the missing links

[midfieldgeneral]

ryan
mcdonnell,purdy,delaney,mahon
mcwalther,whealen,finn,martin,
burke, doyle

the above team is one that colud possibly have played this season. instead four of the players left the club and the other seven are long term injuries. every single one of the players is as good if not better than the players currently in the first team.

no wonder doolo was a frustrated man. with the above eleven players out of the picture all he was able to bring in was griffen rooney and andrews, which is a bit of a mixed bag.

thankfull for pete mahon the seven injured are on the way back with probably only mahon and burke the only two that wont make it back in time to feature in the dog fight

[John83]

Originally posted by midfieldgeneral
ryan
mcdonnell,purdy,delaney,mahon
mcwalther,whealen,finn,martin,
burke, doyle

the above team is one that colud possibly have played this season. instead four of the players left the club and the other seven are long term injuries. every single one of the players is as good if not better than the players currently in the first team.

McDonnell is playing.
Purdy is at Kilkenny - which raises the question of just how good he really is.
Davey's better than Mahon.
McWalther better than Johnny Martin?
Gavin Whealan? The guy who's made a couple of appearances for us, ever?

Pff! Bazza Ryan, Clive Delaney and Robbie Doyle all left the club for greener pastures, and we have to forget about them. You don't hear Cherry Orchard moaning that if only Robbie Keane still played for them, they'd be winning the eL, do you?

Robbie Martin and Seán Finn were missed as options up front, but the rest of them are too young or just not that good. Last years' midfield was Cawley, Johnny Martin, Mick O'Donnell and Tony MacDonnell. All four of these still play for the club.

[pineapple stu]

Richie Purdy is at Kildare, but in any case isn't as good as Rob McAuley.

McNally's a better option in mid ahead of Gavin Whelan.

Basic point is okay - we've getting screwed around by injuries. But is also says something that Doolo managed two league wins in 20 games while Pete Mahon's managed two in three, even with most of the same injuries...

[CollegeTillIDie]

Pineapple Stu


Astute observation ! However in fairness, Pete now has some new players to bring in who are unknown quantities, in Mark Leech and Lloyd Colfer who were not at the club when the season started. Leech , being the son of former Shamrock Rovers and Waterford United goalscoring legend from the 1960's and 1970's , may well be cut from the same cloth so to speak. Which can only be good news for U.C.D.
As I explained to his father after that goal" He only needs to score 14 more to break the goalscoring record for a season"
here's hoping

[UCD_4_Life]

Pff! Bazza Ryan, Clive Delaney and Robbie Doyle all left the club for greener pastures, and we have to forget about them. You don't hear Cherry Orchard moaning that if only Robbie Keane still played for them, they'd be winning the eL, do you?

Shamrock Rovers? Greener pastures? Do me a lemon.

[Schumi]

Originally posted by John83
McDonnell is playing.

But has been injured (consulting handy match programme, only €2 )for 7 games this season and has been played out of position at the back all year due to shortages.

Purdy is at Kilkenny - which raises the question of just how good he really is.

Kildare actually, where he’s doing quite well and would be a decent option in defence.

Davey's better than Mahon.

But we’re stuck for cover. Davey’s only missed a few games but when he has, Darragh Ryan hasn’t done all that well.

McWalther better than Johnny Martin?
Gavin Whealan? The guy who's made a couple of appearances for us, ever?

Agreed, McWalter and Whelan aren’t significant losses other than the fact that we’re really stuck up front and McWalter would be handy (wouldn’t play him on the right wing though).

Pff! Bazza Ryan, Clive Delaney and Robbie Doyle all left the club for greener pastures, and we have to forget about them. You don't hear Cherry Orchard moaning that if only Robbie Keane still played for them, they'd be winning the eL, do you?

Cherry Orchard are a junior club, we’re not and it’s not like Bazza or Doyle left for Real Madrid. If we’re going to progress, we need to keep these kind of players. Delaney is the only one I wasn’t disappointed to lose.

Robbie Martin and Seán Finn were missed as options up front, but the rest of them are too young or just not that good. Last years' midfield was Cawley, Johnny Martin, Mick O'Donnell and Tony MacDonnell. All four of these still play for the club.

