Qatar v Republic of Ireland - Tuesday, 30th March 2021 - Friendly

[CraftyToePoke]

O'Hara in goal? Surely we double down and give Bazunu a chance to stake a permanent claim to the jersey after decent first show on Saturday? O'Hara is probably 5th choice all things considered.

I think Duffy will return alright. I'd keep O'Shea. He's been one of the few bright spots even if he was at fault for Serbia's first.

I'd leave Bazunu alone too, we need someone to grow into the shirt at some stage soon anyway.

[backstothewall]

O'Hara in goal?

I think he deserves a chance to show what he can do. Realistically none of the 3 goalkeepers in this squad are close to wrestling the shirt from Randolph, so my thought from the start of this round of games was that they should all get 1 game each, and i've seen nothing to disabuse me of that idea.

I'd go for continuity in team selection, unless they are other reasons forcing change. Need to establish our best 11 and build a settled side - tweaks to selections can be made once that is achieved. Not a fan of the three at back (add Luxembourg to a list of failings using it (Macedonia 3-2 away, Iceland 0-0 at home)) as there is an under appreciation of how much coaching is needed to get it positionally right. But I'd continue with it for the sake of continuity.

However, end game for Kenny regardless of result/ performance imo. Too many knives out to survive the five months to the next fixture.

My preference is for a 3-4-3, but the most dangerous we've looked in these 2 games was with Long and Collins together against Serbia. I think that deserves a chance for 90 mins.

We game 4-3-3 9 games before packing it in. I think one more friendly against Qatar is justified for the 3-5-2.

I'm keen to see Christie in this system. I've always liked him. He's not the strongest defender in the world, but he offers a threat further forward and has scored a few important goals for us over the years. Playing as a wing back should suit his game.

[Stuttgart88]

Right now I think we should have called up Scott Hogan for these games. I'd have him start if available.

I'd probably go 3412 myself.

[Real ale Madrid]

I'm keen to see Christie in this system. I've always liked him. He's not the strongest defender in the world, but he offers a threat further forward and has scored a few important goals for us over the years. Playing as a wing back should suit his game.

He has two goals : one against Gibraltar, another against Uruguay in a friendly - never got an important goal really. And can't defend.

[sbgawa]

I'd leave Bazunu alone too, we need someone to grow into the shirt at some stage soon anyway.

100% this. if we assume World cup 2022 is dead then euros 2024 means Randolph will be 37 so we might as well stick with Bazunu now + Kelleher.

[tetsujin1979]

Doherty and Stevens out: https://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/dohe...qatar-friendly

[backstothewall]

------------------- O'Hara ---------------
---------- Coleman Duffy Clark ---------
Christie Molumby Cullen Brady Stevens
---------------- Long Collins -------------

In the absence of Stevens

------------------- O'Hara ---------------
---------- Coleman Duffy Clark ---------
Christie Molumby Cullen Brady Manning
---------------- Long Collins -------------

[John83]

I like the idea of giving Duffy a route back into the team. Let him show he can still do it for us.

I'm inclined to give O'Shea another game. Sure, he's getting relegated, but he's a 22-year-old starting every week in the Premiership. He's ready to transition into a huge player for us, and I think I'd sooner give him his 7th cap. Coleman could start at RWB, with Christie coming on to freshen things up later on. Manning looked shaky the last time I saw him play (was it England; maybe that's a harsh game to judge him on?), but I guess a game would be good for him. Stevens isn't getting any younger, and neither are the obvious square pegs like Brady or McClean.

I'm not sure on keeper, but I think O'Hara is worth a look. The more of the options we've seen in action, the better prepared we are for the next time Randolph is injured - he's not getting any younger. O'Hara has 2.5 seasons of first team football (granted, much of it on loan), and is a Manchester United youth product - I actually think he's a safer bet than the other two options in the short term, and I wouldn't write him off as a third tier keeper just yet.

Cullen and Browne may be flagging a little, as they have had two more or less full matches in quick succession in roles that require a lot of movement. (I know, I've included others in that boat, but our options are limited.) Maybe Knight, Brady, and Hendrick, with Molumby coming on in the second half.

Up front, I don't know any more. None of them has a goal in them. Feck it, Parrott and Long.

                O'Hara
         O'Shea - Duffy - Clark
Coleman         Knight            Manning
         Brady          Hendrick
             Long - Parrott

[Real ale Madrid]

[backstothewall]

TBF Andorra is probably our level if we can't beat Luxembourg

[Demesne Lad]

I think Qatar are ranked 58th, compared to Luxembourg's 98th. We are probably sliding down the rankings now; unfortunately that suggests that a result is our priority in Hungary, not more experimentation.

[Insidetherock]

These friendlies will be interesting to see who turns up, or who pulls out needing rest, with niggly injuries etc

Every opportunity needs to be taken to get a plan and system in place before the Autumn games.. if half a squad pulls out of these, they'll be pointless

[John83]

I think Qatar are ranked 58th, compared to Luxembourg's 98th. We are probably sliding down the rankings now; unfortunately that suggests that a result is our priority in Hungary, not more experimentation.

Qatar are a better team than us right now. A score draw would be a good result.

[Bielsa´s irish]

We need a win. By all means

[elatedscum]

In the absence of Stevens

------------------- O'Hara ---------------
---------- Coleman Duffy Clark ---------
Christie Molumby Cullen Brady Manning
---------------- Long Collins -------------

Not really convinced by Manning or Christie. Think i'd probably play 4-3-3 with Coleman on the right and Brady on the left of the back 4. I'd go for Bazunu over O'Hara. Don't think O'Hara is ever likely to be the answer, so I'd rather give Bazunu the game.

