Johan Cruijff is a Grade A bull****ter. This could seriously end in tears.
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Johan Cruijff is a Grade A bull****ter. This could seriously end in tears.
Just threw down a tenner at odds of 16-1 in Paddy Power on Cruyff. While I remain 50-50 on his appointment and would be concerned about how opinionated he can be and would wonder how he could deal with the FAI, I might as well profit if he is appointed. Girl in there said I'm the fourth fella in the last 2 hours to stick a bet on him, so maybe a few of the taxi drivers at the airport have shares in Paddy Powers!!
Did hear the rumour that Keano was going to be his number two...no shortage of opinions with that managerial team!
Would Alan Curbishly impress anyone here?? I have no great recollection of his style of play but he was Reasonably successful with limited resources. Very meticulous when committing to new signings at Charlton too. They reckon that's what counted against him as their profile and budget increased. He was too slow to move for players because he wouldn't spend unless he seen first hand and was absolutely sure. It's the kind of diligence I want to see from our next Manager TBH.
All the big names bantered about, but I still think we need someone with a history of working with average (to good) players and making a team more than the sum of their parts.
I can't think of anything particularly bad about Curbishley.
He seems like a very boring man. We need someone who knows their tactics and can play to the media/fans. I'd rather have Steve Bruce doing his silly dance down the sideline, Fatih Terim with his sweaty armpits or Johann and Roy having a scowl off at the ref rather than have Curbs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Actually I had a dream we appointed Bruce and he turned out a good manager.
Though have had personal experience of the man and consider him on a par with a certain Corkonian.
i find it slightly odd that he has applied for multiple jobs since leaving west ham without managing to get any of them.Quote:
Originally Posted by dr_peepee
he did sue the hammers, so perhaps that's putting club sides off. or maybe he is a bad interviewee.
I get mixed up between Curbs and Pards.
I though Curbs was at Newcastle.
Will you guys be happy with Big Mick? Is he the safe fall back option?
Robbie's view...
http://thescore.thejournal.ie/robbie...facebook_short
A bit depends on if he wants it, if he was desperate for the job and ambition pouring out of every orifice then he should be seriously considered. Otherwise I'd say he should stay away, not touch it with a bargepole, move on with his life elsewhere but leave himself available for the caretaker gig should it arise :)Quote:
Originally Posted by shakermaker1982
No-one knows the pressures of the Irish job more than Mick McCarthy and also how its a virtually impossible job. You can say a lot of things about Trapattoni but he was never afraid of a challenge throughout his career and taking on the Irish job in 2008 was a huge challenge. Credit to him for taking the job in the first place. Its still the same challenge today with the high expectations and the armchair pundits criticising everything and expecting us to reach every major tournament. If we play an attack minded team against the likes of Germany we'd get torn to shreds. We did as it was, but managed to keep it 3-0 only by defending en masse. In games against Spain and Germany it will always be a question of getting as many men behind the ball as possible because we simply aren't in the same league as them and anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves. Everyone in Ireland thinks they are an expert on the national team and how we should play and the people who claim to be the biggest experts are those who have achieved least in the game.
Getting back to McCarthy, I'd be surprised if he took the job as I doubt he needs the stress at this stage of his life. On balance he was probably the best Irish manager in our history but even he would struggle with the current squad. Before he had the two Keanes, Duff, Irwin and several other top class players at their peak.
Alot of buzz going round that Cruyff is to be appointed later this week................not sure what to make of that.
Buzz comes and goes.
No need to make anything out of it, just stay calm.
Yes credit to Trap for taking €2m a year.
Hero/
I'm sure Trap could have got similar money elsewhere. He's one of the world's most successful managers, he was hardly going to do it for peanuts.
He took the job when we were a shambles, steadied the ship, achieved qualification, ship started shaking again, left the job, hence this thread has become relevant. We move on.
Cruyff would be really intriguing. I know he's a bit of a loose cannon at times, but we would certainly find out if our players are in any way capable of playing a passing, possession game. Cruyff, I would think, would know no other way. Of course, this could be catastrophic if it turns out our guys aren't up to it but I think we have enough coming through to at least make a stab at it. Gibson is often hailed for his ball retention, McCarthy fitted in well in a passing Wigan side, obviously the likes of McGeady, Hoolahan and Reid are technically very good and Coleman and Clark are comfortable in possession. Wilson has been pretty disappointing of late but has looked fairly comfortable on the ball in the past.
I think he may be my new number one choice, despite knowing full well it could be brief and end badly, worst case scenario. On the flip side, good communication between him and the rude doctor could transform the way the Irish view football forever... best case scenario of course :)
Was, cant seeing him managing any top team now tbfQuote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
Curbs has been out of the game for quite a while. His CV contains Charlton & West Ham and no more. I always had time for him and he did an outstanding job at Charlton, despite overseeing a relegation but I think we could be aiming a bit higher.
I have great time for Mick McCarthy but they say you should never go back and I'd tend to agree with that in this instance. More of a gut feeling than anything else though.
lads - wheres the cruyff speculation coming from? Cant seem to find anything on the internet about it
Taxi drivers.
