Is Cannon dragging his heels? Very disappointing if that's the case. And if so I wouldn't trouble him again with a call up at any level.
Well they don't seem to think Scales is the best defender in Scotland outside of Glasgow judging by their forum.
They don't dislike him or anything but they seem to think he's worth about £300k and is probably only the third best centre back at Aberdeen. With the abundance of centre back options we have I'd say Kenny is about the only manager who would have him in the current Irish squad.
https://afc-chat.co.uk/forums/index....-loan/page/22/
Keane O'Shea Given Best Smallbone
I suppose we don't known for sure. But, if he isn't, he has been well and truly thrown under a bus by the Irish management today because everyone is going to assume that's the case now.Originally Posted by mark12345
Keane O'Shea Given Best Smallbone
Im not advocating for Scales by any means, I would have Manning ahead of him on the left side but he turned it down so there we are. As a left sided player I dont think there are that many ahead of him
Thrown under the bus for sure if not picked by Kenny. That aside it is beyond calculation of a sound mind what anyone sees in Jeff Hendrick at this stage of the game.
I dont like him but Hendrick is playing every week in the Championship, there is no one that is outrageously left out who would take Hendricks place in squad
I honestly wouldn't care if they picked a youth player instead of Hendrick who has absolutely no upside at this juncture. But realistically, Ebosele would have been a far better choice
You want to replace a defensive mid with an injured wingback?
That makes no sense
Hendrick's about as useful to this Irish team as the bus driver. Not his fault that he's picked time and again but the question is why?
Well no - the question asked was why you want to replace a defensive mid with an injured wingback?
This is the sort of nonsense that makes me want to tear my hair out. We dont like Hendrick because he seems to be the definition of average, but you have to be so good to even make it as an average player at Championship level, yet you say lets pick a youth player instead, some lad who we dont even know can play mens football? Maybe someone like Gavin Killkenny who people were calling for in the not too distant past and can hardly get a game in L1 now.
Yes of course we need to move on from Hendrick eventually, but its up to the likes of Coventry, Connell, Taylor, Andy Moran, Hodge, Aziz and others to prove that they can even get to Hendricks level on a regular basis.
As for saying we should pick Ebosele instead... why not Cyrus Christie who has actually played in midfield for us, lest we forget how bad our options were at one point!
Terrible decision not to include Cannon, assuming he is in fact fit for the U21s.
I realize I'm not adding any value but just feel the need to echo concern about the Cannon omission. Unless Cannon has specifically asked to be left out, this seems almost antagonistic at this point from Kenny. Cannon is probably our most credible goal threat based on form after Evan Ferguson and should absolutely be in the senior squad.
I think it’s a positive that Manning was called up, considering he hasn’t been selected recently. Assuming it was just a case of, don’t want to join the squad until I’ve signed a deal for fear of getting injured. Kenny spoke positively about him being in the next squad. I’d have had McNamara, Duffy, Connell and Cannon there - assuming all were available. I wouldn’t have included Scales or Taylor - which would have left me with a 26 man squad. If it came down to it, if one of Egan, O’Shea or Collins got injured I’d prefer Duffy there than Scales (Lenihan vs Duffy is more a coin toss). From the press conference, it basically seems that he prefers Sykes over McNamara when it comes to right wing back. He saw them both in Bristol last week, so fair enough I guess. Not convinced about Browne in that position. I’d have Connell over Taylor, I think he probably is better in the Cullen role, where he keeps the ball ticking over from deep, and that to me, is what the squad needs. Hourihane was that replacement till Armenia and it’s between Coventry, Connell and maybe Kilkenny and Hodge down the line to vie for that spot, whereas Taylor and Azaz are probably more in Hendrick and Molumby slot.
No point speculating on Cannon till we know more (I’d have had him in my squad) - since Deccers we’ve had more conspiracy type cases than we’ve had actual issues, everyone was convinced Obafemi was gonna bolt, some even thought Evan was gonna defect a few months ago. Hodge was a similar case earlier this season where when he wasn’t called up everyone assumed it was cause he’d been asked not to - and now he’s captain of the 21s and no one wants him in the squad. And if you wanna go back a little earlier to 2018, a lot of people thought Matt Doherty was gonna play for Netherlands instead of us.
In those 4 odd years since Declan went, I think the only competitively capped players we’ve lost are Stephen Mallon who isn’t even playing for Cliftonville and Charlie McCann who played 1 game in the league for Rangers in the first half of the season and 56 minutes in the worst team in league 1 in the second half of the season and will be playing League 2 next season. So might as well just hope that Cannon’s in the 21s, on standby and someone gets a knock and he gets called up. And in six months, it’ll seem daft that we even worried about it.
If I was picking the team tomorrow based on this squad, I’d probably go with Bazunu in goal (but much of a muchness between the 3 considering none have played in the last few months and Travers found the tiniest bit of form), Doherty at right back, O’Dowda on the left, Collins, O’Shea and Egan in the centre. Molumby and Cullen in midfield with Smallbone doing the half midfield half attack job on the left, similar to Knight and McGrath against Scotland and Portugal. Obafemi and Ferguson up top.
As an aside, thought Kenny was pretty good in the press conference - he spoke well about all the keepers and defended Bazunu and Kelleher well.
You demean nearly every player who achieved something this season. Also, practise what you preach about Keane who's played the equivalent (minutes) of little more than one match.
Last edited by Snapshot; 02/06/2023 at 3:08 AM.
Squad by age group:
18-24: Bazunu, Kelleher, Travers, O'Shea, Collins, Scales, Molumby, Knight, Smallbone, Taylor, Parrott, Idah, Obafemi, Ferguson, Johnston
25-29: Sykes, Lenihan, O'Dowda, Cullen, McGrath, Browne
30+: McClean, Doherty, Egan, Hendrick
Where has Lee O'Connor gone? Thought he'd be pushing for squad place these days but seems to have disappeared. Injured? Out of form?
Folding my way into the big money!!!
He's at Tranmere in the fourth tier. 122 games there since joining in 2020. Seems to be a long way off stepping up to the senior team unfortunately.
It's also a BS reason for leaving him out if that's actually the real reason he wasn't called up. You haven't trained in four weeks (doubt anyone has or only a couple have) and missed our 4 day training camp so therefore I can't call you up to our 9 day training camp next week.
In fairness, actually getting to the games is quite an important thing
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks