Heimir Hallgrimsson could have used the October window to take a closer look at what Jake O'Brien can offer rather than leave him out of his squad entirely, according to former Republic of Ireland international Keith Treacy.
Everton centre-back O'Brien has won three caps to date, including a late cameo against England in September but is one of the notable omissions from the Boys in Green squad for this week's UEFA Nations League away fixtures in Finland and Greece.
Ireland manager Hallgrimsson has indicated that, with an eye to the future, there is a level of experimentation with the squad he has picked for this month as the team seeks their first points in the Nations League group.
In that vein, uncapped Luton defender Mark McGuinness has been called up, while O'Brien, who's been restricted to very limited game-time since signing for Everton from Lyon in the summer, not making the cut.
However, Nottingham Forest defender Andrew Omobamidele, who is included in the Irish squad and may feature at right-back as happened against Greece, has not featured in the Premier League this season and only made one start in the Carabao Cup.
Speaking on the RTÉ Soccer Podcast, Treacy said he had misgivings about the decision not to include O'Brien and suggested that Hallgrimsson's selection of other players with few club minutes could be viewed as inconsistent decision-making.
"The one about Jake O'Brien is grating on me a little bit, just for the reason that the manager has said that he wants to play the players he hasn't seen," he said.
"Jake O'Brien falls into that category and McGuinness coming in from Luton, I love it, he's played a lot at times for Luton, played an awful lot for the Under-21s. So you've probably seen a lot more of
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