Republic of Ireland Team Talk/News/Rumours 2020/2021 - see Mod Note in OP [18/11/20]

SomethingElse

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

What level would the A League be at?

It would be sandwiched in between AstraZeneca and Sputnik.

Oat23

Brock Turnpike wrote: »

Are you personally related to Parrott? Why do you keep whinging on as if he is being persecuted unfairly by a manager who is there to overhaul the club? You're going on like a teenager every time you refer to the situation.

I've watched every Ipswich game since Cook took charge and Parrott has been anonymous in almost every one he has played. He scored once when he intercepted a poor backpass for a tap in. He plays in behind Norwood or Jackson rather than spearheading the attack and he isn't performing in that role at all.



Cook is right to criticise any player in that squad as they are all shocking. Massive clearout needed at Ipswich.

Pauliedragon

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

What level would the A League be at?

League one at best and that's being generous.

Brock Turnpike

Amirani wrote: »

I don't think Jay O'Shea is the answer for us really. Even if he was, I'm not sure it would be feasible to play for Ireland while playing in Australia, just based on the travel and logistics.

Are there any examples of players at all playing club football in Australia and featuring regularly in European qualifiers?

Marc Janko was playing for Sydney and still playing for Austria.

Did you smash it

Sheff utd relegated. I’ll be surprised if Egan doesn’t make it back to the PL. I’ll be shocked if Stevens does.

The_Kew_Tour

Could see Norwich or Bournemouth going in for Egan

Brock Turnpike

Pauliedragon wrote: »

League one at best and that's being generous.

Unfortunately that is probably true now. The standard of player has dropped a fair bit in the past couple of years.

I would've said it wasn't far off Championship level a few years ago but it has fallen a fair way since then.

If you look at someone like Jamie MacClaren, who had a mixed time at Hibs, and he is banging in the goals since returning to Australia for Melbourne City. ( 48 goals in 54 games). Scottish PL is probably Championship level at best so that might be a good indicator.

johnnyryan89

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Could see Norwich or Bournemouth going in for Egan

Egan is 29 this year and has three years left on his contract. Are many teams going to spend good money for him?

Pauliedragon

Brock Turnpike wrote: »

Unfortunately that is probably true now. The standard of player has dropped a fair bit in the past couple of years.

I would've said it wasn't far off Championship level a few years ago but it has fallen a fair way since then.

If you look at someone like Jamie MacClaren, who had a mixed time at Hibs, and he is banging in the goals since returning to Australia for Melbourne City. ( 48 goals in 54 games). Scottish PL is probably Championship level at best so that might be a good indicator.

Dead right. I'd say a few years ago Sydney fc and Victory would have held their own in the championship but now no chance. I always thought more Irish players should've looked at heading there but with distance that would mean chances of international call ups would have been nothing. A league will never come close to AFL or NRL though. It would be a league young irish players could look to as a stepping stone. Man city own a club in Melbourne.

Pawwed Rig

Pauliedragon wrote: »

A league will never come close to AFL or NRL though. It would be a league young irish players could look to as a stepping stone. Man city own a club in Melbourne.

I don't see the point really unless you are really committed to never having to deal with non English speaking people. Europe is where it is at for world football. There are 20 better places to go at the standard of the A league within 3 or 4 hours of home rather than living that far away from support networks

Francie Barrett

Pauliedragon wrote: »

League one at best and that's being generous.

Simon Cox, Roy O' Donovan, and Andy Keogh are all down there as well as O'Shea. If that is indicative of the standard, then it's as you say, League 1 at best.

ben.schlomo

The A League is definitely League One, sometimes lower. Used to watch a lot of it up to last season. The better players could obviously play at higher levels but the overall standard is low. They've started to push through a lot more youth players into the squads in the last 18 months/two years which is obviously to the benefit of the national team in the long term but does drop the overall standard. Jamie McLaren mentioned above, he scored 5 in a 7-0 win the last day against Victory.

