Paul Green

Trap "60% sure" Green will start against Armenia. Darron will be thrilled with his 40% ;)

http://irishexaminer.com/sport/socce...ht-129590.html

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Revealing he had looked at both the Derby County man and Darron Gibson playing alongside Glenn Whelan in training, the Ireland manager yesterday declared: "I can say 60% it will be Paul Green".

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Green on playing for Ireland:

"My family always pushed me and my grandad always pushed me to put my name forward. But, obviously, being down in the lower leagues, I thought they'd never look at me. The higher I got, and then with a season in the Championship under my belt, I thought I'd put my name forward and see what came of it.

It has just come so quick for me. Being called into the training camp for the two weeks in May, then getting 25 minutes against Paraguay and then a full game against Algeria and topping it off with a goal was just fantastic. Then playing probably one of the top four teams in the world, Argentina, was just a dream come true. Tough, but a great experience.

At club level, I'm more attacking, I play a different position. But with Ireland, the manager knows what he wants you to do and he sets that out. It was nice being in the training squad and playing a few in there before I did actually get in the team. I knew what he wanted me to do and felt comfortable with it. Protect the back four and when the ball does go forward, try to get the second bits. Just start off attacks really. Hopefully, I'm doing that job.

The only time I was a bag of nerves was when I had to sing a song (The Wild Rover) in front of the squad the first time."

On current Irish form I would pick Green, Gibson has more potential tho, and is one of our few players who can score a goal out of nothing with those long range shots of his

Doesn't consider himself Irish, fact.

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Originally Posted by livehead1

Doesn't consider himself Irish, fact.

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If I had a son by my Korean girlfriend, and decided to stay living here, my son would probably not consider himself Irish - especially given the rampant nationalism in public schools here. But if he was talented enough at football, I'd definitely try to push him in Ireland's direction.

Happy to have Green on board if he continues to play well, but I get the feeling he's keeping his place warm for McCarthy, Wilson or Meyler in the near future. Or Gibson if he gets his finger out.

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Originally Posted by Supreme feet

If I had a son by my Korean girlfriend, and decided to stay living here, my son would probably not consider himself Irish - especially given the rampant nationalism in public schools here. But if he was talented enough at football, I'd definitely try to push him in Ireland's direction.

Happy to have Green on board if he continues to play well, but I get the feeling he's keeping his place warm for McCarthy, Wilson or Meyler in the near future. Or Gibson if he gets his finger out.

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I think how he performs tonight will have a huge bearing on whether he remains near the top of the future pecking order.

I hope he plays a blinder.

Agree with Supreme Feet on both counts, but ultimately it's the footballing aspect I'm more concerned with. Green is a stop gap measure, as Keith Andrews probably is in all liklihood. From a position at the start of the EC08 campaign where midfield looked to be really bad in the future, it's an area where we could excel in the mid to long term.
James McCarthy, David Meylor, Conor Clifford, Chris McCann, Darron Gibson, not to mention incumbent Glenn Whelan, and if he can establish fitness again Joey O'Brien. Nice.

Paul Green seems like a great guy but he played terribly against Armenia in my opinion. He made three terrible mistakes that almost led to Armenian goals. He'll be fine to put against bad teams but he'll be found out playing against the likes of Denisov.

Should be max 4th choice behind whelan, andrews and gibson, saying that my ideal midfield would be Whelan McCarthy

I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that McCarthy will not be in the squad VS Russia, it's not the ideal game for a 19 year old to make his senior competitive debut. Barring injuries and suspensions, it'll be two from Whelan, Andrews and Green

Is the U21 calendar clear in October? If so I'd like McCarthy in the squad as part of his integration.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Is the U21 calendar clear in October? If so I'd like McCarthy in the squad as part of his integration.

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From uefa.com: http://www.uefa.com/under21/standing...009/index.html
the last qualifier in the U21 championship is on Tuesday night away to Turkey. If we win, and Armenia lose to Georgia, then we'll come off the bottom of the group.

This doesn't mean there are no U21 games in October, just no qualifiers

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Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that McCarthy will not be in the squad VS Russia, it's not the ideal game for a 19 year old to make his senior competitive debut. Barring injuries and suspensions, it'll be two from Whelan, Andrews and Green

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You writing off Gibson then as an option?

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Originally Posted by rebelmusic

On current Irish form I would pick Green, Gibson has more potential tho, and is one of our few players who can score a goal out of nothing with those long range shots of his

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Pretty sure Whelan and maybe Lawrence can score from distance too. Especially Whelan, I think this could be a massive factor against the Russians, we might have a bit more space 25-30 yards from goal (more than we might expect) and I've seen Akinfeev make the odd howler when faced with a swerving shot from distance (look up the Azeri game in Baku from the WC2010 qualifications). Incidently Malafeev, the keeper at Zenit, is even worse and is the main reason why Auxerre (not Zenit) are in the CL group stage. Gabulov, who looks the spitting image of the Emperor from the film Gladiator, is the best Russian keeper followed by Ryzhikov but neither have profile of the 'feevs.

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Originally Posted by Junior

You writing off Gibson then as an option?

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I would, he has done nothing to warrant a 1st team place, I'd have him behind Whelan, Andrews, Fahey and maybe Green in the pecking order.

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Originally Posted by Junior

You writing off Gibson then as an option?

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meant the starting central midfielder will be two from those three. I don't see Gibson as a starting option against Russia.

Gibson's sound, despite his club! And better than Green who's looked out of his depth in the competitive games, albeit playing in a different position.

The main problem with central midfield is the continued use of people with virtually zero creativity.....regardless of club.

A better Glen Whelan (who has been excellent for us), Keith Andrews (also excellent for us) or Paul Green(OK) would suffice. Somebody who can do the jobs of those mentioned but with more skill/ability to pick out a killer pass. Not many of them around with any international teams. And at this time I don't believe Gibson is the answer. I would love to see McCarthy or Wilson step up. Possibly Coleman moving into midfield. But for me the player most likely to step up is David Meyler. It is a tragedy that he got such a serious injury. He was excellent for Sunderland in his last few games before injury. He was keeping Cattermole (who Bruce had just bought for a lot of money)out of the side at the time. Lets hope when he comes back there are no lingering worries as this guy has a lot of the Roy Keane/Ronnie Whelan/Houghton(ability wise) about him.

Scored today in a 5-0 win against 10 man Crystal Palace

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...ty/9326949.stm

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Originally Posted by TrapAPony

Scored today in a 5-0 win against 10 man Crystal Palace

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was it supposed to be a through ball?