to the best of my knowledge, no, it was either Joe Murphy, Paul Murphy (at Swansea) or Wayne Henderson who played under Kerr. He mentioned Barry Roche at Forest at a press conference recently as a keeper for the futureOriginally Posted by Stuttgart88
Was Stack born in Ireland?
Hampstead, London to Irish parents AFAIK.
No he was born in England however I think he played youth team with Ireland before 21s, not sure if Kerr was in charge then tho.
Always look on the bright side of life
Going on recent performances for club and country, my preferred order for LB would be:
Harte -> Maybury -> O'Shea (third choice LB at United).
Maybury isn't even on the same planet as O'Shea nevermind better than him imo, O'Sheas been injured for Man U so we've no idea where he is in the pecking order there, he was pretty much ever present before his injury, and is better than Harte too for that matter.
O'Shea is not injured. He's gettting an Op to fix his hernia problem but he has that the last few months and it really is only a minor niggle. Now with Man U having a full squad Fergie thinks the time is right for O'Shea to have the Op.
He has just dropped down the pecking order at United that he can't even make the bench. He is named in all the provisional squads but just can't make the bench. If you don't believe me that he is named in all squads have a look here:
http://www.sport.telegraph.co.uk/spo...29/ufnpre2.xml
Change the date to what you like:
http://www.sport.telegraph.co.uk/spo...22/ufnpre2.xml
Final teamsheets:
http://www.soccerbase.com/results2.sd?teamid=1724
The last player to play at LB other than Heinze was actually Quinton Fortune against Birmingham, O'Shea was an unused sub.
I just don't think Ferguson see's O'Shea as a LB anymore and its about time Kerr did the same as he has had enough games to prove himself.
The difference being that Fergusson has other options who can do a job there. We don't. Harte is not good enough to be a starter for us imo and Maybury is even worse.
What has O'Shea done in the last year to warrant him being good enough to play for us? Harte has done superbly well in his last 2 games for Ireland (Australia and Czech Republic). I think its time to move on because I doubt we'll see O'Shea at LB for United for a long time (ie. injury crisis).
O'shea hasn't been nearly as bad for Ireland as people make out and he has certinaly performed far better than Harte did in his matches for us. The Australian and Czech matches show what Harte can do with his left foot but his defending will always be hopeless and for me, the bad outweighs the good. The less said about Maybury the better.
Harte was suffering a confidence crisis during the World Cup, before that he was loved by most. The way he's talking about getting back into the team I'm sure his confidence is well sorted.
I've said this a few times but I really believe it to be true. I honestly believe Harte has got hypnosis to help his confidence. I'm 100% sure hypnosis works as I've had it before. We could all see how afraid Harte was on the ball during the world cup. He never used to give interviews. Now he's in every newsapaper telling how shocked he is at been left out of the squad.
I can always tell when a player is low in confidence as I suffered it myself. I am a much better footballer when drunk because I don't worry about making mistakes. I'm pretty positive Harte's bad spell for Ireland was down to confidence.
Levente are on Sky Sports this weekend so I'd advise all to watch him, I haven't seen him play for Levante yet.
Its all well and good trying to forget about Maybury but O'Shea is living on his 1st season rep.
His second and third seasons were still FAR better than anything Maybury has ever produced. Maybury is a shockingly bad player, it's embarassing we have to rely on him. As for Harte, even with confidence like he had in his early days he was defencively weak due to having no pace and poor positional sense. People expected that side of his game to develop, but sadly it hasn't. Confidence or no, if he can't defend he's no use as a defender and even at his best Harte can't defend imo, second choice left back for me, O'Shea until someone better comes along.
Kerr on Delap...
“I considered Rory but the players who have played in the last four games are all available now. I’ve selected him in plenty of squads and for one reason or another, mostly due to injury, he hasn’t been available to play. We’ve a 25-man squad there and you can’t include everyone that you’d like to.”
Sorry but I think that's complete and utter non sense. The man in possesion thing Kerr has is absolutley stupid, espically for a bloody friendly. When other mid fielders in the squad includes someone who struggles to make the bench at feckin Coventry, a rubbish first division club, it's a joke really.
I agree that Delap should be in the squad but it wouldn't be at the expense of Barrett as they both play in different positions. Holland would probably be first for the chop if I had my way.
Well Delap can and has done a job on the right and a better one than Barrett but yeah, I'd have him in ahead of Holland if I had to pick between them anyway.
Great manager you would make! drop the players who have come in and do a good job for a guy who is always injured come international game time, friendlies are the only real opportunity for Quinn or Barrett. Please show me one game where Delap was outstanding for Ireland?