But Tony McDonnell is playing at the back due to not replacing Clive in any way.

[pineapple stu]

Originally posted by CollegeTillIDie
However in fairness, Pete now has some new players to bring in who are unknown quantities, in Mark Leech and Lloyd Colfer who were not at the club when the season started.

But Doolo brought them in having whinged about the fact that he couldn't sign anyone on deadline day (in fact he signed three players). This season, we've signed Rooney (already scored), Griffin (scored five; experienced player too), Andrews (now gone I think), O'Neill (also gone I think), Gaffney (already made his debut, already playing for Sligo), Gallagher (already playing for Dundalk), Leech (already scored, plus about three in four games for the reserves), Purcell, Colfer. All these players were signed by Doolo. There's nine players, signed at intervals throughout the season, a mix of experience and youngsters, many of whom already have first-team experience and who are, in my opinion, among the best ever set of youngsters I've seen us sign.

You can't get "frustrated" and bugger off because you get an injury crisis. Likewise, I think a lot of Doolo's comments don't add up. Doolo just seemed to have tired of struggling, and made up his mind to leave (obviously long before he did). So if we do better now, it'll be because Pete Mahon's a better manager who wants to turn the team around and build it up more than Doolo did. Sad but true.

[Schumi]

Originally posted by pineapple stu
Doolo just seemed to have tired of struggling, and made up his mind to leave

He went to the wrong place so!

[pineapple stu]

Originally posted by Schumi
He went to the wrong place so!

At least he'll be able to buy in players there!

Oh wait...

[John83]

Originally posted by pineapple stu
...O'Neill (also gone I think)...

Gone where? Austin O'Neill? Who's been sitting on the bloody bench? Are you trying to get UCD to play you in nets again?

[pineapple stu]

Originally posted by John83
Gone where? Austin O'Neill? Who's been sitting on the bloody bench? Are you trying to get UCD to play you in nets again?

I have claimed a cross on Belfield Park - I am happy!!!!!

The story is that after being dropped for Pete Mahon's first game in charge, Austin O'Neill went into the changing rooms after the warm up and said "That's it lads, I'm off". He wasn't too happy about things and that seems to have something to do with why Gallagher's on the bench lately. Don't know exactly where he is now, but that's what I've heard anyway.

[John83]

Originally posted by pineapple stu
The story is that after being dropped for Pete Mahon's first game in charge, Austin O'Neill went into the changing rooms after the warm up and said "That's it lads, I'm off". He wasn't too happy about things and that seems to have something to do with why Gallagher's on the bench lately. Don't know exactly where he is now, but that's what I've heard anyway.

I hope he hasn't left the club. He's looked a far better prospect than Jennings, and he's a younger too.

[lefty]

We would be stupid to let Austin go he looks a much better goalkeeper than Jennings. Jennings gives fans heart failure. He tends to make mistake a game and is not very good at collecting crosses. Austin seems small for a keeper but he has shown his potential and he is good at marshalling the defence aswell which is a very important goalkeeper trait.

Lets get rid of Jennings, put Austin in as No. 1 and sign Pineapple as a sub goalkeeper!

[midfieldgeneral]

i can't believe that you would prefer to have a keeper in the team (o'neill) who is willing to walk out on the club five mins before the start of a a game. whetear he is better that jennings or not that is not the question, that sort of behaviour is disgraceful and there is no place for it at UCD

as for the rest of players who you have dished in the previous entries

McWalther when he got in the first team was our best player for a few games, the examples being shels away and derry at home if he hadn't got injured he would prob still be ahead of rooney and gallen

Whealen started the season superbly as well and was ahead of cawley and micko in terms of selection, he was unfortunate to get injured as well

Finn was club captain and possibly best player for a period in the middle of last season until he got injured which hes still recovering from

Robbie Martin was FAI young player of the year two seasons ago, and even though he hadn't played well this year, his potential is huge

Purdy may be playing for kildare now but he has proven his ability over the years and would be a better option than Donnelly and savage

mahon wouldn't be ahead of sullivan in getting the right full spot but having him in the squad would allow for sullivan to be pushed forward into midfield and increas our attacking options considerably

