rumours circling the area tonight that he could be starting tomorrow , great Irish talent who deserves to be starting in that Preston team
rumours circling the area tonight that he could be starting tomorrow , great Irish talent who deserves to be starting in that Preston team
Came on after 37 minutes as Preston hammered Swindon 4-0. So Browne will join Derrick Williams and Samir Carruthers (along with Darren Potter and Greg Cunningham) in the Championship next season - so three young players to watch next season, possibly with a view to inclusion in World Cup qualifying in 2016.
Browne & Carruthers had long spells out of the first team last season so WCQ 2016 may come too soon for them. Browne is also 20 years old so it will obviously take 5 or 6 years for us to integrate him at senior level.
I am greatly impressed by Derrick Williams though. I think he should be capped soon enough if he starts off well in the Championship.
Had a quick look at the Soccerbase stats for the three players - Carruthers played pretty consistently through the season, with 38 appearances in all competitions (although about a third of those were as substitute). Browne did have a gap between the end of January and the playoffs, but played consistently for the first 6 months of the season, racking up 32 appearances (and apparently Preston have quite a deep squad). So I think if either of them could be capable of a breakout season next year, particularly Browne given his semi-meteoric rise from the Cork City youth team to a regular in a big League One (and now Championship) team. If he continues this rate of progression he could definitely play himself into contention for a place on the National Team within the next year or two - a 5/6 year wait would indicate that his career has stalled/plateaued or that quite a number of players have played themselves into the team ahead of him (which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing). And if Carruthers establishes himself in the MK Dons midfield and has a good season, he may also be deserving of a squad place, at least.
However, I do agree that Derrick Williams is probably closer to the National Team than Browne or Carruthers - he did make a whopping 55 appearances in the best League One team last season but the primary reason why he should be watched closely is probably because of the fact that he is a left-sided defender (I referred to him as a specialist left-back elsewhere on foot.ie but was corrected), something we really need, whereas Browne and Carruthers play in midfield, an area where we have some reasonable depth already and where we may be adding extra talent over the next couple of years.
Just to expand on the World Cup crystal balling a little, I was thinking about what new players could realistically put themselves into the frame for the qualifiers in Autumn 2016, based on them continuing their current levels of progress successfully next season and I came up with about 20-25, which is very promising.
Also, there's at the very least McCarthy, Hendrick, Whelan, Gibson (when fit), and Arter ahead of him in the pecking order for a place in the squad.
First cap ages of some of our upcoming squad:
Shay Given - 20
Ciaran Clark - 21
John O'Shea - 20
Paul McShane - 20
Seamus Coleman - 22
Alex Pearce - 23
Marc Wilson - 23
Cyrus Christie - 22
Aiden McGeady - 18
James McClean - 22
James McCarthy - 19
David Meyler - 23 (would probably have been earlier but for injuries)
Robbie Brady - 20
Jeff Hendrick - 21
Robbie Keane - 17
Kevin Doyle - 22
Shane Long - 20
Anthony Stokes - 18
Yes, there are a number of players who started playing for us a little later but those were players who took a bit of time to find their groove in their club careers. It is, of course, possible that Browne might yo-yo between the Championship and League One for a few seasons, like Alan Judge for example. However, given the impressive way he started his career in his teens, there's every reason to believe that he'll be able to step up to Championship level in his early 20s, which would put him in the frame for World Cup 2018 qualifiers
Assuming Browne does well next year in the Championship:
McCarthy, sure; Hendrick - will be playing at the same level; Whelan - will be closing in on 33 when the qualifiers start; Gibson - "when fit" is the operative phrase; Arter - if he makes a successful step-up to Premier League football next season
Sam, you make very good points and you would forget just how young some players were when they debuted (Long, McShane) and Pearce looks old beyond his years, but one thing I will say is that it took some of those players anywhere between a quarter dozen and half a dozen years between making their debut and becoming a regular starter.
Shane Long is 28 and he still hasn't strung two competitive starts together; less than half of his appearances for Ireland are starts. We were tentative about starting Coleman, McClean & McCarthy - although that's probably down to Trapattoni. Jeff Hendrick is, arguably, ready to take Whelan's place, but at 23 he looks no closer to doing it; he'll probably be 25 or 26 when he will. The like of Clark, Stokes & McShane have only appeared sporadically for Ireland.
Keane, O'Shea and Given all made impacts for Ireland at very young ages but that was over 15 years ago. It was a different landscape. I sincerely doubt we will ever produce players like that again and it is frightening. Some of the players we are hinging our hopes on are already 20, 21 and 22. It's young but there are players 3 or 4 years younger than that making a serious impact and even just 3 or 4 years is a world of difference in a player's development cycle.
Last edited by TheOneWhoKnocks; 01/06/2015 at 11:59 AM.
