Trapattoni names Ireland squad to face Serbia
Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni has named a 23-man squad to face Serbia in an international friendly later this month.
Senior players Robbie Keane, Damien Duff, Shay Given, Richard Dunne, Keith Andrews, and Stephen Hunt have all been left out as Trap tries a new approach for World Cup qualifying. Trap hinted that he will start James McCarthy in Andrews’ role as the experienced midfielder is suspended for Ireland’s first qualifier in Kazakhstan.
Trapattoni named his squad at the FAI AGM in Donegal. “This friendly offers us a great opportunity to try out younger players ahead of our World Cup qualifying campaign,” said Trapattoni. “As a result, I have decided to leave some of our senior players out of the squad for this fixture.
“Serbia are a very good team with a great football heritage, and will provide us with a great test before our game against Kazakhstan in September.
“I am looking forward to working with each of these players next month. As we prepare for a new journey for this team, it is important that we remember our last campaign as we build for a brighter future.”
Ireland squad:
Westwood, Forde, Randolph, Wilson, O’Shea, St Ledger, O’Dea, Ward, Kelly, McShane, Whelan, Gibson, McCarthy, Green, Coleman, McGeady, Keogh, McClean, Treacy, Doyle, Long, Cox, Walters
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Treacy? Don’t get me wrong I hugely support the Trapp regime and think his criticism is unwarranted. But, Keith Treacy? Paul Green? Paul McShane? The rest is okay though. Robbie Brady might have been nice.
its great to see wilson in the squad but no clark and hoolahan? clark is better then o’dea st ledger and mcshane i think clark and duffy should of got pick were building for the future then why not pic young promising premier league players like clark 22 and duffy 20 and leaving out irelands best midfielder wes hoolahan for GREEN is ridiculous robbie brady should of got a call instead of KEITH TREACY if the future is o,dea st ledger mcshane green treacys keogh then the future is grim. get crapattoni out!!!
Trap wanted to call up Duffy and Brady, but they have an important u21 qualifier the night before.
Yawn…Same old shite from Trapattoni. No doubt we will start the qualifiers with the usual starting 11. No Hoolahan, Pilkington, Robbie Brady, Ciaran Clark. All the usual dead weight Ward, McShame, Green, Whelan. Can we please get rid of this manager before he sets us back even further? He is a disgrace !
No comment.
Last time I checked even Senior team friendlies out-ranked any U-21 game. I think we all know it’s going to be the same old story for the WC. I’m losing interest in Irish football fast.
Shame, I was expecting alot more from Trap.
You would think after four years that I would learn not to.
Wilson good but getting annoying now that’ clark isn’t in the team and hoolhan and pilkiton and leon best should be in …. Mc Shane like wake up he is dirt !!!
absolute disgrace.green,mcshane,treacy,keogh?realy?this syurely cannot be our ‘future’ and if it is wev not much 2 look forward to.positive that wilson,mccarthy and coleman are involved wilsons a beter lb than ward.where the hell is clark?brady?dare i say it stephen ireland?and even stokes?seriously trap its obvious u dont watch our players and dont give a flying f### about the fans.tarp out
We’ll have few bad results in friendlies and WC qualifiers and he’ll be gone. He’s fast losing support from players and fans alike. These team selections are a joke without hoolahan, Ireland, stokes etc. I’m not even going to mention tactics.
Sadly, by the time he’s gone we’ll be unable to qualify for the WC due to games lost. Traps final F you to the Ireland team.
I hope he dies. You can edit that out if it’s in bad taste. At the least, I hope he gets very sick.
What the hell were the FAI at giving him a new contract after the Estonia win?
4 years of this shite. It would make a person suicidal.
Hoolahan, Ireland, McCarthy, McClean, Coleman, Long, Clark, Pilkington, Stokes, Gibson, Fahey
Those are probably our 11 most talented players and not a single one of them has been given a chance. That isn’t a kneejerk exaggeration either. If I was exaggerating, I would call for Brady, Duffy, Meyler McCann, Hendrick and Cunningham’s inclusions. Frankly, they are still better than the players in the 23 man squad for Serbia though.
The baffling management isn’t limited to players who can pass the ball or score either. Stephen Kelly was probably our best defender last season and he barely plays. A plank would be more effective than John O’Shea at full back but he plays there anyways, despite being the best Irish centre half in the League last season.
Long and Pilkington score 16 goals between them last season yet dross like Cox and Walters get more chances to play.
I repeat. I hope he dies.
Should have stuck with “no comment”, Prop.
I wish this old dinosaur would piddle off
”In Trap we trust” my arse!
its just frustration to be a ireland fan at the moment we have real potential in wilson clark mcCarthy ireland gibson mcclean mcgeady(who might aswell be a used a defender under trap)coleman hoolahan long stokes brady hendrick ect but there not going to get a look in while traps still here we have the players to play good technical football but this dinosaur is stuck in the past why is he shunning ireland hoolahan and clark any manager in hes position would love to have players like that at there disposal every time trap names a team and i see the likes of o’dea green mcshane keogh cox ect it makes my blood boil were going backwards we might aswell give liam lawrence kevin kilbane and caleb folan a call i am done with trap i dont care if we draw with serbia and win against kazakhstan by the sink of or teeth because were just going to get destroyed against good teams like germany sweden austia ect
Cyprus 5-2 Ireland. That was the worsed moment of my supporting lifetime. I’d rather have complaints about player selections rather than results. I keep my faith. In Trapp I trust. He’s included McCarthy, McClean, Coleman. He can’t include the u21′s. I enjoyed the excitement of Ireland’s inclusion in the euros despite our demolition. For all we know he’s gonna start the Serbia game with a 4-3-3, as follows: Westwood, Ward, Josh, SSL, Kelly, Gibson, McCarthy, Whelan, Coleman, Long, McClean. Keep the faith and stop nitpicking. He’s been in the job a lot longer than any of us and is doing a f*** lot better than any of us. I have faith, I trust. CYBIG.
Jack Charlton and Mick McCarthy done a better job than Crapattoni. Brian Kerr didn’t do much worse. Steve Staunton was an aberration. Will people stop comparing him and Crapattoni. Anyone would look good in comparison to Staunton.
Crapattoni is too old to manage a football team. He didn’t have the energy to lead Ireland into a tournament, as proven with the clueless and linear tactics and substitutions and the Kevin Foley debacle.
He is too old to change, which is part of the job description. I don’t think any other manager anywhere would get away with what he does.He never goes to games, never watches players, refuses to call up players because he is too lazy and geriatric to integrate them into the team, calls up the same players (McShane, Green) for no reason other than he is too lazy and thick to identify better alternatives.
How can you justify calling up a League 1 player in Keith Treacy ahead of Wes Hoolahan, Stephen Ireland and Anthony Pilkington? You can’t.
He is fucking inept and we shouldn’t have to wait until we get hammered by Sweden and Germany to get rid of the old fart.
The bastard should have done the right thing and resigned after the Euros. The cheek of him to stay and then continue to take the piss by leaving out our best players and calling up people who have had dreadful seasons at the 1st, 2nd and 3rd tiers of English football (McShane, Green and Treacy). The cheek of him to say we don’t have the players to play in a 4-3-3. WE HAVE IRELAND, HOOLAHAN, PILKINGTON! Admit it Crap, you are just too lazy.
If you asked Crapattoni where Treacy played last season, he wouldn’t know. For all he knows, he didn’t finish the season at a League 1 team.
I hope he fucking dies.
Next person that says – ”In Trap I trust” – should be done away with. It is complete hogwash. McShane, Green, O’Dea, Keogh, Treacy, Randolph etc. you must be joking me. SICK OF IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Trap is afraid to push the boundaries. You have to remember the under 21 game is taking 3 players that would be trying to break into the team during the qualifying campaign. 4-2-3-1 is the new formation, but we have nobody to play that no.10 role. Ireland could, maybe McCarthy and Hoolahan is never gonna get a look in. Chris Hughton would the perfect man to lead us into this campaign… or Pep
“I hope he fucking dies.” How old are you, 15? You’ve completely lost perspective. Repeat after me: football is only a game.
I can’t believe people are so blase about what is going on. We had by far our worst International tournament ever on the back of a qualifying campaign where we picked up 3 points out of a possible 12 against the “good” teams. Although, since Russia got knocked out of the Euros by Greece (ironic), that is debatable.
People keep going on about Cyprus and Steve Staunton as if his ineptitude absolves Crapattoni from any blame for his ineptitude. Another Cyprus is coming.
Given, Dunne, O’Shea, Duff, Whelan, Andrews and Keane have largely been awful over the last year and are another a year older. Players can play badly and still get called up to play for the simple reason that Crapattoni knows who they are.
I feel sorry for Kelly, Coleman, Hoolahan, Ireland, McCarthy, Gibson, McClean and Long.
There isn’t another manager who would ignore those players and repeatedly call up McShane, Green and now Ward against all logic.
I didn’t watch the Italy game. I watched Spain v Croatia on the other channel. I won’t be watching the Serbia game and I don’t plan to watch another Ireland game under his management. And this is coming from a guy that used to take half days from work to watch friendlies. I think the Aviva will be empty for our home games and it will hit the FAI were it hurts. Trapattoni has only taken us backwards and if he had any honour he would have packed it in after the Italy game. We were the laughing stock of the Euros. The Yanks were all laughing at us over here. The Donkey Delaney should quit too. He’s been Irish football’s dictator for long enough.
Will see what happens with the first 2 games against Kazakhstan and Germany. If we are decimated, goodbye Trap. Ashame we would already be out of Brazil 2014 several years before it has even begun. I cannot figure out why Trap hates Hoolahan so much. Treacy and Green and McShane in the team before Hoolahan or Pilkington? Unjustifiable. Maybe Trap has gone senile, or maybe he distrusts any Irish player who is creative because he looks down on the abilities of Irish footballers in general. We clearly need a creative playmaker as the fulcrum of our attack, and an end to the 4-4-2. But Trap refuses thus far.
