Why are people surprised Lawrence isn't in? If he wasn't in for the friendly he wouldn't be in for this. If he keeps playing well he'l be noticed. All in good time.
Would have liked Rory Delap to get another chance
Why no Carlsley? Is he injured? We need a true ball winner for these sorts of matches.
There is no such thing as a miracle cure, a free lunch or a humble opinion.
I think it's terrible that Carsley isn't even in the squad... He's been playing really well...
Mark Quigley should be in that team, as well as Jason Gavin. He's better than Alex Bruce.
There are a lot of players much better than Bruce.I can’t understand why McCarthy and St Ledger are not given a chance for instance? Liam Lawrence should also be given a chance and it’s unfair on Carlsey not to be there.Who advises Trap on these issues?
Do you reckon that Lawrence is paying for his porntape.
In Trap we trust
I think he will go for Hunt- didn't he say recently (paraphrasing) that he wants two traditional wingers? Reid would have to play on the right and he would be cutting in a lot. He would slow the play down which is not what Trap seems to want from the wingers.
Mainly because we have lost a winger from the squad and replaced him with a centre back. I said this when the last squad was announced- it leaves us with a serious lack of options on the bench to change things if it's going wrong.
The initial optimism I had for this new management team has completely evaporated. The selection policy, it seems is no better than that of Steve Staunton.
For whatever reason, Ireland teams since McCarthy have had a really unjustifiable tendency to discard players seemingly without reason. This could perhaps be explained by an age bias.
Lee Carsley's omission to me is baffling. Yes he is 34, but yes he has just come off one of the best season's of his career in top flight football. For him not to be in the squad, to me, is a very poor management decision.
I think the over-30 watershed needs to stop being a criterion for selection. Picking players for potential, rather than current ability and performances, has never been a system employed by a genuinely successful international side. Age is just a number, look at Larsson, Thuram, The Kovacs, Aldridge, Cascarino, Houghton and McGrath who have all played or are playing international football deep into their thirties.
This cost is dearly in the last campaign. Against Cyprus, an 87 year old Breen (sorry, I read the Fiver) who was playing football would have been better than a 26 year old A. O'Brien who was benched during preseason and the campaign. In the same match an accomplished central midfielder, Matt Holland, regardless of age, would have been a better man in midfield than winger Kevin Kilbane playing alongside a 19 year old prodigy midfielder.
The point I am trying to make is we do not have a sufficient pool of players to make selections in any other way than their past performances in the Ireland shirt and their performances leading up to whatever matches are being played. Shane Long or Morrison??? Come on.....
"No regrets, none at all. My only regret is that we went out on penalties. That's my only regret. But no, no regrets." -Mick McCarthy
I don't believe Carsley is capable of doing one of the two central midfield jobs that Trap wants. He was perfect for the one defensive/holding/witty-slogan position for Everton. Glenn for me is an improvement, his range of passing is better and while it may be only slightly, I think he's more mobile than Carsley.
Another thing would be continuity. Carlsey wouldn't be an option after this campaign. We have very fw players actually playing central midfield at a top level. If they don't get integrated now then it might never happen.
Any attempt to equate this management team to the previous one is quite funny. The last spa wasn't given the time because it was quite obvious he hadn't a clue. Trapper does have a clue and the change in our play is obvious to me already.
If only he could make Dunne and Given understand that its perfectly alright to play short passes to a collecting midfielder that earns less than them we'd be fine.
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
Weren't Lawence and St Ledger player of the year at their clubs after very good performances throughout the season.
What more do they have to do?
So the likes of Bruce and McShane can play badly and get picked but others have to wait, despite being better players and doing well at their clubs, no wonder Ireland continue to struggle.
some of the nonsense here is just baffling. how short are some peoples memories? to date trapp is undefeated and we look like we are getting a bit of shape and organisation back. no one will ever agree 100% with a managers squad but so far so good in my opinion. stauntons reign was a complete mess yet some on here are saying we are no better without him... give me a break!
not particularly optimistic ahead of next weeks game are we?!i think that we have a pretty good squad out but would agree with the players that most people would prefer not to be there-bruce and mcshane should be nowhere near the squad at the moment.i'd only make two changes from the team that played against norway with delaney coming in for kilbane and reid starting in place of duff (although i would prefer to see him playing in the middle)carsley without any doubt should be in the squad.whelan is far too lightweight and was dropped last weekend in favour of lawrence.still think that we've got anough quality to beat georgia though.
I had a similar argument/conversation with a friend of mine recently. The squad against Norway had a very similar look to any squad under Staunton, and even under the latter days of Kerr's reign. He thought that there had been little or no progression since those days. Apart from the addition of Whelan, and the return of Reid, Duff and Given, this could have been any squad under Staunton.
I agreed that the personnel may not have changed, but the team itself has been altered dramatically since Trapattoni has taken over. Basic, simple things, like where to stand to receive a pass, keeping possession in central midfield and spreading the play to wingers were all in evidence in the first half against Norway.
I hope to see more of this in the next two games, and 2 positive results.
We still look 2-3 good players short of having an overall decent team. We need a good holding midfield player (Whelan is not up to it imo). A good central defender to sit alongside Dunne (O'Shea can be backup) and a good left back (perhaps Hunt could be tried as he's started the season there for Reading).
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