Robbie Brady is a makeshift left back. Russell Martin is a makeshift center back and Scotland do fine. We don't have an established left back. Neither do Scotland and they do fine. Similar stories for Iceland, Wales and Belgium. You make do with what you get. Brady was an accident waiting to happen for 25 minutes during the Poland game and O'Neill had ample time to do something about it but he waited for Poland to score first before he altered anything. That's the recurring theme. Ireland only play and give O'Neill something to redeem himself when the opposition team stand off.Quote:
Originally Posted by mark12345
O'Shea is an International quality CB and it's disagreeable to say otherwise. He has often been the thread holding a ramshackle Sunderland defense together. Wilson is light years ahead of Grant Hanley in quality. Back to O'Shea: I was his biggest critic in times past but he has stepped up to the plate when others (Whelan) don't. Whelan does the bare minimum to keep himself in the team and nothing more.
It's inexcusable for a team to go out with the shape Ireland had when Scotland went level under no pressure at Lansdowne. I put that down to MON. It's the basics as far as I am concerned and something Trap God love him could at least ensure - shape. A sign of laziness as far as I am concerned too to have a team go out on the pitch with that kind of complacency right after a team talk.
The problems with Walters, McClean, McGeady & Long are all related. Walters is preferred to better players and is a square peg in a round hole. He's in the team ostensibly because McClean & Long & Brady at one time or other have all been mistrusted to do the basics of tracking back and getting in the opposition's faces - which is a slap in the face to players like McClean & Long. If McClean & Long are patchy - it is because they are never trusted sufficiently enough to get a run in the team; the latter still hasn't strung two competitive appearances together.
I'm sick of McGeady to be quite frank. If Coleman was moved up the pitch, we would get more use out of him. It would remove the straitjacket and he would offer more goals, assists and crucial passes than McGeady does. But McGeady's place in the team is set in stone.
O'Neill has utterly failed to get the best out of McCarthy. He gives Hendrick a chance but Hendrick looks half the player he does at club level - he was culpable for Scotland goals in either tie.
I'm sick of people saying we don't have the strikers. We had the best striker at the ground last month and he was left on the bench for 80 minutes while two players approaching their mid-thirties huffed and puffed and failed to blow the house down. It was, in my opinion, an absolutely moronic decision to leave Long (and McClean) on the bench. Just like Poland game - no pace anywhere on the pitch.
