Alternative Ireland Squad

Ormus

First team:

Kenny, Coleman, Clark, Wilson, Harte, Lawrence, Ireland, McCarthy, Hoolahan, Pilkington, Best

Subs:

Steven Reid, Andy Reid, Stokes, Delaney, Duffy, Kilbane, Treacy, Delap, Green, Keogh, Noel Hunt

I'm sure I'm leaving out a few, any suggestions? Couldn't think of a decent sub goalie. Pretty attacking first eleven but I think it would give the real first team a few problems. 4-5-1 formation, I think Best can do a job leading the line.

Ormus

Meyler, Sammon, O'Brien?

Whats the name of that striker who played for Sunderland and Celtic and Ipswich?

premierstone

Jon Daly has been banging them in in the SPL

GLaDOS

Brian Murphy, sub keeper at QPR would be an option, was called up to the squad before, hasn't gotten a cap though.

bobmalooka

Ormus wrote: »

Meyler, Sammon, O'Brien?

Whats the name of that striker who played for Sunderland and Celtic and Ipswich?

Murphy, wouldn't have him in that team myself TBH

Pinturicchio

Brian Murphy for sub keeper.

Greg Cunningham maybe.

A2LUE42

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Brian Murphy, sub keeper at QPR would be an option, was called up to the squad before, hasn't gotten a cap though.

Colin Doyle ?

Rekop dog

Is McCarthy's dad not ill in this alternate world?

Ormus

Rekop dog wrote: »

Is McCarthy's dad not ill in this alternate world?

McCarthy's dad has recovered.

Andy Reid lost weight.

Stephen Ireland has hair.

Ormus

premierstone wrote: »

Jon Daly has been banging them in in the SPL

Connor Sammon couldn't stop scoring in the SPL...

bobmalooka

Ormus wrote: »

McCarthy's dad has recovered.

Andy Reid lost weight.

Stephen Ireland has hair.

can we make kilbane 10 years younger?

Rekop dog

Give Ian Harte some pace while you're at it!

Ormus

Rekop dog wrote: »

Give Ian Harte some pace while you're at it!

Ian Harte is as fast as Usain Bolt.

token101

To be fair the Anfield Cat or that Ewood chicken from the other night could probably be top scorer in the SPL.

kitakyushu

For all our lack of genuine top quality players atm it's kind of interesting that nowadays we can assemble two whole squads of decent enough players.

Back in the Jack Charlton days you'd have struggled to even find 30 players playing regularly in the top 2 divisions in England, let alone 40-50 players (and that given less competition for places back then too).

Rekop dog

This is starting to take shape. Can we kill off John Delaney now?

Jayob10

The core group of players for 2014 qualification (When I oust Trap )

Keepers

Shay Given
Kieran Westwood
David Forde

Defenders

Seamus Coleman
Marc Wilson
Greg Cunningham
Aidan White
Richard Dunne
Sean St.Ledger
John O'Shea
Ciaran Clark
Shane Duffy
Alex Pearce

Midfielders

James McClean
Robbie Brady
Aiden McGeady
Damien Duff
David Meyler
Glen Whelan
Darren Gibson
James McCarthy
Stephen Ireland
Jeff Hendrick
Samir Carruthers

Strikers

Robbie Keane
Shane Long
Jonathan Walters
Kevin Doyle
Anthony Stokes
Simon Cox

Skylinehead

Jayob10 wrote: »

The core group of players for 2014 qualification (When I oust Trap )

Keepers

Shay Given
Kieran Westwood
David Forde

Defenders

Seamus Coleman
Marc Wilson
Greg Cunningham
Aidan White
Richard Dunne
Sean St.Ledger
John O'Shea
Ciaran Clark
Shane Duffy
Alex Pearce

Midfielders

James McClean
Robbie Brady
Aiden McGeady
Damien Duff
David Meyler
Glen Whelan
Darren Gibson
James McCarthy
Stephen Ireland
Jeff Hendrick
Samir Carruthers

Strikers

Robbie Keane
Shane Long
Jonathan Walters
Kevin Doyle
Anthony Stokes
Simon Cox

Why does nobody like Anthony Pilkington? :mad:

eagle eye

Skylinehead wrote: »

Why does nobody like Anthony Pilkington? :mad:

Because most of them only see players from smaller clubs when they play against the big names or when they play for Ireland.

He needs to get selected for Ireland or have a cracker of a game against United/Arsenal/Liverpool/Chelsea or Man City before the average Joe on here will have anything to say about him.

Ormus

token101 wrote: »

To be fair the Anfield Cat or that Ewood chicken from the other night could probably be top scorer in the SPL.

