If You Could Change The Nationality Of One Player...

cson

Who would it be? Who would you make Irish. Lets say you've got an Irish granny to go around, who would you give it to? (I know how that sounds :eek:)

I spose you could confer a different nationality on one of the existing players too.

Anywho, I might be a tad biased but I'd take Emmanuel MacAdebayor to lead the line with Robbie Keane. I think he's the type of player that would suit Ireland down to the ground. Having said that, a centre mid would prolly be a better way of spending the granny.

Well, who would you like to see conferred honorary Irish citizenship?

estebancambias

Wayne Rooney.....oh wait.

Eh Esteban McCambiasso

LuckyLloyd

Stephen Gerrard / Micheal Essien. i.e. someone who can drive things on from the centre, go box to box, be a pale imitation of Keane.

PHB

Kaka or Ronaldo

They have the ability to turn a game entirely on their own, and the rest of the team could defend non-stop. Let Keane and Kaka/Ronaldo attack, and then let the rest defend

It has to be a midfielder imo, our worst position.

DSB

John O'Shea.

tdv

The Great Riquelme.

estebancambias

Co-sign tdv.

Guy:Incognito

DSB wrote: »

John O'Shea.

Pepe LeFrits

Personally I don't think Ronaldo or Kaka would get much joy playing for the Ireland team. They'd be crowded out. And by joy, I mean success in matches. I don't think anyone gets actual joy from playing for the Ireland these days.

I'd go for either Fabregas, Xavi or Essien.

eirebhoy

Fabregas + Berbatov.

Mikeyt086

Cristiano Ronaldo.

Please.

DEmeant0r

Ronaldinho

mayordenis

ruud van nist

Vokes

Yeah, a midfielder like Essien or Gerrard would be good but seeing as they're already capped....


.....Jimmy Bullard, please

Xavi6

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Personally I don't think Ronaldo or Kaka would get much joy playing for the Ireland team. They'd be crowded out. And by joy, I mean success in matches. I don't think anyone gets actual joy from playing for the Ireland these days.

I'd go for either Fabregas, Xavi or Essien.

Unsurprisingly I agree with you.

~Rebel~

I think id go Fabregas. Just improves everyone around him.

WhiteWashMan

mayordenis wrote: »

ruud van nist

great, then we'd have robbie keane and RVN up in the box waiting an entire match for a ball to come to them

personally, i wouldnt mind someone like john terry or jamie carrigher. Someone who can lead the team, and actually defend.
irish team just doesnt have a proper captain.

Xavi6

WhiteWashMan wrote: »

great, then we'd have robbie keane and RVN up in the box waiting an entire match for a ball to come to them

personally, i wouldnt mind someone like john terry or jamie carrigher. Someone who can lead the team, and actually defend.
irish team just doesnt have a proper captain.

Richard Dunne? He's a club captian, is one of our three best players and plays in an important position.

Mr.Nice Guy

Has to be Cristiano Ronaldo. Imagine the Dunphy reactions...

cson

WhiteWashMan wrote: »

irish team just doesnt have a proper captain.

Richie Dunne if anyone would ever see sense and give it to him. He's a natural leader imo and I think freeing Keane of the responsibility would result in him playing better.

I'd love Cesc O'Fabregas to play but he needs a Flamini type beside him to let him fully exploit the other team. Which Lee Carsley could do.... maybe :eek:

Smegball

Even though I would say Ronaldo, Kaka and Messi are the world's best players at the minute, I don't think they would hugely alter our success, we need someone in the middle to control the game.
Fabregas, Xavi those sorta players are what we need.
I'd go with Fabregas.

Nailz

Mmm, well IMO we need a center back to go along side Dunne... I can figure out who to play in other positions, McShane is just terrible so I'll shift him to the side. Namanja Vidic,
there is our answer to 2 center backs as hard as nailz (yes, I know I am ).

Team;

---

Given(c)

---

--McShane--Dunne--Vidic--O'Shìte--

---

Carsley

---

--A.Reid

---

Duff--

---

Hunt

---

---

Doyle

---

Keane

---

I know you might be scratching your head at the fact McShane is on the right and Hunt is in A-Mid, but I reckon if you have 5 players devoted to defending and 5 to attacking you would have and equaly balanced side. I don't think the full back attacking on the wings suits Ireland so you just put the players with fùck all hope of doing that there. We have 4 wingers, all of them left footed , so I put the best ones in the squad with one of them in AM (Hunt) because I think he is the most capable there. Given's captain because Keane is a useless captain!

Guy:Incognito

I'd just like to be able to minus 15 years off Roy Keane's age.

LuckyLloyd

lol at the Utd fans in this thread.

