If Sam Byrne can make anywhere near the impact that Pat Bamford made in League One, then we could be talking about him being a realistic option in the future. Very early doors though and we have been down this road before.
I would be very hopeful that Duffy, Murray, Carruthers and Grealish will be in or around the team within the next 18 months. All have the talent to be very good players for us. Then there is the possibility that a Kenny McEvoy, Noe Baba or Jack Byrne will make the break through in the next year or so. If that happens, things look a little rosier for us.Originally Posted by paul_oshea
Noe Baba has to change his name to Baba O'Riley first.
Looking at Trap's first squad, it was quite a few degrees poorer than this one, major exceptions were Duff and a fresher Keane.
There was no Clark, Coleman or McCarthy knocking on the door of the senior squad at the time of the first squad. Possibly McCarthy was about the only known real prospect but would be playing in Scotland for another season. O'Neill actually has a better range of players to choose from now and if Gibson gets his fitness and game together, the midfield selection is much stronger.
O'Neill has said that there's nothing outstanding on the horizon in the next 18 months, but we all know from past experience from every era, that there will be players coming through.
Roy Keane's sojourn at Turf Moor for Burnley's match with Forest might be somewhat of a wasted trip after Kevin Long, Keith Treacy and Simon Cox were all named on the bench. Andy Reid isn't in the squad.
Should have waited for the dvd
I've not seen much of Kevin Long. Is he a realistic prospect? I always recall him developing into our defensive rock in the Football Manager games.
I would have fully accepted - using Austria as an example - losing to the better team but the Trapattoni era was just full of missed opportunities because of his preconceived notions about the quality of our players and the resulting inhibited way he set them out to play against all evidence and logic in front of him.
I would have come to terms with what happened in Dublin against Austria if we were playing a team like Spain or Germany that were pounding us into submission but we were playing a pretty poor team and we just made things way harder for ourselves than they needed to be and gifted them a point. There was no need to be in thrall to that team and that's what we were. F***ing Austria.... and you look at the way Scotland and Northern Ireland take games to teams like France, Italy and Portugal. Moral courage; we were completely and utterly lacking it under Trap.
Still get angry about Cox coming on ahead of McClean and Long against Croatia in the Euros and his - no disrespect as he was shambolically being played out of position - being completely out of his depth.
Sh*te like that evaporating any chance we had of getting even a point out of that game.
If things go wrong under O'Neill and Keane, at least it won't have been borne out of plain stubbornness and unwillingness to trust the players and engender any kind of belief that they belong at the very top.
Dammit you are supposed to drill it into your players that they are better than they are (whether they are or not), not stop short of telling them that they are sh*t at every opportunity and acting belligerent when people don't bow at your feet and marvel at your charming malapropisms.
I refuse to sit back and accept this constant criticism of Richard Keogh's ability.Just some observations post Trap:
To quote one of George Hamilton's favourite expressions, it is "quite, quite remarkable" how a change in management can completely overhaul public and media perceptions of
the national team and its potential. Would we have 2 hours on a Sunday morning on RTE 2 covering a Euro 2016 draw in the pre-O'Neill era????
You'd think we were this sleeping giant waiting to ignite world football now thanks to O'Neill/Keane.... we've all seen how far passion gets you.... you need players of sufficient quality and one possible world class player (Coleman) is not going to reinvent the wheel for us.
The whole managerial appointment has reminded me of the way our Irish media works.... they'll now "big up" the Irish team for the remainder of year having "downed it" for the majority of 2013....
It always turns sour of course between media and management (that's the game), and by God, this love affair promises to be one god awful breakup when it inevitably occurs
P.S. The constant reference to O'Neill/Keane in the media as though they are interchangeable and joint managers does bug me a bit (Christ even look at the order of this thread title!!!).... hope Martin eventually cements his authority in that regard... after all Keane is only a Maurice Setters/Ian Evans etc... figure in the current food chain to be fair.
It would be a stunning failure if we don't qualify for Euro2016 from our 2nd seed perch, a position earned on the back of Trap era results. A top 2 finish with a fall back play off option, is all we need to achieve.
Better overall squad, better depth in the squad and a progressive management team in tune with the ambitions of the football nation.
What can possibly go wrong?
The draw?
Scotland and Poland are about or below Austria's standard. It's an easier draw than for WC 2014.The draw?
We only have to perform a little bit better than our worst ever campaign under Trap. A teeny wee bit better than our worst ever under a manager who was useless when he had no luck
That can't be beyond O'Neill, can it? Now many of our players are more mature, Coleman, McCarthy, Gibson, Long and on standby we have the creative boots of Andy and Wes.
I did a half marathon this morning and heard the draw on the radio and then posted. Now I've had a bath I'm feeling human again and more positive. Scotland , Poland and ourselves are in a mini group basically. Despite Scotland's good results under Strachan they were no match for Belgium and I think they'll get turned over easily by Germany. Poland might get something from Germany at home but might slip up in Georgia like they did in Moldova(?).
I hope we're not the first team to play in Gibraltar. They'll be fired up full of nationalistic fervour.
I don't think there's that much in it between us, Scotland and Poland. All winnable at home, all losable away. I'd like to think we can shade it. Home wins crucial.
We're well capable of finishing 2nd but equally capable of 4th.
I think some of the stay away fans will return and because of the duo in charge. They won't be playing cagey nonsense at home. I think there were thousands who just wouldn't go to another Trap hoof fest. The Scotland and Poland games ought to catch the imagination and both will be derby games as there are so many Poles in Ireland. Any fool can see how important these games are. We'll probably bring a fair number to both away games too and if 1987 is anything to go by a lot of locals will turn out to support Ireland in Scotland! I doubt you can just pay in like you could then though.
I'm pumped by this and I reckon the Aviva will be rocking if we can get off to a good start. Coybig.
Last edited by Stuttgart88; 23/02/2014 at 1:30 PM.
McCarthy and McGeady are sure to get fiery welcomes in Glasgow.
Folks, can I derail the conversation slightly? It's Keane related so I thought I could throw it in here.
I just got a t-shirt printed up of Keane's "tackle" on Overmars in 2001. I seem to recall Giles was doing the co-commentary and squealed with delight (or envy that it wasn't him getting to go through the Dutchman) and saying something like "the big man doesn't like it up him". Am I right? Does anyone have the full game as shown on RTE? I'd like to get the quote put on it as a birthday present for my brother (Keano is his idol).
Thanks.
Can you post the picture please ? I remember it. And how happy it made me.
I recorded it on VHS off RTE if thats any use - i wud need to check the tape but i think it still shud be in pretty good shape despite its age (>12yrs).
I have the full game , all pre match studio analysis , half time analysis and pretty sure nearly all post match analysis.
I have it in my bedroom down in the family home in a plastic box - hence im pretty positive ( no guarantees ) thats its in relatively ok shape
If thats any good to you let me know
http://balls.ie/football/that-roy-ke...w-in-gif-form/
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