Lee O'Connor should be in the senior side by then.
Republic Of Ireland Football Thread
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O' Connor with United academy is a very good player already.
Will O'Connor be good enough to play by next September? Have heard good things but haven't seen him play yet.
Despite presently having a run in the premier league I would gladly never see ward play again, and that is not just in response to last night. Inspires absolute panic
I'd like to try something like
................Randolph......
.......Duffy....Keogh....Clark...
Coleman............................Brady...
............Hendrick...Meyler...
...................O.Dowda...
................long...hogan...
Think we're due a change in style.
Anybody spouting on about how many premier league players we have needs to have a serious look at the type of premier league player we have , and try make a team they can say with all honesty should be doing better than we are. We have talent, but are in desPerate need of an emergence like never before, even years gone by you had Keane, Duff, Keane, Quinn, and other reliable performers. Make any eleven you want and it's seriously lacking somewhere
................Randolph......
.......Duffy....Keogh....Clark...
Coleman............................Brady...
............Hendrick...Meyler...
...................O.Dowda...
................long...hogan...
Think we're due a change in style.
Anybody spouting on about how many premier league players we have needs to have a serious look at the type of premier league player we have , and try make a team they can say with all honesty should be doing better than we are. We have talent, but are in desPerate need of an emergence like never before, even years gone by you had Keane, Duff, Keane, Quinn, and other reliable performers. Make any eleven you want and it's seriously lacking somewhere
We don't have qualifiers until 2019 (March I think) due to the weird Nations League tournament starting in September. Hopefully some of the younger players will be ready by then although it's a bit hopeful and speculative to be including the likes of O'Connor at this stage.
O'Connor is a strong lad who would be well able to play senior football now. Next year would be the time to get him involved with the republic of Ireland squad.
Enda Stevens at Sheff Utd has been doing alright hasn’t he? Could be an option for that dire defence.
Ah, didn't know Ends had made his way up there. He was so good for Rovers a few years ago. Was disappointed he didn't push on when he moved over. Good for him.
Do I think we should be doing better than making Georgia look like Spain with technical geniuses or to be dominated by a midfield pairing of Mulgrew and Scott Brown? Then yes I can honestly say I expect much better.
He's class but wouldn't say by next September, we haven't even promoted him to the u23s because for some reason we're leaving him and Angel and others in the u18s for now. If he was at a Championship club I'd imagine he'd be getting some appearances and breaking through right now. His best position is RB though, will have to try make his breakthrough on the left with Coleman on the right.
That's a dire list of players.
MON isn't the best manager out there but come on, he isn't a miracle worker.
Think he’s a regular starter in this impressive Sheffield United side, at left wing back of a back 5.
I’m saying “think” because I’ve only seen maybe 2/3 Sheff Utd games and he’s started all
maybe someone more clued up could give a quick analysis of Stevens.What???? Seriously what exactly are you saying. Are you saying o neill deserves credit for carrying out basic essential tasks that every manager is required to do?
Agreed. That was some joke of a post.
How about the likes of Patrick McEleney getting a chance? Best ball player in Ireland at the moment
You don’t need a big name manager to do a good job, how about taking a punt on Stephen Kenny? His teams play cracking football
a fella in work actually said that to me this morning. Michael O Neill of course came from league of Ireland, he was replaced by Stephen Kenny when he left, so the step up can be done. In hindsight, O'neill did well enough, qualified for Euros and 1 game away from world cup. It's just the football is dire, it really is. We had Trap then O'Neill. I'd just like to see them freshen it up.
Kenny wouldn’t be afraid to play the young uns
Kenny is the obvious choice, except he wouldn't make an FAI shortlist of 25. The twats.
Kenny's Dundalk were better on the ball than the national side.
my son's under 10 team are better on the ball, but I think your right, i don't think the FAI will even consider him, which is unfortunate.
It was a tough night at the office. I'm not sure this week is really the time for broad statements but I will say a few things:
-Lasy night was, as someone already said, the perfect (shit)storm. Almost everything that could go wrong did. Everyone involved with the Irish side has to bear some responsibility for that, to whatever extent. Added to that MON’s decision to basically empty our midfield after HT in the hope that something might just happen basically left us with no one keeping an eye on Eriksen. Which, regardless of how you dice it, is somewhere between quite daft and downright mental/negligent. The sight of Eriksen running clean through on goal, despite being 4,000 yards out, will haunt me.
