Republic of Ireland Team Talk/News/Rumours

keeponhurling

Lennonist wrote: »

Mick McCarthy - who I wouldn't pick for the job personally - would not talk down the players and put up with the negative tripe that has seeped into the mindset of some of those watching and talking about the Irish team. I think there are better choices than McCarthy though, simply because he has been here before.

Regarding Mick,
last time he was Irish boss he had a limited number of top players, the two Keanes, Given, Duff etc.
But he also put his faith in some limited players and got every ounce out of them.
Such as Cunningham centre-half when he wasn't even getting a game at Wimbledon, McAteer who wasn't doing it at club level but got some crucial goals for us etc, reinventing Staunton as a centre-half, Kilbane on the left wing who was very effective etc.

All great decisons, and he built a team rather than just selecting whoever was in-form with their club or flavour of the month with the media.
But is the public a little less patient now?
If he put his faith in a player now who was having a dip at club level, he'd be slated and constantly asked about it

It's a different job and while the salary is probably higher than before thanks to DO'B, there is huge negativity surrounding it. Unfortunately.

klose

I see st.leger is reduced to playing u21 games these days for leicester

Lennonist

keeponhurling wrote: »

Regarding Mick,
last time he was Irish boss he had a limited number of top players, the two Keanes, Given, Duff etc.
But he also put his faith in some limited players and got every ounce out of them.
Such as Cunningham centre-half when he wasn't even getting a game at Wimbledon, McAteer who wasn't doing it at club level but got some crucial goals for us etc, reinventing Staunton as a centre-half, Kilbane on the left wing who was very effective etc.

All great decisons, and he built a team rather than just selecting whoever was in-form with their club or flavour of the month with the media.
But is the public a little less patient now?
If he put his faith in a player now who was having a dip at club level, he'd be slated and constantly asked about it

It's a different job and while the salary is probably higher than before thanks to DO'B, there is huge negativity surrounding it. Unfortunately.

There were good aspects and not so good aspects to McCarthy as Ireland manager last time, he had a mixed time of it. He was hounded out at the end so he has experience and he'd be aware of the "negativity" that can surround the job at times as you put it. Looks like he's the front runner right now, but that could change again and maybe the FAI are biding their time to see if others show an interest.

Whoever takes over will be taking on a squad that - despite the negative doom-mongering from certain quarters about their abilities - will have a good chance of qualifying for Euro 2016, given the extra places available and the chance of a decent Group draw especially if they get a 2nd seed slot.

It's an attractive job, with a reasonable chance of success (qualification for 2016) and a decent salary. Mick McCarthy is an option but other options might emerge for the FAI to think about.

rebelomar

Wacker The Attacker wrote: »

Yeah. Because Kazakhstan are shyte.

This is self evident given that we have a higher seeding. However, we saw from this qualifying campaign that the likes of Austria can take points from us too.

I'm not saying at we should be beating the likes of Austria easily but we should be not be reduced to playing hoofball vs such opposition where we have at least players of equal if not better ability.

LuckyLloyd

Lennonist wrote: »

There were good aspects and not so good aspects to McCarthy as Ireland manager last time, he had a mixed time of it. He was hounded out at the end so he has experience and he'd be aware of the "negativity" that can surround the job at times as you put it. Looks like he's the front runner right now, but that could change again and maybe the FAI are biding their time to see if others show an interest.

Whoever takes over will be taking on a squad that - despite the negative doom-mongering from certain quarters about their abilities - will have a good chance of qualifying for Euro 2016, given the extra places available and the chance of a decent Group draw especially if they get a 2nd seed slot.

It's an attractive job, with a reasonable chance of success (qualification for 2016) and a decent salary. Mick McCarthy is an option but other options might emerge for the FAI to think about.

His record was:

Eliminated in Playoff
Eliminated in Playoff
Qualified in Playoff (lost in second round)

We had a really good squad at that time. Keane could have been argued as the most impactful player in the world circa 1998 - 2002. The team was stuffed with Premiership players with a good mix of youth and experience after the Belgium game in 97.

