by floyd__streete »
14 Oct 2009 13:59
Gus,
I am not meaning to be condescending towards the Eircom League (you yourself called it shoite, not me) but my theory behind the perceived lack of strength of your league is that it can be no coincidence that the more successful national teams tend to boast the strongest and richest domestic leagues. If the Eircom League is shoite then it can hardly be expected to produce a regular supply of top international players can it? You could of course counter by saying that Ireland has produced top class contemporary players like Given and Robbie Keane, but do you really have any strength in depth? If Keane, for instance, picks up an injury then you are looking at the likes of Noel Hunt and Shane Long to replace him.
Furthemore, your most successful international era was under Jackie Charlton, I am sure that you would agree with that. And in that time you qualified for 2 World Cups and a European Championships with a team full of scots and english due to FIFA's absolutely barking eligibility rules which the Irish FA and Charlton cleverly took advantage. You achieved that success, by the way, with - as Tony Le Mesmer alludes to - a style of football which could most politely described as being a dogs of war work ethic. This is in no way a criticism, in fact I absolutely admire any team which plays successfully to its strengths (as we have seen with Reading recently, sideways passing with little penetration is neither successful nor particularly entertaining to watch).
I very much agree with you that Ireland could give any team a decent game on the world stage which I would say is to a large degree very much due to the work-ethic instilled by Trapattoni; after all, it was barely two years ago that you were getting thrashed by the likes of Cyprus. If Ireland are successful in South Africa next summer I would expect that would be down to the coaching skills of Trapattoni - and a style of play not disimilar to Jack Charlton's golden era - than the step-overs of McGeady. Incidentally, you are probably in the over-whelming minority of people who would rate the latter as world class and I must say that your argument that McGeady is world class because I say he is is weak even by Hob Nob standards. Perhaps your posts are written tongue in cheek anyway, because I find it astonishing that anyone could display such an inferiority complex.
Last edited by
floyd__streete on 14 Oct 2009 14:07, edited 1 time in total.
