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

Arthur Daley

Draw is planned to be December 2020. Matches played March 2021 to March 2022. It is some mess

square ball

To be fair Kenny was asked a question and he gave a straight answer. He wasn't too pleased by it but rules are rules.

Thought we played well in patches. Obviously limited enough but the system worked and hopefully we can gradually improve the players to fit it over time.

Thought Doherty was poor, rest of defence was solid, didn't see enough of Stephens going foward. Hendrick did well in centre mid when McCarthy went off, increased the tempo and was a bit more assertive with his passing and looked forward as well. McGoldrick was good linking up the play but we had no one leading the line when he dropped off. Thought he ran out of legs with about 15 to go and needed a change.

You could see how threadbare the squad is when we needed to make a change to get a goal there was no one you would bank on.

On another night we could have scored 2 or 3 but our luck wasn't in. We had been scraping results off playing poorly in games for a long time.

A rebuild of the squad is needed and a big year for a lot of the 21's to see if they can make the step up to Senior club football and play their way into the squad.

tanko

Whose rules are we talking about here?

square ball

tanko wrote: »

Whose rules are we talking about here?

Irish government rules on social distancing.

johnnyryan89

Arthur Daley wrote: »

Draw is planned to be December 2020. Matches played March 2021 to March 2022. It is some mess

Honestly couldn't care less about the Qatar WC, and wouldn't care if we didn't qualify. Heck I'd use 2021 to blood some players with the main view towards Euro 2024 in Germany.

Given the hectic scheduling we'll have to rotate the squad with three games played in seven days in both March and September anyway.

scouserstation

Quote from Gary Owens this morning

What I would say, though, is that we obeyed all of the protocols that we had agreed with the HSE, we stuck to the letter of them; we had to because there is a bigger issue here and because we need to be allowed to travel without the normal restrictions. We felt that because the distance between the people on the plane was 1.7 metres and everyone was wearing masks and there was air sanitation, they might have made an exception when we went to them to explain what happened but they didn’t and we accepted that; we didn’t want to do anything to jeopardise the agreement.”

RoryMac

scouserstation wrote: »

Quote from Gary Owens this morning

What I would say, though, is that we obeyed all of the protocols that we had agreed with the HSE, we stuck to the letter of them; we had to because there is a bigger issue here and because we need to be allowed to travel without the normal restrictions. We felt that because the distance between the people on the plane was 1.7 metres and everyone was wearing masks and there was air sanitation, they might have made an exception when we went to them to explain what happened but they didn’t and we accepted that; we didn’t want to do anything to jeopardise the agreement.”

A bit contradictory no?

We stuck to the rules by the letter and then we felt we might get an exception for not fully sticking to the rules?!?!

TheCitizen

RoryMac wrote: »

A bit contradictory no?

We stuck to the rules by the letter and then we felt we might get an exception for not fully sticking to the rules?!?!

Complete shambles. We're away to Finland on the 14th. Do they know exactly what they're doing for those travel arrangements?

Brock Turnpike

TheCitizen wrote: »

Complete shambles. We're away to Finland on the 14th. Do they know exactly what they're doing for those travel arrangements?

Have to agree with you on this. It's a shambles. That statement makes things look even worse. "We were given the guidelines but then decided we adhere to 85% of the agreed safe distance in the hope they'd give us an exemption." FFS

scouserstation

As usual we are the laughing stock of Europe as a result of our ridiculous covid 19 guidelines, up North they have triple the amount of cases per head and they are allowing 600 supporters into Windsor park next week, were not able to have any in the Aviva and are even discussing a level 5 shutdown with potentially no sports being played, that phone call to the HSE potentially cost the FAI over 5 million euro :mad:

kowloonkev

square ball wrote: »

Irish government rules on social distancing.

That's what I don't understand. Why would they care about the guidelines in Ireland? By following Irish guidelines they would miss all three games. By not following them they could play in Slovakia and then return to England.

