Circumstance can dictate a side that "picks" itself
Circumstance can dictate a side that "picks" itself
I'd like 532 if all fit against Portugal
Kelleher
Doherty Coleman Egan Steven's brady
Cullen McCarthy
Knight
Idah Connolly
If we playing 2 up top then hopefully obafemi can find form cause I think he is really suited to playing in a 2 and that pace and power and finishing can do damage at international level certainly at the level below the very top tier
I read on the times about obafemi being a flight risk, not sure how true that is. I think you're right though against Hungary the last day we lacked that bit of pace from parrot or idah on teh counter. Would have suited someone with pace like obafemi. He might still have lashed it into the upper tiers though!
I would like to see
Kelleher
Duffy Egan O'Shea
Coleman Browne Cullen McClean
Robinson Smallbone
Connolly
That's still a team that picks itself :)
In Liamoo11's team, 2 midfielders and 3 attacking players have < 10 caps each.
SK has the task to mould a decent team which includes a bunch of average/below intl. standard players with <10 caps each and the weakest CM that I can remember.
We have a way to go yet before players nail down their place and hopefully Kenny is up to the task.
I'm more optimistic than i've been in a while.
the midfield is crap etc, but the truth is that you can get round that in international football with good organisation. Finland are in the Euros with a team that plods along, but they have a goalscorer.
We don't have one, but the way Parrott took the game by the scruff of the neck against Andorra suggests we might do soon. He looks like he's made of the right stuff to me.
I'm not a Kenny fan and all along I said it was just a sop to the league of Ireland cabal but so much time has been invested in it now that I cant see there been any imminent change in manager. I really dislike how Kenny has disparaged previous managers saying they didnt believe in the players didnt bring players through etc which is just so unnecessary. It's that same old nonsense as managers at club level coming in and saying the players just aren't fit enough and we need to do double running sessions to get them to the correct level it's a painfully obvious distraction attempt. Then I look at how totally unimaginative we have been on set pieces and disorganised defensively( how easily we been opened up through our midfield on transition) and yet media seem to totally ignore this or critique this
The truth is Kenny just plays the game how the rest of Europe play now he is just a sheep following the trend set by countries and clubs with far superior players. Against Hungary at one stage on our goal kick we had 6 of our outfield players either within or right on the edge of our box most of them facing our goal with no idea of what was happening behind them. That is a crazy tactic with players of our standard who just are not comfortable taking a ball in their own penalty area under pressure and getting turned. Kenny is just managing by numbers following the perceived wisdom of the day instead of adapting to the players we have and fitting his philosophy(which he seems to think is playing the same as top sides) to get the best he can from this group. He reminds me of an architect who copies plans from houses in LA for a new house in roscommon.
Duffy, Egan and O'Shea looked quite good as a back-3 combination against Hungary, indeed we looked as solid and competitive as we have in a long time, and although that comes with obvious qualifications it was heartening to see. That base appears to be something we can build on and I'm not sure why Kenny would change that aspect of the team at least. We need to start to finding a bit of consistency with the formation and personnel now if we are to go on and improve as a side.
The wingbacks, McClean and Doherty, did well too I think, although a rejuvenated Coleman would improve upon that again once he becomes available.
Although he's currently uncapped I'd expect Collins to force his way into the first team within the next 6 to 12 months. With that in mind 3-5-2 now seems the obvious formation for us going forward for a number of reasons.
Firstly, because we have a number of centre back options and the formation obviously gets three on the pitch. If our first choices are Collins-Egan-O'Shea that still leaves Duffy, Omobamidele and Clark as backup options.
Also at full back/wing back - Coleman is obviously comfortable in either position but Doherty is really only a wing back - and Coleman is obviously getting on a bit in terms of planning for the future. I think McNamara is also a very interesting prospect on the right and has looked comfortable as a wing back when I've seen him play.
Similar situation at left back - I'm not sure we actually have a natural left back who can play in a four - Stevens has always looked a bit uncomfortable in that setup to me. Whereas playing a left wing back brings in Manning and McClean as options as well as Stevens obviously.
Sticking with 4-3-3 requires us to find a quality 10, which we just don't have at this point in time. Whereas in a 3-5-2 with two up front we can play three central midfielders and hopefully get Knight on the field somewhere closer to his natural position.
Finally two up front gives us some nice options - any two from Connolly, Robinson, Idah and Parrott is a promising position to be in. It also solves our issue of not having a natural right sided forward in a front 3 and allows Doherty or Coleman to drive forward into that position instead.
It definitely seems like there's something there if we can put all that together and that's what is be focusing on this summer if I was in Stephen Kenny's position.
I agree with that. 3-5-2 clearly seems to be the commonsense formation given our particular group of players.
McNamara indeed looks to be a very useful option as a wingback. Ferry, Flynn and Ebosele, whilst they clearly aren't ready now, look to be promising future additions in that area too.
So has he been forced or accidentally stumbled upon our best formation? They key question is will be stick with this when everyone's available?
I agree with Eirambler here and would add that the presence of Anthony Barry is also helpful in terms of implementing the formation given the prevalence of it at Chelsea.
That Ebosele could come into the reckoning quite quickly if he starts the season in and around the Derby team. Fine player.
I'm one of the LOI cabal so I hope you take this as me not having a go, but do you really think the LOI cabal has any power over decisions made in the FAI? Like, historically, are there any examples whatsoever of this? Like I honestly think you're usually spot on Liamo, but I don't understand this point.
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