An Over Rated Irish 11

[EastTerracer]

Steven Reid should possibly be there. He's had 2 good games in an Irish shirt and is often times treated like the teams success hinges on his fitness.

Very good player at times no doubt but I feel like he hasn't earned the high caliber reputation he's been given at international level.

Not the first time you've posted this. Apart from his very early appearances (in the 2002 world cup) I don't think he's done anything wrong for us when he's been fit to play. He hasn't always been picked in his correct position but even when picked out wide he was always consistent, if not spectacular.

Think its a bit harsh to judge McGeady as above. He should have scored a couple of goals at crucial moments during this campaign but I recall several times during the campaign when he took the pressure off the defence by making some long (if meandering) runs with the ball into opposition territory. The final ball definitely needs work though.

[peadar1987]

Steven Reid should possibly be there. He's had 2 good games in an Irish shirt and is often times treated like the teams success hinges on his fitness.

Very good player at times no doubt but I feel like he hasn't earned the high caliber reputation he's been given at international level.

That's the thing. It's an over-rated XI, not a hopelessly **** XI! So while Doherty wasn't brilliant, few people ever said he were, so I don't think he really qualifies for being over-rated. For my money:

Kiely (Suddenly world class after being dropped)

McShane (The Great White Hope after the Czech game)
Breen (One of my favourite players, but I think he was more lucky than amazing!)
O'Shea (Controversial, he's very good, but when he burst onto the scene, everyone thought he was going to be world class)
Harte (Could hit a free kick, which masked his faults on the back foot)

McGeady (People are starting to realise he hasn't got a great end product yet, but he was really overrated for years)
Miller
Healy (Next Roy Keane)
McCarthy
Garvan (Both promising, but again, got the whole "world class" tag attached to them, which they are almost certainly not)

Stokes (He's a good finisher, but again, not up to the hype that surrounded him when he was on loan at Falkirk)

I was tempted to put Sadlier in up front, but he was a brilliant player, who was crippled by injuries. (I was actually at his last ever game, Stoke against Millwall at the Britannia in 2003. Even though he could still barely walk, you could see he was a great footballer)

[Fixer82]

Bit harsh on Healy too. He was very good for us until he got a very bad injury. There was another player I thought would break into centre midfield for us but didn't, possibly cos of injury I can't remember. His name was Barry Quinn I think...

[elroy]

O'Shea (Controversial, he's very good, but when he burst onto the scene, everyone thought he was going to be world class)

McCarthy

Garvan (Both promising, but again, got the whole "world class" tag attached to them, which they are almost certainly not)

Stokes (He's a good finisher, but again, not up to the hype that surrounded him when he was on loan at Falkirk)

O'Shea, are you serious??? Come on, he has developed into a damn fine player, one of our most important and becoming more and more important to Man U with each season.

The other 3 are a bit young to write off but Garvan has certainly been rated very highly here with not a lot so far to back it up.

[gael353]

and there can only be one name as manager...highly rated by the FAI, constent, heap of excuses for his "lack of luck" "players fault" etc....Super unlucky....Don Givens!

[Crosby87]

Anyone who thinks Hunt should be on this team needs to watch the Bolton/Hull match from a couple of days ago. Hunt looks like Ronaldo out there.

So he had womans clothing on?

[CarrickFan]

Keith Fahey as captain

Clueless.

[peadar1987]

O'Shea, are you serious??? Come on, he has developed into a damn fine player, one of our most important and becoming more and more important to Man U with each season.

The other 3 are a bit young to write off but Garvan has certainly been rated very highly here with not a lot so far to back it up.

Don't get me wrong, I really rate O'Shea. I think he's an excellent player. However, when he first emerged, people were saying he was going to be one of the ten best defenders in the world, which he isn't.

[Crosby87]

However, when he first emerged, people were saying he was going to be one of the ten best defenders in the world, which he isn't.

I think this is the kind of thing that lends a hand to a foggy memory. I dont remember anyone ever saying JO was going to be a top ten defender in the world. Maybe they said they hoped he would be. Its the details like this that are messed up over time. There is always a mystery group of people "saying" things. Yet no one knows who these people are. I think a lot of times some drunk guy in a bar on a tuesday night in January ends up being "These People" 6 years later.

[peadar1987]

I think this is the kind of thing that lends a hand to a foggy memory. I dont remember anyone ever saying JO was going to be a top ten defender in the world. Maybe they said they hoped he would be. Its the details like this that are messed up over time. There is always a mystery group of people "saying" things. Yet no one knows who these people are. I think a lot of times some drunk guy in a bar on a tuesday night in January ends up being "These People" 6 years later.

Just because he's overrated by some drunk guy in a bar doesn't mean he wasn't overrated

I was 15 or 16 when he started to break into the first team, and I'm going to admit to being one of "those people" myself!

[Den Perry]

Hunt is Irelands best outfield player imo

are you having a laugh? touch wise he is absolutely scandalous...and ha no brain whatsoever. two bloody goals against Bolton somebody posted above...what's that old saying? oe swallow and all that....

