Ireland more solid at the back than under Mick?

Xterminator

I know its early days yet, but I get the impression that ireland are more solid at the back under Brian Kerr, while sacrificing a little of the attacking flair we used to see.

(I dont mean this to be a knock mick excersize, and i do feel that we were more of an attacking threat under mick's style.)

In Brians 3 games we conceded just 1 (sloppy) goal from a set piece and none from play, while under Mick, i dont remember too many clean sheets.

X

Thanx 4 The Fish

Against the mighty footballing nations of Georgia, Albania and Scotland...

I don't think that that's much to be writing home about.

As for clean sheets, how about Saudi Arabia in the world cup.
And against Cameroon, Spain and Eventual runners up Germany we only conceded 1 a piece...

He has only had three games and really I cannot see how you can surmise that we are more solid at the back now than we were under Mick using these games as a guide.

BKtje

Some of the defending yesterday was awful, backing away backing away a lot of the time, letting them have shots which if given was in top form mighta gone in.
Also i remember a free header or too which given did well with.

He's got a long way to go before im totally comfortable with the defence but it is a good start. I do think they tried the long ball a bit too often, they were much more dangerous when passing it about , as Quinn was saying.

dambuster

I thought ireland were crap. I watched about 20 mins against georgia and turned over to watch the snooker instead. People complained about mccarthy but i cant see kerr doing anything different. They were piss poor against georgia and deserved to lose by about 2 goals last night (and would have only for given). I thought john o shea was dirt in both games. I think hes an excellent player but he hasnt done it for ireland yet. One of the main things that pissed me off about mccarthy was playing duff up front and now kerr is doing the same.We are ****e going forward and not much better defending. That mattie holland is brutal. He never plays well and i cant understand why he keeps getting on. What ye think about this for an ireland side:
Given

Carr Cunningham O'Shea Finnan

Reid Healy Kinsella Duff

Keane Morrison

Waylander

Kerr has the advantages of a fit again Stephen Carr, and a vastly more experienced John o Shea then he was in the world cup. Unfortunately he is still playing Gary Breen. I would like to have seen him try Jeff Kenna at left back with JohnO in the Centre and Breen benched.

SprostonGreen

Given

Carr JOS Cunny Finnan

Reid Kinsella Heay Duff

Keane - Morrison

Waylander

Neither Finnan or Reid weree available for selection. I am talking about what I would have liked him to do with the resources available to him for the last wo games.

dambuster

He should have taken off mattie holland and put on nobody. If you put a pair of wellingtons in the middle of the park they would do more than mattie holland. He's rubbish!

Benbaz

He should have taken off mattie holland and put on nobody

Never a truer word spoken!!!

Did somebody tell Holland that their was a bomb in the ball or something!!

I don't think there was "1" occasion when he looked for the ball!!!

And as for O'Shea, he's a top class player but when playing for Ireland he's given no options. I lost track of the amount of times he ran up the wing with the ball, passed it to Kilbane and kept running waiting for Kilbane to pass it back but Kilbane as usual over complicated things and ended up losing it leaving O'Shea stranded!!!

But as said, it's early days. Kerr will need a few more games before he's fully implemented his style into the senior squad.

Headcase

as already pointed out, Reid, Morrison and Finnan were not available.
i ****in hate seeing Kevin Kilbane in an Irish jersey. he's useless.
thought carr was very poor last night, holland.
holland only seems to be good when he scores a rare goal

Bateman

Kinsells is the main battler in our midfield at the moment these days, and Holland played quite well in both games recently I thought, and I've criticised him plenty of times in the past. He didn't do much wrong in the past 2 games anyway.

Wirth regard to the defence, Breen has carried them somwehat in the past two games, he was outstanding. Witrh the players that were unavailable, we saw two excellent defensive performances.

Kilbane is a battler and a tryer, and there's always a need for that. I think we all know that Duff will be there in the long term, once Morrisson and Keane are available up front.

GuanYin

O'Shea was awful in the Albania game, the albanians were crossing for fun, it was like the ghost of Ian Harte possessed him!

I wouldn't put Healy in the team. No first team football, little experience....

Delap is having an outstanding season for Southampton in central midfield. Carsley isn't playing badly either (although at right midfield).

One thing I wonder about is O'Brien. The guy was playing Champions League football and is a regular in a top 3 team. Yet Breen is there ahead of him? Surely he should be blooded against Norway.