As for Jay, I've great time for him as an ex Gufc player but he's definitely not at a level to play for Ireland now.

wadacrack

Wouldn't be too sure of the A League being League One standard. League One has some very good teams/players

TheCitizen

ben.schlomo wrote: »

The A League is definitely League One, sometimes lower. Used to watch a lot of it up to last season. The better players could obviously play at higher levels but the overall standard is low. They've started to push through a lot more youth players into the squads in the last 18 months/two years which is obviously to the benefit of the national team in the long term but does drop the overall standard. Jamie McLaren mentioned above, he scored 5 in a 7-0 win the last day against Victory.

As for Jay, I've great time for him as an ex Gufc player but he's definitely not at a level to play for Ireland now.

You could say that about a lot of players in and around the Ireland squad these days unfortunately.

Francie Barrett

Mourinho sacked, Nuno being mentioned as a possible replacement, this would be great for Doherty.

johnnyryan89

Francie Barrett wrote: »

Mourinho sacked, Nuno being mentioned as a possible replacement, this would be great for Doherty.

He's well looked after at Wolves and the cozy situation they have going with Jorge Mendes. Unless he's got another manager for Wolves then I can't see Nuno leaving Wolves ATM. Jose would have been the only other manager I know that's a client with Jorge Menses.

Julian Nagelsmann always seems to be the name thrown around the most when it comes to Spurs, but the Bayern job is currently available too, and RB Leipzig could be the only German club invovled in the new SL. So even the lure of we'll have extra money from the SL to pay you wouldn't be enough.

The White Feather

But what happens to Doherty if Mourinho replaces Kenny ?!

Could you imagine it?

"I am the Special One. Ireland will be going to the World Cup and Euros.it was the Paddy Power ads that persuaded me to come" !!

loyatemu

With the threat to ban any players participating in the Super League from the Euros and World Cup, Doherty could be out of the picture for Ireland anyway (is he the only Irish player at any of the breakaway clubs?)

TheadoreT

Francie Barrett wrote: »

Mourinho sacked, Nuno being mentioned as a possible replacement, this would be great for Doherty.

Mourinho being sacked won't turn him into a good footballer. He's extremely limited

Pawwed Rig

loyatemu wrote: »

With the threat to ban any players participating in the Super League from the Euros and World Cup, Doherty could be out of the picture for Ireland anyway (is he the only Irish player at any of the breakaway clubs?)

That wouldn't be fair. Players are contracted to the clubs so do not have a choice in these matters. I doubt most of them were aware that this was coming either.
He is the only player alright. Or Kelleher maybe

johnnyryan89

https://twitter.com/FCYahoo/status/1383855867825516544

Did this lad ever declare for us, remember there was some talk a couple of years ago where the player himself said he could play for us.

Francie Barrett

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

Did this lad ever declare for us, remember there was some talk a couple of years ago where the player himself said he could play for us.

Looks like he was surplus to requirements at Kortrijk, who aren't one of the good teams in Belgium. Given we are already well stocked with centre backs, I doubt he'd make a squad for us unless there was a crisis.

Francie Barrett

According to the Brighton manager, Connolly will be back in the mix for the game tonight. Idah's been training since last week, so hopefully he's in contention to make the bench at least. Parrott did not feature for the Ipswich under 23's, you'd like to think that means he's in the squad for tonights game. Lenihan is also in contention to play for Blackburn tonight after missing the previous game with injury.

loyatemu

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

That wouldn't be fair. Players are contracted to the clubs so do not have a choice in these matters. I doubt most of them were aware that this was coming either.
He is the only player alright. Or Kelleher maybe

quite apart from the fairness I think it would fall foul of EU law, but we'll see. This saga has a long way to run. Presumably Parrott would be affected too, as he's still on a Spurs contract.