LuckyLloyd

Stekelly wrote: »

I'd just like to be able to minus 15 years off Roy Keane's age.

this is the correct answer if we're having wishes.

Smegball

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

lol at the Utd fans in this thread.

:rolleyes:
I'm a Utd fan and I said Fabregas, can I have my blue peter badge now please

DSB

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

lol at the Utd fans in this thread.

why exactly? I'm actually dying to hear the answer to this.

LuckyLloyd

DSB wrote: »

why exactly? I'm actually dying to hear the answer to this.

"LET'S HAVE RONALDO!!". Eh no. A player like that needs good players around him; needs possession; needs to be able to give away the ball. The fact that he is a great attacking talent is indisputable - but if you actually consider the Irish squad and this hypothetical - you should realize that he wouldn't be anywhere near the best choice. The pound for pound most talented player doesn't always go #1 in the NFL draft.

"LET'S HAVE VIDIC!!".

Xavi6

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

"LET'S HAVE RONALDO!!". Eh no. A player like that needs good players around him; needs possession; needs to be able to give away the ball. The fact that he is a great attacking talent is indisputable - but if you actually consider the Irish squad and this hypothetical - you should realize that he wouldn't be anywhere near the best choice. The pound for pound most talented player doesn't always go #1 in the NFL draft.

"LET'S HAVE VIDIC!!".

Says the man who picked Gerrard, a player known for going missing quite often at club level and who hasn't put in a good performance for his country in a long time. Actaully, hold on, maybe his mediocre displays would fit in nicely with us so I suppose you're right. :rolleyes:

LuckyLloyd

Xavi6 wrote: »

Says the man who picked Gerrard, a player known for going missing quite often at club level and who hasn't put in a good performance for his country in a long time. Actaully, hold on, maybe his mediocre displays would fit in nicely with us so I suppose you're right. :rolleyes:

When Gerrard does it though, it involves dragging everyone along by the scruff of the neck and being the absolute focal point. And he has done it before in champions league crunchers, cup finals, tricky league ties. Most of the England players have been underperforming when it counts at key times for the last 12 years. Bad coaching has a lot to do with that.

I would take Gerrard / Essien / Gattuso. Then maybe someone like Ballack. My point is the type of player we need; I think it is someone that approaches what Keane gave us when we qualified for the 2002 WC. A tough tackling, athletic presence in the middle of the park that can take the bulk of responsibility upon their shoulders and drive a team to victory.

Plus, remember that we are not really talking about consistency. This isn't a 50 game a season equation. We are talking about the upside of players. The assumption is that they will perform at their best when it counts.

Xavi6

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

When Gerrard does it though, it involves dragging everyone along by the scruff of the neck and being the absolute focal point. And he has done it before in champions league crunchers, cup finals, tricky league ties. Most of the England players have been underperforming when it counts at key times for the last 12 years. Bad coaching has a lot to do with that.

Still better coaching than he'd have gotten with us

LuckyLloyd

Xavi6 wrote: »

Still better coaching than he'd have gotten with us

Kerr, McCarthy >>>>>> McClaren.

Eriksson seemed to bottle the job at times even though he has a wonderful record at club level. The same can be said for Keegan.

DSB

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

"LET'S HAVE RONALDO!!". Eh no. A player like that needs good players around him; needs possession; needs to be able to give away the ball. The fact that he is a great attacking talent is indisputable - but if you actually consider the Irish squad and this hypothetical - you should realize that he wouldn't be anywhere near the best choice. The pound for pound most talented player doesn't always go #1 in the NFL draft.

"LET'S HAVE VIDIC!!".

So you're loling at people for having a different opinion on what Ireland needs? Eh nice.

LuckyLloyd

DSB wrote: »

So you're loling at people for having a different opinion on what Ireland needs? Eh nice.

Kinda. What I really find funny is that they think: "Utd are playing great this season and Ronaldo has lots of goals therefore he must be the bestest player evar and he'll make Ireland the Utd of the International scene".

Xavi6

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Kerr, McCarthy >>>>>> McClaren.

McClaren is a better coach than McCarthy, just not as good a manager and there's where he went wrong with England.

LuckyLloyd

Xavi6 wrote: »

McClaren is a better coach than McCarthy, just not as good a manager and there's where he went wrong with England.

Yes, you are correct. In terms of coaching techniques, etc McClaren is supposed to be topclass. But remember that International coaches don't have the kind of time to work with their players where advanced coaching techniques can make a significant difference. It's about tactics, team selection, motivation. In that respect England have been very unfortunate since Hoddle was sacked (Fowler's comments in his biography about half time vs Brazil are wow).

Actually, I should have used the term management rather than coaching from the off.

Jazzy

Essien

DSB

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Kinda. What I really find funny is that they think: "Utd are playing great this season and Ronaldo has lots of goals therefore he must be the bestest player evar and he'll make Ireland the Utd of the International scene".