[sadloserkid]

Don't think O'Hara is ever likely to be the answer, so I'd rather give Bazunu the game.

I agree with you that Bazunu definitely has more untapped potential left at this stage but O'Hara's career trajectory isn't so far from where Darren Randolph's was at the same age. I wouldn't discount him completely.

[Razors left peg]

Lads how does anyone who watched that game on Saturday ever pick Collins again. I know there are plenty of others too but we need to move on from the likes of Collins, Long and McClean

[SkStu]

My team for the game tomorrow. Sticking with 3 at the back.

------------------- Bazunu ---------------------
---------- Coleman O'Shea Lenihan ----------
Christie --- Molumby -- Coventry --- Manning
------------------- Hendrick -------------------
---------------- Robinson Parrott -------------

Christie and Manning with license to play more of an attacking role, two mobile holding midfielders to take the pressure off the press and allow the wing backs to receive the ball with space to run into.

[passinginterest]

I think there's going to be fairly wholesale changes. Too many players looked wrecked after the Luxembourg game. I think it'll be 4-3-3 too and Duffy will certainly start. Kenny mentioned after the Lux game that 3-5-2 was more a result of his preferred wingers all being unfit or not playing, rather than his preferred formation.

I've been trying to formulate a response to the questions about the Kenny era on on off in my head for a while. I was looking back at a few things I had said around his appointment and the worst cases for a lot of it are unfortunately happening now. I was going to quote but can't seem to quote form a closed thread. In essence, the change in style was going to be a huge adjustment, we'd be more likely to have a chance at winning away games we'd normally draw and that we'd probably lose some home games that we'd normally at draw. I think we've seen some of that, we gave ourselves a chance to win away to Serbia in a way that we likely wouldn't under other managers, then we lost to Luxembourg in a way that was unlikely with our old style. Unfortunately it's been worst case, because Kenny's team haven't managed a single win.

Some of the other potential weaknesses were Kenny's mannerism and personality and whether senior players would respect him, jury is out on that, and I've said if the players have downed tools he has to go. Another was weakness at set pieces, I think we've seen it particularly in terms of attacking set pieces, I think we looked quite solid defending them in the most recent games, but that may be credit to Anthony Barry.

There's no getting away from the fact that Kenny is trying to change a decades old playing style with the weakest squad we've had in god knows how long. Not only is the squad weak, but so many of the "better" players are not playing regularly and are not fully fit. That's a huge factor for a game plan that involves an active press from the midfield and forward lines. I know Lux had players arguably playing at lower levels, but I'd be curios as to how many of them were starting the last 3 or 4 games for their clubs and playing 90 minutes in comparison to ours? I thought in both games we faded badly in the second half, partly down to poor impact of subs and poor tactical decisions, but also partly down to players just not being 100% fit. The press struggled against Luxembourg because we had Collins, who's not really equipped for that type of game rather than Connolly.

It's been pointed out already that there's a massive hole in the squad between players under 22 and players around 30 and over. We produced basically no players in an 8 year period at the required level. It's damning of the FAI and it's something that whoever the manager is they have to deal with. Arguably the under 21 squad coming up now are the first products of the Ruud Doktor era, certainly the younger lads like Parrot, Knight and Bazunu have come from playing under highly qualified coaches (Parrot and Bazunu both player under Stephen Rice who is a Pro licence holder now - Parrot in the Kennedy cup for DDSL and Bazunu for Rovers). It's probably a good sign that these youngsters look to be at a much better technical level than what's come before. But it means we're a decade away from those guys being the experienced pros and the next generations coming through behind them. It's one of the biggest justifications for sticking with Kenny in the longer term.

Kenny has to learn fast, he does look like a man under pressure and we've seen him fail to turn things around at Rovers and Dunfermline. In some ways it's similar to the Rovers position, there the senior pros never really bough in and he didn't survive long enough to build the team he wanted. But we've seen what he can do with Dundalk, Longford and Derry when he's given the chance to build his own squad with buy in to his philosophy.

If the FAI decides to move on from Kenny it's hard to have any gripes. I could certainly argue he's been desperately unlucky, but that doesn't hold much weight in a results business. I'd still like to see him given the chance to go into the Euros with a squad he's properly had time to shape. No doubt results will have to improve in the autumn for that to happen though. In any case, I think we're heading into an era that most of us have been fortunate enough to never experience in our lifetimes. We're dropping to to the level that our population and the quality of our league probably sits more naturally at, we're likely to be 3rd or 4th seeds for the next few years. I think the nations league has been pointing that way. The nations league may well be part of the reason we're losing to sides like Luxembourg now too, it's given them a structure where they can go and win games and build confidence and come into qualifying campaigns feeling like they can compete (pretty much the opposite to the effect it's had on us, we're the only nation never to win a nations league game as far as I know now.

Sorry, that's madly long winded and probably in the wrong thread. I'm a bit perplexed by the whole thing and lots of thoughts have been rambling around my head since the Lux result.

[Razors left peg]

Bazunu
Coleman Duffy Clarke OShea
Molumby Knight Cullen
Hendrick Parrott Robinson

Looks like Stevens is out and I dont rate Manning so Id switch O'Shea to full back.