If Maguire misses out cause of head injury long coming in makes us stronger I think off the bench with mcgoldrick and Robinson likely to start in front three along with mcclean.
If Maguire misses out cause of head injury long coming in makes us stronger I think off the bench with mcgoldrick and Robinson likely to start in front three along with mcclean.
McCarthy clearly has no time for Long at all, James Collins added to the list of lower division strikers who are getting picked before him.
James McCarthy fully fit but pulls out of the squad, committed as ever. Glenn Whelan a cert to start now.
Well Mick doesn’t like Long anyway
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eirambler
Yeah, this one I would question - I know Long has had his issues in front of goal (and that Collins has stepped up to Championship level well, scoring his third yesterday), but he's our only active striker who has actually scored internationally (unless you count Aiden O'Brien); he's our only active striker with more than one Premier League goal; and he's seventh on our all-time goalscoring list, with a goal to caps ratio comparable to Quinn and Cascarino. And as his goal against Germany showed, he's a great option to bring off the bench against a defence tired by a hardworking forward lineQuote:
Originally Posted by Fixer82
Actually I saw that yesterday and my first thought was yep that was a dive, you have to do what you can these says, all fair in love and war etc...Quote:
Originally Posted by Diggs246
However looking at it again he has been very hard done by.
It is beyond doubt Morrison clipped his ankle, you can see Morrison is nowhere near the ball when he taps his ankle, it is a "tap tackle" as it in
known in rugby and there is no way you can stay on your feet from one
of those.
Arter might have made meal of it, not even sure of that but he was fouled so it is a free kick to him. It is very hard to stay on your feet when someone clips your ankle it affects your whole balance, I think he was very hard done by.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49456552
100% is quite high for a forward, you rarely see higher.Quote:
Man of the match - Callum Robinson (Sheffield United)
Callum Robinson scored from one of his four shots, and was 100% accurate with his 21 passes during the game
his form on saturday (from what i saw on MOTD) would give me some hope for Thursday. Himself and enda stevens combined very well at times down the left sideQuote:
Originally Posted by tricky_colour
Do we know the yellow card was given for simulation? Despite what the commentators said my impression was that the yellow was given for dissent. You just can't get on like that.
Watch it again and check out the little roll he does at the end, regardless of the various opinions the trip, the dive, the slip. the pathetic roll itself is deigned to fool the refQuote:
Originally Posted by tricky_colour
Definite dive because he doesn’t go down with the contact.
He takes another step and then decides to hit the deck
I know I will burn in hell for this, but I think we should play the long ball system on Thursday
I had a look at the swiss defense and they were beyond hopeless dealing with balls being launched at them
Also our midfield is no match for theirs
I'm pretty sure we will, most of these lads can't string three passes together. 'Direct' football and set pieces is where we're at for now sadly.
Long is a man for the Long ball . Something is amiss here . A falling out / Shane fed up of it / something else .
If our system is some kind of 4-5-1/4-3-3 situation I actually think we’ll enjoy our share of the ball. Georgia are no Switzerland but they dominated possession against us last campaign and we had more control this time around under Mick. Having a midfield three of Whelan behind Hourihane and Hendrick if that is indeed the selection will allow us to hold our own in the middle of the park.
My main concern isn’t possession but rather the ability to create/finish chances.
I don’t see an obvious immediate solution to that with the personnel we have, just hoping it’s a matter of time before some of our young prospects break through.
For now I think Robinson is the only player capable of consistently creating something from open play. Likely we’ll be relying on set pieces — which honestly I have a lot of faith in with the quality of Hourihane’s delivery and Duffy’s capability to dominate aerially.
Mick says that Long's absence is purely down to lack of playing time and that he is willing to bring him back in once he's playing - I think this is a debatable rationale with a player of Long's experience and calibre (will four or five games really make that much of a difference), but it does indicate that there's still a chance we'll see him in the last three qualifiers: https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2019...on-shane-long/
Incidentally, I will say, having seen the Swiss squad sheet and where they all ply their trades, that we are definitely the underdogs again for this tie so we will have to be at our absolute best to get something from it - if we do, then Mick and the players deserve enormous credit
I agree with Robinson. And it's a pity that he will be playing wider than he is at club level. To compound that, I don't think McClean has looked like scoring much for us so we don't have a goal threat on that side when we should. The heroics of Austria in 2016 and Wales in 2017 feel a long time ago.
A lot of praise around for Stevens and his displays for Sheffield United. He has looked good for us at left back but I think playing in a flatter back four is depriving us of his attacking abilities. The same would be the case if Doherty was at right back. I wonder whether it will get to the point where we just need to go with the 3-5-2 to make the most of what we have. Given that we already play with a midfield 3, we can maintain that.
I don't see us getting to that point. I think McCarthy is going to stick with this 4-3-2-1.
