Who will partner Keane upfront?

[concanta]

does anyone think that kevin doyle has a chance of playing against cyprus?
I think he would be a good target man and seems to have much more general skill and awareness than doherty - i have nothing against gary but i think we have better options and if we pick a proper team against syprus - we shoudl win by 2 goals.....then for the swiss - i think that we need some sort of surprise for them.....I still think that alan quinn will be in the squad by the time of the games and possibly in the team

[colster]

does anyone think that kevin doyle has a chance of playing against cyprus?
I think he would be a good target man and seems to have much more general skill and awareness than doherty - i have nothing against gary but i think we have better options and if we pick a proper team against syprus - we shoudl win by 2 goals.....then for the swiss - i think that we need some sort of surprise for them.....I still think that alan quinn will be in the squad by the time of the games and possibly in the team

Elliot/Connolly should partner Keane. He played pretty well against the Faroes away.
I doubt if Doyle will play.

[Stuttgart88]

I have a nagging fear Kerr will select Duff upfront with Keane.

Elliott or Connolly - each is a bit of a gamble. Elliott was in better form last season but Connolly has the experience.

Doyle - I doubt it. Certainly not as a starter. And is Doyle capable of being a target man? He looks a bit slight to me. I'd have thought his strengths lay elsewhere.

Doc - last resort tactic, or if we're struggling to defend a lead maybe use him as a "clear it upfield" option.

[NeilMcD]

To me the Keane Connolly partnership is a proven recipe for a disaster. They have played together a few times and it was rubbit its worse than Duff and Keane. I would prefer Duff and Keane and I hate that too. I think Eirebhoy has the stats to prove me right on this that the Keane Connolly parnership is a disater and they have played a good few time together.

My preference woudl be Keane and Elliot with maybe Doyle coming on if he impresses Kerr in training.

[Lionel Ritchie]

I'll break a few balls and say Connolly - Elliot for Cyprus. Two boys chomping at the bit who'd love to prove a point and stake a claim. i reckon they'd muster 3 maybe even 4 goals between them.

Unsettling Robbie might be no bad thing. Might buck his ideas up a bit for the Swiss -and yes I'd revert to Morrison-Keane for the Swiss ...unless the two lads hit 6 against Cyprus .

EDIT: I should point out I have no expectation that Connoly - Elliot will happen. I too fear he'll go with Duffer up front and in doing so p|ss away our ability to pull the weak apart limb from limb ...yet again

[tetsujin1979]

With Reid out we HAVE to play Duff in midfield, he's the only other recognised winger in the squad.
As for Keane's potential partners:

• Elliott: playing regularly, but not scored yet
• Connolly: top Irish scorer cross channel so far, unfortunately he and Keane don't work as a partnership
• Doherty: Hasn't started up front for Ireland in an age
• Doyle: Unproven at this level, could be too much to throw him straight in

I reckon it's going to be Elliott, with Connolly or Doyle coming on.

[youngirish]

Has to be Elliot/Keane. If Kerr shifts Duff upfront and plays Zinedine Kilbane on the left he deserves the sack just before kick off.

Connolly as I've mentioned so many times before is just not up to it at International level. He's a passenger at best and considering he's 27 now he's had his chance. I'd play Doyle instead of Connolly but first choice has to be Elliot/Keane.

[zinedineontour]

elliott and keane for me ... elliott was very good on sunday and hopefully will get his first for us in cyprus ..

[tricky_colour]

Breen and Keane

[zinedineontour]

I'll admit I don't know much about Doyle, but I am not convinced that playing him from the start would be more of a risk than any of the other options we have.

Connolly was dropped for Wigan's last game, and if he doesn't start the next game, then he won't have started a game for Wigan for about three weeks by the time we play Cyprus (plus the last game he did start, he only played 64 minutes). In terms of match fitness, this is not ideal. Plus he doesn't appear to play well with Robbie Keane.

There seems to be an assumption that Elliott is somehow more experienced than Doyle, but I don't see how. Elliott only has one season of first team football behind him, and hasn't scored yet this season. Why would playing Elliott, who has never scored at international level, be less of a risk than playing Doyle?

Doyle, on the other hand, appears to be on form, match fit, and he has proven that he can score against opposition of Cyprus' level. I tend to think, that if he does play, there will be less pressure on him if he starts than if he comes on as a substitute with us needing a goal, since we absolutely need a win. If he starts, and doesn't score, at least he can be substituted. Just because playing Doyle hasn't been done before doesn't mean that playing him is more of a risk. I think that Kerr means it when he says that he will be looking to see how Doyle does for Reading (playing tonight) and in training. I he doesn't do well tonight, he probably won't play, but if he does, and he scores, then who knows?

elliott has had a full season at playing at the level doyle is just getting used to. he has been playing as a right midfielder for sunderland up to the last two weeks and had a cracking game on sunday ... deserves his chance against cyprus and see how things are going and maybe give doyle a run ..

