Republic rise 3 places in FIFA rankings

darkman2

The Republic of Ireland have risen 3 places in the latest FIFA world rankings to 46th place. I hope Delaney does not take comfort from this but at least we are ranked above the Nordies again after beating those titans of world football - San Marino;)

Kojak

darkman2 wrote:

The Republic of Ireland have risen 3 places in the latest FIFA world rankings to 46th place. I hope Delaney does not take comfort from this but at least we are ranked above the Nordies again after beating those titans of world football - San Marino;)

A reason for stan and Delaney to stay then, I'd assume

smackbunnybaby

yeah those talks of wanting the united Ireland team can stop cus we are ahead of NI again.

that was the only reason we wanted one wasn't it? cus they were ahead of us.......:rolleyes:

Pepe LeFrits

Delaney will probably herald this as proof of Stan's superb management and offer him a 10 year contract.

Nalz

Delaney for most known hated Irish man of this century... no contest!

Bateman

darkman2 wrote:

I hope Delaney does not take comfort from this

Are you joking? It's obviously vindication of his right to occupy the highest position in Irish football. The one he created himself, incidentally. :rolleyes:

Big Ears

Bateman wrote:

Are you joking? It's obviously vindication of his right to occupy the highest position in Irish football. The one he created himself, incidentally. :rolleyes:

I'll have you know he earns every cent of that €400,000 a year........according to the FAI chief executive .

Zebra3

I see Brazil also dropped a spot. If current trends continue, we'll overtake Brazil in......

cournioni

How the hell are Scotland in 20th?

eirebhoy

When you see players like McGregor, Whittaker, Adam, Brown, Thomson, Beattie, Maloney, and Riordan in their recent B squad it's no suprise that they're 20th in the world.

BaZmO*

PORNAPSTER wrote:

How the hell are Scotland in 20th?

Scotland 6 - 0 Faroe Islands
Lithuania 1 - 2 Scotland
Scotland 1 - 0 France
Ukraine 2 - 0 Scotland

thereby making them top of their group might have something to do with it.

PHB

Scotland did what Ireland need to do, focus on the youth and try build a team for the next qualifying campaign.

tetsujin1979

PHB wrote:

Scotland did what Ireland need to do, focus on the youth and try build a team for the next qualifying campaign.

Isn't that what the much-talked about "4 year plan" is all about?

PHB

Yeh, which is why it's important to play Carsley, who is what, 32?, against San Marino

tetsujin1979

There was no other recognised holding midfield player in the squad.

_blank_

We shouldn't need a holding midfielder against San bleedin' Marino.

tetsujin1979

We shouldn't have needed one against Cyprus either, but the omission of one led (IMO) to the concession of at least 3 of the goals

eirebhoy

seansouth wrote:

We shouldn't need a holding midfielder against San bleedin' Marino.

Why do people see a holding midfielder as a hindrance? Carsley had more of the ball than any player against San Marino as the holding midfielder should have. Unfortunately his limits were shown up and by that I mean he's only good at short passes. He's no good at setting the tempo, switching play from 1 side to the next, etc.

What we needed against San Marino was someone with a brain, like Andy Reid. He controlled the home game.

Zebra3

seansouth wrote:

We shouldn't need a holding midfielder against San bleedin' Marino.

Well, you would if you had the balls to play three at the back against such complete and utter drivel.

Pepe LeFrits

A holding midfielder against a team with zero attacking ambition like San Marino is a waste of a player. Playing Carsley in that game was pointless.

eirebhoy

Pepe LeFrits wrote:

A holding midfielder against a team with zero attacking ambition like San Marino is a waste of a player. Playing Carsley in that game was pointless.

If Andy Reid was available and he replaced Carsley in the team he'd still be sitting in midfield dictating play. A Carsley type player maybe wasn't suited but someone sitting in midfield to take the ball at all times is needed against any team. Again, this being San Marino it's hard to argue but if we played Ireland-Kilbane in midfield we'd then have a centre half taking most of the passes as the 2 of those don't have much positional sense.

I agree that playing Lee Carsley wasn't ideal but who else was there? Stan isn't going to throw someone like Gibson in there.

I just think people see a holding midfielder as a defensive midfielder who's little use in attack. A holding midfielder for me is someone who is always in the best position possible to receive a pass. I'd include Pirlo and Alonso in that bracket. Someone like Gatusso is in the team for his off the ball work but he isn't a holding midfielder. He's the type of player that wouldn't be suited to playing against San Marino.

Guy:Incognito

Bottom line is that within reason we should have been able to play pretty much ANY 11 and still beat San Marino. It's nothing short of a disgrace the way the game went.