NewMan1982

scouserstation wrote: »

As usual we are the laughing stock of Europe as a result of our ridiculous covid 19 guidelines, up North they have triple the amount of cases per head and they are allowing 600 supporters into Windsor park next week, were not able to have any in the Aviva and are even discussing a level 5 shutdown with potentially no sports being played, that phone call to the HSE potentially cost the FAI over 5 million euro :mad:

Maybe that lax approach is the reason they have so many cases up north.

johnnyryan89

kowloonkev wrote: »

That's what I don't understand. Why would they care about the guidelines in Ireland? By following Irish guidelines they would miss all three games. By not following them they could play in Slovakia and then return to England.

https://twitter.com/McDonnellDan/status/1314570310633558016

https://twitter.com/McDonnellDan/status/1314577493559570434

Go through Dan's tweets and he tries to explain it

weldoninhio

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

https://twitter.com/McDonnellDan/status/1314570310633558016

https://twitter.com/McDonnellDan/status/1314577493559570434

Go through Dan's tweets and he tries to explain it

Why did the team need Government approval to travel?? The govt stood up in the High Court last week and stated categorically that all travel instructions were advice only.

~Rebel~

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

https://twitter.com/McDonnellDan/status/1314570310633558016

https://twitter.com/McDonnellDan/status/1314577493559570434

Go through Dan's tweets and he tries to explain it

Honestly, that all makes sense to me.

The issue was the FAI not working within the rules they knew existed. At the very least separating players and non-players on the flight. The players are going to be in close contact with each other anyway by dint of training and playing together in a contact sport, and have been in bubbles with their clubs so have a slightly lower risk. The non-playing staff haven’t to the same extent, and for the most part they don’t need to be In close contact to the players to do their job for prolonged periods of time. They’re just higher risk people, leading more normal lives (seen in 2 cases popping up).

In short, the players are valuable, keep everyone else away from them where possible, especially somewhere like fixed close proximity seating on a plane.

kowloonkev

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

https://twitter.com/McDonnellDan/status/1314570310633558016

https://twitter.com/McDonnellDan/status/1314577493559570434

Go through Dan's tweets and he tries to explain it

I don't use twitter or go onto it.

It seems like Ireland have strange policies. Do we know what would happen if Connolly and Idah had played in the game and then returned to England? Does that mean the HSE would have sent lads to Dublin Airport stopping the rest of the team going to Wales, or going back to the UK where most of them work and live?

Fair enough if the FAI were trying to be responsible. First time for everything.

kowloonkev

~Rebel~ wrote: »

Honestly, that all makes sense to me.

The issue was the FAI not working within the rules they knew existed. At the very least separating players and non-players on the flight. The players are going to be in close contact with each other anyway by dint of training and playing together in a contact sport, and have been in bubbles with their clubs so have a slightly lower risk. The non-playing staff haven’t to the same extent, and for the most part they don’t need to be In close contact to the players to do their job for prolonged periods of time. They’re just higher risk people, leading more normal lives (seen in 2 cases popping up).

In short, the players are valuable, keep everyone else away from them where possible, especially somewhere like fixed close proximity seating on a plane.

I thought since everyone was travelling on one plane that it would make more sense separating the players out. Then if one player tested positive the others wouldn't be a close contact, or it would be easier to deny it.

I don't think players are naturally assumed to be close contacts of their teammates because then everytime a player tests positive (like Mane at Liverpool for example) the whole team would be in quarantine.

Or does Ireland not have exemptions for elite sports people?

TheCitizen

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

https://twitter.com/McDonnellDan/status/1314570310633558016

https://twitter.com/McDonnellDan/status/1314577493559570434

Go through Dan's tweets and he tries to explain it

But the FAI did try to circumvent the guidelines. They were hoping that the HSE would let them off. Or they were chancing their arm that no one would return a positive test result and the fact that passengers were less than 2metres away from each other wouldn’t matter.

Dan there getting stroppy with some punter on Twitter. Would be more in his line as a journalist to grill the FAI on what happened and also get clarification as regards the 2m rule. Is it actually 2m, cos I heard it was 1 to 2 metres before. Is it a rule or merely a guideline? Have clarifications been sought and received for the travel arrangements to Finland next week?

Putting down some punter on Twitter is neither here nor there. Dan is failing in his duty on this as well.

~Rebel~

kowloonkev wrote: »

I don't use twitter or go onto it.

