Looking very light up front now. What has Josh barrett done to be so out of the picture? Obafemi only played a minute at the end yesterday he couldn't be injured is he getting called up instead of Connolly maybe just for the pace factor?
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Interesting selections choices.
RE keepers, considering Randolph is back fit. I probably would have sent Travers to play in Armenia and called up McDermott or Talbot or whoever to be 3rd keeper for the friendly against New Zealand. Means you can keep Bazunu with the 19s and you’ve got Travers working with Kenny. And it possibly gives O’Hara an opportunity against New Zealand.
Surprised he hasn’t replaced Masterson with an actual centre half. Thought Ledwidge was poor at left back v Iceland. Could have gone for any of Nolan, O’Hora, O’Driscoll, Ndaba or Irish based lads Finnerty, McCarthy, Kelly, McNally.
I don’t mind the O’Keefe call up considering he’s the only viable full-back who Kenny is yet to call up at some point (Leahy, Clarke, Cotter, Ledwidge, McNamara, Wilson, Carroll, L O’Connor, T O’Connor). Dara O’Shea is probably the only lad guaranteed to start against Armenia. Never good when 4 of your first choice back 5 are missing.
If Obafemi has been called up to the senior squad ahead of Shane Long, that’s a mistake by McCarthy, unless Long is injured. Obafemi has played less lately than Long and Long is still an infinitely more intimidating prospect in terms of his strength and pace and intelligence/experience using his body. Even when he’s not scoring goals, he’s still giving centre backs a hard day’s work. He’s still drawing fouls and penalties. If I was a Danish centre back, honestly, Shane Long is the one lad who I really wouldn’t want to face, more than any other striker we have. So to not even include him in the squad is criminal. Thinking back, I think maybe he does better against better opposition. I can remember games against Chelsea, United, Liverpool, Germany, Belgium, France etc where he caused real problems for defenders.
Scully makes sense but Kenny clearly sees something in Power that he’s yet to show on the pitch. He’s picked him ahead of Barrett, but really he’s also picked him ahead of an actual number 9 which Obafemi can be. It leaves us very light in that department. Keena and Grant are unproven yet at this level.
Perhaps this is the negative of us playing all of our competitive games together and so early in the group to accommodate the Kenny situation. As it progresses and you lose players to the senior squad or players to suspension and injury, you haven’t had the friendlies interspersed to blood other viable alternatives. Or maybe it’s just bad luck that all of Kelleher, Travers, O’Connor, Masterson, Leahy, Clarke, Molumby, Connell, Connolly, Farrugia, Obafemi, Afolabi, Parrott are all unavailable at the same time...
I thought the fixtures were decided by UEFA?
Why are you so convinced that Scully should have been in the first squad? We normally play with one striker at under 21 level and make exceptions for exceptional cases like Connolly or Parrott alongside Idah. Obafemi, Idah and Keena were our 3 and I don't think it is justifiable to say that Scully should have been in before any of the 3 because of a hot streak at the second tier of reserve football.
Scully is more of a utility forward than a striker to be fair. He can play a few different positions and deserves his call up, especially given the number of drop outs.
Is he not a utility forward because he has normally played on the wing and has just recently converted to striker so he has ad another position? I'm not disputing he should have been called up after the drop outs, I just think it is unfair on Kenny to say he should have been named in the initial squad. He has had no exposure at this level, is playing in a new position at club level and one he has never played at any international level and he is not playing in the first tier of reserve football and Kenny had options who have been in the squad all along.
They were. It was referenced in an interview last week. They specifically wanted armenia away as a standalone fixture
Sorry about that. I remember hearing Kenny talk towards the beginning of the campaign about wanting back to back fixtures to build momentum and get ahead in the group, and falsely equated his desire, combined with the fact we seems to get through games quickly and his temporary tenure. Added 2 + 2 and got 5
We can agree to disagree but I think it's unfair to be stating he should have been picked in the first place- unfair on Kenny and unfair on the three strikers initially picked. I don't think there's a body of work there over a sustained period of time that would justify his inclusion in the middle of the campaign for a pair of important competitive matches. There was plenty clamour for Nolan's inclusion on here and his move to Serie C and subsequent form has quelled that.
https://www.punditarena.com/football...d-armenia/amp/
Looking like a back 5 of: Bazunu, McNamara, O’Shea, Collins, O’Connor. Only slightly weakened and a testimony to the strength in depth. Assume middle 3 of Coventry, Knight, Ronan; weakened without Molumby but still quality at this level. Hopefully, Kilkenny will start on one of the wings, Kenny will probably go with Elbouzedi on right. And Idah will start up front. I expect the 3 points in Armenia.
Seen as Mick isn’t starting Travers, he might as well have let him play in Armenia given Kelleher’s situation.
Some form of injury. No idea what. Don’t think it’s anything too serious considering Coventry was joking about it and nothing has been announced but since his game against Arsenal he hasn’t been involved in any of the pre-game stuff. Normally it’s himself, Alison and Adrian doing all the drills but checked the vid and Lonergan has been there for past 3 games, so must have picked up something in that game
The Armenian FA are streaming the game on YouTube: https://youtu.be/XwPGoMzy5Yk
Dominated first half, but being wasteful again. 0-0. Good performance