I think it's fair to say MCCarthy was our most progressive manager in giving youth its chance. Duff, Given and Keane were no-brainers (certainly in hindsight) but he also capped the likes of Harte when they were relatively unheard of. I loved Mick's early years. Kerr was a mixed bag in that regard, probably more conservative than I'd have liked. Trap and MON were/are very conservative. That said, the players Tets mentioned, plus a few others, are probably better than Browne and Williams so it's not a crime to be not picking these guys.
Mick's hand was forced a little in the first few years of his reign with the number of senior players that retired, he pretty much had no choice but to play some promising young players and see if they worked out. Kerr awarded less new caps than anyone, I'll dig up the post I had on that later, Trapattoni awarded plenty of new caps early in his reign, but the squad and starting XI were pretty predictable in the last 2-3 years while he was in charge.
<EDIT>
New caps awarded under Kerr and Staunton: http://foot.ie/threads/124532-Trapat...xperimentation
The list of new caps awarded by Trapattoni was correct at that time I posted that, here's the full list of first caps he awarded: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog...20912947271583
You could add Stephen Quinn to that list of midfielders ahead of Browne as well. If we're talking League One midfielders, Conor Hourihane has more experience than Browne, and was Barnsley's player of the season in 2014/15
neither Browne nor Williams are proven at any level higher than League One, if they impress in the first half of the season, there's a chance they'll be linked with a call up, but as it is, they're very much on the periphery of the squad
Meyler would make that list also. I wouldn't really agree that Hendrick is "no closer" to taking Whelan's place, not that I see it as an individual battle anyway, they bring very different qualities. Of the three games Hendrick was actually available for, he started two and came on in the other. Granted his starts were probably down to team rotation and injuries but it's a clear indication that he's seen as an important player for us. I'd see no reason why all three of McCarthy, Whelan and Hendrick couldn't start anyway. For all Whelan's perceived limitations (by myself amongst many others), it's probably more difficult than ever to make a case against him starting, after featuring so prominently in Stoke's best ever PL season. The same would probably apply to Walters.
If certain young players are going to be fast-tracked, I think we should focus on areas where we are weak or will be potentially weak in a year or two, namely centre back and left back. For this reason I'd prefer to see the likes of Hoban called up, who is arguably already as good as some of our existing options and potentially much better. I think there'd be more value in that than calling up an eight or ninth choice central midfielder.
Last edited by DeLorean; 02/06/2015 at 1:51 PM.
Are we overlooking Arter? I think he could play his way into contention for Scotland. Both he and Quinn could bring an energy and drive to our midfield.
I'm sure Whelan is nailed on to start. I have a feeling that Wes is too and I'm sure McCarthy will play despite only coming alive in fits and starts against Poland. Three at the back would allow another.
I think TOWK is probably right wrt Walters. I have a feeling he'll play at McGeady's expense.
I'd like to see
-------------------------Given---------------
-------------McShane - O'Shea - Wilson-----------
Coleman --------------------------------------Brady (or McClean or Quinn)
--------------Whelan--- ---McCarthy (or Quinn)----------
-------------------------Wes-----------------------
-----------------Walters--------Long------------
We have a lot of good players who can't guarantee a start regardless of what shape he uses.
Last edited by Stuttgart88; 02/06/2015 at 10:21 AM.
Actually found a thread on Browne on the PNE forum. Some strange claims made about him until, at last, someone pipes up:It's actually a funny thread and he seems to very divisive but the majority like him and rate him as having potential. Some of those that don't rate him come off as slightly less.. grammatically cohesive than some of those that do.Word on the street is, his head hasn't gone, and he put in a very good performance today in an important play-off semi-final match.
This can only be substantiated by the 15,641 people watching and anyone who tuned into Sky Sports 3 though, so - you know - hush hush, wink wink.
http://www.pne-online.net/forum/show...25-Alan-Browne
Last edited by Olé Olé; 02/06/2015 at 10:48 AM.
I think the "head is gone" comment was a ****-take and people believed it.
Found this thread way back on page 10 or 11, but Alan Browne still seems to be one to watch - has made the step-up to Championship level with 10 appearances in all competitions and got his first Championship goal today, albeit in a loss for Preston
Yep, goal here at around the 7th minute. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UgXXVgDGM0
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
http://www.pne-online.net/forum/show...-7-45PM/page35
Browne is getting great reviews of late over on the PNE forum. The above thread is from the Charlton game the other night. Some of the posts:
"Allan Browne looks absolutely awesome (fit, fast, strong and attacking) and growing in stature all the time"
"Thought Browne deserved an 8, he was brilliant."
"Browne was class last night. Can't see him being dropped."
"Browne is a player I like - possibly his contribution did not look as good as it was because of the way the sheer style of Gallagher and Johnson caught the eye. It occurred to me looking at him tonight that his head-up, chest-out style of running is a bit reminiscent of Bert Patrick."
It looks as if he's benefitting from a slow, upward transition through the levels (LOI-L1-Championship).
Seems to be a player who likes to drive forward from midfield and is physically impressive. Similar to Jeff Hendrick?
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