I just thought I'd note the importance of the never-say-die attitude that seems to have been instilled in the team - this is the sixth competitive international under MON where we've scored in the last ten minutes to improve a result (Georgia, Germany, Poland, Italy, Serbia and Austria).
That's one way of putting it and, whilst I was delighted those goals came and have been generally happy to credit O'Neill for making the necessary changes - something the inflexible Trap may not have done - there's also another (admittedly pessimistic) way of looking at it, or, to be more specific, there's another way of looking at those games where the goal improved the result from a potential loss to a draw. As I wrote in the "opponent watch" thread:
It's annoying that a conservative or overly cautious approach from the outset has allowed us to fall behind in the first place in some of the games mentioned before we've really utilised our full attacking potential late on, by which time it has often proved too late to take the very-much-achievable full three points on offer. Sure, it's great we didn't give up on getting back into those games, but it's just such a shame we left the spirited and gallant comeback efforts so late.
For me there are two issues, although maybe linked to each other:
(1) the midfield selection was conservative
(2) despite all the fighting talk in the build up, the players started like rabbits in the headlights. This was a bigger failing for me. MON is renowned for his motivational skills. They didn't seem to work on Sunday.
Yet David Moyes did.
cant agree with this. The wins over Germany, Bosnia and Italy in the Euros were exciting. Also, some excellent football played in the first 60 mins against France in the euros before we ran out of steam and a very decent away win in Austria. You cant beat the likes of Germany, Italy, Bosnia and Austria away without some sort of decent tactical nous.
I have had mixed views about MON since he got the job but not really sure he can be criticised too much overall.
We have some decent players and we play to our strengths as best we can. The fact that the discussion around our fortunes and style of play centre around a 35 year old championship player speaks volumes of the type and standard of player we have.
I think many an Irish supporter has unrealistic expectations really.
getting a little away from the match topic, if you want to discuss MON's management/tactical history there's a thread for that: http://foot.ie/threads/184787-Martin...-and-Roy-Keane
I see that Icelandic clap hasn't run its course yet. I squirm in my seat when it's going on. They were actually doing it in the lead up to an Austrian corner in the first half and then to an Irish corner in the second. Not sure who it's supposed to help/encourage. All I know is that it has to go.
Seemingly started by Motherwell fans:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8iC1Yf6h84
Hahaha.... walked into that!
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