Republic of Ireland V Greece - Friday, 13th October 2023 - Euro 2024 Qualifier

Pretty bad pre international window weekend so far for the Irish. Another bad mistake by N Collins, set their defeat in motion. No goals Idah, Sinclair and Connolly. Moran only an impact sub at 4-0. Bazunu conceded a soft lob for a 1-1 draw, despite Southampton absolutely dominating. Cullen’s Burnley destroyed again, O’Shea out of favor. Ogbene’s Luton lost, he did ok though. Molumby out of west brom team at moment. Udinese draw another blank with a 0-0, Ebosele with another start in serie A, appears to have done ok didn’t set the world alight. Green shoots?

Was thinking about the squad selection and think Kenny might revert to 4-3-3 against Greece and Gibraltar. Lots of players who can play wide: Ogbene, Johnstone, Connolly, Robinson, Ebosele. Relative lack of wing backs. Also Greece really dominated us in the 5-3-2.

Something like:

Bazunu

Doherty
Collins
O’Shea/Duffy
Manning

Cullen
Molumby
Knight / Smallbone

Ogbene
Ferguson
Johnstone/Connolly/Robinson

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Originally Posted by tommy_c12000

Pretty bad pre international window weekend so far for the Irish. Another bad mistake by N Collins, set their defeat in motion. No goals Idah, Sinclair and Connolly. Moran only an impact sub at 4-0. Bazunu conceded a soft lob for a 1-1 draw, despite Southampton absolutely dominating. Cullen’s Burnley destroyed again, O’Shea out of favor. Ogbene’s Luton lost, he did ok though. Molumby out of west brom team at moment. Udinese draw another blank with a 0-0, Ebosele with another start in serie A, appears to have done ok didn’t set the world alight. Green shoots?

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Might as well stop watching so Tommy eh!

Not the best week but from a young player point of view it's been a good season to this point. With young players the weeks aren't all gonna be good

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Originally Posted by tommy_c12000

Pretty bad pre international window weekend so far for the Irish. Another bad mistake by N Collins, set their defeat in motion. No goals Idah, Sinclair and Connolly. Moran only an impact sub at 4-0. Bazunu conceded a soft lob for a 1-1 draw, despite Southampton absolutely dominating. Cullen’s Burnley destroyed again, O’Shea out of favor. Ogbene’s Luton lost, he did ok though. Molumby out of west brom team at moment. Udinese draw another blank with a 0-0, Ebosele with another start in serie A, appears to have done ok didn’t set the world alight. Green shoots?

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Collins is prone to a mistake but I wouldn't blame him for that - he was stretching and couldn't get enough on it to get it out of the box. Idah actually played well for Norwich, took up good positions, made good runs and was unlucky not to get a goal. Connolly was a sub - still needs to get fully fit and Armstrong is playing in a bad QPR team that will probably get relegated (Ainsworth is likely to be sacked in the next couple of weeks and we'll see what happens then). Bazunu can't be blamed for the goal - he was in the right position and Hugill hit the perfect lob. You are right about the rest - although I do think O'Shea will be fine - he came on as a sub yesterday and did okay - he was outpaced by Sterling for the last goal (no big crime for a CB), but O'Shea did get back and nearly blocked the shot.

Oh and Knights Bristol continue to drop down the table..

Fergie time vs Liverpool, he starts. Been below his usual standards in the past 3 games, recovering from that illness it seems. Hopefully he can rescue a poor weekend for the young Irish!

I guess to round things out a tad bit, Garcia McNulty continues to start with PEC Zwolle (lost to Feyenoord today), Jake O’Brien starts again for bottom of the table Lyon against Lorient…would be great if they turned the corner on O’Brien’s watch. Parrott still without any starts for Excelsior, subbed on second half yesterday. Abankwah continues Charlton wilderness, after two disastrous games having being played out of position.

Szmodics called up to the senior squad. No mention of any injuries in the FAI tweet.

