Ireland: We could have done well at the WC perhaps?

[Noah]

We will be a good outside bet for the 2012 championships , we have a decent squad who buy into the managers philosophy, albeit a bit thin on the ground, a stronger bench , with Kieth Fahey finally coming into the frame and others will give us a better chance.

I think Trap learned alot about the team in both France games, we are a better team than we give ourselves credit for and we should believe that we can achieve more

[Doozer]

We will be a good outside bet for the 2012 championships , we have a decent squad who buy into the managers philosophy, albeit a bit thin on the ground, a stronger bench , with Kieth Fahey finally coming into the frame and others will give us a better chance.

I think Trap learned alot about the team in both France games, we are a better team than we give ourselves credit for and we should believe that we can achieve more

Exactly, Trap ahd to asses the players he had, and try and get the best ot of them, now he has a fiar idea what most of them are capable of

[bigcxxk]

Exactly, Trap ahd to asses the players he had, and try and get the best ot of them, now he has a fiar idea what most of them are capable of

i know he had to assess what players he has, and i'm not saying that he did a bad job. far from it. he has a very, very limited bunch of players with 1 or 2 exceptions, and did very well to get the team as far as he did. but i can't see them being an outside bet for the 2012 europeans. they might just squeak in qualifying. the group looks very weak, but as we know, weaker teams are the ones ireland seem to struggle with. it's not a foregone conclusion that they will qualify, but at least trappatoni tends to have the team organised. it's not his fault that the players are so limited. and it dosen't look like there are much guys coming through. in the past, there was always a few guys in the background, but now, if one of the first team players is out, it's a struggle to replace them. god help us if the likes of shay given or richard dunne gets injured for a long spell. someone mentioned earlier in the thread that greece were a similar type of team. that may be the case, but how often do the big guns allow something like that to happen? greece are a nowhere team at the moment, also having failed to qualify for the world cup in what was a pretty weak qualifying group

the long and the short of it is, ireland have done well with a limited, but honest, spirited bunch of players. but it could be a long time again before they are a force to be reckoned with. sure, they might up their game for the big occasion, but they will almost always, slip up against the lesser lights.

[Doozer]

There will always be kids comming in capable to replace them, happens all the time, lookm at James Mc Carthy, he will be big. We dont need world class players, juist players that can follow instrauctions

[westcorklad]

i know he had to assess what players he has, and i'm not saying that he did a bad job. far from it. he has a very, very limited bunch of players with 1 or 2 exceptions, and did very well to get the team as far as he did. but i can't see them being an outside bet for the 2012 europeans. they might just squeak in qualifying. the group looks very weak, but as we know, weaker teams are the ones ireland seem to struggle with. it's not a foregone conclusion that they will qualify, but at least trappatoni tends to have the team organised. it's not his fault that the players are so limited. and it dosen't look like there are much guys coming through. in the past, there was always a few guys in the background, but now, if one of the first team players is out, it's a struggle to replace them. god help us if the likes of shay given or richard dunne gets injured for a long spell. someone mentioned earlier in the thread that greece were a similar type of team. that may be the case, but how often do the big guns allow something like that to happen? greece are a nowhere team at the moment, also having failed to qualify for the world cup in what was a pretty weak qualifying group

the long and the short of it is, ireland have done well with a limited, but honest, spirited bunch of players. but it could be a long time again before they are a force to be reckoned with. sure, they might up their game for the big occasion, but they will almost always, slip up against the lesser lights.

Greece have qualified for the World Cup and are in Argentinas group.

[westcorklad]

There will always be kids comming in capable to replace them, happens all the time, lookm at James Mc Carthy, he will be big. We dont need world class players, juist players that can follow instrauctions

Maybe so but that can only take a team so far.
Are you saying that if Ireland had a player of the quality of Messi Rooney or Torres that they could be done without.?

[aml]

I think we are set up well for the euro's ,the only concern i would have if keane is out injured who will bang in the goals for us.