ONE OF THE fundamental principles of sport is that emotion cannot impact upon the decisions of its participants, yet the management of the Irish team have fragrantly ignored this truism over the past few years.
Martin O’Neill has already eradicated many bad habits of the Trapattoni era, but there is at least one that remains.
Quite why Leeds United reserve team midfielder Paul Green continues to be selected is anyone’s guess, though he is not the only individual who is fortunate to be in the squad.
Indeed, here’s a crazy theory that might just work for the team — instead of picking Green, choose David Meyler, who has impressed in the Premier League with Hull of late. Granted, Green gives his all and can always be relied upon to show up for duty, but the same would be the case for several non-league players. His faultless work-rate does not make up for the fact that he simply is not good enough for international football. He lacks a commanding presence in the midfield and at 30, unlike Meyler, he is unlikely to ever acquire this trait.
Moreover, Paul McShane is certainly no world beater, but surely he currently deserves to be in the squad on merit. McShane has started Hull’s last three consecutive Premier League games and even scored in their unfortunate loss to Tottenham in the Carling Cup. Compare his form to those players who featured in last night’s game — Stephen Kelly has been in and out of the Reading side this year, while Sean St Ledger has had virtually no football at all for Leicester.
Of course, O’Neill can hardly be blamed for these ostensible flaws in the selection process, given that it was Noel King who picked the squad for the Latvia and Poland games.
Yet, especially after the diabolical, illogical decisions of the Trapattoni regime, the new management must swiftly emphasise their willingness to refrain from picking players merely for old times’ sake. The decision to somewhat ruthlessly cast off these loyal but limited players is long overdue
Green — who it should be said has always been thoroughly professional and diligent when playing for Ireland — is League One standard at best. It is ridiculous to suggest that there are no superior alternatives available to the team. And the fact that his international appearances are well into double figures by now is a testament to the previous manager’s stubbornness more than anything else.
Last night, as ever, Green toiled away admirably and made the odd timely tackle, but relied mainly on sideways passes. In addition, once James McCarthy left the pitch, Ireland lost control of the midfield completely as the Poles finished strongly.
Trapattoni famously said last year that he would be picking the players that got him to the Euros at the Euros, bizarrely implying, by extension, that the best footballers available to him were not good enough. Consequently, in the side’s first major tournament in over a decade, Seamus Coleman and Marc Wilson were left out of the squad, while Keith Andrews was preferred to Darron Gibson in midfield.
The subsequent result was plain for all to see, with Ireland suffering three humiliating losses at the hands of admittedly very talented opponents. These were the players that got him to the Euros — and while they might have performed reasonably in innocuous friendlies or low-key qualifiers, against top-class opposition, they tended to be badly exposed. Andrews, like Green always does, gave 100%, but unfortunately for him, it was not enough to prevent the team from being embarrassed at last year’s tournament. And the same will eventually happen again if Ireland continue to rely on the likes of Green to take the squad forward — barring a severe injury crisis.
This issue, though it became less drastic a problem, continued after the Euros. Darren O’Dea, plying his trade with Toronto FC at the time, was handed a start against Germany and the team were subsequently hammered 6-1. David Forde, while he performed well in the away match with Germany, was at fault for at least one of the goals in the vital World Cup qualifier against Sweden. Meanwhile, Keiren Westwood, who was starting regularly in the Premier League for Sunderland at the time, was left on the bench. Would the side have qualified for the World Cup if Westwood was playing that night? Almost definitely not. But when you tally up all these small eccentric decisions together, they surely have had a significantly negative impact on the team in the long run.
Furthermore, the Millwall goalkeeper didn’t have too much to do last night, though his kicking was routinely atrocious. He will be 36 by the time the next Euros roll around, and there’s generally a reason why players of his ilk have spent their entire career in the lower leagues. Consequently, it’s hard to see why he deserves to be considered as Ireland’s regular number one, with both Keiren Westwood (Premier League experience) and Darren Randolph (young, highly rated) better placed for the role by most sets of criteria.
Similarly, ahead of Paul Green in the Ireland central midfield position should be James McCarthy, Darron Gibson, Glenn Whelan, Jeff Hendrick, Stephen Quinn, David Meyler, Stephen Ireland, Marc Wilson, Keith Andrews, Chris McCann and probably many more. All these aforementioned individuals play at a higher level than Green, and thus, surely deserve a place ahead of him.
If a League of Ireland player was getting picked relatively regularly, there would be consternation, so why shouldn’t the same principles apply to a 30-year-old in the Leeds reserves when better options are plainly available?
Therefore, the only reason the likes of Forde, St Ledger and Green continue to receive preferential treatment seems to be down to that old-fashioned, illogical concept of player loyalty or the trite cliché that these individuals have ‘never let Ireland down’. The fact that they supposedly give 100% when playing for their countries should not alone be considered an acceptable reason for their presence in the side. Indeed, it is effectively a stark example of the Ireland team’s ‘that’ll do’ mentality, which assistant boss Roy Keane has spoken openly about in the past.
Accordingly, O’Neill’s first task when picking the next squad should be selecting players on form rather than reputation. There are very rare exceptions such as Richard Dunne, but for the most part, a Championship player should never be picked ahead of a Premier League star, as was regularly happening under Trapattoni. Ireland’s next match is not until March, so by then, O’Neill should have a proper grasp of the strengths and weaknesses that the players available to him possess.
The veteran manager owes it to these players, as well as the fans and the people who are paying his lucrative wages, to pick the best footballers at his already quite limited disposal, and he cannot achieve this aim by repeating the mistakes of previous regimes and taking the softly, softly approach when it comes to team selection.
