The "Here We Go Again" New Manager Thread

[Eirambler]

I'm nothing but relaxed, I assure you.
I just enjoy setting you off like a tied up guard dog who can see the robbers with the odd mention of Stephen Kenny for a cheap laugh and you are always right on cue with the reaction. Here's a cheat code for that ; don't rise to it so easily. You'll be even happier in the hills outside Glasgow if you follow that code, albeit a bit windswept up there.

Now this packed midfield, who of our current crop would they be ?
I ask as we did play with Smallbone /Molumby and Azaz the last night. Vs Portugal, we had Cullen and Molumby granted but Ogbene and Ebosele ( although not strictly middlemen ) weren't exactly free to roam, now were they ? & we ran Portugal close, score line wise with just the two conventional middlemen, and in doing so gave probably our best performance in the group thus far. Now here's the real kicker - V Armenia in the game prior to that, we had, Taylor / Cullen / Knight ( and Azaz and Ogbene out there and we lost )

So paint me the picture you crave please, which three are you after ?
I am guessing you want only disruptor types, who generally don't overburden themselves foraying over halfway, and who stop the opposition, because if you look above we've often had three and even four out there in the Armenia loss ( + Ogbene who does fill in with his share of troubling the opponent when they have the ball )

Is it Cullen with Molumby and Knight alongside ? And if so, who goes elsewhere ? Who gets dropped at the back, one of the three CBs has to sit it out, do they not ?

Do you go to a back four ? & if you do who plays LB ? Manning is lovely over halfway, but pin him at LB & you'll see another side of him. A leaky one.
Who plays RB ? Coleman is on his last lap, Doherty is a cnut & O'Brien isn't one, a RB I mean but doesn't come across as a cnut either to be fair.

Who else plays and where ?
What's the overall formation ?

And Ferguson alone in the opponent half, I can't agree with if that's where you are going because he's poor at it, his touch, bringing others in, making it stick from a 50 / 50 ball (at best) is weak. Also, who is going to even try to find him with any kind of pass looking at the last few games. None of them, however many you stick in front of the defence & if he does hold onto it, who will be near him in your side to play off to ?

I'm all for it, if it works, but show your full workings please & not just one aspect.

& while I'm at it, one last time, for emphasis, we played four midfielders V Armenia not counting Ogbene, which delivered the result which effectively ended our campaign.

Azaz is not a central midfielder, nobody who knows the first thing about what they're talking about would suggest that he was. Ogbene and Ebosele are obviously wingers. Taylor is one, but he wasn't played in centre midfield away to Armenia, he was played just behind the forwards. I mean surely even you can remember that, it was only a few weeks ago?

We have played only two in central midfield in every game you have listed. Your posts towards me are repeatedly condescending and inflammatory, and to be honest I'd expect better from posters on this forum. You have been called out on it already this week. This isn't YBIG, though perhaps you'd be more at home there. So, if the above is all you have to offer in reply to the actual topic being discused, then I'm afraid there's little point in me wasting my time discussing this further with you.

[John83]

Lads, knock it off. If ye can't be civil, put each other on ignore lists.

[Eirambler]

Lads, knock it off. If ye can't be civil, put each other on ignore lists.

Good idea. Done.

[CraftyToePoke]

Lads, knock it off. If ye can't be civil, put each other on ignore lists.

I won't be putting anyone on ignore, and I never have, the colours make the rainbow John, after all, & all are welcome far as I'm concerned, once genuine, which although I rarely agree with him, he is.

Equally I accept I did leave a bit on him, but only to try to get him to put flesh on the bones of the three man midfield concept, a question which has merit - as it does raise a myriad of issues elsewhere on the pitch. Which I did go into in detail and asked fair questions on such. No such detail was forthcoming, instead a fcuk off to YBIG was though, which is quite telling.

Good idea. Done.

Sadly, we are now in the Waiting For Godot zone WRT to ;

Who would play the back four in a middleman three ?
Who plays FBs ?
The overall set up and shape ?
There are perfectly acceptable questions in the context of that discussion IMO

Perhaps the answer lies in the fact no recent previous manager has regularly played it, but what do they know, eh ?

Anyway, bygones as far as I'm concerned. If you get to read this Eirabmler.