IrishRI, I agree with you on Delaney. What a clown he is. Throughout Euro 2012, he was constantly observed in various states of dishevelment, due to being on the piss. No way for the chairman of a national football organization to behave. It’s one thing to celebrate if we had won a few games, but we lost all three, and we were the worst team ever in the Euros since the tournament began. We were even dominated by Hungary in the warm up game. We were shocking. Delaney is emblamatic of the FAI culture that Roy Keane despises so much – the frequently inebriated, happy go lucky Irish who are just happy to be there, no matter what happens.
Irish fans are a source of amusement and bewilderment to other nations. Go to a football tournament just to go on the piss and eye up the local women. Just happy to be there and have a good time. Regardless of the results on the pitch.
It’s crazy that Crapattoni is still in charge, really. Any other football organisation would hold Crapattoni accountable for what’s going on.
But sadly the Irish fans enable Crapattoni.
Go ahead taking the piss out of Roy Keane and Stephen Ireland and being blase about the obvious (to everyone else) talents of Wes Hoolahan while this asshole takes our country down the toilet.
It’s clear from Crapattoni’s comments about John Giles, Roy Keane etc that he doesn’t have any respect for Ireland or our footballing history and doesn’t call up Hoolahan or Ireland or play McCarthy, McClean, Coleman and Long because he has no respect for Irish footballers and doesn’t believe we are capable of producing good footballers, so he plays donkeys like Glenn Whelan and Paul Green out of spite and stubborness.
Prop. I recall that the Pakistan Cricket Coach showed up dead in a hotel room under suspicious circumstances following their World Cup elimination to Ireland a few years back so if the same happens to Trap you may become a “person of interest” based on your comments..lol.
Seriously, can we not get some kind of online fans petition going to get rid of this guy? Maybe Ronan could set one up on here or on facebook or something. I’m sure it will go viral pretty quickly and might help to rid us of this scurge of a man.
I wish he would die or simply become incapacitated in some way. Doesn’t mean I want to kill him. Nothing wrong with wishing death on someone. Ain’t going to happen anyway.
I have problems in my private life. Football is a source of escape for me, just like music or video games are for other people.
I take great pleasure in seeing my country play the best players to the best of their ability and achieving results that they are capable of.
I receive great pain when my country don’t play the best players, don’t play to the best of their ability and don’t achieve good results.
Sadly a lot of the blame has to fall on the shoulders of this despicable, miserly, senile old man.
He has fallen out with several players including McCarthy, Wilson, Andy Reid, Steven Reid, Kevin Foley and others to the detriment of the well being of the team.
Players like Shay Given, Kevin Kilbane (for too long), John O’Shea, Glenn Whelan, Keith Andrews, Aiden McGeady and Robbie Keane are undroppable, regardless of form.
Paul McShane, Paul Green and Keith Treacy are inexplicably called up regardless of club form and fitness, while proven Premier League players ie. Hoolahan, Pilkington and Ireland are stubbornly and spitefully ignored.
He calls up Coleman, Gibson and McClean with absolutely no intention whatsoever of playing them. This is plainly the reason why McCarthy didn’t want to travel and I do not blame him.
We are stuck with 4-4-2 which isn’t working under the pretense that we don’t have the players to adapt or threaten to score in a 4-3-3 which is plainly untrue (Ireland, Hoolahan, Pilkington, McClean, Coleman, Andy Reid). He refuses to experiment with a 4-3-3, despite myriad opportunities (5 (5) successive friendlies in summer 2011. The only time we played a 4-3-3 against Uruguay, he deliberately played someone (McCarthy) in an unfamiliar role to “prove” that Ireland cannot play this system. Again, proven plainfully untrue as a makeshift team played well against one of the best teams in the world and lost 2-3.
He has been proven tactically inept time and time again. Long scores against Bosnia and is then ignored. Doyle plays well and is dropped. Cox and Walters are ineffective and play (the latter out of position at the expense of McClean).
Attendances at home are a joke.
He is constantly condescending, undermining and downright insulting in his attitude towards past and present Irish players.
He regularly took the piss out of his own team when corresponding with the Italian media.
He clearly didn’t have the energy to cope in the heat in Italy and Poland for 30 days and lead his charges properly.
He has no scruples as proven by his refusal to stand down and holding the FAI to ransom after the Estonia win by threatening to dishonour his contract and manage another International team to oblivion. Good foresight on his part, seeing as he knew his performance in Poland wouldn’t EARN him a new contract.
He steadfastly refuses to go to matches.
Need I go on?
I want him out. As soon as possible.
Other people should feel the same way.
Well put. I pretty much agree with everything you just said and I imagine that any other Irish fan who knows anything about the game does too.
I’ve tried desperately to give him the benefit of the doubt, tried to give him a second, third, fourth chance. but enough is enough. I’m not enjoying the games i’m watching.
We’re not an amazing team by any stretch of the imagination, but we should not be the worst team to ever play in the euros!
Old Italian managers are redundant in modern football. Copello for England was exactly the same. pissed everyone off with ridiculous demands on grown men’s behaviour and then just buggered off and left in an arrogant hissey fit.
I like the idea of Chris houghton as manager. he seems to have a good head on his shoulders and people really respect him.
Prop and irishRI, I agree with with all that’s been said by you guys.
I feel bad wishing death on him. I didn’t mean that.
I DO NOT want him in charge of my country anymore.
Mick McCarthy, Chris Hughton, Brian McDermott, David O’Leary, Roy Keane or a high profile British manager (not a washed up has been like Terry Venables). That is the kind of person Ireland need to take us forward.
I don’t want to sound as if I am pre-empting anything but Crapattoni is 73 years old and has a recent history of health problems and senility associated with old age.
He needs to retire. He shouldn’t be in charge of any team whether it is a club side or national side.
Kevin Foley doesn’t want to play for his country. There have been high profile falling outs and instances of incredibly inept crossed lines of communication with various players (Joey O’Brien, Daryl Murphy, Andy Reid, Steven Reid, Liam Miller, Kevin Kilbane, Ian Harte, James McCarthy, Ciaran Clark, Marc Wilson, Darron Gibson). Our best performer Richard Dunne and even useless Glenn Whelan are known to be unhappy with his management (the latter won’t say too much though because Crapattoni is the only manager who would play him).
We had to worry about McCarthy declaring for Scotland. We had to worry about Wilson declaring for Northern Ireland. Now we have to worry about Clark declaring for England.
There has been no improvement in the performance, tactics or setup of the team. There has been no change in personnel ever since Crap took over, save for the equally inept Ward replacing Kilbane and at a stretch McGeady replacing Lawrence.
Our most talented footballers are bizarrely ignored (Wilson, Clark, Hoolahan, Pilkington, Ireland, McCarthy, Gibson, Coleman, Long) while Paul McShane and Paul Green are routinely called up despite haphazard performances.
He has really set us back big time.
The guy who replaces him will have his work cut out trying to fix this mess. I just wish we wouldn’t have to wait until we get humiliated against Germany, Sweden and Austria and maybe even Kazakhstan.
We haven’t beaten Italy, Bulgaria, France, Russia, Slovakia, Croatia, Spain and Italy again in 13 competitive games.
I would be surprised if we get any more than 2 or 3 points out of our 6 games against Germany, Sweden and Austria in this group.
Why isn’t there a clamour to get rid of Crapattoni? Even Staunton had us drawing with the Czechs and beating the Slovakians.
I’ll continue actually because I’m letting Crap off easily.
Under Staunton, Ireland lost narrowly to Germany. Under Crapattoni, Ireland were destroyed by Russia home and away and to the amusement of the footballing world somehow left Russia with a point.
Yes. Cyprus beat Ireland 5-2 and people use that as a stick to beat Staunton with but under Crapattoni, we have been outperformed by teams like Armenia and Macedonia.
Not to mention the fact that we were hammered by Croatia and Spain in the Euros.
All these things are very frustrating considering Greece knocked Russia out in the group stages at the Euros and Lithuania and Scotland lost narrowly to Spain in qualifying.
Even more frustrating when you consider the fact that whenever Ireland play to the best of their abilities, which never happens unless it is too late, we have proven that we can get better results. Uruguay performance. Playoff in Paris. Last 30 of Russia game in Dublin.
Look at the players who the team need. Pilkington has 8 goals in the League. Hoolahan scored 5 goals in the League and cup. Ireland has 4 in 6 for Ireland. Reid has 4 in 27 for Ireland. Long is our most prolific player. Stokes scores goals for fun in Scotland but has 1 appearance under Crapattoni (maybe because he plays in Scotland) yet League 1 players Treacy and Kilbane were called up.
What does Whelan do? Never scores for club and country. Is singlehandedly responsible for several goals conceded in friendlies and high profile games. Ditto Andrews. He played okay in Paris and the Euros but offered little to no creativity and fluffed his lines when the real chances did come. I hate to sound like a dick but even if Andrews plays well, it doesn’t mean Ireland play well.
Finally, what the fuck is the use in playing Walters and Cox. They are honest players but if Crapattoni is lamenting our lack of goal threat, why the fuck does he play them and leave out Long, Best and Stokes?
Prop – you are an utter moron
Prop is correct with the majority of what he is saying here. Trapattoni out! out! out! out!
Westwood
Randolph (maybe)
O’Shea (only as a cb or back up fb)
Kelly
St Ledger
O’Dea (maybe)
Wilson
McGeady
Gibson
Coleman
McCarthy
McClean
Doyle
Long
Cox (maybe)
Walters (maybe)
The only people who deserve to be in that squad on merit or logic.
