Group E: Republic of Ireland Squad Discussion

unchanged_lineup

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We'll never desperately need Robbie Keane, he is finished at this level.
Italy is our last group game. I can imagine a scenario where we're one-nil down, need a point to go through, Italy are defending the way they do, ten minutes left, we need that one goal. In that scenario I guess Keane is who we want coming on?
In that scenario Keane would likely never even touch the ball because he wouldn't get an inch on the Italian CBs. For any competent defender he is like marking a pylon. You can cite his great finishing and if we are to get one chance you want him to be on the end of it but the truth is he'll never get on the end of it. He is done at this level and was completely lost throughout the qualifiers bar against Gibraltar.
Not saying he'll be successful, but I think we will probably desperately need him at some point. He'd probably be woeful, but there you go.
 

Mr Anderson

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Personally I think it's a bit premature, as the first half of his reign was pretty poor, albeit that's offset by the positive second half. It just seems like the same panicky thing we did with Trap (though we may have a break clause). Are MON and Keane really going to be that in demand, at least by teams that can pay them the guts of £2m a year? If we get absolutely pumped in the Euros, there would have to at least be a discussion about what to do going forward, whereas we're now probably locked in regardless.
It's the most stable we have been in a long time. Under Trap we didn't know what the hell to do when in possession, and our defensive set up was even worse despite having better options at centre back in those days.

We don't panic on the ball as much, our set pieces are actually not bad, and we look much more organised - some sort of plan into each game. Trap days was "yera stick Simon Cox on the wing, be grand. He'll somehow stop Iniesta." We still far from world beaters, but it's been a while we've had any bit of confidence in the squad.

As you say, there is probably clauses in there regardless. At least MON and Roy look at the youngsters, called a few up for experience. After Roys tonguelashing the last day, can see a fee dropped an never to return. I'd be happy for them to stay on regardless
 

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Today's updates, courtesy of RTE... Ballon D'or Walter is still only doing light training so I think he's a big doubt for the first match. I suppose it depends if they feel it's vital enough to get a result that he'd have to be risked.

In other news, Shay Given reckons he's got a great shot of being the No.1 for the tournament...

Came across this too in an RTE article..
 

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Shay should be nowhere near the goal for us. No offence to him, but he is past his best.

Age is another thing that needs to be addressed. Given is 40, O'Shea 35, Keane 35, Wes H 34 and Murphy 33. This may well be JoS last tournament for us, Robbie needs to let us be and just retire, love the man but we just can't fit him in. Murphy is shite - end of. Wes might play on - but with Arter I think we have a stronger and energetic player. Exclude those lads and our average drops by 2 years to 27 years and 9 months. Then the likes of McGrady possibly on the ropes of selection, he's 30.

Matt Dogerty and Greg Cunningham worth a go next campaign for defence. Jack Byrne might be involved in some way, O'Dowda looked decent. The injured Judge hopefully regains the form he had, O'Kane given more chances. Arter ax previously mentioned.

All those lads under the age of our current squad average too. Hope they are given some opportunities, as we have better ball players coming through. Not world beaters, but a potential squad that can move the ball quicker for our organised counter style.
 

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Shay should be nowhere near the goal for us. No offence to him, but he is past his best.

Age is another thing that needs to be addressed. Given is 40, O'Shea 35, Keane 35, Wes H 34 and Murphy 33. This may well be JoS last tournament for us, Robbie needs to let us be and just retire, love the man but we just can't fit him in. Murphy is shite - end of. Wes might play on - but with Arter I think we have a stronger and energetic player. Exclude those lads and our average drops by 2 years to 27 years and 9 months. Then the likes of McGrady possibly on the ropes of selection, he's 30.

Matt Dogerty and Greg Cunningham worth a go next campaign for defence. Jack Byrne might be involved in some way, O'Dowda looked decent. The injured Judge hopefully regains the form he had, O'Kane given more chances. Arter ax previously mentioned.

All those lads under the age of our current squad average too. Hope they are given some opportunities, as we have better ball players coming through. Not world beaters, but a potential squad that can move the ball quicker for our organised counter style.
By the sounds of that though our squad will probably be tipping the scales as one of the oldest again if we make the next major tournament :D Not that it's a major problem if they're naturally fit players. John O'Shea has had a reasonably good season again for club and country, though he was injured/dropped for Sunderland towards the end.

Hmm actually, if you took out the really borderline folks who are there on experience alone at this stage (lookin' at you, Given and Keane), the squad age would drop significantly!
 

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We'd have to be very desperate to throw him in ;)
When the other options are Daryl Murphy, Aiden McGeady and James McClean it's fair to say we're pretty desperate.

Keane is one of the top international goal scorers of all time. He's a great option off the bench.
 

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By the sounds of that though our squad will probably be tipping the scales as one of the oldest again if we make the next major tournament :D Not that it's a major problem if they're naturally fit players. John O'Shea has had a reasonably good season again for club and country, though he was injured/dropped for Sunderland towards the end.

Hmm actually, if you took out the really borderline folks who are there on experience alone at this stage (lookin' at you, Given and Keane), the squad age would drop significantly!
At least it looks like we aren't relying on anyone over 30 too much, possibly JoS but we have a few coming through to ease that. Just hope MON does build on this and does bring these younger lads in.
 

