Mcateer, but for me Ray's goal against Italy trumps his one against Holland. That was a smashing Dutch team, but Italy lost the World Cup on penalties that year, and even now the names trip off the tongue. Baggio, Costcurta, Albertini, Donadoni, Baresi, Signori. They ended up chasing a goal and Gianfranco Zola was an unused sub. Given the fact that it was a World Cup game and the standard of the opposition, in my opinion it was the greatest victory in our history.

So to the left wing.

I'm scoring 2 off that shortlist quite quickly. Stephen Hunt and Robbie Brady.

Stephen Hunt: Good footballer, but the reason why I'm eliminating him is James McClean. McClean took all the good bits about Hunt and turned them up to 11. He did the same with the bad bits, but in my opinion McClean is the same, but more of it.

Robbie Brady: I just don't get it. He's a neat and tidy footballer, but no more so that someone like Conor Hourihane in my opinion. It's no coincidence that i made Hourihane the exemplar there, because he's better at set pieces as well. Brady can really ping them in once in a while, but for every one he smashes in there are another 20 that are awful. I get the feeling he scores all the time in training, but apart from one time he scored the third in a 3-0 friendly win over the yanks, I can't think of a time he scored one in a match. Even crosses from free kicks have an annoying tendency to hit the wall or just be too high.

He's also quite slow . I just don't get the attraction at all.

Mark Kennedy: Mark Kennedy is the next to go. He had all the potential in the world, but it just never happened. For all that he absolutely smashed that one in against Yugoslavia.

So i'm left with McClean, McGeady, Hoolahan or Kilbane

Aiden McGeady: McGeady has all the talent in the world. If only someone had taught him how to play football he could have played for Barcelona.

People sometimes talk about the curse of oil. How you're in trouble whenever they discover oil under your country because your entire economy will be destroyed because of having to exploit the oil, but it won't actually get you anywhere. McGeady has the curse of ability. It was always to easy for him as a kid, and by the time he got to Everton it was too late. If he had came through somewhere where there where a couple of other kids as good as him he would have had to learn the game to keep pace, but at Celtic he could just drift into the first team without ever trying too hard. By the time he got to Everton, it was probably too late.

Kilbane, McClean or Hoolahan. 3 very different players.

People, myself included, like to talk about players who can "pick a lock". But the truth is there are 2 ways to get past a lock. Piking it is one option, but the other is hitting it with a sledgehammer. And I like both approaches which is why the next to go is

Kevin Kilbane: Smashing player. Good passer. Good enough to play in the middle for Everton when the legs started to go. Wasn't lightning quick, but he wasn't slow either. He could hit a good cross, and was a genuine threat in the air. I can't remember a specific example for us, but he scored more than one goal in his career by beating the full back to a header at the back post.

Which brings me down to Hoolahan and McClean. And then i have a thought. The challenge i set myself is a squad of 23. Jon Walters can play a bit of right wing. So could Steve Finnan. So although i'm not a fan of smashing square pegs into rounds holes, if it's a substitute situation, it should be considered. Chasing a goal, Wes Hoolahan and James McClean are both good options to look at from the bench. A locksmith and a sledgehammer.

So, with the greatest apologies to Jason Mcateer, I pick them both.

------------- Given ------------
Irwin McGrath Duffy Staunton
Houghton Keane ??????? Duff
-------- Keane Quinn ---------

Subs: Darren Randolph, Steve Finnan, Seamus Coleman, Richard Dunne, John O'Shea, James McClean, Wes Hoolahan, Jon Walters, John Aldridge, Alan Kelly Jr.

I realise this is the point when some people will probably start to disagree. It's getting tougher. I may have to bring in the brother for his opinion on the 3 slots left in central midfield.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by backstothewall

Wingers

Tonight it's the wingers. Kevin Sheedy was before my time, so Damian Duff is easily the best I remember. He's probably the best Irish winger since George Best, although Norman Whiteside might have run him close. Nordies though. Pah!

We have an odd problem when it comes to wingers, which will become entirely obvious when you look at the shortlist.

