O'Dea can play left back can't he? He looks a better option than Geary who is fairly limited I think (though possibly better than JOS).
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Maybe he can ,but the few games he has played for Celtic has been at center back. Even if in your opinion Geary is limited he plays in the left back position on a regular basis and is doing well imo.Why can't he do the job at International level at least in the short term?
if stokes is playing regularly and scoring the odd one he should DEFINATELY get his game ahead of Robbie. dropping keane may be better to him - i feel he is living big time on his past achievements at this stage and to let him know there are other options and he's not gods gift should do him no harm.
at the end of the day it's san marino and we should be well capable of beating them with any 11. AFAIK goals against group bottom feeders don't count toward final goal difference in result of teams finishing level on points (open to correction on this) so amount of goals scored in this game isn't that vital - why not 'blood' a youngster.
i agree totally. my point is what i think SHOULD happen not what WILL happen.
what will happen of course is that kilbane, o'shea, o'brien, (a not on form) keane & morrison will be in squad and all, barr o'brien & morrison will definately start regardless of their club form.
Is there an U21 match that week, if so we should put the likes of Foley in there.
Unfortunately this is ridiculously accurate and is exactly whats going to happen. Once again we are dogged by the conservatism of those in charge. We have been led to believe by the man himself that he is building for South Africa, if thats the case I dont see why the likes of Kilbane, O'Brien and Morrison should still be around. They are all on downwrad spirals that dont look like being halted. Personally I think Morrisson is way down behind Elliott, Murohy, Connolly and maybe even Billy Clarke! But he's guaranteed to be in the squad pretty much. He'd probably play ahead of Stokes! The suggestion of Long being included shouldn't be baulked at because he's far more talented than Morrisson, as shown by his goal the other night. He should definitely be in the frame once he gets a bit more game time in the Premiership. Also, Paddy McCarthy is a club cptain while o'Brien cant get a game to save his life. San Marino should be treated as a friendly to blood players and bring lads with a bit of genuine hunger in and put themselves in the frame. The only way we are going to get a result against Wales and Slovakia is if something fresh is gonna be injected into this team, not the way it is at the moment.
I've just heard of this new guy called Stephen Ward, he's at Wolves now so should be worth a call-up. :)
Team
Me
My Mother
My father
My brother
My son(15 months old)
My wife
My sister
My other sister
My father inlaw
My mother inlaw
My sister in law
Its san Marino for christs sake, the team above should win. I agree with the last poster, use it as an experiment. Try new players, try our future, give a new midfeild combo a chance(we need something in center mid.) But above all dont take it seriously.
Last time Stan did take them seriously and to be honest we did make them look better than they were.
Bring on the newcomers.
Staunton would perceive this blooding young players as a risk - even against San Marino. It's an indicator of how low his confidence is! He needs to clear out the dead wood. As he says 'we're building for 2010,' but he still has the same blocks that Brian Kerr had. He needs to acquire a few more but he doesn't want to do it as far as I see. He's making a liar out of himself anyway because he said this was a trial and error campaign but he still thinks he can qualify. Bizarre.
If we were to lose against Wales or Slovakia, thus killing off the last of our chances, do you think Stan would then move to a more experimental team?
No, he's too undecided about everything. He doesn't know whether he's coming or going. Hopefully going!
i'm not sure about the inclusion of your mother in-law as an out and out striker. i'd much rather see her in a wider position while i think you're father would make an ideal candidate for the holding role in the middle of the park - a-la paul mcgrath's old role. he is wasted as an out and out defender and his influence would be muted againsted opposition of the caliber of San Marino.
BTW i'm surprised your uncle's name didn't come into the fold for the 'gaffers' job last time! :D
David Forde, Danny Murphy, Stephen Ward, and some young fella called Molloy from Motherwell should be in the squad for sure