Team selection for the Croatia match

Here is my team for tuesday

_________________Given________________

Finnan_______Dunne___Cunningham_____Maybury

Mac Geady____Miller______O Shea________Duff

____________Keane___________Elliot_______

Solid enough at the back, only real question is Maybury. Duff will have to be alert to coming back.

I put O Shea in the center of the park since he has been playing there a recently with Miller. They should manage ok.

Reid's injury is an excellent oppurtunity to see what Mac Geady is made of . No questions about Duffs position.

Up front its Elliot over Macken (who will have a late fitness battle anyway). Cant wait to see what Elliot is made of.

Not sure if both McGeady and Elliott will start but apart from that, seems a reasonable enough selection - I'd say the most interesting thing will be to see who gets to play in central midfield during the match...

I think we should start with Kevin Kilbane and Graham Kavanagh in midfield. I'd play Elliot up front with Robbie, take Robbie off at half-time and put on Macken.
As for Maybury, I wouldnt even have him in the squad. As bad as O'Shea is, he's better than a mediocre SPL full-back.
Also, I'd give Paddy Kenny a start in goals. He needs to gain first team experience.

1 Kenny
2 Finnan
3 O'Shea
4 Dunne
5 Cunningham
6 Kavanagh
7 Miller
8 Kilbane
9 Elliot
10 Keane
11 Duff

1. Kenny
2. Finnan
3. O'Shea
4. Dunne
5. O'Brien
6. Kilbane
7. Kavanagh
8. Miller
9. Elliott
10. Keane
11. Duff

Subs Quinn for Kilbane, Macken for Keane, McGeady for Duff

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Originally Posted by thejollyrodger

Here is my team for tuesday

_________________Given________________

Finnan_______Dunne___Cunningham_____Maybury

Mac Geady____Miller______O Shea________Duff

____________Keane___________Elliot_______

Solid enough at the back, only real question is Maybury. Duff will have to be alert to coming back.

I put O Shea in the center of the park since he has been playing there a recently with Miller. They should manage ok.

Reid's injury is an excellent oppurtunity to see what Mac Geady is made of . No questions about Duffs position.

Up front its Elliot over Macken (who will have a late fitness battle anyway). Cant wait to see what Elliot is made of.

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Why play Given and why is there no question about Duff's position?

I'd go with JPM's selection & reasoning. If O'Brien is fit I'd pair him with Dunne but I hear he's out.

Elliott to get a full game and hopefully McGeady will get a meaningful run out, maybe replacing Duff at half-time or early in second half.

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Originally Posted by TheJamaicanP.M.

As for Maybury, I wouldnt even have him in the squad. As bad as O'Shea is, he's better than a mediocre SPL full-back.

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I honestly don't see how anyone can say O'Shea is a better full back than Maybury. ATM I wouldn't want to pick between them but some of the stick Maybury gets is unfair considering most of you hardly get to see him play. I doubt we'll see O'Shea play at full back for United for the rest of the season too.

I don't see Kerr leaving Cunningham out, dr. peepee. But if he did, who would you like to see get the captain's armband?

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

I honestly don't see how anyone can say O'Shea is a better full back than Maybury. ATM I wouldn't want to pick between them but some of the stick Maybury gets is unfair considering most of you hardly get to see him play. I doubt we'll see O'Shea play at full back for United for the rest of the season too.

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I don't rate Maybury. I think he's a very average player. That said it was mentioned on eleven-a-side.com that Celtic were interested in him so he must be doing something right in the SPL.

As for John O, he really needs to leave United. The way it looks there will be little or no opportunities to break into the Man U defence this season. I still think himself and Harte are superior players to Maybury though.

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Originally Posted by Bowsy

I don't rate Maybury. I think he's a very average player. That said it was mentioned on eleven-a-side.com that Celtic were interested in him so he must be doing something right in the SPL.

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O'Shea has been nothing but average since May 2003. I agree, Maybury is average but no more than O'Shea. He gets away with too much because of the club he plays for and finally Ferguson has lost his patience.

