Westwood
Christie Duffy Keogh Ward
Arter Whelan
Brady Hendrick McClean
Walters
The team I think O'Neill will go for. I hope he goes for Westwood in goal.
I wouldn't mind Hoolahan taking Whelan's or Hendrick's place but don't think ONeill will start him.
I'm inclined to agree with all of the above, Del. That team would be brilliant.Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
Had Hendrick played much at the base though?
I think that midfield would be brilliant. There's so much energy in there it would be like the Euros all over again.
I think himself and Arter can share defensive and offensive responsibilities in that system, both of their primary jobs would be to receive the ball and feed the three ahead of them as often as possible, along with crowding out the space in front of our defence (and Alaba in particular).
Hendrick has played similar roles for us in the past I think. The friendly at Craven Cottage springs to mind where himself and Meyler complimented each other perfectly, taking turns of sitting and attacking. Even in the Euros he played in a two man midfield for the Italy and France games, a prospect I wouldn't have been mad about but he did well. Hoolahan's presence practically gives our midfield an extra body, compared to playing two up up front, which I think suits Hendrick better as well.
Hendrick was outstanding as the designated holding midfielder in Derby's playoff against Hull last season, the only time I've seen him play that role on his own.
On the flip side, Gibson and Hendrick didn't really work as a two man midfield in Glasgow against Scotland. I think the side was set up poorly that night anyway though and the tactics were one dimensional.
Strangely enough, considering some of the recent question marks towards him on here, Kenny Cunningham has been signing his praises, saying he's reached a level where we are almost building a team around him!
https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2017...in-irish-goal/Quote:
Originally Posted by Kenny Cunningham
I just see this comment from O'Neill as well in the same article from The Examiner about the two goalkeepers. Could this have been aimed at Hendrick, as one of the few ever-presents at the Euros?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin O'Neill
Our team looks a shoe in for a 4231 formation.
Kenny C when co-commentating on sunday, seemed to think (with bullet train rapidity) that if Arter was selected v Austria, it would be most certainly at the expense of Hoolahan.
O'Neill reverts to indecisive mood re goalkeeper 'dilemma'. Newspaper reports imply that Westwood has improved, therefore he's pushing Randolph. I think Westwood has just been consistent whereby Randolph has become more error prone. However, O'Neill goes on to say "Obviously I knew Westy at club level. He's a really talented goalkeeper. Just get his head right and he's great."
I don't know what to make of that, seeing as he's been consistently very good for the past 3 seasons. Go to Sheffield and get your head rightened?
He won't drop Randolph over dodgy judgment in a friendly. If he screws up Sunday his position will be up for grabs in the autumn but not before then.
Randolph has been dodgy all year, now he's been dodgy for us. I see a pattern.
McGoldrick is a doubt for Sunday: https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2017...-austria-game/
Everyone else in the squad is fit, according to the manager.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ed Leahy
Randolph was dodgy for us in our opening game of the campaign tooQuote:
Originally Posted by geysir
I don't even disagree with you. But I suspect MON would say he's been very reliable and I more strongly suspect MON won't make a change he's not forced to.Quote:
Originally Posted by geysir
McGoldrick now ruled out of the game. Leaves the squad having just two strikers now. Surely there's a case to call up Sean Maguire just to sit on the bench as a precaution a this stage now?
Arters interview was interesting today basically saying he felt they came more into it when Meyler came on for Whelan
Post Uruguay game, Harry was asked in general about the game.Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
“You always try to improve and hopefully when I do look back over the game I’ll be impressed. I try and learn off Glenn, he has played a lot at this level and for a lot longer than me so he has great experience international-wise and Premier League-wise; I really enjoy playing alongside him. I feel we really complement each other very well.”
if Whelan is fully fit, there's a very good chance he'll start.
An Austrian perspective on Sunday's game, courtesy of Georg Sander, editor of 90minuten.at: http://pogmogoal.com/republic-of-ire...isitors/24923/
I said above I had no idea which XI I think MON is thinking of. I'd say at this stage MON himself seems to have no idea! His comments have all been equivocal.
Daniel McD seems to be hedging his bets too.
http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-35792295.html
GK - some degree of doubt
Full-backs: certain I'd say
CBs: any 2 of at least 3 good shouts, if not 4 or 5 including Long & Pearse
Midfield: 3 out of 4 or 5? (GW, HA, JH, Wes, RB)
Wide: 2 out of 3 (RB, JMcC, JW as a wide right option and maybe JH)
Upfront: 1 out of 2, or 2 out of 2
At most there's three places not quite certain I think but I'd imagine O'Neill knows at least two of them by now...Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Randolph or Westwood?