Quite incredible that despite all logic and reason to the contrary, Crapattoni refuses to call up Hoolahan, Pilkington, Ireland, Clark and several others when the squad is crying out for added depth and strength, ESPECIALLY in the positions that such players are qualified in.
just dont see the logic in picking the likes of keogh green mcshane and even whelan as they just havnt offered anything and have been given more than enough chances.whats there to lose by playing hoolahan,pilkington,clark?etc.italy changed their tactics in one game for the euros so why does it take us 4 years according to trap?he shouldnt be in this job.hes goton us 2 the euros but did it the hard way.major tournaments and the selection of our best players should be the least we should aim for TRAP OUT
I’m with Choco. Prop you’re over exaggerating and it’s easy to turn an argument the desired way. I could just as easily say that neither Kerr nor Staunton brought us tournament football. At the very least he has done that. So let’s just imagine okay that we lose the first 3 qualifiers (won’t happen but imagine) and Delaney under pressure removes Trapp. He brings in (as you all desire) Christ Hughton. Chris, with no international managerial experience does his best to resserect the situation by changing formation to 4-3-3 and including more “talented” players I.e an example line up: Westwood, Cunningham, st.ledger, Clark, Kelly, McCarthy, hoolahan, Ireland, McClean, Long and Coleman. Now not only have we failed to qualify for the 2014 WQ but let’s say we’re handed a very tough draw for the 2016 euros. And we fall short again, who are you going to blame then? Wish death upon Hughton because we’re lacking the talent of yonder years? A lot of the aforementioned players have been included others can’t be included. Grow up and have a small bit of understanding. We don’t have the Brady’s, Keane’s, Giles, McGrath’s any more and that’s not Trappatoni’s fault. And it’s certainly not the fault of 4-4-2
Choco, You are the moron. Prop is 100% correct in everything that he said. The sad thing is despite all the damage Trap has done so far he will set us back even further in WC qualifying before he finally gets fired. Then the WC campaign will be lost and probably the Euro campaign after it while the new manager rebuilds the squad and repairs the damage done by Trap. So realistically the best we can hope for is to be competitive again come the 2016 World Cup by which time we will probably be a 4th or 5th seed for qualifying and will end up in a very tough group that we probably won’t get out of. So essentially the damage done by one manager can set an international team like Ireland back a generation.
TRAP OUT!
TRAP OUT!
TRAP OUT!
TRAP OUT!
2018 World Cup I meant. Ronan, why can’t we edit posts?
RI: It’s part of the anti-spam thing. Either that or it’s more effort than it’s worth to implement!
I feel it amazing how people can vindicate
Ireland losing all 3 matches with 1 goal scored and 9 conceded at the Championships.
Leaving out Hoolahan, Pilkington, Ireland, McCarthy, Gibson, McClean, Coleman, Long, Clark, Wilson – OUR BEST PERFORMING PLAYERS!!!
T(c)rapattoni lying about trying to coax Ireland out of retirement. Ireland has been receptive to coming out of retirement ever since Staunton left but T(c)rapattoni has ignored him just like all the other players with any imagination and skill.
T(c)rapattoni accusing Marc Wilson of doing something he didn’t do, refusing to apologise and leaving him out of the European Championships as a result.
T(c)rapattoni’s myriad pr disasters with dozens of past and present players, including Foley and Wilson.
The persistent call ups of Paul Green, despite his dangerous mistakes in every game he’s played in and the better alternatives available.
The bizarre call ups of players like Damien Delaney, Keith Treacy, Andy Keogh, Paul McShane… as if he is deliberately calling up poor players to spite the media and fans.
Calling up Darron Gibson, Seamus Coleman and James McClean with no intent of using them and instead bringing on Stephen Hunt and Paul Green, while these players get pissed off.
His blackmailing of the FAI
The players are uniformly unhappy with his management. He is only still in charge because the FAI gave him a new contract after our win against mighty Estonia in a kneejerk gesture after he threatened to walk out on his contract.
Why should we be happy? Not everyone just goes along for the Guinness, the prawn sandwiches, the tourism and the Polish women.
Question – Does anyone aside from England and Ireland play 4-4-2 anymore? I guess in certain limited tactical situations 4-4-2 still has its place, but I thought that most other European countries use different formations nowadays like 4-4-3 or 3-5-2.
England’s “4-4-2″ isn’t as lazy and rigid as Ireland’s 4-4-2. They are way more flexible and adaptable.
England also didn’t leave out players like Gerrard and Lampard at their peak and play people like Shaun Derry and Karl Henry, which is the equivalent of what the inept manager we have is doing by refusing to play Gibson, McCarthy, Ireland and Hoolahan.
Seriously, can you imagine Wales wilfully leaving out their equivalents of those kind of players? Players like Bale, Allen, Ramsey and Giggs.
Can you imagine Scotland wilfully leaving out Adam, Fletcher and Naismith? They would kill to have McCarthy!
Can you imagine Northern Ireland wilfully leaving out Davis, Lafferty and Brunt? They would kill to have Gibson and Wilson!
None of those teams are in a position to leave out talented players. What makes people think we are?
It’s mindboggling!
I have to agree with alot of what Prop and Nick are saying. While I have nothing against Trap personally, in fact as a person I quite admire and like the man. But he should go now, before he affects this teams development in the long run by continuing to alienate players. We are not world beaters but there are so many better options than some of the players he has picked. I mean Green, McShane, in fairness what is he thinking they can offer us???…… aswel we know what Keogh can do, Forde cant make the Millwall team at the end of last season, playing second fiddle to 40 year old Maik Taylor. O’Dea while I dont think hes half bad from what I have seen of him for Ireland he doesnt have a club and nobody seems to want him, that has to count for something. A few common sense changes would make the world of difference, Im sick of having to moan everytime he names a squad because of the glaring omissions, he never picks on club form. Lochlainn and Choco have not got a clue what they are on about, but everybody is entitled to there opinion.
It’s really not. Your completely exaggerating the talent of Gibson, Wilson and McCarthy. Firstly, stop saying he’s leaving out McCarthy because that’s untrue his father was ill, he refused to play. Secondly, when Gibson was in the squad people were complaining about him. He’s only as good as Andrews and Whelan. I would have loved to have seen him come on and pass Xavi off the pitch. But I’m no fool, he’s not good enough stop pretending like he is. Thirdly, Wilson? Wilson is, I agree, a better full back than either Ward or Kelly (not Josh). And, once again I would absolutely love to know how his inclusion would spark revolution. The players you’re mentioning are all average and the one’s that aren’t have been included: i.e McCarthy, Coleman, McClean. It’s absolutely foolish to complain to this degree and wish death on our manager because he left out players who are only ever so slightly better. WE DO NOT HAVE THE PLAYERS OF OLD. And I swear if one more person mentions Stephen England. Where were ye in 07? He’s a talentless brat that’s out of form for years he’s got no pride and should lose his Irish passport for being such an absolute lying tosspot. Have faith in our manager and our team. Just because he hadn’t picked a few players of the same/slightly better standard is no reason to act like this.
James McCarthy would have travelled to Poland if he had a snowballs chance in hell of playing. Crapattoni had no intention of using him, just like Gibson. Therefore, understandably enough, McCarthy preferred to stay home with his sick dad instead of being patronised by Crapattoni.
Paul Green has looked out of his depth every time he has played for Ireland. Glenn Whelan’s main requirement is to practically act as another line of defense and he fails at this, being the main culprit for several goals conceded in qualifying and numerous friendlies (Czech Republic). Yet somehow he is guaranteed his place in the team and doesn’t have to work for it or earn it. Keith Andrews is useless, was rejected by Blackburn and West Brom and is now back in the Championship.
Somehow these people deserve to be in the team ahead of ASTON VILLA FANS PLAYER OF THE SEASON Stephen Ireland WHO HAS MORE GOALS IN 6 APPEARANCES THAN ANDREWS AND WHELAN PUT TOGETHER.
Somehow these people deserve to be in the team ahead of Wes Hoolahan who hasn’t looked out of place against the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool, the same kind of quality opposition we were disgraced against in Poland.
Re Wilson: Wilson played at lb for Stoke who finished midtable. Ward played at lb for Wolves and look how that ended up.
McCarthy, Coleman and McClean have been included yes but Crapattoni clearly has no intention of using any of them. They all sit on the bench while Stephen Hunt, Paul Green, Simon Cox and Andy Keogh come on, to the bewilderment of everyone but Crapattoni.
As for Stephen IRELAND. He was a 22 year old kid with two children whose partner had a miscarriage. He handled the Slovakia fallout badly but stupidity isn’t a crime. GET OVER IT.
He wants to come back but Crapattoni inexplicably doesn’t want him and lied about trying to get him to come back to appease the gullable Irish fans and media.
Crap calls up Paul Green, Paul McShane, Andy Keogh and League 1 superstar Keith Treacy, leaves out Aston Villa player of the season Ireland, proven PL players Hoolahan and Pilkington and plays Walters and Cox ahead of the leading PL goalscorer Shane Long and all the sheep come out to defend him.
just on the Stepehn Ireland debate and the tossers calling him stephen england?firstly he was twenty f”cking one when the whole drama happened many 21 year olds tell lies to get out of work to go out on the piss,this lad told a pretty bad one the only difference was he was in the public eye and going back to two kids and a girlfriend who just lost a kid no 21 year old should have to deal with that.hes been tossed around by trap and has said hel wait for a phonecall afterall its trap who selects the team not stephen ireland who decides when he wants to be in so hes made that clear and trap hasnt showen an interest yet pick the REAL stepehn englands of this worrld IE.PAUL F##CKING PLASTIC PADDY GREEN.sure hes not what he used to be but hes still our best technical player available to us and is heads and shoulders ahead of whelan andrews and gibson in quality and at this point of time still a beter player then mccarthy although i rekon mccarthy will become a beter player.just bring him back ffs
This is a team of Ireland players that are out of favour/ignored/never given a chance by Crapattoni
Henderson (PL)
S. Reid (PL)
P. McCarthy (C) (Crystal Palace captain)
Clark (PL)
Wilson (PL)
Coleman (PL)
Ireland (PL)
McCarthy (PL)
McClean (PL)
Hoolahan (PL)
Stokes (SPL)
Bench
Randolph (SPL)
J. O’Brien (PL)
Pearce (PL)
Pilkington (PL)
McCann (C) (Burnley captain)
Brady (PL)
Sammon (PL) (same goalscoring record as Cox and Walters)
Not bad is it?
It is also worth mentioning that O’Shea is a cb not a fb yet has never played at cb for Ireland, yet Stephen Kelly has. Because for better or for worse, Sean St Ledger (who can’t get a game in the Championship) has a stranglehold on his place in the team (just like everyone else) regardless of form or fitness.
It is also worth mentioning that Stephen Kelly, Darron Gibson and Shane Long, who all had good seasons at club level were ignored at the European Championships.
prop id say that team would beat our 1st team
I have just went through a bad break up, had my heart ripped out, blah blah blah blah.
So, I met a guy I barely know and two girls in the nightclub on Friday night.