He’d no problem playing McAteer when he couldn’t get a sniff of game time from SounessQuote:
Originally Posted by samhaydenjr
He has no problem picking Hendrick either who has fewer minutes this season than Long. I remember this being an issue with Mick the first time around, he would make a big play on some players not being first choice at their clubs but would then completely ignore it for others like Mcateer and Mark Kennedy.
Must be a bit of a falling out between Mick and Shane .
Comparing Mick's attitude to Hendrick and Long's situation is a futile exercise and a strawwman's argument when used as a stick to throw at Mick. Hendrick is fit, an integral component of the team and will start.
I wonder if this game could be a draw, yet another draw between the top teams in the group, a deja vu secenarion? Shaqiri will be missed but he didn't play in their game v Denmark where they went 3 up and controlled the game until that helter skelter last 10 minutes. They can play good football without him.
It's a big concern for us generally, since James is actually the player in the team with the most international goals; ten. Next up is a central defender, Shane Duffy, on three goals and even Whelan, a defensive or holding midfielder, is joint-third (with Hendrick) on two. None of our forwards have any goals at all between them, and that's despite us already having played group minnows Gibraltar twice.Quote:
Originally Posted by Olé Olé
That all makes it all the more puzzling that Long (who has 17 international goals to his name) has been omitted, yet Jeff Hendrick, who has also had a lack of competitive games recently since losing his place in the Burnley squad, has been included. (Not that I'm suggesting Hendrick should have been omitted. I just think Long should have been included and am pointing to an apparent inconsistency in Mick's selection rationale, since Long evidently isn't unfit or injured, given he got game-time for Southampton against Manchester United last weekend and played in the EFL Cup too.)
We really need at least one of our strikers in the squad to break their international duck during this set of games, preferably on Thursday.
And Glenn’s last goal was that screamer against Italy. That's about 10 years ago
Its unusual for mick not to want to have a look at parrott in training for himself. He could have been worth a run against Bulgaria. We need a goalscorer and sometimes the answer to a problem can be staring you in the face
I see Mick is comparing League 1's Alan Judge to Shaqiri:
https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2019...haqiri-factor/
Closer in footballing ability to Shakira.
complaints that last two managers talked down our players.... cant win with some..Quote:
Originally Posted by youngirish
No harm in talking Judge up. To be fair I think he would be playing at a higher level if not for injuries. It would certainly be an interesting pick if he was selected to start --one of those guys it's hard not to root for.
Strangely enough my biggest concern is the possibility that Mick will omit Robinson from the starting lineup.
Paul Rowan saying this is the likely Swiss line-up:
Sommer (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
Schär (Newcastle United)
Akanji (Borussia Dortmund)
Elvedi (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
Mbabu (VfL Wolfsburg)
Zakaria (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
Xhaka (Arsenal)
Frueler (Atalanta)
Rodriguez (AC Milan)
Embolo (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
Seferovic (Benfica)
Yes, but we have Alan Judge of Ipswich Town.Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
Except for the bad injury he would be playing at a much higher level . If we ain’t got better we have to play what we have .Quote:
Originally Posted by SkStu
Thats the thing about international football .
Don't be so judgemental.Quote:
Originally Posted by SkStu
Quote:
Originally Posted by seanfhear
The jury is still out on him to some extent though.Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
Somebody is going to have smoke coming out of their ears !
Tets "Judge" jury and executioner
Not from me. The previous managers had to make do with the poorest collective of Irish players since at least prior to the Hand days. Hopefully with the likes of Stevens and Robinson doing well in the Premiership and some of the younger talent starting to emerge we can start to reverse the trend that has existed since McCarthy's first tenure that each successive manager had a poorer collection of players to pick from than his predecessors.Quote:
Originally Posted by jbyrne
Trap had some of the best players ever to play for Ireland ( he didn't use them all and that was one of his many failings,)Quote:
Originally Posted by youngirish
Given. O'shea. Dunne. Coleman. James McCarthy. Duff. Robbie Keane. Wessi. Andy Reid. Steven Reid. Mcgeady. Etc etc
Interesting timing from Paddy Bam here I think. Had no interest and no comment when there was work to do and we were at a real low. We have started the campaign well, and a draw or a win next week, although maybe unlikely, would see us in the shake up. Suddenly he speaks, all of a sudden, Bamford moves to not rule it out.
CTP too cynical ?
Do you seriously think James McCarthy, Andy Reid, Steven Reid, Wessi and McGeady are some of the best players to ever play for Ireland? How long have you been watching football - 5 years? Hand and Charlton frequently had a selection of players playing for the best teams in Europe to pick from. Andy Reid, McGeady and Hoolahan were not even good enough to make a career above the Championship for any sustained period of time. Who is your etc etc? Caleb Folan?Quote:
Originally Posted by Diggs246
O'Shea, McGeady, Given and Dunne were four of the top six players he picked most often. Only Glenn Whelan and Robbie Keane were picked more than those four.Quote:
Originally Posted by Diggs246
Steven Reid was injured for large parts of Trapattoni's tenure, so I don't think he can be criticised for not selecting him.