Serbia V Republic of Ireland - Wednesday, 24th March 2021 - World Cup 2022 Qualifier

[elatedscum]

Thinking about team selection, there’s plenty of questions at this stage. I’m sure some will resolve themselves but for now:


Keeper: Randolph* or Kelleher*


I’d imagine both will probably be fit by game day, Randolph in particular has played for ireland while managing leg injuries in the past. In general, I wouldn’t like to throw a new keeper into the deep end but I think Kelleher has shown playing for Liverpool that his temperament is excellent.


Right back: Coleman or Doherty


Coleman is certainly the more in form but Doherty has been selected when fit. Obviously you could play one at left back at the expense of Stevens, that’s pretty unlikely, not knocking Enda but honestly, I could easily see Coleman or Doherty having a better game than Stevens there on a given day. They’ve both played well at club level at left back this season.


Centre-halves: Clark, Duffy, O’Shea, Long


Obviously Duffy looked dreadful in possession during the last window but he did make the single most important defensive contribution in our last match with the block on the Dimitrov open goal and he has been the most frequent goalscorer over the last few years. Kevin Long has been dependable for us but you’d imagine Clark and O’Shea would be ahead. Clark hasn’t really featured but he’s now a regular for Newcastle and is performing very well.


Midfielders:


McCarthy*/Hendrick/Brady*/Molumby/Cullen/Knight/Hourihane/Browne/Arter*


Really hard to work this out, even in terms of who will make the squad. Byrne is out and Brady, McCarthy ana Arter are doubtful. McCarthy is probably the preferred holding midfielder. I’d have Cullen replacing him but Kenny hasn’t really used Cullen at all. Hourihane is the in-form player but his performances for ireland since the game at home to Georgia have been underwhelming. Hendrick’s performances have improved under Kenny but he’s still the most frustrating footballer we have right now, in terms of his decision making and needless giving away of the ball, especially because early in his career he showed the ability he had. Then you’ve got Browne, who has been ok and you’ve got the kids: Molumby and Knight - think you’re only gonna start one of those two. I probably feel that if Kenny had everyone available, he’d play McCarthy, Hendrick, Brady with Molumby the next man in.


Attackers:


R: Robinson/Horgan/O’Dowda/Brady
C: Long/Robinson/Connolly/Idah/Collins/Hogan
L: Connolly/Robinson/Curtis


Both Robinson and Connolly are probably best suited to playing wide left in an attacking 3. You could move one of them wide right or up top. Robinson seems the more likely as Connolly has never really played wide right and is more dominant right footed, equally Connolly playing up top is more likely to be physically outmuscled. Imagine you play, Robinson wide right, then you’re choosing from Long, Idah, Collins or Hogan up top. Personally I’d go for Long, as he’s somewhat in form and also the greatest nuisance but Kenny hasn't shown any faith in long. I like Idah and could see him being the regular sooner rather than later but I felt often during the last games that he looked a big overwhelmed and got a bit bullied by defenders. Obviously if you played Robinson or Connolly in the centre, you’d have a slot wide right. So far, I think he’s played Robinson, Brady, O’Dowda and Horgan there. The position probably needs more pace than Brady can offer, O’Dowda had a good first half in one of the games in the first window, Horgan has played well at times but also tired in second halves...


Unusual situation where not a single player of the eleven is a nailed on starter...

[elatedscum]

As for Serbia, Grujic is a better midfielder than anyone we have and he might not even play. He's tall (6'3) and good in the air, he can pass, he can shoot and he's not slow. The game can pass him by at times, but overall he's a very good player at a good age. Meanwhile, they've got another 6'3 centre-midfielder Milinkovic-Savic who is a more powerful lad and more of a dribbler, also a very technical player.
In terms of attacking players, Tadic, Jovic and Mitrovic are all very good, but Mitrovic can also have days were he's abysmal and misses sitters. Djuric and Kostic are also pretty tasty wingers. The keeper is playing for a relegation threatened La Liga team, so he clearly won't be dreadful. Hoping the defenders are big sluggish units. Decent chance they'll play 3 at the back i think...

[Diggs246]

Maybe we could be without all of our players

Ralph Hasenhuttl: International players will not leave if quarantine is needed (breakingnews.ie)

[pineapple stu]

Well, neither Serbia nor Ireland are on the English red list at the moment, so it's not a concern for now.

[geysir]

Going by how that Chelsea team were set up against Liverpool, our new coach might well have a big positive impact. We are stuck with t he available players, but a weaker squad can make up any deficits with their preparations. It's possible to steal a march on another intl team, especially if they haven't prepared as thoroughly or haven't gelled as much together as a team. Our team need to prepare on the training pitch day in day out with many hours repetitively spent getting everything right as much as possible to the nth degree.
.

[Eirambler]

Was just trying to work out what the squad would be for starters, as it will probably be announced this week. I presume it will be kept to a fairly tight 25 or so players again. As far as I can think of the only player that would definitely be in there who is confirmed as out injured so far is Egan.

