GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI HAS named a young starting XI for tomorrow’s international friendly with Oman.
With several of his regular starters – including Robbie Keane, Richard Dunne, Sean St Ledger, Keith Andrews and Glenn Whelan – missing due to various reasons, the Italian will go with an experimental team for the meeting with their Asian opponents.
Goalkeeper Keiren Westwood returned to Sunderland yesterday and Millwall’s David Forde is set to make his second start between the sticks. Everton’s Seamus Coleman and Marc Wilson of Stoke come in at full-back with Stephen Kelly partnering Paul McShane at the centre of defence.
Sunderland’s David Meyler joins James McCarthy in midfield, while Andy Keogh, who just missed out on the Euro 2012 squad, comes in ahead of James McClean. Manchester United youngster Robbie Brady only got a call-up on Saturday but will make his senior debut on the other flank.
Robbie is a very technical, genial and quick. He can be a very important player for us,” Trapattoni said of the 20-year-old.
In the absence of Keane and Jon Walters, meanwhile, Kevin Doyle and Shane Long get the nod up front. Wolves striker Doyle will captain the team.
Kick-off tomorrow night is 7.30pm.
Ireland team v Oman: David Forde, Seamus Coleman, Stephen Kelly, Paul McShane, Marc Wilson, Robbie Brady, David Meyler, James McCarthy, Andy Keogh, Shane Long, Kevin Doyle.
Apart from the centre halves of Kelly and McShane (Duffy and Clark anyone?) I like this team. Fair play to Trap for dropping upstart McLean (who’s only been an international for about 3 games!!) for that tweet. Looking forward to see what Robbie Brady can do. Hopefully Coleman and Wilson to have a stormer and keep their place at the expense of Ward and O’Shea in the future! Optimistic.
Well Nicholas,
‘upstart’ is farbtoo strong a word to use here. Let’s say you have been dreaming all your life to play for your country (as James has done), that you are more than a player you are just as much a supporter and care deeply about your team (as James does), that you burst a gut each and every week in training and playing for your club team at the highest level, successfully, in order to enhance your chances of playing for your country (as James has done) since your international manager is on record as saying that players “need to be playing consistently for their clubs at the highest level in order to be comsidered for inclusion in the international team”. You meet all this criteria and then some and then you are forced to sit on the bench while players not playing consistently for their clubs or at the highest level are given the nod ahead of you, and are played in your natural position which is not theirs, and when they fail to deliver are substituted but instead of calling on you the manager chooses to send on another player (not used to playing in that position) who also does not meet the manager’s oft stated criteria (even if he ends up playing reasonably well) – you Nicholas of course would be quite content and happy with your lot – I doubt it! Few of us would. Cut the lad some slack. He is young, passionate about playing for his country but angry about what he sees as an injustice. The majority of fans and pundits recognise this injustice. So, unfortunately, he tweets without thinking it through -but removes the tweet almost immediately when he has had time to calm down. I am sure he apologised immediately and his reward – snubbed for the game against Oman.
We have had a litany of players falling foul of the manager’s whims since he took over. If it was just one or even two players expressing discontent One might put it down to individual player childishness but there have been too many. The problem is the manager – he needs to go and soon!
Agree with most of that and i’m not questioning McClean’s commitment and dedication to the cause.
But he’s still a professional and should act like it, instead of a 10 year old having a tantrum. What precedent would that set if Trap rewarded McClean’s apology with a start in the match? It’s the same as Rooney falling out with Ferguson, It’s Traps job to make sure the players know who’s boss however difficult that will be in the future.
Anyway, McClean will quite possibly be on at some stage in the second half anyway.
I stand by my upstart remark. McClean has only been in the irish setup a very short period of time, yet players like Robbie Keane, John O Shea, Kevin Doyle, etc can keep their composure and their feelings to themselves, without typing it online. He’ll learn.
Here here Eamon agree 100% McClean has got a raw deal all he’s looking for is a chance to play 90mins for his country and prove to the manager he should never again be overlooked but no the old geezer won’t let him and will probably give him at most 20mins
At this point I hope we get beaten about 3-0 so that Trap is forced out. Its all good and well him playing this young team in a friendly but he’ll never do it in an important game and leaving McClean out again is a joke. He still hasn’t made contact with Ireland who said he’s open to coming back if asked!! And lets not get started on the Gibson situation!!
Who’ll pay to get rid of him do you mind me asking?
Get Ciaran Clark in FFS!!!