Gaffney / Farrugia / Maher & Dan Cleary on standby according to DMcD.
Gaffney / Farrugia / Maher & Dan Cleary on standby according to DMcD.
The midfield is depressing but what's new there? McGrath hasn't done enough in a green shirt or elsewhere to warrant more call ups imop but we are so short on creativity. Sykes and Szmodics would have been more interesting maybe. Conor Ronan and Hodge as well. Seem to have done ok for Wolves in the cup yesterday and Hodge is at least getting EPL minutes as said above.
Scales seems to be doing well for Aberdeen at centre half but I'd agree with pineapple in that non Celtic/Rangers players shouldn't really be getting in ahead of e.g. Manning who offers the same versatility at cb and lwb.
I can see the logic behind Farrugia being on standby but I'd hope it's as a midfielder. He's not a good enough defender to move up to international level (maybe Malta...) in that position but he has been excellent going forward from either side or through the middle recently. Kenny obviously knows him well. Gaffney makes less sense at 33 but that's just a token gesture to the league I think.
At least some of the strikers are in decent form although maybe it's the less exciting ones....
Shocking depth if that’s trueQuote:
Originally Posted by CraftyToePoke
im not too worried about the lads on standby. even if they are called up they wont touch the pitch nor will any be options going into the next competitive window.Quote:
Originally Posted by tommy_c12000
Agree but I just don’t see the point of it. These players will never play a meaningful game for Ireland senior team while in the league of Ireland. Our domestic league remains at too low a standard. Rovers are by far and away the most superior domestic team we have and they had a poor showing in the group stages of a 3rd tier European competition. Some possible progress has been made for sure, but far substantial process would need to be made for LOI players to be taken seriously as senior international contenders. Just a meaningless gesture in my books. There are young players abroad with far higher ceilings who should be placed on standby
in fairness, there's normally about 20 players on standby, but presumably with L1 out of the equation, some LOI lads come in. I'd imagine Hodge, Coventry, Szmodics, Ronan, Manning, McNamara, O'Leary, Sykes, Dunne would all be on the standby list too
I don't like kenny
But its a good squad guys
Mcgrath is a good player tidy and while in green has done very well
Smallbone is deserved and great to see him called up
Absolutely delighted about ferguson
We have zero to lose watching him play 45 against Malta ? Young strong and has ability
Scales v manning is a poor decision unfortunately
But I'm happy he is taking a few chances
I don't see Ferguson getting any minutes actually. Obafemi, Ogbene, Hogan, and Robinson likely all get minutes ahead of him and if Keane is fit that's five guys ahead of him.
Against Malta could see Obafemi, Robinson, and Ogbene/O'Dowda in a front three. 25 man squad he might not even make match day squads like Ronan didn't against Lithuania.
Kenny made some very poorly judged comments about Hodge recently and now he doesn't call him up. That's really poor management you have to say. A few others could have been called up but nothing really surprising or exciting about the squad.
Unless he's managing a situation where the player wants to wait & see what his international options are in time. That's one way to make sense of it, because it does go against his early press statements about not letting these dual situations go the way of others. Hodge not being called up is a marginal, but SK name dropping Jack Taylor this evening when speaking about midfield emerging options is strange when we have one getting top level minutes in Hodge in a problem position.Quote:
Originally Posted by BOOMSHAKALAKA
It's strange and regressive. We know what our current midfield is capable off - not qualifying for tournaments and not winning enough games. Unless he begins to integrate or at least look at younger players getting minutes in the PL, history will repeat itself. What was that definition of madness? Doing the same thing over again and expecting a different outcome.
I think Hodge should have been called up for integration purposes but from a playing perspective it is marginal. Its kind of the same type of argument as was for Kelleher v Bazunu up til this season (as starter)... on one hand you have Hodge picking up minutes in the odd game and getting a start in the low profile cup games and on the other hand you have Smallbone who is getting (more or less) regular game time in the Championship and proven at U21 level or McGrath who is tried and trusted and back on form at a decent level. And thats not taking into account, as Crafty speculates above, there may be more going on behind the scenes than we are privy to.
Scales ahead of Manning is criminal though. Bad choice. Manning must have p!ssed in Kenny's cornflakes back in June.
Wouldn't call second from bottom in Scotland a decent level, and think they only moved off the bottom after beating Kilmarnock 4-0 so now have a better goal difference.Quote:
Originally Posted by SkStu
But you agree with the rest? I’ll take that.
FWIW, Bazunu was playing for Rochdale in a L1 relegation season when he was getting caps.
