QuoteAs erratic as he's been Doherty should be a notch above Championship level. And as a free transfer, I'd have thought the main sticking point for a Premiership move would be if he wanted assurances he'll start.
Yeah Doherty seems to be on the downward slope. He's a strange footballer. Brilliant for Wolves and basically very hot and cold for everyone else. Can't see him getting back to the EPL but maybe Championship? An EPL/Championship back line wouldn't be bad at all. Just need them all playing regularly and playing well.Originally Posted by Diggs246
21 leagues and 25 cups.
As erratic as he's been Doherty should be a notch above Championship level. And as a free transfer, I'd have thought the main sticking point for a Premiership move would be if he wanted assurances he'll start.
If there's an offer from Saudi Arabia I'd say he's off there for a couple of seasons to make a few quid. I'd say his offers from the PL are slim pickings and teams like Sheffield United aren't gonna pay the wages he'd be looking for.
Great move for Dara, hopefully can have a good preseason and establish himself as a starter.
Hopefully, this is the start of several positive transfers for the Irish this summer. Next up big Andy. Awaiting news on Kelleher, Knight, Molumby, Collins and Bazunu possibly, among others
A good move for Dara.
Only beneficial for his Ireland career if he's playing regularly, though
Notably, Kenny has overlooked proven players like Coleman and Duffy as well as talented young players of the quality of Hodge, Ebosele and Ferguson because they're not playing regularly enough with their top-level clubs.
Has he overlooked Coleman?
Has he overlooked Ferguson or Hodge either?
(I don't think Hodge has earned a call-up get, which isn't the same as overlooking him)
Kenny's preference of Doherty and dropping of captain, Coleman, was one the notable calls of Kenny's reign, I would have thought.
I actually didn't even notice the Ferguson comment. That's a weird opinion considering Kenny picked Ferguson before he was playing regularly for Brighton. Ebosele has been on the fringes but Doherty and Coleman are both rightly ahead of him.
When Hodge was playing a few games for Wolves I criticized Kenny for not picking him, but in fairness he was proven right with how little Hodge played in 2nd half of season.
Trequarista, I think there's plenty of things to criticize Kenny for, but you're way off with this one I think
But then Kenny found a way to get them both in the team with Doherty switching to left. I don't think its fair to say he ever overlooked Coleman
Kenny only gave Ferguson a couple of token minutes in a friendly against an awful Latvia side before he was a reasonably regular starter and scorer for Brighton.
I think this is a matter of record.
Malta you're thinking of. He started and scored against Latvia.
Which means Kenny capped Ferguson while he had I think 20 minutes of Premier League action in his career.
I think you're way off the mark in that list of players "overlooked" tbh. Even Duffy isn't "not playing regularly enough" - he's not playing at all. In about the only position we have a selection of decent options getting regular game time at a decent level
My position is that we shouldn't have the attitude that players have to be regulars for their top-level club before their considered adequate for our extremely limited international side.
In any case, my point was more a recognition of the Kenny regime policy on this than any direct criticism.
I don't see any player that's being left out at moment thar we absolutely should be picking. Manning would have the strongest case, but he turned down the call up in most recent squad
Back to 4 at the back for me. Coleman, Egan, Collins and O'Shea. Prem back four with Omobamidele potentially top flight back up too.
Yeah I wouldn't mind seeing us reverting to a back four if it means keeping three in midfield and being able to play with three forwards. We're no Man City but outside of Coleman I'd even prefer using four CBs in defence given our weakness in the FB area.
It's our weakest area in defence and most are wingers who've been converted in FB/WBs. Collins has played RB and O'Shea has played both RB and LB. McNamara I think would work in a back four as he's more defensive than offensive but would be cautious about the others bar Coleman playing in a back four against anyone bar the weak teams.
Yes, sorry, I wrote 'Latvia' while thinking of Malta. Latvia weren't particularly awful and actually gave us a run for our money. Evan also played a solitary minute against Norway a few days before the Malta match.
The Latvia/France games came at the end of March, by which time Ferguson had already broken into the Brighton team and was scoring goals.
Your point about Duffy and central defence being the most competitive area of the team is fair. I think a solid argument can be made that Duffy has been one of our best players of the last few years, and perhaps the best player of the Kenny era. In the most impressive win/performance under Kenny, against Scotland, Duffy was absolutely pivotal in that and fairly terrorised the Scottish backline. I'm not sure we can afford to leave players of his experience and ability out of squads, but obviously our opinions differ on that.
There's a lot of talk about moving to a back four, but, as has already been alluded to, it overlooks the surfeit of central defenders playing at a high level in Egan, O'Shea, Duffy Omobamidele, McNally Lenihan, McLoughlin etc. And also the lack of genuine fullbacks (as opposed to wingbacks) and wingers we have at our disposal. Johnston and Sykes' emergence have changed the picture somewhat, but the point still stands.
Also, Kenny's early insistence on playing 4-3-3 coincided with some of our worst performances and results, including an eleven match winless run.
It's generally accepted that we improved when Anthony Barry came in and implemented a competently executed 3-5-2. This leading to pretty much our only truly creditable win and performance under Kenny, against the Scots.
I do think we should accept our limitations and take a more horses-for-courses approach based on the strength/shape of the teams we're facing. But I don't think changing to a back four will solve all of our problems, nor does such a change seem likely with difficult matches against Netherlands and France on the horizon.
Last edited by Trequartista20; 25/06/2023 at 1:14 PM.
Definitely agree with that. Granted, he's had his dodgy moments trying to play out of defence but certainly he's made up for that elsewhere. He's still our (joint) second top scorer under Kenny, and they've generally been key goals too.
But he played 15 minutes in five token league goals across the past year. I think where our opinions differ is in how effective a player can still be after a year on the bench with pretty much no first team action whatsoever. Like the other players you mentioned, I don't think Duffy has been overlooked here. He needs to sort his club situation out. If he starts at Norwich come August, he'll likely be straight back in the squad - and that's even with Collins, Egan, O'Shea, Lenihan, Omobamidele and even McLoughlin, Dunne and Long for competition.
It looks like Burnley have signed a central defender from Borussia Dortmund for fifteen million euros. Was O'Shea just signed to be the third man up?
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks