“The team is basically composed of overrated Premiership players….”

You know what I hate? Stupid, ill-informed, disrespectful comments about any team when it’s unfounded, especially a team who was one of five to go through their qualifying group unbeaten. Rant over.

This is the team of over-rated Premiership players who will face France in the play-offs on Saturday 14th November and Wednesday the 18th.

Shay Given (Manchester City)
Kieren Westwood (Coventry City)
Joe Murphy (Scunthorpe United)

John O’Shea (Manchester United)
Richard Dunne (Aston Villa)
Stephen Kelly (Fulham)
Kevin Kilbane (Hull City)
Eddie Nolan (Preston North End)
Sean St. Ledger (Middlesbrough, on loan from Preston North End)
Paul McShane (Hull City)
Darren O’Dea (Reading, on loan from Celtic)

Aiden McGeady (Celtic)
Damien Duff (Fulham)
Darren Gibson (Manchester United)
Glenn Whelan (Stoke City)
Keith Andrews (Blackburn Rovers)
Liam Miller (Hibernian)
Stephen Hunt (Hull City)
Andy Keogh (Wolves)
Liam Lawrence (Stoke City)

Kevin Doyle (Wolves)
Robbie Keane (Tottenham Hotspur)
Shane Long (Reading)
Leon Best (Coventry)
Anthony Stokes (Hibernian)

———-

There are problems. Damien Duff’s participation in the play-off is up in the air. However, there is a development since this morning when I knocked out a first edit of this post spreading doom and gloom. Duffer contacted the FAI last night and stated his hope that he will be fit for the matches, despite his Achilles injury ruling him out of Fulham’s 2-1 defeat in Rome last night and almost certainly meaning he won’t feature against Wigan on Sunday. Up until about an hour ago, the intimations from Roy Hodgson would have it that we were going to have to go in against the French without Duff, but this is good news. Wrap that man up in cotton wool until next Saturday at 7, have someone do his walking for him, just do what it takes to get him on the left side at Croker.

Undeniably bad news. Although it’s debatable how much influence Noel Hunt would have had upon the two legs, (89th minute substitute in the Stade, putting on 5 strikers chasing a goal, maybe) but that’s all fairly immaterial now. His season is as good as over, which is a shame, because the last thing he really needed was a long-term injury. Hunt’s had a track record of knee injuries stemming back to his days with Dunfermline in Scottish football, and he’s yet to truly convince Reading fans of why they paid Dundee United £600,000 for his services 18 months ago. From a selfish perspective, it’s a shame Hunt’s out of the picture, because we may need as many strikers as we can get come the back-end of the game in the Stade, but it’s not the biggest loss.

As far as the squad goes, it’s very much as you would expect, but the story is about Trap’s obstinance in refusing to select either Stephen or Andy Reid, despite the justification for leaving them out of the squad decreasing by the day. Stephen appears to be fighting fit after this chronic spate of injuries which have been plaguing him ever since our opening match of the Euro 2008 campaign. However, Trap thought otherwise, speculating somewhat prematurely that Reid’s career might be coming to an end. This raised the ire of Sam Allardyce, he of no away wins in the better part of 9 months as manager of Blackburn Rovers. This whole sorry tale has reached it’s current denoument with Stephen being omitted from the squad for the two legs, which I have to admit I’m not too impressed with.

Far be it for me to claim I know better than Trap, but leaving Stephen out of the squad smacks of pettiness on the part of the boss, a proverbial middle finger to Allardyce. Now, this would be all good and well if our two central midfielders were 1999 Roy Keane and 1979 Liam Brady, but they’re 2009 Glenn Whelan and Keith Andrews. Simply put, if fit, Stephen Reid must be played in a central midfield slot. He epitomises the box-to-box midfielder player we’ve been crying out for ever since Keane abandoned his country in 2002 (I’m not counting that spell under Brian Kerr, sorry), and while Whelan is an option offensively, he’s not suitable for the role of dominating a midfield which will have at least three, probably four high quality players posing a threat every time the French go forward. Reid has this in his locker, and he should play. However, if Trap was told to pick a 23-man squad to go to South Africa today, I’d venture quite a bit of money Stephen wouldn’t make that list, which would be such a loss.

