Quality players in the international wilderness.

[Stuttgart88]

Isn't that what Folan is supposed to be there for, and then Murphy? I saw Lee recently, he was ok but no more than that. Jon Walters outshone him and though not as tall is actaully better in the air.

[Scram]

To my mind, the strongest squad that could possibly be picked - injuries and self-imposed exiles included - would be this:

Given
Kiely
Westwood

Finnan
J O'Brien
Kelly
Dunne
JOS
A O'Brien
Kilbane
Delaney

McGeady
Duff
Hunt
A Reid
S Reid
S Ireland
Carsley
Whelan
Andrews

Keane
Doyle
Morrison
Folan
Long

There are precious few weak links in there. On paper it is actually quite impressive in terms of experienced players who are getting their game at club level.

A team of:

Given

Finnan
Dunne
JOS
Kilbane

Duff
S Reid
Carsley/Ireland
McGeady

Keane
Doyle

... would be fantastic. The central midfield is probably not one that Trap would pick - accommodating Ireland anywhere other than the right wing would require some considerable tinkering, or all-out abandonment of his CDM policy in centre midfield - but at least we would be deliiberating from a position of strength and genuine choice.

I don't raise this merely as a self-indulgent act of wishful thinking of Champ Man-style frivolity. A couple of points are to be made.

One, whatever about Bulgaria missing Berbatov, Bojinov, Petrov and Tunchev, we were always wrong to expect that this would give us a divine right to beating them. The news of Duff's injury seemed to wake people up belatedly to the fact that it might not be a total walkover - the fact that we were missing two of our more influential and technically gifted players already (S Reid and Finnan) had been somehow forgotten. Those were huge losses for us. There isn't any sign of chatter on a Steven Reid thread yet but he has been a massive loss for us. I would rate him in a similar bracket to the late great Keith O'Neill who always electrified Ireland's play when he was on the pitch, though we were cruelly robbed of ever seeing him get a sustained opportunity at that. Reid is influential, composed, technically excellent, precise in his passing, strong in the air and brisk in the tackle. He will be back in September (mate of mine was texting him after the Bulgaria match) and we have to keep the dream alive until then. He'll be back for the Cyprus, Italy and Montenegro matches and should make a huge difference.

Secondly, er, I really like making lists of possible full-strength Irish squads. And teams.

Good night!!

Good post, good squad, good team.

Good luck!

[DotTV]

To my mind, the strongest squad that could possibly be picked - injuries and self-imposed exiles included - would be this:






for us. There isn't any sign of chatter on a Steven Reid thread yet but he has been a massive loss for us. I would rate him in a similar bracket to the late great Keith O'Neill who always electrified Ireland's play when he was on the pitch, though we were cruelly robbed of ever seeing him get a sustained opportunity at that. Reid is influential, composed, technically excellent, precise in his passing, strong in the air and brisk in the tackle. He will be back in September (mate of mine was texting him after the Bulgaria match) and we have to keep the dream alive until then. He'll be back for the Cyprus, Italy and Montenegro matches and should make a huge difference.

Secondly, er, I really like making lists of possible full-strength Irish squads. And teams.

Good night!!

late???

[Colbert Report]

This Irish team is shockingly bad. The worst collection of players I can recall in my life. We're going to be very lucky not to get beaten by four or five goals tonight.

[seanog2001]

i have to say the midfield is as bad as its been for a long time keogh and whelan are not international players andrews cud turn out to be a useful player but nowhere near as good as carsley or a reid as for s hunt he is a palyer who will give it his all but his all is not good enough i think if we fail to quailfy for the world cup trapp has to go and with the bulgars making progress in catching us we will have to vastly improve over the next couple of games to nick second, BTW bulgaria lead cyprus 1-0

[Wangball]

Whatever about Andy Reid, Lee Carsley would not improve that midfield

[Mcgeady46]

Daryl Murphy would be good to have for his height that is all

Reid should be there as we are thread bare in midfield but is not the world superstar people are making him out to be.

Carsley would be a good option to have as back up - but maybe it would be better to groom a younger player in that position.

Delap - see andy reid

Carr - ha ha

S Ireland - I dont even consider him to be an Irish international anymore, either does Richard Dunne so that stance is good enough for me.

Joey O brien - decent enough solid and versitile a good squad player

[lionelhutz]

This Irish team is shockingly bad. The worst collection of players I can recall in my life. We're going to be very lucky not to get beaten by four or five goals tonight.

Its like you had a premonition............

[Scram]

[Colbert Report]

Its like you had a premonition............

Hang on just a second, if we had known that they'd have to play almost the entire match a man down I think all predictions would be out the window.

[Greenbod]

Hang on just a second, if we had known that they'd have to play almost the entire match a man down I think all predictions would be out the window.

So, what do predict for the return game assuming our team is much the same and they play with 11 throughout?...................and how do you predict the worst selection of players you have ever seen in your life will get on in Bulgaria?

[Hibernian]

The boys seem to forget we weren't playing the Italian Rugby team on Wednesday night. We are playing team who have won a world cup medals and one the greatest mangers the game has ever produced.