Pawwed Rig

loyatemu wrote: »

quite apart from the fairness I think it would fall foul of EU law, but we'll see. This saga has a long way to run. Presumably Parrott would be affected too, as he's still on a Spurs contract.

Bazunu too in that case

roverjoyce

The White Feather wrote: »

But what happens to Doherty if Mourinho replaces Kenny ?!

Could you imagine it?

"I am the Special One. Ireland will be going to the World Cup and Euros.it was the Paddy Power ads that persuaded me to come" !!

He will be a great international manager, gets teams organized and structured

Francie Barrett

I see John Joe Finn is back playing with the under 19's. I don't think he's ready for first team football, but a bit disappointed that he's not even playing for Getafe B.

https://www.getafecf.com/Noticia/tabid/137/Article/7429/Calendario-Segunda-Fase-V-Subgrupo-C.aspx

johnnyryan89

loyatemu wrote: »

quite apart from the fairness I think it would fall foul of EU law, but we'll see. This saga has a long way to run. Presumably Parrott would be affected too, as he's still on a Spurs contract.

It's gonna take a lot of money and plenty of court cases to find out, but you'd have to assume they possibly could if you need to be a member of Fifa to participate in competitions that fall under Fifa rules, and the super league not being a Fifa tournament they could bring in a rule that says Fifa members are prohibited from taking part in any competition that's not sanctioned by Fifa.

Plus would this fall under EU law, because England aren't part of the EU anymore and there's going to be a lot of non EU players affected here too.

Either way I think Fifa will back down in the end. They'll get their brown envelope and you'll have some version of a European super league once they've been financially compensated. Like they moved their WC, which forced leagues to reschedule because the $$$ from Qatar was too good to turn down. They'll do the same here if there's money to be earned. Similar to Uefa and hosting their cup final in Azerbaijan. Compensate them enough and they'll quieten down.

loyatemu

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

It's gonna take a lot of money and plenty of court cases to find out, but you'd have to assume they possibly could if you need to be a member of Fifa to participate in competitions that fall under Fifa rules, and the super league not being a Fifa tournament they could bring in a rule that says Fifa members are prohibited from taking part in any competition that's not sanctioned by Fifa.

Plus would this fall under EU law, because England aren't part of the EU anymore and there's going to be a lot of non EU players affected here too.

Either way I think Fifa will back down in the end. They'll get their brown envelope and you'll have some version of a European super league once they've been financially compensated. Like they moved their WC, which forced leagues to reschedule because the $$$ from Qatar was too good to turn down. They'll do the same here if there's money to be earned. Similar to Uefa and hosting their cup final in Azerbaijan. Compensate them enough and they'll quieten down.

kicking the clubs out of domestic leagues might happen, but I think prohibiting national associations from picking players based on who they work for, sounds like it would break some sort of EU rules (Brexit is irrelevant here, UEFA won't do anything that contravenes EU rules).

TheCitizen

roverjoyce wrote: »

He will be a great international manager, gets teams organized and structured

Will surely take the Portugal job at some stage.

~Rebel~

sugarman wrote: »

Are you just going by the picture? Pretty sure hes still out injured at the moment with the same injury that kept him from linking up with the u21s end if last month.

Just a quick download of the image and a glance through the metadata, seems the image was worked on from at least November 2020, so the image itself doesn't seem to be recent at any rate anyway.

Francie Barrett

sugarman wrote: »

Are you just going by the picture? Pretty sure hes still out injured at the moment with the same injury that kept him from linking up with the u21s end if last month.

Assumed the image was from the game, maybe it wasn't then.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/jim-crawford-confident-john-joe-finn-will-be-a-part-of-his-squad-1.4514638

Crawford says that the player would have been included in his squad for next week’s friendly game in Wales but for an ankle injury that has sidelined him for 10 days or so.

Was supposed to be out for 10 days, but that was a month ago now.

Francie Barrett

Francie Barrett wrote: »

Assumed the image was from the game, maybe it wasn't then.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/jim-crawford-confident-john-joe-finn-will-be-a-part-of-his-squad-1.4514638

Was supposed to be out for 10 days, but that was a month ago now.

