Your pick for first Ireland XI

Jimmy Iovine

IvySlayer wrote: »

But jimmy ainty your rela name!

Of course it is man.

You should see me playing up top on my own. I'm unreal.

klose

Is westwood still on the bench for sunderland? He can certainly hoof the ball very far so suits trap down to the ground.

Red Crow

Westwood
O'Shea Dunne Clark Wilson
McClean McCarthy Gibson McGeady
Walters Long

St. Ledger, Ward, Whelan etc. could be decent subs too considering our squad. I know neither of those guys have played well in a green jersey lately but they should be good enough to fill a spot for 15-20 mins if needed.

Ferris_Bueller

Westwood

Kelly
Dunne
Clark
Wilson

Andrews
Gibson
McCarthy

Walters
Long
McGeady

Subs: Randolph, Forde, O'Shea, O'Dea, St.Ledger, Fahey, McCann, Whelan, McClean, Coleman, Doyle, Keane

devotional1993

Ok -its a blast from the past, but this is the best Ireland team I saw on one pitch-v Scotland 1987-team was so strong Jack played Mcgrath and Whelan as full backs just to fit them in!!

Ireland: Packie Bonner (Glasgow Celtic), Paul McGrath (Manchester Utd), Mick McCarthy (Manchester City), Kevin Moran (Manchester United), Ronnie Whelan (Liverpool), Ray Houghton (Oxford Utd), Mark Lawrenson (Liverpool), Liam Brady (Ascoli), Tony Galvin (Tottenham), Frank Stapleton (Manchester United) capt, John Aldridge (Liverpool)

Kiwi_knock

Westwood

Kelly O'Shea Clark Wilson

McGeady McCarthy Andrews McClean

Long Keane

BOHtox

Andrews was our player of the tournament of the Euros. He was head and shoulders above everyone else. Anyone who calls for him to be dropped is deluded. Andrews offers us far more than a Meyler or a McCann.
Andrews is one of the few players who's playing better now than when Trap first took over...

Seaneh

He still can't ****ing tackle.

If you play him you need a Whelan/McCann/Meyler beside him because he will not be positionally smart enough when we are being hit on the counter.

His best play is going forward, anyone who can't see that is an idiot.

G.K.

BOHtox wrote: »

Andrews was our player of the tournament of the Euros. He was head and shoulders above everyone else. Anyone who calls for him to be dropped is deluded. Andrews offers us far more than a Meyler or a McCann.
Andrews is one of the few players who's playing better now than when Trap first took over...

Andrews and McCann are similar enough in my book, but Meyler is a different type of player and imo both him and one of the other 2 should be on the bench.

GavRedKing

Westwood

Coleman
Dunne
O'Shea
Clark

McGeady
Gibson
McCarthy
Andrews
McClean

Long

Francie Barrett

People need to remember that the tactics AND the players have to change. We need to play 451 when we don't have the ball, and change to 4231 when we're on the break or counter attacking. We need to start giving game time to players who are comfortable on the ball, as opposed to lads that just know how to hoof it (Stephen Ward, I am looking at you).

My team (with back ups in italics).

GK: Westwood (Forde)
RB: Coleman (O'Brien)
CB: Dunne (Duffy)
CB: Clark (Pearce)
LB: Wilson (O'Shea)
DM: Gibson (Fahey)
DM: McCarthy (Meyler)
AM: Hoolahan (Andrews)
RM: Duff (Coleman)
LM: McClean (McGeady)
CF: Long (Doyle)

Players that need to be permanently dropped.

Paul McShane - he's a reserve Championship player ffs
Darren O'Dea - failed in the SPL and now plays in a backwater.
Stephen Ward - a relic and failed product of our disastrous youth development system.
Glen Whelan - only functions in the "give ball away as quickly as possible" mode.
Paul Green - fcuk no.
Stephen Hunt - brainless.
Simon Cox - can't play on the wing, can't even play upfront.
Robbie Keane - his legs have gone completely now.

Players I would be blooding in friendlies.