[Den Perry]

I'd have McGeady in for Hunt.
There's not much between them but Hunt is not over-rated nearly as much as McGeady

Chris Morris was a decent full-back too.

I have to say that defensively Morris was one of the best right-backs i've seen play for us. it was his crossing that was poor

[Oink]

are you having a laugh? touch wise he is absolutely scandalous...and ha no brain whatsoever. two bloody goals against Bolton somebody posted above...what's that old saying? oe swallow and all that....

Ok, Hunts first touch is pretty brutal and he's not as technical as a Kevin Kilbane but he has a very good football brain..... very clever at reading and working the opposition, knows how to play the ref, makes some great runs off the ball and makes very few mistakes in judgement in his own teams half. Things he no doubt works on harder than most in order to make up for his shortcomings and something I respect about the little pikey.

[pineapple stu]

Don't get me wrong, I really rate O'Shea. I think he's an excellent player. However, when he first emerged, people were saying he was going to be one of the ten best defenders in the world, which he isn't.

Yeah, was thinking of putting O'Shea in myself, but in the last couple of years, he's really come good. Prior to that, he was very much overrated.

Agree with Liam Miller in the selection too.

Nobody rated Alan O'Brien bar Pat Devlin, so he can't go in.

[gael353]

My eleven


Bonnor (was lucky to be in a winning team where we often played with 6defenders and yes cost us games in two world cups

Stephen Kelly:.lots of clubs "highly rated" at all and sold the following season
Ian Harte: Nuff said
Phill Babb: such lack of pace for such a "speedy" center half
David O'Leary: ****e manager but one of the most static center halves ever to attepmt playing football
Paul McShane: car crash.............

Ray Houghton; Two or three goals in big matches makes him a hero, but added nothing on the field. ran like an expecting ant, going home with some heavy shopping.
Colin Healy: Hes from cork, he signed with united, hes the next roy keane
Liam Miller: Hes from cork, hes with unitied hes the next roy keane
Aidin McGeady, good dribbler, loses the ball too much and no final ball

Anthony Stokes; found his level at hibs


manager Don Givens


tellin ye, we might just do it with this team

[Hibs4Ever]

Ray Houghton; Two or three goals in big matches makes him a hero, but added nothing on the field. ran like an expecting ant, going home with some heavy shopping.

Rubbish, Houghton was a great player

[elroy]

My eleven


Bonnor (was lucky to be in a winning team where we often played with 6defenders and yes cost us games in two world cups

Ray Houghton; Two or three goals in big matches makes him a hero, but added nothing on the field. ran like an expecting ant, going home with some heavy shopping.

Cant agree with Houghton, he put in some great performances for us.
You have a point with Bonner though, certainly nowhere near as good as Given, although performances like Denmark away in the 94 campaign were top notch.

[Wangball]

Ray Houghton; Two or three goals in big matches makes him a hero, but added nothing on the field. ran like an expecting ant, going home with some heavy shopping.
Colin Healy: Hes from cork, he signed with united, hes the next roy keane

Colin Healy never played for United did he????

As for Houghton this just shows how delusional some fans are, what exactly do we expect from our players? One thing Ireland fans have been noted for is not hammering players as long as they show they are commited to our cause by giving 100% and Houghton certainly did that. Houghton was an integral part of the most successful Ireland team we ever had and for that matter a hugely successful Liverpool team that would of surely conquered Europe had it not been for the Heysel ban, he achieved more in an Ireland shirt than nearly anyone else, winning goals against England and Italy in 2 major championships and a trophy cabinet that would be the envy of any Irish internation (O'Shea, Irwin & Keane aside)

Your inclusion of him is ignorant to say the least

For the record I'm not just some Houghton-O-Phile...I just chose him to illustrate the point.

EDIT***** Just to point out, guys like McGeady, Garvan, Stokes etc are just at the beginning of their international careers and the point should be made that our expectations of them is in no way reflective of their actual ability, half the people on here have probably never seen Owen Garvan play yet are quick to write him off because he has yet to fulfil the hype built up in the media, ha hasn't even got a single cap! We're starting to come off like English fans, building guys up only to revel in pulling them down with stupid comments like we've used in this thread

[Crosby87]

Yeah, was thinking of putting O'Shea in myself, but in the last couple of years, he's really come good. Prior to that, he was very much overrated.

I dont understand that though Pine. If the point of this thread is: "What Irish players did you think would be Pele when they were 18-25 but they werent?" Then I agree. But realistically, the man has been a fixture for Man U for a while now. Perhaps he needed some time when he was younger but you really thought he was going to be a great player at 22 or 23?
Its really unrealistic in my mind to think O'Shea hasnt taken a natural career path.

Wouldnt this all mean young James McCarthy is overrated? I mean how can we even judge his progress when he never plays? How can you be overrated before you've got a fair crack at being rated?

[pineapple stu]

What he does for Man U is irrelevant in the context of this thread, I think.

O'Shea was, as you say, long a fixture for United but often poor for Ireland. I know I've often given out about his performances here, and had many agreeing with me. As I say, in the last couple of years, he's improved immensely in the green, but before that, I think he was a definite candidate for a team of players whose reputation far outshone their performances for Ireland.