FAI...June 2024 Friendlies v Hungary and Portugal

[ranch]

Robbie Keane will be 34 when those Qualifiers come around. Hopefully he does some Yoga...

Aye, Long doesn't inspire me with confidence to get goals in big games.

Personally...
Worst group..
Spain
Ireland
Turkey
Finland
Northern Ireland
Luxembourg 

Best
France
Ireland
Slovakia
Wales
Cyprus
Gibraltar

Dream Away Trip Group
Bosnia
Ireland
Israel
Scotland
Iceland
Liechtenstein

France are the host nation so won't be in any qualifying group.

[rodney trotter]

O'Neill was watching Mark Noble last night, Palace - West Ham. Qualifies through Irish grandparents. Good player.

[ballinaman]

O'Neill was watching Mark Noble last night, Palace - West Ham. Qualifies through Irish grandparents. Good player.

Doubtful he'll want to be involved. Said he wanted to break into the England team only a month ago sure.

[rodney trotter]

O'Neill was watching Mark Noble last night, Palace - West Ham. Qualifies through Irish grandparents. Good player.

Doubtful he'll want to be involved. Said he wanted to break into the England team only a month ago sure.

Don't know what he waiting for, 26 and still expects a call up. England have lots of competition in midfield as it is.

[CD]

O'Neill was watching Mark Noble last night, Palace - West Ham. Qualifies through Irish grandparents. Good player.

Doubtful he'll want to be involved. Said he wanted to break into the England team only a month ago sure.

Don't know what he waiting for, 26 and still expects a call up. England have lots of competition in midfield as it is.

Hate it when we're going around chasing players. Particularly players who aren't very good.

[rodney trotter]

He isn't that bad a player. Would rather him over Whelan.. Having a decent season with West Ham, could do a lot worse. But if the player isn't interested that's a different story.

[Applesisapples]

O'Neill was watching Mark Noble last night, Palace - West Ham. Qualifies through Irish grandparents. Good player.

Doubtful he'll want to be involved. Said he wanted to break into the England team only a month ago sure.

Don't know what he waiting for, 26 and still expects a call up. England have lots of competition in midfield as it is.

Hate it when we're going around chasing players. Particularly players who aren't very good.

or aren't interested smacks of OWCism.

[rodney trotter]

O'Neill was watching Mark Noble last night, Palace - West Ham. Qualifies through Irish grandparents. Good player.

Doubtful he'll want to be involved. Said he wanted to break into the England team only a month ago sure.

Don't know what he waiting for, 26 and still expects a call up. England have lots of competition in midfield as it is.

England's midfield options won't be so impressive when Lampard, Gerrard and Carrick go after the World Cup. That they were reduced to digging out a 31 year old Leon Osman earlier this year for a couple of matches should provide plenty of hope for any half decent English midfielder knocking about the Premier League.

Barkley, Wilshire, Phil Jones as an option, add in Ravel Morrison who has the talent to play international. Hardly going to be in crisis mode.

[GalwayBayBoy]

O'Neill was watching Mark Noble last night, Palace - West Ham. Qualifies through Irish grandparents. Good player.

Doubtful he'll want to be involved. Said he wanted to break into the England team only a month ago sure.

Don't know what he waiting for, 26 and still expects a call up. England have lots of competition in midfield as it is.

England's midfield options won't be so impressive when Lampard, Gerrard and Carrick go after the World Cup. That they were reduced to digging out a 31 year old Leon Osman earlier this year for a couple of matches should provide plenty of hope for any half decent English midfielder knocking about the Premier League.

Barkley, Wilshire, Phil Jones as an option, add in Ravel Morrison who has the talent to play international. Hardly going to be in crisis mode.

If England are going to end up playing Phil Jones in midfield they will have another 40 odd years of heartbreak ahead of them.

[rodney trotter]

O'Neill was watching Mark Noble last night, Palace - West Ham. Qualifies through Irish grandparents. Good player.

Doubtful he'll want to be involved. Said he wanted to break into the England team only a month ago sure.

Don't know what he waiting for, 26 and still expects a call up. England have lots of competition in midfield as it is.

England's midfield options won't be so impressive when Lampard, Gerrard and Carrick go after the World Cup. That they were reduced to digging out a 31 year old Leon Osman earlier this year for a couple of matches should provide plenty of hope for any half decent English midfielder knocking about the Premier League.

