I think that's exactly it alright.
Cardiff were stuck for LBs last year which saw him played there. Their new signing Collins got a season ending injury in the fourth game and the player they brought in to replace him was recalled from his loan mid season. O'Dowda started LW at the weekend with Collins coming back in to play LB.
Yeah, left of a midfield 3, or left wing. It seems to be fashionable to look for a lot of creativity from wing-backs as they're one of the positions that's least effectively pressed. João Cancelo at Man City (until he fell out with Guardiola), Zinchenko at City and more recently at Arsenal, or Trent Alexander Arnold at Liverpool are exemplars.Originally Posted by pineapple stu
Absolutely not from my perspective. Manning should have been called up by Kenny a long time ago but there is clearly beef on the players side that he wasn't. All that said, the chance or two he has had in green, he didn't play well, he has come across effective but limited when i saw him in action for Swansea and, so far, he doesn't appear to have adjusted well to the Southampton move by all accounts. I don't think he's the long-term answer, as per my post, but he is probably the best option to start right now - unproven and all as he is.
Definitely agree with the rest of your post!
Kenny gave Manning his debut which just happened to be one of the worst debuts in a green jersey. Wouldn't surprise me if that debut colours Kenny's opinion of Manning's suitability for international football as it certainly does mine.
Agree with Tommy a few posts back. Manning is defensively a liability - he has cost Southampton a few goals already this season. He is a better option than O'Dowda - nothing clear about it imo. Both have the same frailties. Perhaps the best option is to revert to a flat back four as we don't have a LWB that is "good enough" and overlook both Manning and O'Dowda?
Travers' performance against Serbia has certainly coloured Kenny's opinion of him, he hasn't played since despite Bazunu's injuries, and Kelleher's lack of game time.
Kevin Kilbane would never have gotten a second cap, let alone 100, with that sort of attitude...
Back on topic, another 25 minutes for Connolly last night against Bristol City, though he missed a one-on-one with a very poor finish; barely made the keeper work. Still, good to see him getting game time.
Starts today which is good to see. Hopefully comes through the game with no issues.
Hi fitness is still an issue - subbed off on 75 mins and he was out on his feet at that stage.
I'm ok with that though. He only managed that amount of game time four times last season. He's still building up match fitness presumably. it does raise a question of how useful he'll be next week, but you'd almost have him in the squad for the boost alone. About the only players being left out are Hogan (two goals in 2023, and missed a penalty yesterday) and Parrott (also coming back from injury)
TBF though he's only played 156 minutes in the league this season so in the other four games he's played a total of 81 minutes. Getting 75mins in just one game was good for him. From Hull fans comments it also sounds like he worked his socks off yesterday so probably running non stop so did well to play 75mins.
For us next week I think he's gonna be utilised coming off the bench which should suit him given he's been most effective so far this season coming off the bench.
He just needs to avoid injuries and keep racking up the minutes.
I agree - whenever he is on the pitch he will run his socks off - it is the product at then end of it that needs attention. And if he does play in the internationals it will be as a sub. He is in the right place at the moment - Rosenior was his coach at Brighton and knows him well, he knows how to keep him focused. All he needed what to grow up and show a bit of maturity and Rosenior will help him with that. He still has potential - it is whether he maximises it or not is the question.
Yeah his one good chance yesterday and puts it over the bar (https://youtu.be/NOTCkGCEsys?si=KtaKUIttmoF70oSr 3mins into the video) but good play from Liam Delap who also scored yesterday. Played out wide on the right.
Yeah would prefer him to work his socks off and come off wrecked after 75 mins, than to stroll through the game and walk off after 90 mins without having broken sweat.
Delap is really coming together. Shame that he’s not playing for us
Looking much better this season. FAI definitely want to make sure he's got his citizenship sorted before he turns 21. Because he's third generation and isn't automatically an Irish citizen by birth I think he needs to have his citizenship sorted before his 21st birthday otherwise he might not qualify for us.
Don't think there is any rule about having to be under 21 - the only rule I can find is that one of your parents had to be an Irish citizen when you were born - and Rory Delap was playing for Ireland at the time.
I also don't know why people think Delap will declare for Ireland. He was born in England to an English born father (who admittedly represented Ireland) - but Liam has played numerous times for all the English underage teams. Now there may be something happening behind the scenes - but I haven't seen anything publicly apart from some wishful thinking by Kenny.
I never felt like Rory got his fair crack in an Irish shirt - a few understandable reasons to it obviously - but thought he got tainted a bit by that late Macedonian goal and shouldered a bit too much of the blame of you ask me.
But anyway, I digress… both Rory’s mum and dad are Irish born. I get that Liam is a generation removed and is, in effect, English but I would have also thought that his dad being a loyal servant to Ireland, both those grandparents Irish born and Rory speaking with pride about his caps would have carried some weight with his kid when it came to pledging allegiances. Not as much weight as being counselled by agents and courted by the FA I suppose.
That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up with us.
Has he ever been asked about his Irish connections and affiliation??
Rory deserved way more caps. Think he played in the play off against Iran.
Wasn’t it Keith O’Neill who was to blame for Macedonia late goal?
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