Anyways, I’m not good at reading signals but I think one of the girls liked me. We got to talking and I was too socially awkward to even try and gauge her interest but the guy later expressed surprise at my ineptitude and bewilderment that I didn’t close the deal and exclaimed “she was mad into you”. I also remember him encouraging me to sit next to her while I was enjoying my cigarette and me finally relenting, “setting me up”.
Anyways, it’s 4 days later but I finally built up the courage to stalk her on Facebook and ask her out to the cinema.
Now, I am too scared to go on Facebook because I don’t take rejection well.
What do you guys think? Have I missed my chance? Did I have no chance to begin with? Is it too weird/random? Will she be flattered?
Oh. TRAP OUT!
I think player selection is a big part of why I want trap out but I must say the main reason is the lack of any tactical effectiveness. He still manages the team like it’s 1984 and all you need to do is defend, and a goal will probably come (hence the lack any creative players in his teams) this is why we have less possession in games than far inferior teams teams than us and that shouldnt happen. I appreciate that Gibson is not much better than Andrews but he is better. I watched all the workout qualifiers and finals games and enough is enough. Seriously, can anybody here argue with his lack of tactics????? We are a better team than this.
Prop – don’t be an idiot, just go out with her if you like her. Worst case scenario she says sorry but no. Then just find someone else.
Prop. Just hope that she’s not a frequent visitor to the greenscene or she’ll have you pegged as a nut who is on the verge of going postal at any time so don’t take her to see Batman !
Maybe she had just had a few drinks in the club and fancied a shag.
I guess Ronan’s site is now doubling as a Dr. Ruth.
Cool! I’ve got some issues of my own I need some advise with.
people are forgotten CIARAN CLARK in my opinion hes better then any defender we have including dunne hes only 22 and despite injury and being played out of position last season he was fantastic he played 18 games last season and scored 2 goals(including a cracker against tottenham and a great solo goal against bristol) and he has 2 assists hes tall 6 ft 2 strong a great tackler has an eye for goal and hes a very good passer(he reminds off staution) hes was englands under 19s and 20s capitan for a reason hes country miles better then 27 year old championship defender st leadger and darren o’dea isn’t fit eoungh to clean hes boots. and stephen ward is a joke he belongs in the chapionship he should become a winger because he cant defend forever getting caught ot of position MARC WILSON hes youngish 24 he has grate tactical awareness hes tall 6 ft 2 has a great engine great trackler never caught out position and is a good passer miles better then ward i think gibson and mccharty in midfield would be grate both young premier league players gibson could play a more denfsive role and use hes long pass to feed the wingers and mccharty could be the attacking midfielder he has good vision good control on the ball and a good pass hes better then whelan anyway westwood,o’shea(or coleman)dunne(or duufy/gunning),clark,wilson,mcgeady,mccharty(or hoolahan),gibson,mcclean,stokes,long that would be my dreamteam and brady duffy stokes and hendricks on the bench
How exactly am I am “moron” IrishRI – what vindicates that?
And how do you figure this internet troll Prop to be 100% correct? A few comments that he has mentioned on this page alone which truly beggars basic understanding:
1. “I hope he dies”. What sort of comment is that to make about a person because he chooses not to have a few players in the squad?
2. “Jack Charlton and Mick McCarthy done a better job than Crapattoni”. Both managers had a far better nucleus of talented players. Jack Charlton’s team was probably the best Irish team that we ever had and if anything he probably under achieved with those resources. Mick only got us to one tournament, just like Trap. Although I did feel he was quite unfortunate not to get us to a few more. Trap has brought back some order to the Irish set up and brought our international seeding from the 40s back up to around 17th place.
3. “We had by far our worst International tournament ever on the back of a qualifying campaign”. Yes the tournament did not go as well as planned, but if you were asked before the tournament even started would you take a hammering to at least get to a major tournament I think the answer would have been a resounding yes as it had been 10 years since we qualified for a tournament and 24 years since we qualified for the Euros.
4. “Given, Dunne, O’Shea, Duff, Whelan, Andrews and Keane have largely been awful over the last year and are another a year older”. Given and Dunne almost single handedly got us to this tournament. They had some cracking games during the qualifying campaign, particularly against Russia.
5. “He has no scruples as proven by his refusal to stand down and holding the FAI to ransom after the Estonia win by threatening to dishonour his contract”. Do you have a reliable source on this comment?
6. Calling for David O’Leary to take up the national management job considering he hasn’t done anything worthwhile in about 6 years.
7. “Our best performer Richard Dunne and even useless Glenn Whelan are known to be unhappy with his management”. Do you have a reliable source on this comment?
8. Considering Clark and Coleman both had long injuries last year and only played 15 and 18 games respectively in the league I think it was fair enough for Trap to leave them out. Yes they both have talent but they both need to do it more consistently in the Premiership.
9. “We haven’t beaten Italy, Bulgaria, France, Russia, Slovakia, Croatia, Spain and Italy again”. We beat France 1-0 in Paris in 90 minutes and although it was only a friendly, we did beat Italy. Let it also be known that before this France game, we hadn’t competitively beaten a higher ranked team of any note away from home in a competitive match since the 80s and that was against Scotland.
10. “We were hammered by Spain in the Euros”. Well they are probably one of the greatest teams of all time so I see no shame in that.
11. “Stokes scores goals for fun in Scotland but has 1 appearance under Crapattoni (maybe because he plays in Scotland)”. Actually Stokes didn’t want to be considered for the national team and rejected a call up.
12. Long had a heart defect and was injured last season too. He was only really getting back to some good form prior to the tournament.
13. Your listing of the players who deserve to be in the squad on merit is so folly. Basically you just cut out all our experienced players in favour of youth.
14. “Leaving out Hoolahan, Pilkington, Ireland, McCarthy, Gibson, McClean, Coleman, Long, Clark, Wilson – OUR BEST PERFORMING PLAYERS”. I would hardly call them our best performing players, but yes a few of them did have good seasons.
15. “T(c)rapattoni lying about trying to coax Ireland out of retirement. Ireland has been receptive to coming out of retirement”. Both of them are at fault. Ireland is still toying with the idea but has never 100% committed to coming back to the fold.
16. “Aston Villa player of the season Ireland”. Villa had a terrible season without really any players shining through. Ireland still isn’t at the same level he had with City a few years back.
17. Yes it was unfortunate for Foley to be left out, but I understand where Trap was coming from. If injuries did occur in the centre of defense, then Trap would have been ridiculed for not having any additional cover.
18. “England also didn’t leave out players like Gerrard and Lampard at their peak”. Comparing our midfield to these two players is just silly and I hope McClean and Gibson haven’t already reached their peak.
19. “James McCarthy would have travelled to Poland if he had a snowballs chance in hell of playing”. His father had cancer and he wished to stay home with him, maybe his potential playing time did play on his mind.
20. “Re Wilson: Wilson played at lb for Stoke who finished midtable. Ward played at lb for Wolves and look how that ended up”. Irrelevant point. Scott Parker got player of the year the year before last with West Ham.
PROP OUT!!
1. I have eloquently explained several reasons why I want Crapattoni to resign and it’s asinine folly to simplify it by saying I want him out because he leaves out my favourite players.
2. “Terry Phelan”, “Phil Babb”, “Andy Townsend”, “John Sheridan”, “Tommy Coyne” – those are some of the players that played for us against Italy in 1994. It’s bullshit that Charlton had better players. Breen, Kilbane, Kinsella and Holland played against Spain in 2002. So it’s bullshit that McCarthy had a better pool of players as well.
3. We finished behind Russia. We finished ahead of Slovakia without beating them, largely because they lost 0-4 to Armenia. We then beat Estonia in the playoffs. Pretty safe to say we lucked out with that draw. Basically, we bumbled our way through.
4. Given was clearly not fit to play at the European Championships. Crapattoni played him anyway. A braver manager would have played Westwood. Dunne was awful at the Euros. He turns 33 in September and we have nobody in a position to replace him, because of Crapattoni’s complete lack of improvisation, versatility or experimentation in numerous friendlies.
5. He said if he was not given a new contract (by our broke organisation) before (and not after) his inept showing at the Euros, he had other options, basically threatening to walk out on his contract.
6. David O’Leary was a very good manager at club level, look at the job he done at Leeds. His main faults were his reckless spending in the transfer market. International managers don’t spend money on new signings, so that wouldn’t be a problem for us. Crapattoni hadn’t done anything in the 6 years before he was employed by us either. What’s your point?
7. Dunne and Whelan have both implicitly criticised his tactics. I don’t need to source it.
8. Paul McShane, Simon Cox and Sean St Ledger barely played all season either. Why were they called up?
9. We beat Italy in a friendly and we beat France over 90 minutes? Now you’re really clutching at straws! How did our competitive games against Italy go? How did the rest of that France game go?
10. This is the problem with Irish football “fans”. “We got hammered by Spain. So what? We had a good time!” Scotland lost to Spain by the odd goal in each of their competitive qualifying games. Maybe if Ireland had the same men-tal-i-ty as Scotland do, we could have pushed Spain all the way, instead of bending over backwards. Oh wait… Scotland actually play the best team available to them, instead of a team that fits a system that clearly isn’t working.
11. Where’s your source? Stokes does want to be considered. As soon as plastic paddy Jon Walters got called up, he was getting game time for Ireland. Stokes had been in the setup for several years longer and all he had to show for it was 5 minutes against Uruguay. He pulled out of a squad and Crap used it as an excuse to leave him out for good because he doesn’t like him. Walters similarly pulled out of a squad and Crap forgave him with no repercussions.
12. Walters and Cox have been crap all season. Long scored more goals than the both of them combined, scored against Bosnia, was playing regularly for West Brom and was left out.
13. I would play O’Shea and Dunne at cb to accomodate a proper rb. I would play Given only if he was FIT. I would drop Duff because we have better alternatives. Keane is a catch 22. As long as he is lingering around, we are probably never going to change our formation or figure out a way to incorporate Ireland, Hoolahan or the players we desperately need. He is our record goalscorer but Long has proven that he can score goals at this level (when given the chance) and if the completely ineffective Whelan and Andrews were dropped, the goalscoring burden would probably no longer fall on one aging player.
14. Eh they were our best performing players.
15. Ireland is only going to come back if he is made to feel wanted. The onus is on Crapattoni. Crapattoni clearly doesn’t want him. How obvious do you want Ireland to make his myriad hints?
16. Even when he is crap, Ireland is better than Whelan and Andrews. How can you knock being a clubs player of the year? You’ve found a way. Ask how many Stoke fans would have Whelan as their player of the year.
17. O’Dea and Kelly are centre backs according to Crapattoni. The whole thing was handled ineptly, just like Andy Reid, Steven Reid, Marc Wilson, Kevin Doyle and others. As James McClean said, “this is a shambles”. Darron Gibson was on the verge of walking out.
18. You are completely taking things out of context. I was not comparing Hoolahan, McCarthy and Ireland to Gerrard and Lampard. I was saying that England always play the best players available to them, just like Scotland (Adam and Fletcher), Wales (Bale, Ramsey and Bellamy) and Norn Iron (Davis and Brunt). We don’t. But keep manipulating what I say to suit your own agenda.
19. You agree then. If Crapattoni didn’t mismanage McCarthy, he would have travelled with the squad. But it’s better to be with your sick dad, rather than watch Green and Cox get on ahead of you and wind up upset like Hunt or McClean or on the verge of storming out like Gibson. Who would want to be stuck in a toxic atmosphere like that, in his situation?
20. Your point is irrelevant. Wilson was a more consistent player than Ward but was ignored because Crapattoni confused him with some other player.
Choco, you are obviously a gullible person who has been roped in and conned by Trapattoni. Prop is right and you are wrong plain and simple. Usually it’s Prop and I arguing against each other on here but you’ve taken being a sucker to a new level. Most of the points you made are silly and can easily be counter argued but I don’t have an hour to spare right now. I’m sure it was people like you who carried a drunk Delaney around over the heads and stood their for hours in the stadium singing and cheering the team even though we’d been hammered in every game and put up the single worst display in the history of Euros finals. Pathetic !
People said the fans were so loyal and admirable to continue singing and madly supporting the team as we shipped goal after goal and barely got into the oppostion half in any of the games except to loft a long ball 60 yards. I thought it was pathetic and an embarrassment.
It may be ingrained in the Irish psyche to accept mediocrity but here in the USA it is quite the opposite. Sure the USA team were heros here when they got knocked out of WC 2002 but they almost made the semis losing 1-0 on some dodgy calls to the Germans in the quarters when they were expected to not win a game also beating Portugal and Mexico on route. How the Irish team were serenaded as such in Poland is beyond me.
The new team being blooded should be a 4-2-3-1 formation.
……………WESTWOOD………….
KELLY……CLARK……..DUFFY……WILSON
………MCCARTHY…..GIBSON………
..MCGEADY(Brady).IRELAND…MCCLEAN
…………….LONG……………..
No players over 30 or even close except Kelly (28)…
All Premier league starters for decent clubs (plus McGeady)…
I’d just like to see a team/formation like this tried once in a friendly.
Westwood (Henderson)
Kelly (O’Brien) O’Shea (St Ledger) Dunne (McCarthy) Wilson (Cunningham)
McCarthy (Clark) Gibson (McCann)
McGeady (Coleman) Hoolahan (Ireland) McClean (Fahey)
Long (Doyle)
And we are led to believe that we don’t have the personnel….
Those are my 1st and second choice options and I don’t even have room for young Duffy, Pearce, Brady, Pilkington, Mason and Murray.
None of these guys are going to get a chance, just like McCarthy, Coleman and McClean have never been given a chanc.
While we are on the subject of disenfranchised young Irish players, Sean Scannell is being scouted by Northern Ireland.
I doubt the FAI can afford to let him go at this stage, so strap yourselves in it’s gonna be a long 2 years.
Prop. I absolutley agree with your back four to start the World Cup qualifiers but Clark and Duffy should be getting playing time at CB in friendlies for when Dunne and O’Shea retire probably after the WC campaign or if one or both of them get injured during the campaign. Now is the time to try them in friendly games at least for a half.
Hoolahan or Ireland is fine behind the striker or even Keane in that role in an emergency or if we need a goal late on. He’s still a good playmaker.
So bascially between all the players you and I both named we have a very good starting 11 with a back up player for every postion on the pitch. Now that’s strength, depth and what a squad should look like.
All the players (except Westwood) start for their clubs every week, play in those same positions for their clubs and play for decent teams.
It’s basically a no brainer but I’m starting to doubt whether Trapattoni has a fully functioning brain at this hour of his life.
It’s still a defensive formation with the back four and the two centre defensive midfielders along with McGeady and McClean tracking back as need.
It also give us four very good attacking players along with the wing backs joing the attack when needed.
I can guarantee you that team may not have gotten out of the group but would have played much nicer football, created a tonne more changes and possibly nicked a few points to boot.
Don’t tell me Trap that we don’t have the players because we do and plenty of them. It’s an insult to those of us who know about football, have been following the game out whole lives, watch our players play in the Premier League every single week (which is more than Trap does) for him to tell us we donn’t have the players or the talent to play to a better level.
He think he’s know all more about Irish football and the rest of us are all wrong. Well, he doesn’t.
With the right players and the right tactics, we could have finished first in that group.
Armenia beat Slovakia 4-0 for fuck sakes. Russia struggled against every team in our group, even Andorra. They didn’t sruggle against us. We gifted them the match in Lansdowne and we only got a point in Moscow because of an absolute aberration.
We accumulated 3 points out of a possible 12 against Russia and Slovakia. If we would have won 1 game and lost 3 playing good football against those teams, it would be worthit and we would have achieved the same goal.
2010 was a missed opportunity as well. Scotland played Italy when they were at their peak and only lost out to them because of bad luck.
We played a transitional Italy team at their most vulnerable and totally threw away 2 points against them at home. The real kicker was the 2 matches against Bulgaria though.
We made Radostin Kishishev look like Cafu.
The whole Crapattoni reign is just one big missed opportunity.
I am 100% with Choco, simple as.
“Simple as”. Exactly. If you gave the subject any thought, then you would come to the conclusion that Ireland would be better off with a new manager.
The FAI will learn when 500 people start showing up for the WC games.
Well here is the good news. She added me on Facebook.
Here’s the bad news. I still don’t know if she wants to go out with me, because I got one of my friends to tell me if she accepted my add.
One thing I know for certain is that if she let me down, she let me down gently, because she accepted my add!
I’m still too terrified to go on Facebook. I’ll have to do it sooner or later BUT IT’S EASIER SAID THAN DONE.
TRAP OUT!
cringe.
1. “I have eloquently explained several reasons why I want Crapattoni to resign”. This is not the point I was referring to – you wished him to die. Grow up will you.
2. You picked a selection of players from both teams who were not key members. Key players at 1994 were Denis Irwin, Kevin Moran, Paul McGrath, Ray Houghton, John Aldridge, Steve Staunton and key players in 2002 were Given, Roy Keane, Robbie Keane, Damien Duff, McAteer. These players were at their peak at the respective tournaments.
3. We were third seeds in our group for both the 2010 WC and 2012 European Cup. Both times we finished second so that would mean we did better then what we were expected to (no “bumbling” involved). Yes we got fortunate drawing Estonia but at the same time Estonia wanted to be drawn with us too.
4. “Given was clearly not fit to play at the European Championships. Crapattoni played him anyway”. Yes this did appear to be true and on reflection Westwood probably should have been picked instead. Also it’s hardly Trappotoni’s fault that there is nobody as good as Dunne to replace him with. It is up to the players themselves to up their own level of performance.
5. “He said if he was not given a new contract (by our broke organisation) before (and not after) his inept showing at the Euros, he had other options, basically threatening to walk out on his contract”. This isn’t threatening behavior. It was a wakeup call to the FAI saying that if you want to keep me then offer me a new contract. Managers constantly say this so as to guarantee themselves work. It’s hardly a threat.
6. “David O’Leary was a very good manager at club level, look at the job he done at Leeds”. David O’Leary was sacked from Leeds over 10 years ago. He had one good season with Villa guiding them to 6th, then 10th and then he got sacked. If he was so amazing then why did he go off to Al-Ahli, where he consequently also got sacked. Currently he is unemployed and I have seldom seen him linked to any credible jobs.
7. “Dunne and Whelan have both implicitly criticised his tactics. I don’t need to source it”. Yes you do otherwise you are just making it up.
8. “Paul McShane, Simon Cox and Sean St Ledger barely played all season either. Why were they called up?”. For some reason these players seem to fit into Traps mould. I may not be particularly mad on these players myself, but Trap has a certain fancy to them and believes they suit our system better. Bar St Ledger, neither of these players have been first choice players and are usually substitutes in the squad.
9. “We beat Italy in a friendly and we beat France over 90 minutes? Now you’re really clutching at straws! How did our competitive games against Italy go? How did the rest of that France game go?”. There is no clutching of straws. We played France twice. We lost 1-0 and we won 1-0. Unfortunately we got knocked out in injury time. Regarding Italy, we drew with them twice in the qualifiers and beat them in a friendly. We also drew with Bulgaria twice, lost and drew against Russia and drew twice against Slovakia
10. “This is the problem with Irish football fans. We got hammered by Spain. So what? We had a good time!”. I never said this. I was as disappointed about this result as the next Irish fan. And after the match I went home as I wasn’t in the mood to go out and party. And tbh that particular night in Gdansk, so did the majority of fans. Yes there were still people going out and boozing but that wasn’t the mood for all Irish fans. And the reason why we were singing was to illustrate that although you beat us on the night, you cannot beat our spirits and we will continue to do our best and continue to fight. And yes there is the possibility of Spain thumping us every time in the future but I don’t see that as an excuse not to follow your team.
11. “Where’s your source? Stokes does want to be considered”. Source is on Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Stokes). Hardly the most credible but you get the point. It says that he withdrew because he was tired. It is obvious that Trap is a stubborn person and he has a history of dropping players who have pulled out of the squad for pitiful reasons like this. Stokes knew the possible ramifications of his actions.
12. “Walters and Cox have been crap all season. Long scored more goals than the both of them combined, scored against Bosnia, was playing regularly for West Brom and was left out”. I think Long should have received more game time, but alongside Walters. Keane didn’t have a good tournament and when both Walters and Long did come on against Italy they definitely changed the tempo.
