Great result tonight, but only serves to paper over the cracks!
McShane must be taken out of the team, just not upto standard, League 1 player at best who has got moves on the back of being selected by Stan.
On another point,Trapp got out of Jail tonight against 10 men, In reality it's only served to prelong the agony.
No question McShane was probably the worst player on the pitch tonight.
The only worse performance was from the referee, not that I'm complaining!
Foley, a match fit Kelly, or even Carr would be a better option.
I was absolutely mortified when O'Shea went out wide and McShane slotted into the middle.
Say the_doc, is there anyone you could recommend as deserving a place in the squad? I'm lost for ideas as to other defenders who could fill in? Anyone at all spring to mind??
You must have been gutted when Robbie's goal went in?
The promise has come to nothing. Less than nothing. His presence on the pitch is a big fat liability & even the famous Irish graft works against him as he makes rash challenges (and we saw petulance from him too in the second half & in giving off to Keogh)
Here here. I'd take Kelly or Foley ahead of that excuse for a pro footballer. Interesting to note that Trap had the 2 reserve right backs on the bench, pity he didn't start one of them..
San Marino are going to be a handful as the group goes on." - Steve Staunton reacts to performance against San Marino.
Foley needs to play in the friendlies before our next qualifier.
With what we have available McShane probably still deserves a place in the squad but should only be in the starting 11 when we are down to the bare bones. If Finnan comes back, Foley and O'Dea continue their progress and Kelly overcomes his bad patch then he shouldn't have a chance of getting near the team.
In fairness to McShane he looked more comfortable when switched to CH, but he is not an option at full back, he needs to have a his man in front of him.
He's desperately poor alright. At least at FB
I think fair play to Trap (and eirebhoy) for making the JOS/McShane switch. Pity we didn't have a natural RB to start with.
Please tell me that was Mc****e's second yellow card
Originally Posted by OwenGoal
The automatically-generated asterixes replace the S-H-A-N. Like you didn't know.
He was poor when he had to defend on the ground. He was well above par on the other aspects like passing and heading.
I don't really know who was at fault for the first goal. It's basically down to whether you feel himself or Keogh should have been marking the attacker or the Italian left back. Trap obviously would have told either McShane or Keogh to mark Grosso because he's one of the most attacking full backs in the world.
Overall I thought he had a decent game by his standards in that position (we know he's not a great attacker). He was 2 or 3 times more involved in the first half than Kilbane and I can't remember him misplacing a pass (pass, not cross). He's a weak link at full back though because of his pace, positioning in that position and the fact he's a poor attacker.
I just wish people would judge him seperately at full back and centre half. At one point Dunne missed a header completely. It went by McShane and the Italian had a decent chance but he also missed it. 3 players missed it. 2 Irish. But someone watching it with me puts all the blame on McShane.
Last edited by eirebhoy; 01/04/2009 at 9:58 PM.
Keogh's poor control gave Italy possession. From that point on it was McShane's responsibility to guard that corner.
McShane is ok with everything infront of him. Once you start introducing angles he's in trouble. He doesn't like having the ball at feet either so it was clever of Trap to move the two.
I wonder if Finnan is unavailable for the Bulgaria game how the defence will line up. I think and hope he'll stick with McShane at centre half and O'Shea at right back. With McShane at centre half if he doesn't commit an error he's probably going to be contender for man of the match. At right back you're pretty much guaranteed an error or 2 and he's not going to offer much going forward. It's worth splitting the central defence up if we're going to stick with the same 4 defenders in Bulgaria.
His problem is he can't defend. His positioning is poor & he cannot tackle. He has had his chances. Time to sit on the bench.
In fairness, he did get forward quite a bit. He actually was playing right wing for a few minutes in the first half. I'm just watching the game again. Hunt's Ray Houghton impression was class.
McShane is not up to it, but don't think Trap doesn't know this. He's a centre back, not a full back, and that is quite clear after tonight. Until we have a better option at RB, like Finnan, or a fully fit an unretired Stephen Carr, he'll keep getting picked.
What is the deal with Carr? Surely he wouldn't turn down the chance to play in the World Cup would he?
Good move by trap to but mcshane out of harms way. He got destroyed in the first half and got caught out several times.
He probably would, he's a miserable 'ol b*stard!
"A silent mouth is sweet to hear"
Mc**** OUT!
Seemed like the right call to me tbh. O'Shea gives more going forward and despite McShane's drawbacks, he and Dunne would always be expected to cope with 1 Italian forwardI was absolutely mortified when O'Shea went out wide and McShane slotted into the middle
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