So possibly something like:

Randolph, Kelleher, Travers
Coleman, Doherty, Duffy, Clark, O'Shea, K. Long, Stevens
McCarthy, Cullen, Hendrick, Hourihane, Molumby, Knight, Browne, Brady
O'Dowda, Connolly, McClean, Idah, S. Long, Robinson, Collins.

That would mean no place for McGeady, who I'd like to see back involved based on current form, as well as Lenihan, Manning, Christie, Arter, Curtis, Harness, Horgan, Hogan, Maguire and Parrott.

I wouldn't put it past Kenny to do something a bit nonsensical like pick Arter instead of Cullen, even though Cullen should arguably be in the starting team on current form.

But it does seem like there's a core group of around 35 players at the moment so there will likely be some interesting omissions when the squad is announced.

We'll then probably have about 10 more call offs and the rest will get in by default at that stage anyway.

[tetsujin1979]

I can't see him picking Arter, he hasn't played for Forest since early January

[Olé Olé]

Is McClean not ruled out? And Hodgson doesn't reckon James McCarthy will make it: https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/...-40239371.html

[Olé Olé]

Hendrick, Clark and O'Shea all starting in the first game of the day today. I would have O'Shea and Clark at the back against Serbia in the absence of Egan. It will be interesting to see whether Kenny prevails with Duffy and which of this pair he plays with him. They are surely ahead of Long (and definitely Lenihan) in the queue given their game time.

[tetsujin1979]

Friendly against Qatar switched to Hungary, where they are based for their games in March, with the return game to take place in October, hopefully in front of fans - https://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/fai-...endly-fixtures

(thread renamed to cover all three games, will spin dedicated threads for each fixture out after each game is completed)

[elatedscum]

See Coleman isn’t in the squad for Everton tonight and hasn’t been recently since the derby. Guess it’s an injury...

[ColourfulPeanut]

Randolph and Kelleher still AWOL from squads this weekend too. Worrying!

[elatedscum]

I can't see him picking Arter, he hasn't played for Forest since early January

He's injured, wasn't included in their 25 man squad - but they left a place, so he can be added once he's fit... Currently Brady, Arter, McCarthy and Byrne are all injured in midfield, so if there was another injury and Arter was the first to regain fitness, you could easily see him in the squad

[tetsujin1979]

There was a few stories in January that he was told he's free to leave Forest as well

[seanfhear]

There was a few stories in January that he was told he's free to leave Forest as well

Was that from the Sheriff ?

[irishfan86]

He's injured, wasn't included in their 25 man squad - but they left a place, so he can be added once he's fit... Currently Brady, Arter, McCarthy and Byrne are all injured in midfield, so if there was another injury and Arter was the first to regain fitness, you could easily see him in the squad

Brady came on as a sub for last 30 min or so for Burnley at the weekend unless something has happened since.

[Snapshot]

With our shortage of quality, Matt Doherty and Seamus Coleman (both being fully fit) must start against Serbia. Please, no one-or-the-other nonsense. Likewise, Ciaran Clark. All three are proven EPL players, experienced internationals and well capable of Kenny's possession style. We desperately need something from this game - a bad defeat and we're almost dead in the water after one game. It would be absurd to start with any of the above on the bench.

[John83]

I completely disagree. We have a very capable Premiership left back in Stevens, and several good options at centre half. That either Doherty or Coleman playing out of position is better than any of those is far from clear. Neither of them has shown they're an option in midfield. I'd also question the idea that a critical qualifier is the best spot to go experimenting. There's an argument to be made, sure, but "absurd" is itself quite absurd.

[CraftyToePoke]

Link - https://www.facebook.com/eireguide

A fortnight to go until the Republic of Ireland's World Cup qualifying campaign kicks off in Belgrade against Serbia. Oddly enough Stephen Kenny will not name his squad until Thursday, March 18th - 6 days before the game. We've asked the FAI for the reasoning behind this. Serbia announced their squad last week.

Surely the reasoning is obvious and simple enough, SK hoping some of his players will play some games at some point.

[SkStu]

We are not playing 433 attractively or effectively. I dont know that we have the players to play the roles needed and we seem to operate better with a clearly defined #10 in the team. The more i look at things over the last year the more convinced i am the 352 is a better overall system for us. I know it wont happen (by March or perhaps ever under Kenny) but i do think it merits a deeper discussion.

While i know not all the players in this example are available, this is an example of how it could look and there are clear replacements for each position. I have McGeady in there to basically be the #10 - a bit of a free role. He is in lethal form at the moment and could be worthy of a call up. But it could equally be another combination of two of the players called out earlier in the thread.

-------------------------Randolph

----------- O'Shea-------Egan-------Clark

Coleman----------------------------------------Stevens

-------------Molumby-------------------- Cullen
------------------------ Hendrick -----------------------

-------------------McGeady--------Long