2027 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

Surely an easy answer is to bring in Curtis, limited and all as he is he should be fine at Under 21 level, and that would release Devaney into midfield. And hopefully Moorhouse to come in by next month.

What's with Alex Murphy not being picked to start, is he just not that good or is it another Jim Crawford special?

I just find everything about the Under 21 setup under Crawford beyond frustrating. We'd likely have established ourselves as regulars at tournament finals in recent years under an even remotely competent manager.

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

I'd say the best thing to do would be to not get too invested in this Under 21 team and campaign. Crawford has already failed to qualify with three previous squads that were considerably stronger than this one, it's highly unlikely that he's suddenly going to become a capable manager with these lads.

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It's two campaigns. Anyone blaming the first campaign on Crawford is doing so because they don't like Crawford. He came in that campaign with only three games to go, we were already third when he came in, and Kenny gutted the team when he left.

Yes, Kenny took a few, but Crawford still had a squad that included at least half a dozen future internationals (Collins, Scales, Taylor, Obafemi, Parrott and McGuinness) as well as other players that were strong at that level - O'Connor, Masterson, Scully, Coventry, Ronan etc. All we had to do was beat Iceland at home and we'd have qualified. It's absolutely fair to include it.

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

Yes, Kenny took a few, but Crawford still had a squad that included at least half a dozen future internationals (Collins, Scales, Taylor, Obafemi, Parrott and McGuinness) as well as other players that were strong at that level - O'Connor, Masterson, Scully, Coventry, Ronan etc. All we had to do was beat Iceland at home and we'd have qualified. It's absolutely fair to include it.

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Iceland had already beaten us in that qualification series in Reykjavik under Kenny, so not quite as straightforward as that

Well, it kind of was though, in that we literally just had to beat Iceland at home. They weren't necessarily a terrible team, as you say they had beaten us away, but my recollection was that the game was played in very challenging conditions on an open windy park.

They went on to the finals at our expense and were soundly beaten in all of their games. With the team we had we really should have been qualifying there and I don't see how Crawford gets any more of a free pass for that than the one where we missed out in the playoffs to Israel. International qualifications campaigns are decided on fine margins and in that regard he's 0 from 3.

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

Well, it kind of was though, in that we literally just had to beat Iceland at home. They weren't necessarily a terrible team, as you say they had beaten us away, but my recollection was that the game was played in very challenging conditions on an open windy park.

They went on to the finals at our expense and were soundly beaten in all of their games. With the team we had we really should have been qualifying there and I don't see how Crawford gets any more of a free pass for that than the one where we missed out in the playoffs to Israel. International qualifications campaigns are decided on fine margins and in that regard he's 0 from 3.

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Féck the windy game game in Iceland excuse, in the return game in Tallaght, Iceland beat the fancied Ireland fair and square to go through to the Finals.
By the time the Finals happened, things had changed for that Iceland team, the senior team in need took priority.

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Originally Posted by ~YTM~

It's two campaigns. Anyone blaming the first campaign on Crawford is doing so because they don't like Crawford. He came in that campaign with only three games to go, we were already third when he came in, and Kenny gutted the team when he left.

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We were top of the group when Kenny left with 16 points in 7 games. The team that played under Crawford had a mix of now internationals: Bazunu, O’Connor, Collins, Smallbone, Taylor, Obafemi, McGuinness (Scales. Parrott on bench) along with Kenny mainstays Masterson, Coventry, Ronan, Elbouzedi, Leahy. Why exactly he started Antony Scully over Troy Parrott, we’ll never know… Bazunu was called up to the seniors for the Iceland game cause of an injury to Kelleher which was a huge blow.

Iceland did beat us in Iceland but yes, it was in a wind storm on a trampoline of an artificial pitch where Obafemi missed an open goal and there was a pretty questionable penalty and a late red card for Lee O’Connor. It was also the worst result in the campaign for us. We beat Sweden home and away and we took points off Italy at home under Kenny.

Not at all the same as playing them at home - albeit during covid and in equally bad conditions and another last minute red card.

Also worth comparing their home results vs their away results:

Iceland 6-1 Armenia
Iceland 3-0 Luxembourg
Iceland 1-0 Ireland
Iceland 1-0 Sweden
Iceland 1-2 Italy

Sweden 5-0 Iceland
Italy 3-0 Iceland
Ireland 1-2 Iceland
Luxembourg 0-2 Iceland
Armenia P-P Iceland