-As some have also said, third or fourth in the group looks like it might be around par. It's hard to dispute that, man for man, both Serbia and Wales have better players than we have. Austria would be debatable. If you accept that, then you can’t have any massive complaints about the results, albeit it’s not actually quite that simple, IMO. I wouldn’t be advocating getting rid of O’Neill and Keane, necessarily, but I think they should consider their own positions and, even if they decide that they'd like to stay, their positions should certainly be looked at closely and they need to satisfy the FAI that they can continue to push this team forward. I don’t the job is so attractive that you can necessarily assume that replacing them withs someome 'better' would be straightforward, albeit 'better' might even not be what we need now. Because too often during this campaign we looked devoid of any ideas beyong humping it long. And I’ve always considered as part of an international manager’s remit to prepare the ground for the next campaign, whether they’re in charge or not. As things stand, O’Neill’s methods look uniquely suited to working only for teams managed by MON. And even then, it's not a given.
-Randolph has been one of the high spots of this campaign. We now have makings of a decent spine (by our standards) with him in goal, Coleman at RB, Duffy at CB, McCarthy at base of midfield with Arter and Hendrick beyond and Brady out wide. Meyler and McClean are decent squad options and O’Dowda looks to have some potential. All of them at good ages for the next campaign.
-We lack options at the back. Ward is a game lad but too often out of his depth. Clark has somehow managed to remain a raw, young centre half up to the age of 28. Christie has his strengths but in terms of defensive awareness, this level can be cruel on him at times. O’Shea will likely retire and the likes of Kevin Long and McShane don’t look likely to be mainstays. Declan Rice might be a player but it's far too early to be relying on him.
-We need to try something else up front, whether that’s Maguire or Hogan. Long’s delicate self-confidence and fundamental technical shortcomings mean that he just can’t score enough goals to cover the shortfall elsewhere. We need to see who might be able to score goals for us when he doesn’t. Murphy at 34 probably isn’t the answer even for the next campaign, any more than he was the answer for this one.
-All things considered, the results have not been bad this time around. I would take issue with the idea that this is the only way we can be successful, but that’s probably another day’s work. I suspect we might have struggled even if we were trying to play freewheeling football, but there's an argument that, if you aren't going to qualify, you might as well try to establish a style of play that gives you some chance to play football against half decent sides, rather than simply hoping we don't even up being forced to receive the ball. Again, I know people will argue that we don't have the players to play football, but why can teams with worse squads do it? And why can a lot of these players play at decent clubs in England, who don't necessarily just want their players lumping the ball into the sky?
All of that said, O'Neill has given us quite a few good nights over the past few years. So if he does leave, it won't be like the end of Trap - for me, at least - where I genuinely felt that the guy was basically just phoning it in, without any real interest in the state of the game in Ireland. O'Neill, for whatever faults he has, has managed to give good game time to quite a few previously inexperienced players and the results haven't particularly suffered. I'm not sure he's gotten the credit he deserves for that.
-Lasy night was, as someone already said, the perfect (shit)storm. Almost everything that could go wrong did. Everyone involved with the Irish side has to bear some responsibility for that, to whatever extent. Added to that MON’s decision to basically empty our midfield after HT in the hope that something might just happen basically left us with no one keeping an eye on Eriksen. Which, regardless of how you dice it, is somewhere between quite daft and downright mental/negligent. The sight of Eriksen running clean through on goal, despite being 4,000 yards out, will haunt me.
-As some have also said, third or fourth in the group looks like it might be around par. It's hard to dispute that, man for man, both Serbia and Wales have better players than we have. Austria would be debatable. If you accept that, then you can’t have any massive complaints about the results, albeit it’s not actually quite that simple, IMO. I wouldn’t be advocating getting rid of O’Neill and Keane, necessarily, but I think they should consider their own positions and, even if they decide that they'd like to stay, their positions should certainly be looked at closely and they need to satisfy the FAI that they can continue to push this team forward. I don’t the job is so attractive that you can necessarily assume that replacing them withs someome 'better' would be straightforward, albeit 'better' might even not be what we need now. Because too often during this campaign we looked devoid of any ideas beyong humping it long. And I’ve always considered as part of an international manager’s remit to prepare the ground for the next campaign, whether they’re in charge or not. As things stand, O’Neill’s methods look uniquely suited to working only for teams managed by MON. And even then, it's not a given.
-Randolph has been one of the high spots of this campaign. We now have makings of a decent spine (by our standards) with him in goal, Coleman at RB, Duffy at CB, McCarthy at base of midfield with Arter and Hendrick beyond and Brady out wide. Meyler and McClean are decent squad options and O’Dowda looks to have some potential. All of them at good ages for the next campaign.
