Ireland V Germany(A) 11th October & Kazakhstan(H) 15th October 2013 - World Cup '14 Q

**DannyInvincible** · 09/10/2013, 8:44 AM

Originally Posted by Dodge

Players will enjoy it and King makes an anti-Trap point.

(Oh and Meenan is a Northern Ireland u21 international (born in the Republlic))

Having already made a statement, selecting Meenan might have been pushing it!

In seriousness, I was impressed by King's forthrightness when I heard him discuss his selection policy in relation to the eligibility matter whilst managing the under-21s.

Am I correct in thinking Meenan's father is from Derry, by the way?

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Anyway, it's refreshing that King actually seems to know which players have which attributes.

He even knew which League of Ireland players to select for the training game, demonstrating both knowledge of their attributes and of the existence of the league itself!

**Dodge** · 09/10/2013, 9:55 AM

Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

Towell didn't get a contract presumably because the managers there didn't rate him. The game is full of players who in spite of their obvious talents have had trouble getting contracts and sometimes it's just a matter of finding a manager who has that amount of faith in you. Conor Henderson as recently as last month had run out of options at Championship level with managers unconvinced of his ability before Hull swooped in to give him a Premier League contract. Not getting a contract at one level doesn't necessarily say anything about a player's ability, aptitude, attitude or whatever. To me, Towell looks like he has all the attributes to make it a long way and I saw some of those traits in the SPL and underage teams too.

To be clear, I wasn't trying to suggest anything negative about Towell (and admit it came accross that way). I was just saying that it's not a foregone conclusion that he'll be involved in future Irish squads. There's plenty of things that can happen to him (as shown by being released by Celtic and not offered a permanent contract by Hibs) that *may* prevent him from realising his potential.

Originally Posted by DannyInvincible

Am I correct in thinking Meenan's father is from Derry, by the way?

yep

He even knew which League of Ireland players to select for the training game, demonstrating both knowledge of their attributes and of the existence of the league itself!

I'm not suggesting King doesn't know which players he wanted but these five are more a result of who was allowed leave rather than the first 5 selected by King.

**Charlie Darwin** · 09/10/2013, 5:05 PM

Further endearing himself to the nation, Noel King has instructed Galaxy manager Bruce Arena to do one: http://www.fai.ie/international/seni...la-galaxy.html

**the doc** · 09/10/2013, 5:51 PM

Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

Further endearing himself to the nation, Noel King has instructed Galaxy manager Bruce Arena to do one: http://www.fai.ie/international/seni...la-galaxy.html

I'm starting to have doubts about this U21 stand in.
Reminds me of Don Givens the way he goes about it.

**paul_oshea** · 09/10/2013, 6:09 PM

Why is he not paying you enough attention Sean?

**Razors left peg** · 09/10/2013, 6:25 PM

Originally Posted by the doc

I'm starting to have doubts about this U21 stand in.
Reminds me of Don Givens the way he goes about it.

Your having doubts because he wouldn't release Robbie Keane back to his club when we have game? Do you think he should have released all the pro players back to their clubs and use players from the under 15s against Kazakhstan?

**ArdeeBhoy** · 10/10/2013, 8:27 AM

Anyway, back in the real world...

**ifk101** · 10/10/2013, 8:51 AM

So St Ledger is not in tomorrow's team.

In Noel King we trust!

**geysir** · 10/10/2013, 9:06 AM

Low expects to see off the irish plodders. According to Low, even if they play Andy Reid, after 10 minutes his dna will return to type and he'll be hoofing the ball up front. Unlike the Germans, the Irish subrace dna is just geared towards folly, after showing some rash bravery they are doomed to failure, time and time again.

Low expects to see off the pub team

**p2011** · 10/10/2013, 9:15 AM

While there may be a certain element of truth in Low's comments, it all comes across as very arrogant. Reid, Hoolahan et al. are no world beaters, but they're not the hoof merchants Low seems to expect from us. Here's hoping for an intelligent formation tomorrow and a wee bit of keep-ball on our part, even just for 15 or 30 seconds at a time.

Indo tips Gibson, McCarthy and Whelan for midfielf, not sure how that would work. Sounds like the flat three in midfield that didn't work in the 6-1 defeat. Though maybe it's just typical wild speculation.

**the doc** · 10/10/2013, 9:26 AM

Originally Posted by ifk101

So St Ledger is not in tomorrow's team.

In Noel King we trust!

Wrong again he's playing!
Your so predictable, so is life.

I'm more interested in the football than vain attempts to put forum posters down.

I just feel there been a lack if respect shown to Mr Trapattoni, which is unjust.
Yes it probably was one campaign too much but aside from this there were many good things.

Let's get behind the boys for tomorrow, whatever happens and whoever is picked will have little bearing on the new manager waiting to take over, he's decent by the way😇

**Stuttgart88** · 10/10/2013, 9:27 AM

Originally Posted by geysir

According to Low, even if they play Andy Reid, after 10 minutes his dna will return to type and he'll be hoofing the ball up front.

According to Robbie Keane last month too.

**geysir** · 10/10/2013, 9:41 AM

Low's right about the effort it takes to change the way a country plays football.
It's a delusion to think that changing a manager will alter some perception of mediocrity.

There are cycles when there are a few better than average players available but over time there's an average performance and that average is affected by the wider picture of football in a country. A clarion call to be less mediocre doesn't quite compare to the leadership, long term planning and hard work that has to go into being less mediocre.

**DannyInvincible** · 10/10/2013, 11:54 AM

Originally Posted by the doc

I'm starting to have doubts about this U21 stand in.
Reminds me of Don Givens the way he goes about it.

In what sense? Why on earth should we release Robbie Keane for a competitive fixture?

**pateen** · 10/10/2013, 12:52 PM

Originally Posted by ArdeeBhoy

Anyway, back in the real world...

Davy Fitz in disguise

**osarusan** · 10/10/2013, 12:55 PM

Maybe we could be a mediocre passing team instead of a mediocre hoofing team for the time being.

**Stuttgart88** · 10/10/2013, 2:32 PM

I'll just throw in my 3rd Catch 22 reference in as many days. There's a great chapter on a character called Major Major Major Major. Heller wrote that he was mediocre at everything he did. He wasn't even good at being mediocre. Even at mediocrity he was mediocre.

**Dodge** · 10/10/2013, 2:34 PM

Originally Posted by geysir

Low's right about the effort it takes to change the way a country plays football.
It's a delusion to think that changing a manager will alter some perception of mediocrity.

There are cycles when there are a few better than average players available but over time there's an average performance and that average is affected by the wider picture of football in a country. A clarion call to be less mediocre doesn't quite compare to the leadership, long term planning and hard work that has to go into being less mediocre.

It's even further complicated for Ireland when nearly all of or players are developed in Britain. So not only do we have to cahnge the footballing culture in Ireland, we have to hope that it changes in Britain too

**ArdeeBhoy** · 10/10/2013, 2:43 PM

Tbf, for all the things I do blame our ills on the 'Ingles', football/soccer's not one of them.

Delusional or otherwise, their club football is on a far higher plane. Luckily to the detriment of their own national side?

**Stuttgart88** · 10/10/2013, 2:49 PM

Originally Posted by Dodge

It's even further complicated for Ireland when nearly all of or players are developed in Britain. So not only do we have to cahnge the footballing culture in Ireland, we have to hope that it changes in Britain too

Although the Dokter hopes to change the culture across the country from well before the emigration age. He's not the first to say this and parts of the youth footballing community are doing it on their own accord, but at least he is saying it and appears ready to act on it.