the mirror?
the mirror?
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the bitterest of them all ?Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
Team: Forde, Coleman, O'Shea, St Ledger, Wilson, McGeady, Whelan, Hoolahan, Cox, Walters, Keane
Cox back starting on the wing?...
Seems like it. No Dunne either, after being "90%" likely to play.
press conference live on rte.ie: http://www.rte.ie/player/ie/live/7/
Why does he not play McClean on the wing?
Walters and Cox are both strikers
cox up front with robbie and walters on the wing as most recent selections id sayQuote:
Originally Posted by DannyInvincible
I don't read it at all that he's rooting for the Faroes.Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
Just that he wouldn't be so put out by them getting a result. No harm in that. He has a clear affinity for them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian Kerr
Whelan in the team? FFS!Quote:
Originally Posted by DannyInvincible
I'm sure he said something about needing more protection to compensate for the luxury that is Hoolahan!Quote:
Originally Posted by Fixer82
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fixer82
Needs defensive protecting against the Faroese Cafu-esque left back . . .
I wonder would Hoolahan still have started had McCarthy not been suspended.
Walters will probably play on the wing, a role he plays a lot for Stoke and Ipswich in the past. He is also a much, much better option there than McClean who has taken several steps backwards in the last 12 months. You may have noticed that even Dunphy no longer uses him as an example of "an outstanding young talent" ignored by Trapp. That's when you know you have work to do!!
Hopefully, whether it's Cox or Walters nominally wide, they shift inside and let Coleman play up and down. Basically play three up front with McGeady and Coleman on the wings.
Have no problem with Cox in the team ahead of McClean given he does score the odd goal. Hoolahan and McGeady should have enough creativity to supply the bullets. 3-0 to us.
This shows up Trapp for the lunatic he is, especially at home.
No doubt he and his supporters will say a 1-goal win is a 'great victory'.
Personally I'd take that, given the potential for embarrassment in this fixture.
In fairness we said that the Toshavn fixture could have been embarrasing and it wasn't.
Supposedly they've been training with Cox on the wing and Walters up top: http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/socc...roes-1.1417702Quote:
Originally Posted by jbyrne
Walters up front makes some sense with Coleman and McGeady in the side, without Long he's more of a natural target man than any other player in the squad
Cox on the wing again? Trap really takes the biscuit. How many more times does this need to be tried?
And why does Trap never use friendlies to really prepare the team for upcoming competitive games and try things out? Why give Long and McCarthy so much game time against Georgia knowing they will be suspended for the Faroes? And why not try Hoolahan as a No 10, in his proper role? (His ball retention and incisive forward passing is what the team has been crying out for for about 3 years now.)
One of the advantages of Trap at the beginning was that he would ignore the Irish press, but in fact he pays too much attention to it and tries to do the exact opposite of what they say!
The first half v Georgia and indeed many of our games are so disjointed that I wonder just what on earth they do in training. The hallowed "seestem" seems to be to give the ball away within 5-10 seconds and then hope for the best.
And we can't play with one striker cos that would appear defensive... this is obvious and stinking BS, as the two teams in the CL final play with one man up, as indeed does almost every modern team, and the two in the CLF are hardly defensive, are they?
The man is holding us back so much at this stage. We have the makings of a team that should be well capable of second in this grup, instead we probably blew it by persisting with a tired lop-sided 4-4-2 while trying to hang on against Austria.
That is an interesting question, Trap has been talking up Hoolahan a bit but of course he would do as he is pretty much forced to play him.Quote:
Originally Posted by DannyInvincible
Will be interesting to see what happens when Whelan Hoolahan and McCarthy are all available.
I don't think it will be interesting at all unfortunately, TC. Whelan is clearly Traps number one. Or at least Trap is 90% certain Whelan is his favourite...
Agreed, the greater the choice for Trap to pick from, the more depressing appears his selection.Quote:
Originally Posted by SkStu
You got to hand it to the guy, he's steadfast to the core.
Trap: We can change the system, maybe we can play on the right with Walters and Cox central with Robbie....
http://www.independent.ie/sport/trap...-29326367.html
He seems to be suggesting that McClean can't cut in on his left foot the way Cox or Walters would on the left. I'd say that's a valid criticism, although I saw him do it plenty in the League of Ireland. Perhaps he has lost some confidence in his ability to do that since moving to England. I'd still have him in the first team over Cox though.
Much as I've been critical of Whelan, I honestly didn't expect anything other than Whelan and Hoolahan in midfield given McCarthy's suspension, Andrews' injury and Gibson's exile. Did anyone seriously think Meyler or Quinn would be picked over Whelan?
Meyler's lack of gametime over the past few friendlies has been criminal. He is Trap's kind of player and I fully expect that once he gets a proper run Trap won't stop raving about him, so it's very odd that he hasn't been given a start yet.
Meyler was given a start vs Oman and did well enough, usually looking to do the right thing, but over-played it a few times (Trap notices these things!) and made one lunge tackle almost worthy of a red card in any game. He did little in that one start against modest oppositionh to show he's a threat to Whelan, and Hendrick has done at least as well when given the chance. "Criminal" is not a word I'd use in this context.
I thought he was a sub for the Oman game, my mistake.
Quote Originally Posted by DannyInvincible View Post
I wonder would Hoolahan still have started had McCarthy not been suspendedIrrelevant question. He has picked him for this game with those who can't stand Trap disappointed that he did because thye now they have to speculate perhaps he might not have picked him if others were available. So let's move on to Cox as the next object of attack. Mind you, I thought the latter had a stinker against Georgia.Quote:
Originally Posted by tricky_colour
The 4-4-2 system has brought us 2.5 campaigns unbeaten away from home (how many games is that?). We lost in Euro 2012 to 3 of the top 6 teams in the world and at home to probably the best team at the moment. I see no reason to drop it.
The match the third item on the Today FM sports new this morning behind Cian Healy not biting someone in Australia and some boxing. Ah well, on to the Aviva and........
And the singular failure of the Austrian game which is worse than the Euros and the 6-1.
There is a far more important game tonight, that ye have all lost sight of.
Sweden are equal with us on points, with a game in hand. Forget about all this going to kazakhstan etc, by the end of the qualifying they will have faded away and little interest. Is 2 draws a better result for us, or a win for Austria and a draw away from home? I think it is, if we go there at a win at all costs in september.
Austria win tonight makes things very interesting. If Sweden get the 3 points then it's curtains for us IMO.
That's pretty much how I read it.
I don't see a draw as a great result, as I see Sweden beating them at home. And ibra is sure to have a good game soon.
Heard Brian Kerr on the radio this morning. He was saying that the Faroe's are missing two of their regular back four and their 2 central midfielders. He said the right full tonight is making his debut. Hopefully McGeady should make the debutant remember his first cap for the wrong reasons.
They're missing 2 from the team that started against Austria from what I can see. Their missing RB plays in the third division of Danish football so maybe no great loss. :-)
Keane not considering retirement.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22805938
anyone else think there's a chance of us picking up 11 from the remaining 5 games, including tonight's?
Faroes home win, Sweden home win (surely have to get a result at home that counts soon?), Austria away draw, Germany away draw, Kazakhstan home win.
Even if the Germans beat us its still 10 points. It might be enough to get second, but it might not be enough to make the play-offs.
I would take Austria not losing tonight if I was offered it now. It's impossible to know what the absolute best result would be but Sweden winning would be curtains. Once they don't win it will set up a belter at Lansdowne in September with everything to play for.Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
AS Sweden have that game in hand I would take an Austria win. 1-0 will do nicely.Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean