I was in with the Italians in the end. There was some kind of a weird drinking ban in the middle of the day and we ended up drinking vodka on the 'black market'. It hit my friend (who had the tickets) pretty hard and he wandered off without distributing the tickets and his phone battery went dead. We just headed out to the stadium in the hope that we'd meet him or at least get to purchase more tickets. We had no joy but about ten minutes into the game they opened a gate for the stadium to leave a bunch of kids in and we just went in as well. We had no seats though so we were just sitting at the feet of some Italian supporters. The atmosphere was pretty tense as well because they were upset at Pazzini getting sent off after a couple of minutes. Needless to say we remained muted when Keane equalised. Good times though.
Last edited by DeLorean; 23/09/2016 at 4:00 PM.
Sorry, but who does Scott Hogan think he is. MON having to speak to his agent FFS.
You've got no fans.
You know what the Hogan saga reminds me of?
A girlfriend who has stopped returning your calls, has deleted you as a friend on FB and has then blocked you on FB.
Yet you live in hope. Maybe she is too busy studying for that 10% continuous assessment and can't have any distractions. Yes, there are all those pictures of her on a night out with her friends appearing on your timeline. Maybe she's doing her thesis on Irish nightclubs? Yeah, that's it. And that picture of her where it looks like she's snogging some random guy? That's probably her brother. He's just back from Australia and she really, really missed him.
Totally understandable.
Fans who take Hogan's reasoning at face value are like that very understanding ex-boyfriend who doesn't know he's an ex-boyfriend yet.
So far the only encouraging thing from the Hogan saga is his "couldn't say no to Roy Keane" statement. And that's coming from someone (Hogan) who grew up supporting Manchester United.
Last edited by TheOneWhoKnocks; 23/09/2016 at 8:18 PM.
Hopefully if there is a midfielder sacrificed it's O'Kane or Gleeson rather than Hourihane.
Hourihane offers goals and assists in abundance, a threat from setpieces and leadership. He has more going for him than the other two lads even in terms of the grittier stuff.
I'm happy for Doyle to be involved again. We know what he can offer and that he can still offer it. Though I wouldn't have minded seeing Mason, E. Doyle, Sheridan or Rooney given a chance.
I think the most glaring omission is Egan. At least, as someone else pointed out, we have cover in Doherty & Cunningham's positions - though I think Cunningham, if not Doherty, is a safer option than Christie.
I don't get the argument that lads like McShane or Pearce should be retained due to squad consistency or harmony.
Egan is 24 next month. He has his best years in front of him, but he is no baby either. He has proven he has the maturity to step up to this level. Just bringing him in with a view to a November debut will help to lower the average age of the squad - which is absurdly old.
As I have pointed out, other teams have no problems integrating younger players in competitive games. Lads like Egan, Hourihane and Horgan have proven they're no shrinking violets. Throw them in. What's to lose.
How many more chances do Pearce, McShane et al. need to prove they are not a viable long-term option?
Agree with most of that. Christie versus Doherty or Cunningham (a left back so not comparable) is a value judgment rather than an obvious error. I think Christie is OK.
Egan over the other two is a no brainier for many reasons.
Kevin Doyle's inclusion is definitely the right call in my opinion. He should have gone to France. That said, it's a bit simplistic to say other teams have no problem integrating younger players in competitive games, so we should too. That seems to presuppose that younger players' integration is by itself a good thing. I'd rather win an ugly game with a Kevin Doyle or Jon Walters winner than pick a rookie who plays well but we don't win. I'm not sure these other countries' qualification chances aren't as precarious as ours usually are.
I have an issue myself with the Horgan exclusion, or more to the point, O'Neill's statement that he'd be in the provisional squad if he didn't have so many games. Either you're in or you are not if you are good enough. Shane Long is also playing EL games along with League matches but that's not an issue. Granted maybe not quite the same number but that excuse from O'Neill is a poor one and disrespectful to Horgan.
I don't think Dundalk's fixture schedule is comparable to any other clubs at the moment to be fair. Maybe he should have still got a call up but in the unlikely event of him making the final squad or seeing game time maybe there's some sense in waiting until November, when things have settled down.
Since when has the Hogan thing become a "saga"? Some people get outraged over so little
Shane Long doesn't have some of the most important games in the club's history coming thick and fast though. I think O'Neill's position is actually quite respectful to Stephen Kenny and Dundalk, and probably also to Horgan. He has given him the recognition he deserves by saying he'd be in the provisional squad if circumstances were different. I'm with the manager on this one. There are some good players who probably won't make the final squad.
Last edited by TheOneWhoKnocks; 24/09/2016 at 12:27 PM.
It's gaining traction.
Some people manage to simultaneously defend Hogan's excuse over his disinterest in being called up, and castigate MON for not calling him up in May when he was interested in a call up (even though he has never made a statement to that effect).
Do those two things not conflict?
He was supposedly feeling okay enough to be called up in May, yet come September his knees need to be rehabbed.
Some people seem to think the magic ingredient is just calling up guys like Bamford and Hogan as soon as they make several appearances at senior club level, and then they'll be ours forever more.
The FAI couldn't be any more proactive with this really but still the onus always has to be on them and not the players.
Bamford has been called up at U-19 level and Hogan was called up to the U-21's before dropping out.
The FAI couldn't be any more proactive and accommodating.
Last edited by TheOneWhoKnocks; 24/09/2016 at 11:31 AM.
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