13. Oringally you didn’t state for both those players to play in the centre. But yes I believe Dunne and O’Shea would have been the better choice partnership and I am not fully sure why they don’t play alongside each other. But Trap likes St Ledger in the centre.
14. “Eh they were our best performing players”. No they aren’t. Not one of those players has had more than one consistently good season playing at the top level. Sporadically yes they have had good games but they are not solid enough yet.
15. Ireland never once said 100% he wanted to come back. He said it was an option and he was interested. Furthermore it has been his girlfriend sprouting a lot of stuff to the press.
16. “Even when he is crap, Ireland is better than Whelan and Andrews. How can you knock being a clubs player of the year? You’ve found a way. Ask how many Stoke fans would have Whelan as their player of the year”. Maybe the question you should really be asking is why can’t Ireland improve his game by putting in the hard work and putting his foot in more. As a result he would be a definite starter (but as I said he also has to state he want to come back to the fold). For example Joe Cole is a similar sort of player to Ireland in that is more flashy and as a result he didn’t get as many caps as his talent probably deserved.
17. “As James McClean said, “this is a shambles”. Darron Gibson was on the verge of walking out.”. Once again where are these sources-you making up stuff again?
18. We don’t leave out our key players. We consistently play them (Given, Dunne, O’Shea, Keane and Duff). These players are the backbone of the Irish set up for a number of years and without them there is not a chance we would have qualified for the last tournament. The players you mentioned like Gibson, McCarthy and Hoolahan still have to prove themselves on a more regular basis and prove that they should be the future backbone of the Irish team.
19. “You agree then. If Crapattoni didn’t mismanage McCarthy, he would have travelled with the squad” I think it is poor taste to say the only reason I wouldn’t want to be with my dying father would be because I might not get much game time for my country.
20. “Your point is irrelevant. Wilson was a more consistent player than Ward but was ignored because Crapattoni confused him with some other player.”. My point is still valid. You led on the belief that Wilson was a better player because his team did not get relegated. That is a silly point to make.
We managed to get to a tournament when a lot of other countries like Turkey, Switzerland and Belgium didnt manage to get there. None of our players play for any of the top clubs in England. The highest team in which we have players playing with was Everton. Gibson finally has a chance to shine but Duffy and Coleman are hardly first choise players. When compared to some of the nations above, they have players with Real Madrid, Chelsea, Juventus, Manc City, Bayern Munich etc. And these players are commanding figures in excess of at least 10million. We might have 2 or 3 if lucky. Also we weren’t the worst nation of all time to compete in the Euros (we jointly hold that record!). The fans sang in Poland because we supported our country and wanted to show our loyal support even when things didn’t go our way. When the plane landed for the squad back in Ireland after the tournament, i didn’t see a mob of supporters drunkingly cheering on our players. We knew things didn’t go our way so we’re just going to have to pull up our socks and get ready for the next tournament. Least a few of the younger players got a grasp of what a major tournament felt like and hopefully that will inspire them to reach their goal in future.
And Prop if she wanted to go out with you she could’ve made some move on you that particular night (she didn’t), she could’ve added you on facebook (she didn’t) and she could’ve said she’ll meet up with you again (she won’t). How aobut trying some online dating website where you don’t have to meet people and don’t have to live in fear about rejection during your pathetic lonely life.
I am comfortable discussing my sex life under a pseudonym, comfortable in my anonymity behind a keyboard, Nick.
Prop out!
But it’s up to a man to make the move, not the woman, and I chose not to make a move, Choco.
But she did add me on Facebook, Choco.
But there is every chance she will want to see me again, because she was quote verbatim “mad into me”, Choco.
Why are you so angry, Choco? What do you have against me, Choco? I have never insulted you once, Choco.
Allow me to be an armchair psychologist and posit that it is you that has a pathetic and lonely existence and you are projecting the way you feel about yourself onto a stranger you don’t know on a soccer forum.
Get help, Choco.
@ Imbecile… I mean Choco
2. Kevin Moran was not a key player in 1994 (proving that you don’t have a clue what you’re talking about) and Roy Keane didn’t play in 2002 (proving again that you don’t know what you’re taking about).
3. We finished above Bulgaria because of the minnows results against them not by our own doing, hence “bumbling” and we finished above Slovakia in spite of our results against them, again hence “bumbling”.
5. So you agree? Grand then.
6. How old are you? 10? He got a young Leeds team into the Champions League and the top 4 of the Premiership. Imagine what he could do with McClean, McCarthy, Pilkington and Brady. Contrast that with how Crapattoni is alienating our best young players.
7. In a post match interview after the home Russia game, Dunne criticised Crapattoni. McClean called Euro 2012 preparations a “shambles”. Practically nobody in the squad is happy under his stewardship.
8. McShane who is injured/crap all season in the Championship is ahead of Wilson who plays consistently all season in the Premiership. Cox who played about 8 games all season played lm ahead of McClean and was used more than Long, who was ahead of him at his own club.
9. Yes. You proved my point. We lost and drew with France, you moron. The second game lasted 120 minutes, not 90 minutes. We beat Italy in a FRIENDLY. We couldn’t beat any team seeded above us, yet Armenia could beat Slovakia 4-0.
11. You haven’t explained to me the difference between Walters dropping out of a squad for the same reason and receiving no punishment, you haven’t sourced how Stokes is in a self-imposed exile.
12. Walters couldn’t score if his life depended on it. He can’t pass. He can’t cross. All he is good at is occupying defenders. Keane is record goalscorer.
14. Hoolahan, Pilkington, McCarthy and Gibson all had better seasons than Whelan and Andrews. Whelan and Andrews have been proven time and time again, not to be up to this level of football, hence why Andrews is back in the Championship.
15. How obvious do you want his hints to be, you idiot? Do you want him to kiss Crapattoni’s ass?
16. Ireland imposes himself on games just as much as Whelan and Andrews. I’m beginning to wonder if you even watch football.
18. They haven’t been given a chance, you simpleton! That’s my whole point!
19. Twisting what I said to suit your harebrained agenda.
20. Again, beginning to doubt that you watch football.
Blah blah blah. At least we were there. Ah sure we had a grand auld time. Blah blah blah.
TRAP OUT!
Choc,
You have to admit that Trap’s failure to even consider alternative formations/tactics after several poor performances during the past 2 qualifying campaigns (draws against Montenegro, Bulgaria, slovakia, embarrassed by Russia, never maintaining possession in any games) and an embarrassing showing in the EUROs, absolutely justifies fans like Prop and Irish position on the issue.
You could very easily make the case that, although Trap insists “we do not have the players to play anything besides a 4-4-2,” the premier league quality players we have at our disposal suggest playing a 4-2-3-1 as Prop and Irish illustrated! All of our best players (including alot of young talent) playing in positions they can most effectivly make use of their abilities in while they play in week in and out in the toughest league in the world. These are players who can put the ball on the ground and play. The formation is also intrinsically defensive (with the two CDMs) so you would think it would have Trap’s approval. For some reason Trap has never even explored this possibility aside from the Uruguay game we lost 3-2 which he then used it as an example of why he never experiments with formations. WE LOST 3-2 TO A GREAT TEAM. I’d take that over the hammering we experienced in Poland any day. However, Trap continues to pick limited, albeit hardworking, players and expects to grind out results with a formation that best suites their limited abilities. THe tactics and players brought in almost seem reminiscent of what Wolves were trying to do and we saw how getting beat down and running your butt off worked for them this season.
At the end of the day, poor player selection, inability to at least TRY different tactics, and an embarrassing tourny: this is why we are justified in AT LEAST questioning traps position.
Also to Prop and Choco: I believe we are all passionate fans here and you both have well informed and legitimate opinions. No reason to make personal insults.
Glenn Whelan and Keith Andrews provide absolutely no attacking threat. They provide absolutely no creativity. They have proven time and time again, to provide inadequate cover for their defence, hence why we are under the cosh for 90 minutes and overran in midfield in every game. This has been a harsh reality whenever we play a big team such as Russia, Croatia, Spain and Italy. They can’t even assert themselves against teams like Slovakia and Armenia. Don’t get me started on Paul Green. He is a liability waiting to happen every minute he’s on the pitch.
So why are they guaranteed their place in the team? Granted, it isn’t their fault Crapattoni plays them in a rigid 4-4-2 when every other team plays a variation of 4-3-3.
I really don’t see the logic in continuing with these players and this system. I really don’t. Maybe it’s all because Crapattoni is scared to drop to Keane. Then again, maybe he doesn’t want to drop Doyle either. Maybe he doesn’t want to drop any player unless it’s enforced (Kilbane was approaching 34 when he was dropped and even that was after an injury) and Andrews was replaced by the inept Green (after an injury).
But he is paid to make brave decisions and his unwillingness to drop Given, Dunne, Duff, O’Shea and Keane, regardless of the benefits to the team is disgraceful.
He just doesn’t have the energy to change players or change the system. He’s a dinosaur (figuratively and literally).
The one time we played 4-3-3 against Uruguay, we lost 2-3, which is no disgrace against one of the best teams in the world.
Long and Fahey scored in that game and barely played since. McCarthy was played out of position, where Hoolahan or Ireland should have played and Crapattoni has left him out ever since.
Whelan has been at fault for several goals in competitive and friendly games over the years but he will never be dropped. The mistakes he makes are the things that should be the bread and butter for someone of his ahem basic qualities, falling asleep and losing players at set-pieces with his inattentiveness, bad marking….
Even if Hoolahan or Ireland played in his defensive position, they wouldn’t do much worse than him. McCarthy, Gibson and Fahey are more than good enough to play there and it is a lie to say that we don’t have the players to play in a 4-3-3 when Hoolahan is playing at a higher/better level than Whelan and Andrews and Ireland is receptive to coming back.
Even Liam Lawrence would do a better job than Whelan and Andrews in the centre, because he could provide a better range of passing and physicality than both Whelan and Andrews (who simply don’t have the physiques to be effective at their jobs).
Crapattoni is just doing a useless job. McShane, Treacy, Green and Keogh in. No Hoolahan, Pilkington or Ireland. McClean, Coleman and Long will continue to be ignored. Nothing new, nothing learned. More harsh lessons coming up against Germany and Sweden.