Greg Cunningham - desperately need a young and decent natural left back
Conor Henderson - really clever player, Trap will hate him
Conor Clifford - massive, massive prospect that will relish a senior cap
Robbie Brady - one of the most exciting young players at United.

GavRedKing

Francie, Duff has retired.

noodler

Francie Barrett wrote: »

Players that need to be permanently dropped.

Paul McShane - he's a reserve Championship player ffs
Darren O'Dea - failed in the SPL and now plays in a backwater.
Stephen Ward - a relic and failed product of our disastrous youth development system.
Glen Whelan - only functions in the "give ball away as quickly as possible" mode.
Paul Green - fcuk no.
Stephen Hunt - brainless.
Simon Cox - can't play on the wing, can't even play upfront.
Robbie Keane - his legs have gone completely now.

Your credibility is fast approaching zero here.

O'Dea has been solid whenever he has been asked to deputise for Dunne or St Ledger.

Everyone was crying for Ward to replace Kilbane at this time last year.

Whelan does exactly what is asked of him in an Ireland midfield.

How the hell can Simon Cox "not even play upfront"? What the hell are you basing that on? He hs been playing up front very well for Ireland in numerous games and for Forrest this season.

Keane. Yes, lets just permanently discard the man who has been our top goalscorer (by a mile) in the last two campaigns.

Francie Barrett

noodler wrote: »

Your credibility is fast approaching zero here.

O'Dea has been solid whenever he has been asked to deputise for Dunne or St Ledger.

Everyone was crying for Ward to replace Kilbane at this time last year.

Whelan does exactly what is asked of him in an Ireland midfield.

How the hell can Simon Cox "not even play upfront"? What the hell are you basing that on? He hs been playing up front very well for Ireland in numerous games and for Forrest this season.

Keane. Yes, lets just permanently discard the man who has been our top goalscorer (by a mile) in the last two campaigns.

This is coming from someone who wants to stick with our failing formation and wants O'Shea as a first choice full back :rolleyes:

Yea mate, I am the one losing credibility here.

noodler

Francie Barrett wrote: »

This is coming from someone who wants to stick with our failing formation and wants O'Shea as a first choice full back :rolleyes:

Yea mate, I am the one losing credibility here.

Terrible response.

Go on though, continue demanding for half the team to be dropped because you are pissed off the football isn't attractive enough.

How on earth you reckon O'Dea, Whelan, Keane and Cox aren't worthy of places in the squad based on what they have actually done in the team over the last 4 years is beyond me.

Did you see O'Dea in Russia? Or in Macedonia?

Did you see Cox against Armenia?

Whelan, for all his limtiations, does what he is asked to do in a system that doesn't let him even try to get on the ball.

Keane, well the argument for him at least being in the squad doesn't even have to be made.


I picked the best team under the formation Trap uses.

By the way, when have Ireland ever used anything but 4-4-2 on a regular basis?

Sin City

Francie Barrett wrote: »

This is coming from someone who wants to stick with our failing formation and wants O'Shea as a first choice full back :rolleyes:

Yea mate, I am the one losing credibility here.

As opposed to playing a player who has retired?

Francie Barrett

Sin City wrote: »

As opposed to playing a player who has retired?

Duff could be persuaded to come back, Tardelli has been quite positive on it.

Sin City

.................................Westwood..............................................

Kelly.........................Dunne..........O Shea........................................Wilson


.........................................Andrews....................................................

................................McCarthy..........Gibson.........................................



McGeady....................................................................................McClean


....................................................Long..............................................


Subs

Randolf
Clarke
Coleman
St Ledger
Myler
Fahey
Foley
Cox
Walters
Doyle
Keane

Sin City

Francie Barrett wrote: »

Duff could be persuaded to come back, Tardelli has been quite positive on it.

He isnt coming back Francie.

Tardelli just mouthing off with no substance behind it

Francie Barrett

noodler wrote: »

Go on though, continue demanding for half the team to be dropped because you are pissed off the football isn't attractive enough.

