Darren O’Dea

havin witnessed darren o'dea grown in stature over the past two years and become a solid defender, i find it beyond believe that he has been overlooked for the irish squad in favour of kilbane/ foley. kilbane is in decline and o'dea is a better defender then foley so why is he been overlooked!

Originally Posted by butcher

havin witnessed darren o'dea grown in stature over the past two years and become a solid defender, i find it beyond believe that he has been overlooked for the irish squad in favour of kilbane/ foley. kilbane is in decline and o'dea is a better defender then foley so why is he been overlooked!

Coz O Dea is a center defender and not playing regular first team football and Foley is a right back and is playing first team football.... its not really rocket science

he is equally adept at left back....he's a promising talent and plays more regular football then peole think! he should be given a chance ahead of kilbane especially since this is a friendly

Originally Posted by butcher

he is equally adept at left back....he's a promising talent and plays more regular football then peole think! he should be given a chance ahead of kilbane especially since this is a friendly

He will definately become and Ireland regular and very possibly captain in the future, but hes not playing regularly enough yet.

Originally Posted by butcher

he is equally adept at left back....he's a promising talent and plays more regular football then peole think! he should be given a chance ahead of kilbane especially since this is a friendly

no doubting the fellas potential , butcher but until he is playing regular competitive games for his club he should not be in the starting line for the national team

also foley is a right back and o'dea is a left back/central defender, plus foley is going to be a regular right back in a better league , so i dont see why u think o'dea shold be in the squad ahead of him

he is equally adept at left back.

My sources tell me that O'Dea is a born central defender and not equally adept at LB

I think O'Dea should be in the squad ahead of Eddie Nolan, but no way are KK and Foley there at his expense. Damian Delaney is on standby - a left-back who can play CB - and Alex Bruce is too (RB / CB) suggesting DO'D has work to do to impress Trapp.

I think Geysir is right - O'Dea is a CB first and foremost who has filled in at LB.

If I had to guess at a reason why O'Dea hasn't been in the squad (any squad) under Trapattoni, it would be the B game VS Forest last November. O'Dea and Bruce were the central defensive partnership, with Bruce captaining the side. Bruce performed well, won the ball in the air, played intelligent passes and worked well with Foley beside him at right full. O'Dea, on the other hand, was wasteful in possession, and on more than one occasion in the second half had Bruce to thank for covering for one of his mistakes.
In the same game Andrews played for the first time in front of Trapattoni, and Folan scored. Those two, along with Bruce, have become mainstays in the squad since that game, whereas O'Dea has been frozen out. With a new manger in place at Celtic, he may get more first team opportunities, instead of wasting his time on the bench for another season under Strachan. If he does, and returns to the form he showed against Milan 2 seasons ago, then he is well worth his place in the squad. Unfortunately, central defence is probably the hardest position in the squad at the moment to break into. With Dunne and O'Shea the first choice pairing, and St Ledger, McShane, and Bruce all ahead of him in the queue he will need to have a fantastic season to earn his first cap between now and the end of the qualifiers.

Thanks Tets. Did O'Dea not make one squad call-up only to pull out? can't really remember tbh.

O'Dea made the starting 11 today. McManus is still injured and Caldwell was also out so he partnered Loovens. Interestingly, he was made captain as well. Not sure if that tells us anything about Mowbrays plans for O'Dea or not, as there was no real stand out candidates in the other 10 starters for the captaincy.

Additionally, Mowbray has now played Donati at CB in 2 games (he moved there in the 2nd half, replacing Loovens), which suggests he fancies him there (certainly as cover) so could be added competition for O'Dea in a sense, though his preference has been to start with Donati in his traditional midfield role.

Performance wise, O'Dea did well enough, though Aberdeen did little in an attacking sense apart from a 10 minute spell they had following their goal. If he plays on Tuesday against Arsenal (Its on Sky Sports) we'll see more of what he's made of.