Depressing. CRAP. OUT.
spot on prop realy is time for trap to do the respectfull thing and step aside.i blame the fai more then anything as they havnt encouraged him or scouts to persue the likes of ireland,hoolahan,clark etc or forced him to do the job properly and go and watch matches.hes oblivious to players and obnly picks what he knows etc kleogh mcshane green even though to anybody farmiler with irish players knows that none of them should get a sniff of the green jersey.id rather a beter technicall player that ‘dosnt fit the system’ like hoolahan or ireland play the holding roles rather than whelan or andrews,firstly because whelan and andrews dont provide the cover they are ther for so it wouldnt make a difference if they were left out and who was playing there and secondly because theres a great need for creativity in the midfield.people go on about whelan and andrews running their hearts out but thats all useless if there offering nothing on the ball and if they are not putting in tackles sure they mite aswell just do cross country!its simple whats wrong at the moment the system and the personell,by changing these two things trap will find hios job alot easier and will become a much more popular man amongst the fans and players alike
Stop posting about your personal life, just keep badmouthing Trap like a raving lunatic, you’re better at that.
If I was like a raving lunatic, I would be talkn lyk dis in txt speak and not using proper grammar and failing to put across my points for despising Crapattoni and just ranting and raving.
I have eloquently outlined why I am in favour of Crapattoni either being sacked or doing the honourable thing and resigning.
Nobody wants to see the same halfhearted, inept performances with the same limited and borderline inept players. Nobody wants to see us get embarrassed against Germany and Sweden, not that I think we’ll have to even wait that long to get embarrassed.
This has the feel of a really LONG and ARDUOUS campaign. Technically gifted players like Hoolahan and Ireland are being left out, at what should be their peak. We have a plethora of young players like McClean, McCarthy, Coleman, Wilson, Clark, Pilkington, Mason and Murray who will all be in their mid to late 20s before they get any meaningful international experience. Not to mention the fact that Kelly, Gibson, Fahey and Long are no more than squad players, yet Paul Green and Simon Cox play regularly.
Too many veterans will stay on for one too many campaigns.
It’s just the same old, same old. Way too predictable. Every team wants to play us from Faroe Islands to France because they know exactly what dross they’ll be up against.
Crapattoni will be gone by the end of this campaign but the damage has been done and it might be irreparable.
Pity the person that has to pick up the pieces.
Apologies regarding my insults. I regretted it as soon as i posted it (damn Ronan and not allowing us to edit posts!!)
Team that will play Kazakhstan
Given; O’Shea, Dunne, St Ledger, Ward; Duff, Whelan, Green, McGeady; Keane, Doyle
So in the space of four and a half years, Ward replaces 35 year old Kilbane and McGeady ousts Lawrence.
Entering our third qualifying campaign and that’s the extent of the changes he’s made.
And judging by his reluctance to make any changes whatsoever during a qualifying campaign, it will be another two years before new blood like Clark, Wilson, Mark O’Brien, Duffy, Coleman, McCann, McCarthy, Hendrick, Brady, McClean, Hoolahan, Pilkington, Mason, Murray, Stokes or Sammon will be a given a chance.
And you wonder why people will question why he earns so much…
Liam Brady and Mick McCarthy making salient points about the need for change.
“You’ve got to do it. You can’t drip feed them (in) like you’ve got 40 games a season. You’ve got one friendly before you are back into football.” – Mick McCarthy
The way Crapattoni is going, Given, O’Shea, Dunne, Duff and Keane will be playing into their 40s and Crapattoni will still be spouting the same tired rhetoric before the World Cup 2022 qualifying campaign.
“We can-not eh change BANG BANG BANG like this. Given, Duff and eh Keane have men-tal-i-ty. Coleman, McClean and Brady too young, too young. We can-not put ponies onto a racecourse BANG BANG BANG. Dunne and O’Shea have so-lid-i-ty. We still know Hoolahan and Pilkington. We still know. We remember Lee Carsley, Kevin Kilbane and Graham Kavanagh too. We have good team, good team, solid team. Can’t change, no time. Green, McShane and Treacy. They good players. Roy Keane, John Giles and Mick McCarthy? Who they? What they accomplish in career? Everybody in Italy tells me that I do good job. Ireland same as Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. I stay in job. Payrise maybe. Other teams want me. I say I rather manage Ireland into the ground. Men-tal-i-ty.”
Jesus, what happened to this place? Is there any way to stop every comment section turning into a sh*t show?
John: I’m on holidays at the moment. Thus the lack of posts and the complete lack of moderation. I hope it hasn’t gotten too out of hand.
I’ll get things back on track when I return!
So, what do we think the line up and formation for this friendly will be, anyone.
Sorry to say but I won’t watch a single other Ireland match while Trap is in charge. It’s a pity because we have a talented group of players available that would make a damn good side of Premier League regulars that go ignored. I think the only way the fans can get through to the FAI and Donkey Delaney is to boycott the team.
81 comments baby!
http://www.soccer-ireland.com/irish-football-history/dublin-dons.htm
Anyone remember this?
Yes, What about it?
Robbie Brady has been playing left back for Man United in their pre-season tour and by all accounts will start the season as the back up LB to Evra. Now if he’s good enough according to Ferguson to play LB for Man United then why is he not good enough for Ireland. Surely he’d be better than Ward. Conor Henderson also needs to be given a look in. He will probably break into the Arsenal team this year. We don’t have any players playing for top five teams so these guys have to be pretty good.
@IrishRI
Don’t get me wrong because I would love to see Brady and Henderson figure for Man United and Arsenal this season, but it is highly unlikely. It is telling that there has been no interest in other PL teams for Brady and I would posit that he will end up back in the Championship on loan at some stage this season. It is a reach that he would get a chance, even as a back up fb this season for a team like Man United. As for Henderson, progress for him would be keeping fit and getting a loan move to a Championship team. The lad has next to no experience whatsoever outside of youth and reserve team football. Frankly, I would be surprised if he even figures in the Carling Cup. Wenger hasn’t mentioned him when he talks about players who could make the breakthrough at The Emirates this season.
It is really embarrassing at this stage, how there are no Irish players in or near the first team in a top 5 side anymore. It’s all the more embarrassing when you consider that Neil Taylor and Joe Allen are linked with top 5 teams and Gareth Bale, Ryan Giggs, Aaron Ramsey, Craig Bellamy, Charlie Adam and Darren Fletcher all feature regularly for their teams.
Then there are a dozen Welsh and Scottish players at Rangers and Celtic. Allan McGregor has signed for Turkish giants Besiktas. There are a plethora of talented Scottish players being signed by decent PL teams, like Whittaker, Naismith and Snodgrass.
How are Wales and Scotland able to produce so many better players than Ireland? I hate to say it but Wales and Scotland will be better than Ireland soon.
Ireland’s lack of goalscoring threat according to Crapattoni.
Long – 37 goals for club and country over the last 2 seasons, yet Simon Cox who netted 11 goals (1 in 37 PL appearances) and Jon Walters who netted 24 goals (take away the penalties and Robert Huth scores more goals) and Kevin Doyle (not to take away what he brings to the team) all play ahead of him.
McClean – 5 goals in 23 games for Sunderland and Cox is preferred to play out of position.
Hoolahan – 15 goals over the last 2 seasons from midfield. Approximately 25 assists. Player we are crying out for.
Ireland – 4 in 6 for his country. Scored for fun at City. Player of the year for Villa. Maturing on and off the pitch and wants to play for his country again. Set to thrive under Lambert in the same way Hoolahan did at Norwich.
Pilkington – 8 goals in the League for Norwich, like Hoolahan, from midfield.
Jon Daly and Anthony Stokes score goals for fun in the SPL and have both impressed in Europe. We are not good enough to ignore players who play in the SPL and there are/were plenty of players who play an integral role for the Old Firm and their countries.
The answer for our lack of a goalscoring threat is explained simply by Whelan and Andrews presence in the team and the fact that Duff and McGeady have scored 1 goal between them since Crap’s reign began. Not to mention the fact that Doyle was sharper under Staunton.
A team that depends on Keane for goals (which he can’t score against big teams anymore). The answer isn’t as simple as playing him for that very reason. He needs to be dropped to accomodate a much needed change in formation and several other players will thrive.
Too obvious a solution for too lazy and old of a manager.
Why would he bother doing his job properly when the fans are too starstruck of his distant managerial past to criticise or question him and the FAI are so laughably inept?
Coincidentally, Dunne is out for 6-8 weeks because our doctors and managerial team were too busy sightseeing in Poland to do their jobs properly and assess/treat players.
F*** OFF TRAP.
F*** OFF TRAP.
F*** OFF TRAP.
F*** OFF TRAP.
F*** OFF TRAP.
F*** OFF TRAP.
F*** OFF TRAP.
F*** OFF TRAP.
F*** OFF TRAP.
We remember Hoolahan. We remember Ireland. We also remember Lee Carsley. They too young. They maybe no right personality. Paul Green has men-tal-i-ty. We no throw Coleman, McClean and Long into the action like feeding lambs to the lions. They may frighten. Whelan has men-tal-i-ty. We right now have right personality to take on Germany and Sweden. We have system. Green can be my Gattuso.
Dunne and St Ledger are out of the Kazakhstan game. Joey O’Brien has been called up as a replacement for the Serbia game.
With who’s left, I would imagine the team to play Serbia will look like this, pending further injuries/withdrawals.
Westwood
O’Shea
McShane
O’Dea
Ward
McGeady
Whelan
Green
McClean
Long
Walters
Here’s who I would pick (out of the available players).
Westwood
Kelly
O’Shea
O’Dea
Wilson
Coleman
McCarthy
Gibson
McClean
Long
Doyle
O’Brien is a decent replacement for St Ledger but he is predominantly a rb. I would call up O’Brien but I would also call up any of Ciaran Clark, Patrick McCarthy, Alex Pearce or Damien Delaney as well.
o’brien should be in ther ahead of mcshame in the first place as he can cover rb and cb and sometimes rw and cm and is far beter then mcshame BUT y the f### is ciaran clark not considered yet again?cmon trap
Ciaran Clark will probably start the season as first choice cb alongside Ron Vlaar. How we can afford to leave out someone of Clark’s ability, in light of Dunne and St Ledger’s injuries is astounding but then again, Pilkington, Hoolahan and Ireland have been perenially ignored as well.