Pepe LeFrits

eirebhoy wrote:

If Andy Reid was available and he replaced Carsley in the team he'd still be sitting in midfield dictating play. A Carsley type player maybe wasn't suited but someone sitting in midfield to take the ball at all times is needed against any team. Again, this being San Marino it's hard to argue but if we played Ireland-Kilbane in midfield we'd then have a centre half taking most of the passes as the 2 of those don't have much positional sense.

Well obviously you need someone in that area of the pitch otherwise there would be nobody for the defense to pass to, but there was no need to have a player specifically designated to sit there all game passing it 5 yards to a more offensive player. I'd have no qualms about putting Andy Reid there as long as he wasn't told to have a picnic in our own half.

I agree that playing Lee Carsley wasn't ideal but who else was there? Stan isn't going to throw someone like Gibson in there.

Anyone with an ounce of creativity - We could have played Robbie Keane there to be honest. There were no defensive duties to be done.

I just think people see a holding midfielder as a defensive midfielder who's little use in attack. A holding midfielder for me is someone who is always in the best position possible to receive a pass. I'd include Pirlo and Alonso in that bracket. Someone like Gatusso is in the team for his off the ball work but he isn't a holding midfielder. He's the type of player that wouldn't be suited to playing against San Marino.

I agree with that, but I don't feel it is necessary to specifically designate one man to sit there all game and do it. Against a decent team, yes, but not against San Marino. As long as somebody is available to drop back to pick up the ball off the defence, then it's fine.

Stekelly wrote:

Bottom line is that within reason we should have been able to play pretty much ANY 11 and still beat San Marino. It's nothing short of a disgrace the way the game went.

Also true.

eirebhoy

Pepe LeFrits wrote:

Anyone with an ounce of creativity - We could have played Robbie Keane there to be honest. There were no defensive duties to be done.

I'm 100% with you on not needing Carsley for the match but Robbie Keane doesn't have the position sense to play up front, never mind in midfield. The fact that we had nobody other than Carsley to play there shows our limitations tbh. We needed a brain in San Marino and not one of those players that started are very good at reading the game. Add in Staunton...

In hindsight McShane and Stokes should have started. Actually, it's not in hindsight. Anyone that saw as much of those players as Stan would have went with them. McShane has the bloody intelligience to know when to go forward when to stay back and Stokes actually knows how to stay on the edge of the offside trap. Jesus I can't stand John O'Shea. :mad: Brian Kerr said in commentary every manager has a player or 2 that they play even though they're not the fans favourite. Why? If a player isn't a fans favourite he's obviously not playing very well.

Mad Dog

eirebhoy wrote:

When you see players like McGregor, Whittaker, Adam, Brown, Thomson, Beattie, Maloney, and Riordan in their recent B squad it's no suprise that they're 20th in the world.

Who the F*** are any of these :rolleyes:

eirebhoy

Mad Dog wrote:

Who the F*** are any of these :rolleyes:

haha. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't mind an average person asking that but an anti-Celtic gob****e like you asking just takes the buscuit.

Put it this way, half them would get into the Ireland team, the other half would make the squad.

MisterAnarchy

PHB wrote:

Scotland did what Ireland need to do, focus on the youth and try build a team for the next qualifying campaign.

Scotland are pretty crap in all fairness.
The acid test is whether they will be in the top 2 of their group come next Nov and I seriously doubt they will be.

~Rebel~

eirebhoy wrote:

I'm 100% with you on not needing Carsley for the match but Robbie Keane doesn't have the position sense to play up front, never mind in midfield.

Id have loved to have seen Darren Potter given a chance in the pirlo kind of roll. Granted hes not yet of the caliber of fulll international but it would have been a good test for him so we'd see how we're fixed for the future and would have been a game that could have suited him positionally, especially against amature players.

BaZmO*

The reason why San played Carsley is twofold.

1. After getting destroyed by Cyprus due to having no protection in midfield he had to rectify that and if he didn't he would've gotten slated for making the same mistake twice.

2. He is actually now obliged to play Carsley in each game because Carsley said that he didn't want to be travelling aroung Europe keeping benches warm. And the fact that he got Stan out of a hole in the Czech game makes it difficut for Stan to drop him.

PHB

Stan isn't going to throw someone like Gibson in there.

He should have, thats the whole point.
If you have a flat choice against a team like San Marino, pretty much every player who is in the squad is leagues better than San Marino.
Carlsley if a fine player, but that's all he will ever be, and hes not getting any younger.
Gibson and Ireland should be Irelands midfield pairing. They are two players who could actually play at the highest level. Also Potter could be in there.

Every Ireland player over the age of 26 who isn't Keane, Duff, Given, Finnan or S. Reid, should be dropped and never play for Ireland again. We should focus on our youth prospects, and bring help bring them to the next level.
Sure we won't qualify for the Euros, but they really probably won't. Let's focus on the World Cup, and lets get the players who will have to perform to get there.