According to Google Translate, this article suggests his contract expires at the end of the season - https://www.fichajes.com/a1753831142603106175-los-frentes-abiertos-del-getafe-en-los-despachos

Wouldn't be at all surprised if an English team came in for him.

Francie Barrett

Update on Long, sounds like he may end up going back to Southampton due to a groin injury - https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/19246549.cherries-saints-discuss-shane-longs-injury-concern/

johnnyryan89

Kenny will be on the look out for a new opposition analyst over the next couple of months. Ruaidhrí Higgins has signed a three and a half year contract to be the next Derry City manager. Perth might finally get his call from Kenny about a job within the Irish set up as the opposition analyst given he was Kenny's assistant manager at Dundalk.

Francie Barrett

Goal for Curtis today. Really think he deserves some minutes in the June friendlies.

Really depressing looking at the line-up'scoming through today. Long, Idah, Parrott not even in the squad for their clubs. So many others warming the bench.

johnnyryan89

Idah is only back in training from an injury. There's a chance that Norwich could end up finishing second. They're hardly going to throw an unfit kid into must win games.

Francie Barrett

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

Idah is only back in training from an injury. There's a chance that Norwich could end up finishing second. They're hardly going to throw an unfit kid into must win games.

Been in training for 2 weeks, thought that would be enough to see him make the squad at least.

johnnyryan89

Francie Barrett wrote: »

Been in training for 2 weeks, thought that would be enough to see him make the squad at least.

Still wasn't fit enough for the mid week game.

Ferris_Bueller

What is the story with Parrott not being in the Ipswich squad? According to Livescore they only named 6 subs so if Troy was left out instead of injured it really isn't good. Ipswich haven't scored in their last 6 games either, surely it is Cool trying to work with players he is keeping for next season.

~Rebel~

Ferris_Bueller wrote: »

What is the story with Parrott not being in the Ipswich squad? According to Livescore they only named 6 subs so if Troy was left out instead of injured it really isn't good. Ipswich haven't scored in their last 6 games either, surely it is Cool trying to work with players he is keeping for next season.

Looks a disaster of a move alright since Cook came in... and I can understand Cook's point of view, he seems to have written off the season and is just using the games to look at what he has for next year. Aaron Drinan looks firmly ahead of Parrott in the pecking order now even.

It does look like they at least filled their bench with 7 players alright though, so i guess that's something...?

johnnyryan89

Ferris_Bueller wrote: »

What is the story with Parrott not being in the Ipswich squad? According to Livescore they only named 6 subs so if Troy was left out instead of injured it really isn't good. Ipswich haven't scored in their last 6 games either, surely it is Cool trying to work with players he is keeping for next season.

More or less.

Ipswich have 20 players out of contract in the summer, that obviously includes players who are on loan, and have just went through a takeover. There's gonna be a massive overhaul at Ipswich.

If it's already established that Parrott isn't going to be there next year, or that Cook just want him there, then he won't play him. Judge said similar when discussing his situation and how Cook still didn't want to play him if Judge scrapped the clause to extend his contract incase he got injured. Would make finding a new club harder for Judge.

johnnyryan89

sugarman wrote: »

I seen 19 year old defender Eiran Chasin was named on the bench for Derby earlier in their 2-1 loss. Ebosele and Watson were also along side him while Knight started the game. Encouraging they're all involved with the team in a relegation battle.

Hopefully Knight can get a move away from Derby. Things could get a lot worse there as their potential new owner sounds like a right chancer and Rooney is there on name only. Actually the new guy possibly taking over sounds like a guy that would put himself in as manager if Rooney was sacked.

In an ideal world Bielsa would view him as a long term option for Leeds, and get him working with a proper manager that will improve him some more.