We played good ball and had a go. I suppose the big criticism was our inability to finish the job at times:

Ireland 0 - 0 Iceland
Macedonia 3 - 2 Ireland
Ireland 0 - 0 Lithuania

We had a poor group and didn't come near making a fist of winning it.

Croatia 1 - 0 Ireland
Macedonia 1 - 0 Ireland

Two goals deep into injury time that prevented us being there. But it was a tough group and fine margins.

For the 02 world cup I think the criticism was around how much Keane was responsible for getting us there. Certainly in the home games against Portugal and Holland and the away game in Cyprus he turned in ridiculous performances. I think it was also valid to criticise McCarthy for not capitalising on Spain spending much of extra time with 10 men. But the big picture was us coming through a group we weren't supposed to and performing admirably despite losing one of the top three players in the tournament a week before it kicked off.

I think the nature of the Ireland job is bad choices are magnified. He had some lacking results, but overall I think we performed in line with reasonable expectations given the players we had. I think holding on against Macedonia and beating Spain would have made a huge difference in how history viewed the period.

yabadabado

Romania got Greece in tge playoff draw . Hopefully Greece can do us a favour,be a huge advantage for us to be second seeds in the Euro qualifiers .

eire4

yabadabado wrote: »

Romania got Greece in tge playoff draw . Hopefully Greece can do us a favour,be a huge advantage for us to be second seeds in the Euro qualifiers .

Hopefully the experience they have in recent years of making the finals of major tournaments will stand them in good stead and see them past Romania.

gnfnrhead

eire4 wrote: »

Hopefully the experience they have in recent years of making the finals of major tournaments will stand them in good stead and see them past Romania.

Greece don't need to qualify to help us. Just once Romania don't win both legs we are second seeds. Romania can win and draw and we'll still be second seeds.

keeponhurling

gnfnrhead wrote: »

Greece don't need to qualify to help us. Just once Romania don't win both legs we are second seeds. Romania can win and draw and we'll still be second seeds.

On rte.ie it says that how ranking is done for Euro 2016 is still unclear and will be decided after a meeting on Dec 13th.
Really hope they're not going to move the goalposts again on us.

SantryRed

How do people know what way UEFA are gonna do the groups anyways? How do they know how many seeds there will be to a pot?

noodler

SantryRed wrote: »

How do people know what way UEFA are gonna do the groups anyways? How do they know how many seeds there will be to a pot?

Its the most logical assumption imo, well in many people's opinion.

You are correct though, it is not confirmed.

RikkFlair

SantryRed wrote: »

How do people know what way UEFA are gonna do the groups anyways? How do they know how many seeds there will be to a pot?

9 groups with the top 2 qualifying plus a best 3rd place team, the other 3rd place teams playing off for 4 places is the only conceivable way of getting 23 qualifiers from 53.

It's actually possible that 3 teams could automatically qualify from a 5 team group, which seems a bit mad.

roanoke

RikkFlair wrote: »

9 groups with the top 2 qualifying plus a best 3rd place team, the other 3rd place teams playing off for 4 places is the only conceivable way of getting 23 qualifiers from 53.

It's actually possible that 3 teams could automatically qualify from a 5 team group, which seems a bit mad.

It's going back a while but for the World Cup 90 qualifiers and prior teams were actually penalised for no other reason than getting drawn in a 4 team group rather than a 5 team.

For instance in 1986 4-team-groups runners-up you went into a play-off whereas the runners up in 5-team-groups qualified directly.

In 1990 the worst of the three runners from 4-team-groups up missed the tournament for no other reason than they were in a 4 team group! Crazy stuff.

I think if the alternative is too many teams qualifying from small group then I'll take it.