-We lack options at the back. Ward is a game lad but too often out of his depth. Clark has somehow managed to remain a raw, young centre half up to the age of 28. Christie has his strengths but in terms of defensive awareness, this level can be cruel on him at times. O’Shea will likely retire and the likes of Kevin Long and McShane don’t look likely to be mainstays. Declan Rice might be a player but it's far too early to be relying on him.
-We need to try something else up front, whether that’s Maguire or Hogan. Long’s delicate self-confidence and fundamental technical shortcomings mean that he just can’t score enough goals to cover the shortfall elsewhere. We need to see who might be able to score goals for us when he doesn’t. Murphy at 34 probably isn’t the answer even for the next campaign, any more than he was the answer for this one.
-All things considered, the results have not been bad this time around. I would take issue with the idea that this is the only way we can be successful, but that’s probably another day’s work. I suspect we might have struggled even if we were trying to play freewheeling football, but there's an argument that, if you aren't going to qualify, you might as well try to establish a style of play that gives you some chance to play football against half decent sides, rather than simply hoping we don't even up being forced to receive the ball. Again, I know people will argue that we don't have the players to play football, but why can teams with worse squads do it? And why can a lot of these players play at decent clubs in England, who don't necessarily just want their players lumping the ball into the sky?
All of that said, O'Neill has given us quite a few good nights over the past few years. So if he does leave, it won't be like the end of Trap - for me, at least - where I genuinely felt that the guy was basically just phoning it in, without any real interest in the state of the game in Ireland. O'Neill, for whatever faults he has, has managed to give good game time to quite a few previously inexperienced players and the results haven't particularly suffered. I'm not sure he's gotten the credit he deserves for that.
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Jesus, what happened? 
Good considered post. Sometimes an utter drubbing can be good for the soul. It would have been even more gutting if we went out like NI to some kind of dodgy penalty, so close, so far. Instead we do spectacular Hari Kiri.
Definitely a time to take stock all round.
Excellent point. Easy to forget these positives after a night like Tuesday. And yes, Darren Randolph has been a revelation.
Ah. Now for the bad news. Yeah I like Christie, but he makes too many basic defensive mistakes. There was a weird lack of discipline in the defense against Denmark, at one point even early in the game I was thinking, WTF is going on here?
I still think Long has a lot to offer. Ireland can be good for him and he can be good for Ireland. Its time to forget about Aidan McGeady.
There were moments, even the last night in the counterattack where we played football. We had some good outings too, in the Euros. I must say Ken Early's theory about International football is haunting me these days; effectively he is saying its destined to be some flavour of shxxt compared to the super-invested hyper-inflated club game. The committment of the likes of McClean is refreshing in the Neymar era. Is it a coincidence that every management team since Jack Charlton ultimately wound up with a similar style of play. I mean, you hear Brady now going on about holding the ball etc, but he was part of the Trap era.
Enjoyable post. I love being an Ireland supporter. Great fans. Good lads. O'Neill and Keane will always be heroes in an Irish context. It's a weird feeling, actually. I put celebrating Wales on hold somehow, so much nervous expectation. I need to go back and watch the cross, Artur's stepover, McCleans strike with his right foot. I will support whatever/whoever comes in the future. And thanks for reminding me of Randolph.
It went wrong cause O’NEILL took both of our centre mids off for a past it 34 year old “number 10” and a past it winger in McGeady.
But “sure we give it a go lads”... typical shithouse Irish mentality.
But “sure we give it a go lads”... typical shithouse Irish mentality.
There's nothing wrong with wanting a different style of football. I do think, and not you specifically, people need to be more balanced with their opinion. Hear me out.
Firstly, away from the very top tier (and even then look at what France have at their disposal and look at how they play) I would argue that very very few teams play attractive football internationally and this is largely why so many people really don't enjoy it and why many tournaments are an anti climax. Managers get way less contact with players but are often sacked after a single campaign so without doubt, results come first. It's pretty obvious looking at the Irish squad that despite having premier league players, it's a very very average squad with a massive deficit in attacking talent. Scotland are an example of a nation who's football without doubt improved in recent years, yet it took many campaigns with no success and strachan was sacked after it all. Northern Ireland's football has improved dramatically but is hugely overrated. They failed to score in 3 out of 4 games at the euros, and scored 1 or less in 7 of 12 games this campaign including facing San Marino twice, and most tellingly no goal in the play off. If we want a template of a team that has gotten results while playing great football with an average set of players, Northern Ireland are not that example.
