The North would probably win.
We have not played each other in ages actually! We should have a friendly.
What is very conviently overlooked is that against Cyprus and the Czechs we had an injury list as long as anything I've ever seen in International football and a manager who is learning his trade game by game (but who in fairness I reckon will still not have much of a clue a year down the road even if he still has the job). With our full team we should beat the north comfortably.Originally Posted by holidaysong
I'm actually quite well informed but not biased like yourself. So who else would get into our team? Taylor instead of Given? No chance. Lafferty or Healy instead of Keane or Doyle (proven premiership talent). Not a hope. Gillespie instead of McGeady or Duff? Are you for real? Arron Hughes instead of Finnan? Don't make me laugh.
Be realistic man. Two wins and a draw and you conveniently forget the quality of your players and all your results in all recent qualification campaigns. The only thing you have going for you against us is a half decent manager (compared to our muppet) and a good young central midfielder (of which we should have a couple coming through in the near future anyway). In all other 10 positions on the pitch we should play you off the park.
Last edited by youngirish; 16/10/2006 at 9:08 AM.
Play you off the park, oh please. I would take any of our defenders/midfielders over O'shea - he's useless. Carr hasn't been the same player since his injuries, would have Hughes/Baird every time. Doyle, having played for 2 months in the EPL is a proven talent??? come on! No one really knows how Lafferty will turn out as he's only 19 - but the signs are promising. I would take Gillespie over either of the Reids, especially the fat one. In fairness Keith mightn't have lived up to his potential, but he's still a very talented player, has played at the highest level and has loads of international experience - 72caps at the mo.
Damien Johnson, Davis and Clingan are all good midfielders, especially Davis. Also him and Clingan are only 21/22 - still a lot to learn.
I won't try to argue that Healy is better than Keane, as obviously he's not and the stats speak for themselves. But you must admit Keane has flattered to deceive an awful lot. And Healy can really turn it on at international level, which is what we're discussing.
O'Shea and Carr aren't good enough for our team anyway in most people's opinion. Spurs tried to sign S.Reid in the summer, I don't think their fans would be too impressed if they tried to sign Gillespie.When A.Reid gets a decent run of games you'll see his quality.
Last edited by eirebhoy; 16/10/2006 at 1:03 PM.
Hi andyh
Andy i think your right about the good young players like clingan and davis ..i would love to have them.
One thing but you have lost two or three players to us ...crewe's O' Connor and now Marc wilson of portsmouth.
Just out of curiosity would you support the republic if we were in a finals ??
And many of the northern Ireland team catholic? ( no bad intentions meant by asking this)
Overall performance in world cup finals.....
we just beat u
34 Ireland 13 2 8 3 10 10 0 14 35.9
35 Northern Ireland 13 3 5 5 13 23 -10 14 35.9
Does Chris Brunt of SWFC get a game for the North?
I like the look of him. Great left foot & actually scored with his right on Saturday.
PS: left footer / right footer - intended only to describe his preferred kicking foot. No other meaning intended
i hopnestly think we would pump them at home , windsor would be a completely different matter though...
Was he crazy!! Yeah , in a very special way , an Irishman.
I slept, and dreamed that life was Beauty;
I woke, and found that life was Duty.
It comes down to this.
Should we hammer them? Yes I honestly believe that we have far better individual players.
Would we hammer them? Probably not with that muppet Staunton in charge though I'd be surprised if we didn't shade it over two legs.
Let's look at a combined team to put this argument to rest. Any reasonable person would have to admit it would look something like this:
Given
Finnan Dunne Hughes (he can play at CB so we'll stick him in) O'Shea (sh*t I know but F**k me if he's not better than Jonny Evans)
Mc Geady S Reid Davis Duff
Keane Doyle
Not one other NI player should get a look in and even Hughes is no great bonus to the Republic team, I'd rather see what Mc Shane can do there as he may turn out to be decent rather than persist with tried and trusted below average Premiership players like Hughes or Andy O'Brien.
On a side note whey didn't the FAI do something similar to the IFA and offer the manager's job to an up and coming manager in one of the lower divisions rather than giving it to a muppet who was an assistant at a club in a relegation fight? I hate John Delaney he's ruined the next 2 years for me.
Last edited by youngirish; 16/10/2006 at 4:08 PM.
I think he is asking a valid question, just hasn't put it very well. To put it another way, out of the lads who have declared for us, who are from the north ie. Darron Gibson, how many of them are protestant. Not very many one suspects. If a northerner is catholic, they are far more likely to declare for us than a protestant, that is what i think he is getting at.
are you for real??? I've seen Sammy Clingan 5 times this season alone in league one and he is a poor footballer, for every 5 accurate passes there is another one that is over or under hit. If he is doing that in league one i dread to think what he would be like against real quality.