Seems they've edited the tweet or deleted the original tweet to include he's replaced the injured Aaron Connolly in the squad.

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Originally Posted by JR89

Szmodics called up to the senior squad. No mention of any injuries in the FAI tweet.

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But he doesn't even know how we play!!

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Originally Posted by JR89

Szmodics called up to the senior squad. No mention of any injuries in the FAI tweet.

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Victory is assured! :p

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Originally Posted by weldoninhio

But he doesn't even know how we play!!

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Kenny will explain soccer to the lad.

It'd be fun if the player he steadfastly refused to pick and even went as far as detailing why and how Moran was ahead of him within the last week, hit the goals that give him a fighting shot at keeping the job lads.

Wouldn't it ?
Eh ?
Lads ? It'd be funny.

:D

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Originally Posted by weldoninhio

But he doesn't even know how we play!!

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Does anyone?

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Originally Posted by third policeman

Does anyone?

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Taking the pi55 out of Kenny's quotes as per elatedscum on page 2.

“I’ve been to see Blackburn quite a few times. The player that has caught my attention the most has been Andy Moran,”
“He has been absolutely terrific in both Blackburn’s games last week. He was very close to being called up. Physically, when you step up to international football, as we found with some of the young players, physically it is a big jump."
“Andy Moran will definitely have a good career for Ireland, he will definitely be a senior international player, he is going to be an excellent player. He is something different, a dribbler from midfield who opens up the game and someone I’m really impressed with. Sammie Szmodics is obviously a versatile player; he played centre-forward the other day, he plays in midfield, he plays on the left. He is unfortunate."“We just decided, really… he’s not going to start the game. I felt, not to make any changes in relation to new players coming into the squad. I know he has probably played more than, say, Callum Robinson, who has only come back recently. But Callum knows exactly how we play, we’ve three days to prepare for the game against Greece and we want to make sure that everyone knows exactly where we are. I just don’t want any more changes because we have had a lot of change.”

Szmodics probably wont make match day squad. Connolly is a loss in my opinion. I still cant get my head around Robinson being there as a sub if we need to change the game a bit, might as well have an empty spot on the bench instead of him.

I don't think Robinson is willing to risk injury for International football. I don't think he is willing to jeopardise his club situation with potential injuries.

That's just the impression I get when watching him play for Ireland the last number of times he has played for us.

I suppose these are the choices these players have to make and some make different choices.

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Originally Posted by Razors left peg

Szmodics probably wont make match day squad. Connolly is a loss in my opinion. I still cant get my head around Robinson being there as a sub if we need to change the game a bit, might as well have an empty spot on the bench instead of him.

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That’s Jamie McGraths spot you’re messing with…

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Originally Posted by seanfhear

I don't think Robinson is willing to risk injury for International football. I don't think he is willing to jeopardise his club situation with potential injuries.

That's just the impression I get when watching him play for Ireland the last number of times he has played for us.

I suppose these are the choices these players have to make and some make different choices.

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Those 2 or 3 club goals he gets a season are too important alright!

Yeah, I'd imagine if it's 5-3-2, it's between Sykes and Szmodzics for a place. If it's 4-3-3, Scales' versatility means you could go with 3 defenders on the bench and leave off a centre back. Small chance that Alan Browne might be an issue. He was sick and played on Saturday and had to be taken off at halftime and there were suggestions at least that the decision to play him when he was unfit could lead to him being a doubt for Friday,

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Originally Posted by elatedscum

Yeah, I'd imagine if it's 5-3-2, it's between Sykes and Szmodzics for a place. If it's 4-3-3, Scales' versatility means you could go with 3 defenders on the bench and leave off a centre back. Small chance that Alan Browne might be an issue. He was sick and played on Saturday and had to be taken off at halftime and there were suggestions at least that the decision to play him when he was unfit could lead to him being a doubt for Friday,

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I really havent paid any attention to Sykes this season at all. Is he playing well?