Conor Coventry is a bit of an odd one. He has so little experience of first team football.
Surely McEneff or even Harness would have been a better option.
Conor Coventry is a bit of an odd one. He has so little experience of first team football.
Surely McEneff or even Harness would have been a better option.
I'd have gone for Anthony Scully - 12 goals in 41 appearances for Lincoln this season, Lincoln looking good for a play off spot in League One, and he's overage for the U21s so it's not weakening their squad for the Wales friendly - or Jamie McGrath - 37 appearances and 11 goals for St Mirren this season, including a penalty at the weekend, and played under Kenny at Dundalk
Great shouts.Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Interesting that McGrath, Harness and Coventry are in your Irish Abroad Team of the Week.
I think Kenny has set out his view that League One isn't a high enough standard though, and that's probably fair.
He's made an exception for keepers (otherwise we have none) and Parrott (presumably as he's only on loan and has been in the Ireland squad already - and even then he's pointing out it's a developmental call-up and he's not going to start)
Though there is a counter-argument that we're close to being in a "beggars can't be choosers" camp
Scully has been benched for the last month or so. Not sure about his all round game.
Hasn't started a game in a month, but he's come off the bench in their five games since. It's a bit surprising because he's been a consistent starter across the season, apart from October when he was a substitute for seven of Lincoln's eight games, and came on four times.Quote:
Originally Posted by Exgrad
Its eight games since Scully scored though so maybe that came into it too, if he'd kept his goals ratio before that up in that last month he'd have had a stronger case.
Half his goals have been in Cup competition as well, including two against a League Two side and three in the EFL Cup (and I don't know how seriously that's treated). So his league record is 6 in 30. That might also be a factor.
If we lose to Serbia and draw at home to Luxemburg ie 1 point from 6
Would anyone like kenny sacked? I wouldn't actually as I think he deserves the whole campaign
I think those results would barely be below expectation at the moment. A win against Luxembourg or a draw against Serbia would be very positive results. Now, if he were to lose to Luxembourg, the pressure would be seriously mounting.Quote:
Originally Posted by Diggs246
No. Ten debuts so far, all the C19 and injuries to factor in, he's handling a generational talent gap coming through all while trying to play a bit of football we aren't embarrassed to watch.Quote:
Originally Posted by Diggs246
We should be competitive in groups, that's the bar here because that's all we ever really were except for a period under Charlton anyway.
If we start really badly, it does need to improve through the group, performance wise, chance conversion wise, it needs to be heading in a good direction to buy him that time but I would be looking at more that just the final score for a period here, not forever, but for a while.
No. With all the injuries in the pool, not even Victor Frankenstein could cobble together a player or two out of all the spare parts.
Having a potentially nervous keeper - or at best, inexperienced - is exactly the reason I wouldn;t have Duffy in the side. He's out of form, poor on the turn, and drags us the guts of 10-15 yds deeper than we should be.Quote:
Originally Posted by ifk101
The one thing that would have me consdier him is Mitrovic, the brute, but to be fair to him, Clark is no shrinking violet either and would know his ins and outs well. OShea and Clark for me.
On that point, they were speaking to the Serbia striking options in the Times yesterday. The four picked are: Jovic, Despotovic, Mitrovic and Vlahovic.
Jovic scored two on his return to Eintracht but has been quiet since. Mitrovic has been largely on the bench for Fulham. Despotovic is uncapped and 29 but is banging them in in Russia for Rubin Kazan. Vlahovic is the young buck with plenty goals for Fiorentina, including a hat trick against Benevento last week.
They have played two strikers in their last three games. It looks like they have picked from Mitrovic, Jovic and Tadic for those matches. Tadic, I assume, didn't play as an orthodox striker.
Mitrovic, as Kingdom says, is a brute. Jovic is 6 foot. Interesting to note, however, that Despotovic and Vlahovic both come in at 6 foot 3.
Unless they play Jovic and Tadic up top, there is likely to be a significant physical presence up there. If they play two of Mitrovic, Vlahovic and Despotovic then the physical presence is likely to be significant. Surely, however, the most likely is Jovic and Mitrovic- still physical.
Not talking us into starting Duffy myself. But his start could be justifiable for Kenny depending on the Serbs' selection. I'd rather Clark and O'Shea myself.
It was me that said he was a brute, Mitrovic, that Kingdom charlatan is only slipstreaming my point.
A gutsy performance in Belgrade followed by victory in Dublin must be the minimum requirement. That is certainly not asking too much. Surely we expect to beat Luxembourg in Dublin! Lowering the bar further than that reduces us to basket-case status. A bad defeat in Belgrade followed by a home loss to Luxembourg would shatter public confidence.Quote:
Originally Posted by John83
Jeez , Maybe Duffy’s needs a bit of protection. If he had a nightmare then it might be his last cap for the Republic of Ireland.
Is that a real name?Quote:
Originally Posted by Olé Olé
Quite a powerful attacker I'd say. Bit of a mean streak to him too.
I think most reasonable punters would be giving SK at least this full campaign in the job before pulling the trigger on things. The early appointment seemed like a blessing at the time (for him and many of us) but has turned into an absolute curse. Even though you cant help but feel like it has been a missed opportunity, some of the team selections he was forced to put out last year were laughable.
Id want to see progress during the campaign, similar to how Crafty puts it above, and a willingness not to marry the team to a particular formation where we put square pegs in round holes. For example, if we have two wing-backs that are among the most effective in the premier league we should acknowledge that in how we set ourselves up. It's beyond debate to be honest.
Even though i am tending towards generosity, nothing in life is guaranteed and even more so as a football manager. There will be a level that he cannot be allowed to drop below. In normal/ordinary times, he'd be mightily close to that level right now. Can't score, defensively shaky, you know the story... I'm not sure what is fair these days but anything less than a relatively competitive third place (within 5 points) or any dropped points to Luxembourg or Azerbaijan would have him right in the danger zone.
haha - i was thinking the same thing. What. A. Name!! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu