It's not absurd. It's a value judgment and as things stand Arter isn't ruled out yet. It's not a value judgment I share but "absurd" is stretching it. You wanted Quinn out, he's out. For ages you ask why there's no Rooney. Now he picks Rooney. Walters got an assist for Stoke's equaliser, off the bench. We know O'Neill sees McClean as an option up front. Just give over on the misery and the repetition.Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
I'm surprised more people aren't saying this. He looks like a different option to our other strikers too, in a good way. All the noise is about Horgan despite it being a position we're pretty well stocked in. I know Dundalk's European run has fuelled a lot of that hype which is fair enough too, but if I could chose between them right now I definitely go for Maguire due to the circumstances.
Our striking options are looking absolutely dire but enough to get over Moldova & Georgia. Badly need to recruit someone.
"We lost because we didn't win"- Ronaldo
@ 3:37
I don't think it was an assist.
I reserve judgment. If Arter and McCarthy join Quinn on the injury list then Hourihane simply has to be called back into the squad.
He's miles ahead of Gleeson. And three years younger.
You know things are bad when you are trumpeting the call up of a 25 year old to bring down the age profile of the squad.
Assuming we are on the same level as a Slovakia or a Slovenia, and using them as a baseline, look at the strikers they select for their squads - both in terms of age, Intl experience, profile and talent.
They make do with what they got.
We are fairly haughty about the strikers we call up.
Why not throw in Best, Doyle, Stokes or Madden? Or even Maguire as someone mentioned.
It's uninspiring but are they any worse than a 37 year old Milivoje Novakovic or Marek Bakos?
We are not the only country with a dearth of strikers coming through. It doesn't mean we have to deplete ourselves or leave ourselves short.
Those lads I just mentioned are all a good age too, between 26-29 like Rooney.
Best is injury prone and is hardly going to get a run out for Ireland again despite starting recently for Ipswich, Stokes is a Blackburn reserve with baggage, Doyle should have retired, Madden is a Scunthorpe sub and they are doing well without him. In any case he has never done it at a higher level than League 1. Maguire might have potential in the future but would need to be scoring on a regular basis against teams from a higher level than the League of Ireland...Adam Rooney...Is he realistically any better than Connor Sammon?
Last edited by TrapAPony; 03/10/2016 at 8:07 PM.
"We lost because we didn't win"- Ronaldo
Is there a case for Madden to be called up ahead of Maguire playing only in League One? It's hardly a higher standard to what Maguire is playing.
There's every bit the case for Maguire ahead of, or at least on equal footing to, an injury prone Best, reserve players in Stokes and Madden and even Adam Rooney, as the SPL is not of a higher playing standard to LOI Premier, no matter what argument you put out.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
My point is that I wouldn't call up any of them. None of them are currently good enough.
"We lost because we didn't win"- Ronaldo
Maguire didn't pull up trees in League Two. Didn't look any better than Drennan.
Stokes is a very talented player, scores goals, looked sharp against Germany & Kazakhstan when he got a rare chance. Has actually started relatively well for Blackburn IMO before things took a turn after his strop in Cardiff. I thought his Champions League performances have shown his class.
Madden has scored ****loads of goals in League Two consistently and had a decent cameo against Wales. Can play on the wing.
Even Sammon, as **** as he is, has had his moments for us. Got a few assists and showed a decent understanding with Keane at times. Very unlucky not to score on a breakaway against Spain.
The basis of my point is that we have a paucity of options but lots of teams do. Portugal won the European Championships despite not having a half decent out and out striker since Pauleta.
There's no need to get hung up on Hogan. There are some lads mentioned in the last few posts who could do a job for us, though not as a bonafide regular starter.
Sheridan is another option..
Maguire scored 7 goals as a 20 year old at Accrington in half a season where they finished 17th. Don't think that's too shabby really.
Stokes is incredibly over-rated. He failed to live up to any glimmer of potential he showed as a youngster at Celtic.
Again, League Two is of a worse standard than LOI Premier.
Has he even scored since returning to Scotland?
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
On the Maguire suggestion, I'd be in favour of bringing him into the squad. Even if not as an official squad member it would do no harm at all to call him and maybe one or 2 others in to train with the squad.
I believe O'Neill suggested that he wouldn'the be calling up any Dundalk players to this squad due to the crazy fixture congestion they are up against. It's a reasonable position and I think he has to be taken at his word on that. But the truth is it's not terribly clear what level the top of the LOI is in comparison to the SPL or the Championship in England. Seeing a few of the best non-Dundalk LOI players training alongside players from those divisions might demystify that a little without disrupting what Dundalk are doing at this crucial stage of their season.
A wise person once said we would rue the days after Robbie hung up his intl boots and there's plenty of rueing going on here.
For these games we have Long, Walters and Wesley close by, along with a few good attack proficient midfielders.
The main thing I'd worry about is the imponderable, the fear that Georgia's deserved time to extract something from us is overdue.
Sooo...at the end of all that, Adam Rooney, with two-and-a half seasons with a scoring rate of a goal every 1.77 games, seems to be the right option to come in for now
I'll put out the argument that Harps are in the LoI Premier - and not even in the relegation zone.
I think the SPL is a higher standard to the LoI Premier. The top LoI teams are certainly comparable, but not the league.
Ditto the English Leagues One and Two - again, the Harps argument. And Longford, FFS. (No offence to Longford fans!)
That said, I'd probably go with Magiure ahead of Madden if we needed to bring another forward into the squad, but there wouldn't be much in it. In my opinion, obviously.
I just find it impossible to overlook his scoring record in the Championship and L1 where he clearly struggled. Eoin Doyle absolutely torched L1 whereas Rooney struggled. Obviously there are other variables when comparing Aberdeen/SPL form to Brum/Championship and Odlham/L1 form.
Agreed. We have serious problems upfront. Only going to get worse if nothing is done soon about it.
"We lost because we didn't win"- Ronaldo
So I guess realistically this is probably the team for Thursday anyway? Only possible change would be risking McCarthy instead of Whelan but that seems unlikely. Maybe Duffy could come back in also. For all the withdrawals, I don't think it would have been any different anyway so it's more the bench that has been weakened and the potential to freshen things up for Moldova.
So I guess realistically this is probably the team for Thursday anyway? Only possible change would be risking McCarthy instead of Whelan but that seems unlikely. Maybe Duffy could come back in also. For all the withdrawals, I don't think it would have been any different anyway so it's more the bench that has been weakened and the potential to freshen things up for Moldova.
I think Clark will partner O'Shea at the back...Brady will play in the Hoolahan role...and McClean will start left wing...
"We lost because we didn't win"- Ronaldo
Actually those changes kind of reinforce the point that we're not quite as depleted as the number of withdrawals suggest.
I'd prefer McClean as a sub, especially in these type of games where a bit of craft more than brute force is needed. I'm not sure O'Neill will see any reason to drop Keogh but I wouldn't mind if he did. I really hope you're wrong about Hoolahan not playing.
Last edited by DeLorean; 04/10/2016 at 5:51 PM.
would there be anything to be said for a Joe Mason call up?
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