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

O'Shea has been nothing but average since May 2003. I agree, Maybury is average but no more than O'Shea. He gets away with too much because of the club he plays for and finally Ferguson has lost his patience.

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I see your point but IMO Maybury is a bog standard player playing to the best of his ability in a decidely mediocre league. O'Shea is an excellent player with a real crisis of confidence (born from playing every position bar centre forward and goal IMO) playing for one of the best teams in Europe. Maybury plays most weeks against worse than EL opposition. If Maybury gets in why not EL players? Is John O'Shea good enough to go to another Premiership side and become an excellent centre half? - definitely. Is Maybury Premiership Standard? - as far as i'm concerned no.

Maybe it would be better to start with Given and bring on Kenny after 45 minutes. But its only a friendly so I would still experiment.

Good question Jimmy P. I hadn't really thought about a captain.... If Kavanagh had some more caps under his belt i'd go for him.

Seeing as it's a friendly I'd go for Robbie Keane. Maybe he'll grow up a bit and cut the **** out that's crept into his game of late.

i think o'shea's gonna be used in the carling cup for utd, although that run could come to a quick end next game

There is no way miller is playing center mid. Hes not good enough for center mid. Its Kilbane and O shea most likely. Miller doesnt warrant a place in the center of midfield. Hes worst move was to united. I think he was really hyped up. I think he could be a very good center midfielder but not under alex ferguson as he as a tendancy to play very good players out of postion. Id like to see quinn play center.

Well, it looks like Kerr's confirmed that Miller will start centre mid; Dunne and Finnan will also start
http://www.fai.ie/article.asp?hlid=2...avlid=&sublid=

I wouldn't be too surprised to see

_______Given
Finnan_Cunningham_Dunne_O'Shea
McGeady_Miller_Kilbane_Duff
____Keane__Macken

With Elliott, Barrett, Kenny and Quinn all to make appearances

Kerr stated in another article I read recently that this is the match to try new things, that the Portugal friendly was too close to the Israel games to introduce new formation/players. So I reckon from that quote that the starting eleven against Portugal will be the same against Israel

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Originally Posted by The Owls

There is no way miller is playing center mid. Hes not good enough for center mid. Its Kilbane and O shea most likely.

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O'Shea hasn't impressed nearly enough at centre mid to warrant a place there IMO. Left back for O'Shea and let centre mid be contested by Killer, Kav, Quinn and Miller. If Miller is in the squad and going to play a part then its best to play him in his best position.

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Originally Posted by The Owls

There is no way miller is playing center mid. Hes not good enough for center mid. Its Kilbane and O shea most likely. Miller doesnt warrant a place in the center of midfield. Hes worst move was to united. I think he was really hyped up. I think he could be a very good center midfielder but not under alex ferguson as he as a tendancy to play very good players out of postion. Id like to see quinn play center.

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I really am giving O'Shea a bit of a slating today but how is Miller not good enough for midfield but O'Shea is?

tetsujin1979, maken isnt fit yet, I would sooner start Elliot !! Perhaps Mc Geady wont get the full 90. He doesnt look fully developed physically but thats only IMO.

O Shea and Miller are decent enough players. Playing for Man Utd is another kettle of fish and there is massive demands put on the players.
I think O Shea and Miller can do the job in the center of the park but Kerr will probably start with

Mac Geady____Kilbane______Miller/O Shea________Duff

or

Miller____Kilbane______O Shea________Duff

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

I honestly don't see how anyone can say O'Shea is a better full back than Maybury. ATM I wouldn't want to pick between them but some of the stick Maybury gets is unfair considering most of you hardly get to see him play. I doubt we'll see O'Shea play at full back for United for the rest of the season too.

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Because Maybury is dier. Stunningly bad, and I have seen alot of him. He is Ian Harte minus the good parts. O'Shea may have been poor since his first season, by the standards of that season and of the team he plays for, but he is still far better than Maybury in pretty much every aspect of his game. To don my EL hat, and no doubt get a slating for it, but Heary is also far better than Maybury, and while Maybury is our left back cover if Finnan and Carr are out he's our third choice there, which is not something I agree with. He should be third choice left back, maybe behind Clarke too though I've not seen much of him, and fourth choice right back until Kelly gets some more games.