Agree on Hodge, I’d have him in ahead of Browne and McGrath who will never develop into any worthwhile senior internationals. Hodge has a chance, and Kenny should foster it in case he does blossom into that midfielder we are yearning for. Not starting at the moment, but in training with the squad and possibly a late sub appearance
Can you elaborate on that CTP?Quote:
Originally Posted by CraftyToePoke
It's a little strange that Hodge wasn't called up, given some of Kenny's comments on dual qualified players that changed allegiance
A potential draft dodger Kingers, but mere speculation. McGrath over Szmodics is strange too as one is doing well in the Championship, the other failed. So it might be nothing to do with it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kingdom
Hodge wouldn't get in the current U21s for England so doubt he's hedging his bets and holding out to see what his options are. He's not 21 till next September so playing a couple of games won't affect him and actually would do him more good at convincing England he could be an option ala Rice impressing for us on his debut season for West Ham.Quote:
Originally Posted by CraftyToePoke
Failed in League 1 which makes matters worse. We've been cursed with managers with blind spots. We're a small nation with a limited pool, picking favourites ahead of form and potential is a brainless waste of scarce talent.
mcgrath just doesnt add enough to us overall , yard dog against an elite team but not strong enough with the ball against poor opponents IMO. Cant see hodge ever declaring for Eng tbh, not too worried about it. Do think himself and coventry should be in this squad though. Need more cm options and alternatives to cullen.
His caps so far have been-Quote:
Originally Posted by Jd2793
2 against Portugal, 1 against Serbia - his performances were really good there.
1 against Qatar in the 4-0 win, he won a penalty early enough in the game. Those 4 games he played the majority of. Then he played 45 mins against Azerbaijan where we won 3-0 and he played a few mins at the end against Andorra where we won 4-1.
He wasn’t involved in any of our struggles against weaker opponents (Luxembourg, Azerbaijan, Armenia). Who knows what the future holds but his few international performances have made him look like a very good player
I think McGrath has been good for us too but lots of players come on the scene and then can't sustain that initial level if they could they wouldn't be playing div 1 Scotland or L1 England. We can't be all about the future when the argument suits and then include players like McGrath and Browne or moreso hourihane(I'm aware he is not in this squad) and Browne when you could transition in players like Hodge and Coventry
these games seem particularly meaningless to me. i really don't think we'll learn anything from them. i suppose it's good for the group to come together but that's about it.
Absolutely agree. An utterly wasted opportunity by Kenny.Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
I agree. I've been nothing but impressed with him when he's lined out for us. Haven't seen much of him for his cub but I believe criticism of him in a green jersey is quite unjustifiedQuote:
Originally Posted by elatedscum
He might be able to light up the Premier League but he clearly just isn’t up for it on a cold Thursday night in Dublin.Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Obviously scarred by his last Dublin experience.
Good news for the team anyway, though the FAI are plugging the game based on him playing, so ticket sales may now stop dead
I suppose a lot of players would like to say that they played against him. I mean if you are a professional football player you kinda have to look forward to those sort of possibilities ~ ~ Well i think so anyway.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
Will Keane and Scott Hogan drop out of the squad with injury and Mark Sykes is called up.
That's not good... The two guys I was most hoping to see given game time tbh
Yeah, probably the two most in form players, who both really needed a chance to establish themselves at international level and would have presumably seen some decent minutes.
Must be very hard to actually keep a decent squad together for this, seeing as the power is in the clubs' hands as it's not an official international window.
Just noticed the original squad announcement says it's a 26 player squad - https://www.fai.ie/ireland/match/19/...52?tab=preview
But it only lists 25 players!Quote:
Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny has selected a 26-man squad for the international friendlies against Norway and Malta.
- Caoimhin Kelleher (Liverpool)
- Gavin Bazunu (Southampton)
- Mark Travers (AFC Bournemouth).
- Seamus Coleman (Everton)
- Matt Doherty (Tottenham Hotspur)
- Nathan Collins (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
- John Egan (Sheffield United)
- Dara O'Shea (West Bromwich Albion)
- Darragh Lenihan (Middlesbrough)
- Liam Scales (Aberdeen, on loan from Celtic)
- James McClean (Wigan Athletic)
- Robbie Brady (Preston North End).
- Josh Cullen (Burnley)
- Jeff Hendrick (Reading, on loan from Newcastle United)
- Jayson Molumby (West Bromwich Albion)
- Alan Browne (Preston North End)
- Will Smallbone (Stoke City, on loan from Southampton)
- Jamie McGrath (Dundee United).
- Michael Obafemi (Swansea City)
- Callum Robinson (Cardiff City)
- Scott Hogan (Birmingham City)
- Chiedozie Ogbene (Rotherham United)
- Will Keane (Wigan Athletic)
- Evan Ferguson (Brighton and Hove Albion)
- Callum O'Dowda (Cardiff City).
Only u could spot that!Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Yep bad news but might give Evan Ferguson a half against maltaQuote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
It's only fair really, with Haaland pulling out for them.Quote:
Originally Posted by JR89
To be completely fair they should also now pull out Ødegaard to even things up.
Malta have named their squad too
Mostly domestic-based. Sutton United and Ettelbruck of Luxembourg there too. Oxford United and Saint Gilloise as good as it gets. Yet they beat Israel last month so they can be a banana skin.
Especially with our diminishing forward options, let's hope we don't have another Lithuania/Armenia on our hands with this one.
I don't think Ferguson is ready for this level yet, so striker options are indeed short. Probably forces Kenny's hand to play a stronger than intended lineup against the banana skin so blessing in disguise Keane is injured?