He shouldn't be in the Irish squad. We haven't sank so low that we need to be picking players from League 1 especially when there are better options who are overlooked.
https://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/mcca...drick-progress
Hope for Duffy and Didsy. Didn't realise Cunningham was out with injury. Williams has been centre back most recently. Is it far more likely now that it will be Doherty or McClean? Connolly starting would be fabulous if McClean is left back.
I think a lot of these decision are really a consequence of not having any time to work with the squad and to see players. He went straight into real competitive games. Had to create a squad on the fly and has had little time to experiment or try out different players and different positions. So guys who were initially injured like Long and McCarthy or out of favour at their clubs like Clark were left out in the cold in a way they wouldn't have been if he had worked with them previously.
It's difficult circumstances to work under and considering where we were under O'Neill in terms of performances and results, and in terms of the underage set up, things are so much better than they were 10 months ago. Nonetheless, it all feels kind of reactive to a certain extent. Like, had Clark played against United a week earlier, he would have been called up over Williams, maybe even one day earlier. Maybe the same is true of McCarthy. The Connolly call up was a little similar.
Ultimately to me, it comes down to, who would i trust more if there was an early injury against Switzerland - McCarthy or Cullen and that's McCarthy. Clarke or Williams and that's Clarke. Browne or Arter and that's Arter. Long or Hogan and that's Long. If you're 2-0 up against Georgia, feel free to try embed a Browne or a Cullen if you believe in them and see how they do, step by step, but honestly if end up counting on those lads to contribute to the Swiss game, we could be taking a serious and unnecessary chance....
You've got to feel for Mick - he looks at our experienced and up-and-coming players and thinks "well, McCarthy and Connolly have only made cameo appearances this season, while Long and Clark are barely in their squads" so he leaves them out of the squad, only for them all to start on Saturday and for Connolly to bang in two goals and must have thought "dammit! why couldn't this have happened two weeks ago?!"
Didn't Clark play the 'full 90' for Newcastle the other day?
No, No, No!
1. Connolly had 30 minutes of senior League football and 1 game in the League Cup under his belt, while Parrott had no senior competitive experience
2. Both were involved in the U21 victory over Sweden
3. The Bulgaria game was, at the time, a surprisingly worthwhile exercise, with James Collins and Alan Browne getting their first goals, Josh Cullen and Jack Byrne getting the chance to impress in midfield, an inexperienced central defensive partnership being used that we may now have to depend on, and even the Conor Hourihane left-back experiment having had an effect, as he seems to have built on those minutes he begged Mick for and re-established himself in the Villa midfield.
Connolly's gamechanging performances came after that - it would have been irresponsible of Mick to give them caps at that point. Also, if he was to have given one of them a cap, it would most likely have been Parrott, based on his pre-season.
Things are moving quickly, with regards to the young players, but Mick's timeline is short, so they have to do something special at club level to justify being thrown into the middle of a international qualifying campaign - last Saturday, Aaron Connolly managed that
Would anyone happen to know of any pub in Fukuoka that will be showing the Georgia match this weekend?! I'm heading over for the rugby but am desperate to see the qualifiers. Any Irish bar I have contacted in Fukuoka so far has said they won't be broadcasting it, even though kick-off is 23:00 Japan time.
If anyone happened to know of a place showing Switzerland v Ireland in Kyoto (K.O. 04:45am Wednesday 16th!), I would likewise be really grateful for any tips!
Aren't our games on Sky Sports? That'd increase the number of bars likely to have access to the games. It won't clash with the rugby times.
There'll be live streams too.
Thanks a lot lads. In the end I heard back from the International Bar in Fukuoka which confirmed they'll be showing the Georgia match! https://www.facebook.com/InternationalBarFukuoka/
No such luck so far for the Swiss game which kicks off around 4:45am... needless to say I'll still be up and scouring the internet for viable streams!