Barkley, Wilshire, Phil Jones as an option, add in Ravel Morrison who has the talent to play international. Hardly going to be in crisis mode.

So just Wilshere then? Jones is a centre back and the other two boys are number 10s. Henderson and Cleverley would've been more appropriate mentions, but they're both a bit pants. To repeat, there's every chance that someone of Noble's ilk will be needed during their next campaign given the impending poverty of experienced, non-injury prone (hello Wilshere) options. To argue otherwise is just to ignore the reality of a situation that has been evident since Hodgson picked up the phone to Leon Osman.

Fair enough I'll take your word.

Although I took your word on Victor Wanyama joining Utd too over Arsenal, where is he now , oh Southampton. His next big move was the big one

Tell MON he was wasting his time too, because he has his place in the England squad sorted after the WC.

[rodney trotter]

Right Ok, AFS, England played Chile and Germany last month in 2 friendly games, and were without Gerrard for the Chile game, and Carrick for both games , given that both are retiring after the WC why was Noble not called up then?. Or should Noble hang in there until he is 30 and play in a WC qualifier against the might of San Marino and a friendly a year later against Sweden, like Leon Osman.

Surely the reason for O Neill tracking Noble is (apart from being eligible)  even with the injuries to Gerrard, Carrick, they still over looked him.

[AZOffaly]

Provo squad for Serbia friendly.

Name   Club   DOB   Caps   Goals
David Forde   Millwall FC   20/12/1979   15   0
Darren Randolph   Birmingham FC   12/05/1987   2   0
Rob Elliot   Newcastle FC   30/04/1986   0   0
Richard Keogh   Derby County FC   11/08/1986   2   1
Marc Wilson   Stoke City FC   17/09/1987   14   1
Seamus Coleman   Everton FC   11/10/1988   20   0
John O'Shea   Sunderland AFC   30/04/1981   94   2
Alex Pearce   Reading FC   09/11/1988   2   1
Stephen Kelly   Reading FC   06/09/1983   37   0
Damien Delaney   Ipswich Town FC   20/07/1981   8   0
Richard Dunne   QPR FC   21/09/1979   79   8
James McCarthy   Everton FC   12/11/1990   22   0
Ciaran Clark   Aston Villa FC   26/09/1989   9   1
Stephen Ward   Brighton Hove Albion   20/08/1985   19   2
Glenn Whelan   Stoke City FC   13/01/1984   54   2
Paul Green   Leeds Utd FC   10/04/1983   20   1
Andy Reid   Nottingham Forest FC   29/07/1982   29   4
Aiden McGeady   Everton FC   04/04/1986   63   3
Anthony Pilkington   Norwich City FC   06/06/1988   2   0
James McClean   Wigan Athletic FC   22/04/1989   18   0
Stephen Quinn   Hull City FC   04/04/1986   2   0
David Meyler   Hull City FC   29/05/1989   4   0
Wes Hoolahan   Norwich City FC   20/05/1982   9   1
Shane Long   Hull City FC   22/01/1987   43   10
Daryl Murphy   Ipswich Town FC   15/03/1983   8   0
Jon Walters   Stoke City FC   20/09/1983   24   4
Kevin Doyle   QPR FC   18/09/1983   57   12
Anthony Stokes   Celtic FC   25/07/1988   8   0
Simon Cox   Nottingham Forrest FC   28/04/1987   25   3

[Milltown Row2]

Not fit enough or strong enough, compared to the Serbs. No invention up front either and when the chances came (Long's both chances) didn't take them. Would need to improve in time for the qualifiers

[Billys Boots]

I thought we were competitive in the first half - the Serbs had copped McGeady as the weak link and were throwing the kitchen sink at his wing - once they switched McClean over there and moved Hoolahan to cover McGeady I thought we looked stronger and were reasonable creative.  After we started making substitutions we looked like our cover was sub-standard and we were on the back foot for the last half-hour.  Wasn't terribly disappointed; I think Serbia are a stronger side than anything in our group except Germany. 

[AZOffaly]

I switched over to the English game after half time, but my impression was that the Serbs didn't give a continental shite until Ireland scored. They were so casual and careless it was unreal. When Ireland went ahead they started to get into the game a bit more, and by half time they looked to me to have the measure of us.