TheRedDevil10

Started

Goalkeepers
Keiren Westwood (Sunderland)

Defenders
Seamus Coleman (Everton)
John O'Shea (Sunderland)
Damien Delaney (Crystal Palace)
Paul McShane (Hull)

Midfielders
James McCarthy (Everton)
Anthony Pilkington (Norwich)
Stephen Ireland (Stoke)
David Meyler (Hull)

Forwards
Jon Walters (Stoke)

Subs
Damien Duff (Fulham)
Shane Long (West Brom)
Robbie Brady (Hull)
Stephen Quinn (Hull)
Marc Wilson (Stoke)
Glenn Whelan (Stoke)
Ciaran Clark (Aston Villa)
Joey O'Brien (West Ham)
Joe Mason (Cardiff)
Rob Elliot (Newcastle)

Others
Darron Gibson (Everton) Injured
Wes Hoolahan (Norwich) Not selected in matchday squad
Steven Reid (West Brom) Not selected in matchday squad
Shay Given (Aston Villa) Not selected in matchday squad

keeponhurling

Hoolahan got a run in the Carling Cup for Norwich tonight at Old Trafford, would be nice if he could get into the match day squad for the league games

The_Kew_Tour

Sean Murray of Watford.

What do people think of him who have watched him a fair bit? Is he good enough to be PL player soon?

smellmepower

FAI are trying to convince Curtis Davies to declare for Ireland according to the Mirror

The more options at centre back the better!

premierstone

smellmepower wrote: »

FAI are trying to convince Curtis Davies to declare for Ireland according to the Mirror

The more options at centre back the better!

If he needs to be ''convinced'' then forget about it, I'm all for availing of the liberal parentage rules etc but going hand in cap to beg players who are clearly not interested smacks of desperation.

smellmepower

Darren O'Dea and Paul McShane in an international squad doesn't smack of desperation?!

The_B_Man

I often wonder how the FAI find out about these obscure players having an Irish granny.

Is there a database somewhere that lists every players family tree, or whats the story?

yabadabado

The_B_Man wrote: »

I often wonder how the FAI find out about these obscure players having an Irish granny.

Is there a database somewhere that lists every players family tree, or whats the story?

I think its often from the players side who make it known or I have seen cases before where there is a player/coach at a club who is Irish and gets the info to FAI.

Banjaxed82

yabadabado wrote: »

I think its often from the players side who make it known or I have seen cases before where there is a player/coach at a club who is Irish and gets the info to FAI.

Yeah, I'd say there's a few anonymous tips made from people who have info. FAI confidential hotline.

cson

Looks like they've ballsed up any chances of a home friendly next month with Slovenia coming out saying they won't be coming here.

The season ticket I bought before the Sweden match is fast becoming one of the worst purchases I've ever made.

cson

http://thescore.thejournal.ie/ireland-latvia-aviva-stadium-friendly-1154620-Oct2013/

****ing Latvia :rolleyes:

LostBoy101

I doubt many would bother forking out money for a friendly game. They are getting quite pointless at this stage.

Pighead

LostBoy101 wrote: »

I doubt many would bother forking out money for a friendly game. They are getting quite pointless at this stage.

Should get a decent crowd for the Latvia game if the new manager is in place before the game.

LostBoy101

Pighead wrote: »

Should get a decent crowd for the Latvia game if the new manager is in place before the game.

Aye if a new manager is appointed before the game then I would expect a decent crowd to show up.

Banjaxed82

After choosing Latvia for a friendly on a cold evening in November there can only be 2 explanations:

- The FAI are completely thick.
- The FAI will announce a new manager within 48 hours.

pauldoo

they have to fill out the fixtures for the people who both yearly tickets

premierstone

cson wrote: »

Looks like they've ballsed up any chances of a home friendly next month with Slovenia coming out saying they won't be coming here.

The season ticket I bought before the Sweden match is fast becoming one of the worst purchases I've ever made.

''fast becoming'' jaysus you are either a bit slow on the up take or you have made some truely awfull purchases in the past

cson

premierstone wrote: »

''fast becoming'' jaysus you are either a bit slow on the up take or you have made some truely awfull purchases in the past

Bought on the basis that we'd bate the Swedes and make the play-offs whereupon she'd have been great value. A gamble that didn't pay off.

cson

Banjaxed82 wrote: »

After choosing Latvia for a friendly on a cold evening in November there can only be 2 explanations:

- The FAI are completely thick.
- The FAI will announce a new manager within 48 hours.