You mean David Goodwillie? I think he was actually.

Ormus

Skylinehead wrote: »

Why does nobody like Anthony Pilkington? :mad:

Why do you think nobody likes him? I gave him a cap in my Alternative Ireland Team. I've heard plenty of talk about him this year, seems pretty popular and looks like being an international in the near future.

Hannibal

kitakyushu wrote: »

For all our lack of genuine top quality players atm it's kind of interesting that nowadays we can assemble two whole squads of decent enough players.

Back in the Jack Charlton days you'd have struggled to even find 30 players playing regularly in the top 2 divisions in England, let alone 40-50 players (and that given less competition for places back then too).

back in the Jack Charlton days we had genuine top quality players and playing for top clubs like Lawrenson, Aldridge, McGrath, Moran, Brady, Houghton, Irwin, Staunton, O'Leary. It was quality over quantity back then.

I'd imagine if you done a combined XI only Keane would get a starting spot. Given and Bonner be hard to choose between, would Dunne be better than Lawrenson, Moran, McGrath, O'Leary and McCarthy? I don't think so.
Duff better than Sheedy?? maybe a couple of years ago not anymore

kitakyushu

Dotsey wrote: »

back in the Jack Charlton days we had genuine top quality players and playing for top clubs like Lawrenson, Aldridge, McGrath, Moran, Brady, Houghton, Irwin, Staunton, O'Leary. It was quality over quantity back then.

I'd imagine if you done a combined XI only Keane would get a starting spot. Given and Bonner be hard to choose between, would Dunne be better than Lawrenson, Moran, McGrath, O'Leary and McCarthy? I don't think so.
Duff better than Sheedy?? maybe a couple of years ago not anymore

Yep our first XI of the Charlton era was defo of a higher relative quality than what we can offer today. All the top teams in England generally had a few Irish players back then. But that said there's still more Irish players in the top divisions today than during Charlton. There's more playing in the prem too despite increased competition from foreign imports. I counted 31 Rep.Ireland who have played in the prem this season which I'm fairly certain beats the average during the Charlton years..

Ormus

Dotsey wrote: »

back in the Jack Charlton days we had genuine top quality players and playing for top clubs like Lawrenson, Aldridge, McGrath, Moran, Brady, Houghton, Irwin, Staunton, O'Leary. It was quality over quantity back then.

I'd imagine if you done a combined XI only Keane would get a starting spot. Given and Bonner be hard to choose between, would Dunne be better than Lawrenson, Moran, McGrath, O'Leary and McCarthy? I don't think so.
Duff better than Sheedy?? maybe a couple of years ago not anymore

I'd choose Dunne over most of them. Far better than McCarthy anyway, better than O'Leary, right up there with Moran and Lawrenson. Obviously McGrath is still on another planet to anyone. Just my opinion.

Given is a better keeper than Bonner.

premierstone

Ormus wrote: »

Connor Sammon couldn't stop scoring in the SPL...

Jon Daly has actually scored more goals in one season in the SPL than Sammon did in 4 years

token101 wrote: »

To be fair the Anfield Cat or that Ewood chicken from the other night could probably be top scorer in the SPL.

Yeah thats what they all said about Jelavic too, turns out he has a better strike rate in the EPL so far, lazy generalisations for the win

cson

Ormus wrote: »

Obviously McGrath is still on another planet to anyone.

You'd be too if you kept horsing Toilet Duck into yourself like he did.

kitakyushu

Ormus wrote: »

Given is a better keeper than Bonner.

Agreed. Whilst I'm not one of these raving fanatics who thinks Given is up with the worlds best I think there's little argument that he's not better than Bonner.

Bonner for all his iconic moments really made some clangers from time to time and also had a much better defense in front of him when he played for Ireland during the heydays.

premierstone

Ormus wrote: »

Given is a better keeper than Bonner.

I think alot of people under estimate how amazing a keeper Bonner was, he was awesome and was regarded by most in the game as one of the top 3 or 4keepers in world football around '86 to '92

bmcc10

wat about the irish messi alan judge?

Ormus

premierstone wrote: »

Jon Daly has actually scored more goals in one season in the SPL than Sammon did in 4 years




Yeah thats what they all said about Jelavic too, turns out he has a better strike rate in the EPL so far, lazy generalisations for the win

They also said it about Goodwillie, Boyd and Miller. I'm fairly sure the list goes on but stop hijacking my thread!