Taxi drivers, private forums... the usual really.*
*see page 54 of this thread for more.
I'd have some reservations about Mick but on balance I think he'd be a good appointment. It's not like he didn't make some odd selections and there were a lot of late away goals conceded. Ipswich's recent throwing away of a 4-1 lead at Derby made me shudder! He also had a Trap-like tendency towards picking favourites.
On the plus side he's popular so will bring some feelgood back, can stand up to the antagonists, he's a leader and his club track record is good enough. I'm not sure you can say that any club he has been at hasn't benefited from him being there and I think he has generally got the best out of what he had to work with. He has the right idea on playing the game and was never afraid to trust young talent.
Certainly applies to me. I have achieved absolutely nothing in the game, yet I regard myself as an expert (if not one of the biggest ones).Quote:
Originally Posted by Emmet7
Mick's ruled himself out, hasn't he? Seems happy at Ipswich.
Really dont want McCarthy back. The Championship is his level as a manager
Was reading about Iceland, who have a great chance of making the playoffs. Their manager is Lars Lagerbach, the former Swedish manager. I know very little about him, but he did well with Sweden if I recall and he is clearly doing well with Iceland. He might be a good shout and would be cheaper than some of the other names mentioned.
As you point out yourself, he's doing exceptionally well with Iceland. That also means he's in a job at the minute and it's unlikely he'll want to give that up if it means there's a significant chance he can manage them in Rio next summer.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bungle
Doesn't his contract expire at the end of this group?
Maybe so; wasn't aware of that. Still, if he does manage to qualify with Iceland, I can't imagine he'd be dazzled by our prospects. And the play-offs are mid-November. Aren't the FAI now hoping to have a new man in by the start of November? Or is Christmas still the set deadline?Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
We need to teach good habits to young players from about the age of 10 onwards, such as the Barcelona 6 second rule about getting the ball back.
Its too late to do anything with senior players, they've been bred in the English game.
From now on send young talented LOI players or talented teenagers to Spain, Italy or Holland. Anywhere but the EPL where they learn bad habits and are afraid to play football.
Why would these countries want our players when they have good players of their own?
The Liverpool academy has been namechecked by none other than Pep Guardiola as the second best in the world. There are a number of Irish there and O'Hanlon and McLaughlin (if we include him) are probably in the top 5 talents at youth/reserve level at the club, while Daniel Cleary has captained their youth team. Villa had half a team of Irish and they won the NEXTGEN last year. At Man City, Ian Lawlor and Jack Byrne are terrific talents, while there is the chance that our next superstar will be a fella like Noe Baba from a less glamorous club.
I do think that there is alot of doom and gloom around the national team and rightly so. There is much to change about how we develop young players and our chronic lack of top coaches at junior levels. One of my best mates is just back from Barcelona, where he was with the FAI. He said that in Catolonia alone, they have about 2000 coaches. Coaching isn't everything, but it goes a long way. Kids now don't play on the street like many of us would have done. The Whelan's and Bradys of this world might not have had coaches with badges, but they learnt their skills and technique on the street. Sadly, now more than ever young players need coaching from properly qualified coaches.
However, while there is much doom and gloom, we should not go totally negative. We are still producing some excellent players and there are some terrific underage talents in this country. We also have a good core of very decent players in the senior team and no matter whether we are 2nd or 3rd seeds for Euro 2016, I would be confident that we will qualify. I would feel that while we are a long way from the holy grail of Belgium (or even Switzerland or Greece), we are also a long way from minnows, despite what the barstoolers will tell you.
lagerback was touted here around the Trap appointment. If he wasn't touted, then he was definitely used as an example of getting a coach who would get results with similar talent, but at a much cheaper outlay.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bungle
I think there is a big similarity to Iceland now and Ireland when Trap was appointed. A well-respected manager taking over a team well below what he was used to and getting them results
Again though, that's a little simplistic. They have a couple of really good attacking players, and they seem to have had something of a golden generation of underage squads (our 1998 Under 17s & 19 teams) in 2007/2008/2009 by their standards and this has to have contributed.
In 2007 their under 17's made it to the Euro finals, qualifying ahead of Romania, Lithuania, Russia, Portugal, but making no impression on the finals.
Under 19 success hasn't followed, but that original batch of 17's was unlucky to lose out on a place in the 2008 u19 Euro's (they lost to a last min goal).
The 21's then qualified for Euro 2011, eliminating Germany in the group with 4 points from the double header (a Germany squad that had Muller, Boateng, Badstuber, Hummels, Howedes, Schurrle, Grosskreutz), and then Scotland Home and away in the play-offs.
Another batch of 17's made it to the finals again in 2012 (as an unseeded team from the initial stage) eliminating Greece, Israel, Denmark and Scotland along the way.
The most current batch just topped a group containing Russia, Slovakia and Azerbaijan, ahead of the elite stage.
The current 21's are well placed to make the play-offs too, level with France at the top of their group.
