Ireland squad for friendly with the czech republic.

Shay Given (Aston Villa), Keiren Westwood (Sunderland), David Forde (Millwall); John O'Shea (Sunderland), Stephen Kelly (Fulham), Stephen Ward (Wolves), Richard Dunne (Aston Villa), Sean St Ledger (Leicester), Darren O'Dea (Leeds), Kevin Foley (Wolves); Glenn Whelan (Stoke), James McCarthy (Wigan), Seamus Coleman (Everton), Keith Andrews (West Brom), Keith Fahey (Birmingham), Darron Gibson (Everton) Damien Duff (Fulham), Aiden McGeady (Spartak Moscow), Stephen Hunt (Wolves); Robbie Keane (Aston Villa), Kevin Doyle (Wolves), Shane Long, Simon Cox (both West Brom), Jon Walters (Stoke).

GAh

Not much if he got that lot to a tournament.

So, where's James Mclean?

Paul Lambert leads Norwich City's collective gasp, though 'Lambert conceded Trapattoni’s reliance on a rigid midfield formation with two sitting players...lessens Hoolahan’s prospects of a late call up.'

trap is nuts isn't he. i mean, i'm all for a settled squad, a strong team ethic and all that - but i don't understand why you wouldn't at least take a look at your options before you go to the tournament. he must never have heard of toto schillaci.

poor old hoolahan is never going to interest trap because he has no use for a player of that type in his preferred system. but mcclean is big and powerful and, i would have thought, just the kind of player trap would like.

still though, trapattoni doesn't hand out easy call-ups, and maybe that is why he has not lost his authority over the players like capello seemed to, even if they all privately believe he's a crazy old bastard.

garcia wrote:
poor old hoolahan is never going to interest trap because he has no use for a player of that type in his preferred system.

Got to be worth a place in the squad though, just to give you options off the bench? He's also played several times for us between the lines in a 4-4-1-1 (eg first half against Bolton), which I would have though GT might occasionally use? It could work behind Long or Doyle, though probably not as well behind Keane and maybe that's a big stumbling block.

Also, at 29 it seems he might have missed his best chance; I suppose it took him too long to get to the highest level. Poor old Wes.

i think he's worth a place in the squad, but trap just sees a little fat guy who plays in some kind of fancy dan attacking midfield position and thinks, fuck that.

kevchenko13 wrote:
garcia wrote:
poor old hoolahan is never going to interest trap because he has no use for a player of that type in his preferred system.

Got to be worth a place in the squad though, just to give you options off the bench?

If a coach isn't going to put a player on the pitch under any circumstances, then it would be a wasted spot, and a waste of that guys time, to include him in the squad. cf England taking Theo Walcott to the 2006 World Cup.

garcia wrote:
but mcclean is big and powerful and, i would have thought, just the kind of player trap would like

Maybe Trappatoni, seeing Capello's difficulties, is worried that McTimewaster may be distracted helping the Glasgow Polis with their enquiries. Seems he's claimed on Twitter to know who's responsible for all those Old Firm players being intimidated with bullets in the post etc.

Janik wrote:
kevchenko13 wrote:
garcia wrote:
poor old hoolahan is never going to interest trap because he has no use for a player of that type in his preferred system.

Got to be worth a place in the squad though, just to give you options off the bench?

If a coach isn't going to put a player on the pitch under any circumstances, then it would be a wasted spot, and a waste of that guys time, to include him in the squad. cf England taking Theo Walcott to the 2006 World Cup.

That's not what Kevchenko said though.

There are 23 names in that panel so it looks like it'll be the final Euro 2012 squad, unless someone breaks a limb or gets into off-field trouble.

It seems risible to be leaving Hoolahan at home while bringing along someone like Darron Gibson, who has never done anything in an Ireland jersey and probably never will. McClean should be in there somewhere too.

Trap obviously feels he owes the group of people who got him to the finals but it's self-defeating if it means you leave good, in-form players at home and take along people like Gibson and Simon Cox, who I don't think has scored a league goal all season.

Still, no sign of McShane either, which is a positive.

Janik wrote:
If a coach isn't going to put a player on the pitch under any circumstances, then it would be a wasted spot, and a waste of that guys time, to include him in the squad. cf England taking Theo Walcott to the 2006 World Cup.

Not sure about that being wasted. Look what it did for Walcott's career....

I must admit, this thread would have a bit more "oomph" if Berbaslug himself had said up front who he thought should be out of that squad and who should be in, unless I'm missing something obvious.

Sorry Rogin, but all of the talk over the last couple of months has been about james mclean turning up in the premier league, and being rather good. All of the talk over the last couple of days was about whether he would get international clearance in time for this game.

The FAI were so proud that they managed to accomplish this bit of office work in time, they were going around showing everyone the letter, like a two year old proudly display his potty. They had fixed it so he could play for ireland. Then it turns out that he isn't in the squad.

I appreciate that it may seem a little bit ungrateful but we keep being told that we're a small country with very little in the way of quality players. But it's very frustrating when any time a player shows any sign of promise, trappatoni says "Maybe in 2018."

This is a friendly. I can't understand why he didn't make it a 25 man squad, and call him up just to look at him close up in training, and see how he gets on with the other players, and to start getting him used to the way that trappatoni wants them to play. There's no downside to doing it, and it makes everything easier.

he might be shit, in which case at least we tried. But he also might just be good, in which case we should take a look at him. It was the same with seamus coleman last season. It's the same with james mcCarthy. Trap won't pick the best performing irish player in the premiership, just because they're too young and too exciting.

But let the go off the rails a bit, let them abandon their youthful promise to become a disappointing partial player like aiden mcGeady then give them their green jersey.

i thought aiden mcgeady improved a lot under trap

strange that kevin foley gets in, but no sign of marc wilson or ciaran clark

Isn't McGeady injured? If so McLean is most likely to be called up to replace him.

It would have to be quite big and I am not sure how effective it would be with the lad's skills

McClean might still get in to the squad in June. Trap/Tardelli do keep track of all these players.

McClean has played 10 league matches in English football since he left Derry City. If he keeps up the good form between now and the end of the season he well might fight his way into the squad. There's still over 3 solid months of league football to go. Maybe he is planning on picking him, but just not yet. We don't want to cheapen international call-ups. We are not England.

Also, I think the FAI proudly getting the papers ready just in time may have messed with Trap's ego.

McClean has played 10 league matches in English football since he left Derry City. If he keeps up the good form between now and the end of the season he well might fight his way into the squad.

Well he scored against arsenal. I can't remember the last time an irish player scored against arsenal, since maybe John O'Shea. If he keeps this up until the end of the season, he'll be theone of the best wingers in the league.