I'm not a United fan, but if I had given a serious answer in this thread it would definitely have been Ronaldo. I just don't see the relevance of pointing it towards United fans. There are lots of neutrals who share this view. The worst part is I can almost 100% assume that you're a Liverpool fan from your posts. Correct?

redzerdrog

DSB wrote: »

John O'Shea.

i only came onto this thread to post that but ya got there before me:D

LuckyLloyd

DSB wrote: »

I'm not a United fan, but if I had given a serious answer in this thread it would definitely have been Ronaldo. I just don't see the relevance of pointing it towards United fans. There are lots of neutrals who share this view. The worst part is I can almost 100% assume that you're a Liverpool fan from your posts. Correct?

correct.

But why is your serious answer Ronaldo? Or to put it another way, would you rather have Ronaldo on current form or Keane when he was at his very best in games like Portugal at Landsdowne in June 2001? What type of player has the bigger impact?

DSB

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

correct.

But why is your serious answer Ronaldo? Or to put it another way, would you rather have Ronaldo on current form or Keane when he was at his very best in games like Portugal at Landsdowne in June 2001? What type of player has the bigger impact?

I'd rather have Keane in his prime. But there isn't a player like that around for me. Vieira was 1. Fabregas maybe. Xavi and Iniesta are both class too, but Ronaldo is a huge difference maker in a team, one of those players who can take nothing and turn it into a goal which is something Ireland could definitely do with. Generally we aren't the sort of team that concedes tonnes of goals, we're solid like (aside from that 5-2 hammering obviously). Germany only put the 1 past us, I think Czech Republic only got the 2? We just need some sort of spark in the team, which is why I'd have gone for a Ronaldo or a Messi.

LuckyLloyd

DSB wrote: »

I'd rather have Keane in his prime. But there isn't a player like that around for me. Vieira was 1. Fabregas maybe. Xavi and Iniesta are both class too, but Ronaldo is a huge difference maker in a team, one of those players who can take nothing and turn it into a goal which is something Ireland could definitely do with. Generally we aren't the sort of team that concedes tonnes of goals, we're solid like (aside from that 5-2 hammering obviously). Germany only put the 1 past us, I think Czech Republic only got the 2? We just need some sort of spark in the team, which is why I'd have gone for a Ronaldo or a Messi.

He needs possession. He needs his team to have some semblance of control over the game. And he needs good movement and options around him.

I strongly disagree with your view of Ireland's recent performances and our problems. We were anemic in midfield last campaign. Carsley helps to protect the back four, but fails to control the middle of the park and create a platform. Away at the Czech Republic (which was the game where our campaign realistically ended) was the finest example of where we were lacking.

It seems clear to me that you drop a player like Gerrard / Essien / Gattuso in to that game and we have a much better chance of three points than if you throw Ronaldo in an advanced position. Is that not obvious?

Mr.Nice Guy

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

"LET'S HAVE RONALDO!!". Eh no. A player like that needs good players around him; needs possession; needs to be able to give away the ball. The fact that he is a great attacking talent is indisputable - but if you actually consider the Irish squad and this hypothetical - you should realize that he wouldn't be anywhere near the best choice. The pound for pound most talented player doesn't always go #1 in the NFL draft.

"LET'S HAVE VIDIC!!".

This argument makes no sense to me. If he was in an Irish team he would have good players around him. He'd shine in a midfield of Hunt, Ireland and Stephen Reid for example.

The Irish team at the minute has plenty of players who can work hard so I don't believe the ideal choice would be a grafting midfielder but rather one who can turn games on their head with a moment of magic. I don't think we've anyone that fits that mould at the minute.

cson

Ronaldo would be good, sure he'd tie up at least 2 players with the double marking giving Lee Carsley the space to work his magic... :eek:

Dubit10

Fernando torres

Bubs101

I think Danielle De Rossi would be a great player for Ireland. He's young so we'd get alot of mileage, He's a great team player and he unbelievably passionate. He's also a natural captain

The_B_Man

Tony Cascarino...

gustavo

Andrea Pirlo

Sqaull20

24 year old Henry...

We have had great players like Keane,Brady,Giles before who were comparable to modern day greats like Essien,Messi,Iniesta, but we have never had anyone like a young Henry, that pace,skill,power etc...

Todays game I would go for Kaka, he has alot of what Henry had, with a much more advanced football brain than Cris Ronaldo.....

machiavellianme

I'd have to change Kaka's nationality if I had the choice.

I'd make him an Argentinian.

Nailz

Suprisingly I disagree with Ronaldo, we have enough good wingers, maybe not as good as him but we need to fill up other positions like center half and full back.