I'll go with the first one.

Tickets would be more than €20 if they'd a new manager to hawk at us.

iDave

FAI probably hoping every Latvian in Ireland and the UK buys a ticket. Bit like the Poland friendly.

devotional1993

iDave wrote: »

FAI probably hoping every Latvian in Ireland and the UK buys a ticket. Bit like the Poland friendly.

As long as they bring their woman we will all be happy

devotional1993

iDave wrote: »

FAI probably hoping every Latvian in Ireland and the UK buys a ticket. Bit like the Poland friendly.

As long as they bring their woman we will all be happy

LowOdour

So...... this is interesting!

(@Newstalkfm)
Full story- Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane are set to become the new Ireland management team http://t.co/0s8PVJ06l2 #FAI
(https://twitter.com/Newstalkfm/status/396415827810873344)

Awesomeness

Squad announced for this months friendlies

Squad

Edit: WTF is king doing picking the squad when new management team is confirmed

Awesomeness

sugarman wrote: »

Deadline by fifa to give clubs notice for release of players for internationals was well over a week ago.

Ah ok didnt realise that

Rhys Essien

So Noel includes Pearse,Kelly,Ward,Green and Whelan and leaves out,now Prem starters Delaney and Meyler.

yabadabado

Delaney is injured and Meyler has started 3 games in the premiership and has had very little playing time altogether,so I wasn't surprised he didn't get a call up.Hopefully he gets a run of games with Hull and gets called into the squad for the nesxt round of friendlies.

The_B_Man

sugarman wrote: »

Delaney is injured afaik and meyler hasn't really played much anyway. But McShane for once deserves to be in there on current form ahead of Kelly and Ward. Otherwise there's nobody else ti really add to that squad.

I heard he got in coz there was an extra space in the squad once Westwood got injured...?

Lukekul

Odd question lads, but my Dad has managed to get a jersey signed by a few players as a present for my uncles 50th. Problem is identifying the signatures.
I'm fairly sure Robbie Keane is top left and Richard Dunne is at "4 O'Clock"

Any ideas? cheers

edit - Jesus this is a big picture

yabadabado

Guessing here but

John O'Shea -botton right
Anthony Stokes-botton left
Seamus Coleman -above bottom left

TheBunk1

yabadabado wrote: »

Guessing here but

John O'Shea -botton right
Anthony Stokes-botton left
Seamus Coleman -above bottom left

I think myself that John O'Shea is to the right of the 3 logo.
I'd agree with the other two though.

Think maybe St. Ledger is up and to left of Coleman.

Maybe David Forde top central and McCarthy/McClean bottom right??

That one under the 3 logo looks Chinese!

Lukekul

I think the Chinese might be Doyle?

Sin City

Pretty sure I see R keane above and to the left of the 3 logo

keeponhurling

Don't worry about it - Surf or Daz should be able to get those out

Corholio

TheBunk1 wrote: »

I think myself that John O'Shea is to the right of the 3 logo.
I'd agree with the other two though.

Think maybe St. Ledger is up and to left of Coleman.

Maybe David Forde top central and McCarthy/McClean bottom right??

That one under the 3 logo looks Chinese!

Looks indecipherable? Must be Trap.

Kerrydude1981

What do you make of this idea by our leader Enda the Great

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/international/2013/1108/485451-taoiseach-suggests-charity-all-ireland-soccer-team/

Mr.Nice Guy

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

What do you make of this idea by our leader Enda the Great

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/international/2013/1108/485451-taoiseach-suggests-charity-all-ireland-soccer-team/

Pie in the sky idea.

The NI fans want nothing to do with the team south of the border. They wouldn't buy the charity angle as being the motive for setting up the team but rather as a pretext for one day having an all-Ireland team which they don't want. They would kick up a stink and instruct their fans to boycott the games. It would effectively be the ROI team under the banner of an Ireland team and you could argue that the ROI team is doing this anyway since we've NI born players and an an NI born manager.

I also don't see why the English would be interested in this. Why would they care about funding Irish charities or playing us every two years? They would feel they have bigger fish to fry.