I am calling for changes because the current system is failing!

We are so one-dimensional at the moment, it's unreal. Last Friday we were playing one of the worst teams in Europe, and for large parts of the game, we were outplayed. You could actually see as the game went on, the Kazak players confidence just started shooting up as they knew we weren't even going to try and play football.

The Euro's showed just how badly Trap was out of his depth, all our opponents knew exactly how we were going to play and neutralized us completely. When we come up against decent opposition, they will have watched their videos and they will do what Croatia did to us (ie man mark our target man) because they know we aren't going to seriously support our wide players.

Banjaxed82

Sin City wrote: »

.................................Westwood..............................................

Kelly.........................Dunne..........O Shea........................................Wilson


.........................................Andrews....................................................

................................McCarthy..........Gibson.........................................



McGeady....................................................................................McClean


....................................................Long..............................................


Subs

Randolf
Clarke
Coleman
St Ledger
Myler
Fahey
Foley
Cox
Walters
Doyle
Keane

Andrews isn't a holding player. His attacking qualities (used loosely) far outway his defensive ones. Swap him with McCarthy and it might work. Would actually quite like to see Andrews in an Irish team where he has more freedom to make runs forward. Could be a poor man's Lampard (as far as goals go).

Sin City

Banjaxed82 wrote: »

Andrews isn't a holding player. His attacking qualities (used loosely) far outway his defensive ones. Swap him with McCarthy and it might work. Would actually quite like to see Andrews in an Irish team where he has more freedom to make runs forward. Could be a poor man's Lampard (as far as goals go).

What would be interesting to see is if Clifford can get a move away from Chelsea as he would fit the DM nicely. Meyler might be able to do a job there too. Wait and see how he gets on tomorrow

Sin City

Or



................................Westwood..............................................

Kelly.......................Dunne..........OShea........................................Wilson


.............................................................................................

................................McCarthy..........Gibson.........................................



Coleman.................................McGeady.....................................McClean


....................................................Long..............................................


Subs

Randolf
Clarke
Andrews
St Ledger
Myler
Fahey
Foley
Cox
Walters
Doyle
Keane

Banjaxed82

Clifford would want to get moving. He'll never get into the Chelsea team.

It's a shame we have Germany and not the Faroes in the next game. Regardless of player performance tomorrow, any chance of changes are nil.

Same team as Friday's match, I imagine, with Doyle in for Walters and Andrews in for McCarthy.

ctrl-alt-delete

GK O'Shea

LB Cox
CB Whelan
CB Andrews
RB Walters

LM McClean
CM McCarthy
CM Green
RM McGeady

FWD Doyle
FWD Keane


O'Shea's experience sees him get the nod between the posts, also his ability to organise a defense was a key factor.

Whelan and Andrews impressed me when we were on the back foot at the Euro' s, they dropped back and were natural's behind that 18 yard line. Also some of their long balls were a bit too long so dropping them back should improve that.

I've gone with Walters and Cox as full backs as I've always liked the idea of full backs who can score.

McCarthy and Green get the nod in the centre of midfield, I have always been an admirer of Green and I think it is important he is involved. If possible I'd like to go with a midfield three of Green, White and Orange but unfortunately that is not possible right now. With Andrews and Whelan repositioned now is the perfect time for McCarthy to slot in and learn from Green.

McClean and McGeady get the nod out wide, McGeady for obvious reasons, McClean because I was going to play McGeady on the left and had wrote the Mc already so McClean was the only viable option. I feel it is a much more balanced midfield with 3 of the players starting with Mc.

Keane my captain has to play, Dunne I suppose could have captained but I have reservations about his ability up front. Doyle will partner him because that's the way it has always been.

Subs don't really matter to me because I'm not a big fan of changes.

The Rooster

Steven Reid would be an excellent option at right back. Seems to be doing really well there at WBA. Could probably still do a job in midfield.

I'd be very hesitant to play Coleman at right back, given Moyes has no faith in him at that position.

