Hourihane to start at left full, according to Mick - freeing up a spot in centre midfield...
It just shows you how **** Cunningham is
Did anyone truthfully ever see that coming? Hourihane is our most creative midfielder and a goal threat I would have thought we needed to give him more time to feel confident in midfield and to impose himself in that position. Surely at this point in time mcclean who has played left full for stoke would be much more likely to play there against Georgia than conor?Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
It’s pretty amusing. He’s left legged, so he must be okay at left back. Mick trying to make a Stephen Ward out of him.
Let’s hope Mick comes to his senses by the time the competitive game comes by. Coleman, Doherty, Manning, probably Cunningham are better options at left back in absence of Stevens. Christ I’d even trust O’Connor or Leahy more than I would Hourihane at left back.
The ball had scarcely left Hourihane's foot and although on a most favourable trajectory, had yet to find the Georgian net. But Mick's inspiration exists independent of time as we know it and in those precious milliseconds, pregnant with possibility, an ulterior prospect exited the birth canal of his dilated mind. It spread quickly to his heart, which warmed intensely at the notion. His tummy, usually inhospitable to emotions or wildlife of any kind, allowed the presence of a lone butterfly for a fleeting instant.
“I've f**king done it” his synapses sparkled.
...
“I've found the new Hartey.”
It shows that he was speaking nonsense before in relation to not promoting the lads from the u21s. I think he said he wouldn't learn anything of note from a friendly against Bulgaria. Yet he is using it now as a full dress rehearsal for Conor to play at LB against Georgia.
I dion't think he is. In The Indo he is quoted as saying that he hopes Doherty will be fit again. He also says very specifically that if the U21s didn't have an important match he'd call some of them up.
I like this Hourihane idea. It's a shot to nothing. If it works great. If not it's no loss.
Playing well at left-back against Bulgaria is not going to be evidence enough of an ability to cope there against better opposition.
I'd be much happier putting a round peg in a round hole. It has worked before, Meyler at right-back being a notable example, but on the whole I don't see this as being a worthwhile experiment, particularly given the near certainty of him playing in midfield in the qualifiers going forward.
playing brady at LB worked well enough under MON. no harm using a bit of alternative thinking from time to time on these issuesQuote:
Originally Posted by backstothewall
I'm not a fan myself. If new midfielders and forwards are to be tried I'd prefer if they were played with their likely partners in a real game. That way a forward like Hogan for example and Hourihane can get to learn each other's movements and get on the same wavelength. That said, I do want to see Browne and Byrne playing, probably also Cullen and O'Dowda could do with another outing. So if that requires Hourihane making way that's fine. We'll at least have his set pieces still, and it may even be a revelation - though I agree with livehead about pegs and holes.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world...mpression=true
I know it's mid afternoon on matchday but is there way we can show support for this woman at tonights game? We have minutes silence for every Tom, Dick or Harry who ever sat on a county committee. Someone who has sacrificed her life for the right to watch football seems somewhat more deserving.
Shocking that this sort of thing is going on yet as I type this (literally) Iran are playing in a World Cup qualifier against Hong Kong as if they are any other normal country (they are 2-0 up after 59 mins).
I'm not sure he cares about the u 21s if I'm honest. I guess he has his players and he isn't moving outside his 16 or so guys he likes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Confirmed that Egan will captain. I guess that means that Coleman Duffy and McClean won’t start. You’d imagine Keogh and Randolph and Hendrick would captain be ahead of him...
So maybe:
Travers
Christie
Egan
Long
Hourihane
Cullen
Browne
Byrne
Judge
O’Dowda
Hogan / Collins
Pretty close. This is the team, bar Ronan Curtis in for Jack Byrne and Hogan over Collins (FAI graphic has Judge in behind Hogan).Quote:
Originally Posted by elatedscum
Ye UCD lads must be awful embarrassed now, eh? Eh? ;)
Quote:
Originally Posted by elatedscum
And now it's a B international... the one thing we all didn't want it to be... Ah Mick, I think you're great, but seriously... is this the best use of a single friendly in the middle of some vital qualifiers, when your main team is still pretty makeshift? Watch now, Travers will save a penalty, Long and Egan will be rocks in defence, Hourihane will be a revelation, Browne and Cullen will dominate midfield, O'Dowda will torment the Bulgarian defence and Hogan will get a brace in a 3-0 win:DQuote:
Originally Posted by SwanVsDalton
Ha! We were just talking about you in the ground :)Quote:
Originally Posted by SkStu
Time for a 4th!
Great debut for Byrne here. Seriously impressive, even if it is a poor Bulgarian team with a wojus keeper
Easy game to come into, but Byrne did well. I like Jack, good player and may have sorted his attitude out as he matured. But I wouldn’t take him seriously as an international prospect until he has proved himself outside of the league of Ireland.
