leighton
Well-Known Member
The days of Ireland getting to a major championships now are getting slimmer and slimmer as the games go by. Apart from Germany the group is going to the wire but what Ireland would once have is now long gone. Lansdowne Road aka Aviva Stadium used to be a fortress and no disrespect to the Scots and Poland Ireland would have enough to get results against these teams. Sadly this Irish team is lacking a lot a aging team and a manager who lacks a Plan B and C.
This team needs a complete overhauld from the bottom up. Irish under age football is shocking our Under age set up and league is dreadful. I look at the players coming in from the under 21s and the only 1s to make the step up are Robbie Brady and Jeff Hendrick but we need more fresh faces.
We will go into the World Cup quailifers would see Robbie Keane , Shay Given and John O Shea retire. Then add into the mix Wes Hoolihan , Glen Whelan and John Walters the team will be in major need of rebuilding. We should be able to replace Given with Westwood or Randolph. O Shea could well be replaced with Ciaran Clark. The midfield there is no one who will come in that will change it for the better. Up front Ireland are rightly screwed no strikers coming into the mix nothing its sad. Martin O Neill is the wrong man for this job. We need someone who will promote some young players and get more fresh blood into the team. I wouldnt mind if we were to miss out on the Euros in 2016 and the World Cup in 2018 but by 2020 I would hope we might have some players in the squad who could get us to that Euros.
While I look at the Welsh squad, Scotts and the Northern Irish squads and i see motivated players playing with pride and passion and competing which is all i ask from this Irish squad. The standard of players from all these squads aint much of a difference but the other squads have the players who want to go to the finals it seems.
This team needs a complete overhauld from the bottom up. Irish under age football is shocking our Under age set up and league is dreadful. I look at the players coming in from the under 21s and the only 1s to make the step up are Robbie Brady and Jeff Hendrick but we need more fresh faces.
We will go into the World Cup quailifers would see Robbie Keane , Shay Given and John O Shea retire. Then add into the mix Wes Hoolihan , Glen Whelan and John Walters the team will be in major need of rebuilding. We should be able to replace Given with Westwood or Randolph. O Shea could well be replaced with Ciaran Clark. The midfield there is no one who will come in that will change it for the better. Up front Ireland are rightly screwed no strikers coming into the mix nothing its sad. Martin O Neill is the wrong man for this job. We need someone who will promote some young players and get more fresh blood into the team. I wouldnt mind if we were to miss out on the Euros in 2016 and the World Cup in 2018 but by 2020 I would hope we might have some players in the squad who could get us to that Euros.
While I look at the Welsh squad, Scotts and the Northern Irish squads and i see motivated players playing with pride and passion and competing which is all i ask from this Irish squad. The standard of players from all these squads aint much of a difference but the other squads have the players who want to go to the finals it seems.