The point to all of the above is that it doesn't appear to be a coincidence that Iceland are doing well at senior level. Sure, their group is a fricking doddle, but if you analyse their senior and underage players, it's no longer filled with Icelandic troll division 1 players/clubs. Ajax, Sampadoria, Bruge, Helsingborg, Heerenveen, Copenhagen, Odense, Belenseses, Spurs, Alkmaar, Cardiff. Aarhus, Nijmigen, PSV.
That's a serious collection of clubs. Diverse, and with plenty of different styles they're being exposed to. It would be good to figure out what has happened over there at underage level, if anything at all.
Geysir (who I'm starting to doubt is from Monaghan at all now!) would be able to give a proper appraisal of "the boys", as he calls them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bungle
And for all that, when Ireland play in Lansdowne Road, if the ball is not launched into the opponents half within 6 seconds, or if we try to string 6/7 passes together, then the crowd gets agitated for the long ball to the striker.
It's not just kids you have to battle with, it's joe public too.
After Ajax, I assume.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bungle
Cheeky Pep.
Our best talent does indeed go to Academies like Liverpool but they rarely make it into the first team. They are usually loaned out at 18, 19 or 20 then end up playing championship or league one where hoof ball is the norm. Even in the lower divisions in Spain I'd imagine they try to play ball. Barcelona reserves play in the spanish second division for example. It's all about habits and philosophy. 30% of the EPL are English players, mostly defenders and goalies. Their academies aren't as cracked up as they are supposed to be.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bungle
The Liverpool Academy has been lauded constantly, but it still is struggling to show it's true worth. The problem to me appears to be that they are hoovering up a lot of talent around England and Europe, but then they don't seem to know what to do with them.
They've been undergoing a transformation since Benitez got rid of Steve Heighway. It's no surprise it's rated so highly because the guy who was chief at La Masia was Rodolfo Borrell, who is head of the Liverpool academy, and previously Pep Segura
The problem for Liverpool is that the players that a lot is hinging on, are the quick skillful continentals, such as Suso, Teixeira and Canos, and historically these players have struggled with the breakthrough to more adult football, as they just were not physically able for the PL.
Dani Pacheco, Kristian Nemeth, Dalli Valle, are just some of the hype and then bust players. Jon Flanagan and Conor Coady were widely lauded, but neither will make it at the highest level, and it remains to be seen if Andre Wisdom will either.
So the LFC academy really will need another 10 years before it can be properly judged, as it really is still in it's infancy, and hasn't produced anything yet.
Just to clarify child trafficking is okay when a football is involved.
'Liam Brady backs Mick McCarthy to return as Republic of Ireland manager': http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/inter...for-irish-job/
Quote:
It’s almost 11 years to the day since Mick McCarthy last managed the Republic of Ireland, but RTÉ pundit Liam Brady would like to see the current Ipswich Town manager back in the hot-seat.
2002 was the year of Saipan. There is no need to revisit that. On the pitch, Ireland’s World Cup campaign in the Far East ended with a penalty shootout defeat against the Spanish. McCarthy was still in charge when the Euro 2004 qualifiers commenced.
However, defeats against Russia and Switzerland in their opening matches had the Irish on the back foot from the off. The manager did not survive.
Much water has flowed under the bridge since then and the FAI are again in search of a manager. Martin O’Neill, Roy Keane and one Mick McCarthy are the names getting most mention as of now.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport, Liam Brady was in no doubt which one of that trio he would like to see get the job.
The former Ireland international said: “I don’t know what Mick’s contractual situation is at Ipswich. What I do know is that he has demonstrated before his capability to do the job.
"He has broad shoulders and had to put up with an awful lot of messing when Saipan happened. People turned against him; public opinion turned against him and most of the media turned against him on the back of how popular Roy Keane was.
"However Mick got on with it and he demonstrated since then that he is a very capable manager. I don’t whether it would be possible to get him, but he would be number one on my list.”
When asked about the process so far in finding a successor to Giovanni Trapattoni, Brady did not give it a ringing endorsement.
“I haven’t been impressed, but maybe that’s the circumstances. I think we all expected that Martin O’Neill would be the next manager, but that hasn’t happened. I believe that rules Martin out.
He may think that the expectations are too high within the country as to what the team should be achieving.
“I don’t like the process and I feel sorry for Noel King after he was told that he will not be considered for the job as full-time manager.”
Excellent knowledge there. I had LFC TV for free in my house for a while (not sure who subscribed to it) and watched it a fair bit ( I was a mature student, in my defence!!) and David Amoo was breaking all sorts of goalscoring records. I think he's over 20 and in League 1 now. Scoring goals, yeah, but not likely to turn out for England anytime soon.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kingdom
The Hungarian lad is an excellent case. I remember googling him at the time and it seemed a matter of time before he'd be lording it in the EPL.
Also, back further, Darren Potter played Champions League when Liverpool were "a force" and now turns out for MK Dons. How does THAT happen??? :(
LFC TV is free with the basic Sky package. It was the last time I flicked on to it anyway.