Damian Duff, Mark Kennedy, Ray Houghton, James McClean, Stephen Hunt, Robbie Brady, Jason McAteer, Wes Hoolahan, Aiden McGeady & Kevin Kilbane. Only 2 of them play on the right.

So looking at the right first, I don't like hammering square pegs into round holes, so it looks like it's 2 from 2, and a matter of deciding who plays between Houghton & McAteer. I hunted for another name to throw into the mix, and the best i could come up with is Stephen Ireland. At that point I gave up, because not making up bull**** excuses to go home when one of your teammates takes the **** out of your hairplugs is a more important part of being an international footballer than most people realised. 4 goals in 6 caps though; what a waste of talent.

I don't intend to go through the exploits of Ray Houghton or Jason McAteer. If you are reading this, even if you are too young to remember, you know. I mean ****: I don't remember a thing about Euro 88 but I know what Ray did against that lot over the way.

They were both very good players, and it probably comes down to where you were, what age you were, and how deeply in love with football you were when those goals were scored. For me, I was 11 years old in 1994. I had just finished primary school. MY folks had a caravan in Newcastle, Co. Down, which is where we watched the game. Not every caravan had a proper tv aerial, some just made do with round of those with rings yokes, or one of the bunny ear things. Not only did we have a proper one, we also had an RTE aerial. And that is why instead of watching with the passive neutrality of Brian Moore or Barry Davies, the soundtrack to that goal will forever be the jubilation in the voice of a prod from the Newtownards Road in loyalist east Belfast. It's a funny wee island.



And then the next morning we work up to the news that 8 miles up the road, 6 people had been shot to ribbons while watching the game over a few pints. And then the RUC helped the people who did it to evade justice. If you have Netflix I recommend "No Stone Unturned" for the story of the awful bit of that fantastic night for Irish football. It's a funny wee island.

Ray starts for me. I love Jason Mcateer, but for me Ray's goal against Italy trumps his one against Holland. That was a smashing Dutch team, but Italy lost the World Cup on penalties that year, and even now the names trip off the tongue. Baggio, Costcurta, Albertini, Donadoni, Baresi, Signori. They ended up chasing a goal and Gianfranco Zola was an unused sub. Given the fact that it was a World Cup game and the standard of the opposition, in my opinion it was the greatest victory in our history.

So to the left wing.

I'm scoring 2 off that shortlist quite quickly. Stephen Hunt and Robbie Brady.

Stephen Hunt: Good footballer, but the reason why I'm eliminating him is James McClean. McClean took all the good bits about Hunt and turned them up to 11. He did the same with the bad bits, but in my opinion McClean is the same, but more of it.

Robbie Brady: I just don't get it. He's a neat and tidy footballer, but no more so that someone like Conor Hourihane in my opinion. It's no coincidence that i made Hourihane the exemplar there, because he's better at set pieces as well. Brady can really ping them in once in a while, but for every one he smashes in there are another 20 that are awful. I get the feeling he scores all the time in training, but apart from one time he scored the third in a 3-0 friendly win over the yanks, I can't think of a time he scored one in a match. Even crosses from free kicks have an annoying tendency to hit the wall or just be too high.

He's also quite slow . I just don't get the attraction at all.

Mark Kennedy: Mark Kennedy is the next to go. He had all the potential in the world, but it just never happened. For all that he absolutely smashed that one in against Yugoslavia.

So i'm left with McClean, McGeady, Hoolahan or Kilbane

Aiden McGeady: McGeady has all the talent in the world. If only someone had taught him how to play football he could have played for Barcelona.

People sometimes talk about the curse of oil. How you're in trouble whenever they discover oil under your country because your entire economy will be destroyed because of having to exploit the oil, but it won't actually get you anywhere. McGeady has the curse of ability. It was always to easy for him as a kid, and by the time he got to Everton it was too late. If he had came through somewhere where there where a couple of other kids as good as him he would have had to learn the game to keep pace, bit at Celtic he could just drift into the first team without ever trying too hard. By the time he got to Everton, it was probably too late.

