constantly overlooking manning which i just dont understand. also not really keen on more of mcgrath in the national set up but its 2 nothing games so not much lost. happy other than that but wouldnt have minded coventry or hodge being included.
Agree re Manning; we need new blood at wingback and there's not exactly a wealth of alternatives
Stevens left out - he's just back from three months out so don't know if his club asked for him to be left out or if he's being phased out.
Don't begrudge Smallbone or Ferguson their callups but wouldn't be expecting them to transform our fortunes either. (And ditto Manning and Stevens really)
The squad still hits you with "meh"ness when you see it written down
Apart from Manning omission, reasonable squad. Quality has not progressed at all this season which has been disappointing. Our green shoots are still failing to blossom. Smallbone is a nice player in patches, hasn’t done well in stoke by all accounts, I’m not a huge fan of him myself. Ferguson a potential crucial player for us in the future so nice to have him involved. I still don’t get fascination with McGrath
not too pushed re: stevens . not really done anything with ireland in the last 3 years IMO. its a tough one for kenny as he clearly likes brady and mcclean is already there. mcclean so close to 100 caps aswell. but at some stage he'll have to give manning games as hes been so good at championship level this year (according to swans fans) and as you say we need fresh blood there.
scales being kept in also doesnt make much sense to me but he'll likely get a run v malta so nothing lost. just dont particularly think hes good enough to even be a squad player when someone like manning is deemed not good enough. seems like he was waiting for mcgrath to get a move to call him back in. look the lad exceeded all expectations in his last apps but IMO hes not near good enough for international football. surely hodge would have been more deserving even tho both play in different midfield positions.
Would tend to agree re Scales/McGrath (and almost any non-Celtic/Rangers SPL player) but Scales is in as a centre half I would say, so not keeping Manning out
Duffy left out as well actually. The move to Fulham has been a disaster and it's hard to argue against it. But it still feels like losing a key option
I'm a bit underwhelmed by that. Yes it's good that Smallbone and Ferguson are in, and I do like Jamie McGrath but these are friendlies and we already know everything we'll ever need to know about Hendrick, for example. I'm not fussed about Manning but I'd like to have seen first signs of a changing of the guard in the middle, so at least one of Coventry, Ronan or Hodge.
Dan McD is saying Farrugia and Gaffney are on Standby.
Yeah Scales is in there as fifth choice CB and wouldn't have got in if Omobamidele was fit or Duffy was playing games. Probably a strong message to Duffy that he needs to leave Fulham in January or risk missing out on squads.
Still though would have called Manning up and tried Brady in midfield against Malta. Not too pushed on McGrath as he's looked decent in an Ireland shirt at times but would have preferred seeing a Hodge or Coventry. Even just bringing those lads with the squad named to train as I doubt Ferguson might get a run out. Fifth choice striker in that list and with O'Dowda named could see 3-4-3/3-4-2-1 used against Malta.
There's a lack of consistency in promoting Ferguson, which is a progressive move, and not having a look at Hodge who is getting more minutes in a position where we are desperately short of quality. McGrath is a lazy pick for a friendly. He's not been included in recent squads and he's done nothing in the meantime to suggest his career is on an upward trajectory.
Crumbs.Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
I'll never say no to more former UCD players in the squad, but do we really have no better attacking options than those?
Crafty seemed to nominate 3/4 on the previous page!
Farrugia likely named on standby as a WB though.
i think those 2 are only options as they are local. bit like mceneff and burke getting called up in 2019 was it? probably tight on possible call ups too if he cant count on l1 players being released?
We're away to Malta though, so that doesn't seem like a reason not to have, say, Szmodics or Sykes on standby instead. They seem more likely to have a medium-term presence in the squad than the Rovers two.
(Unless there's more in the list than just Farrugia/Gaffney of course)
He mentioned Brian Maher is on standby as well. Might be others.
Don’t see the harm in a handful of LOI players on standby. It’s convenience and a gesture to the league. Maher and Farrugia Kenny knows from u21s and Gaffney the leagues best player the last few months and playing plenty in Europe, granted his profile in terms of EFL past and age etc would make a call up more questionable whereas at least youth can justify the other two.
Overall the squad a bit meh as someone else pointed out but not sure we can expect anything but, the one glaring omission as of course has also been pointed out being Manning.
The bit in bold is no basis for naming a senior international squad though.
Gaffney was barely good enough for League One and at 33, I don't see what he adds, even on standby. Rovers scored one goal in the Conference League groups, fewer than anyone else in the competition.
Isn't Farrugia eligible for Malta?
I think so, yep.
Also France I think. But that's obviously not going to happen.
Shane Duffy wasn't selected for personal reasons and would have been selected otherwise going by Kenny's press conference. Knight and Hourihane it's been confirmed weren't released by Derby County.
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