I'm worried about Richard Dunne. I have a strong feeling he's past his best and is on a slow downward curve now.

Frankie Lee

---

Westwood

---

O'Shea/St Ledger--Dunne----Clark/Wilson

Coleman/Foley

---

McCarthy/Whelan

---

Gibson/Meyler

---

McClean/Ward

---

McGeady/Ireland/Walters

---

---

Long/Keane/Cox

---

Walters/Doyle/Best

---

As you can see I am largely undecided about which players to choose but would like to us change to a 3-4-1-2 formation which I believe would help us get better control of games and would suit the players we have.
Of course getting the time to organise our 3 man defence at international level could be troublesome.

gosplan

The Rooster wrote: »

I'm worried about Richard Dunne. I have a strong feeling he's past his best and is on a slow downward curve now.

We'll never really have a huge amount of trouble with CBs under Trap. His system helps them out a huge amount.

It's why Dunne and Sledge have looked so awesome for us over the last couple of years but ordinary enough in their club sides - they're blessed as they never have to follow strikers out, but rather sit deep and get in loads of headers and blocks.

Now don't get me wrong. The Dunnster has been awesome at that, and I'm not trying to take away from that - he's done everything we could have asked for - but without two holding mids, our CBs would have to do an entirely different job and would be tested in ways they're currently not being tested in.

G.K.

ctrl-alt-delete wrote: »

If possible I'd like to go with a midfield three of Green, White and Orange but unfortunately that is not possible right now.

Only missing Orange. Leeds' midfield can give you the other two.

LuckyLloyd

Has there ever been a national record smashing striker more hated / disrepected than Robbie Keane? People have been calling for his exclusion from the starting 11 for a good six years now. The silly thing is eventually he won't be our top score by a distance over a campaign and the haters will come out to say 'see, told you he was rubbish'. Retarded.

Jax Teller

Westwood
Coleman Clark St Ledger Wilson
Mcgeady Meyler McCarthy McClean
Long Walters

Let's build a team for the next few years . The experience of playing in this campaign will do them the world of good .

v3ttel

Starting 11 & Squad of 23:

---

Westwood
Coleman, O'Shea, Dunne, Wilson,
McGeady, McCarthy, Gibson, McClean,

---

Long, Walters

Subs: Forde, Kelly, Clarke, Pearce, Ward, Brady, Meyler, McCann, Hoolahan, Pilkington, Doyle, Keane

Mocha Joe

Westwood
Kelly Dunne O'Shea Wilson
McGeady McCarthy Andrews McClean
Doyle Long




This is the correct answer.

Seaneh

Why does everyone here seem to be obsessed with 4-4-2.


It's a relic, in international football it's redundant and has been for about 5 years.

No team that plays with 2 central midfielders has has any success in any major competition in the last 5-7 years.

Roger Sterling

Lots of people naming Coleman at RB despite the fact he has barely played there for Everton.

Seaneh

John O'Shea hasn't played RB at club level in over a year.

What's your point?

Pro. F

Seaneh wrote: »

John O'Shea hasn't played RB at club level in over a year.

What's your point?

Coleman at right back might well work out. But I'd say that any post proposing a team with him in that position should at least acknowledge the fact that it's a bit of an unknown for now.

Roger Sterling

Seaneh wrote: »

John O'Shea hasn't played RB at club level in over a year.

What's your point?

He at least has a wealth of experience in the role at PL level. Coleman has none. Kelly also is similarly more expetienced.

I would however be tempted to play Coleman wide right. Mc Geady drives me nuts.

Sanity_Saviour

Roger Sterling wrote: »

He at least has a wealth of experience in the role at PL level. Coleman has none. Kelly also is similarly more expetienced.

I would however be tempted to play Coleman wide right. Mc Geady drives me nuts.

He's still by far our most technically gifted player though.

Westwood

O'Shea----Clark/St.Ledger----Dunne---Wilson

---

Andrews----Gibson

---

McCarthy
McGeady

---

McLean

---

Keane/Long