As soon as Richard Dunne hung up his boots he was moaning in his media punditry about far too much hoof ball/caveman stuff being played under O'Neill - suppressed memory syndrome or just pure denial?
As Irishmen we dilute our sense of nation by depending on the English to bring us our balls
I suppose. I never thought kilbane was always on the verge of something super crazy though. Look, I absolutely get that mcclean adds value in terms of team commitment, setting an example and to an extent scaring the pants off certain opposition players. I dont quite have a grip on that being offset by his awful first touch, variability of decision making and the fact he is gradually getting left behind by the passing game we are trying to play.
That said, hes a fab impact sub and if he wants to hit 100 caps that is one route
It does however look like SK is, at least when the opposition is light, playing a more attacking wing back scenario. I'd put money down if it was Portugal or some decent side Stevens would appear to start
What is clear if you are a fringe player or playing down the leagues you need to have some sort of x factor to make the leap. Also lets face it, 30 years ago knight would be a premier league starter by now. It's just more crowded over there. Mcclean certainly has that x factor.. Knight, Bazanu, omo. Manning needs to show soon why he is a stand out player. So far so average sadly.
His first touch can be brutal at times, but when he get the ball out of his feet he's capable of getting past defenders and putting in fabulous crosses. Much was made of the touch by Jason Knight that put the ball on a plate for Callum Robinson, but it was a peach of a ball in from McClean.
Bring Back Belfast Celtic F.C.
It was an absolute gem of a goal. One of the best we've ever scored imho.
I wouldn't agree on him being the best crosser though.
He manages to hit the nearest (and often only) defender an extraoridnary amount of the time.
Agree, that was a brilliant cross for Knight, but it’s the exception rather than the rule. Nobody, can fault his commitment to the cause and the pride he feels representing his country, but he’s a mascot rather than a productive member of a team attempting to forge a new style.
McClean isn't of this thread (the future), but far from being mockingly labelled a mascot, he was selected to start by the manager of this new style team and despite evident technical shortcomings in the game he was not subbed and delivered in the end, magnificently. He epitomises the pride and total commitment in representation and this next generation of young players are vying to be a part of that. That's what it's about.
Id totally agree.. he's no Messi but a much better baller than given credit for, has given us some brilliant nights (Vienna, Cardiff), and if the next gen give us his commitment and passion we'll be doing all right. barring injury he'll get his century over the next two years and he deserves that
He'll hit the century within the next two years. There's no one coming through to replace either him or Stevens in the squad. Scales needs to get games for Celtic first, Manning has been converted to a CB by Russell Martin, and don't see anyone from the underage making that step up within the next two years.
More likely to see someone step up at RWB as back up and Doherty moving across when everyone is fit. But even if that happened he'd still move back across when Coleman is out or playing RCB. Also feel McClean comes in before Stevens as second choice LWB if Doherty is first choice.
Would the most likely back 3 not be Duffy Egan Omobamidele/O Shea, meaning Coleman RWB and Doherty LWB?
McClean still likely to be used as an impact sub but he may end up a few caps short of the 100
Havin a weekend away is quite frankly,lettin ur team mates down!
The draw for next years Nations League is next Thursday, and weirdly, I am absolutely on tenterhooks waiting for it. I've a feeling that it could be the most important tournament draw for us in a couple of decades.
The right one and we could be playing games against the real big boys of Euro football in two years, and going into a qualifying campaign with real momentum and a cohort of players who've been blooded in both friendly and competitive games.
The wrong one, and we could be getting used to playing games in far flung corners of Europe while playing under a new manager in the next Euro qualifiers
And doesn't the NL have more significance in terms of Euro qualification than WC qualification? If NL v3.0 is the same as NL v1.0 then you can secure a play-off before qualification proper even begins.
They haven't confirmed that yet, but I'd be surprised if it has changed. Yes, if you won your group in v1.0, you were assured a play off spot (Scotland for example)
Even coming second in the group would give you a 90% chance of making a play off.
But I still think, we missed out on tournament games in Dublin last summer, so this is the perfect time to market the four games with two at home in June as a "mini tournament" and fill the stadium creating a good atmosphere. It's also a chance to get a big squad together for 3-4 weeks and give them a tournament type feeling, plus a lot more time on the training pitch
There probably will be some change given that in the first tournament, the League D winners (North Macedonia) qualified, but since then they've rejigged the format so there's only seven League D countries instead of 16. I can't see a place going to Kazakhstan/Moldova, Cyprus/Estonia (the losers of those two ties in March will be relegated into League D), Liechtenstein, Malta, Latvia (previous qualifiers of course), San Marino or Andorra.
So maybe only three spots available? But even that in theory should favour us very slightly as it means no League D side (who we should be better than in the groups) to take a place off us.
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