Euro 2012 Qualifying Group B - General Discussion

[Kingdom]

I dunno much about him, I have found myself at odds with a lot of what he's written the last while, but no more than what's written here at times, so couldn't say much about him really.

[Adrock]

We may speculate on here about the best way forward for Irish international football, but this article is sobering in its sheer honesty. Just making a living and not being on the dole is the goal for many League of Ireland players.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...t-2433116.html

€3500 a week for Gamble and Dempsey?!!!!!!!!!
No wonder our economy is in ruins, If they had that kind of money to burn they could have at least recruited some real talent.

[gastric]

Adrock, I would appreciate if you took your ongoing negativity somewhere else. I am sure you are only a windup merchant. In terms of the development of Irish soccer, Packie Bonner our technical director is to lose his job.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2010/1124/fai.html

[Crosby87]

1) Trap was asked could the players have wine with the team meal - Trap would allow this but none of the players want to, they want beer. He would prefer this choice, mentioned that in Italy, the team camps are straightjacket like.
2) The player asked to be let drink between the Russian and Slovakia games which he allowed. He was asked was it a second night, he refutes this. He didn't refute whether he was asked. This was backed up by a quote which is backed up by an anecdote "The players say they want to have a drink, we say fine ok, a few hours. We say ok, finish, the players say 20 mins, we say ok, the players say another 20mins, we say no. This is the way..." or something very close to that.
Rowan spelled out that the players went drinking between two qualifiers

There are two ways to look at this.
1). Its good for bonding and blowing off some steam, maybe some things that need to be said in the context of a small session.
2). Jaysus Lads can you go 5 days without a drink? You are professional athletes for christmas sake.

I dunno. Didn't work out for Andy Reid hope that does not happen again.
Do the players now feel that Trap is to old to have a connection with? Is that what is going on here?

[Charlie Darwin]

I'm fairly sure it's 2 - there's lots of ways you can blow off steam without boozing. Although on the other hand I'm betting outdoor activities like paintball or canoeing probably don't have the same attraction for professional athletes.

[Adrock]

Adrock, I would appreciate if you took your ongoing negativity somewhere else. I am sure you are only a windup merchant. In terms of the development of Irish soccer, Packie Bonner our technical director is to lose his job.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2010/1124/fai.html

I'm sure residing in Melbourne you truly have your finger on the pulse of Irish football, but I dont think its a unreasonable assertion to make , without winding anyone up, that paying Gary Dempsey €200,000 a year is not a sign of a competently run football club.

[gastric]

You are right. I do have a better understanding of Irish football as shown by some of the uneducated, negative and irrational comments you continue to make. For example, your rejection of the possibility that Adam Hamill could play for us.. In terms of my finger on the pulse of Irish football, at least I don't have it up my a***!

[Kingdom]

You are right. I do have a better understanding of Irish football as shown by some of the uneducated, negative and irrational comments you continue to make. For example, your rejection of the possibility that Adam Hamill could play for us.. In terms of my finger on the pulse of Irish football, at least I don't have it up my a***!

To be fair to him, that was me! So his finger could still be on the pulse of Irish football. Notttttttttttttttttt!

[SkStu]

I'm fairly sure it's 2 - there's lots of ways you can blow off steam without boozing. Although on the other hand I'm betting outdoor activities like paintball or canoeing probably don't have the same attraction for professional athletes.

plenty of outdoor activities like dogging and roasting that keep our young footballers out of trouble these days.

[Charlie Darwin]

Worked for Liam Lawrence.

[irishfan86]

Liam Lawrence isn't necessarily the quickest but he can hit a good penetrating ball and brings a physical presence.

[bennocelt]

Adrock, I would appreciate if you took your ongoing negativity somewhere else. I am sure you are only a windup merchant. In terms of the development of Irish soccer, Packie Bonner our technical director is to lose his job.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2010/1124/fai.html

Good riddance to bad rubbish, with his FF head on him

[tetsujin1979]

Good riddance to bad rubbish, with his FF head on him

I'm sure you feel the same way about the rest of the staff the FAI had to lay off

[bennocelt]

I'm sure you feel the same way about the rest of the staff the FAI had to lay off

Dont care, how much does Delaney earn again

[tetsujin1979]

Dont care, how much does Delaney earn again

he's taking a pay cut as well

[SkStu]

so will he still be making more than Obama or less i wonder?

[Charlie Darwin]

I don't understand why Obama is always the benchmark people use. The US president is only paid some nominal amount to reflect the fact he's a) already minted and b) stands to earn hundreds of millions once his term is up. Not that Delaney or Cowen or anyone else deserves their inflated salary.

Sorry, I'll stop talking now.

[tommy_c12000]

I don't understand why Obama is always the benchmark people use. The US president is only paid some nominal amount to reflect the fact he's a) already minted and b) stands to earn hundreds of millions once his term is up. Not that Delaney or Cowen or anyone else deserves their inflated salary.

Sorry, I'll stop talking now.

Good points. Interestingly, an exception was Clinton who was far from minted when he took office. He was largely dependent on his wife's income as a lawyer. This is an interesting article on the subject:

http://www.caller.com/news/2008/apr/...sultingly-low/

And now we go quickly back to the sport's desk. . . . . . . . . .

[Stuttgart88]

Yep, it's real Daily Mail / Telegraph reporting. "Some civil servants earn more than David Cameron shocker". cameron is monted already and some civil service jobs are very important. The PM is probably underpaid anyway.

[rebelmusic]

So i watched the Norway game again without emotion and I think there's a lot more positive notes to take out of it. I don't know why people thought Fahey had a bad game. The only time he really gave the ball away was when he was trying to thread some through balls. Far better than green and andrews in that poistion.

Cunningham was excellent, great pairing with Duff. Hunt didn't gel with him as well.

McGeady was also very good, and Long was excellent again.

I feel Long is more of a Doyle replacement though. I know everyone on here loves Doyle, but he's better when we're winning. He's not a top scorer and i fear he never will be.

The one thing that annoyed me is Given's distribution. Goal kicks almost always end up with opposition attack. If you watch the game again you'll notice most of our decent play begins with the full back. At least when the option is there, Given should roll it out to the full backs and let them build up play. O'Shea as well does have an eye for a good pass when he's not in lump it mode.

So to conclude, i wasn't too displeased with the game. Nothing could have been done about the first goal, and for the second, Foley really should have been keeping an eye on the right corner. He ran to the center where O'Shea and Kelly were already moving into position.