O'Shea or Keogh?
Whelan or Hoolahan? (the big one really)
If Alaba (as expected) plays in their central midfield, would it be worth having Whelan man mark him in a five man midfield? I don't think any of Hendrick/Arter/Hoolahan have the discipline to do that job, and it would mean sacrificing an attacking threat by asking them to do it anyway
Randolph or Westwood? ( very close but Randy to win out)
I would say its Wes or Jeff ( Jeff to win out) Arter and Whelo will start
O'Shea or Keogh or Long as well?
Anyone go to the open training session this morning? A family member went out with her son and she came back full of praise for the players after seeing how patient and friendly they were taking pictures and signing stuff for kids. Unfortunately, she didn't pick up any hints on who'd be starting in goal
I always think a job like this if required needs to be done and we shouldn't sacrifice a creative player to do it.Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Defo Whelan in that case. Make his life a 'mare.
Walters sat out training earlier: https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2017...land-training/
If Walters goes, we'll be left with Murphy as our only striker. Surely another striker should be called in at this point.Quote:
Originally Posted by RTÉ
RTÉ also mention that there's possible "unrest" in the Austrian camp due to Andreas Ulmer missing the game to get married - naturally, their manager isn't happy with that and expressed his disapproval - and Arnautović being suspended (although I think RTÉ are overplaying it a bit).
God, I hate stories about "unrest" in the opposition camp. They usually turn out to be drivel and we end up with egg on our face.
Don't forget we have another striker in James McLean :)
doesn't he often sit out training? seems a bit more serious though.Quote:
Originally Posted by DannyInvincible
i'm not sure i can face TOWK's reaction if a half-fit walters starts...
Ullmer hasn't played for the national side since 2014! Is his absence really going to be that badly felt?
Yes the Ulmer story seems much ado about nothing. I didn't realise however how many injuries/suspensions they were suffering.Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-35799501.html
Quote:
Janko, who is tied for fouth among Austria's all-time leading goalscorers with 28 goals in 61 games, is the seventh player to drop out of Marcel Koller's squad with midfielders Marko Arnautovic and Stefan Ilsanker unavailable through suspension, while goalkeepers Robert Almer (cruciate) and Andreas Lukse (calf strain), and Schalke midfielder Alessandro Schoepf (knee) have all been sidelined through injury
Probably not the right thread for this, but just since we are running low on strikers for this game and some people are suggesting Maguire gets a call up.
Would Paddy Madden not be ahead of Maguire in the order of strikers we have? I would suggest that League 1 is overall more competitive than the League of Ireland. The Cork team would probably be at that standard but the opposition they play every week would be below it. Horgan got his call up based on the standard of opposition Dundalk were playing against in Europe, not so much on the week to week opposition.
Im far from saying Maguire isn't good enough, but I can understand O'Neill being hesitant at the moment.
I hadn't realised Janko will miss out. That's good news. He'll be a big loss for them up front. He's their currently-active top scorer (fifth in their overall history) with 28 goals from 63 caps.Quote:
Originally Posted by joe_denilson
I always remember Janko from the time RB Salzburg played Bohs in the second qualifying round for the Champions League back in 2009. Bohs were all set to go through to the next round on the away-goals rule (as they'd managed a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Salzburg) until RB Salzburg scored a cruel 86th-minute winner in the return leg at Dalymount Park.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-5L_OsSeuI
For some reason, I have Janko down in my head as a really annoying play-actor since. Pretty sure he dived to win a first-leg penalty that he then went on to have saved by Brian Murphy.
Austria's other two recognised strikers - Guido Burgstaller and Michael Gregoritsch - have never scored an international goal and have only 12 caps between them. Their main remaining goal-threats will be from Martin Harnik (who has 15 goals from 65 caps) and David Alaba (who has 11 goals from 56 caps).
If the level at which the striker is playing is the barometer, Cillian Sheridan has proved himself at a much higher level than both Maguire and Madden. He's played in the Champions League group stages in recent years.Quote:
Originally Posted by Razors left peg
Also, for what it's worth, Paddy Madden's League of Ireland record wasn't anywhere near as impressive as Maguire's record at present.
