QuoteGet O'Shea off that bench on on to that pitch, throw finnan off and O'Brian in for Dunne..Originally Posted by Condex
Also Kavanagh on the bench, never know when you might need a strong midfielder
Finnan played at left back in Basle and along with O'Brien was the only outfield player who played to the required standard.
Get O'Shea off that bench on on to that pitch, throw finnan off and O'Brian in for Dunne..
Also Kavanagh on the bench, never know when you might need a strong midfielder
Finnan over O' Shea for me. Everytime I've seen O'Shea play for Ireland he has been very loose with his passing, tentative going forward, and prone to loosing his concentration to easily. His displays for Manu when he does manage to get on the team have not been great IMO.
Finnan has been one of the only players at Liverpool to play consistently well over the last few months. He had a great game last night. He is more solid defensively than O'Shea and is a better attacking treat as well. All round a more solid player who very rarely hits a misplaced pass.
"I'd rather play in front of a full house than an empty crowd" Johnny Giles
Aye, look at England. They went over to Azerbaijan, were the 2nd best team from start to finish but still managed to sneak a goal and get out there with the 3 points.
Finnan played at left back in Switzerland, as others have said. He also spent the best part of a season at left back with Fulham. There is a lot more reason to play Finnan there than O'Shea. 1. He is currently playing regular first team football at the highest level. 2. He actually is a full back, unlike O'Shea. 3. He's a lot more solid than O'Shea and your not on the edge of your seat whenever Finnan has the ball.
O'Shea is also right footed...
How can people come on here and be so strong in their views and then make basic errors , O shea is Right footed and so is Finnan. Our left footers include
Duff
Kilbane
Harte, (not in the squad though).
None of them should play at left back for Ireland so we need to pick a right footer there. Having played there many times and playing regular football Finnan would get my nod. But I can see O shea playing there as Kerr may not move him. It may depend on who plays right mid for Israel. If he is tall or fast or whatever. I would trust Kerr to make the correct decision in relation to this
In Trap we trust
Nope, and nope.
Enfield, Co Meath....and can't say I was ever in the Inn on the Green
UCD sha-la-la
I've always thought O'Shea was over rated.
I remember watching an Ireland game in Scruffy Murphys in Sydney
and when I said that to a mate, a Man U fan over heard and took
a swipe at me saying he was World Class and I only said that cos I
was a Liverpool supporting w@nker.
Bit odd seeing as I couldnt give a flying fcuk about Liverpool (or Man U
for that matter), hadnt even mentioned a team, and I was wearing an
Athlone Town jersey!
Larry Be Wyse
www.acsportsimages.com
Debate all you want, the team ALMOST picks itself.
Only decisions to be made are ;
Carr or Finnan at right full
If its Carr then the next decision is ;
Andy Reid or Finnan for right midfield
I think it will be CARR and FINNAN as the game is away from home and Kerr will 'start' with caution.
And finally ;
If Andy O'Brien doesnt get a start soon for the Toon, Kerr will have to go with the Honey Monster.
We know O'Shea is primarily right footed but he is also comfortable on the left - certainly more so than Finnan.
I thought Finnan was poor against the Swiss and is uncomfortable on the left. I also don't like right/left fulls playing on the right/left wing like Mick Mc used to do with Gary Kelly and Kerr does with Finnan. It's a very negative tactic.
lads all teams are the same, but cant possibly have andy o'brien in, dunne is by far the better player, and having a better season.
Given
carr Dunne Cunningham O'Shea.
Killbane Reid Keane Finnan
Duffer
Keane
Subs,
Reid,
McGeady,
Morrision ,
Holland,
Kenny,
Elliot ,
Kavanagh
Enough said cant beat that team pure football will beat any team and pure football is what this team would play. :
Strachan on Rooney:
It's an incredible rise to stardom, at 17 you're more likely to get a call from Michael Jackson than Sven Goran Eriksson.
O'Brien will start against Olympiakos tonight since Boumsong is ineligible. They play Olympiakos again next Wednesday so O'Brien should have enough football behind him for the Israel game.
OwlsFan - answer this honestly. How do you know O'Shea is more comfortable at left back then Finnan.
BTW - Has O'Shea actually played at left back for United this season? Off the top of my head I can't remember seeing him player there.
I just don't see how you can say "certainly"! I think Finnan is one of our 3 or 4 most important players and is a very accomplished wide midfielder and also looks comfortable at left back. He uses the ball better than O'Shea and will be less inclined to lose the ball cheaply. I just don't agree that Finnan playing RHM is an outright defensive tactic. Against France & the Faroes he did really well at RHM both in attack and defence. The guy is a quality footballer.
As I said above my inclination would be to pick Reid on the right and Finnan at LB. My expectation is that Kerr will stick with Finnan on the right and O'Shea at Left back. The only justification I can see Kerr using for changing things is that Reid is now starting in the Premiership and O'Shea isn't.
Jesus I hope not, as bad as Kilbane is in the middle, he is 10 times worse on the left, also, playing Duff out of position would be insane.
Kilbane was man of the match against France away and one player of the year and played most of the games last yer in the centre so I dont think that he is that bad in the middle. In fact he has become a very important player for Ireland, he is the legs to Keanes experience in midfield. I agree Duff upfront would be stupid also, Morrison is great at holding the ball up and was fantastic for about 35 mins in Paris until taken off.
As has been said before the only decision is does he play Finnan or Reid or O Shea for 2 positions.
Everything else is a formality barring injuries.
In Trap we trust
Can't believe I forgot about that
O'Briens after giving away a penalty against Olympiakos, not sure he touched the guy though
Andy O'B was unlucky, he did grab the players shirt but for less than half a second, sadly the ref saw it and gave a pen and yellow card, but I think much of that was down to the ref having just given Newcastle a dubious pen (and sending off an Olympiakos player) down the other end so I think he wanted to even it up.
if i was picking the team id go for
given
carr
finnan
cunningham
o brien
reid
duff
kilbane
keane
morrison
keane
think it more or less picks itself these days which is good
I agree about the team almost picking itself at the moment bar the left back position possibly. Lets hope no one picks up any injuries and all the players are playing between now and israel.
The only other thing is Kerrs formation and will he be going out for a draw. I think we can get an win without too much trouble and I hope kerr goes for it.
Going on present performances, the following lads should be picked.
Given
Carr
Cunningham
Dunne
O 'shea
Finnan
Keane
Kilbane
Duff
Keane
Morisson
Subs: Kenny, O'Brien,Reid, Elliott, Mc Geady
Never eat yellow snow!!
Anyone have a view on how O'Shea did on Saturday, or was it a non-event by the time he came on? I didn't see it but the papers say he replaced Heinze which suggests he played left-back.
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