I think Kenny is actually Boomshakalaka and picked Keane just to stir things up on footdot.
I think there's a growing expectation that defeat to Azerbaijan will be the effective end of the road. Probably in part due to the availability of an alternative like Hughton who seems to have some support among the old ex pros in the media. Interesting to note Hughton's replacement led Forest to a 3-1 away win last night.
Tallaght Stadium Regular
Seems unlikely we'll be landing on the €250k as long as we have Kenny in charge picking Harry Arter and Will Keane. Unless maybe the €250k jackpot is actually his severance fee so that we can go out and find a more competent manager to rebuild the team.
I don't want Kenny to be sacked but if he does, I want nothing to do with Hughton.
He plays dire football and would not be a good choice to mould the young group we have at the moment.
Having thought a bit more about Keane it seems even more perverse.isn’t his project all about the future? Obafemi is playing a league above Keane and offers pace and promise. The one thing a country with our resources can’t afford is blind spots (or grudges for that matter). Obafemi has delivered more than Idah to be honest but seems to be completely off the selection radar.
Obafemi has missed the last few games for Swansea with injury so don't think he was an option. Completely different type of player too.
Tallaght Stadium Regular
He is Willing and Keane.
Randolph
Mcdermott
Kelleher
Doherty
Omobamidele
Duffy
lenihan
Egan
Clark
Stevens
Cunningham
Knight
Hendrick
Mccarthy
Cullen
McGrath
Ronan
Carey
McClean
O Dowda
Manning
Long
Robinson
Idah
Parrott
Connolly
Yeah, I think that is the biggest issue with Keane's selection - in fairness his record since his move to Wigan has been OK and he finally seems to have got his career going after an injury-hampered first eight years of senior football. But he will be 30 by the time we start another qualifying campaign and, barring a blistering six months, his record still isn't good enough to suggest that Premier League or Championship teams will be knocking down the door for him in January or even next summer. Meanwhile Anthony Scully's record is just as good and he's only 22. And if Kenny really wanted to pick a stop-gap forward, then surely Scott Hogan would be a better option, as his scoring stats since he left Villa have actually been comparable to Keane's at a higher level - plus he has some international experience already
if tis was my decision this would be the squad i would get to the matches and camp
it was shown that experience is more important than raw talent. i like his idea but this is coming to an end, at least we brought a few kids
D. Randolph Premier League W.H.U
S. McDermott Eliteserien Kristiansund
C. Kelleher Premier League Liverpool
G. Bazunu League One Portsmouth
C. Clark Premier League Newcastle United
S. Duffy Premier League Brighton & Hove Albion
M. Doherty Premier League Tottenham Hotspur
E. Stevens Championship Sheffield United
L. O'Connor Premiership Celtic FC
D. Lenihan Championship Blackburn Rovers
J. Egan Championship Sheffield United
J. McClean League One Wigan Athletic
G. Cunningham Championship Preston North End
J. McCarthy Premiership Celtic
J. McGrath Premiership St. Mirren
J. Hendrick Premier League Newcastle United
R. Manning Championship Swansea City
R. Johansson Eredivisie Fortuna Sittard
J. Cullen First Division Anderlecht
G. Carey First League CSKA Sofia
J. Gallagher MLS Austin
C. Ronan Premiership St. Mirren
A. McGeady League One Sunderland
J. Knight Championship Derby County
A. Connolly Premier League Brighton & Hove Albion
A. Idah Premier League Norwich City
S. Long Premier League Southampton
C. Sheridan Premiership Dundee
C. Robinson Championship West Bromwich Albion
A. Scully League One Lincoln City
Keane and Hogan are different players though. Take Keane out of the squad and the only players left that are comparable are Parrott and Idah. Two young players starting out in their careers so would make sense to have an experienced link up player in the squad. He's also better in the air than Hogan. Hogan is an out and out number 9 and would be more competing with Collins for a place in the squad.
Scully not getting in is disappointing because he's a young player doing well, but he'd be more competing with Connolly, Robinson, Horgan, and Ogbene. Well more so Connolly and Horgan as Ogbene just plays on the right and Robinson plays on both sides.
Kenny was asked about some of the absentees from the squad in the offline press conference: https://www.the42.ie/stephen-kenny-p...62204-Oct2021/
Keane’s inclusion means seven of the 25 players in the Irish squad are currently playing in England’s third tier, and Kenny was pressed on why those playing regularly at a slightly higher level, such as Sean Maguire and Scott Hogan, are being omitted, to which the manager responded that they are on stand-by.
He put Shane Long’s exclusion down to a lack of game time – he has just 23 minutes under his belt since the last camp – and was also asked directly about another trio of absentees: Darren Randolph, James McCarthy, and Ciaran Clark.
“Darren is available, he needs some games at West Ham, he’s fully fit.
“James McCarthy, he’s not playing at the moment. He’s had an injury history in the last while so it’s great for him, he played 70 minutes, he played 45, so he’s hoping to get minutes under his belt, he wants to play for Ireland. He wants to get matches before the November window.
“With Ciaran, I had a good conversation with Ciaran, we’re looking at the November window for Ciaran.”
I think for Long, Randolph and McCarthy, it makes sense that they're not in the squad at the moment.
I don't know what the comment on Clark means to be honest. And while Maguire and Hogan are in the question, they're not in the answer - did he skip them? Did the journalist remember about them afterwards and add them to the article but forgot to ask about them?
Adding Clark, or Hogan for Keane, won't improve our squad hugely significantly; it's still crap. But if you have a crap squad, you have to call up the best squad you can, and I'm not entirely sure we've done that.
Clark was very poor back in March, it's no surprise that he's being left out IMO. He's poor going forward with the ball at his feet which Kenny wants his RCB and LCB to be good at, and his defending back in March especially against Serbia was poor. Was the worst of the defenders on show so no surprise he misses out when Egan was fit again and Duffy back in form.
He also only slots in at LCB, so makes more sense to have lads who can play in more than one position in that back three. You also have Stevens and Manning who can slot in if push comes to shove.
If we were playing backs to the wall defend deep he'd probably be in as it suits him, but doesn't suit him when asked to keep hold of possession more and actually try to contribute to attacks by pushing forward when in position.
Only defender you could argue that he may replace is Nathan Collins. But I doubt Collins is getting beat as easily in the air like Clark was for that third goal against Serbia. Plus Collins is a RCB, can play RB if needed and probably more comfortable with the ball at his feet than Clark.
Bookmarks