Given

Carr, Cunningham (while blooding O'Brien), O'Shea, Finnan

Reid, Delap, Kinsella(or Carsley), Duff

Morrisson, Keane

Bateman

Andy O Brien isn't a spring chicken, he's quite old if I am not mistaken, and you will probably find that its going to be near impossible to get the Premiership players for the Norway game, its bang in the middle of the climax of the Premiership season.

GuanYin

He is 26/27 which is about 6-7 years left as a centre half.

KdjaCL

Given
Carr Cunningham Breen O Shea (best back 4 we have imo )

Reid Healy Finnan

Duff

Keane Morrison

Dunno if Reid and Finnan wwould be disicplined enough for that formation or even if Healy is actually any good.But the other 3 would love it and it would an attacking edge to our team and a solid midfield of power and pace and craft. Tho not sure if they have the temperament to play like that when they dont have the ball.


Ireland lack a world class midfielder or 4 and without them we wont be playing in any competitions with world class standards.

knobbles

Originally posted by Bateman
Kinsells is the main battler in our midfield at the moment these days, and Holland played quite well in both games recently I thought, and I've criticised him plenty of times in the past. He didn't do much wrong in the past 2 games anyway.

Wirth regard to the defence, Breen has carried them somwehat in the past two games, he was outstanding. Witrh the players that were unavailable, we saw two excellent defensive performances.

Kilbane is a battler and a tryer, and there's always a need for that. I think we all know that Duff will be there in the long term, once Morrisson and Keane are available up front.

i agree with your defence of holland,breen and kilbane.
holland did well,
breen always seems to give 100% more for ireland than any club,
and kilbane works hard and is good cover for the defence if not so effective as an attacker.

cournioni

Midfield = All we have to worry about.

Waylander

I think Holland and Kinsella are both fairly good players, but they are too similar and neither of them will ever take control of a game. I think Reid and Duff on the wings is a good lineup, now we just need a playmaker to go through in the middle of the park. I agree that Gary Breen has played well for Ireland, but I do think Andy O Brien should be getting picked ahead of him. He is playing regularly for Newcastle, has Cl experience, and most importantly of all is not as big a donkey as Breen. I would also be happy if Kevin Kilbane and David Connolly never got to wear and Ireland Jersey again.

da_deadman

I think that mattie is a good player, but is capable of being a great player. He seems to suffer from Jason McAteer syndrome, i.e. play great football on the big occasion and not good against smaller teams. Delap is having a good season with the Saints so maybe he is a possible partner for Kinsella, with reid and duff swapping to either wing. Seems like a decent midfield line-up to me.

insomniac

At the back, we will definitely be more solid than in Mick's day what with Carr fully fit and O'Shea gaining experience. Carr, Cunningham, O'Shea and Finnan is a very solid back line.

Up front there's no question about Keane, but I don't know about Morrisson. He probably won't be available in June because of his shoulder injury. Lately he hasn't been doing much in terms of scoring goals. I know that he will almost definitely be selected when available, but is he the best choice? What about Connolly? He knows how to find the back of the net at least. Waylander, I don't get why you don't want him in the squad. In the past two years, he's gotten very few oppurtunities. He hardly featured in the WC qualifying, but he still got a goal, and Keane featured a lot more and only got 2 goals. Obviously he shouldn't replace Keane, but what about partnering him?

In the midfield it's unquestionably Duff and Reid on the wings with Kinsella in the centre. Who to partner Kinsella-Holland, Delap, Healy, Kilbane, MacAteer or Carsely? I personally would go for Kilbane. We know that he works hard, is a good defensive player and can get up front. Once he's off the wing he doesn't have to worry about making things complicated or sending crosses in, because we know that they're his weak points.

Pigman II

Originally posted by Bateman
Andy O Brien isn't a spring chicken

Eh, he's 23!

Is Logans Run your favorite movie or something?

Pigman II

Originally posted by Xterminator
I know its early days yet, but I get the impression that ireland are more solid at the back under Brian Kerr, while sacrificing a little of the attacking flair we used to see.

(I dont mean this to be a knock mick excersize, and i do feel that we were more of an attacking threat under mick's style.)

In Brians 3 games we conceded just 1 (sloppy) goal from a set piece and none from play, while under Mick, i dont remember too many clean sheets.

X

I think if we are any more solid under Kerr it is because he demands a lot more defensive work from his wingers than McCarthy would. Net result being expect Kilbane and Carsley to get a lot more caps at the expense of guys like Steven Reid and McAteer.