Trapattoni names Ireland squad for Norway friendly
Giovanni Trapattoni today named the Republic of Ireland squad for their upcoming international friendly against Norway on November 17th. It is a consistent squad from the veteran Italian, who has named just three uncapped players. Stoke City duo John Walters and Marc Wilson are in line to make their international debuts, as is Everton’s Seamus Coleman. Walters is the only player who has not been in an Irish squad previously.
Two rumoured Ireland converts, Jamie O’Hara and Mark Noble were not named in the squad due to injury, and Aston Villa’s Ciaran Clark is not yet eligible to play for Ireland as his FIFA paperwork has yet to be approved. At the press conference, Trapattoni hinted that both O’Hara and Noble wanted assurances of playing time to declare for Ireland, while Ciaran Clark did not require any such promise, neither did Shane Duffy.
Striker Caleb Folan has been recalled to the squad, with Anthony Stokes and Cillian Sheridan being two notable omissions up front. After attending the Ireland – Russia European qualifier at the invitation of the FAI, FC Utrecht’s Barry Maguire has also been left out. James McCarthy had been due to make an appearance for his adopted country, but the Wigan midfielder is out for three months with an ankle injury.
Goalkeepers:
Shay Given
Keiren Westwood
Defenders:
John O’Shea
Seamus Coleman
Richard Dunne
Sean St. Ledger
Greg Cunningham
Kevin Foley
Paul McShane
Kevin Kilbane
Stephen Kelly
Darren O’Dea
Midfielders:
Marc Wilson
Darron Gibson
Glenn Whelan
Paul Green
Liam Lawrence
Stephen Hunt
Aiden McGeady
Keith Treacy
Damien Duff
Keith Fahey
Forwards:
Jonathan Walters
Robbie Keane
Kevin Doyle
Caleb Folan
Shane Long
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Kilbane, McShane, Green yet again ie. what a load of rubbish. What does Stephen Ward have to do to get a look in? When McCarthy, Andrews and Meyler return the midfield will look stronger. Can definitely live without Keogh & Sheridan. I feel Stokes deserved a look…surely.
I agree with Sean. The continuing presence of those players is a huge cause for concern. I think Maguire should have been called up at Green’s expense. Stokes should be called up at Folan’s expense. Stokes is the closest alternative to Keane. Doyle, Long, Walters and Folan are all good at the same kind of stuff. Also, Ward should be ahead of Kilbane by virtue of playing regularly in the Premier League as opposed to warming the bench every week for a struggling Championship side. Contrary to popular belief, we do not need Kilbane. In fact I would only have Ward, O’Dea or Cunningham as deputies for John O’Shea while Stephen Kelly, Kevin Foley or Seamus Coleman play at right back. Kilbane is a nice guy but he will be 34 years old when we play Macedonia in March. He was already making mistakes 4 years ago. How much longer are we going to persevere with him? Green is red raw useless. At 27, hee has nothing to learn. Barry Maguire or even David Meyler wouldn’t have to play. Just having them at the training sessions would be of immense value looking ahead to the Wales and Macedonia matches. Finally, Folan is always injured and I have no doubt in my mind that him and Treacy for that matter will be watching the game from their sofas on November 17th.
Very surprised Stokes got overlooked, he’s been sharp for Celtic.
May I ask what the hell are our ‘scouts’ doing? Is Paul Green the best that they can come up with after all this time!
Glad to see Coleman, Wilson and Treacy in there again as well as Hunt coming back. Clarke, Ward and Stokes are the absentees I’d be disappointed about. Clarke’s papers might not be ready yet so hopefully he’ll be in the reckoning for the February games, but as for Ward and Stokes it seems like Trap just doesn’t rate them and isn’t going to give them another chance. Agreed with Prop’s comment above, I love Kilbane but his time is up, he’s only really ever been a stopgap at left back and hopefully Cunningham will get another look in this match. I know Ward’s form has been very patchy but you’d think that two seasons of Premier League football in a position where our talent pool is very shallow would justify a callup. Hoping to see Fahey, Foley and Treacy all get more time on the pitch as well as the new boys.
I’m actually disappointed by the lack of newcomers in this squad, but hopefully Trap won’t treat the Carling Cup as an actual competitive tournament, and instead use it to test out new players. I know Stan gets a lot of flack, but at least his US Tours introduced a host of new caps. Against Ecuador he capped 7 new players in the starting eleven (and no, Joey Lapira was not one of them). I’d like to see Trap do something similar – perhaps this will come in next summer’s rumoured US Tour, but by that stage there will only be a few group games left.
[...] announcing the Republic of Ireland squad for the upcoming friendly international against Norway yesterday, Giovanni Trapattoni discussed the [...]
I don’t know, the squad initially looks oonservative but if Coleman, Wilson and Walters all get an appearance then that’s three debutants, and we have several other players like Foley, Treacy and Westwood who’ve barely been seen so far in an Irish shirt.. If all of those players got a look in then that’d be plenty enough for one game in my opinion. I can certainly see the value in keeping the core 6 or 7 first team players in there and introducing the new lads gradually. I don’t think you learn very much from a game with a totally experimental side that have never played together before and will probably never play together again.
Richie: You’re dead right, but I’d like to have the option of bringing on some youngsters in the second half. Playing beside the likes of Dunne or O’Shea is obviously the best way to blood new players.
To be a competitive we must pick an ALL-Premership quality team ONLY!
Starting eleven with introduction of reserves as required:
Given
Carr Dunne O`Shea Ward
McGeady McCarthy Whelan Duff
Ireland
Doyle
Reserves:
Coleman,Foley,Delap,Clark,Wilson,Hunt,Fahey,Walters,Keane,Stokes,Kelly
Replacements to this team to come from the following current options:
1) Future Premership quality players to be considered: Westwood,Kenny,St.Ledger,Duffey,Cunningham,Lawrence,Cliford,Gibson, Maguire,A.Reid,
2) Qualified future premership players, worthy of acquision:
O`Hara,Noble,Naughton,Hammill,Connoly,McGugan,McAnuff
Actions:
1) Resolve issue with S.Carr, S.Ireland and A.Reid
2) Pursue acquisions identified
“O`Hara,Noble,Naughton,Hammill,Connoly,McGugan,McAnuff”
None of those players are worth considering. O’Hara and Noble at a stretch but they have made it clear that they don’t want to play for Ireland.
I don’t think Carr or Reid, nor Ireland are the way forward either. They’ve retired, or else aren’t playing enough (in Reid’s case, but maybe his loan move will change all that).
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