Republic of Ireland Team 2023/24 [old thread]

Yes off the top of my head i recall Coleman had a go at Keith Andrews for talking bad about O'Neill , Enda Stevens also backed him

Think FB/WB is going to become a problem for us though. Many were asking why is McClean starting if all the talk is building a squad for Euro 24 qualifiers. But when you look at the four main guys who Kenny sees as his current best options:

Seamus Coleman will be 34, turns 35 towards the end of the qualifiers.

James McClean will be 34 a month into the qualifiers.

Enda Stevens will be 33 mid way through the qualifiers.

Matt Doherty will be youngest at 31 when they start.

We need to hope that between now and March/June that younger lads start making the breakthrough and putting there hands up for selection in next year's games.

Manning got his first cap in the nation's league, but played a grand total of 15mins over the three friendlies this year so far. Has so far played CB at club level which might further limit his chances with the national team.

Liam Scales was called into the squad, and has a good chance of making that LB spot at Celtic his own. His versitility will also stand to him being able to play CB.

Lee O'Connor I'll only just mention cause he was in camp this summer. He's back playing league two and his future might not even be at FB/WB.

Danny McNamara looks to be first choice at Millwall, and he's worked with Kenny at U21 level. If he remains Millwall's first choice once back from injury next month he'll surely have to get into some squads next year.

Peter Kioso has gone on loan to MK Dons, much to the disappointment of Luton fans who felt he shouldn't have been loaned out.

Joel Bagan is first choice at Cardiff currently but fans have been somewhat negative about him so far that he's not ready yet to be starting week in week out. But Cardiff don't really have money so he'll probably be first choice for them this season and recently with our U21s.

Can't think of anyone I've missed out on. Lyons for the U21s will probably have to move to a higher level before getting near a senior squad and Rooney has said Festy is wasted at RB and will feature higher up the pitch for them.

just came in to mention this. didn't he replace Robbie Keane with Graham Kavanagh vs Israel and gave up a 2-0 lead? We should've coasted through that qualifying group for Germany 06, but for Israel to get 2 draws, the one in Tel Aviv being a brutal last minute goal too.

Good to see Jason Knight will be back for Derby this weekend.

All the corners came in the last 15 mins or even less. I think Bazunu basically saved Ireland literally. If it was 2-0 3-0 for Serbia people could not say it was 'unlucky'. That is the truth of it. Basically Serbia were 'robbed'.

I think the only way around the goal scoring issue, is to practice set pieces like mad, And drill them into the players. Badly need some variation in them, that is a threat as well..

Plus defensively Kenny needs to work on them as well. That is where he should be making a team of them. Otherwise I think Ireland has not much hope of doing much. No dangerous strikers and soft defending corners. Recipe for disaster in the long term.

I think that is a bit unfair on Kerr. Yeah I know Kerr feels he was shafted by the FAI etc. But he never sugar coats his opinions on games. He gives always his honest blunt assessment no matter who is playing. He does not sugar coat it. Going on about some fellas with 'dopey heads on them' during a WC or Euros etc.

If a random neutral pundit saw the last game. I dare say they would say something similar as Kerr's 'battered' comment.

Ok - they might not say 'battered' to be polite. But it would be something like:

'Looking at the number of shots and possession Serbia had, Ireland can count themselves very fortunate, and Serbia will be disappointed to have lost two points.'

--

Let's be honest, when a keeper is carrying a team and named MOTM, it is normally a fair indicator of what kind of game it was.

That particular team were playing not to lose, and were under severe pressure throughout the game. And were riding thier luck.

On the ball there with the lack of even a single striker in the current Ireland squad who is an established goalscoer. I would also add this issue is exacerbated by the fact we lack any playing making number 10 in the squad also and in general lack creative midfielders period. I have said before the current Ireland squad is IMHO the worst from a talent perspective since the early 70's. Thats 50 years! But the issues in the squad are even worse from a balance standpoint. Look at our goalkeeping situation compared to our striking situation. Talk about night and day.

Keeper situation really annoying, the only position that you can only play one of them. And Ireland has three solid picks now and two of them could be outstanding.

A few naturalised Irish - Brazilians might be the way to go. Belgium got that Olivera fella (who I remember caused Ireland some heart ache), unfortunately I don't think any Brazilian will be taking up residency in Ireland to play LOI football any time soon!

The "battered" narrative is unfair. And an exaggeration imo.

We had 42% possession and played over 400 passes. The Irish team had the courage to go and play football against a side who are technically more advanced than us and definitely have a superior pool of players. Its a far cry from games like Georgia for example when we had a meager 25% possession, could barely pass the ball and were extremely fortunate to claim a draw.

Maybe we rode our luck at times at the back. And we're also short of a serious goal threat upfront. But we stayed in the game, were competitive, our midfield and wing backs played really well and we did enough to unsettle them and force an equalizer. That doesn't fit the description of battered at all for me.

Nail on the proverbial head there!

But being"battered" and still coming away with a point against better opposition is exactly the kind of "pragmatic" football some people on here want

Gavin and Andrew great for ROI, lucky with a draw

That's interesting, I actually felt quite the opposite of that watching last night. Comparing it to performances against the bigger sides at home in recent years I felt like we looked more comfortable on the ball - Cullen and Hendrick were looking to get on it much more than the likes of Whelan or McCarthy or Hourihane typically did. Bazunu was a great help with his passing. I know we were losing and being outplayed but I didn't have any major issues with our first half performance.

Second half we weren't as good until we rallied for the last 15 mins or so when they allowed us back into the game as you said.

Over the course of the 3 games I think on an individual level, almost every player who was involved has come out the better, maybe one or two exceptions.

Agree on this. Quite prolific at lower levels.

They’re over performing, we’re underperforming.

why? I don’t know. They certainly have no better goal scorers than we do.

Because they don’t have ‘notions’ about thinking they have the players to play the ‘right way’. Instead first and foremost making themselves hard to beat with a bit of structure. Not playing football ‘the right way’ and instead playing to their strengths got them to Euro 2016. When they should of had no notion of getting there really.

Playing football ‘the right way’ when the players are not there to do it = playing football the ‘wrong way’ IMO. Especially at international level a manager of a weak nation has to play to a teams strengths. Use what is there.

The ROI’s strengths are still heart, fight, desire, never say die. And direct corners. It is no coincidence Ireland’s goals are still most likely to come that way. The tippy tappy side to side is way too easy to defend against.

Also the ROI loses its intensity when doing side to side tippy tappy for the sake of it. I am not saying hoof it - but direct fast intense pace is Ireland’s best chance of getting something in games. It was proven against Serbia in the last 15 when the Serbs switched off. All fairly obvious as far as I am concerned.

So against Serbia we played the right way according to you ?

No only in the last 15min Ireland were a threat when it was desperate stakes. And the opponents (Serbia) dominated the game prior to that spell.

Serbs were under feck all pressure prior and Ireland were lucky it was not 3 or 4 thanks to the obvious. That is just the reality. People are just talking the game up because it was less sh!te than the previous game. Plus the scoreboard said 1-1.

But the result was not because of Kenny’s ‘philosophy’ it was in spite of it. Direct intense football brought Ireland the most threat in the game. The very thing Kenny wants his players to move away from.

But being a threat to Serbia for 90 mins would be considered "notions" by your standards

Again we were not lucky it was not 3 or 4 down some of our players players played well which made us not be 4 down