Ireland U21 squad announced

[livehead1]

Who is Leon Best

You don't follow the national side much do you?

[kingdomkerry]

I do. Just dont know much about him?

[livehead1]

Born in Nottingham, eligible through his mother. Played for Southampton and was highly rated, didn't perform that well for them though. Was offered a new contract, turned them down, is now playing reasonably well for Coventry. Has loads of ability, just needs to realise it in the next 12months

[tetsujin1979]

1-1 at the moment, Keogh equalised on 73 minutes after Bojovic opened the scoring for Montenegro on 68 minutes

[Razors left peg]

Honestly dont know what its gonna take to get Don Givens outta that job. We had some good players on the pitch there tonight but there was some sort of spark missing almost looked like a lack of motivation. Even when Andy Keogh scored the equaliser he hardly raised a smile. I was sitting pretty close to Givens and I didnt see him giving any instructions from the dug out all night.
On the brightside I was impressed with O Dea, O Ceiruill, and Connor Powell in defense. Darron Gibson started well and looks a classy player but in second half hardly crossed the halfway line.Stokes did some good things and some awful.Keogh took his goal well, was a good header.
Incidentally they started with 4-2-3-1 formation the same as the under 17s a couple of weeks ago but changed to 4-4-2 after half hour. I wonder have the instructions come down from above that this is how the senior team is gonna play and all the underage teams need to follow suit so the player will be used to it

[Carrigaline]

Givens is a clown.

Like Razor said, he pretty much stood in the dugout for the full 90 minutes and hardly issued an instruction to a player all night. We were an absolute joke defending set-peices. Montenegro rightly attacked us on the corners and we were made to pay once, while getting off the hook another time thanks to a superb Supple save and a subsequent clearance off the line from O'Cearuill. The only thing that Givens got right were the substitutions. O'Toole had a poor game and Clarke was struggling to get forward well.

[Maroon 7]

I don't know how Givens is still in that job. His record is lamentable. Obviously he's well connected within the FAI which answers my own question I think.

[eekers]

i'd agree with most of that. The problem i could see was players played out of position. We started the game with 3 natural strikers and 3 natural central midfielders, and finished it with 4 natural strikers and 2 central midfielders.

[Carrigaline]

My Ratings
Shane Supple – 7
Saved our bacon in the first half with a brilliant save from an Montenegrin corner. Didn't have much to do otherwise. Solid.
Eddie Nolan - 6
I thought that Eddie had a lot to offer going forward, he made a few decent runs with the ball, his delivery was mixed though. I thought he was poor defensively though, didn't defend the corners well at all.
Conor Powell - 8
First time I've seen this lad, have to say he was very impressive. Like Nolan, he got forward well, but was defensively excellent too. While accepting that the Montenegrins weren't the greatest, he didn't let much through.
Joe O'Cearuill - 6
I think confidence might be an issue with Joe to be honest, because he did not seem that comfortable on the ball. For a guy who would be odds on to wins most of the headers, he struggled with crosses. Gave away a lot of silly free-kicks too. Maybe he can come good, but to be honest, I wouldn't bet on it.
Darren O'Dea - 7
Showed good leadership, had the awareness to intercept one of the through balls that the Montenegrins put through. Like O'Cearuill though, was terrible at defending set-peices. With decent coaching though, the set-peice problem can be sorted out.
Billy Clarke - 6
Only played the first half. Disappointing player for me. I know he can run at players and hurt them, he simply didn't do that today. Rightly taken off at half-time
Anthony Stokes - 6.5
It really was a tale of two halfs for Stokes. He was simply dreadful in the first. Crap first touch, didn't link up with Keogh at all, positioned completely wrong. He did improve in the second half though when he was put on the left wing. To be honest, he didn't look sharp or fit.
Darron Gibson - 7.5
Decent display in the centre of midfield. Made a few mistakes, but was generally solid in his passing and tackling. His real test will be to play midfielders closer to his ability.
Andy Keogh - 8
I thought Andy was everything that Stokes should be. Has wicked pace and was able to beat the opposition to the ball most of the time. He also held the ball up really well when it was played long to him, just a shame that Stokes didn't play closer to him to take advantage. He only really got one decent chance and he took it well
Stephen Quinn - 5
He saw an awful lot of the ball, but did virtually nothing with it. Like Stokes, he went to sleep a few times and was caught out on the ball. The fact that he's 21 already and very short, I can't see him ever getting a senior cap.
John-Joe O'Toole - 6
Disappointing game for O'Toole, seemed confused about what sort of position he was supposed to be playing.
Substitutes:
Sean Scannell – 6.5
Showed some glimpses of that electric pace and his ability to beat his man. Needs to work on the end product though. Should have demanded more of the ball, because he looked good while he had it.
Leon Best - 7.5
For the time he was on the pitch he showed a lot of hunger to recieve the ball. Some very neat touches and was also strong enough to hold off the physical Montenegrins. He should have played upfront with Keogh from the start by my reckoning.

My man of the match would be Conor Powell. If tonight was anything to go by, then we have our left-back problem solved. Unless tonight was a once off, I'm surprised he's still at Bohs.

[Razors left peg]

would agree with those ratings. I thought Powell was excellent

[sligoman]

Powell, O'Cearuill and O'Dea were great. Nolan at RB had a terrible start but improved in 2nd half when making forward runs, still dodgy though. Stokes is over-rated. Gibson wasn't great. Keogh was good when given the ball and Stephen Quinn was dodgy at times. Scannell looks like a great prospect given his age, pacey on the wing and will improve more in time hopefully.

Poor enough crowd, thought there'd be more.

Givens out!

[Carrigaline]

O'Cearuill and O'Dea were great.

Mostly. But they were the two centre backs and have to take responsibility for our woefully defending of corners.

Yea, it was a poor showing, but what do you expect from a dead rubber match?

[livehead1]

Villa interested in Sean Scannell

I think thats from 30th Jan when there was a load of daft speculation about; it was the end of the transfer window.

[tetsujin1979]

I think thats from 30th Jan when there was a load of daft speculation about; it was the end of the transfer window.

It's on BBC again today - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...rs/default.stm

Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill is preparing a £3m bid for Crystal Palace's Sean Scannell. (Daily Star)

[eirebhoy]

I think O'Neill was at a televised Palace match recently.

[paul_oshea]

tell me more about this sean scanell fella!

I know a lad over here with the same name a plastic and I was asking him was he a cousin, but the fella i know has a big irish head on him so i didnt think they were cousins somehow!!

[gufcfan]

The goals from the U-21 International between Ireland and Montenegro in Terryland Park, can be found here.

[eirebhoy]

The Indo says that Given will recommend 3 or 4 players to Trap for the trip to the Algarve. It'll be interesting to see who those players are. Most likely O'Dea considering he's captain.

[tetsujin1979]

The Indo says that Given will recommend 3 or 4 players to Trap for the trip to the Algarve. It'll be interesting to see who those players are. Most likely O'Dea considering he's captain.

These 3 would most likely be uncapped players, correct? ie if Stokes or Keogh is brought to the Algarve, it wouldn't be on Givens' recommendation since they've already been capped

[Dodge]

The Indo says that Given will recommend 3 or 4 players to Trap for the trip to the Algarve. It'll be interesting to see who those players are. Most likely O'Dea considering he's captain.

Despite O'Cearuill being better than him every time I've seen them together