I am very disturbed by the mere idea of Paul McShane or Stephen Kelly playing cb aganst Germany.
We need O’Shea’s experience at cb and Clark is the best option to partner him. They could be our future pairing at cb. O’Shea impressed at cb for Sunderland last season and as I said, Clark is likely to be playing cb for Aston Villa this season.
clark and o’shea should be the centre backs with o’brien at rb
Ciaran Clark will probably end up playing for England at this rate and who would blame him?
TRAP OUT!
TRAP OUT!
TRAP OUT!
TRAP OUT!
TRAP OUT!
ciaran clark must be rageing with the likes of st ledger o’dea mcshane o’Brien all ahead of him this is a perfect time to get clark in the team hes started cb for villa in all pre season games and lambert said hes will play at cb this season st ledger is extremely average in my opinion hes a championship player hes 27 years old so hes pretty much in hes prime why does no epl teams want him? and jesus christ o’dea is one wrost players to put on a green shirt hes way out of hes debt celtic didn’t want him LEEDS didn’t want him now he joins robbie keane in the micky mouse msl with toronto fc he not even good enough for galaxy or redbulls. mcshane 26 years old cant a game for hull not good enough.o’brein to be fair hes better then o’dea and mcshane but hes not good enough hes not the way ford players like clark duffy gunning mark o’brien and pierce sweeney are. our back four for serbia should be rb kelly cb o’shea cb wilson lb ward and clark should be in the team what has crapattoni got against him? clarks only 22 he plays in the pl he was linked with manchester united and arsenal at one stage already at 22 hes better then st ledger o’dea mcshane hes probably going take dunnes place at villa clark was anminal last season and he was played out of position he reminds me of staunton or cahill actually even gary chaill wasn’t as good as clark when he was 22 clark has a eye for goal (scored good goals against chelsea 2 good goals against arsenal a cracker against tottenham fantastic solo goal against brstol in the fa cup)hes a aerial treat hes tall 6 ft 2 has strength great tackler good passer for a defender but trap picks o’dea and mcshane? we could of giving reading player of the year alex pearce a call or dose crapattoni even now hes eligible and want to play for us GET CRAP OUT!!!!!
prop is talking sense i cant believe theres some people on here sticking up for crap so what if he got us to the euro by the skin of our teeth he got use destroyed and humiliated with hes out of date tactics and philosophy on the game he had players like ward st ledger green o’dea in the team when it should of being coleman wilson clark gibson long stokes if any other sane manager got us to the euro the team would of probably toped the qualifying group and the euro team porbaly would of looked like these westwood,kelly,o’shea/dunne,clark,wilson,mcclean,mccharty,gibson,mcgeady,long,stokes, hoolahan and coleman would of atleast got named in the squad for the euros GET CRAP OUT
Johnny, “we would have topped our euro group”? With the group of players you named out? You son, have not been watching football over the past ten years have you? Are you blind? Just to let you know – I presume you didn’t watch the euros – but uhhhh…Spain would have topped any group, anywhere.
@ Lochlainn
Johnny said that Ireland could/should have topped the Euro 2012 Qualifying group, NOT the Euro 2012 group. I don’t think anybody expected Ireland to finish above Spain. I don’t think anybody expected Ireland to implode so spectacularly either, putting in 4 absolutely soulless and embarrassing performances dating back to the Hungary friendly. Especially when you factor in how teams like Lithuania and Scotland could get decent results against Spain in qualifying.
Keith Treacy (turfed out of Burnley and spent time on loan in League 1).
Paul Green (has been dreadful and looked totally out of place in every game he’s played for Ireland since the Autumn of 2010, almost singlehandedly costing us the crucial Armenia game in Yerevan).
Glenn Whelan and Keith Andrews (have proven time and time again to be limited players who are incapable of lifting the team to another level or asserting themselves in any way that doesn’t involve running after other midfielders like indisciplined headless chickens).
Paul McShane (God love him. He’s a character. But, he is a disaster of Paul Green proportions waiting to happen. Can’t get a game in the Championship).
Yet, in spite of all of this – Hoolahan, Pilkington, Ireland and Clark are all playing every week in the Premiership and ignored. You have experienced leaders like Paddy McCarthy, Richard Keogh and Alex Pearce ignored to Paul McShane’s benefit. Coleman, McClean, Gibson, McCarthy and Long barely play, despite being proven Premier League players (recurring theme).
@Lochlainn i didn’t say ‘we would have topped our euro group’ i said ‘team would of probably toped the QUALIFYING group’ read my post agian. if we had a different manager that wasn’t senile and played good attacking football which we are well capable of doing with players like (clark,wilson,ireland,mcCarthy,gibson,mcclean,mcgeady,coleman,long,stokes ect) if they were in the squad for the qualifying campaign we could of toped the qualifying group instead of russia and of course we couldn’t of top our euro group not even with jose mourinho manageing us but we could of did a hell of better then we did i mean we got destroyed look at our strikers doyle had a bad season hes team got relegated he scored 4 goals in 35 odd games and robbie keane was playing in the msl. SHANE LONG on the other hand scored 9 goals in 33 games including goals against top teams like manchester united chelsea arsenal newcastle united ect and scored the winner goal in the bosina game a top manager picks players based on form like england picking and playing extremely talented alex oxlade-chamberlain in the euros he didn’t play 1 qualifying game but he got in the team and played extremely well and got more then 14 minutes like mcclean got and bringing on PAUL GREEN against spain was a disgrace with darron gibson siting on the bench i am surprised he didn’t quite international football like kevin foley did crap constantly picks old has been championship jounrneyman like green,o’dea,mcshane,st ledger,ward,andrews,walters,cox over the likes of in form young and promising premierleage players like wilson,clark,kelly,coleman,mcclean,nccharty,gibson,ireland,hoolahan,long,stokes player who play week in week out for there respected clubs in the best league in the world there use to playing against players like modric jelavic david silva fernando torres mario balotelli juan mata ect spain would of destroyed use regardless of what players we played but i think with the right players playing we could of drawn against croatia and italy and yes i went to the euros and unlike you i supported the boys proudly singing the fields of athenry with the rest of the REAL IRISH FANs while we were getting destroyed 3 times. GET CRAP OUT!!!
Apologies, I misread that. My bad. Sorry.
Unlike me? What are you talking about? You know nothing about me? I was there too? With the “real fans”? Stop making stupid remarks…
I am from Australia and can I say prop u r the funniest person I’ve ever read in my life I follow Ireland and everyone was laughing at how bad Ireland was being slaughtered and still Keith Andrews clapping like a spastic cause he is just happy he’s played its fcuking sick!!!!
TRAP OUT!
Let’s save our World Cup campaign.
I’d rather play nice football and miss out on the finals than play the shite we played in Euro qualifying, qualify and then get spanked in Brazil.
I would also rather see Ireland play “nice football” or rather, I would prefer not to see Ireland deliberately set out to play terrible football. I think a happy medium would be Ireland playing a 4-3-3 like pretty much every other International team and not being at a disadvantage right from kick off.
We struggle to beat teams like Armenia and Macedonia the way we play.
How anyone expects us to get even 1 point against Germany or to get a solitary win against proper teams like Austria and Sweden, playing the way we do, is really beyond me.
@Lochlainn You son, have not been watching football over the past ten years have you? Are you blind? I presume you didn’t watch the euros. i am someone who like many others worked long and hard to get enough money to travel to poland and watch our team get destroyed 3 times and still supported the boys so you made stupid remarks to me how can you support the crap regime? 99.9 percent of the fans in poland i talked to from all over ireland wants trap gone he made a holy show of use like prop said teams like scotland and lithuania can get better results against spian then use if we played a different team and formation we could be a very good team and qualify and do good in tournaments but as long as craps there were going nowhere i belive we wont qualify for wc 2014 which will be craps goodbye present to the ireland team. GET CRAP OUT!!!!
I hope no one shows up for the home World Cup qualifiers so that the FAI can get the message or else a few show up with TRAP OUT! banners. I watched Scotland play Spain twice. They gave them a hell of a game both times especially in Scotland where they deserved a draw. I watched China play Spain in their last game before the Euros when they fielded their first 11. The Chinese gave them some game and could have been 2 or 3 nil up in the first half. Spain ended up winning 1 – 0 with a last minute goal. Nothing is going to change for the WC. You just need to look at the players he has already called up and those he has not called up. It’s the same old crap. Not picking our best players and the ones he picks playing them out of position. I put our qualification for the Euros down sheer luck and our senior players determination to reach one more finals and them playing out of their skins and it has nothing to do with Traps tactics or management. In fact that only impeded us. We probably would have qualified much easier from that group with a different manager. This guy must go before he does more damage to our football.
@ Johnny no. 1 I already apologised for my tirade I misread your comment. No. 2 it is completely ridiculous to say you worked hard and saved up to go to Poland because so did I? (as I already told you) no. 3 yes it was a bad tournament yes it was heart wrenching yes we made a disgrace of ourselves and YES it was down to Trap’s tactics. However, I don’t feel it was down to team selection. We set out to play a certain way and the players bought into that system and it failed, yes. For the Serbia friendly next week all 4 veterans are out, and a clamour of the players people wanted to be involved at the euros are included i.e (Coleman, McClean, McCarthy, Hoolahan [briefly], O’Brien, Randolph). I think the fact that Hoolahan was included shows he is going to change tactics. I think we’ll play a 4-3-3 with McCarthy at the head of the diamond. I know that I for one will be at the Kazakstan qualifier because I already got my season ticket, because regardless of the results, tactics, manager or players I support the boys in green. Even if we’d never won an international match I’d still be there. I think it’s petty and fake not to support our team when the going gets tough and that includes boycotting matches because you don’t agree with the manager, or wishing death upon him…cannot wait for the Serbia friendly!
If nobody turned up for our matches, it would be a good thing because Trapattoni would have to go.
Benefits
Hoolahan, Pilkington, Ireland, Clark in on merit.
Green, McShane, Whelan, Andrews out on merit.
We change to the same formation as every other team in the world, we’re on a level playing field, no longer fighting an uphill battle before we step out on the pitch.
No more pr disasters ie. Foley, S. Reid, A. Reid, Wilson, McCarthy.
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