Kilbane, McClean or Hoolahan. 3 very different players.

People, myself included, like to talk about players who can "pick a lock". But the truth is there are 2 ways to get past a lock. Piking it is one option, but the other is hitting it with a sledgehammer. And I like both approaches which is why the next to go is

Kevin Kilbane: Smashing player. Good passer. Good enough to play in the middle for Everton when the legs started to go. Wasn't lightning quick, but he wasn't slow either. He could hit a good cross, and was a genuine threat in the air. I can't remember a specific example for us, but he scored more than one goal in his career by beating the full back to a header at the back post.

Which brings me down to Hoolahan and McClean. And then i have a thought. The challenge i set myself is a squad of 23. Jon Walters can play a bit of right wing. So could Steve Finnan. So although i'm not a fan of smashing square pegs into rounds holes, if it's a substitute situation, it should be considered. Chasing a goal, Wes Hoolahan and James McClean are both good options to look at from the bench. A locksmith and a sledgehammer.

So, with the greatest apologies to Jason Mcateer, I pick them both.

------------- Given ------------
Irwin McGrath Duffy Staunton
Houghton Keane ??????? Duff
-------- Keane Quinn ---------

Subs: Darren Randolph, Steve Finnan, Seamus Coleman, Richard Dunne, John O'Shea, James McClean, Wes Hoolahan, Jon Walters, John Aldridge, Alan Kelly Jr.

I realise this is the point when some people will probably start to disagree. It's getting tougher. I may have to bring in the brother for his opinion on the 3 slots left in central midfield.

---

I understand your views. Whiteside wasnt a winger he played alongside Frank and then Mark Leslie Hughes at United. Retired because of the booze

sadly u havent watched Tony Galvin. Kevin Sheedy was a great mid, could have played the number 10 role as well

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bielsa´s irish

I understand your views. Whiteside wasnt a winger he played alongside Frank and then Mark Leslie Hughes at United. Retired because of the booze

sadly u havent watched Tony Galvin. Kevin Sheedy was a great mid, could have played the number 10 role as well

---

Did Whiteside spill the booze on his knee ? ?

OK. First thing is first. An oversight from my last post on this thread.

The right winger I was searching for to mention is dispatches should have been Liam Lawrence. He never quite managed to establish himself as a Premier League player, but he had some smashing games for us. I remember it being a thing that Gazette Della Sport had raved about him after a game against Italy. He was a proper winger who got up and down, could hit a great cross, and was a genuine danger from set pieces. Good player.

That piece of housekeeping dealt with, it's time for me to wrap this up with 3 midfielders. For this position, the long list included Glenn Whelan, Mark Kinsella, Keith Andrews, Keith Fahey and the late Liam Miller. The short list is Andy Townsend, Jeff Hendrick, Steven Reid, Lee Carsley, James McCarthy & Matt Holland. No last-minute changes to the strategy. I must pick 3 of these guys.

Matt Holland: Some will say Holland was the beneficiary of the Saipan fiasco, but in my opinion, he had forced his way into the team before that. If memory serves me correctly Mick played Roy Keane & Mark Kinsella in qualifying, but Holland forced his way past Kinsella in the friendly matches before the tournament. For the younger users of the forum he was a similar player to someone like Frank Lampard, and it’s probably not coincidence that they both came through the youth system at West Ham. Like Lampard he was a very good passer of the ball, and had a wicked long range shot on him, most famously deployed for us when equalising against Cameroon. He never managed to get a move to one of the big teams in English football, but that wasn’t a matter of him not being good enough. He would have been a great addition to the likes of Everton, Villa or Spurs at the time.

James McCarthy: McCarthy certainly has the ability, but it feels like every time he really gets some momentum for us, an injury comes along and puts him back to square one. It's incredibly frustrating for me, so god knows how he feels. That isn't something I'm going to hold against him (or the other guy on the shortlist who has been through the mill with injuries). He put it all together in Euro 2016 and showed us all how good he could be. What I might hold against him though is that he wasn't our best midfielder in that tournament. Because that was...