Ormus

premierstone wrote: »

I think alot of people under estimate how amazing a keeper Bonner was, he was awesome and was regarded by most in the game as one of the top 3 or 4keepers in world football around '86 to '92

I really do not remember him ever being that highly regarded.

premierstone

Ormus wrote: »

They also said it about Goodwillie, Boyd and Miller. I'm fairly sure the list goes on but stop hijacking my thread!

Im not hijacking anything, Jon Daly is Irish, a fact that seems to escaped many of our supporters, possibly including Trapatoni.

premierstone

Ormus wrote: »

I really do not remember him ever being that highly regarded.

I'm not actually saying you are wrong either, just that is is definitely not as cut and dry as saying Given is definitely a better keeper, Bonner I guess also suffered as a result of he's loyalty to Celtic and that he never made the move to England.

Jock Stein was the manager that signed him for Celtic and he later described it as one of he's best signings ever and the best keeper to have ever played with the Hoops, a fair comliment off a man of Steins standing.

Ormus

premierstone wrote: »

Im not hijacking anything, Jon Daly is Irish, a fact that seems to escaped many of our supporters, possibly including Trapatoni.

True, and Jelavic is Croatian.

Maybe Trap just doesn't rate the SPL. Whether you agree or disagree, it wouldn't be a controversial stance. It's generally regarded at about the level of League 1 in England.

Ormus

premierstone wrote: »

I'm not actually saying you are wrong either, just that is is definitely not as cut and dry as saying Given is definitely a better keeper, Bonner I guess also suffered as a result of he's loyalty to Celtic and that he never made the move to England.

Jock Stein was the manager that signed him for Celtic and he later described it as one of he's best signings ever and the best keeper to have ever played with the Hoops, a fair comliment off a man of Steins standing.

Fair enough, I always liked Bonner and he had great passion and some great performances for Ireland. I guess I always saw him as good for us, rather than genuinely world class.

premierstone

Ormus wrote: »

Fair enough, I always liked Bonner and he had great passion and some great performances for Ireland. I guess I always saw him as good for us, rather than genuinely world class.

I would rate he's performance against England in Euro 88 as up their with McGrath v Italy, some of the saves he pulled off against Lineker and co that day were amazing, one area where Bonner would definitly have an edge over Given was he's size and physical presence, he was a very commanding figure.

Ormus

premierstone wrote: »

I would rate he's performance against England in Euro 88 as up their with McGrath v Italy, some of the saves he pulled off against Lineker and co that day were amazing, one area where Bonner would definitly have an edge over Given was he's size and physical presence, he was a very commanding figure.

That was a great performance I agree, he was a hero that day for sure.

Hannibal

Ormus wrote: »

True, and Jelavic is Croatian.

Maybe Trap just doesn't rate the SPL. Whether you agree or disagree, it wouldn't be a controversial stance. It's generally regarded at about the level of League 1 in England.

Judging by Daly's scoring ratio before he went to the SPL it's about the same level as League 1, his goals to game of 47 in 127 is hardly impressive for the SPL in fairness plus he's 29.

SEPT 23 1989

Bonner was responsible for the introduction of the back pass rule

kitakyushu

I remember when I was a kid thinking Bonner was unbeatable except from close range and that if you could keep the opposition out of the box then we couldn't lose.

Then came this goal that I still remember today because it surprised me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFbDWUiJVsw&t=1m05s
Fairly good strike but it was pretty much directly in his line but it sailed right over him.

Next was a goal in the Euros where he was caught completely out of position.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1Zpm0nID7I&t=0m15s
Ireland suddenly didn't seem so unbeatable anymore.

Both of the above started from bad clearances so he can't take complete blame but they did serve to make me question his ability a little.

Finally came this and that was all she wrote for Bonner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LHhmJ-t7Js&t=0m20s

Great servant for Ireland all the same and some great memories thanks to him.

token101

premierstone wrote: »

Yeah thats what they all said about Jelavic too, turns out he has a better strike rate in the EPL so far, lazy generalisations for the win

Saying the SPL is a sh*te league relative to international football is hardly a generalisation.

Dempsey

token101 wrote: »

Saying the SPL is a sh*te league relative to international football is hardly a generalisation.

Its just idiotic to judge a player solely on what league they play in and statistics that are copied and pasted from Wikipedia.

G.K.

Aidy White!

Stevecw

kitakyushu wrote: »

I remember when I was a kid thinking Bonner was unbeatable except from close range and that if you could keep the opposition out of the box then we couldn't lose.

Then came this goal that I still remember today because it surprised me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFbDWUiJVsw&t=1m05s
Fairly good strike but it was pretty much directly in his line but it sailed right over him.

