jayseven Posted November 5, 2013 Posted November 5, 2013 Not a spurs or arsenal fan. Clear intent with that elbow swing.
Charlie Posted November 5, 2013 Posted November 5, 2013 @Mokong - What do you make of O'Neill and Keane taking the realms of your national team?
Ramar Posted November 5, 2013 Author Posted November 5, 2013 Off to Dortmund in the early hours. 10 hours on a coach. Godspeed.
Mokong Posted November 5, 2013 Posted November 5, 2013 (edited) @Mokong - What do you make of O'Neill and Keane taking the realms of your national team? I was gonna wait till it was made official (who knows what could happen between now and Saturday) but since I was asked. When I first heard about it, initial thought was "that has to be joke" Now that I've had a few days to think on it and it's becoming reality I think it could turn out awesome.... yet also has the potential to implode At first I wasn't sure where the idea for Keane to be assistant manager came from. I mean he was of course in the running for the Managers job in his own right so how did he go from that to being 2nd in command. Was this some sort of strange idea the FAI had dreamed up? I just have visions of Keane wanting to do things his way instead of following Martins lead and the two of them would then have a massive falling out. But then I found out that Martin had actually requested for Roy to be the assistant manager which really surprised me. So with that in mind maybe the two of them had discussed between themselves already before telling the FAI and have some sort of understanding. So that gives me a lot of confidence now that they could be a great duo. On the actual footballing side of things. There is a friendly with Latvia on the 15th and Poland on the 19th I can't wait to see what their team selections will be. I'm not expecting a massive difference to what Trap was picking, but hoping there could be some suprises. I just hope I can watch those as RTE normally don't show friendlies and I don't have Sky Sports (who normally do) After that and moving forward I'd feel good about their man management and scouting of tracking of players. Much more than Trap, who didn't go to watch games with Irish players till he was told to by the FAI in the aftermath of the 6-1 loss to Germany. Also may the gods have mercy on the players that do have to face both those guys in training and half time speeches. I'm sure Martin himself can get pretty vocal but imagine ALSO having Roy Keane behind them.... man if those two are on the same page motivating players shouldn't be a problem I think their biggest early decision would be that of Robbie Keane. Not taking anything away from Robbie, he has been a fantastic servant to the country over the years. I mean 61 international goals (when the previous Irish record was 21) is amazing and he has my full respect. BUT he is in the twilight of his career which I've said before. He plays in the MLS and doesn't even try to go on loan to an English club in the MLS off-season anymore. I'm not saying he should be dropped totally. But I do think it is time he handed the captains armband to someone else and not to expect to start. Keep him as a sub for sure though. He'd prolly make a good impact sub for the next few years. In short I would have been happy with either of them as Manager, but to have the two of them, well that can only be awesome...right?...hopefully.........well so long as my fears of a bust up when Roy tries to over-rule Martin on something doesn't happen. Edited November 5, 2013 by Mokong
Jon Posted November 5, 2013 Posted November 5, 2013 I bet Robbie Keane isn't too happy. He's one of the them left from Roy Keane's shambles during the 2002 world cup, don't think he'd be too thrilled to work under him again. I don't agree with dropping Keane. Why exactly? if there's a better player then absolutely but there isn't. He still isn't that old and there isn't another Irish player with his ability in front of goal.
gmac Posted November 5, 2013 Posted November 5, 2013 Off to Dortmund in the early hours. 10 hours on a coach. Godspeed. enjoy, I'd love to go to the Westfalen someday, it looks absolutely amazing
Mokong Posted November 5, 2013 Posted November 5, 2013 I don't agree with dropping Keane. Why exactly? if there's a better player then absolutely but there isn't. He still isn't that old and there isn't another Irish player with his ability in front of goal. I don't think he has the pace anymore, and really don't think playing in the MLS is doing him any favours. If he were to tomorrow get signed by a Premiership Club (he;; I'd take Championship over MLS ) and get a regular start I'd re-evaluate my opinion for sure. But as is now I would prefer to see us starting with two of either Stokes, Long, Walters, Cox or Doyle (if we continue with two strikers) to move forward and hopefully develop a strike partnership that can take us forward not just for Euro 2016 Qualifying but also Russia 2018 and maybe Euro 2020 (though hopefully by then some new younger talent will have come through to provide more competition for places) Keane (33) would be lucky to to keep going for 2 more years (Euro 2016) but I certainly don't see him as a Ryan Giggs type to keep playing into his 40's and even he (Giggs) retired from internationals at what 33, 34? Again I don't think he should be dropped outright, keep him as backup as a sub... even he himself said as much that he'd have no problem starting on the bench if that's what the manager decided.
Jon Posted November 5, 2013 Posted November 5, 2013 I don't think he has the pace anymore, and really don't think playing in the MLS is doing him any favours. If he were to tomorrow get signed by a Premiership Club (he;; I'd take Championship over MLS ) and get a regular start I'd re-evaluate my opinion for sure. But as is now I would prefer to see us starting with two of either Stokes, Long, Walters, Cox or Doyle (if we continue with two strikers) to move forward and hopefully develop a strike partnership that can take us forward not just for Euro 2016 Qualifying but also Russia 2018 and maybe Euro 2020 (though hopefully by then some new younger talent will have come through to provide more competition for places) Keane (33) would be lucky to to keep going for 2 more years (Euro 2016) but I certainly don't see him as a Ryan Giggs type to keep playing into his 40's and even he (Giggs) retired from internationals at what 33, 34? Again I don't think he should be dropped outright, keep him as backup as a sub... even he himself said as much that he'd have no problem starting on the bench if that's what the manager decided. To be fair, I don't think Keane's ever been that quick, he's just a natural goalscorer. I think your best combo would be him with either a quicker player like Stokes or a target man like Walters. Doyle and Long are just inferior versions of Keane. Call me old fashioned but i'd like to someone like Keane be able to go out on his own terms. I know there's no room for sentiment in sport but what he's achieved for your country shows how great he was. I can't imagine ever having someone play for my country who's not only scored so many but done so in important matches.
