The 10 musts if we're to qualify for the World Cup

[jbyrne]

He was brilliant in the Germany game in Croker. To me that is his best performance in a green shirt.

against an already qualified german team content to get a draw. he was poor the following wednesday against cyprus when he actually came up against a team willing to close him down

[DeLorean]

The Germany game was unreal. It was a pleasure to see an Irish midfielder with such quality on the ball. Picked the correct pass every time whether it be a simple one or the more difficult option. Showed for the ball all the time and his delivery was different class. He's a real player and I think Keane isn't doing him any favours at the moment either. Anytime I see Sunderland he's the one who makes things tick for them and Keane either substitutes him or leaves him out for the next match. His substtutions on Sunday bordered on lunacy. Down 1-0 and take off your only 2 creative players ie. Reid and Malbranque for Diouf and Murphy with a half hr still to play. Reid was excellent against Isreal at Landsdowne a couple of yrs back as well in that 2-2 game. Well first half anyway, unreal pass for Keanes goal if I remember right.

[elroy]

Home to Germany, the 5-0 win at home to San Marino. When Reid played last campaign he was pretty much the key player every time.

Im sorry but we cant use games against San Marino as evidence of Reids influence, he scored a deflected free kick that night fair enough.
Away to San Marino- disaster, didnt play
Wales at home - didnt play
Wales away - meaningless game, though did put in a decent performance.
Slovakia at home - didnt play
Slovakia away - didnt play
Czech away - played
Czech home - He played, in our best performance of the campaign
Cyprus away - didnt play
Cyprus at home - Played, ineffective, Only Given came out of this game with any credit
Germany at home - a meaningless game really and that was evident by how the germans played, where we had very few chances bar Keanes attempted lob.
Germany away - didnt play

The previous campaign (WC 2006) he featured in most of the games. However, didnt play in our best performance away to france.

For some reason in recent years we are obsessed with players that arent in the Irish squad as opposed to those in it. Dont get me wrong, I think Reid is a good player, but not half as influential as people are making out. IMO S Reid is far and above are more valuable player to us.

[elroy]

Reid was excellent against Isreal at Landsdowne a couple of yrs back as well in that 2-2 game. Well first half anyway, unreal pass for Keanes goal if I remember right.

yes you are right, that was a great clip pass through for Irelands goal. Reid came off after about an hour that night. The team in general played great for a half hour that night and then it all slipped away when Keane went off injured.

[IsMiseSean]

I dont really understand this obsession that A Reid is going to solve all our problems, he isnt. There is a reason why Jol and Keane didnt/dont have him as a first team regular. He doesnt fit into Traps system, like it or not, im willing to respect Traps decisions for now, 7 points from 9 is pretty good.

Thats a great point. We are in a good position in the group right now... Until that changes we shouldn't be critising Trap.
I think it's ridiculous some of the comments and articles i've seen lately about Trap.... Esp that knob-head in the Sunday World (Curtis) I hate that man with a passion

[eirebhoy]

The previous campaign (WC 2006) he featured in most of the games. However, didnt play in our best performance away to france.

He came on for Morrison in the first half and actually played very well in that game.

[elroy]

Steven Reid has had even fewer influential games for us than Andy!

i still remain unconvinced of all these games where Andy was a key performer for us.

S Reid has already captained his country despite relatively low number of caps, he would have alot more only for injury. Reid has been a regular in a first XI in the premiership for a couple of years now. A Reid has never been able to say that.

[paul_oshea]

any idea with Steven RED when he will be fit?!

[DeLorean]

i still remain unconvinced of all these games where Andy was a key performer for us.

S Reid has already captained his country despite relatively low number of caps, he would have alot more only for injury. Reid has been a regular in a first XI in the premiership for a couple of years now. A Reid has never been able to say that.

That captaincy point is completely irrelevant. It was a friendly against Holland with no Given, Keane, Dunne, etc. What does that prove exactly....that because a shrewd operator like Stan chose him to wear the armband it proves he's a more important player than his namesake!!!

In relation to naming games where either player were key performers for us...u could count them on one hand I would think. That doesn't matter though I'm sure both players would have a bigger lists if StevenR could have stayed fit and AndyR was selected.

[irishfan86]

Maybe I'm just too pragmatic but I'd take Steven over Andy any day.

I'd rather watch Andy play, from an aesthetic and entertainment viewpoint, but if I'm a manager trying to win a game, it's Steven every time.