I think Quinn is a decent one-dimensional player and Barrett is not turning out the be the players he thought he would be - but I think Kerr has made the right choice in calling them up. I have never understood this Delapmania.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Nationalism is an infantile disease, the measles of mankind
Alan Quinn deserves his place in the squad without a shadow of a doubt.
But the Delapmania amongst the fans you talk about I think is more a case of barretmania amongst Irish selectors. MaCarthy was the same. Calling Barrett up while he was an Arsenal reserve or on loan at Brighton the there were far more deserving/qualified options overlooked.
If Kerr had named just a 22 man squad excluiding the likes of Harte, Delap.... Who could justifiably complain given the performances of those that have come in.
But it's the notion the Colgan warrants a place over Stack, Maybury over Harte and Barret over Delap (or arguably Steven Reid given that he's just back from injury) that I can't get my head around in any way.
I agree obviously on Alan Quinn.
On paper - Stack a Millwall regular who has played well versus Colgan a Stockport County bench warmer - it's a no contest. As Stack was called up last season while at Arsenal I can only imagine it is the potentially very embarrassing legal proceedings that that he may become involved in that is the reason behind his not being called up, so perhaps a sensible decision, who needs the bad publicity if things go south?
Maybury over Harte? Even Solomon might pause on that one. My feeling is that Harte is not as bad as we sometimes say but jeez he plays football like he is on a pub team. I have seen very little of Clive Clarke but he sounds a better prospect that Maybury.
I would take Steven Reid over Barrett or Delap, I was hoping Barrett would do the business this season but....not. Reid has huge potential and I have not been impressed by Delap wearing the green. What exactly does Delap offer other than being a guy who can play in multiple positions?
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Nationalism is an infantile disease, the measles of mankind
I gave up on Barrett some time ago. Even after his goal against finland Liam Brady was reluctant to say anything more than the 'Good lad' shpeel, and he'd know him better than anybody. It was the same for him last year at Coventry as it is this year. We've better options.
The delap thing for me is as much about thinking beyeond Roy Keane as it is about who to play with him. In Holland, Carsley??, Kilbane, Quinn and Kavanagh we have a bunch of hard working men who are at best average to good top flight midfeilders. For us to funciton properly as a team we have to find the best combination from an average bunch, and the only way to truly judge is through exposure.
Who here see's Kilbane in the middle long term? Who frets over Kilbanes erratic form? Who has been truly convinced by Holland (though as it stand i think he's our best option beside Keane)?. Who has seen much of Quinn and Kavanagh? Who worries over the status of Quinn and Kavanagh as first division player?
Now an objective, non irish, premiership fan would categories Delap in a bracket with these lads, some may argue even better. So by excluding him out of a misplaced sense of loyalty is only limiting our options down the line. We have to think beyond the next 90 minutes, especially in Friendlies.
This sort of over-reaction is what scares me about message boards. The hysterical cries for Ian Harte to be dropped (some would have said shot) a few years ago were over the top. Now the commotion for him to be included is almost as deafening. The fact he’s playing for a third placed team in the in the best (arguably) league in the world means very little. In the past (when everyone was clamouring for his ommision) he was playing for a team placed third in the best (arguably) league in the world (remember when Leeds were up there?). Incidentally, I do think he should be in the squad. It would be folly to assume that Levante are the third best team in the league and based on that assume that Harte is now a must pick on the basis of that. Levante may end up in the mid-table. The manager of Levante (Bernd Schuster I think), may get to the transfer window and a better left back becomes available. Next thing you know Harte is at a mid table Spanish side in the reserves. Let’s get things in perspective. Harte is a reasonable left back, fantastic dead ball specialist, bit too slow and has ordinary postional sense. Also all those that say Duff has learnt to defend, so Harte might not be as exposed. Do you have short memories? For most of McCarthy’s tenure, the defensively sound Kilbane played in front of Harte.
Rory Delap arguably the form Irish player this month! What??? Based on what? The two goals against Arsenal? He is an honest hardworking player that probably deserves a squad place. He is not even the best player in a struggling Southampton side. As for the form player of the month? Surely Richard Dunne (not just based on Utd match…he’s been in solid – great form all season), Robbie Keane, Kenny Cunningham all have greater claims?
Probably agree with you about Stack, although I’d have Kenny ahead of him still based on experience. Not sure about Colgan. Would be my fourth choice.
Barrett seems to be a bit erratic, so would agree there too.
Last edited by Kevin77; 10/11/2004 at 6:04 AM.
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