Squad announced for Croatia

[JimmyP]

From fai.ie:

Shay Given (Newcastle Utd) 20/04/76 65 0
Nick Colgan (Barnsley) 19/09/76 8 0
Paddy Kenny (Sheffield Utd) 17/05/78 3 0
Alan Maybury (Hearts) 08/08/78 9 0
Steve Finnan (Liverpool) 20/04/76 33 1
Kenny Cunningham (Birmingham City) 28/06/71 62 0
Stephen Carr (Newcastle Utd) 29/08/76 35 0
Andy O'Brien (Newcastle Utd) 29/06/79 17 0
Gary Doherty (Norwich City) 31/01/80 29 4
Richard Dunne (Manchester City) 21/09/79 20 4
Gary Breen (Sunderland) 12/12/73 61 7
Matt Holland (Charlton Ath) 11/04/74 43 5
John O'Shea (Manchester Utd) 30/04/81 18 1
Liam Miller (Manchester Utd) 30/04/81 6 0
Kevin Kilbane (Everton) 01/02/77 58 4
Andy Reid (Nottingham Forest) 29/07/82 12 2
Graham Kavangah (Cardiff City) 02/12/73 8 1
Alan Quinn (Sheffield Utd) 13/06/79 5 0
Graham Barrett (Coventry City) 06/10/81 5 2
Aiden McGeady (Celtic) 04/04/86 1 1
Damien Duff (Chelsea) 02/03/79 48 6
Alan Lee (Cardiff City) 21/08/78 7 0
Jon Macken (Manchester City) 07/09/77 1 0
Stephen Elliott (Sunderland) 06/01/84 0 0
Robbie Keane (Tottenham Hotspur) 08/07/80 56 23

No Harte, then. But O'Shea won't make it so maybe he'll get a call up later; Stack over Colgan again; McGeady in, and presumably Elliot might miss it and Clint will take his place.

[Plastic Paddy]

I'm happy to see Stephen Elliott and Aiden McGeady (obviously) in the squad but Nick Colgan? Sweet Mother of Mercy. Is it not time to bring Graham Stack in at senior level instead?

PP

[thejollyrodger]

Good to see some young blood coming through but a shame about Eliott. I really wanted to see him play. I cant see morrison playing with that injury which is a shame because he was looking like the real mc coy in Paris !

Miller , Reid, Mc Geady. Are these going to all end up on the right hand side ?

I hope Kerr doesnt have his favourites. Hearte is doing the business out in Spain and has played in every game so far for Levante so obviously the manager out der must rate him. So do I. His biggest problem was the lack of confidence and it wouldnt do any harm to see what he is capable to do now. not having hearte in this squad is my biggest complaint tbh.

[Slash/ED]

I really wish we could look at squad players beyond the likes of Quinn, Barrett, Colgan, Lee and Maybury. I know they wont ever start but we surley have better, these will never add anything to our side imo.

[JimmyP]

Morrison's back in training already, and looking to be back against Everton on Saturday. Bruce might be happy to see him out for an international

[gustavo]

bit ****ed off that harte isnt included cos it seems like discrimination for some1 moving "abroad"

[macdermesser]

From fai.ie:

Shay Given (Newcastle Utd) 20/04/76 65 0
Nick Colgan (Barnsley) 19/09/76 8 0
Paddy Kenny (Sheffield Utd) 17/05/78 3 0
Alan Maybury (Hearts) 08/08/78 9 0
Steve Finnan (Liverpool) 20/04/76 33 1
Kenny Cunningham (Birmingham City) 28/06/71 62 0
Stephen Carr (Newcastle Utd) 29/08/76 35 0
Andy O'Brien (Newcastle Utd) 29/06/79 17 0
Gary Doherty (Norwich City) 31/01/80 29 4
Richard Dunne (Manchester City) 21/09/79 20 4
Gary Breen (Sunderland) 12/12/73 61 7
Matt Holland (Charlton Ath) 11/04/74 43 5
John O'Shea (Manchester Utd) 30/04/81 18 1
Liam Miller (Manchester Utd) 30/04/81 6 0
Kevin Kilbane (Everton) 01/02/77 58 4
Andy Reid (Nottingham Forest) 29/07/82 12 2
Graham Kavangah (Cardiff City) 02/12/73 8 1
Alan Quinn (Sheffield Utd) 13/06/79 5 0
Graham Barrett (Coventry City) 06/10/81 5 2
Aiden McGeady (Celtic) 04/04/86 1 1
Damien Duff (Chelsea) 02/03/79 48 6
Alan Lee (Cardiff City) 21/08/78 7 0
Jon Macken (Manchester City) 07/09/77 1 0
Stephen Elliott (Sunderland) 06/01/84 0 0
Robbie Keane (Tottenham Hotspur) 08/07/80 56 23

No Harte, then. But O'Shea won't make it so maybe he'll get a call up later; Stack over Colgan again; McGeady in, and presumably Elliot might miss it and Clint will take his place.

and no Roy Keane either?

[McCanada]

I take it Mr. Kerr is one stubborn man - Most are certain that Harte has more to offer than Maybury, and Delap has the multi-positional skills to have a place somewhere on the squad, no? He'd be useful on the bench for most games, I'd imagine...No Roy is no shock though...Also seems that O'Shea is listed with the midfielders....Hmmmm....

[Stuttgart88]

Not happy with this squad.

No Delap is unbelievable for reasons mentioned in a separate thread. Must be more to it all than meets the eye.

Maybury over Harte is hard to justify too.

Barrett isn't even a regular at Coventry.

Colgan doesn't merit a place in any international squad. I wonder is Stack's exclusion anything to do with his trouble with the police?

[Irish_Praha]

R Keane and Morrisson have been rested.
Maybury ahead of Heart is a bit of a joke. Even if O'Shea is not fit Kerr is probably still not going to call Harte up because he has named a squad of 25 to cover for any injuries.
Barrett and Quinn ahead of Delap is a bit of an insult too. I mean WTF has Barrett done? He's not even first choice at Coventry
He's never going to get anywhere near a starting 11 in a competitive game unless we have about 5 midfilders injured or 3 or 4 injuries up front.
Delap is the kind of player he should be looking at for this game. We are not exactly overstaffed with top-flight CMF players. With Keane out we have Kavanagh, Holland, Kilbane, Quinn and Barrett to chose from. Surely Delap is worth a shot?
I'm glad to see Dunne back, he couldn't really be ignored anymore
Breen is one lucky SOB that there is no stiff competition for the 4th CB position in the squad.
And Colgan who is the wrong side of 30 and going nowhere in a team in the third league in ahead of a very promising 22 year old Stack

Edited to say I was writing this when Stutt88 wrote his post

[Donal81]

My, we are a fickle bunch. It wasn't too long ago that Harte was being derided from all quarters for being in the team due to McCarthy's stubborn nature and his propensity to include favourites such as Harte, Breen, Kilbane and Kennedy despite an obvious lack of ability in their positions. He was at fault for so many of our conceded goals and the ability to take a decent free kick and corner doesn't excuse this. He added something going forward, granted, but that doesn't make up for being a rotten full-back with neither pace nor concept of marking. I don't think he has a place in this team because I don't think he ever proved himself as a decent full-back. He may find it a bit unfair that he isn't in the squad but, to be honest, I don't miss him. I don't wish to be too harsh on the bloke as, similarly to Kilbane, he seems to love playing for Ireland and was never of the type to put club over country. I just don't think he's a great loss. I can understand the argument in terms of Harte vs Maybury for the back up full back but anything else seems pointless. Fair enough, Levante are doing well but the Spanish league is notoriously top-heavy and seems to be going the way of the Premier League with major clubs concentrating on the European competitions. Again, I've nothing against the bloke but I can easily see why Kerr would forget about him. Maybe he's undergone a Kilbane-style renaissance, in which case he's worth another look.

[Don Vito]

Delaps omission is real mystery, obviously somethin behind it. If he was uncapped and born in England we'd all be ravin about him.

[Donal81]

Delaps omission is real mystery, obviously somethin behind it. If he was uncapped and born in England we'd all be ravin about him.

I thought he was born in England...but a very good point. Even stranger thing is that he's been called up regularly over the last few matches but the clown always got injured. Why has he been left out now that he's fit again? How perfectly queer...

[Don Vito]

Not sure of his background but basically what I was tryin to say was that if he was a Macken type case we'd all be crying out for him to be selected in the squad. Think people will understand where I'm comin form-clear communication isn't my strong point!

[Donal81]

You're spot on, sir. If he was a Macken or Morrison type who had never played for us before, we'd be gasping for him. As he's always wanted to play for us, the level of interest isn't there. Shame, really, he's a good player.

[Fergie's Son]

So what's behind it then? Why hasn't Delap been chosen? Anything in the papers?

[McCanada]

The only logical explanation that Kerr can have is that he won't remove players from the squad unless they do something to warrant losing a place out of loyalty. However, that leads to another argument, wouldn't Delap keep his place after returning from injury, given he was in the squad before? I still feel he's a better bench option than Doherty, or BOTH Holland and Kav, all of whom were on the bench against France, I believe.

Finally, with Maybury, If he were 19, I don't think he'd be a star on the U21's. I haven't seen him since his days with Leeds, primarily as a MF, but he was no great shakes then, either. How people can automatically prefer him (who most likely hasn't been seen in Scotland by the great majority of board members recently) to Harte (ditto about being seen in Spain by board members) is hard to fathom. After all, Harte is a fixture on a good defensive side in Spain. If he was the same Harte of two years ago, I imagine he'd be eaten alive by the Liga wingers. Why not have a look, and find out? And wouldn't O'Shea seemingly be listed as a MF bring further credence to Harte's inclusion

[Slash/ED]

The only logical explanation that Kerr can have is that he won't remove players from the squad unless they do something to warrant losing a place out of loyalty.

If that's the case than that is complete and utter rubbish. Absolute rubbish. Barret? Quinn? They have both not made it at division one level in England and aren't even automatic choice for their clubs in the lower leagues ffs. It's an absolute bleedin' insult to Delap to be left out in favour of those eejits, no two ways about it. It wouldn't suprise me if Delap retired soon, which would be terrible to see and Kerr could blame nobody but himself.

[McCanada]

If that's the case than that is complete and utter rubbish. Absolute rubbish. Barret? Quinn? They have both not made it at division one level in England and aren't even automatic choice for their clubs in the lower leagues ffs. It's an absolute bleedin' insult to Delap to be left out in favour of those eejits, no two ways about it. It wouldn't suprise me if Delap retired soon, which would be terrible to see and Kerr could blame nobody but himself.

That's exactly my point....based on merit, few would agree that Barrett, Quinn, Lee, etc. fit the bill. But perhaps because they have been loyal soldiers in the past (at all levels) they are in. Who knows?

[Zidane]

With Delap's situation with the Ireland squad I can't help wondering if Leon Best is looking at this and that might be influencing his uncertainty for playing for Ireland. I hope I am wrong.

Delap should be in the squad ahead of Quinn and Barrett.