some laugh here reading this thread
lot of you praising morisson
probably one of the worst players ever to wear the irish shirt
Connolly is a better striker than Damien Duff, so you either stop messing around with his position or play him a reserve striker because he's not good enough up there to get in ahead of Connolly or Morrison, who both have far superior goals records up front.Originally Posted by Adrianovic
The messiah has indeed returned.
Roy Keane is a legend
It wouldn't be messing around with his position, Duff knows the left wing position well enough, playing him up front as cover for the odd international, due to our weak striking department, won't suddenly turn him into an awful player.
Connolly and Morrisson might have superior goals records, but if we plays Connolly and Morrisson as a pairing then we are going to seriously have trouble causing the opposition problems. Clinton tries his best but he just isn't that good and Connolly is a solid 'Championship' striker. Duff is a class player and having a slow centre half being asked to mark a man of his pace will strike fear into the opposition. If you play Connolly and Morrisson up front, exactly who will be on the end of Duff's crosses?
Ade
Duff is a class player which is EXACTLY why we need him on the left, always. Connolly and Morrison is a better striker pairing than anything with Duff in it, and Ireland are a better team with Duff on the left no matter who's fit to play up front. If you want to put a left winger up front Andy Reid has played there more and is better suited to it.
I would imagine that Connolly and Morrisson would be.
If you play Duff up front, exactly who is going to put in any crosses? Don't say Kilbane because booting the ball into the stand doesn't count as a cross.
I'm a Forest fan and if you think Duff is severly restricted up front, then you should see Reid up front. He's a fish out of water. In my opinion, Connolly and Morrisson are two goal poaching strikers that cannot play together. Connolly won't win any headers and I think Morrisson in a targetman style role is a bit of a cop out, so crosses would just get swept up unless they were darted in low, and if they were darted in low, then the pace of Duff would beat any defence onto it.
Reider can hit a fine ball and put it where he wants, he can also beat people. We have strong cover for the left wing but not so much up front, hence I would play Duff as a striker to cover the position, whilst being happy with the balance of the team.
Ade
We may have cover on the left but none that even come close to Damien Duff. Put him up front and you're effectively taking him out of the game. Where is the sense in that? He's a rubbish striker, all the experience in the world wont change that.
Connolly is very similar to Keane it simply makes sense to put him there and not say "Oh, we've lost Keane, lets make our best player utterly useless to compensate!"
Connolly is nowhere near similar to Keane, Robbie drops off and creates a lot more, whereas Connolly is a fox in the box who nicks the goals and takes the credit.
Duff was an ineffective striker against defences that were far more experienced and knew how to put him out of the game, he has much improved since the World cup and I disagree, his experience will help him find his way up front. Ask him to play deeper than his strike partner, get him running at centre backs that way.
I refuse to see the idea dismissed when the alternative is Connolly and Morrisson up front, and don't make me bring Gary Doherty into this.
Ade
Nobody has yet mentioned Alan Lee.
He was injured for a very large piece of last year and never got a chance to develop any form. He scored a terrific header against Lazio pre-season and followed this up with a great goal last Saturday.
Against Jamaica he worked his socks off. OK, so the opposition was poor but you could still see that he’s more effective than Morrisson at holding the ball up and is miles better in the air. With good service from Duff and Reid in wide positions he’ll be a useful option upfront. Ideal for Keane, Connolly or Morrison to feed off. I still haven’t seen the Dutch game but I gather he only played last 10 mins or so. I’m told he’d have buried one of the chances Morrison had with his head.
I think it’s got to be Lee & Connolly to start against Bulgaria. If it clearly doesn’t work then at least we’ll know before the qualifiers. Leave Duff on the left where he’s clearly at his most effective. Give Morrison a run out but I suspect he won’t be getting first team football by the time the qualifiers start. I'd have two Div 1 players getting a game each week ahead of Morrison if he's a sub.
With regard to Kilbane: I reckon he’s played really well since he moved inside but I don’t think he’d complement Roy Keane. With Duff & Reid both fit I think it’s now time for KK to take a place on the bench, despite his great attitude.
and he still is, when playing up front. When playing left wing he isn't and never was ineffective, no defence on the planet can handle him.
When Duff preforms up front to the level that Connolly did against Turkey you can dismiss Connolly, but he hasn't and never will.
If you play Duff up front who will get on the end of Reid/Kilbane's crosses?
I'm sure I've covered this.
You might as well put him up front cos all the cross balls in the world might not make much difference to a short front pairing, at least with Duff up front, Reid and Kilbane can kick them in low and watch Duff murder his man for pace.
Connolly had a good game against Turkey, but I can also count many bad Connolly games. It wouldn't be fair to say that Duff has *never* had a good game up front.
Ade
Yes it would. Definitely compared to the standards he sets on the left he's been rubbish each and every single time he's played up front.
I'd gladly go with a 4-3-3 formation with Reid and Duff as the wide men and Morrison/Lee as the strikers.
My team (barring any withdrawals) for Bulgaria would be
Given
Carr Cunningham O'Brien O'Shea
Miller Keane Kilbane
Duff Morrison Reid
I seem to remember the Duff/Keane partnership causing more than a few teams some problems, and being an effective partnership.
It's not as if I'm saying we chop off his left leg, he can just do the best job for the team.
And when it comes to Cyprus, I think Brian Kerr will agree with me.
Ade
I think Kerr will play 4-3-3 against Cyprus if Keane is injured.
He's tried it before and it worked to some extent.
I think Duff and Reid either side or Morrison would be a good front line.
Morrison would provide the fulcrum around which Duff and Reid can roam.
With Miller, Kilbane and Keane in midfield, they can all get forward.
Do you also remember that it had one of the worst goals returns in international football? Absolutley hopeless goals return from that partnership, "effective" is not a word I would use.
Maybe the solution to our dilemma is not to play any striker, just play 4-6-0
Basically we have 3 strikers playing for Premership or Division 1teams now that Keane is available - Connolly, Morrison and Lee. I think we should just stick with these 3 specialist strikers. Reid, Duff or Kilbane are not specialist strikers and I think for internationals you have to play players in their proper postion.
In my honest opinion playing Duffer as a striker may work away from home but not at Lansdowne Rd.
A man of genius makes no mistakes.
His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.
First time they've ever been called that in their lives I'd say
Ian Harte has scored as many goals as Connolly.
Lee has never scored.
Clint probably has the best return in that he's scored 5 in 21 as opposed to 9 in 40 for Connolly.
"Specialist"!
Have Boot Disk, will travel
Posting Permissions
Quote
Bookmarks