Irish Abroad 2007/2008

Irish Abroad for Saturday, 29th December 2007: http://www.chatsoccer.net/irishabroa...ate=2007-12-29
Joey O'Brien starts his first game in 2 months
Daryl Murphy gets his first goal of the season
John O'Shea continues being introduced as a sub away from home
Paddy McCarthy scores his first of the season (he scored twice last season)
Martin Rowlands doubles his goal tally for the season
Ian Morris has started 4 games in a row, before that he had only 2 substitute appearances
Barry Corr has scored 4 goals in 3 games
Gary Dempsey scored his first of the season
Adam Rooney gets his sixth
Aiden McGeady scored his seventh of the season, 6 of which were at home
Noel Hunt is up to 12 goals for the season

Irish Abroad for Sunday, 30th December 2007: http://www.chatsoccer.net/irishabroa...ate=2007-12-30
Jon Macken makes his first Premiership appearance since the opening day of the season
Steve Finnan completes 2 games in a row for the first time since the end of October

December statistics: http://www.chatsoccer.net/irishabroad/december.xquery
Lee Carsley started more wins than any other midfielder, he also started and completed more games than any other player
Graham Barrett and Caleb Folan started more home wins than any other striker, but Folan didn't start a single away win
Despite his recent reported good form, Sean St Ledger started more losses than any other defender
Despite his scoring streak, Clinton Morrison was substituted more than any other striker
Unsurprisingly, John O'Shea was introduced from the bench more time than any other defender
Shane Long was introduced from the bench more than any striker for the second month running
Shane Supple and Darren Randolph were unused substitutes more than any other player, both have been the "winners" of this accolade for three months in a row :(
Only one defender scored in December - Paddy McCarthy
Aiden McGeady scored more home goals than any other player, while Noel Hunt topped the away scoring charts
McGeady, Hunt, Robbie Keane and Clinton Morrison all tied for top scorer in December
Curiously enough, no striker scored a penalty away from home in December (well, as curious as these things get)
Glen Whelan was booked at home more times than any other player
Crystal Palace never lost a game Clinton Morrison scored in, and won every away game he scored in

Seeing as how it's the half way mark in the season, here's the combined statistics for the season to the end of December: http://www.chatsoccer.net/irishabroa...yReport.xquery
Lee Carsley has started more wins than any other player
Aiden McGeady, Owen Garvan, Alan Lee and Jonathan Walters have all started more home wins than any other player. The 3 Ipswich players have yet to start an away win though
Mark Yeates has started more draws than any other player
Glen Whelan has comfortably started more losses than any other player
As a corollary to their home wins, Alan Lee and Jonathan Walters have started more away losses than any other player
Michael Doyle and Stephen McPhail have started more games than any other players. Although, the top starting players in all positions are Championship players, simple because they play more games
Similarly Michael Doyle has completed more full games than any other player
Lee Trundle, Alan Lee and (surprisingly) Robbie Keane have been substituted more than any other player
Unsurprisingly, John O'Shea has been introduced from the bench more than any other defender. Alan O'Brien ties his record exactly for most introductions
Darren Randolph has been an unused substitute more than any other player. Darren O'Dea probably has more to be concerned about, he's been an unused substitute 21 times, more than twice that of any other outfield player
Robbie Keane is the top scorer overall, but the top penalty taker is a tie between Andy Reid and Wes Hoolahan
Glen Whelan has been booked more times than any player. Aiden McGeady and Martin Rowlands have more away bookings than any other player
Crystal Palace have not lost a game Clinton Morrison has scored in, and have won every away game, Jon Macken hasn't scored in a winning game yet

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

John O'Shea continues being introduced as a sub away from home

Darren O'Dea probably has more to be concerned about, he's been an unused substitute 21 times, more than twice that of any other outfield player.

---

As a makeshift centre forward!

I wouldn't be too concerned about O'Dea being an unused sub- centre backs are rarely substituted. It's the amount of games he's played that matters.

I'd just like to make it clear that the monthly statistics round ups I've done are only for players based on the Premiership, Championship and Scottish Premiership. Even when the site was just updates on the forum from game to game, it was always with the intention that the information would be used to back up opinions about who should be in Ireland squads, and who should be excluded. I do like to back up my opinions with facts ;) With all due respect to players in League 1, League 2 and the Scottish First Division, they are unlikely to be in any squads, so they are excluded from the round up for this reason. Also, with the amount of extra players in the divisions, it takes the round ups longer to compile, and makes them even harder to read and analyse. If there's enough of a demand, I'll include them in future round ups. If only one or two people are interested, I'll make them available on request.

He scored a beauty on his debut against Sheff Weds a couple of weeks back. Nearly scored after 20 mins against Sheff United but Kenny made a good save and Scannel rushed the rebound and sent it widly wide.

He reminded me of young Liam George - physical apperaance and physique, maybe a bit taller, and both busy mobile players.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

He scored a beauty on his debut against Sheff Weds a couple of weeks back.

---

Correct :mad:

I thought Daryl Murphy's goal was well taken actually. Another 10 a season required to take him seriously though.