Miller will play central mid field, Finnan and Dunne will play, it's 50/50 between Kenny and Given and McGeady and Elliot will 'play some part'. I disagree with the last bit, it implies they wont start, and if Macken starts ahead of Elliot it's a feckin joke. They better get at least 45 minutes imo, but I've noticed Kerr rarely makes changes at half time espically in friendlys for some reason.

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Originally Posted by Slash/ED

Because Maybury is dier. Stunningly bad, and I have seen alot of him.

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If you don't mind me asking, how? :)

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

If you don't mind me asking, how? :)

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Playing for Leeds, playing for Ireland and when I've seen him on the TV playing for Hearts, thanks to Setanta. I've seen more than enough of him to have an opinion on how good or bad he is, and he is shockingly bad. His appearence against Poland was one of the worst performances I've seen him an Irish player, I mean in what, 20 minutes? He was absolutley destroyed, and his form in other matches for us has been no better. He lacks quality going forward and is poor in defence, he shouldn't be near our panel.

He last played for Leeds against Lazio 3 and a half years ago when he was only 22.

Hearts have been on Setanta twice this season, against Celtic and Rangers. He played well against Rangers and crossed in a super ball at the end but the Hearts striker headed over. Wasn't bad against Celtic either.

Judging Maybury on 25 minutes against Poland? Even though he wasn't anywhere near as bad as you described, I can name a bad performance by every Ireland player but Duff. He has been very consistant in his other Ireland games.

Consistently poor. He was poor for Leeds, 22 is not that young (You're disregarding O'Shea at a similar age) and got dumped, he's been poor for Hearts when I've seen him, that's my opinion of both games you mentioned there, and for Ireland he has shown he can't pass, can't cross, isn't quick, isn't good in the air, isn't great positionally and is poor defencively by international standards. I'm not judgung him on one performance for Ireland, I'm judging him on every performance for Ireland, Leeds and Hearts and I've let to see him have a single game that justifys his position as automatic choice in the Ireland squad.

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Originally Posted by Slash/ED

Consistently poor. He was poor for Leeds, 22 is not that young (You're disregarding O'Shea at a similar age)

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I'm not disregarding O'Shea all together, if he improves by the time he's 26 fair enough, Maybury certainly has.

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and I've let to see him have a single game that justifys his position as automatic choice in the Ireland squad.

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I could say the same about O'Shea going on all his performances for Ireland and his peformances for United over the last season and a half.

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

I'm not disregarding O'Shea all together, if he improves by the time he's 26 fair enough, Maybury certainly has.

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Not when I've seen him, he's simply playing in a lower standard.

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I could say the same about O'Shea going on all his performances for Ireland and his peformances for United over the last season and a half.

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O'Shea hasn't been nearly as bad as Maybury has. People go overboard on how bad he's been due to the standards of his first season and the team he plays for. I think it's fair to say he'd stroll into the Hearts side with ease.

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PROBABLE IRELAND TEAM
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independe...issue_id=11694

-----------Kenny


--Finnan-- Dunne-- Cunningham-- O'Shea


Barrett--- Miller-- Kavanagh-- Kilbane

Keane-- Duff

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I hope they got this wrong. I DO NOT want to see Duff start up front or kilbane on the left. Without Elliot starting either FFS

I don't think any of us ever want to see Kilbane on the left again when either Duff or Reid is available, as Duff is tonight. Far better to start Elliott than to degrade the threat of our best player

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Originally Posted by thejollyrodger

I hope they got this wrong. I DO NOT want to see Duff start up front or kilbane on the left. Without Elliot starting either FFS

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Too right. For the love of God, this excuse for a formation was tried a million times under McCarthy and IT NEVER WORKED. Kilbane is terrible on the wing, Duff is useless upfront. I suppose he's just trying to start Miller, Kavanagh and Kilbane in the same midfield and doesn't want to drop Duff. Fair enough, I suppose, but I'd much rather see Duff on the left where he should be.