Next was a goal in the Euros where he was caught completely out of position.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1Zpm0nID7I&t=0m15s
Ireland suddenly didn't seem so unbeatable anymore.

Both of the above started from bad clearances so he can't take complete blame but they did serve to make me question his ability a little.

Finally came this and that was all she wrote for Bonner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LHhmJ-t7Js&t=0m20s

Great servant for Ireland all the same and some great memories thanks to him.

Bonner was a very good keeper, but not in the same class as Given. But from Packie to Alan Kelly, to Shay we've been lucky enough to have above average keepers. How England would have wished for some of those as they flapped around between James, Green, Carson etc. Now they have Hart so are looking ok for next 10/15 yrs.

Hannibal

Stevecw wrote: »

Bonner was a very good keeper, but not in the same class as Given. But from Packie to Alan Kelly, to Shay we've been lucky enough to have above average keepers. How England would have wished for some of those as they flapped around between James, Green, Carson etc. Now they have Hart so are looking ok for next 10/15 yrs.

I wouldn't put Alan Kelly in the same breath as Bonner and Given, in that case mention Dean Kiely. I agree we've been lucky to have Bonner retiring and Given coming straight in can't see any talent around at the moment for when Given goes, maybe Westwood if he gets regular football.

David James is probably the most talented of them English keepers but he crumbled under the pressure of both England and Liverpool but at smaller clubs he was much better, same with Carson and Foster. Hart has a better mentality but is over-rated, for me England's best keeper since Seaman is Kirkland who is crippled with injury and can't stay fit.

yomtea98

What age is Stephen Hunts brother Noel?

paddy kerins

yomtea98 wrote: »

What age is Stephen Hunts brother Noel?

I think he's around 28 or 29. Late 20's anyway

Rhys Essien

Ryan Meara - goalkeeper - New York Redbulls
Barry Maguire - Midfield - VVV Venlo
Adam Rooney - Striker - Birmingham City
John Joe Finn - Striker - Real Madrid (2021):D

token101

Dempsey wrote: »

Its just idiotic to judge a player solely on what league they play in and statistics that are copied and pasted from Wikipedia.

No it isn't FFS. Statistics are what most people judge on. Doesn't matter a f*** where they came from, they don't change. Not all, but most players in the SPL aren't good enough for international football. End of story.

BOHtox

After the Euros I expect a major squad shake up tbh. I'd pick something like this

Shay Given*, Keiren Westwood, Colin Doyle

Mark Wilson, Stephen Kelly, Kevin Foley

Richard Dunne*, John O'Shea*, Seán St. Ledger, Darren O'Dea, Shane Duffy

Stephen Ward, Aidy White, Greg Cunningham

Séamus Coleman, Aiden McGeady

Glenn Whelan, Keith Andrews*, Darron Gibson, Keith Fahey, James McCarthy

James McLean, Keith Treacy, Robbie Brady

Robbie Keane*, Kevin Doyle, Shane Long, Simon Cox, Jonathan Walters

I don't think this is many player's last tournament but with competition on the wings I can see Duff retiring to concentrate on his club career.

* denotes that the world cup could be their last tournament. In which case I left a lot of players in that position who could replace them for after the 2014 world cup. Obviously 1,2,3 players who are only 16,17,18,19 now will come to the spotlight and will be 20-23 for the 2016 European championship and it's impossible to guess them accurately but one would imagine players like Conor Clifford and Robbie Brady will be there!

Ormus

BOHtox wrote: »

After the Euros I expect a major squad shake up tbh. I'd pick something like this

Shay Given*, Keiren Westwood, Colin Doyle

Mark Wilson, Stephen Kelly, Kevin Foley

Richard Dunne*, John O'Shea*, Seán St. Ledger, Darren O'Dea, Shane Duffy

Stephen Ward, Aidy White, Greg Cunningham

Séamus Coleman, Aiden McGeady

Glenn Whelan, Keith Andrews*, Darron Gibson, Keith Fahey, James McCarthy

James McLean, Keith Treacy, Robbie Brady

Robbie Keane*, Kevin Doyle, Shane Long, Simon Cox, Jonathan Walters

I don't think this is many player's last tournament but with competition on the wings I can see Duff retiring to concentrate on his club career.

* denotes that the world cup could be their last tournament. In which case I left a lot of players in that position who could replace them for after the 2014 world cup. Obviously 1,2,3 players who are only 16,17,18,19 now will come to the spotlight and will be 20-23 for the 2016 European championship and it's impossible to guess them accurately but one would imagine players like Conor Clifford and Robbie Brady will be there!

Pilkington?