[Kingdom]

I won't be putting anyone on ignore, and I never have, the colours make the rainbow John, after all, & all are welcome far as I'm concerned, once genuine, which although I rarely agree with him, he is.

Equally I accept I did leave a bit on him, but only to try to get him to put flesh on the bones of the three man midfield concept, a question which has merit - as it does raise a myriad of issues elsewhere on the pitch. Which I did go into in detail and asked fair questions on such. No such detail was forthcoming, instead a fcuk off to YBIG was though, which is quite telling.



Sadly, we are now in the Waiting For Godot zone WRT to ;

Who would play the back four in a middleman three ?
Who plays FBs ?
The overall set up and shape ?
There are perfectly acceptable questions in the context of that discussion IMO

Perhaps the answer lies in the fact no recent previous manager has regularly played it, but what do they know, eh ?

Anyway, bygones as far as I'm concerned. If you get to read this Eirabmler.

It was probably a bit too much CTP, to be fair.

[CraftyToePoke]

It was probably a bit too much CTP, to be fair.

Oh, very good. You're a treasure aren't you.

Back on topic time I think, mods.

MODS !!!!

[SkStu]

YOU ARE BLOCKED FROM SEEING THIS CONTENT

ah Crafty, you cant be saying that sort of stuff about Eirambler. He could have you up in court.

[backstothewall]

Time to bump this back to the top of the forum. How would people feel about a new contract for Heimir Hallgrímsson given the undeniable improvement in terms of performance and results as the campaign progressed?

[Eirambler]

On balance, I'd be OK with it...

[backstothewall]

On balance, I'd be OK with it...

It's amazing the difference 22 minutes can make!

[Kingdom]

Time to bump this back to the top of the forum. How would people feel about a new contract for Heimir Hallgrímsson given the undeniable improvement in terms of performance and results as the campaign progressed?

He brought the team to 2nd in a tough group, beating each opponent once. Today isn't the day for analysing the style, squad selection etc. The black and white of it is he deserves to be offered a new contract. Whether he accepts or not is a different story.

[tetsujin1979]

The lessons of awarding previous managers extended contracts need to be learned. Six month extension, further discussion after the play offs

[Fixer82]

I liked how Halgrimsson talked about not just helping the team but the Irish football federation overall. There has been progress made by others before him of course but it feels like we're on the right path.

[Exgrad]

The lessons of awarding previous managers extended contracts need to be learned. Six month extension, further discussion after the play offs

Easy to say but not realistic. HH in a position of strength now, hes not going for a 6 month extension unless he knows hes going somewhere else in 6 months.

[rebelmusic]

Would anyone really be against him keeping the reins if we fall at the playoffs? We gave McCarthy 3 campaigns and the result was a world cup.

Go back to this time last year and we would have bitten the hands of someone to be where we are now. He's done wonders in really tough circumstances and should take us to the end of the 2028 qualifiers.

Let's avoid the pendulum swinging in the opposite direction and getting naive again.

[Fixer82]

Definitely considering where he has taken us. He's worth another campaign. What's the alternative? Starting again with a different manager and mindset. Keep it going under HH and see what happens

[backstothewall]

I reckon a new contract until the end of regular Euro 2028 qualifying with an option for the FAI to extend to cover the tournament. That way if qualifying is a disaster there would be an option to make a change for the special host nations qualification process should that be neccesary.

I've seen enough to believe he has us on the right path.

[Eirambler]

He doesn't need a 6 month contract, by virtue of Ireland making the playoffs his contract automatically extends.

So the decision can be kicked to March/April if that's what the FAI want.

I don't think he's without his flaws by any means, I especially disliked the way we set up against Armenia in both games.

But I'm terrified by the likely list of alternatives - O'Shea would be favourite, Duff and Bradley obviously in the discussion also. Someone like Alan Sheehan who has been quickly dismissed by Swansea. BBM - not tearing up any trees at Cardiff given their relative strength in that division. Most of those managers' styles of play don't suit the players we have anyway.

If he's happy to stay on I think we should back him up to Euro 2028 now, and I think the FAI will feel the same. At best we would replace him with someone who achieves similar results, but there's also the possibility that we end up with someone who undoes the recent progress we have made.

[Nesta99]

There is opportunity to put in clauses in favour of both manager and association. Release clause could be balanced with performance related benefits but its good to have stability.