Randolph is West Ham's third choice keeper now, no? He has no business being mentioned in the discussion anymore. Kelleher will get a good test against Belgium you'd expect. Would see no harm in giving O'Leary or Talbot 30 mins against Lithuania, it's a friendly, they've turned up, why not?
Have we ever had a Max in goal before ?
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Neither max O'Leary or Talbot are going to be wearing the green of Ireland after these couple of gsmes,just to have an experienced ball playing keeper in Randolph there in the squad would be better than those 2? And I don't buy the whole he's 3rd choice. He was rarely 1st choice when we picked him, and people didn't use that as an excuse then, so why now and mostly he did ok.
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
its interesting - - i thought McClean made his debut at a far earlier age than Coleman and that this would account for some of it but not the case at all. Coleman made his debut in 2011 (aged 22) with McClean making his debut the following year (aged 22). In addition to Tets' point where there were about 10 caps that Coleman would have missed out on in 2017/18, i would be interested in seeing minutes played as i would imagine that McCleans cap numbers are fairly padded by substitute appearances.
Jimmy Mac never misses a game. He’s specifically travelled and played when his club felt he was injured. He’s played in the American tours where senior players were given time off for holidays, just because he’d rather be there than anywhere else. Meanwhile, Seamus had a serious injury and an Everton medical department, both under Martinez and Koeman, who were very keen to pull him from international squads whenever possible, much to Roy Keane’s frustration
I'd start him and throw Talbot on for the last 25 if the game is in the bag. Talbot might not be a serious option now, but he's young for a goalie. Maybe someone in league one is looking for a goalie and sends a scout over to Bohs off the back of seeing him do something decent in an international.
Bring Back Belfast Celtic F.C.
We’re only a badly timed Kelleher injury away from losing all three, which if you follow Caoim's career, feels like a near certainty. We had our last similar goalkeeping crisis like this exactly a year ago where Westwood, our only championship keeper, was asked about a call up, but was injured. Kelleher and Randolph, then second and first choice were both injured.
For me there are tiers of keepers:
Bazunu
Kelleher
Travers
Randolph
O’Leary
McDermott (could be tier 2 or 3)
Bonham (could be tier 2 or 3)
Lawlor
Pym
Talbot
O’Hara
Elliott
Westwood
Seamus’s high level potential ( and eventual achievement ~ though eventually badly affected by a serious injury ) was far higher than James McCleans and really, it is unforgivable that Seamus was not in more of Trapattoni’s Squads and indeed Teams. A real blind spot / mark against ~ Trapattoni.
The jersey was only Bazunu's because Kelleher missed the chance to claim it. If Kelleher does well I think it would be reasonable to stick with him for a while. He's played some big games this year and done well. I still think he'd be better off playing every week and making his case for Ireland that way but that's another threads problem. We know it's really close between the 3 so whoever is fit and on form will probably get the nod and hold it if they do well. Which is how it should be with 3 inexperienced keepers I think. I'm a big Bazunu fan but I wouldn't say he is the outright #1. We have a somewhat unique scenario.
Absolutely yeah, that does explain it too ES. Pretty much every year, McClean had a cap or two more than Coleman in the same year (with the obvious injury year exception). I do still wonder if the difference in "total minutes played" would amount to 25 caps/games worth.
You can't pull Bazunu when he's never been anything but excellent for us and is excelling at club level, just because Kelleher does well in two friendlies. That's not how it works.
Kelleher's next game after Lithuania would more than likely be the June internationals. You can't drop Bazunu for a player that won't kick a ball a club level between now and June.
I think this is a different scenario and it wouldn't be pulling Bazunu. He's out. It's unavoidable and it opens a door. That's football. Kelleher was more than likely Kenny's first choice until he became unavailable and Bazunu stepped in to do well and hold the jersey.
If Bazunu was playing week in week out at EPL level I'd agree completely. But the reason there's a 400 page debate on our 3 best keepers elsewhere is that this isn't cut and dry. We don't have a truly established senior #1, nor has Bazunu been completely faultless. He's been astoundingly good for a 19 year old keeper who's highest level so far has been L1 but that doesn't mean we should ignore a potentially better option. Bazunu's form for Portsmouth recently hasn't all been good either. He seems to have righted the ship with a MoTM display last week but there was a patch before that that wasn't brilliant.
We have the luxury of 3 very promising keepers who all need to play so we shouldn't miss the chance to give them a run when the opportunity presents itself, particularly as we don't have Euro or WC games coming up for quite a while. From what I've seen of Kelleher so far, he isn't perfect but he's very, very good. Now I still think there's a big question around his ability to sustain performances over a season.....but international games aren't the same. Randolph did fine when we needed him despite not playing. Kelleher did well when Liverpool needed him against Chelsea and in the League Cup.
I still think Kenny may believe Bazunu is the better keeper all round. I think he might be too. I'm in the Bazunu camp on the other thread. So maybe he does keep the jersey. But surely you wouldn't be entirely shocked if Kelleher comes in, keeps Belgium out with some world class saves, picks up two clean sheets and then goes on to play in the Nations League?
I would be entirely shocked if Bazunu isn't playing in June if he's fit at this point. I don't really have a preference for either but Kelleher's lack of playing time irritates me.
You don't just drop your #1 keeper at international level off the back of the #2 doing well in a friendly. Bazunu hasn't put a foot wrong for us and I think it'd be mad to drop him for a keeper who's not going to kick a competitive ball for 3 months after Tuesday.
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