In fact most nations with limited players that actually do achieve quite well and play nicer stuff, have one top class player in their team. Add eriksen, bale, lewandowski, hamsic into the Irish team and we would be instantly better. That is without question and our team is in dire need of a player of that level of talent. Even Portugal who have huge talent and Ronaldo, play very uninspiring football. If we had eriksen and Denmark didn't, we'd be at the World Cup, of that I am certain, and our football would be better for it.
England haven't played anything close to entertaining football in over a decade, and if you want to look at premier league players as a unit to measure style, then something is seriously wrong in England,.
Secondly, O'Neil and Keane have overachieved. There is no question of this. In 28 competitive games across two campaigns we were unbeaten in 81% of them, losing to France and Belgium at the euros included in just 6 defeats. Again, I'd ask you to make an Irish eleven and subs bench that results wise the average person would expect to get the results we have. In that time we have had the three best nights In Irish football for 15 years, and managed to avoid continuing down the dark hole dug by years with Staunton, Kerr and trappatonis disastrous euros. We have beaten Germany, Italy, wales, and drew away in Germany, and in play off games against Estonia, Bosnia we have actually played some really nice football, as we did versus Sweden and Italy at the euros.
One of the other huge challenges facing international managers is getting players to give a shit. No fake Injuries, no poor attitude until the club football is back, and the attitude of the players and staff under O'Neill and Keane has been something to be proud of.
The next move is a huge one, and while I hope we get somebody who replicates the results while also getting a better brand of football I think there is a huge chance we could just as easily go massively backwards. I trust Keane and O'Neill to have us at the next euros, and given the squad we have, I'd be happy to be there.
As a nation I think we're incredibly willing to throw international stereotypes at ourselves. I don't think a single person feels that way and every person I have spoken to since the game accepts that we got the substitutions wrong, it can happen, but nobody with a brain thinks well at least we have it a bash. It's a very lazy stereotype, perhaps based in fact depending on who you have spoken to yourself, but I literally haven't seen a case of it.
Seems to have been a good bit of money put on MON leaving in the last 24 hours but I’d assume that’s more down to people thinking they can make a few quid rather than any genuine knowledge.
MON has been backed into favourite for the Everton job tonight, according to Twitter.
Tbh, I couldn't begrudge him taking a job like that. Make a relative success of it and he's bound to get a good PL job, even if they go another way at the end of the season.
Tbh, I couldn't begrudge him taking a job like that. Make a relative success of it and he's bound to get a good PL job, even if they go another way at the end of the season.
Everton? The club he's had a running battle with throughout his Ireland career? At least he might be able to get James McCarthy fit!
I do hope he gets it. He's done an excellent job and deserves better than the crap he gets as Ireland manager.
O’Neill on his bike?
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Really not sure what to make of it. Overall think he did a good job. Hard to begrudge him a PL job. Maybe it was time for fresh ideas. But I really hope the next man isn’t Keane. He’d be an unmitigated disaster IMHO.
Stoke I take it? Tony Pulis lite
Yeah I don’t think Keane would be a good choice to go on his own.
Still think they should take a punt on Stephen Kenny, you’d get good football at least
If Stoke wanted O Neill they would have appointed him by now.
Wouldnt mind Kenny at all , Keanes teams play good football too mind you too he eventually loses the rag with them
Dunno they might be stuck at negotiating his release or maybe he’s second choice to Flores
Dont think anyone could be worse than ONeill.fans here moan at uniteds football under Van Gaal .The sheer garbage football iv watched Ireland play under ONeill makes that look like 1970 Brazil
I don't mind Martin but I'm glad he's gone (if true). Awful, uninspiring football served up time after time. We're no world-beaters so why not just embrace that and try play some entertaining football for a change? We'd never get him but someone like Brendan Rodgers would work wonders with us. A manager of that mindset should be our priority. Jim McGuinness is a left-field suggestion but exactly what have we got to lose at this point?
Did it not sound like Keane would go with him to Stoke. Agree appointing Keane with be a disaster not least because of all the media BS. Who to get if they both go? Actually you said it, how about LVG?
Tbh, as much as I have a soft spot for MO'N we could probably do with a change. Keano?
Far less inclined to see change than some here. He brought poor football and good results. I suspect the latter is more likely to change under a new manager than the former.
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