I didn't note that.
I remember the initial story and thought it was coming out now.
Eh, but shouldn't we be able to blame the Indo on all the ills of the world?
My point was that it contradicts everyone here calling Keogh "Mr Reliable", saying he always turns up, always toes the line. And to show the hypocrisy of Crappatoni.
It was never said that Keogh was the player. People said it on ybig as a joke to get him out of the squad. Show me proof for your stupid argument.
David Kelly is an honest, up-front, brave journalist whose articles have a timeless quality, mainly because of their truth and accuracy content and it's quite unfair to question the motives of a poster here for digging up one of his articles from the archives.
The ending to that article is just a superb example of Kelly's brilliance, I would be the first to admit that I never would have thought to make this connection.
'High emotions between players and staff have been a feature of Irish football in recent years.
During the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, Roy Keane famously walked out following a spat with manager Mick McCarthy in Saipan over training conditions'
Yes. great example of a journalist shedding light on something that the general public would otherwise fail to see.
Were they on day release?
My Guarantee
Am looking for old Irish matches on VHS, PM me if you have some and I'll upload them here
The player bringing the girls round and the player put on the deck aren't the same player.
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
It seems that even if we qualify next week, we'll still have people calling for Trap to be sacked, Keane put out to grass, Whelan to be beheaded, Andrews to be crucified, and Keogh to be flayed.
To try and put things in perspective, I've tallied our points-per-game record since UEFA brought in the three-points-for-a-win rule. It's a pretty fair and objective way, in my opinion, to assess the performance in each campaign.
1996 - Charlton: 17 points from 10 games. (2nd in the table, 1.7 points per game)
1998 - McCarthy: 18 points from 10 games. (2nd, 1.8)
2000 - McCarthy: 16 points from 8 games. (2nd, 2.0)
2002 - McCarthy: 24 points from 10 games. (2nd, 2.4)
2004 - McCarthy/Kerr: 11 points from 8 games. (3rd, 1.375)
2006 - Kerr: 17 points from 10 games. (4th, 1.7)
2008 - Staunton: 17 points from 12 games. (3rd, 1.42)
2010 - Trapattoni: 18 points from 10 games. (2nd, 1.8)
If, as is expected, we beat Andorra and Armenia next week, we will stand at 21 points,or 2.1 points per game for this campaign, which would be statistically our best performance since the 2002 qualifiers, and our second-best performance going back to the Charlton era. It would also show significant improvement from the last campaign. Whether or not it's enough to qualify depends on things currently outside our control - the Slovakia-Russia result, and the draw for any possible playoff.
The football may not be pretty, and the home games against the two top seeds were disappointing; but the away wins against Armenia and Macedonia were the kind of results that have evaded Irish managers in the past - think of Kerr in Israel and McCarthy in Skopje. Trap deserves credit for that, as much as he may deserve some criticism for the midfield. Then again, who can we put in there that can make space in a crowded midfield, receive the ball and play it quickly and inventively under pressure, as well as doing the solid defensive job that's helped us to all these clean sheets?
I would also concede that, at different times, there have been bizarre choices. Keogh for Andy Reid when Reid was playing well, McShane for Foley, Paul Green for McCarthy (though that's partly McCarthy's fault for not turning up for the May '10 friendlies and subsequent games), and now Delaney for Clark. However, I don't think any of these decisions have affected our points tally in this campaign or the last. We're talking about fringe players here.
Overall, there's no need for any hysterical anti-Trap rubbish, but if we don't beat Armenia, or if we go out feebly in a playoff against an average side, then Trap would have to accept a lot of valid criticism. If we make it to Euro 2012, the critics will have to shut up. Let's see what happens.
Some good news then?
But thanks for the memories, KK.
ward hasn't exactly covered himself in glory in kilbane's absence but i expect he would have got the nod anyway. certainly against the andorrans he'll be playing as a wide midfielder you would expect.
i'm excited about these games now.
i share many of supreme's sentiments re the anti-trap feeling; even if we qualify i expect this will only be put on the backburner, ready to be unleashed again for the championships proper.
let's just wait and see (though the waiting is painful).
If we qualify all will be forgiven and the discussion will go to finding the nice hotels in the Ukraine, which is something that is hard to keep a straight face about.
No Somos muchos pero estamos locos.
Paul McShane called up to the Irish squad according to the FAI on twitter. Fabulous news. Jon Walters is being treated for an ankle injury &is expected to join up tomorrow.
"We lost because we didn't win"- Ronaldo
O'Shea to partner St. Ledger in the center according to RTE. That'l be Kelly and Ward at FB then with Kilbane unavailable?
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