Well he missed all of last season with a bad injury so it wouldnt be shocking if he is still being managed from that
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If we're down he should really call up Louie Barry and get him capped. We can't afford to lose any of these potential starlets if they come good.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/a...s/c931e0ez12qo
Jayson Molumby speaks out. Interesting - I'd say his points are valid (but I'm biased).
Nothing wrong with anything he's said there, equally he hasn't said anything to help himself despite speaking well.
Easy to say he might have held off a bit but you or I didn't have to watch Killian Phillips selected ahead of us & then have to watch him horsing around the pitch rodeo ball style.
Wouldnt we be complaining if players werent annoyed about being left out. Delighted to hear that he was p1ssed off, that kind of desire is a good thing
Yeah, agreed. There's a time and a place for saying it I guess, but in an era of early international retirement, it's always nice to see players who really want to play
Ferguson and Parrott in full training yesterday, which is good news. Looks like one or other should be fit to start. Now all we have to do is get the ball up to them.
I think for Saturday I'd like to see -
---------------------------------------------------------------Kelleher----------------------------------------------------------------
O'Brien---Scales---Egan---O'Shea---Collins---Dunne---McGuinness---Duffy---Coleman---Ferry
----------------------------------------------------------------Parrott-----------------------------------------------------------------
Duffy in there for the special Ronaldo throat lift move of course
Only one way to find out!
My team would be
GK Kelleher
RB Coleman/Ebosele
CB Scales
CB O’Brien
LB Manning
RM Ogbene
CM Molumby
CM Cullen
CM Smallbone
LM Johnston
F Ferguson
assuming Parrott not fully fit. If he is it’s a toss up but would prob go for Ferguson as a big bruiser up front)
I feel like if you bring Coleman and Egan back into the squad then you probably have to start them too. Might be a back five.
GK Kelleher
RB Coleman
CB Collins
CB Egan
CB O'Brien
LB Manning
CM Cullen
CM Smallbone
CM Molumby
CF Parrott
CF Ferguson
Crowd the middle, one of Parrott and Ferguson dropping in when defending. Manning being given the most freedom to push forward into more of a wing role.
Thinking of Coleman and Ronaldo potentially facing off on Saturday... a combined age of 76. There's hope for us all getting a game yet!
I'd like to see Collins get into midfield a bit against Portugal. It worked against England until Scales had his Scottish moment.
Are HH + crew just winging it now? If you bring back players only to start them, that opens up more questions on what’s going on behind the scenes in terms of preparation. All the talk since HH’s arrival has been about getting to know the players, planning properly for the WC campaign, giving lads the summer off so they’d be ready to hit the ground running … But we are still introducing new faces and players are now admitting they didn’t fully understand the challenge they were facing in Armenia. Preparation?
As for line-up/ tactics for the Portugal game, if it’s not similar to England away, then why not? Wasn’t that game as good a dress rehearsal for this as we will get? The game scenario will be similar and HH expressed “happiness” with the England performance up to the red card. If we deviate, it questions preparation again.
Just on Molumby. He says he wasn’t given a reason for his omission from the previous squad, and that’s just poor man management imo. The player pool is small; a quick courtesy call takes no time and goes a long way.
It's hard not to see things that way.
I have not been a fan of this regime, without reason, but that first half against England was easily the best we've played under HH and it was extremely comfortable - that's not an understatement. However, and I'll try not to sound like a cabbage when making the point, that it was England, where any disciplined 'block' focussing on stopping the opposition from playing (without much emphasis on trying to beat them) they struggle in a way their peers such as Spain or Portugal don't.Quote:
As for line-up/ tactics for the Portugal game, if it’s not similar to England away, then why not? Wasn’t that game as good a dress rehearsal for this as we will get? The game scenario will be similar and HH expressed “happiness” with the England performance up to the red card. If we deviate, it questions preparation again.
I'm fearful for Saturday in a way that I've not been fearful before.
- First home game since Jota died;
- First game in Lisbon since the funicular disaster;
Emotions will be high. An early goal...woof.
Just got tickets for Armenia game and was pleasantly surprised to see the taxes and charges included in the original ticket price
Jimmy Dunne called up for game 1 due to Scales suffering a family bereavement. Given recent history, I guess that means Jimmy will be starting on saturday
I'm still thinking this ahead of the game. Hadn't linked in the funicular but yeah, you can see how it might just add to the whole occasion. I presume there'll be something to mark Jota before the game - more than just a minute's silence.
France and Portugal recently hammered us such that we could barely touch the ball but it only ended up 3-0 and 2-0 in those games. If we're as disorganised as Armenia and if, as you say, an early goal goes in, I could easily see tonight being 4-0 or 5-0.
Our main hope is that Portugal go easy on us with Tuesday against Hungary in mind (but like when they came to Dublin last) but I just can't see that on a night like tonight
Bookies have it at 2/5 for over 2.5 goals & even over 3.5 is 11/10, so you can see what they think is about to happen.
Armenia playing well against Hungary it must be said
Kelleher
O'Shea
Collins
O'Brien
Coleman
Manning
Molumby
Cullen
Ogbene
Ebosele
Ferguson
Bit of an attacking threat - but I think more importantly a suspect defence. I could see this turning out like Stevens' last call in Paris for Coleman.
Starting 11 named
1. Kelleher
2. Coleman
3. Manning
4. O’Shea
5. O’Brien
6. Cullen
8. Molumby
9. Ferguson
20. Ogbene
21. Ebosele
22. Collins
Not sure what formation that will be
Bit mad that so many lads who couldn't even make last squad start.
What's he doing then? A lot of defensive players on the park.
Hoping it's O'Shea, Coleman, OBrien centre back, manning/festy wing backs, Collins midfield with Molumby and Cullen and Chio behind Ferguson
Six defenders strung out across the pitch. Hard to make out what the formation might be and who might be playing where.
Molumby, Coleman and Ebosele, not good enough to make the cut for the 23-man squad last time, are now starting (?!).
Reeks of incompetence, desperation and of the coaching team simply winging it.
Much and all as we're creating nothing here, we do at least seem half organised. I guess that's something after Armenia
Credit to Molumby he’s been really tidy and brave at times on the ball. The fact three players who didn’t make the last squad, Coleman, Ebosele and Molumby have been arguably the three stand outs does raise a few questions in itself!
Worst fears very much not materialising here. Still creating little and would expect a Portugal goal to settle them and give us no way back - but they don't really look like creating a proper chance at the moment.
Ogbene fairly snatched at that chance he was offside for - we need a bit of composure up front in games like this. Easier said than done, mind
Immense performance. I think Molumby, Festy and O’Brien have shone. Really well organized all round though, great shape out of possession and super focused. Couldn’t ask for much more. Coleman has been great but perhaps too cautious at times in their half with the backwards ball to Jake instead of inside or out to Festy.
Itd almost break your heart in a way that they have this type of mindset in them. Well here’s hoping we can hold on.
Those 3 players that didn't make the last squad or weren't available for selection?
The flat back 5 is working really well, cm lacks bite and is powder puff at moving the ball forward, counter attacks are somewhat haphazard. All in all not bad so far.
Molumby has done well, but he was left out of the last squad on merit. That was his best 45 minutes in an Ireland shirt in years, possibly ever.
If that's a reaction to being left out of the last squad I'd say that's good management by HH
The game has echoes of october 2000 but then we had Roy Keane at full strut.
Into the "squad depth" stage of things, where you wouldn't expect us to do well
Ogbene offering nothing this half - but who do we replace him with? Ferry, and move Manning up?
Edit - Johnston on, which makes sense. But for Festy? Was he carrying a knock?