Team for WC qualifiers.

[Dodge]

In fairness I thought he was EASILY man of the match that day. I'd love him to play wide left but as long as we have absolutely no other options up front I'd play him there. Not ideal but there you go...

[Slash/ED]

Originally posted by Dodge
In fairness I thought he was EASILY man of the match that day. I'd love him to play wide left but as long as we have absolutely no other options up front I'd play him there. Not ideal but there you go...

My main problem is he and Keane just don't produce goals together and we rely too much on goal scoring mid fielders which wont bail us out every time when playing him there, at least with Morrison Keane seems to get more himself, but I think we'll have to agree to disagree

[carnstien]

Originally posted by Dodge
In fairness I thought he was EASILY man of the match that day. I'd love him to play wide left but as long as we have absolutely no other options up front I'd play him there. Not ideal but there you go...

Roy Keane was by far our best player at home to Holland. Duff did nothing, he hardly touched the ball all game.

And there is an alternative to playing Duff up front and that is Morrison, he has a great goalscoring record at international level and he deserves a run in the team. He links up far better with Keane that Duff does, as Morrisson tends to stay in the box and Keane likes to drift around.

[Niamh_GalwayGal]

play harte beside keane up front

just have him sit down somehere and be quiet until we need him to take free kicks.

cant be worse than doherty

[Ozymandias]

In relation to the midfield...People on here are still claiming holland is good enough...afte the last three matches (canada included) i think he has been pure s***e....Healy was hung out to dry by Hollands Inadequacy particularly against russia and swiss...Healy at least continued to try and create and pass the ball while holland left him unprotected to deal with two men...Hollnad has been terrible since the world cup after he claimed he would step into roys shoes and lead our midfield (which we all hoped he would do to some degree all knowing he isn't as good a player but the best we had left).....I think healy is a better option and with a years football behind him at sunderland will only get better....Maybe Holland will rediscover his appetite but at the moment I think he has been our worst player on average in the last qualifying campaign....yep worse than Harte


Now I have it off my chest...I'll sit down

[DolansWaistcoat]

I'd like to see Healy get back in but Holland has the advantage of playing prem football every week,hopefully Healy will get back in the prem with sunderland.I dont like seeing to many div 1 players in the irish squad.Matt holland has been playing great stuff lately with Charlton and they are flying in the premership up in the top 5 or 6.

[colster]

Over the next few games I reckon we can try out a few midfield combinations and come up with a good one to start the WC qualifyinng campaign.
Whatever we do we need to give Clinton Morrisson a run of games with Keane up front and Duff on the left.
A.Reid should compete with Miller for a place on the right.

When you consider that we can put out a team like this who are all playing in the top flight things can't be that bad.

Given
Carr O'Shea Cunningham Finnan
Miller Holland Delap Duff
Morrisson Keane

[John83]

Originally posted by Niamh_GalwayGal
play harte beside keane up front

just have him sit down somehere and be quiet until we need him to take free kicks.

cant be worse than doherty

Unfortunately, Harte's free kicks seem to have gone the way of any defensive skill he ever had. I haven't seen him hit a good one in ages. Leave them to Duffer.

[John83]

Originally posted by colster
Over the next few games I reckon we can try out a few midfield combinations and come up with a good one to start the WC qualifyinng campaign.
Whatever we do we need to give Clinton Morrisson a run of games with Keane up front and Duff on the left.
A.Reid should compete with Miller for a place on the right.

When you consider that we can put out a team like this who are all playing in the top flight things can't be that bad.

Given
Carr O'Shea Cunningham Finnan
Miller Holland Delap Duff
Morrisson Keane

I mostly agree, but O'Shea and Morrisson aren't getting games for their clubs at the moment, while Delap doesn't seem to ever get a look in for Ireland (maybe try him up front ) and Miller is only comming off the bench in his first season of senior football.

[colster]

Originally posted by John83
I mostly agree, but O'Shea and Morrisson aren't getting games for their clubs at the moment, while Delap doesn't seem to ever get a look in for Ireland (maybe try him up front ) and Miller is only comming off the bench in his first season of senior football.

You could replace O'Shea with Dunne. Dunne has broken back into Man CIty team.
I think Delap would provide a bit of steel in midifield.
I think we need to give Morrisson a run of games.

[tiktok]

Given
Finnan Cunningham Breen O'Shea
Miller Holland Kavanagh Duff
Reid
Keane

probably not an ideal system, don't think Keane plays far up enough to lead the line, but if i was to pick a team tomorrow, this would be it....

a year down the line O'Brien, Dunne, Thornton, Delap, Morrison might well figure.

[colster]

Originally posted by tiktok
Given
Finnan Cunningham Breen O'Shea
Miller Holland Kavanagh Duff
Reid
Keane

probably not an ideal system, don't think Keane plays far up enough to lead the line, but if i was to pick a team tomorrow, this would be it....

a year down the line O'Brien, Dunne, Thornton, Delap, Morrison might well figure.

How about altering the formation a bit

Given
Finnan Cunningham Breen O'Shea

Holland Kavanagh

Miller Reid Duff

Keane

[DolansWaistcoat]

one up front wont work with robbie Keane on his own.Oh Niall Quinn please come back.We mocked him for years and now hes gone,we miss him so much.

[Seanie]

Originally posted by John83
I mostly agree, but O'Shea and Morrisson aren't getting games for their clubs at the moment, while Delap doesn't seem to ever get a look in for Ireland (maybe try him up front ) and Miller is only comming off the bench in his first season of senior football.

O'Shea is a regular for United - he may have been dropped a couple of times and may not be performing to the heights of last season, but this guy is the future and his place in the side shouldn't be in doubt. Why do people have such short memories - remember how he took on Figo in the Bernebeu last season. He may not have carried his club form onto the international team yet, but give the lad a break

[DolansWaistcoat]

No one is doubting O'Sheas ability but it about picking players who are in form and playing for their club all the time ,O shea is'nt at the moment but when the qualifiers do come around that will have probably changed.

[brine2]

Given

Carr - Cunningham - O'Shea - Finnan

Reid - Miller - Healy - Reid - Duff

Keane

[carnstien]

Originally posted by brine2
Given

Carr - Cunningham - O'Shea - Finnan

Reid - Miller - Healy - Reid - Duff

Keane

Thats a pretty good team, but I don't know about Stephen Ried on the right. I just don't see him as international class, based on his performances so far. I also don't think that Keane would be able to lead the line on his own. If you swapped Ried for Morrisson up front, I think thats about as strong a team as we could put out.

[Condex]

One problem with the team above. Two many small/light players they'll get pushed all over the place.

[frano]

Good to see Dunne get a mention, I know he's been out on a limb for a while, but he seems to be having a good run latley, and he has proved himself at the very highest level with great perfomances against Holland and Portugal, ahh the memories.

I do think people are jumping on Dohca too quickly. If he can work on his holding game he could be the ideal partner for Keane, as he's a handful for defenders already when it comes to set pieces. That would give the advantage of bringing on Morrisson, or whoever, with fresh legs for the last 20 or 30 minutes. When the lack of experience could be set against the fact that the defenders they'd come up against would have already played for an hour.

As for Duff, if any player in recent history deserves a free role for at least the opening 1/4 of a game, it's him. Besides, when he's played up front he ends coming back into midfield to pick up the ball anyway.