The Squad

[paul_oshea]

Does anyone remember when we were all giving out about staunton and Kerr to a less extent about building for the future and young team blah de blah.4 year plan blah de blah.4 year plans are considered long term in lots of businesses.4 years is a long time in a footballers career, especially in the context of when a payers peak is.its actually their peak lifetime.

[dublinred]

Trap is a joke would be better off with Jack Charlton , read his comments about Coleman and Bale , if he bothered to go to games he would realise that Coleman has destroyed bale a few times already both from right back and right side of midfield , Ward gets dropped because he had one poor game while Trap was watching where as donkies not getting games or playing in lower divisions get called up.

[SkStu]

Answer the question. If he's such a good player, why hasn't Trapattoni, unarguably one of the most accomplished managers in football history, called him into the squad? No disrespect but I'd rate his opinion much higher in value than anyone on this website. Every time I've seen Ward play, he's looked bad. I just don't think he's a good player and from the looks of it, Trapattoni agrees with me. Ward is a capable left-back, which is our biggest weakness, and yet our manager insists on picking a 34 year old League One player instead. That says it all about Ward really.

The answer was implied - Trappatoni doesnt pick him because he appears not to rate him. You seem to piggyback on Trap's opinion by using that as your main argument in support of his exclusion. Thats grand and all but it wont garner you much credibility on this forum. I dont think Ward is a terrible player as you have stated (yet at the end of your above post you say he is capable - weird). Ward has had a few excellent performances in the LB position. That said he has had some below par performances too. He has made some mistakes due to inexperience but what player hasnt? Mistakes dont make someone a bad player but learning from them certainly indicates a smart and diligent footballer something that it is quite clear Ward is. His attitude in Molineaux has always been lauded.

I think the fact that Trappatoni doesnt pick him says more about the managers obsession with formation over player than it does about Ward. And i also think that the fact that Trappatoni "insists on picking a 34 year old League One player instead" says a lot more about Trappatoni's attitude as a manager than it does about Wards ability as a player. Think about that.

And when you've finished thinking about it, can you please provide a link or source for your statement that James McCarthy made himself unavailable for selection for this squad? Cheers.

[gilberto_eire]

And when you've finished thinking about it, can you please provide a link or source for your statement that James McCarthy made himself unavailable for selection for this squad? Cheers.

I reckon if he was picking the team he'd go with this

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.... best thing for all the regular posters here to do is stick him on ignore or just plainly ignore him altogether.

[Colbert Report]

Look, every time I've seen Ward play he's been not very good. That's why I don't rate him. I did see him score a great goal against Liverpool around Christmas but other than that I've nothing nice to say about him. I hope I'm wrong, left-back is definitely our weakest area, I love Kilbane but he is well past it at this point.

The McCarthy thing was a wind-up, I assumed that he hadn't been picked because of the fact that he's only just returning from injury but I think now it is clear that Trap has something personal against him. Didn't he fob off showing up to a training camp at the end of last season due to "fatigue"? Maybe Trap doesn't care for him personally, who knows. I'm getting extremely worried because he needs to be capped in a competitive match here right quick.