[Archived] International Duty

[hollowsr]

Couldn't find anywhere to put this so thought it could make a good new thread.

Under 21 games tonight. England beat Slovenia 2-1. Micah Richards and James Milner with the goals. Derbyshire I think started up top by himself, I missed the first half but saw most of the second and he seemed to play quite well just unlucky with service into him didn't quite come off but he played full game and looked impressive.

Rep of Ireland U21 drew 1-1 with Austria. Keith Treacy was given the captaincy for the evening and apparantly started off upfront. He scored the Irish goal and came off after 53 mins. I think it was just because of him playing a bit on Saturday. Also Alan Judge played the full game and came close with a long range effort. Our reserve/academy midfielder Josh O'Keefe made his debut for them and played the second half.

Johnny Flynn was meant to be playing for Northern Ireland U21 tonight in a tournament but no idea on the score.

[Mark Atkins' Bald Patch]

Keith Treacy was given the captaincy for the evening and apparantly started off upfront. He scored the Irish goal and came off after 53 mins.

Match report on the Irish game:

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8...4013372,00.html

[Hughesy]

Benni helped set up both goals for SA with two clever flicks, Grella set up 1 of the Aussies goals with a clever pass and Mokena got booked after 6 mins in the game.

[Sydney Rovers]

Benni helped set up both goals for SA with two clever flicks, Grella set up 1 of the Aussies goals with a clever pass and Mokena got booked after 6 mins in the game.

I saw this game (curses to 5am kick-offs). first goal came from a cheeky backheel to a player who was running into the box who sprung the Australian defence. The second Benni was stuck in a corner, got himself out of trouble to lay off a pass for the goal.

[KoNG]

Benni is pretty LARGE at the moment isn't he. Not what i would call a professional athletes body..!

[Sydney Rovers]

Benni is pretty LARGE at the moment isn't he. Not what i would call a professional athletes body..!

I thought that too, he looked to have put on a bit of weight.

[KoNG]

Too much time spent practicing fancy standing still flick passes... Instead of running some laps i think.

[philipl]

The press are giving Benni the big thumbs up for providing all the creative flair in the game last night.

[rover6]

Incidentally, I saw some highlights of Aus v SA and the clips I saw of Grella's performance tell me that, at least offensively, he would improve our considerably. He clearly has decent technique and passing - although, couldn't tell what his defending was like.

BTW: You thought Rovers were bad at defending set-pieces? South Africa are truly terrible at it. They seem to concede at least one set-piece every game.

[philipl]

Incidentally, I saw some highlights of Aus v SA and the clips I saw of Grella's performance tell me that, at least offensively, he would improve our considerably. He clearly has decent technique and passing - although, couldn't tell what his defending was like.

BTW: You thought Rovers were bad at defending set-pieces? South Africa are truly terrible at it. They seem to concede at least one set-piece every game.

Sorry to be picky but you suggest the Axe will never be good enough on one thread then suggest we look at Grella because he did well against a notoriously fragile midfield in which Axe is the mainstay?

[Sydney Rovers]

Rover6 might say that with a bit of bias but I've seen enough of Grella to know he's better than Moekena.

couldn't tell what his defending was like.

I actually think his defence is better than his attack, although he does have a tendency to get yellows but what people playing in this position doesn't.

[USRoverME]

Sorry to be picky but you suggest the Axe will never be good enough on one thread then suggest we look at Grella because he did well against a notoriously fragile midfield in which Axe is the mainstay?

You know, except for the part that Axe typically plays centrally in defence for his country, not defensive midfield....

Other than that, the point still stands, somewhat.

[pksrover]

MGP is on just on the bench for Norway in tonight's game against Ireland! Hopefully he'll make Hull pay for that at the weekend

[rover6]

Sorry to be picky but you suggest the Axe will never be good enough on one thread then suggest we look at Grella because he did well against a notoriously fragile midfield in which Axe is the mainstay?

Sometimes, you need only see a player in a few clips to realise whether he has a certain level of technique, skill and vision.

Grella's quick-footed and confident passes, that featured in the clips, do not confirm him as a good player but they do confirm that he is better than Mokoena (in his constructive play).

Better than Mokoena = Improvement to squad.

I trust the Aussie guys when they say that Grella isn't that great and we could do better, but he's still better than Moko.

[roverthemoon]

Norway v Ireland

Commentator says that Reid hasn't played an international for two years and it doesn't look like he has been away. Nice crisp passing and playing with vision.

Norway 0 Rep of Ireland 1 (R Keane)

[American Rover12]

bumping this to update after this week

[4ever&ever]

Caught the end of the Scotland v Norway game after work and have to say that Pedersen looked good on the right although it was only against Scotland

[Al]

Caught the end of the Scotland v Norway game after work and have to say that Pedersen looked good on the right although it was only against Scotland

Yep. I haven't seen him play that well for a long time. He played the inside right channel really well. Could be worth a try in that position for Rovers.

[den]

Yep. I haven't seen him play that well for a long time. He played the inside right channel really well. Could be worth a try in that position for Rovers.

For Pedersen to be as effective as he used to be, he needs to play more central, don't you think Al? He doesn't have any threat playing as wide as he does now. Not easy to fit that into a 4-2-4 I know, but he scored loads of goals for us from a position further forward than he ever gets now. Take his goals away and there isn't too much left apart from work rate.