We don't have world class players like we used too. The more look at it the more I suppose we could have and should have won that game with ten men for 87 minutes other teams would have won. But no team would have hammered Italy like some suggest.. No team. Italy don't give you chances even Spain only had couple chances in there game in Euro 08 (remember they only won on peno's)

We had ten corners to one they had one shot on target the whole game even against ten men away from home against world champions is not a bad thing.

Once we learn and gain confidence from this result it will be turning point

We aint Brazil....I was very proud of the performance it was gutsy and like I said wednesday once you give a 100% thats all you can ask for.

One thing we have to do is improve on our set pieces Hunt and Gibson (his 3 corners were rubbish) its our biggest weakness at moment we never look like going score from corner or set piece.

[Dr. Ogba]

One thing that struck me about last night (and most other people too) was the horrible bench we had. When we had Hunt playing we had literally nobody who could make any sort of impact and most our bench was composed of fringe players for their club.
How many of the experienced options below, each playing well for their club should be considered? I think each of them offer something different and worthwhile, surely worthy of a squad place. Our strength in depth in the current squad really has me worried if we get hit with a few injuries.

- Andy Reid
- Lee Carsley
- Rory Delap
- Clinton Morrison
- Daryl Murphy
- Stephen Carr

Replace what we had on the bench last night with those guys and I think we'd have serious options to change a game. Right now we're too predictable.

the title of the thread interested me and then I read through your list, bloody hell how you could label any of these players quality is beyond me....in fact i'd call each of them "has-beens" or "never was". the only guy i'd have in the squad on that list is Andy Reid.

I'll name a proper replacement for all of your list and each of these lads would have more potential to make an impact from the bench

Lee Carsley - the clamour to bring this man back astonishes me, he's over the bloody hill and wasn't even that good in the first place

Alternatives:John Joe O'Toole / Garvan / S. Quinn / James McCarthy / Chris McCann

Rory Delap - I'd only rate him as a CM and he wouldn't be in for me....just not good enough

Alternatives:See above

Clinton Morrisson: I've always been a fan of his effort whenever he plays for us but he's over the hill and not even banging in goals in the championship anymore

Alternatives: Our options in this department are admittedly poor but I don't think he'd displace any of the current incumbants. Maybe Cillian Sheridan at a push might be worth a shot.

Daryl Murphy: See above, doesn't even get his game for a mediocre Sunderland side. I'd have him in ahead of Stokes but that's not really saying much.

Stephen Carr: please....never again...

Alternatives: Kevin Foley, J O'Brien, Marc Wilson, Eddie Nolan, Sean St Ledger, my ould granny

[Colbert Report]

So, what do predict for the return game assuming our team is much the same and they play with 11 throughout?...................and how do you predict the worst selection of players you have ever seen in your life will get on in Bulgaria?

Our team won't be the same, as we will hopefully have Duff, McGeady, and possibly Finnan available for selection. If Trap were to put out a midfield of Keogh, Andrews, Whelan and Hunt like he did against the Italians I think we'd be in for a hiding.

[irishfan86]

I think the biggest problem with a lot of the posts I see in here is the extreme statements.

If we're being honest, there probably isn't much difference between playing Whelan or Carsley.

Carsley may tackle harder, but Whelan is more mobile and a better passer.

Is there much difference between placing Long or Morrison on the bench?

For me, I don't think our fortunes change much if Morrison, Carsley, Carr, etc join the squad to sit on the bench.

I would call myself a Morrison fan, but he is a limited player and while he performed well during a spell when we were quite thin up front, we now have some younger more promising options who deserve a shot.

I think he still has a role to play if there are injuries, and I'd probably play him ahead of the likes of Stokes and possibly even Keogh/Murphy.

But my point is that how can any of us say definitively that player X is better than player Y by a clear margin?

For me a lot of our squad players or potential players have some positive attributes in combination with a number of key flaws, and there are very few players that stand out as obviously bad omissions.

Okay, Andy Reid I believe should be in the squad. On a lower profile note, I feel St. Ledger is worth a place in the squad. Foley should be in the team over McShane.

I agree with the starting XI for the most part, and McShane at right full is my only major disagreement with Trap's selection.

But once we get to the bench and beyond, we don't have many "total" players who are obviously better than the alternatives.

[Stuttgart88]

Exactly, nearly all of the players up for debate are marginal decisions.

McDonnell's article in The Indo last week ("The Bench We could Have Had") was awful. There wasn't a compelling case to be made for any of them.

[Colbert Report]

Morrison is 29. That's "over the hill" is it?

Yes. Michael Owen is also 29 and over the hill.

[seanfhear]

Yes. Michael Owen is also 29 and over the hill.

Owen is nearly always on injury hill

[jay1]

All good except Dunphys friend lee carsley, if i remember correctly lee carsley gave away a lot of free kicks in very important matches, he is a good player but he gives away far to many free kicks. Put Joey O Brien on your list too.

[Razors left peg]

All good except Dunphys friend lee carsley, if i remember correctly lee carsley gave away a lot of free kicks in very important matches, he is a good player but he gives away far to many free kicks. Put Joey O Brien on your list too.

Hes not in the wilderness just injured