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At least it looks like we aren't relying on anyone over 30 too much, possibly JoS but we have a few coming through to ease that. Just hope MON does build on this and does bring these younger lads in.
I think every supporter in the country would thank him for that. There's been so many tales of how grim it looks at underage level that if he can bring a few through, he'd be lauded. I can't actually remember how he was bringing through youngsters at club level..
 

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At least it looks like we aren't relying on anyone over 30 too much, possibly JoS but we have a few coming through to ease that. Just hope MON does build on this and does bring these younger lads in.
Walters and Whelan are fairly crucial to how we play too and both are 32. Thankfully Long and Brady will be around for years yet.
 

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Walters and Whelan are fairly crucial to how we play too and both are 32. Thankfully Long and Brady will be around for years yet.
Ya Whelan had a brilliant end to the campaign alright, but at least we have decent pool in CM as mentioned above. Walters is an animal :drool:.
 

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Mr Anderson

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A bit merry here in General Humperts, it's in La Rochelle. Had a long walk here....ask for us at the bar, they will giggle
 

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Still feel confident of my bet of Ireland not getting a point. Marty is a bigger bluffer than Brendan.
 

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What Ireland want is Italy to beat Sweden on Friday now. That would leave Italy playing a second string in the last match one would assume, and with less intensity.

3 points against Italy would likely secure a best 3rd place spot (at worst). Regardless of result against Belgium. Into the knockout phase it would be.
 

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What Ireland want is Italy to beat Sweden on Friday now. That would leave Italy playing a second string in the last match one would assume, and with less intensity.

3 points against Italy would likely secure a best 3rd place spot (at worst). Regardless of result against Belgium. Into the knockout phase it would be.
This

Also pleased the Italy v Sweden game is first

Belgium will be under huge pressure to perform against us
 

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Some reports saying that Walters is injured again and could even be out for the tournament. Reportedly the injury he was battling coming into the tournament flared up again in the first minute yesterday. He'd be a big loss, the diamond doesn't really work without him.
 

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Noooooo
http://www.rte.ie/sport/euro-2016/2016/0613/795350-walters-reveals-injury-struggled-after-a-minute/

He definitely didn't look like he was running right at all. Just before he got taken off there was that chance over the top to chase and he looked very tight running for it.
Asked how he was feeling after the game, Walters told RTÉ Sport:

“Not great. I sort of felt it I think after one minute and couldn't really sprint or jump so it wasn't great. I just sort of got through hoping that it would settle down.

“In the second half, after a couple of runs, it just tightened up even worse. I think the right thing was to come off and hopefully it will settle down and be okay.

“It just depends how it settles down. It's not as worse as when I first hurt so we'll see. I could play but I was nowhere near 100%, that I felt out there. But before the game, in the training I felt okay

“All the training was good in the past couple of days and pain free. It's just one of those things.

“We'll see how it settles down in the next couple of days. It was just over a week ago when I hurt it and it's nowhere near as sore as that so I can play a certain amount like I did today, I just didn't feel 100%

“We'll take it day by day and see what it's like tomorrow morning and go from there.”
 

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Was anyone else really impressed by Hendrick's general play yesterday? He's playing for Derby , but is he good enough to make a jump up to a PL team?
 

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Was anyone else really impressed by Hendrick's general play yesterday? He's playing for Derby , but is he good enough to make a jump up to a PL team?
Yeah, he looked very good on the ball and always looked to play it forward. He's definitely after cementing his place in the team.
 

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Belgium are there for the taking. They are not much of a team after seeing them play last night and Ireland should have a good chance of getting a win if the same Belgium team shows up.
 

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Its a shame that MON doesn't have the quality that Charlton had from 88 to 94, given the group getting out of it would be a real achievement. Its a long time since Ireland produced a world class player or anywhere near that quality.
 

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Was anyone else really impressed by Hendrick's general play yesterday? He's playing for Derby , but is he good enough to make a jump up to a PL team?
I really like him as a player. He's been very impressive for Ireland in a number of games. Every time I watch him play my impression is that he should be a better player than he is. He's got the size, skill and athleticism to be a quality player. He'll excel for Ireland against good opposition and a week later he's sat on the bench at Derby.
 

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With all of this football being on its going to be difficult to go back to a time where social media isn't filled with Irish people congratulating themselves for being great craic and being able, like most people over the age of 18, to buy alcohol.

These truly are our salad days.
 

Nanderson

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Yeah, the self-praise on social media is nauseating. I'm glad our fans are having a good time and are getting on so well with other nations, but the amount of twats on social media is sickening. Encouraged by the trashy Joe.ie brigade, there's no shortage of fools who love nothing more than to shout about how great they are.
 

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With all of this football being on its going to be difficult to go back to a time where social media isn't filled with Irish people congratulating themselves for being great craic and being able, like most people over the age of 18, to buy alcohol.

These truly are our salad days.
Yeah, the self-praise on social media is nauseating. I'm glad our fans are having a good time and are getting on so well with other nations, but the amount of twats on social media is sickening. Encouraged by the trashy Joe.ie brigade, there's no shortage of fools who love nothing more than to shout about how great they are.
Here's one for ye lads then
http://waterfordwhispersnews.com/20...&utm_campaign=Social_Link&utm_content=Article