Bosnian Squad

Ahead of the play off against Bosnia this weekend, we've examined the squad announced by manager Mehmed Baždarević to see how each player fared this weekend

Player	Club	Position	Result
Asmir Begovic	Chelsea F.C.	Goalkeeper	Started, Lost 1-0 to Stoke
Ibrahim Šehic	FC Qarabag	Goalkeeper	Started, Beat Khazar Lankaran 1-0
Jasmin Buric	Lech Poznan	Goalkeeper	Started, Beat Górnik Łęczna 3-1
Mensur Mujdža	SC Freiburg	Defender	Off the bench, booked, Drew 1-1 with MSV Duisburg
Emir Spahic	Hamburger SV	Defender	Started, Drew 1-1 with Darmstadt 98
Toni Šunjic	VfB Stuttgart	Defender	Substituted in the second half, lost 4-0 to Bayern Munich
Ermin Bicakcic	TsG Hoffenheim	Defender	Started, Drew 0-0 with Eintracht Frankfurt
Ognjen Vranješ	FC Gaziantepspor	Defender	Started, Lost 3-0 to Sivasspor (Turkey)
Sead Kolašinac	FC Schalke	Defender	Started, substituted in second half, lost 3-2 to Borussia Dortmund
Edin Cocalic	KV Mechelen	Defender	Started, Lost 1-0 to Kortrijk (Belgium)
Ervin Zukanovic	UC Sampdoria	Defender	Started, Lost 2-0 to Sampdoria, Booked
Marin Anicic	FC Astana	Defender	Started, Beat Astana 1-0 (Kazakhstan)
Muhamed Bešic	Everton FC	Midfielder	Out of favour, not played since 12/09, suspended for first leg after red card against Andorra
Miralem Pjanic	AS Roma	Midfielder	Suspended after being red carded against Inter. Scored in his last game against Bayer
Srdan Grahovac	SK Rapid Wien	Midfielder	Started, substituted at half time, Lost 2-1 to Grodig
Haris Medunjanin	Deportivo La Coruna	Midfielder	Not played since 30/10, out of favour – scored twice against Cyprus
Anel Hadžic	SK Sturm Graz	Midfielder	Started, Beat Ried 3-2, Booked
Tino Sven Sušic	HNK Hajduk Split	Midfielder	Started, Lost 1-0 to Osijek
Senad Lulic	SS Lazio	Midfielder	Started, Lost 2-0 to Roma
Sejad Salihovic	Ghuizhou Rehne	Midfielder	Started, Drew 2-2 with Changchun Yatai, Booked
Rade Krunic	FC Empoli	Midfielder	Second half sub, lost 3-1 to Juventus, Booked
Edin Višca	Istanbul BB SK	Midfielder	Started, Beat Trabzonspor 1-0
Edin Džeko	AS Roma	Striker	Started, Beat Lazio 2-0, Scored a penalty
Milan Ðuric	AC Cesena	Striker	Started, Lost 1-0 to Latina (Serie B)
Vedad Ibiševic	Hertha BSC	Striker	Out of favour, not played since 27/10
Ermin Zec	Gabala	Striker	Playing Inter Baku on Monday
Armin Hodžic	GNK Dinamo Zagreb	Striker	Started, Beat NK Istra 1-0
Izet Hajrovic	SD Eibar	Midfielder	Unused sub against Getafe

October 2015 Stats

Irish Abroad players appearance statistics for October 2015: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/MonthlyStats?month=10

Wins

The recent resurgence of Championship sides Derby County and Brenford, and St Johnstone from the Scottish Premier League means that a trio of duos from each side have all started four wins in September. Derby defensive pair Richard Keogh and Cyrus Christie, Brentford midfield compatriots Alan McCormack and Alan Judge and St Johnstone's Joe Shaughnessy and Graham Cummins all lining out for four win for their respective sides.

Draws

Cardiff City striker Joe Mason started four draws, just one ahead of fellow Championship player Greg Cunningham. 

Losses

Norwich City's Robbie Brady has the unwanted honour of losing all the games he started in October, losing all four games

Starts/Completed Games

No less than 14 players started all five games available to them in October - Keiren Westwood, Aaron McCarey, Paul McShane, Richard Keogh, Shane Duffy, Cyrus Christie, Daniel Devine, Greg Cunningham, Joe Shaughnessy, Glenn Whelan, Stephen Gleeson, Alan Judge, Joe Mason, Graham Cummins, with ten of these (Westwood, McCarey, McShane, Keogh, Duffy, Shaughnessy, Cunningham, Devine, Whelan and Gleeson) going on to complete 90 minutes in all five games.

Substitutions/Introductions 

Cummins was substituted in all five games he started, while Championship players Matt Doherty, Glen Rea (on loan at Southend) and Samir Carruthers were the most introduced substitute, all three players came off the bench three times.

Stayed on bench

Goalkeeper Jack Bonham and defender Stephen Ward were both left on the bench for all five games in October.

Goals

Robbie Keane scored four goals in October - two at home and two away, but strangely none of these led to a single win for LA Galaxy. However Alan Judge's three goals, and David Meyler's two goals, both led to two wins for the midfielders' respective club sides.

Discipline

Sean Dillon, James McClean and Alan McCormack all received two booking during October.

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