Republic of Ireland General Discussion Thread 2024 [use match threads for games]

He's supposedly ineligible for us now after his last appearance for England's U21s this month. Some talk though that FIFA are again looking at changing the rules around eligibility. Some cases that FIFA have ruled against initially were overturned after being appealed to CAS.

When's last time two Irish players had a 'tussle' in the Prem or EFL? Brady made out that Emakhu dived as Millwall were 3-1 up in 89th minute

What a fanny Brady is. Has a pop off Emakhu for diving that's fair enough, but kicks him while he's on the ground and then falls to the ground when Emakhu reacts to get him sent off.

Wonder if he's trying to impress HH by showing he's not too nice and can be a bastard.

The sky sports video kept jumping for me so added this tweet that has the Brady part.

Wonder will there be any surprise callups or omissions from the squad announcement on Thursday? Hopefully HH has picked the squad himself this time and actually takes responsibility for the whole thing.

Nah prob the usual suspects will get picked instead

I'd definitely call him into the squad and see how it goes. We need options in the centre.

Even with Cullen coming back in you've got Smallbone and Browne who are injured. Should be room for Taylor but might depend on whether they'd want someone with versatility to take Brownes spot.

McGrath and Azaz would offer cover for central and out wide areas whereas Taylor would only cover centrally. One thing Taylor has his in locker though that others don't is his shooting from distance. In general our lot don't fancy shooting from outside the box but Taylor has scored a few bangers from distance.

Tom Cannon with a brace and an assist from Moran as Stoke lead 3-1 at halftime.

Got his 4th there. Does strike me as our type of striker.

Good night for us so far in the Stoke and Portsmouth game. Six of the seven goals scored by Irish players, O'Mahony scored for Portsmouth, and Moran with the assist for the other goal.

No, I meant relevant to the specific conversation we were having - of whether or not Idah has the skillset to play as a back to goal striker against teams better than the one he's in. This was your whole point, that he had been doing it well enough in Scotland, but obviously the situation is different with Ireland as he's not in a dominant side then. So you had pointed out that Dortmund would be a better class of opposition, testing that aspect of Idah's game. Your hope/presumption was that this would show he could actually do it against teams better than his own.

Unfortunatley he wasn't given the nod to play a meaningful part, so that question is still there. So the remaining similar situations will be Atalanta, Villa, and probably Leipzig, since Young Boys, Dinamo and Brugge don't really create the specific dynamic we've been discussing.

Hopefully he'll do it in an Ireland shirt sometime so, as he's not done it so far. As already said, i'd feel better if I even saw him do it for Celtic in tougher games where they don't have it all their own way.

He is committed, and he is a granny-ruler.

I think he may have been holding out for an England call up (which is more than reasonable considering he's English), but he's committed to us now.

Would be great to see him and Parrot included today.

Mark McGuinness receives his first call-up as Jack Taylor, Finn Azaz, Jamie McGrath, Festy Ebosele & Mikey Johnston all come into the squad.

Liking the look of the squad bar LB obviously.

My guess is O'Shea will cover at RB and that's why we named five CBs rather than four or we'll see 3-5-2 maybe.

Yeah the options at FB don't fill me with confidence because not a big fan of Festy as part of a back four, especially when our LBs are also two wingers. But at this stage I'd take a coat rack starting at RB rather than see Doherty in a squad again.

I don't know about Curtis. I like him but get Lee O'Connor vibes off him that physically his size and athleticism is gonna hold him back. Started LB in the last game and before that was dropped to the bench for a few games.

In his few starts there was some bright moments but has been bumpy for him. Peter Kioso would be a better option and is starting RB for Oxford who've started the championship season well.

If Brady or O'Dowda start I wonder if it's O'Shea who'll start at RB with Collins and Scales at CB. This could be the 02/03s last window with the U21s so Roughan and Garcia McNulty could become options as cover for LB too.

Neither of them are gonna break through at CB anytime soon so it's worth seeing if one of them could do something at LB if we had friendlies. Tayo Adaramola another who'll be overage after this campaign and he's starting at LB for Stockport in L1.

No Doherty at least but I was hoping I'd never see Robbie Brady in an Ireland squad again. Hope to see Azaz get some game time.

We do arguably have more players suited to wingback than fullback though… we've basically no fullbacks at all, whereas Ogbene played realy well as a Premier League wingback all last season, and both Robbie Brady and Callum O’Dowda are definitely far more wingback than fullback. And obviously we're more stacked at CB than anywhere on the pitch.

I think 3 at the back can work - as long as we go 3-5-2, so the extra midfielder actually gives those wingbacks the license to bomb forward with the two centreforwards playing together inside. But 3-4-3 is a disaster - the wingbacks have wing forwards right in front of them, so its a bit redundant, with 4 bodies by the touchlines while the middle of the park ends up overrun with only our lone striker and 2 midfielders occupying all that space all the way to our defensive line.

Nothing is better than him.

I don't like speaking badly about Irish players but I'm glad that Doherty is dropped, hopefully it sends the message that putting in a shift is the minimum expected of any player in the squad