At the end of the day though, Ciaran, however inaccurate his viewpoints may be on other points, is accurate on this one: "Steven Reid has had even fewer influential games for us than Andy!"

The reality is that Steven Reid has been injured for the majority of our qualifiers since breaking into the Irish squad, and when he initially played for us it was as a right sided midfield player.

As a right sided midfielder he's never really impressed me. He's not particularly pacy, not very tricky, and his crossing is not really the best.

I think he's fantastic in the holding or box-to-box central roles, but this has not where he has played for the majority of his time with Ireland.

It is only in this campaign that he has been used in the centre on a consistent basis.

[bellavistaman]

Ciaran I don't generally beleive the hype from the EL Brigade, but this lad is class. He really controlled the away game against Hertha, away not at home where it really takes class. He was probably the best player on the pitch that night. Also saw the sweden game from online and he looked very good.

Correct!!

Fahey deserves at least a friendly call IMO, he can do exactly what gibson and whelan are doing in the prem league!!

[Saint_Charlie]

Correct!!

Fahey deserves at least a friendly call IMO, he can do exactly what gibson and whelan are doing in the prem league!!

Looks like Fats is gone to Birmingham now. Hopefully he can prove himself there and show the doubters what he's all about.

[Uncle_Joe]

[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]A lot of people seem to like looking at Andy Reid through rose-tinted glasses these days. [/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]I’ve never seen Reid play brilliantly with any consistency. The Germany game stood out for me for 1 reason and that was the fact that a German team came over and without trying very hard, looked very comfortable in handling us, apart from Keanes chip into Lehman’s arms.[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]He is without doubt one of the best passers of the ball we have but the way we are set up now with Duff & McGeady doesn’t leave room for him.[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]The system would have to change to accommodate Reid and I don’t think anyone could see Trap changing the team to accommodate one player. [/FONT][/COLOR]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]I’m quite happy with 7 points from 3 games, with Bulgaria looking sloppy and taking a few points off Italy a possibility. It gets a bit tiring to hear player after player getting written of as “not up to this level” after failing to dominate games in their first few internationals. Who would have thought that we would ever be thinking that O’Shea was a key player for us?[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Its very possible and probably very likely that if we continue with our solid if unspectacular performances we will qualify second. 1-0 home win in the playoffs and a 0-0 away. [/SIZE][/FONT]

[Uncle_Joe]

Nicely typed

[tommy_c12000]

Nicely typed

Got fairly dizzy reading that one Joe. Only made it half way down

[Stuttgart88]

Who would have thought that we would ever be thinking that O’Shea was a key player for us?

Me? A few other of the less emotional types on this forum too.

[paul_oshea]

Can I join that bandwagon? I thought years ago he would however not recently

[DeLorean]

John O'Shea is no more a key player than most of our team. We are fairly thin on the ground in most positions. The only area really that we can afford an injury really is on the wings as we have a small bit of cover there. We can also afford an injury or ten in the centre mid cos we're just basically gonna be replacing crap with crap by the looks of it anyway.

[Wolfie]

[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]A lot of people seem to like looking at Andy Reid through rose-tinted glasses these days. [/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]I’ve never seen Reid play brilliantly with any consistency. The Germany game stood out for me for 1 reason and that was the fact that a German team came over and without trying very hard, looked very comfortable in handling us, apart from Keanes chip into Lehman’s arms.[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]He is without doubt one of the best passers of the ball we have but the way we are set up now with Duff & McGeady doesn’t leave room for him.[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]The system would have to change to accommodate Reid and I don’t think anyone could see Trap changing the team to accommodate one player. [/FONT][/COLOR]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]I’m quite happy with 7 points from 3 games, with Bulgaria looking sloppy and taking a few points off Italy a possibility. It gets a bit tiring to hear player after player getting written of as “not up to this level” after failing to dominate games in their first few internationals. Who would have thought that we would ever be thinking that O’Shea was a key player for us?[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Its very possible and probably very likely that if we continue with our solid if unspectacular performances we will qualify second. 1-0 home win in the playoffs and a 0-0 away. [/SIZE][/FONT]

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[Uncle_Joe]

To be fair I always thought it too , when he was buzzing up and down for Man U. Then after seeing him at Lansdowne over the years, he just looked so unsure of doing anything that generally he did absolutely nothing.

Having said that, he has been one of our consistant players over the last few years. I havnt seen the stats but he seems to be playing a bit more for Man U these days as well.