Republic of Ireland Team 2023/24 [old thread]

Best draw we could have got on paper anyway

He certainly hasn't shown it thus far anyway.

I'd agree. I think Collins has too much football in him to play him at centre back for a hundred caps or so. I also think we are well covered in that area to justify moving him further forward. I'm not sure whether Kenny will do it though.

It's a lot less common for defenders to move temporarily forward than it is for midfielders to move temporarily back. Zinchenko started out as a midfielder. He played for PSV as a midfielder. He was a midfielder for Ukraine all the way from the youths to senior level. It's only at City that he plays fullback - in a role where he's required to step into midfield a lot (we all know Pep has a different view of full back responsibilities than most coaches).

Midfielders by default are used to needing total awareness all around them all the time, so stepping back isn't as big a deal. CB's meanwhile are used to all the play happening in front of them, and that's how their instincts and tactical reading are built. Asking a CB to step forward is a bigger change-up in skillset than some people appreciate I think. Especially for such a young player. He has the football for it no doubt, but we can't say with any certainty that he has the experience or tactical awareness for it at all.

Maybe he could do it, but we've no real idea. What we do know is that at every age and level, he's played exclusively at CB. Even Declan Rice who successfully made that move forward, had been a midfielder underage, before switching into CB to get into the first team, because it's easier. Before moving back into DM as he matured.

To be honest, I'd expect it to be a recipe for disaster. And a massive risk to be trying in the quite finite amount of games we have. It's a total panicked break glass in case of emergency sort of thing, like.

Keep in mind, you're putting him in a position where he'll have CF's and wingers in behind him all the time, and you're asking him to deal with that threat for the first time in his entire career, and to do it at international level. It's just a totally different thing to what he's made his name doing.

He's a good footballer, I'm sure he could grow into it given 30 or 40 or 50 games there, but international football is not the place to grow into anything, that's what club football is for.

About the only player in our squad who i'd have any faith in moving into that sort of role is Coleman, given his extra decade of experience, and much broader experience in different roles and positions. And even then, that'd be an emergency solution, but a better emergency solution than Collins.

How about we leave our best young players playing in the positions where they've become our best young players?

Ok... I've already explained the considerably large problem with this specific move though... Where's the imagination and creativity in taking a fella who's good at one thing, and getting them to go do a completely different thing that they've literally zero experience in?

I understand the first-glance similarity between CB and CM, but the reality is they're really different - especially asking a CB to go forward into CM for the first time. You might have the footballing ability to make the tackles etc, but you won't have a notion of where to be to do it. You only get that from experience - from doing it over and over and over again. That specific positional tactical awareness is 90% of the skillset of a good DM. Good CM's build up a level of awareness that lets them do a job just about anywhere else on the pitch. The same is not generally true in reverse.

Sure we saw with Trent Alexander Arnold - a fella with all the footballing ability in the world - what happened when Southgate shuffled him into midfield. He looked completely lost and the game just passed him by - and he's one who did actually play in CM loads underage. I'm sure he could also grow into it, but it would take time to figure out the positional/tactical aspects of it. Again, a job for club level.

The "we all dream of a team of Gary Breen's" thing was just a joke, like...

Collins is probably our best CB, let's just get the benefit of that.

If Cullen was to be injured or suspended I think Collins playing in midfield becomes a realistic possibility. Until then I don't think so.

I see Liam Scales has joined Aberdeen on a season long loan, I think he is one that could come into the squad if he does well. Although Goodwin seemed to say they've signed him to play LCB, if he wants to play for Ireland he has a better chance of succeeding at left back.

Sure look, it's a thing that gets suggested by fans for every ball playing centreback there's ever been, from Rio, to Agger, to Campbell, to Walter Samuel, to Matip, to Thiago Silva, Varane, Rudiger, Laporte, Albiol, Pique, Bastoni etc etc, but it very very rarely actually happens. That's because they're much more different positions than you're giving them credit for - and international football especially is really not the time to be trying to develop players in different positions than their own. About the only decent example of a good footballing CB who reasonably successfully moved forward a handful of times and was alright, was David Luiz (though even he also looked fairly shakey doing it, with lots of just running around the place).

If you've specific examples of why you think he'd be good at DM I'm all ears, like, the games in which you saw him move forward and consistently stop passes at their source instead of stopping the final man, or the times you saw him show great awareness of what's going on behind him rather than what's in front... thats what a DM does.

Without that sort of stuff to back up a case, it just feels like constructing another rod to bash Kenny with.

Dean Henderson looks to have joined Notts Forrest. Great news for Travers. Hopefully will be number 1 in the PL next season. Himself and Bazunu will be great competition for each other. We just need Kelleher to move now too.

On the other hand though, when playing for Ireland Kelleher has been good, while Travers put in an especially terrible performance when he had his chance... At that time, Kelleher was first choice, Travers second, and Bazunu third. Kelleher got injured and Travers took his place. He blew it, and Bazunu was then given the chance - he nailed it and has rightly held the shirt since. All seems fair enough. Find it hard enough to have a problem of a guy having to wait for his next chance while the two lads above him are performing well in this team. It's got to be hard enough to ignore consistently good form for your team, in favour of what's happening elsewhere.

I could totally understand the point if it was an outfielder, where game time directly affects form and fitness, but for keepers it's obviously just not like that. If Travers does really well in the premier league, that could well tip it as being something too big to ignore, and override irish team form. Have a feeling Kelleher will go on loan anyway though.

For sure, but just like how each of them got their chances last time, he needs to wait for someone else to be injured/underperform to get his next shot. If people keep doing consistently well when selected, you'd expect the status quo to be maintained. The next year will be interesting for all three of them alright. Hopefully Bazunu keeps his own high standard up in the Prem for Southampton, and makes the position of the other two moot. He really looks like he could be something special for the long term.

Kioso to Rotherham, we've a lot of options at right back but I wouldn't say he was a million miles away from a call-up.

I think if he turns out to be half as good as Phil Foden we would take it at this stage!!

Here's hoping he sees decent game time this year.

Strange move. Financially motivated perhaps. At his age a decent pay rise and sign on fee would make sense.

I don't know how much he has to offer us anyway. I think it's time to start integrating the younger Cb's like Jimmy Dunne into the squad and giving them game time.

He's not PL level. At his age if he were at that level he'd have found it by now you would feel. A decent solid Championship player.

Yeah Boro should be up there pushing for promotion and he'll definitely get a nice bump in pay too.

Don't think he's gonna get many more games in an Ireland shirt but looked tidy against Ukraine and someone we know can step in and perform. Good to see him get this move to a team that will be building towards a promotion push.

Looks like McNally mightn't get his move Burnley. Bringing in Irish eligible Egan-Reily from City and Daniel Ballard from Arsenal. Burnley also liked with young CB Harwood-Bellis from Man City. Spending the Nick Pope money well as they're likely to sign Scott Twine for £4m. Interesting to see if they make a move for Cullen.