God help him (and Celtic, and the rest of the Premier League) if Arsenal play like they did today. Granted Everton were poor after they went 3-0 down, but Arsenal never stopped playing dominant football.

[QUOTE=Junior;1212493]O'Dea made the starting 11 today. McManus is still injured and Caldwell was also out so he partnered Loovens. Interestingly, he was made captain as well. Not sure if that tells us anything about Mowbrays plans for O'Dea or not, as there was no real stand out candidates in the other 10 starters for the captaincy.

Additionally, Mowbray has now played Donati at CB in 2 games (he moved there in the 2nd half, replacing Loovens), which suggests he fancies him there (certainly as cover) so could be added competition for O'Dea in a sense, though his preference has been to start with Donati in his traditional midfield role. [QUOTE]

From what I'm hearing Mowbray still wants to sign St Ledger but will need to offload players to afford PNE's asking price of 5m.

[QUOTE=the doc;1212788][QUOTE=Junior;1212493]O'Dea made the starting 11 today. McManus is still injured and Caldwell was also out so he partnered Loovens. Interestingly, he was made captain as well. Not sure if that tells us anything about Mowbrays plans for O'Dea or not, as there was no real stand out candidates in the other 10 starters for the captaincy.

Additionally, Mowbray has now played Donati at CB in 2 games (he moved there in the 2nd half, replacing Loovens), which suggests he fancies him there (certainly as cover) so could be added competition for O'Dea in a sense, though his preference has been to start with Donati in his traditional midfield role.

From what I'm hearing Mowbray still wants to sign St Ledger but will need to offload players to afford PNE's asking price of 5m.

5m is laughable for st ledger not good enuf for celtic simple as!

O Dea is by far a better player

Hulls desire to land our RB Hinkel (for circa £4m-£6m depending on where you read) is looking more likely to succeed, though it will be after Tuesdays game against Arsenal, could fund a CB purchase. Though we have 4 first team CB's as it is, so one of these would have to go.

As Ive said previously though Doc - Im not reading any real transfer gossip on any sort of levle that a St-Ledger move is on the offing and Id be ****in raging if we paid anywhere like £6m for a championship player with a couple of caps, despite his potential - we simply cant afford it.

Originally Posted by Mcgeady46

5m is laughable for st ledger not good enuf for celtic simple as!

O Dea is by far a better player

The fact that SSL is a leading player in a good championship side and is a full international whereas O'Dea is a Celtic benchwarmer behind two average CBs would suggest otherwise

I like the look of St Ledger but I honestly wouldnt understand signing him when O Dea looks every bit as good as him any time Ive seen him.
If O Dea wants to make the world cup squad(if we qualify) then first team football this season is a must so if Celtic do sign SSL then O Dea has to move

All speculation but Coyle claims he's looking at getting in some more defenders before the transfer window closes. I'd like to see him rekindle the interest he showed in O'Dea last season. Would be a good move for him imo. He would get ample opportunity to show what he could do in a stronger league and if he's up to the task there's no doubt someone would step in to buy him if Burnley got relegated.

St Ledger is a better footballer than O'Dea at the moment but nowhere near a £5 million valuation. Preston would need to lower their asking price by at least £4 million if they want to sell him.

Originally Posted by ifk101

St Ledger is a better footballer than O'Dea at the moment but nowhere near a £5 million valuation. Preston would need to lower their asking price by at least £4 million if they want to sell him.

I think the key is that they don't want to sell him!

5 million seems to be a good price if they don't want to sell him, and it's not as if St. Ledger is asking to leave.

Don't understand why Celtic would sell Hinkel- I really rate him.

Originally Posted by irishfan86

I think the key is that they don't want to sell him!

5 million seems to be a good price if they don't want to sell him, and it's not as if St. Ledger is asking to leave.

Don't understand why Celtic would sell Hinkel- I really rate him.

To raise the money to buy St Ledger!

Good article with "God and the Saint" in this weekend's Preston programme.

What a legend and nice bloke, McGrath is.