It seems like Ireland have strange policies. Do we know what would happen if Connolly and Idah had played in the game and then returned to England? Does that mean the HSE would have sent lads to Dublin Airport stopping the rest of the team going to Wales, or going back to the UK where most of them work and live?

Fair enough if the FAI were trying to be responsible. First time for everything.

Surely this is a huge part of it, right? The FAI are already under so much scrutiny, we’re in the midst of a pandemic that’s in the process of getting worse again, there are governmental regulations/guides on how to conduct travel, and government money is the only thing keeping the FAI alive right now.

Add all that together, and it doesn’t seem wise to flout proper operating procedure. And I mean, honestly they’re probably right... this thing is very contagious. I picked it up from a waiter wearing a mask over the course of one meal.

As I said above, the bigger issue for me is them seating non-players that close to players for that long. Just unnecessary. The issue isn’t whether they should say **** the rules, it’s how they put themselves in that position in the first place.

johnnyryan89

kowloonkev wrote: »

I don't use twitter or go onto it.

It seems like Ireland have strange policies. 1) Do we know what would happen if Connolly and Idah had played in the game and then returned to England? 2) Does that mean the HSE would have sent lads to Dublin Airport stopping the rest of the team going to Wales, or going back to the UK where most of them work and live?

Fair enough if the FAI were trying to be responsible. First time for everything.

1) Matches against Wales and Finland would have been in danger of being called off. Which would have meant TV companies losing out on games they paid for, which probably leads to legal issues.

2) Possibly, and that in turn could lead to more legal issues with English clubs.

Good chance that similar was done when flying to Bulgaria but nobody had tested positive before that game.

~Rebel~

kowloonkev wrote: »

I thought since everyone was travelling on one plane that it would make more sense separating the players out. Then if one player tested positive the others wouldn't be a close contact, or it would be easier to deny it.

I don't think players are naturally assumed to be close contacts of their teammates because then everytime a player tests positive (like Mane at Liverpool for example) the whole team would be in quarantine.

Or does Ireland not have exemptions for elite sports people?

You’re right that they’re not automatically close contacts, but there is a clear line in our case between effectively semi active non playing staff that join up for these few times a year and are otherwise normal people, and then our players, who are kept under tight control all the time with their clubs. One of these groups has a greater chance of having the virus than the other. Keep ‘em apart on your plane.

They do have exemptions, which is why they’re able to travel, otherwise they’d need to isolate both before and after Slovakia.

johnnyryan89

McGoldrick ruled out of the next two games, McCarthy supposedly doubtful.

johnnyryan89

sugarman wrote: »

Bare bones now with the u21s in Italy, for a game thats likely to not even go ahead with the Italians stuck in Iceland self isolating!

Think I saw earlier they're back in Italy

fullstop

weldoninhio wrote: »

Why did the team need Government approval to travel?? The govt stood up in the High Court last week and stated categorically that all travel instructions were advice only.

The government fund the FAI. They have imposed travel restrictions in relation to Covid, as you well know, so FAI have to play by the rules here or risk ****ing themselves over. Again.

johnnyryan89

~Rebel~ wrote: »

You’re right that they’re not automatically close contacts, but there is a clear line in our case between effectively semi active non playing staff that join up for these few times a year and are otherwise normal people, and then our players, who are kept under tight control all the time with their clubs. One of these groups has a greater chance of having the virus than the other. Keep ‘em apart on your plane.

They do have exemptions, which is why they’re able to travel, otherwise they’d need to isolate both before and after Slovakia.

Seems they were meant to be kept apart, but players sat in the wrong seats at the back of the plane and weren't told to move.

Also how unlucky is it that the guy who tested positive was brought in to replace someone already missing the trip because of Covid.

https://twitter.com/gcooney93/status/1314990011671089153

johnnyryan89

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

Seems they were meant to be kept apart, but players sat in the wrong seats at the back of the plane and weren't told to move.

Also how unlucky is it that the guy who tested positive was brought in to replace someone already missing the trip because of Covid.

https://twitter.com/gcooney93/status/1314990011671089153

That's some screw up.

We lost perhaps the players most likely to change the game because no one told them to change seats.