I have high hopes for the LOI standard to improve with the right backing and mgt structure as FAI sorts itself out, especially with so many great people working hard at the grass roots level. But objectively, there has been minimal improvement in my life time. There’s no reason why the league can’t get close to the standard of the Scandinavian leagues, if that happens then I’d have no qualms with LOI players being selected for senior team on a more regular basis. Now, I view the selection of LOI players as a barometer of the poor strength in depth of our national team.
First time we have scored 3 since St Patrick's hattrick v the devil, if I recall correctly.
I think we are entering a new era of high scoring high possession high trophy football.
Someone is high again anyway! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by tricky_colour
Is that Grass or Moroccan black hash? It's good it's very good whatever it isQuote:
Originally Posted by tricky_colour
I'm home.
The first half was terrible. Bulgaria were terrible throughout apart from that lad with the hair.
For once in one of these games the flurry of subs after 60 mins brought things to life rather than killing things off.
I'd say Browne, Cullen, Collins & Byrne moved up the queue after tonight. Hogan & Curtis went the other way. The others were treading water.
Except that Cullen was playing in central midfield I thought he had a touch of the Ray Houghton about him. Certainly looked like him .
Sorry Mick, for ever doubting you... this turned out to be a really worthwhile exercise - first cap for Cullen, who got MOTM, Collins, who scored, and Byrne, who gave added impetus in the second half and showed that he may yet prove to be the player we hoped he'd be. First goal for Alan Browne and Kevin Long (and assists for Stevens, Byrne and, er, Hogan). OK, Travers didn't save a penalty but, in fairness, it was a really good penalty. And as for Hourihane... well, he asked Mick for minutes and got them. On this performance there's definitely no need to raid the U21s for added depth... from 'keeper to striker, we now have a bunch of lads that are ready to go if called upon.Quote:
Originally Posted by samhaydenjr
https://twitter.com/FAIreland/status...058551808?s=19
There were murmurs his attitude wasn't up to scratch but this interview shows a very grounded and humble young player commenting on his senior debut. I like the look of Byrne. I wonder where he will go next.
Barcelona perhaps.Quote:
Originally Posted by Olé Olé
Byrne's 23 now, so a lot of the behaviour attributed to him was when he was in his late teens. There’s research lately that suggests adolescence lasts up to about 24 years, and I’d swear that later maturity is more common among my students now than when I started lecturing around 2001, or when I was in my early 20s a few years further back.
Go back 30 years, a player’s career was about 18-31. Now it’s taking off around 21 and lasting till about 34/5. It can’t be just the physical development that’s taking longer.
First half was grim, second half we improved and Bulgaria looked grim instead.
Not too much can be read into a friendly against a mediocre team - usually you can only learn who's not up to the level, or at least, not up to it in a particular position, but we learned that Byrne didn't look out of place at all against opposition of a much higher level than LOI.
Fully agree with that assessment Osarusan. Can't read anything into it, and though Cullen and Byrne looked good at that level, they wont find the space or time on the ball against the swiss or even the georgians. Physicality will play a big part too for those players. Lets wait and see, hopefully they get a chance against Georgia though.
Worth noting that their keeper was one of the worst I've seen in a while. The Gibraltar keeper who scored that og a couple of years back, and the infamous Turkish keeper (Omer Catkin) who was subbed on and off again, are the two comparable ones. Unusually, he was a 37-year-old making his international debut. But he was all over the shop for the first two goals. Would we even have won the game without him? How strong was that Bulgaria team overall?
But they're the standard caveats in games of this nature. Happy to take the positives, such as they are, with Byrne being first among them, and a style of play that wasn't eye-gaugingly bad.
Don’t knock over the half full glass !Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
Is Mick serious about bringing Stephen Ward back from retirement? or did I pick that up balls ways
Seemed pretty serious to me. He said similar about bringing back Daryl Murphy though, and that never happened.Quote:
Originally Posted by Diggs246
For people saying that Byrne only did it against poor opposition, the rest of the players were playing against the same opposition and didnt look as good! Judge was on the pitch a lot longer than Byrne and was pretty poor I thought. That would be the position that Byrne would be targeting since Judge was the one that Mick turned to off the bench against the Swiss.
The keeper has spent a good chunk of his career in the Bulgarian lower leagues! :pQuote:
Originally Posted by seanfhear
I was fairly underwhelmed by Judge over the 2 games. To me it looked like this level is maybe beyond him.Quote:
Originally Posted by Razors left peg
Have to agree. The Indo gave him a player rating of 8 - I don't know what they saw to rate him that high.Quote:
Originally Posted by backstothewall