Had another 2 before the end. Another block from Jota and a goalbound shot from Gakpo which he was able to get enough of a head on to turn it onto the bar.
Genuinely probably man of the match. Great time for it.
genuine quantity of centre backs is phenomenal: (excluding the 21s regulars)
Tier 1: Collins, O’Shea, O’Brien, Scales
Tier 2: Omobamidele, Duffy, Egan, McGuinness
Tier 3: McNally, Cashin, Lenihan, Dunne, McLoughlin, Clarke Salter
I’d have another 6 lads in Tier 4, but no point going that deep
The age profile of them is excellent too.
Though I would swap Scales and Omobamidele between the tiers on your list. While it's tempting to drop Omobamidele a tier right now because he hasn't started the season in the Forest team, his pace and comfort in possession at a higher level of football put him a tier above Scales. Omobamidele has already played 16 Premier League games at 22, I doubt Scales will play 16 games in the Premier League (or an equivalent top European league) in his career.
Carragher was singing his praises about keeping his team in the game.
A very solid performance.
Definitely - purely on ability etc, I’d have Andy in that top tier. Was more thinking specifically about the next international window and I think it’s one of McGuinness, Duffy and Omobamidele for that 5th slot.Originally Posted by Eirambler
I have been incredibly impressed with Scales performances at centre back for Ireland, left of a three and left of a two. He’s certainly performed well above his base ability or what you’d expect from him.
I was at the game at home to the Greeks where he started at left back and Collins was poor and at half time, Collins was taken off and scales moved to centre half where he was excellent.
Also remember him playing very well away to the Dutch in the left of a three along with Collins and O’Shea.
So as much as Scales logically feels like he’s well behind the premier league players, in his limited number of performances at centre back for Ireland, that gap certainly hasn’t been present.
I’d also be generally pretty pleased with how he’s fared for Celtic in Europe. Haven’t seen every game but he’s equipped himself well.
[QUOTE=elatedscum;2199153]Had another 2 before the end. Another block from Jota and a goalbound shot from Gakpo which he was able to get enough of a head on to turn it onto the bar.
Genuinely probably man of the match. Great time for it.
genuine quantity of centre backs is phenomenal: (excluding the 21s regulars)
Tier 1: Collins, O’Shea, O’Brien, Scales
Tier 2: Omobamidele, Duffy, Egan, McGuinness
Tier 3: McNally, Cashin, Lenihan, Dunne, McLoughlin, Clarke Salter
I’d have another 6 lads in Tier 4, but no point going that
Think Dunne could be considered more of a right back these days, been playing there for almost a year, might be worth considering our options.
Is Clarke-Salter definitely eligible?
I've undeleted it now.
You can't spell failure without FAI
I'd assume so... A quote from 2022:
"My grandma was born in Ireland and all those on my mum’s side are pretty much Irish so I qualify for Ireland as well," “I haven’t told anyone in the game that before, you are the first! I would be open to it, yes. It is international football so I want to play. I just have to keep doing my thing on the pitch and if Ireland come calling, then me and my family will have to have a conversation. They have always supported me when I’ve played for the younger England age groups but they encourage me to play for Ireland now too! "When you’re a kid, you dream of playing in a European Championships or a World Cup. I’ve done it at youth level so it is only natural for me to want to do it at senior level as well."
Is this good or bad ?
I spent a couple of minutes looking at it trying to work it out and now I think I'm hypnotised.
I think Razor touched on the Collins in midfield debate in another thread.
I thought it worked perfectly
Obviously things went pair shaped after the red card. But I thought he was in essence our best "midfielder" on the day.
We should have tried it years ago. We need a solid midfield or it's lights out
Yeah in the context of how we tried to play from a defensive mindset the other night it was working brilliantly, I'm not sure it'd necessarily be the way to go against teams more on our level when we would be expected to have more of the ball and create, but who knows. I was always skeptical of the idea of him in midfield, but it's at least something worth looking at again
Last edited by Razors left peg; 21/11/2024 at 4:22 PM.
Its really not that complicated!!!
I’d like to see it with him anchoring at the base of midfield and two more creative players in front of him. Knight, Moran, McGrath, maybe Browne …Jesus we’re light in midfield aren’t we?
Has he taken up archery?
Stay out of the white and keep in the red, nowt in this game for two in a bed.
I think.
Sneaky feckers. You can't find Wally when the picture is just a distorted close-up of his jumper.
Hello, hello? What's going on? What's all this shouting, we'll have no trouble here!
- E Tattsyrup.
Yeah if Collins is gonna play midfield again we really need some creativity in midfield too. He did a good job playing that almost hybrid role of anchoring the midfield and dropping into CB. But playing Molumby and Cullen is gonna give you nothing going forward.
I agree having Collins in midfield was effective, but I'm not sure if it was just more about filling space than actual midfield play. He stopped the ball getting to Harry Kane and that was about it. I think I read he had 9 touches and completed 2 passes in the first half. You'd want a bit more involvement on the ball from whoever is there in future. I think Lawal probably has the most long term potential. Played a lot as a centre back and midfielder and is much more dynamic, while also offering defensive ability and physicality.
Collins seems to be improving again as a centre back and I think he'll be back there for us very quickly. Apart from a backs to the wall game like England was I don't think he has the mobility on the half turn to be truly effective in the middle.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Tallaght Stadium Regular
So essentially we need Collins at the base with a prime Wes and a prime John Sheridan
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