Head in hands stuff.

tayto lover

If a lad can’t find his correct seat then how is he going to find the goal.
Clowns.

johnnyryan89

[Deleted User] wrote: »

That's some screw up.

We lost perhaps the players most likely to change the game because they couldn't sit in their right seats.

Head in hands stuff.

Fixed that for you.

fullstop

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

Fixed that for you.

Exactly. This is on the players. Section reserved for non-playing staff and their chose to sit there. Shouldn’t need babysitters on the way to a senior international.

tayto lover

tayto lover wrote: »

If a lad can’t find his correct seat then how is he going to find the goal.
Clowns.

In fairness, they're both based in England and Kenny noted that under English rules they'd be fine. It's not like they went to a party, they sat in seats, no one told them to move, I would have thought responsibility for knowing the obligations under national guidelines rests with the FAI.

tayto lover

Deleted User wrote: »

In fairness, they're both based in England and Kenny noted that under English rules they'd be fine. It's not like they went to a party, they sat in seats, no one told them to move, I would have thought responsibility for knowing the obligations under national guidelines rests with the FAI.

It can be too difficult to sit in the right seat though.
They’re all numbered.

johnnyryan89

tayto lover wrote: »

It can be too difficult to sit in the right seat though.
They’re all numbered.

I'd assume lads weren't given numbers for seats as it was a chartered flight just for them and were just told players and management sit up front and the rest of the non playing staff sit in the rear, but four numbskulls decided they'll sit in the back row of the plane.

They'll have to do a roll call next time because idiots decided to sit were they weren't suppose to.

noodler

[Deleted User] wrote: »

That's some screw up.

We lost perhaps the players most likely to change the game because no one told them to change seats.

Head in hands stuff.

Tbh I think that's quite an exaggeration.

Idah has shown no evidence of being able to change a game at this level.

Connolly would have been useful you'd think but not sure he is at the level of consistency required to turn a game.

Doesn't take away from the **** up tho.

~Rebel~

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

Seems they were meant to be kept apart, but players sat in the wrong seats at the back of the plane and weren't told to move.

Also how unlucky is it that the guy who tested positive was brought in to replace someone already missing the trip because of Covid.

https://twitter.com/gcooney93/status/1314990011671089153

That is immensely frustrating.

TheCitizen

Someone needs to be booted up the hole cos of this and someone appointed to boot everyone else up the hole from now on. Gary Owens, whoever, needs to be raked over the coals and assurances that proper protocols are in place for the travel arrangements to Finland.

Shambolic stuff.

tayto lover

tayto lover wrote: »

It can be too difficult to sit in the right seat though.
They’re all numbered.

I don't think they get a number. I'm not sure how sectioned off areas are. Did they ignore "reserved for blazers" signs etc. It's not like they sat at the back drinking. They may have wanted a sleep for all we know.

I'd kinda assume footballers need to be held by the hand and are fairly useless at everything. And responsibility for making sure that a group of people comply usually rests with Covid compliance officers.

But there's one thing emerging, whether we say it's the FAI or the players or apportion blame, it's a screw up and it might have cost us qualification.

TheCitizen

noodler wrote: »

Tbh I think that's quite an exaggeration.

Idah has shown no evidence of being able to change a game at this level.

Connolly would have been useful you'd think but not sure he is at the level of consistency required to turn a game.

Doesn't take away from the **** up tho.

Connolly would have started. The disruption for the manager and the team at such short notice prior to kick off can not be underestimated.

We were probably the best team in that 4 team play-off pool. If a player or players actually got Covid, that would be unfortunate. We contrived to shoot ourselves in the foot through mismanagement by the officials.

It's a shocking debacle and could prove very costly.

fullstop

TheCitizen wrote: »

Connolly would have started. The disruption for the manager and the team at such short notice prior to kick off can not be underestimated.

We were probably the best team in that 4 team play-off pool. If a player or players actually got Covid, that would be unfortunate. We contrived to shoot ourselves in the foot through mismanagement by the officials.

It's a shocking debacle and could prove very costly.