Delaney ryan and doyles talent speak for themselves

Even pat burke who hasn't really featured in the first team won the collingwood cup player of the tournament an award he got ahead of many of the current first team players and was the first ucd player in over ten years to get it and there has been a lot of good players at the club in that time

Basically i dont take your points that the team of players i suggested above in the initial entry is irrelevant. It is very much relevant in understanding whats gone wrong this season

[Schumi]

I gnoring players who left the club, the strongest team we could put without injuries this season would be IMO:

                     Jennings[SIZE=1]1[/SIZE]

Sullivan[SIZE=1]2[/SIZE]      McAuley       McDonnell       Davey

J. Martin[SIZE=1]2[/SIZE] O'Donnell/Whelan     McNally     Cawley

            R. Martin      Rooney/McWalter[SIZE=1]3[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]1[/SIZE] If O'Neill walked out after being dropped for the first time (and let's face it, it's not like he was much better than Jennings on those showings), I won't shed too many tears for him.
[SIZE=1]2[/SIZE] This is a better combination than Mahon at RB and Sullivan at RM I think.
[SIZE=1]3[/SIZE] The inexperience of these two shows how short we are up front. Burke looks to be good but agian hasn't played a first team game.

[John83]

Originally posted by Schumi
[SIZE=1]1[/SIZE] If O'Neill walked out after being dropped for the first time (and let's face it, it's not like he was much better than Jennings on those showings), I won't shed too many tears for him.

[SIZE=1]2[/SIZE] This is a better combination than Mahon at RB and Sullivan at RM I think.

[SIZE=1]3[/SIZE] The inexperience of these two shows how short we are up front. Burke looks to be good but again hasn't played a first team game.

[SIZE=1]1[/SIZE] I agree. I thought he was good, and I'm annoyed to have lost him this way, but if he's that big-headed, I don't really want him in the team. Cawley's ego is enough.

[SIZE=1]2[/SIZE] I agree fully, but I think midfieldgeneral (is that you making excuses Doolo? ) is just trying to point out that Mahon would give us an option there, if we needed to, say use one of them in the centre of midfield - where Sullivan was impressive against Cairk.

[SIZE=1]3[/SIZE] Yes, we're short there, though what about these claims that Finn is great? And Burko plays nets. He has no place here.

[Schumi]

Originally posted by John83
what about these claims that Finn is great?

$hite, forgot about him. Yeah Robbie Martin and Finn up front would be best although Finn is better as an attacking midfielder but needs must. Maybe a 4-4-1-1 would be better but that would leave Robbie Martin a bit isolated up front and holding up the ball is not his strength.

[pineapple stu]

Originally posted by midfieldgeneral
Basically i dont take your points that the team of players i suggested above in the initial entry is irrelevant. It is very much relevant in understanding whats gone wrong this season

On recent performances, Johnny Martin and Mick O'Donnell have claimed a regular first team place. I presume your Martin is Robbie as you say all the players are injured/sold? Johnny Martin's been ever-present this year. Don't think Whelan and Finn would have enough of presence in the mid - drop Whelan, bring Alan McNally in there, or even Tony Mac and Sullivan/Mahon into full-back. First Division standard is way below Premier by all accounts, so I'd have Tony Mac/Alan McNally in ahead of Purdy. You can't complain about losing Delaney cross-channel though.

My team (all fit, all sold) would be -

Jennings
Sullivan
McAuley
McDonnell (c)
Mahon
J Martin
Cawley
McNally
Sullivan
Griffin
R Martin

Subs -
Micko (after praising him!)
Leech
Gallagher
Finn
AN Other (possibly Whelan)

[Schumi]

Originally posted by pineapple stu

My team (all fit, all sold) would be -

Jennings
Sullivan
McAuley
McDonnell (c)
Mahon
J Martin
Cawley
McNally
Sullivan
Griffin
R Martin

Interesting, Sullivan to play twice and no Davey?

[pineapple stu]

Originally posted by Schumi
Interesting, Sullivan to play twice and no Davey?

Doh! That should be Davey on the wing, not Sullivan. Or should it be Sullivan on the wing and Davey full-back???