Jeff Hendrick: Hendrick hasn't found that form since 2016. The move to Burnley seemed odd at the time, and never worked out, but i have high hopes that he will thrive at Newcastle. That's for the future, but I come back to Euro 2016. He was a Rolls-Royce of a player in that competition.

Andy Townsend. I was going to say that you don't get players like Andy Townsend anymore, but that's not completely true. You get the odd one. Danny Drinkwater reminded me of him a bit in Leicester's title winning season. A Jack of all trades, but a master of none, he was from the era when midfielders had to be able to pass and move, tackle and shoot, defend and attack. Andy Townsend could do all those things well without being sensational at any of them, but those skills came together into a formidable package. His TV work is awful, but he was a superb footballer, and a strong leader to boot. He's one of only 3 men to lead Ireland into a World Cup.

Lee Carsley: The complete opposite of the Jack of all trades model, Lee Carsley was about destruction. He might not have been great at dribbling through a defence, or finding a pass to cut them open, but he couldn't half stop other people from doing those things. Many a true word spoken in jest and all, but if Real Madrid had bought him that time he would have made a better fist of that job sitting in front of the defence that they asked Thomas Gravesen to do. The blame he took for giving away that penalty against Turkey was ridiculous. It was obvious that Mick didn't trust him after that. I re-joined this forum in the days when it was obvious that Stan had to go, but making Lee Carsley a regular for Ireland was probably the best thing he did.

Steven Reid: I loved watching Steven Reid play in that window after the 2002 World Cup, but before the injury. He was in a smashing Blackburn midfield with Robbie Savage, Morten Gamst Pederson and Brett Emerton. When he was running on the ball, he was virtually impossible to stop. He could hit a shot as hard as anyone I remember in the game.
There is very little to choose between any of them tbh. Had I been a bit older the 2 in the middle would have been Roy Keane and Liam Brady, but Brady was manager at Celtic by the time I became aware of him.

My choices are Stephen Reid, Andy Townsend, and Jeff Hendrick. With it being so close I don’t have any great reasons for picking any of them. When I look back at the 2002 World Cup, I ‘ve come to conclude that my memories of the games are watching the 3 afternoon kick-offs in the pub, and the Cameroon game over my cornflakes. Had that game been played later in the day, my memories of that goal would have been a busy pub rather than my parents living room with my brother. The fact that the time a game kicked off at, and its impact on my own personal nostalgia can decide this shows how close it is.

For my 11 I’m picking Steven Reid. As I said above I loved watching him play. As a young player he was every bit as dynamic as a young Roy Keane, and he could strike a ball as well as anyone who I’ve been lucky enough to see in the green jersey. The injury robbed him of that dynamism, but I’m picking him on the basis of the player he was, not the guy who reinvented himself as a right back for West Brom.

So there it is.
---------------- Given ---------------
Irwin – McGrath – Duffy - Staunton
Houghton -- Keane -- Reid --- Duff
------------ Keane Quinn -----------

Subs: Darren Randolph, Steve Finnan, Seamus Coleman, Richard Dunne, John O'Shea, Andy Townsend, Jeff Hendrick, James McClean, Wes Hoolahan, Jon Walters, John Aldridge, Alan Kelly Jr.

I hope the rest of you enjoyed reading this series of posts as much as I enjoyed writing them.

I wouldn't say Hendrick's move to Burnley never worked out. He played some unusual roles for them, but the main thing was he played. He wasn't even a guaranteed starter in the Championship before he signed, so to amass over 120 PL appearances, mostly starts, in the four years he was there is a pretty resounding success imo.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DeLorean

I wouldn't say Hendrick's move to Burnley never worked out. He played some unusual roles for them, but the main thing was he played. He wasn't even a guaranteed starter in the Championship before he signed, so to amass over 120 PL appearances, mostly starts, in the four years he was there is a pretty resounding success imo.

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For me they never got close to getting him play to his potential. I think he'll do great things for Newcastle around players like Shelvey and Saint-Maximin who actually want to play the ball around a bit.