I actually place a lot of the blame for our midfield failures on Roy. No doubt this is a bad batch of Irish midfielders, but Roy of all people should have been advocating strongly for O'Neill to select a proper defensive/holding midfielder like a Shaun Williams. It is better to play a more limited defensive midfielder in his proper position than to play a superior technician or attacking player like Hourihane or Hendrick in that defensive role. I actually like Hourihane and Hendrick but feel they were played completely out of position.
I don’t think that it’s a particularly bad batch of midfielders. I just think it’s missing someone who grabs the game by the scruff of the next, missing a “leettle personaliteee” as a previous manager was fond of saying.
As you point out, our midfielders have not been used effectively, as part of a system nor in their best positions by the previous administration. That’s the biggest issue I can see. The players themselves are decent players with potential to be better.
Keane was supportive on the touch line the other night! You could hear him shouting “well done Cyrus” numerous times. Unless he was being sarcastic?!
So either he's an aggressive bully from the sidelines, or his judgement is seriously questionable. It doesn't reflect well on Keane either way!
Exactly. I was thinking that if anyone can understand what a midfield needs to be functional it's Keane. Instead he seems to have proved another theory of mine, that people who found playing the game easy never understand it quite as well as those who had to really figure it out.
I wonder what managerial team interaction could possibly explain and justify the anarchy of the Cyrus midfield role?
Threading on dangerous ground here but .....Both Paul McGrath and Mark Lawrenson played in midfield for Ireland . Ok Cyrus Christie is no Paul McGrath or Mark Lawrenson . What I am saying is that perhaps M’ON / Roy Keane wanted to bring a bit of physical presence / defence / athletic-ism to the midfield . We are really lacking a mobile defensive good midfielder .
Only Playing Devils Advocate !
O'Neill specifically cited his mobility as a factor, given the Aviva pitch is very long. I think Christie did well enough but his first touch and ability to protect the ball when receiving it weren't up to the standard necessary for a CM. A full back doesn't need the same skill as he'll almost always be facing play when he gets the ball. Christie got shown up as a round peg in a square hole and only really outshone anyone because pretty much everyone else played badly, not least because some - especially in the middle - were given inappropriate roles. For the life of me I don't see how O'Neill failed to noticed that we used the ball better between defence and attack when Shaun Williams was playing. This was just glaringly obvious to me. As was Stevens' comfort in the LWB position over McClean's. MON's judgment was found seriously wanting at times.
Absolutely.
Keane getting too much criticism for team selection when it wasn’t his job and we don’t know what input he had.
He deserves more criticism for the rows and falling out with players.
Interesting interview with Carlos Edwards here about Keane
https://youtu.be/GzoDU-IOqHw
The ex-managers club is full of top class players who proved useless at getting other players to do what they themselves had been able to do effortlessly.
It's funny sometimes to listen to ex-players in a punditry job, and hear just how much utter rubbish they talk. I sometimes end up wondering how they ever managed to play the game at such a level for so long, because if seems like they have no insight into it at all.
I remember watching Duff as a pundit on the Juve-Spurs CL game, and commenting on a penalty, he said something like "It's not deliberate, but it's bad defending, and you have to punish it. Penalty." I remember thinking to myself...Is that actually what you think? Is that what you've thought all they way through your career?
I'd say McCarthy, currently propping up the Championships would see it as an attractive proposition.
Grammatically corrected but not factually corrected, I was not aware McCarthy had departed or at least if I was I forgot, I can't remember which is the case.
But it is a plus point that I was wrong. (a plus point for McCarty, not for me personally).
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