The players were told what to do, and went and did their own thing. If that twitter update is true, the players sat in the section reserved for officials, not the other way around. You can’t legislate for stupid, as England have now found out with 5 players.

fullstop

fullstop wrote: »

The players were told what to do, and went and did their own thing

When and by who? How long before the flight? As a group or one by one?

Again, it's possible to say blame can be apportioned, the players should not have sat there, the FAI should not have sat back and said "we told them once, they ignored it". But it's fairly sickening to think of what might have been, and something so simple.

Agent Coulson

A hard and sad story to read however a great and hopeful for the future lies ahead...for those of you with an Athletic sub..

‘When I was in hospital Roy Keane looked out for me. He didn’t need to do that’

The autumn of 2014 brought some of Brian Lenihan’s favourite days. As well as his £200,000 move from Cork City to Hull City, then of the Premier League, there was an unexpected call-up to Martin O’Neill’s senior Republic of Ireland squad.

The young defender was feeling invincible for those golden months. Lenihan’s potential, if only for a short while, seemed boundless. “I was so happy, I really was,” he says.

Three years later, however, Lenihan had chosen to take his own life. The “threat that lives within” had consumed the young Irishman and suicide became his only tangible ambition.

“I went into the Catholic church one day in Cottingham (a village on the outskirts of Hull), said a prayer, then went to my car and took the tablets,” he says. “I chased it with a bottle of wine and then waited for it to happen.”........

https://theathletic.com/2126654/2020/10/10/brian-lenihan-world-mental-health-day-roy-keane-hull-city/

johnnyryan89

Agent Coulson wrote: »

A hard and sad story to read however a great and hopeful for the future lies ahead...for those of you with an Athletic sub..

‘When I was in hospital Roy Keane looked out for me. He didn’t need to do that’



https://theathletic.com/2126654/2020/10/10/brian-lenihan-world-mental-health-day-roy-keane-hull-city/

Was reading that this morning, had read a bit about Lenihans struggles with mental health but never heard the Keane parts. Fair play to him for looking out for Lenihan

BonnieSituation

Agent Coulson wrote: »

A hard and sad story to read however a great and hopeful for the future lies ahead...for those of you with an Athletic sub..

‘When I was in hospital Roy Keane looked out for me. He didn’t need to do that’



https://theathletic.com/2126654/2020/10/10/brian-lenihan-world-mental-health-day-roy-keane-hull-city/

Cheers for the heads up on that, completely missed that during my morning perusal.

Also, for those without an Athletic sub, I can't recommend any higher, especially during its current €/$/£1 p/m deal phase.

POKERKING

Two assists for Weso today for Cambridge...pity we cant role him out for the last ten mins of games for a bit of magic!

bren2001

Dan McDonnell reporting this morning that the positive covid-19 test for the background staff member was a false positive. He did not have covid-19. 0.2% chance of that occurring in the Irish system supposedly.

Connolly and Idah are now eligible for the NL games but are unlikely to rejoin the squad.

bren2001

bren2001 wrote: »

Dan McDonnell reporting this morning that the positive covid-19 test for the background staff member was a false positive. He did not have covid-19. 0.2% chance of that occurring in the Irish system supposedly.

Connolly and Idah are now eligible for the NL games but are unlikely to rejoin the squad.

If I was a teenager who travelled across Europe to be told it was a waste of a journey because I sat in the wrong seat, oh and I may have been exposed to the virus, from an "official" who wasn't actually important to the game at all, I'd probably tell them thanks but not to call me back for a long time. And if someone said it was my fault because teenagers should know the social distancing arrangements agreed between the FAI and the HSE, I'd say fair enough and thanks but not to call me back for a long time.

The_Kew_Tour

Positive test in the squad now. Several players wont be able to play

LuckyGent88

What an absolute disaster. Will we be even able to field a team at this stage??

The_Kew_Tour

4 players that were involved Thursdsy night have been in close contact.

Sadly once you have 13 players I think it can go ahead

LuckyGent88

John Egan, Callum Robinson, Callum O’Dowda and Alan Browne the players ruled out because of being deemed close contacts.

Ferris_Bueller

Egan, Robinson, Browne and O'Dowda the players that are ruled out and deemed as close contacts. Still not announced who the player is with the positive case.