Monday, 2 November 2015

Victims XI?

A recent article on joe.ie asserted that Birmingham City midfielder Stephen Gleeson is the real victim of Martin O'Neill's approach to squad selection. The former Wolves trainee is currently sitting in sixth in the Championship, ahead of senior international squad members Anthony Pilkington(ninth with Cardiff City) and Paul Green(24th with Rotherham) among others, but has yet to be called up by the manager. With this in mind, we analysed the appearance data for this season of players in England, Scotland and the USA to see if a starting XI of players who have not been capped by the manager since his appointment can be produced.

Goalkeeper 

While we're informally sticking to players who have at least ten appearances so far in 2015/16, we're bending the rules to include Charlton's Stephen Henderson between the sticks. Falkirk's on loan keeper Danny Rogers has made 16 appearances to Henderson's two starts since returning from shoulder surgery, but with Rogers currently in the U21 squad, Stephen lines out to continue the family legacy of his grandfather Paddy and uncle Wayne with international caps for Ireland.

Defence

Bristol City's Derrick Williams starts at left full for our side, the Championship defender is a graduate of Aston Villa's academy and has started all but three of the Robins' games so far.
Matt Doherty fills the right back slot in the team. The Wolverhampton Wanderers defender has appeared in 11 of their 17 games this season.
The Scottish Premier League provides both centre halves. Daniel Devine*, of Inverness Caledonian Thistle, and St Johnstone's Joe Shaughnessy are partners in central defence. Both players have European experience this season, playing against AFC Astra of Romania, and Alashkert FC of Armenia in the early rounds of the UEFA Cup.

Midfield

At left wing, Huddersfield's Sean Scannell provides both a goal threat and a creative spark. The winger only has one assist this season and has yet to find the back of the net, but finished 2014/15 with seven assists and four goals.
On the opposite wing, Aberdeen's Willo Flood fulfills the promise shown after breaking through at Manchester City and joins Glenn Whelan and Stephen Elliott as former Blues trainees with senior Republic of Ireland caps.
We agree with with joe.ie that Stephen Gleeson should start in midfield, and have paired him with Alan McCormack. The Brentford midfielder plays a little deeper than Gleeson, but still has a pair of assists this season.

Strikers

Up front, Cardiff City's Joe Mason and St Johnstone's Graham Cummins are the only uncapped strikers available to Martin O'Neill. Mason has scored five times for the Bluebirds this season, while Cummins has six goals in Scotland, and also provided four assists.

Below is the data used to pick the side, what players would you have picked in favour of the XI assembled here?

Player Age Position Starts Intro Apps Goals
Jonathan Hayes 28 Midfielder 18 0 18 1
Joe Shaughnessy 23 Defender 17 0 17 1
Daniel Devine 23 Defender 17 0 17 1
Stephen Gleeson 27 Midfielder 16 0 16 2
Graham Cummins 27 Striker 12 4 16 6
Danny Rogers 21 Goalkeeper 16 0 16 0
Derrick Williams 22 Defender 12 3 15 1
Jonathan Douglas 33 Midfielder 12 2 14 0
Alan McCormack 31 Midfielder 12 2 14 0
Joe Mason 24 Striker 14 0 14 5
Alan Browne 20 Midfielder 9 5 14 1
Willo Flood 30 Midfielder 8 5 13 0
Samir Carruthers 22 Midfielder 9 4 13 0
Sean Scannell 25 Midfielder 11 0 11 0
Matt Doherty 23 Defender 6 5 11 0
Aidan White 24 Defender 4 6 10 0
Conor Wilkinson 20 Midfielder 3 7 10 1

*Daniel Devine has underage caps for Northern Ireland, and declared for the Republic of Ireland in May 2011

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