From football365's rumours today: http://www.football365.com/story/0,1...012855,00.html

Quote:

---

Leicester owner Milan Mandaric is close to splashing out £3million on Derby striker Steve Howard, Martin Fulop, Graham Kavanagh and Tony Capaldi...QPR hope to sign Luton goalkeeper Dean Brill this week

---

Liam Lawrence seems to be having an excellent season. 8 goals and 12 assists in 24 games so far. Only Fabregas has more assists in England.

Manchester City manager Sven-Goran Eriksson is lining up a £2m swoop for Crystal Palace's 17-year-old winger Sean Scanell. (The Sun)

(I'm not sure he's actually a winger but that's what the BBC gossip column says).

From http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/mai...sfntra102a.xml

Quote:

---

Though a left-back and a midfielder remain priorities, Ipswich striker Jonathan Walters is being tracked by Steve Bruce. The 24-year-old was previously with Chester.

---

City eye £2m move for Irish teen


January 2, 2008

Manchester City manager Sven Goran Eriksson is reportedly keen on making a big-money January move for Crystal Palace’s Irish youth international star Sean Scannell.

Scannell has made just seven first-team appearances for Neil Warnock’s side, scoring his first senior goal against Sheffield Wednesday before Christmas.

And the form of the London-born 17-year-old has alerted City boss Eriksson, according to media reports in the UK.

A measure of Scannell’s youth can be gauged from the fact that he was not born until two months AFTER Jack Charlton’s Irish heroes reached the last eight of Italia ’90.

Sean's brother Damian has signed for Southend United from non-league Eastleigh.

http://www.southendunited.premiumtv....203396,00.html

For the 2nd game in a row Dunne got the 3 bonus points in the fantasy football. After getting 2 bonus points a few days ago McShane got 3 against Blackburn tonight. Other than the penalty, Blackburn didn't have a shot on target so credit to the Sunderland defence.

He's on great form :d helped my FF team to get 74 points this week, still only 4th in foot.ie league though

Irish Abroad for Tuesday, 1st January 2008: http://www.chatsoccer.net/irishabroa...ate=2008-01-01
Eddie Nolan starts another loss away from home
Swansea have yet to lose a game Thomas Butler scores in
Keith Andrews scored his 11th of the season, not bad for a midfielder

Irish Abroad for Wednesday, 2nd January 2008: http://www.chatsoccer.net/irishabroa...ate=2008-01-02
Keith Treacy on the bench for Blackburn, no sign of Steven Reid
Noel Hunt grabs his 13th of the season, he's scored more than twice as many at home as away from home
Stephen Bradley returns the SPL. Well, the Falkirk bench anyway

Fixed a few minor cosmetic errors on the site that had been bugging me
I changed the team details pages a little, when you select a team now, the starting players and substitutes are listed next to each game. For teams with a large Irish contingent (Wolves, Sunderland, etc) this can get a little confusing, so I've added a highlight option for each player so you easily can see whether or not he played. The highlight colours are awful though, so that's the next thing to fix

Damian Scannell will be in the next update after the weekend's fixtures. I found this online while I was searching for his date of birth: http://www.rivals.net/news/pgArticle...d=2483_2996402
Looks like a decent lower league player, but has a bit of a temper

From Sky Sports a couple of weeks ago:

Sky Sports/Graeme Bailey - Eight eye R's starlet
Premier League sides battle for R's youngster

Up to eight Premier League clubs are looking to lure Queens Park Rangers starlet Liam O'Brien away from Loftus Road, skysports.com understands.
The 16-year-old goalkeeper is already playing for the club's Under 18s and has made his debut for the reserves, and is rated by many as one of the brightest talents for his age in the country.

Scouts have been alerted to O'Brien - who is still on schoolboy terms at the club having rejected the chance to sign scholarship forms.
The likes of Arsenal, Aston Villa, Portsmouth, Manchester United and Newcastle are believed to be amongst those showing an interest in O'Brien.
QPR know they face a real battle to keep O'Brien and realise if he did leave he could do so at the end of the season with only minimal compensation due to the Championship club.

My question is, with a name like O'Brien, surely there are some Irish links?

what is it with this forum that every young english lad that shows any bit of promise is linked with being irish,

he may be from ireland but in recent weeks the amount of these promising lads has been massive

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ciaran

who the hell cares what nationality a 16 year old is, If he's still top of his age group in 5 years time then it's time to look into him but chances are this'll be the first and last time everyone in this topic will ever hear about him.

---

On the other hand, if we don't approach him now, in 5 years, when we do approach him, people will complain about not approaching him 5 years ago, and why didn't he declare for Ireland, and so on, and Kevin Nolan, and so on

Is there still any chance of Willo Flood making it?

Quote:

---

Willo Flood to Celtic in the summer is a definite possibility (if anybody wants to sig this, feel free. My source is a close relative of the player). Loads of potential but fell by the wayside. Hows he doing at Dundee Utd?

---

Quote:

---

A mate of mine who is a Dundee Utd fan assures me that he's 'world class' :D

---

Anyone know what happened to the 3 Quinn brothers who were supposed to be so good for us when Sheffield United were in the EPL?