[QUOTE=
Also, for what it's worth, Paddy Madden's League of Ireland record wasn't anywhere near as impressive as Maguire's record at present.[/QUOTE]
That's a fair point. I am playing a little bit of Devils Advocate. From the very limited bits Ive seen of Maguire he has looked good and I really hope he does it in Championship.
Sheridan is an interesting one. When he was making the Irish squad I thought he was awful. He is worth having a look at now though considering what he was done with his career.
As much as there are arguments for and against Sheridan, participarting in the Champs League shouldn't be all that relevant - some truly dreadful players have played at that level.Quote:
Originally Posted by DannyInvincible
And did he prove himself? He didn't hang around that level, as much of an achievement was for an Irish player to get that far.
Fair point, although he has certainly proved himself in the Polish top division, which I would say is considerably stronger than both the League of Ireland and League One in England.Quote:
Originally Posted by SwanVsDalton
According to Sheridan's stats on the UEFA site, he scored three goals from ten appearances for APOEL in the Champions League and scored four goals in nine games for Omonia in the Europa League: http://www.uefa.com/teamsandplayers/...ile/index.html
That's a decent enough record on the face if it.
In saying that, he also played in three games for Celtic in the Champions League years ago without scoring a goal and also played five games in the Europa League for APOEL in more recent years without scoring.
Also, I'm not sure which of those goals mentioned above would have been scored in the qualifying rounds and which might have been scored in the group stages or competition proper. At one point last year, sure didn't Dundalk's Dave McMillan lead the Champions League goal-scoring chart? Heh.
I agree that O'Neill's hesitancy is justified until Maguire proves himself at Preston - after all, as I've said before, there's been four prolific Cork City strikers who have tried their hands in England in the last dozen years (Kevin Doyle, Dave Mooney, Roy O'Donovan and John O'Flynn) and only Doyle went on to become a full international. And the more recent League of Ireland stars who've gone there have had mixed success - Horgan has done well at Preston, with Boyle having a lesser impact; Forrester is still in League One (albeit doing well there); and Richie Towell hasn't broken into the Brighton side in a year and a half, something which will become even harder to do now that they're in the Premier League. I would say the most likely call-up at this point should be Adam Rooney, based on three-and-a-half seasons of regular goal scoring in the SPL. After all, if his Aberdeen team-mate Jonny Hayes is good enough to play in a position where we have options, surely Rooney is good enough to provide back-up in an area where we're having a mini-crisisQuote:
Originally Posted by Razors left peg
There was a pub on Haddington Rd called the 51. Does anyone know what it's called now? I plan on meeting people there Sunday. Thanks.
I'm not sure Whelan would have the legs for that particular man marking job. It's rare enough you'd see it these days. I know Ander Herrera was praised for following Eden Hazard around Old Trafford recently but he's a box-to-box, ground covering type in general anyway. Whelan's main strength is his positional awareness, I'm not sure it would come naturally to him.Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
As good as Alaba is, I don't think he's the type of player that really needs to be man marked anyway, keep a close eye for sure but I think I'd prefer to try to crowd him out with energetic players covering the space in front of him. We did that fairly well against Bale, bar a couple of scares, and obviously Alaba himself in Vienna.
Is this not it ? Changed its name to The51Bar ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Siberian
http://www.the51bar.ie/
Dan McD edging towards Westwood
http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-35796989.html
I've found myself agreeing with everything McDonnell has said this week, in relation to Westwood/Randolph, Arter/Whelan/Hoolahan and the way he's interpreted O'Neill's comments. He was on Off The Ball the other night also - http://www.newstalk.com/podcasts/Off...ep_for_Austria
Cheers, they must have reverted back to the 51 as I know they had changed name at one stage.
So a question for the eggheads: Have we ever done the double over a higher rated team in the group? Before the blitzkrieg in Austria last year, our last major win away from home against a higher rated group rival was Scotland in 1987. I think we drew with Scotland in that group at home. So have we ever ? DeLorean ? tetsujin1979 ? Time to make history?
yes, was nil-nil on a dreadful Lansdowne pitchQuote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
I've only checked the World Cup Qualification campaigns but we did the double over Denmark in the qualifiers for the 1958 tournament. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1958_F...80%93_Group_1)Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
Whether we were ranked higher than them, or whether there were rankings at the time at all, I don't know!
Edit- nothing of relevance in the Euro qualifiers.