Mokong Posted November 5, 2013 Posted November 5, 2013 Call me old fashioned but i'd like to someone like Keane be able to go out on his own terms. Good point, and I do agree, I'm not saying he should be dropped entirely and don't want him out of teh international picture. Definately keep him in the team, just not starting. I don't think dropping him to the bench is the same as him not being "able to go on his own terms". When he later decides to retire from internationals entirely on his own, that is his own terms. Getting dropped from the starting lineup isn't the same as ending his international days for him, like what happened to Beckham when the England manager at the time (was it Sven? I can't remember) went and said "yeah I'm never gonna pick him again, his England playing days are over", which was something I thought was very harsh on Beckham. And if O'Neill and/or Keane said that about Robbie next week (dropping him entirely) I wouldn't be happy with that. But to get the team moving forward we need to look at both the present and the future and Robbie sadly is at the point where he can only be the "present" for a short while longer but he certainly won't be the future and more game time should be given to other players to get the expereince under them for moving the team forward.
Ramar Posted November 5, 2013 Author Posted November 5, 2013 Walters? The man shouldn't even be in the Premier League let alone an international side. Surely Ireland can't be struggling that much?
Fierce_LiNk Posted November 5, 2013 Posted November 5, 2013 (edited) I have mixed feelings after that game. We didn't lose, and we got a point. However, we should have got all 3. Hernandez and Van Persie's misses...gah. Both should have been goals. We played better with Kagawa behind Van Persie, much better. Defensively, fine for the most part. I don't think we were ever in danger of losing it. But, fuck, some of our approach play (particularly in the first half) is garbage. Dire. Second half was better with Kagawa in the middle, but even then, we don't create enough. Also, Ashley Young: He dived, again. Bit annoyed about Fellaini. Probably his best game for us, so far. First yellow shouldn't have been a yellow, but he also made lots of niggling fouls, so I guess it was a bit daft for him to make a challenge like that. He looked better, but I'm still not sure exactly what he offers. He isn't "the answer" to what we need. Edited November 5, 2013 by Fierce_LiNk
Murr Posted November 6, 2013 Posted November 6, 2013 I have mixed feelings after that game. We didn't lose, and we got a point. However, we should have got all 3. Hernandez and Van Persie's misses...gah. Both should have been goals. We played better with Kagawa behind Van Persie, much better. Defensively, fine for the most part. I don't think we were ever in danger of losing it. But, fuck, some of our approach play (particularly in the first half) is garbage. Dire. Second half was better with Kagawa in the middle, but even then, we don't create enough. Also, Ashley Young: He dived, again. Bit annoyed about Fellaini. Probably his best game for us, so far. First yellow shouldn't have been a yellow, but he also made lots of niggling fouls, so I guess it was a bit daft for him to make a challenge like that. He looked better, but I'm still not sure exactly what he offers. He isn't "the answer" to what we need. Watching it, it genuinely looked like one of our best performances of the season, 1st half in particular. Sweet bit of play between Evra, Rooney and Kagawa. Yes his shot was miles wide and the deflection it took made it appear closer than it would of been. And the space he had when Evra overlapped and dragged the defender, he had to shoot. But yes he looked immediately more comfortable centre behind RVP. The whole game we just didn't have that final part of the play, couldn't provide anything for Hernandez. Valencia looked better today. Actually taking players on again.
-Dem0- Posted November 6, 2013 Posted November 6, 2013 Special Champions League night. Arsenal making more records on their away trips, this time being the first English club to beat Dortmund at their ground and they stopped them from scoring a goal at the Westfalenstadion for the first time in 61 games.
Ramar Posted November 7, 2013 Author Posted November 7, 2013 I bet @Ramar had a good time. I had an unbelievable time. I'd been telling everyone all day we'd sneak a 1-0 win, no one believed me. More fool them, we won on the pitch and I won in the bookies. Ta very much Mr Ramsey! I must say I was a little disappointed with the yellow wall, I think because of UEFA's rules they don't have as many people in the stand. None the less still made a hell of a lot of noise. Great crowd the Dortmund fans, didn't see or have any trouble. Love going to Germany, two wins (BVB & Bayern) and a draw (Schalke). My ugly mug: Stadium filling up before the game. I've got a few pre-game videos, I'll post the links when I've bothered to upload them to youtube.
Ramar Posted November 9, 2013 Author Posted November 9, 2013 I've only uploaded this video at the minute. Dortmund singing YNWA.
MadDog Posted November 9, 2013 Posted November 9, 2013 Will Martin Jol make it through half time in a job?
Fierce_LiNk Posted November 9, 2013 Posted November 9, 2013 Ramires doing a lovely Robert Pires impression there to keep Jose's record. So, Ashley Young in midweek and Ramires today. I loathe this type of easy-to-go-down footballer that seems to exist these days. It's cheating.
Mr-Paul Posted November 9, 2013 Posted November 9, 2013 Never a penalty. Disgraceful, but just what I expect from Chelsea!
MadDog Posted November 9, 2013 Posted November 9, 2013 Ramires doing a Bale. Fulham are dire. Suarez is still the best player in the league. Nice 3 points.
Ramar Posted November 9, 2013 Author Posted November 9, 2013 At least Pires stuck his leg out! That is shocking.
Fierce_LiNk Posted November 9, 2013 Posted November 9, 2013 Ref couldn't have got a better view than what he had. Ramires runs into him and falls over...
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