As for Keith Gillespie, i think you should look at how highly stephen reid is rated at blackburn before talking about sheffield united's keith gillespie. He is past it.
If players want to declare for the republic that is fair enough, disappointing yes - but there is very little we can do about it, and there's no point in having uncommitted players in the team. The most frustrating aspect is the fact that these players have benefited from IFA coaching/resources etc, which has been essentially "wasted" and could have been given to other players who do want to play for NI.
I would support the republic in finals (obviously not over NI), but a lot more now that the players actually are Irish and not Townsend/Lawro types. I definately want you to beat the Welsh - they have some hateful players!!!
Don't really like to comment on the religious make up of the current team as I don't think its important. But for example Clingan is from west Belfast, so make up your own mind. I would say at the moment the team is probably majority Protestant, but that is purely by chance. And traditionally the team has been fairly evenly split. In fact in the late 90s/early 2000s a lot of the players were catholic eg Michael Hughes, Lennon, Magilton, Taggart, Mulryne.
I'd actually say NI's two best defenders are Chris Baird and George McCartney (won't play under Sanchez) rather than Hughes. I would have Mccartney at left back over O'Shea anytime. Also what's wrong with Jonny Evans? The lad is only 18, and is really a centreback. He's rated very highly by Alex Ferguson, along with Gibson incidentally. Also I would have Damien Johnson play alongside Davis. Ok might not be as techically gifted as Reid, but more than makes up for that with his passion and determination and the odd mad challenge - Something the ROI really seem to lack at the moment.
Personally, I don't care what Church, if any, our players go to.
I wouldn't have a notion, what religion, if any, many of of our players are.
I think, however, that Lawrie Sanchez might be a Catholic.
It is a sense of great pride to me, that over many years, Northern Irish international teams, at all levels, have included players from both main communities in Northern Ireland.
Our current Under 21 goalkeeper and captain, is a Glasgow Celtic player - we all know the problems that has created in the not too distant past.
A recent Under 21 side included players from Derry City, Linfield, Celtic and a GAA player, who plays for Glentoran - that's the way it should be in my book.
As long as the player pulling on our green shirt wears it with pride and honour, that's all that really matters.
The Englishmen came over in the year 2005
But little did they know that we'd planned a wee surprise
Sir David scored the winner, and Windsor Park went wild
And this is what we sang...
Well that's fair enough - but i think the poor footballer remark is harsh. I've seen him play against world class opposition (ie Spain and Denmark) and didn't think he looked out of his depth. As I said he only 22, and still can develop as a footballer. I would doubt he'll spend his whole career in League 1. Besides Johnson/Davis would be my NI centre mid pairing with Gillespie and Brunt on the wings.
Keith Gillespie definately did lose the plot some what after he left Newcastle. And, yes he probably doesn't really have that much longer left at the highest level. But he can still really turn it on at times, especially at international level. Like last week against Latvia, he certainly didn't look a man of 31.
However, in answer to the overall question, of course ROI should beat us, you have twice the population ,therefore far more players to choose from. Also defections such as Gibson/O'connor won't really help our cause.
Thanks for the answers guys , as said no bad intent , im just really curious about the north in general with this new argeement that looks great, anyhows I hope to the stars that we both co-host the under 21 championship in the near future and that you guys maybe get that new stadium and we get lansdowne road fixed......
I will cheer on the north all the way if they were to make it , which is possible.
In an ideal world we would have an all Ireland team if you ask me. And my motivation for saying that is nothing to do with history/politics and all that ****e, its because we both have limited resources as it is, by combining the two we could only be stronger.
never gonna happen. i prefer it the way we are even if the north have 1 or 2decent players that might improve our position, i still enjoy watching them lose way too much to want an all ireland team
whats going on up there is the every dog has its day cliché. they are just having a few of them. I'm sure it will be business as usual and we'll be watching the nordies getting stuffed by Malta in no time.
Cyprus. Quality team.
I
Pretty harsh. It seems the lads from the north that post on this forum are cool enough to be honest so while they're winning good luck to them and long may it continue.never gonna happen. i prefer it the way we are even if the north have 1 or 2decent players that might improve our position, i still enjoy watching them lose way too much to want an all ireland team
whats going on up there is the every dog has its day cliché. they are just having a few of them. I'm sure it will be business as usual and we'll be watching the nordies getting stuffed by Malta in no time.
Cyprus. Quality team.
On the other hand it's good to see England losing. I seen that d**k Lawro saying how poor we were and how poor our pool of players are on MOTD last Saturday. Apparently we don't have the players to compete with the likes of England. Funny we drew with the Czechs on Wednesday after England got hammerred by Croatia. When did they last beat anyone good in a competitive International football match again? I wouldn't be surprised if they failed to qualify tbh.
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