Strange and worrying squad. Mandriou will be one of the worst players to have ever represented Ireland. Second only to his clubmate Burke ye would think.
I understand what hes trying to do, he's trying to relax the squad, he realises they are going to be together for 10 days or so at the end of a strange and long season. If its not fun its going to be awful and no ones going to want to be there or perform on game nights. By removing the "must win" element also helps to nourish a fun element. I think he's also saying must win is more about games in qualification rather than end of season friendlies, the emphasis drawn there. Beating Hungary when they are preparing for the Euros is hardly must win. Beating Azerbaijan is or Luxenbourg was too.
I'm a bloke,I'm an ocker
And I really love your knockers,I'm a labourer by day,
I **** up all me pay,Watching footy on TV,
Just feed me more VB,Just pour my beer,And get my smokes, And go away
Strange and worrying squad. Mandriou will be one of the worst players to have ever represented Ireland. Second only to his clubmate Burke ye would think.
Surely it would have made sense to include Mipo Odubeko and Obafemi - both making appearances in the permiership over recent weeks.
I think he will be gone a lot quicker that most people think. A hiding from Portugal followed by poor result v Azerbaijan and it could be Goodnight
He explained the thinking re Obafemi and managing his injury, and that he may well appear at the camp. I think we need to accept at this point Odubeko does not want to be involved with Ireland at the moment. That may change in time, but he's out for the moment and i wouldn't stress about it too much.
Andorra game moved to Andorra (not that it really matters if it'll be behind closed doors)
That must be one of the few benefits of being Andorra. Sure, you never win anything, but any time you get a result at all, you have a chance of getting someone fired.
I will say someone like Jamie McGrath could just be what the doctor order in the 10 role we crave... who knows
Anyone pick up on this line from Kenny:
The Premier league have a lot of games on Sundays now, with five different kick-off times sometimes ......
...Because they're going up a level into international football
Im a big LOI fan, its the only club football Im actually enjoying right now, but I 100% agree that its too big a step up to International football. We've seen too many players that were great in LOI go to England and be pretty average at best. Theres the obvious outliers like Coleman but the majority only do ok in the lower leagues.
I did think Byrne was exceptional but I even wondered how he looked when he was training alongside Premiership and Championship players. He wasnt being picked by international managers so it stands to reason that he didnt stand out in training. Hopefully the move will do him good next season.
Mandriou being called up really doesnt excite me. Hes been pretty good for Rovers and he definitely has talent, but he doesnt strike me as a player who will go on to bigger and better things.
Danno is a baller. I remember first time I ever saw him was Kenny’s first game against Luxembourg U21s. He was on the bench and I was watching the subs warm up at half-time. Towards the end, he started shooting at I guess Bazunu from just a touch short of the halfway line. Bullet after bullet, effortless. Honestly the purest striker of the ball I’ve ever seen.
He was always very good for the 21s. Anytime I’ve seen him play for Bohs or Rovers, he’s always been good to very good. He’s technically excellent. He can pass, he can dribble, he can shoot and he’s pretty quick. He’s also an excellent freekick taker.
There were obviously some issue regarding his application in training at Bohs. Derek Pender was pretty public about it when he retired, basically saying “all the ability in the world but seriously needs to knuckle down”. Then Keith Long didn’t play him for good portions of last season, which I’m sure was more to do with off the field stuff than on.
Anyway, I have no problems with him or Ogbene or McGrath. They’re all players with enough ability and limited exposure to quality opposition. If you can’t take risks in an end of season camp against Hungary and Andorra with a dozen injuries, when can you?
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