[RedX]

Doyle - I doubt it. Certainly not as a starter. And is Doyle capable of being a target man? He looks a bit slight to me. I'd have thought his strengths lay elsewhere.

Very wrong there...how can you know a players strenghts by guessing?...you say he looks slight?...Doyle is an extremely strong player and very good at holding the ball up...they are among many of his strenghts..he is very good beating players coming from either right or left side of midfield also..he is very good in the air and is a very good finisher...his only weakness at this time which i am sure he will improve on within the next year or two are his passing skills...Doyle has serious potential and i dont think it will be long before he will start either wide right or up-front for Ireland..

On saying that i dont think he will start the Cyprus match...i would think that Kerr will probably play Duff up with Keane with Kilbane going left and Kavanagh and Holland in the middle...

[G-Man]

Doyle didnt score last night, but by all accounts he looked lively and was the better of Readings pair up front (lita taken off and being described as lazy). I cant see him starting, probably Elliot, but he might get thrown on near the end of the game. Delighted for him either way, first Adamstown and Wexford man to be called up to the Irish squad!

[Stuttgart88]

Very wrong there...how can you know a players strenghts by guessing?...you say he looks slight

He does look slight! He's hardly Cisse or Drogba.


And I'm not guessing: I'm basing it on what I've seen (UAE, U21s, whatever eL games I can see from London & Reading on TV) which I fully accept is nowhere near as much as Cork City fans. When I said I thought his strengths lay elsewhere I meant exactly what you said: beating players from both sides.

As for his finishing - I'm sure Doyle himself and even his most ardent fans would agree his finishing in England has been erratic so far this season. He's got some goals already which is great, but he could also have more. I hear he missed a sitter with his head (before burying the same header later in the game) for his first goal. He also missed a sitter in another game too, according to radio 5 Live anyway, missing the ball completely with a wild swipe which hit his standing leg.

To be honest if I saw either him or Elliott given a half-chance late in the game I'd prefer it to be Elliott.

I'm delighted Doyle is the squad, I hope he's in it to stay and I hope it's the start of many domestic players making the cut at this level.


As the the Wexford angle - where's Tuff Paddy been these days?

[pete]

Connolly has no chance of starting with Keane & to take Duff out of midfield would leave almost no creativity there. I think this means its down to Elliot & Doyle with Elliot as favourite as hes got a few caps already. I've no doubt Doyle is good enough but don't think Kerr is confident enough to pick him to start.

[thejollyrodger]

I think it will be elliott Keane with Eliott coming off later if things arent working out. Connolly or Doyle may come on then. I think doc has been tried and tested. He failed. Sorry doc but you dont cut it at international level anymore.

Duff looked very poor last night, very poor indeed. That anglo saxon mentality is ripping all his best skills out of him. He should have went to Barca

[eirebhoy]

Reading this thread it seems a couple of people are underestimating Cyprus. Their league is flying up the rankings, currently at 28th with 2 teams still in Europe. Anorthosis only need a 1-0 home win to knock Palermo out of the UEFA cup. 4 of their strikers are playing in Greece, one which is €12m man Konstantinou of Olympiakos (started against Real last night). Their right winger is also a regular in the CL with Panathinaikos and they have a few more players in Greece, most of which can't make the first team. This match will be as tough, if not tougher, than Switzerland at home imo.

[thejollyrodger]

your on my ignore list by the way eirebhoy so dont waste your time (if you are ) replying to my posts.

[Stuttgart88]

As paulie said above the 4-0 we got last time flattered us. We were beaten on points in the second half. Gary Kelly cleared two off the line & Roy Keane had a blinder.

They've changed manager, nearly got a point in Basle & got the best result of anyone in the Faroes. France really struggled to win 2-0. I think the Cypriots hit the post at least once & Barthez had a great game I hear.

But they were soundly beaten by Switzerland in Cyprus last month and their only goal was a freak. Israel beat them too. I read that they were missing 3 players that day. Which 3? I was expecting a toughish game in Dublin but they were so bad it was unbelievable (yet we still nearly gifted them a goal).

So it's kind of hard to know how to call it. I think if both teams play to their best we'd come out on top, probably by a bit. But it's a big "if" on our part. I fancy we'll win but we'll have to work for it.

[Stuttgart88]

your on my ignore list by the way eirebhoy so dont waste your time (if you are ) replying to my posts.

I'd never ignore eirebhoy's posts. I don't always agree with him but he speaks more sense than most on this forum, he never makes rash remarks & he researches his posts very well (Connolly's stats while paired with Keane being a great example). This forum is a far better place for his posts.

[NeilMcD]

Well Said Stuttgart.