Republic of Ireland V Oman 3rd September 2014 & Georgia 7th September 2014

[Charlie Darwin]

Hang on, in the other thread you said we 'have the players to do well'. Hmm, doesn't seem like it!

No idea why you think these are mutually exclusive. We have the players to do well, that doesn't mean they're going to be used properly.

Personally, I don't think calling on a keeper who's been retired for two years, who a lot of people thought was past it at the time and has barely played a game of football since is very encouraging for the future.

[Bray Head]

We have 3 keepers who have started the season as number 1 for their club in the championship - Forde, Westwood & Randolph. Given is no 2 choice at Villa and won't play another game till the FA cup in january unless Guzan gets injured.
Bringing Given back makes no sense and would not do anyrhing for the moral of the other keepers in the squad.

[DeLorean]

Why is Forde getting so much flak for the Portugal game? Look at the defence he had in front of him. Westwood conceded 6 against Germany didn't he? Forde helped keep the score down against them.

My faith in Forde has taken a dent in the more recent Irish friendlies. He was poor for a number of goals... the Serbia winner I think, definitely one of the Portugal goals and the concession of the penalty against Costa Rica too. I don't think anybody is exempting the defence from blame with regards the Portugal game, they were a shambles.

I don't think Westwood was to blame for any of the German goals, or at least not badly at fault.

[jbyrne]

That's weird, I read it a while ago but it's not showing up when I search for it. Maybe I read something from the game in 2012. It will definitely be on TV though, probably on Setanta.

heard it advertised for setanta on the radio this morning

[DeLorean]

Yeah, it's on Setanta Ireland from 7pm.

Setanta TV Listings

[Stuttgart88]

I though Forde was poor against Portugal notwithstanding the donkeys he had in front of him. He patted a couple of shots back into the danger area, shots I think he could have either caught or pushed further away. I also read he was a bit flappy against Costa Rica. His concession of the penalty was poor judgment.

I thought he was more than decent against Italy bar one misplaced ball from feet that put us in a bit of bother. It's not like Shay never did the same though, and quite frankly his taking of high balls is the best we've seen since Bonner in the late 80s.

Westwood is suffering from having been in nets at home to Germany. He looked a bit off the pace and was maybe beaten a bit easily by one or two of the goals but in his first appearances he did really well, and saved the say at home to Macedonia I think. What differentiates Westwood from the others, in my opinion, is his sharpness and agility. He also has a super kick and his handling is generally good. I have seen him get totally lost under crosses though and his body language lacked any positivity during Sunderland's poor start last season.

I think there's little between them. If we had time to experiment I'd pick Westwood. For the here and now I can see what Given would bring.

[Charlie Darwin]

heard it advertised for setanta on the radio this morning

I know my footie.

Owen Cowzer @OCowzer · 58m

Setanta announce they have exclusive rights to all Ireland friendly home internationals for the next four years.

[ArdeeBhoy]

No idea why you think these are mutually exclusive. We have the players to do well, that doesn't mean they're going to be used properly.

Make your mind up then! Though agreed about Given.

[Charlie Darwin]

Make my mind up about what? I don't need to. We have the players to do well, but we also have the players to not do well if the manager chooses to.

[Stuttgart88]

Yep, I think there's a good team to be put together from what we have available. I'm just not sure it will be put together though.

[paul_oshea]

Bringing back Shay would be a very Trap-like decision - kicking the can of finding a new goalkeeper down the road in order to qualify by any means. I'd rather we didn't lumber from campaign to campaign with no real strategy for long-term improvement.

You mean like we have done for the last 10 years or so?

[Charlie Darwin]

You mean like we have done for the last 10 years or so?

The start of my first sentence should tell you that's exactly what I mean.

[paul_oshea]

You play your best players when available. It doesnt matter about age, experience, morale or any other crap. Why do people play emphasis on sideline issues - excuse the pun. Its about getting the best results right now and doing that my putting your best available players out to achieve that result.

At the end of the campaign i dont give two hoots about how many players we brrought in, its about qualification or not. That's really building for the future.

[IsMiseSean]

Setanta have snapped up the rights to friendly games along with U21 & Women's games.

Setanta to show republic friendlies

[ArdeeBhoy]

Make my mind up about what? I don't need to. We have the players to do well, but we also have the players to not do well if the manager chooses to.

Hmm, still seems a tad contradictory...

[Stuttgart88]

If we were the type of country who could rely on regular qualification it'd make some sense to take a long term view with some players. But given the situation Ireland is in it he best way to plant seeds for the future is to qualify now. It'll get passions burning again and importantly it'll bring some money into the Association.

[Fixer82]

Shay is past it I'm afraid. I found over the last couple of years he had in goal for us he was particularly slow at getting down to low shots.
Estonia at home, Armenia at home, Croatia in Euro 2012.

I would not be in favour of bringing him back.
It has all the hallmarks of doing to his reputation what becoming national team manager did to Stan's*

*bad things, very very bad things

[Charlie Darwin]

You play your best players when available. It doesnt matter about age, experience, morale or any other crap. Why do people play emphasis on sideline issues - excuse the pun. Its about getting the best results right now and doing that my putting your best available players out to achieve that result.

At the end of the campaign i dont give two hoots about how many players we brrought in, its about qualification or not. That's really building for the future.

Yeah, we really capitalised on that Euro 2012 qualification. It's all very well saying play your best players, it's another actually playing them. A 38 year semi-retired goalkeeper who was struggling enough two years ago is a curious choice for 'best player'.

[DannyInvincible]

The final 27-man squad is as follows:

David Forde, Keiren Westwood, Shay Given, Rob Elliot;
Richard Keogh, Marc Wilson, Seamus Coleman, John O’Shea, Alex Pearce, Joey O’Brien, Stephen Ward;
James McCarthy, Glenn Whelan, Darron Gibson, Aiden McGeady, Anthony Pilkington, James McClean, Robbie Brady, Stephen Quinn, David Meyler, Wes Hoolahan;
Robbie Keane, Shane Long, Daryl Murphy, Jon Walters, Kevin Doyle and Anthony Stokes.

Stand-by list:

Darren Randolph, Ciaran Clark, Paul McShane, Shane Duffy, Damien Delaney, Simon Cox and Conor Sammon.

Andy Reid has withdrawn due to injury.

[Stuttgart88]

Real shame about Reid. I share TOWK's concern over the CB hierarchy.

Glad to see O'Brien and Pearce making the grade. 4 keepers looks odd.

I think the rest is pretty straightforward although I thought Gibson was unlikely to be brought over. Doyle is good enough for sure, but still lucky to make it.

Edit: why no Hendrick? Injury?

Did McClean come back for Wigan yet?