Keogh in for Duffy. Smarter player. Clark has improved since his howler V Belgium
Keogh in for Duffy. Smarter player. Clark has improved since his howler V Belgium
I agree. The Duffy-Clark centre half partnership is missing a leader. O'Shea would be a perfect fit, if he were three/four years younger, so it's Keogh by default. I still think Egan could come in to the squad before the end of the qualifiers.
If you want a comparison from history, Andy O'Brien and Richard Dunne bith improved with Cunningham playing beside them, but neither played as well with each other
We'll see what kind of game time O'Shea gets between now and Austria. He would be my preferred choice, along with Clark, all things being equal. To be fair to Keogh, he hasn't really made any major mistakes for us. I think he's a little out of his comfort zone when he's playing for us, in a good way in terms of avoiding errors by not taking the same kind of risks he does at club level. Duffy probably needs to be taken out of the firing line alright though, that's three pretty big mistakes he's made that have resulted in goals in just five starts.
Phil Babb + Paul McGrathQuote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Phil Babb + anyone else
Same with Kilbane and Roy (not to say Kilbane was rubbish at other times, but his game leapt with Roy in the middle with him).
Or the few times I saw McShane play on the same side as Duff he was a different after for us.
This is curious.Quote:
Originally Posted by joe_denilson
When I do that
go to Player - Programmes -> Categories-> News and Sport ->
I don't see the World Cup 2018 Qualifier - 2 episodes available, that does not exist for me,
though all the World cup Extras are available and most every other program.
But when I click on the direct link to the episodes that you provide, I can get to the episodes (the games) and can play them, but it does have a red banner above the player window saying I'm outsiode the geo area.
I guess one part of rte can detect i'm outside the geo area and can block some things but my smartdns can get in through a side door via the direct link.
I suspect that the televised qualifier games on the web have some added-on security.
Anyway, I can get to Moldova game using the direct link.
I agree but it concerns me that Clark doesn't offer that. He's 27 now. Been in the squad for 6 years. 23 caps. Played for 2 really big clubs in Villa and Newcastle. Yet he still finds himself in and out of a team in the championship and still seems to be thought of as a young prospect.Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
He's in the prime years of his career now. Surely if there is a lack of leadership in the defence it should be him who is held responsible over a guy with 7 caps.
I think it's harsh to say they're lacking leadership. Duffy appears to have that in abundance I think, very vocal, but he's just not very good at managing his own game very well at times. Clark captained Aston Villa at a fairly young age as well as England through the various underage grades. Leadership is definitely something that has been associated with him. He has the occasional howler but I really like him as a player.
There were a couple of classy interceptions last night where he did that O'Shea-esque standing ground and stick the toe in. Love that sort of defending.Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
I'm not sure who controls the on screen data but there were numerous errors last night. They had McClean spelt incorrectly (McLean) for a start, they put up James McCarthy's name
saying '1 goal in 2 matches' after Long scored and they had O'Kane instead of O'Dowda for the first substitution.
Saw the McLean thing. Annoys me. I'm more heartened though that everyone has finally started to pronounce his name correctly (Ma KLANE) rather than like the toothpaste. Everyone that is, except Duffer.
Good post from p2011. Just one thing I felt about their goal. I felt that Duffy was simply beaten for pace and couldn't make that extra yard back up. If I was laying any blame about the ball hitting the net I think I would apportion most of it to Coleman whose covering run took him towards Duffy, Randolph and their goalscorer. The smarter thing for Coleman to do there would have been to head to the goal line to have a chance to try and clear the shot in the event that their scorer beat Duffy and Randolph - which he did. It's definitely nitpicking but it was just something that jumped out at me while watching the replays.
It wasn't so much that Duffy was bet for pace. It was that when the ball was booted up our end he was needlessly running forward into our half. That second it took to stop and turn is all the Moldovan needed especially with nobody in front of him. Hard to make up for any player, even the very quick ones.
I didn't like how Duffy was singled out for blame. He contributed to the concession obviously but the whole thing was a bit of a disaster. From Whelan just before the first ball was played, to Duffy AND Clark being too far forward, plus as you mentioned about Coleman. And then Randolph not coming out at all.Quote:
Originally Posted by SkStu
Quote:
Originally Posted by SkStu
I thought Oneill got it wrong in the organisation leaving Duffy as the main man back when he is clearly the slowest of all out backs. Duffy was beaten for pace hands down their striker was even running faster with the ball than duffy was without it. When they both kicked on he gained an extra yard or two on Duffy as well. Duffys naievty and inexperience showed, he made the pass for their striker by pushing forward leaving the space for the throughball, i actually thought at first he was thinking theyd be offside even though in their own half. What coleman was trying to do was make up for duffys lack of pace he saw that duffy was well beaten and felt he had no other choice than to come across and try and tackle or the very least put pressure on him. But the guy was too quick and colema didnt have enough space to run into to catch him.
Duffy and Clark were badly positioned to start with. In fairness it was a lovely finish. The player's last-but-one touch to change the angle was just beautiful.Quote:
Originally Posted by SkStu
O'Neill said "we had a dunderhead moment" which is the correct attitude.
Unless it is a blatantly obvious singular mistake, it's the team that takes a collective responsibility. Duffy's error was just the last one and not even the most serious, the desperate wayward cross field deflection started it, the impotent challenge to win that wayward ball and then the central defense caught on the hop.
And everything went perfect for the Moldvans.
Very happy with last night. aside from one terrible mistake and 20 poor minutes in the second half, we did all that was asked of us.
we have to let Wes be in the team no matter what. he orchestrates everything for us and means that we do less of the hoof ball.
I didn't see any less long ball tactics when Wes played. Nearly all goal kicks were long balls as were the free kicks, except one early on which sent McLean I think it was away on the left and resulted in a flashing cross across the box. Otherwise they were hoofs/floaters in to the box (by Wes) in the hope of a flick on. We badly lack a free kick specialist in the absence of Brady. McLean certainly isn't the answer where those in Row Z behind the goal must be uneasy when he steps up to take one.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bungle
I think the call for Duffy's head are premature. He adds important height to a team which otherwise is relatively small. He (assuming it was his man and not Clarke's) made a mistake for their goal but there should have been other cover - one on one for a centre back against a centre forward even if he was in the right position would not have been good enough. Stick with Clarke and Duffy - they are the future for better or for worse.
I'm not sure it's a case of whose man it was a such. Duffy was the one minding the house and he should have read the situation better. There were a number of mistakes but his certainly appeared to be the biggest. Whelan could have easily dealt with it at the source by putting more pressure on the ball, but he stood his ground instead assuming that the whole pitch wasn't about to open up behind him. The blame can be apportioned out of course but Duffy's mistake was the most basic I think. He had a good view of what was going on in front of him and he made a really poor decision. I'd have no problem with him keeping his place either though if that's what O'Neill decides to do.