rob eliott called up to the squad to replace given. definitely something going on with westwood and while it doesn't seem like a big deal right now is a bit of a shame as he's far better than elliot/forde in my opinion.
Gutless.
What a night!
Lets talk about six baby
rob eliott called up to the squad to replace given. definitely something going on with westwood and while it doesn't seem like a big deal right now is a bit of a shame as he's far better than elliot/forde in my opinion.
I like high energy football. A little bit rock and roll. Many finishes instead of waiting for the perfect one.
Haha found this... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unof..._Championships
I like high energy football. A little bit rock and roll. Many finishes instead of waiting for the perfect one.
Is there anything to be said for really freshening up the team for Sunday? There must be some tired limbs after last night and it's a seriously quick turnaround. I'm not sure about the depth of Poland's squad but if they're largely unchanged maybe we could give ourselves a bit of an advantage without jeopardising the quality too much. Coleman, Wilson, McClean and Whelan are four obvious guys to come in (if available in the case of the former two). Dare I say start Robbie instead of Murphy but play him off Walters who seems immune to fatigue anyway. Looking at all the guys not involved last night we really have a decent squad of players.
Last edited by DeLorean; 09/10/2015 at 9:16 PM.
Yep, and midfield is looking quite decent too.
Eoin McDevitt made a comment on the Second Captains podcast that half our team against Germany comprised of Championship players and a lot of them don't get their games at their clubs.
5 were Championship players but Given and Ward are the only two that don't start for their clubs quite regularly.
Anyway, it's great to think that we could beat the German's without our best player and a total group of 4 players who have played almost every PL game for their clubs when fit this season (Clark, Coleman, McClean and Whelan). Wilson has been in and out of the side but was a regular last season.
That 4 that you've picked could all be expected to contribute in an away game- Coleman plays wherever and whenever, Wilson is slightly quicker than Keogh, Whelan as a defensive shield and McClean's tireless workrate and willingness to track back. That's 4 that were unavailable and what of super-sub Shane Long? Deserves a start but should he get one, with strategic purposes in mind?
Question is, who's dispensable after Thursday? The three that I think are under most threat are Keogh, Murphy and Ward. Are we as likely to be under such incessant pressure that we need a blocker against Poland? Or would someone like Wilson be better? Murphy was least impressive Thursday but serves a clear purpose. Ward was decent but could probably be deemed dispensable and/or injured.
Then of the others, Christie grew into the game in the second half which, we must all bear in mind, is understandable as that was the sternest test of a career that has, so far, been based in League One and Championship. And it's tough to justify a positional shift for the midfielders because Hoolahan seemed to revel in a number 8 (as opposed to number 10) role. Brady and Hendrick were great in midfield too so do we drop Brady left back, regardless?
There are so many selection choices to make. I can think of a range of different teams but I'm most certain that Whelan and Coleman will come in. Wilson coming in for Keogh is possible too but definitely not certain. McClean and Long could be saved for impact substitutes. Long is more likely to start than McClean though because I can't think of who could conceivably make way for McClean.
Possibilities that I can see:
Randolph
Coleman Wilson/Keogh O'Shea Christie
Whelan McCarthy
Hendrick Hoolahan Brady
Walters
Randolph
Coleman Wilson/Keogh O'Shea Brady
Whelan McCarthy
Walters Hoolahan Hendrick
Long/Murphy
Randolph
Coleman Wilson/Keogh O'Shea Brady
Hendrick Whelan McCarthy Hoolahan
Long/Murphy Walters
In the unlikely event that we don't stuff Poland, what's the situation with yellow cards going into the playoffs? If McCarthy and Walters pick up bookings in Warsaw do they miss the first leg?
Randolph
Coleman Wilson O'Shea Brady
Whelan McCarthy
Walters Hoolahan Hendrick
Long
would do nicely
Lads, I think we need to take stock a bit, this is pretty much the same 11 that played for the last few years, between trap and oneill. We were never world beaters back then, supposedly, but we definitely had a better sum of our parts as O'Neill has shown in this game. However we can't play every game like that, it works when the worlds best have an off day and we play to our optimum ability.
We have a decent group of players, and in my opinion always have had, we just didnt have the belief, and going on thursday the nous to go about holding out or achieving that. But we can't expect to always play like this, or always have things go our way.
For Poland, we need to have the same level of concentration but we have to score. I would look to make us more attack minded, but we will actually need to create chances, we had 33% or so the last day(ive seen two different percentages) of possession, and we created nothing bar that chance Long took, that will not be good enough again, as we have seen Long more often than not does not finish these type of chances. So with that in mind we need a different lineup, a more attack minded formation and a more positive approach going forward, but we also need to handle Lewandowski, 21 goals so far, Germany don't have an out and out striker like that. And if we play higher up the line and more positive then it will be difficult to keep him quite, its ok when you play the way we played against Germany, but we cant play like that against Poland as we have to score.
I hope we don't come back down to reality with a bang on Sunday.
I'm a bloke,I'm an ocker
And I really love your knockers,I'm a labourer by day,
I **** up all me pay,Watching footy on TV,
Just feed me more VB,Just pour my beer,And get my smokes, And go away
In theory playing Whelan/McCarthy should allow both full backs to bomb forward. As we saw in the reverse fixture Poland are not great shakes. We need to be lucky and hope Lewandowski either has an off day or is well shackled.
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