Andy Reid’s case is also far from convincing, less so now that Duffer is a doubt for the two games. Reid has revitalised himself under Steve Bruce at Sunderland. He’s shedded the better part of 10 kilos (For what it’s worth, the media jibes about his weight are irritating and redundant) and has rediscovered the form which made him probably the best player in the Football League towards the end of his spell at Nottingham Forest. A few cases for the defence include the pass for Darren Bent’s goal at Turf Moor and his free kick last weekend to spark the comeback against West Ham (I love Kenwyne Jones’ sending off in that video as well, hilarious).

Reid is one of the better performers in the Premiership thus far this season, and in normal circumstances he would probably be commanding a spot in the starting eleven for the national side, never mind inclusion in the squad. But there was a falling out there too between himself and Trap, with rumours about disputes stemming from Andy’s weight and a night on the tiles from way, way back.

The only thing that is keeping Andy out of the squad is the number of capable wide men we have within the squad at the moment. Duffer (when fit) and McGeady are the starters, but there’s options in Stephen Hunt on either side, as well as Andy Keogh to a lesser extent, along with Liam Lawrence making a promising start to his international career on the right side. The capabilities of at least four of those players is giving Trap some justificiation for leaving Reid out, but even he will admit it’s becoming thinner by the day. If Duff’s situation gets worse and he has to withdraw from the squad before next Saturday, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Reid called up. There’s no Martin Rowlands to fall back on, and anyone selected beyond that would be met with howls of derision from all sides, so I would expect to see Reid back in the fold before too long, certainly if we get to South Africa and he’s fit and in form, he will go.

Beyond that, the squad is mostly as you were. There are two new faces, with Darren O’Dea earning a call-up along with a return to the international fold for Anthony Stokes. O’Dea will provide back-up for Trap at centre-back, but he won’t feature unless there’s an injury pandemic or we’re 2-0 ahead on aggregate with 45 minutes left at the Stade. (The sheer thought alone!) Personally, there’s the fear he will tarred by association for his spell with a badly misfiring Reading side in Championship, where he is on loan from Celtic, but thus far has recieved largely negative press. O’Dea certainly has a role within the international side for the future though, he’s probably a more viable long-term option than Paul McShane, but he could do with getting away from Celtic, where I can’t see him getting playing time, while I don’t see Reading being the solution neither. Another Championship might do the trick, search me for an answer though…*shrugs*

Anthony Stokes is rewarded for a good start to the season with an improving Hibs side, (where I’ve heard Liam Miller is the standout player, excellent news) scoring 4 goals and helping his club to second spot in the league, however long that lasts for in the SPL is another matter however. Stokes is a decent player, but frankly the only reason he’s in the squad is because Noel Hunt can’t be in the squad, it’s not as if he’s setting the SPL alight with something akin to his 14 goals in 16 games with Falkirk back in 2006 which first brought him to prominence. Couple that with a few bad spells in England (Sunderland, Crystal Palace, Sheffield United) along with a lack of conviction any of the three times he’s played for Ireland, and you can’t make a serious case for him. He’s an option, but I’ll have Leon Best over him if we need a substitute in either game.

Now…France…my plan to decomission all of their players is coming along okay. Gael Clichy has joined Franck Ribery on the sidelines for the two games, the Arsenal left-back is having some grief with a back injury which means he won’t play again for the better part of a month. It would be even better if Eric Abidal or Patrice Evra had incurred the same fate however, given that they are far more likely to start in any case. Nevertheless, throw that in with Henry not getting a world of time at Barcelona…ermm…ooh Patrick Vieira isn’t in the France, squad, so he can’t do this to Shay again…errr other than that…come on help me out here people!

Immaterial of our worries about Duffer and their raft of players fighting fit and in form, I’m still hopeful, if perhaps not as confident as some others. If there’s any update to be made before next Friday, I’ll try to let you all know, but that seems like about it for now.

Have a good weekend all.