He still can't be considered a serious contender for us until he performs consistently at a much higher level. He's got bags of technical ability but we need to see it being done at a level where the quality and intensity matches the level he'll be playing for us at. Lad needs to make the jump now.
Look at Sean Maguire, smashed in goals for fun at Cork City and now he's a below average Championship striker.
I can see your point. But Byrne also looked at the requisite level against Milan. Further, he executes pieces of elite skill in terms of finishing like that and his dead balls.
As I said though, I can see your point.
jack byrne does things that none of our other players seem to be doing elsewhere at any level. he must be in the slovakia squad and he must be considered an option, at least off the bench.
Self praise is no praise.Originally Posted by jbyrne
I think Byrne should be a nailed on starter, seriously. Who else can protect a ball so well? Who else is so unfraid to receive it, anywhere? Who else makes telling passes look so simple? Who elsde has that little but of unpredictablity in his play? Who else is so unerringly accurate with his corners? Shane Duffy could break Niall Quinn's haul before long with Byrne taking our corners! I don't care what level he is playing at. If Hourihane was playing last night (or in any of Rovers' last 5 games) would he have been any more effective? I doubt it. Come on Stephen Kenny, grow a pair. Make the first big telling call of your Ireland stint.
Yes! Great shout. Salah's is a slightly tighter angle but Byrne's doesn't bounce until it is over the line. Incredible.
Is that Byrne's weaker foot?
Does everyone forget that he couldn't get into Wigan's team and got released by both Oldham and Kilmarnock 2 years ago? He's a good player and he's lauding it in a league with the best team against very mediocre players. Everyone needs to calm down about him. If he keeps playing this way, he'll get his move and we'll see what he's made of then.
People who are calling for him to start have seriously underestimated the step up in quality from the Aertricity League to international qualifiers.
Yeah, both players 'weaker' feet. Larsson at Ibrox is another than comes to mind, but Salah's more similar.
But couldn't you say we lost a lot of Graham Kavanagh and Wes Hoolahans time as players because of focusing on the level their clubs were playing at ? Byrne is worth looking at in our circumstances.
I'm not underestimating it at all. I just think I can see with my own eyes a guy who does exactly what our senior international team needs, and I'm prepared to take the leap that right now he can do this job better than anyone in our current set up. Playing with better players may even bring out more in him.
I'd probably have him in the squad if Brady fails to make it, simply because he offers something a bit different from our other midfield options.
That said, it would be a helluva of a brave (some would say foolhardy) call by Kenny to leave out a Premier League midfielder like Hendrick, Hourihane, McCarthy, Brady, or whoever, and start someone operating at the level Byrne is in such a crucial game.
I wouldn't hold my breath.
You're still underestimating the step up in pace and quality. The lad couldn't cut it in League 1 or SPL at 22 and two years playing against part timers is suddenly has him ready to be the creative force in a Euros Playoff?
Look at Graham Burke when he went to Preston or even Richie Towell is probably the best example. Towell absolutely bossed it with Dundalk and is a similar player to Byrne and he's had a decent but meddling spell in the lower leagues.
Last edited by ColourfulPeanut; 28/09/2020 at 6:12 PM.
I really want to agree with this, he even looked very good in the half hour he got in the friendly against Bulgaria. But I just cant get past the fact that he seems to have settled for being comfortable in the LOI. Maybe he wants to win the League and then push for a move, but as Ive said before I never even see him being linked with anyone and that just seems weird.
He held his own against Milan, I definitely think hes capable of stepping up but he has proven in the past that if things are not going his way he becomes a passenger and wants out very quickly
Hopefully he is the Messiah because we have had a lot of Naughty Boys ! !
Even I can see past the horrid hooped shirts and appreciate Jack's class. He's about the only player, that if he was in the opposing team, you'd applaud his audacity when it comes off.
Your point is well taken, and there's certainly is a risk with playing him. But the fact that we are even having a conversation about a LOI player being in contention for the biggest international game in quite a while tells its own story. We are lacking any type of creativity in midfield and Byrne is the most creative player available to us. I would love to see Kenny take the plunge and play him. Not much chance of it happening though.
I think that is over-simplistic. He was better able to do it against AC Milan than he was against Accrington Stanley? That's not a levels issue or a "step up" issue. Apples and oranges.
He has freely said that he became very lonely and disillusioned during his years abroad and it affected his performances. Right now he is playing the best football of his career and I suspect if a deal hasn't been made with a club for him to move up a level, it will be soon.
As far as underestimating the step up to international football... I guarantee in a couple of weeks' time we will have people slating Premier League players like Jeff Hendrick and Conor Hourihane for not being good enough. Maybe they struggle with the step down to international football?
It's not an exercise in Aristotelean logic. If Towell can't impress at a higher level, then Byrne can't either. I think Byrne has looked better than Towell too, fwiw. Bear in mind Byrne did very well in Holland. Everyone's circumstances are different. We've had players doing well enough in the EPL who can't even look better than their immediate opponent for Gibraltar.
I'm just taking a view here - something many here never do, they only attack others' views. I think this lad has something different about him and given the utterly underwhelming performances from our midfield over the last 15 years I'd be inclined to include him. From what I have seen he has the technical ability and speed of thought / reaction to cope with a much higher level, especially as he'll have others around him also used to a higher level.
Yes, picking him would be high risk but as they say, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results doesn't reflect well on your predictive powers, or something like that.
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