Kerr looks for flexible friends

THE return for Ireland from nine challenge games in ten months can only be regarded as disappointing. The results have been outstanding but the old selection problems remain, in spite of Brian Kerr's best efforts.

The Republic still search for a natural goal-scoring centre-forward, a right-sided midfield player who can offer penetration and defensive cover and a real authoritative force at centre-back.

Add in the fact that Shay Given is the only goalkeeper available with substantial international experience and it is clear the upcoming World Cup qualifying ties have come around too soon.

Kerr would probably not accept these points; at least not in public. He has got to instill confidence and a positive attitude in his team after all, so it is imperative that he exudes an air of optimism at all times.

"It was a decent enough performance," he said after Wednesday night's 1-1 draw with Bulgaria, "we made a fair amount of chances and had we taken them we would have been out of sight."

That contention was indisputable but it also served to pinpoint an obvious and ongoing problem. Goals are invariably as scarce as gold dust at Lansdowne Road.

Clinton Morrison was the man charged with leading the line against Bulgaria and he was not a success.

He last scored for Ireland in the friendly against Australia twelve months ago and he has failed to score in his nine subsequent appearances.

Jonathan Macken did not suggest he had anything really different to bring to the party in his 30 minutes of action against Bulgaria and others who have been tried in the position over the past year included Gary Doherty, Alan Lee, Graham Barrett, Jason Byrne, and David Connolly.

Robbie Keane is clearly a player of inestimable value and one hopes he will have recovered his fitness and can play against Cyprus on September 4 and Switzerland on September 8. But he is not a centre-forward in the orthodox sense and is happiest when playing behind a target man.

In the absence of an obvious player of international class to fill this role, it is likely that Kerr will embrace the solution favoured by his predecessor, Mick McCarthy, and play Damien Duff up front alongside Keane.

The position on the right of midfield is no less a conundrum for Kerr. Liam Miller is undoubtedly possessed of the potential to become a very big player for Ireland, but his performance against Bulgaria suggested that he needs more experience in the Premiership before he can be regarded as a definite first-choice.

It could be, of course, that he just had an off night for he faded after a bright opening. A couple of matches for Manchester United might very well encourage Kerr to hand him responsibility against Cyprus.

The problems at centre-back are again of long standing. Ireland have a clutch of central defenders who are honest and committed in their football but none of real star quality.

The task, then, for Kerr for the World Cup is to devise a system that will cloak Ireland's deficiencies and get the best return from the players available. He has done invaluable work during the summer, as he outlined when I spoke with him on the eve of the Bulgaria match.

He spoke of the versatility of Damien Duff as being a big asset saying: "I think Damien and other players are adaptable enough position-wise if we want to play them in different roles and if we wanted to include, say, more than one outside-left in the team."

He illustrated his point by suggesting that Graham Barrett had emerged during the summer friendlies to offer him an invaluable alternative.

"His favourite position is centre-forward where he has always been comfortable. He is playing outside-right for Coventry at the moment and, as you saw for us against Jamaica and Holland, he was more than competent in the right-wing position. He showed he could still get into the box.

"But he understands his defensive responsibilities in away matches, particularly as he showed against a good team like the Dutch."

The arrival of Andy Reid marks the one genuine development from which we can take encouragement. With a youngster of his gifts to complement the class of Duff and Robbie Keane, Ireland have every reason to believe they can again rise above their limitations to achieve something worthwhile in the form of qualification for the 2006 finals.

"He stands very high up (in the pecking order)," revealed Kerr. "He was a smashing underage player for us even though he was always a year younger than the rest of the team.

"All the way through he always had potential and there was always a great pedigree about him. I don't mind that he is in some ways similar to Damien because I like the idea of having fellows who are adaptable and can play in different positions."