Republic of Ireland Team 2023/24 [old thread]

Collins is like an Irish Declan Rice?! 😉

Hope he can get fit soon. You could see a huge improvement from him playing under the coaching of Conte at Spurs

It doesn't look good for Doherty at Spurs, they're heavily linked with spending 20m on Djed Spence who plays RWB. Spence is young and going from winning promotion in the Championship to playing for a top 4/CL team is a huge jump so maybe he won't displace Doherty straight away but it's not a good sign if they're looking for a RWB.

Ogbene an option at RWB as well

Is there any run all day young McLean - 'run all day' types who currently play in midfield that could be converted to LWB?

Tell you what I'm liking Shay Given as one of the pundits and has been a breath of fresh compared to others.

Just pointing out the obvious. There are clearly a few on here who actively despise Kenny and want him gone at all cost.

I wouldn't put up much of a fight had he stood down last week myself. But I am absolutely delighted he didn't, and has achieved two fine results since.

Bagan may not even be a first team player for Cardiff next year as they've just bought a left back.

Manning doesn't seem to be getting much of a look in. My guess based on my limited viewing of him is that maybe he just doesn't have the legs to play the position at the highest level.

The alternative to McClean doesn't look readily available.

Stevens still best option when fit so.

The last four days have saved his job and ensured he leads us for the Euro 2024 qualifiers. When we start that campaign he’ll have been in charge for ~3 years and had 3 competitive series to cut his teeth.

If we perform well and get a playoff he’ll continue on, most likely. If we fail to compete he’ll be gone. But it will be much more black and white and inarguable than it has been, so we’ll all be on the same page soon enough.

The match going fanbase wants to compete and I’m sure Kenny wants to compete. If there’s anyone out there who wants the FAI and supporters of the national team to pay some sort of penance and suffer multiple campaigns of losing, they can jog on.

I agree that we’re coming to the stage of Kennys reign where justifying losses with talk of long term planning will be difficult to do.

When Kenny gets it right I think the team shows that it can definitely punch above it’s weight and can take results of higher seeds which will be crucial for qualification. The big question mark for the campaign ahead of us, for me, is how he deals with the so-called minnows of the group, who are happy for us to have the ball and try and break them down. If we end up losing again in a similar fashion to these teams then qualification becomes a massive ask and it will have been a problem that Kenny has failed to solve over years and multiple campaigns.

I’m glad Kenny is in the job, I think he’s done a lot of positive things for the Irish team and he will come out of this round of games under less pressure than it looked like, but we can’t be in building mode forever. This is the campaign we’ve been working towards, I hope he can make it a memorable one!

Just to clarify by ‘possession guff’ I mean pointless overly dangerous passes from back. And then overly safe side to side and backwards stuff at the other extreme.

Ireland now seem not been afraid to go direct when required. By the way - direct does not mean pointless hoofing. It means with a purpose. Ask questions with less risk. When the short pass is too risky/or going nowhere.

Way more sensible football now, possession for possession sake in the wrong areas with limited technical players, pointless and makes Ireland open to 1) Silly mistakes 2) Easy to play against

Either the players have changed the above two - Kenny has or both. Either way much better mix in Ireland’s play last two games. Which is what it should be similar to McCarthy’s first tenure or Kerr.

Have to agree. I also think Sadlier has come on leaps and bounds now that the Elders are gone.

On that point about the CBs needing to push up and go forward against teams who'll sit in deep, and we've done it against better teams too as Coleman often got up around the box and Portugal away when Connolly was claiming a pen in the second half it came from a John Egan knock down to him in the box.

When you watch back Cullen gets a block and ball falls to Connolly, and ahead of him is only Idah up front, Connolly plays it into the corner for Idah who chases it and cuts back onto his right to swing in a cross and the only two players in there are our other CF and LCB. When Cullen gets that block Egan is in or own box but rather than stay in defence he busts his ass to get forward to support the two lads up front on their own.

After last night I don't think Collins should be moved from that central position in defence. The back three just seems to sit higher with him in the middle and he showed last night he's more than comfortable stepping up to win the ball and moving forward with it in midfield. Duffy needs to sort out his club situation, but think he also needs to get used to playing on the right of a back three because I wouldn't be moving Collins as it suits us better as a unit having him there.

Yeh Collins as a DM would be interesting. If Rice leaves West Ham this year he could be a potential target for them.

the opposition would just press the other players and force Duffy to have the ball.

Hang on a minute Duffy has played with Brighton for years in the EPL. And Brighton have been praised for their style of play.

You would swear Ireland are now Barcelona 06 or Man City 22 or Ajax 95 the way some people are going on!

Play can be varied for most teams and Duffy is an intelligent footballer good positional sense, despite his lack of technical ability.

Play can be varied on the pitch and if each player plays to their strengths and masks weaknesses the team does better, simple as that. Regardless of style. And if each player can offer something different to strengthen a team as a whole all the better!