I don't think Randolph was selected ahead of him, Westwood was injured that time too. I'm not sure MON seems fully convinced by Westwood's attitude, going by the little piece in that press conference I linked.
I don't think it's going to be a scrap at all - I think it'll be one of the most open games of football that we'll have been involved in for years.
I said when the draw was made, the best way to nullify Bosnia would be to attack them. Either a Bosnian journalist, or their manager said this week that they're weak at the back, and the only way they can play is full-on attack, hence why they leak goals. If we sit in for a draw like we usually do in Eastern Europe, we're inviting trouble.
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
Does anyone fancy an appearance from Judge? He can play on the wing or in the hole and is making things happen regularly at Brentford. The midfield is pretty up in the air. I think Hendrick, McCarthy and Whelan are nailed on. After that, there's Brady, McClean, Gibson and Meyler in with a shout but only two of them are wide players (Brady and McClean) and neither Gibson or Meyler would be playing 10 behind Murphy, if we go with one striker. I think McGeady's lack of games have him out of the frame.
Hendrick could play 10 but that would mean we wouldn't have anyone to play on the right.
I think there's going to be a wildcard in that midfield. There has to be if we go with one up front because I don't fancy us to start Hoolahan at all.
I wouldn't imagine Westwood would want to pull out for a play-off seeing as how Randolph got on coming off the bench.
I would have Westwood as out number 1 personally.
I remember Dean Kiely getting mightily pi$$ed off, and probably rightly so, at how Trap treated him for a friendly but I think this is a bit different. I think he's just injured
Folding my way into the big money!!!
I was thinking the same when i put that team together. I went with McGeady as that wildcard as I feel O'Neill will feel he is the safer option for the away leg, but I would imagine he will revert to the diamond for Dublin, and I could easily see Judge or even Arter playing off Long & Walters. It won't be like O'Neill to go with Hoolahan away from home but with so many injuries for the first leg, and an extra man in midfield as a result of only having 1 up front, i think he will want him in the team.
There are a lot of possible ways we could play though, and we are very badly short of pace. I also considered a 4-1-4-1 with Christie at RB and Coleman RM.
On Whelan. I know most will be expecting him to play, but he came off very early against Poland, and the contrast with McCarthy in that role against Germany was stark. I'd say he must be behind Hendrick and McCarthy at this stage, if not others
Bring Back Belfast Celtic F.C.
Could this have been the final straw?....
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
To title this "Glen Whelan's career highlights" is so wrong in many ways for someone who has given it all when he has played for us and has done a great job. A lot of this anti-Whelan stuff goes back to when Trap was playing him instead of some other players, including Gibson, and is just wrong and unfair.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
I don't even know if there is an attitude but yeah I could 100% understand his frustrations at Given starting ahead of him (or anybody else for that matter). MON made reference to him not wanting to play in the League Cup game against Arsenal, despite Sheffield Wednesday thinking he was okay. Just seemed a little strange.
I wouldn't take it too seriously. I can't say I agree he's done a great job though but many agree with you.
Last edited by DeLorean; 12/11/2015 at 1:28 PM.
Plenty of players have been made to look stupid by Lewandowski. Not to excuse Whelan, but he's waiting for the ball to come to him, Lewandowski gets in the way, wrong foots him, Whelan is caught off balance and Lewandowski is gone again.
It's Krychowiak, not Lewandowski. He's caught badly but these things happen, it's just one minor clip. Looks kind of funny though.
I went off Whelan when Trap called him something preposterous like Ireland's Michel Platini and in subsequent interviews it was clear he believed the hype.
Slow, wasteful, a coward, incapable of passing forward and passes out of play ALL the bloody time, as un-dynamic as a midfielder gets and with a horrible sense of self-entitlement (has anyone mentioned him being a leader this week as he played back in Paris? No, me neither).
I don't like what I know of the man and I think he is an utterly brutal footballer for Ireland.
If he does a job at Stoke, grand, I don't care and best of luck to him.
McCarthy/Hendrick is a few crucial degrees more functional than a McCarthy/Whelan pairing.
Agree on most of the above points, particularly re pace. If we're playing zero goal Murphy up front then we're somewhat shy a goal-threat and speed. We need to stack our midfield with players who can make a goal happen, within reason. That's why I'm wondering if Judge will get a look in. That's also why I'd like to see Brady playing further up the pitch as opposed to left back.
Someone has Brady in the hole and McClean on the left. That sounds like a runner to me. I really think he's just going to let Wes on the bench, mindful of the second Poland game and the fact that it's an away game.
Also, it looks like we'll have to drop the diamond because we're missing Walters and Long and so we haven't much options for a striking duo. There's always the possibility of Keane partnering Murphy.
I think that is happening a bit. It has become 'cool' to understand Whelan and what he offers, stuff that was ignored or overlooked previously. I think there might even be a pretentious element to it with some people, a kind of 'you have to understand the game to see what he brings' sort of thing. I'm sure this stems from top manager after top manager picking him and it's been kind of difficult to fathom at times. I wouldn't be as harsh as YOP though, I think he's had a good 2015 overall for club and country but, yeah, I'd prefer if he was phased out as an automatic starter at least.
Apologies, yes. But still quite preposterous. He compared James McCarthy to Platini.
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Mac+is.....-a0300112113
Bookmarks