Wales Squad Announced

[J_B]

Page's comments are even more baffling considering at times this season we've had 6 Welsh players in our match day squad. Including 3 that on merit should be in or around Wales starting 11. And he's only been to see us once? Forget Ollie Cooper he should be watching Allen, Cabango. It's a needless dereliction of duty.

Probably just as well for Ben that Page hasn’t watched him recently.

 

[ARQS]

Wes Burns isn't a kid, been around for a long time and is playing the best football of his career.

Don't really buy the tried&tested or 'sticking with what got us there' argument because how many minutes did Gunter and J Williams play in the qualification campaign? They may have been tried and tested 4 years ago, but now they're league 2 players. They maybe premier league mascots or court jesters - in that case take them as extra unnamed players and free up spaces for players who'll benefit from the experience and minutes (I actually think Cooper offers something to the bench- we don't have any other central Midfielders who press high up the pitch like he does).

And where does Tom Lockyer fit into this 'continuity' narrative? He's deviating from his own mantra.

Leaving aside Harris and Colwill because their experience is negligible and just looking at Williams and Gunter.

I suppose he is weighing up what they bring to the squad and their experience alongside their footballing abilities. Which of course can be be impacted by their experience. Williams and Gunter are going to have very limited chance of game time but at least they've been there and done that at international level and played in very big games. Perhaps he feels that if he did have to call on either of them, they'd be more reliable/less prone to errors than someone with far less experience.

I'm not saying that Cooper doesn't offer something to the team but I can definitely see why Page has made the decisions he has.

Tom Lockyer is different because there is no other real direct comparator. Maybe if the likes of James Chester/James Collins/Ash were still kicking around, he'd have gone with one of them instead which would be in keeping with the mantra. Of course, if it had been Ash, nobody on here would have batted an eyelid.

 

[FelindreJack]

Page is a prick, I’ve said this for ages. Clearly has some sort of grudge against us. Sooner he fucks off and we can bring in a proper coach who picks squads on form and not sentimentality the better.

 

[Cinio Dydd Sul]

Leaving aside Harris and Colwill because their experience is negligible and just looking at Williams and Gunter.

I suppose he is weighing up what they bring to the squad and their experience alongside their footballing abilities. Which of course can be be impacted by their experience. Williams and Gunter are going to have very limited chance of game time but at least they've been there and done that at international level and played in very big games. Perhaps he feels that if he did have to call on either of them, they'd be more reliable/less prone to errors than someone with far less experience.

I'm not saying that Cooper doesn't offer something to the team but I can definitely see why Page has made the decisions he has.

Tom Lockyer is different because there is no other real direct comparator. Maybe if the likes of James Chester/James Collins/Ash were still kicking around, he'd have gone with one of them instead which would be in keeping with the mantra. Of course, if it had been Ash, nobody on here would have batted an eyelid.

I can see why he made the decision he has, but I don't agree with it. In the unlikely event that we need to use Gunter or Williams which would be unlikely and probably only for a very limited amount of time, the impact they'll have will be negligible anyway. Their experience doesn't seem to be able to get them to clubs above league 2 at this point in their career. As I say take them as non named extras and give the places to younger (better) players playing at a better level. The Cooper decision makes no sense. He took a far more inexperienced and younger Colwill to the last tournament.

Well Chester was jettisoned several years ago despite still playing in the Championship so calling him up would be similar. But don't get me wrong, I'd have taken Lockyer - I wouldn't have dropped him a year ago from squads. The point I was making was that Page is breaking his own rules. Lawrence and Denham are centre backs that have been in squads more recently than Lockyer.

 

[JackFish]

James and Harris are going to Qatar as backups, but no sign of Cooper being involved with that either.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/63575243

 

[Swanjaxs]

James and Harris are going to Qatar as backups, but no sign of Cooper being involved with that either.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/63575243

This just confirms to me that Page has some sort of agenda going by not including Oli as a backup, living off the tail-end of a golden era of Welsh football.

 

[Robbie]

How can you manage the Welsh football team and be anti Swansea .

When the Welsh FA checked his CV , conducted interviews , asked Page of his way forward plan , then surely the the question of club loyalty should have been asked and taken into account .

If he was a suitable candidate but , due to leaning towards Cardiff , why was he selected for the role .
Lets give the guy a chance and if another Cardiff fan , Bale , gets us as far as we can , ok by me .

We still lost St. Helens and Glamorgan Cricket to that place though , not happy .

 

[PSumbler]

How can you manage the Welsh football team and be anti Swansea .

When the Welsh FA checked his CV , conducted interviews , asked Page of his way forward plan , then surely the the question of club loyalty should have been asked and taken into account .

If he was a suitable candidate but , due to leaning towards Cardiff , why was he selected for the role .
Lets give the guy a chance and if another Cardiff fan , Bale , gets us as far as we can , ok by me .

We still lost St. Helens and Glamorgan Cricket to that place though , not happy .

I'm genuinely not sure Robert Page is anti Swansea, that is just something that suits the story for what happened this week.

I'm not defending some of his selections but "anti-Swansea" seems a stretch too far (IMO)

 

[Best_loser]

If Cooper had started the season in the team he might have had a chance, just happened to late for a world cup place , it's a pity but not surprising at all

 

[Nocountryforoldjack]

I prefer his brother Jimmy to be honest.

 

[JackSomething]

I'm genuinely not sure Robert Page is anti Swansea, that is just something that suits the story for what happened this week.

I'm not defending some of his selections but "anti-Swansea" seems a stretch too far (IMO)

Agree with that Phil. Although I'm disappointed Oli wasn't picked (although he is now travelling with the squad at least), I thought that would be the case once he wasn't picked for the last squad. That's where Page screwed the pooch.

Either way, time to get over the disappointment and support the team in the tournament itself.

 

[swan65split]

Hes travelling, as reserve, should be in the squad!!!

https://www.swanseacity.com/news/ollie-cooper-travel-wales-squad-world-cup

 

[Swanjaxs]

What a load of bolloxs, Page the scummer couldn't hide his allegiance to the dark side more like


Cardiff star discovered Wales World Cup news before anyone else due to mistake

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/cardiff-city-star-discovered-wales-25503288#ICID=Android_WalesOnlineNewsApp_AppShare