~Rebel~

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

Hopefully Knight can get a move away from Derby. Things could get a lot worse there as their potential new owner sounds like a right chancer and Rooney is there on name only. Actually the new guy possibly taking over sounds like a guy that would put himself in as manager if Rooney was sacked.

In an ideal world Bielsa would view him as a long term option for Leeds, and get him working with a proper manager that will improve him some more.

I'm kinda happy enough for him to stay there another year or two, especially if Rooney is there. Rooney seems to absolutely love him. He's playing week in week out, which is much more than can be said of most of our midfielders, and he's even been made captain.

It's so depressing how few of our international players are actually important for their clubs.

johnnyryan89

~Rebel~ wrote: »

I'm kinda happy enough for him to stay there another year or two, especially if Rooney is there. Rooney seems to absolutely love him. He's playing week in week out, which is much more than can be said of most of our midfielders, and he's even been made captain.

It's so depressing how few of our international players are actually important for their clubs.

It's great that he's important for his club, but his club is Derby. It's like Darragh Lenihan, important for his club but his club is Blackburn, or Alan Browne at Preston etc. Nothing wrong with being important for a bottom half championship club if that's your level, but Knight has the potential to make it in the Premier League.

While he's playing week in week out, it's with a poor team, and with a very inexperienced manager whose there because the club were already playing him 50k supposedly. He's played so many minutes for Derby already. This season it's nearly 3500 mins and last season it was 1800 mins. By the end of this season he'll have roughly played 60 full league games for Derby and still only 20. He needs to make the move up a division now if a good opportunity presents itself and work with better players and a better manager. At the moment it seems Derby are starting him because of his energy, and often move him about because they don't know how best to use him but need his energy in the team.

He could take the chance and end up back in the championship again in three years time and it would probably still be at club who are better than Derby, who at this stage would struggle against the top league one teams.

Again just taking Leeds as an example because they're playing today. But one season of just training under Bielsa, and he'd probably learn more than a full season of playing with Derby.

Francie Barrett

O'Shea dropped for Ajayi who concedes a penalty in the first 10 minutes.

johnnyryan89

Francie Barrett wrote: »

O'Shea dropped for Ajayi who concedes a penalty in the first 10 minutes.

And I'll say O'Shea might see the rest of the season out on the bench, or get the odd game as a full back. Big Sam seems to favour Bartley and Ajayi as his centre back pairing for their height and physicality.

Good thing for O'Shea is Bartley is out of contract in the summer and don't think there's been talk about a contract. So O'Shea would move in as a starter next season unless they look to bring in someone.

~Rebel~

Another goal and an assist for James Collins today. Our only forward scoring with any regularity. 3 in his last 5 now - all scored after coming off the bench.

johnnyryan89

~Rebel~ wrote: »

Another goal and an assist for James Collins today. Our only forward scoring with any regularity. 3 in his last 5 now - all scored after coming off the bench.

And this just re-enforces how neglected Irish football is/was when Luton Towns James Collins is our number one striker, and we've got no one in that 93-98 age group that's even doing much at club level bar Ronan Curtis. He's more a winger than an actual out and out striker, and will probably spend another season in League One if Portsmouth don't get promoted or cash in on him.

Hopefully the younger lads can have a positive season next year, as this one has been a disaster for their development on the pitch with injuries. Won't include Parrott in this as he's two years younger and falls into the 02 to 06 age group.

Scully has probably been the best so far this season in the 98 to 02 age group. Should hopefully have a few championship clubs or league one teams that get promoted sniffing around him. Could possibly spend another season in League One as it's been a 50/50 season in terms of starts (has started 19 of the 41 games he's been selected for), but it's also his first full season at senior level.

Ralph Hasenhuttl has been positive in his comments about Obafemi since he's returned from injury and that the time out might have helped him wise up a bit and take things more seriously.

gormdubhgorm

This little gem of a programme popped up on my youtube


Kerr's Kid's (Story of Ireland's underage success under Brian Kerr)