Republic of Ireland V Cyprus - Wednesday, 15th October 2008 - World Cup 2010 Q

[Fergie's Son]

We kept losing possession because the ball was going from defence to one of the 4 attackers. Reid would have made a huge difference in our ability to keep possession. That's all I'm saying.

Maybe if he came on for Keane but he's really not a possession footballer. I've watched him for a number of years and he doesn't win the ball. Great passer but that's about it.

Just have to disagree.

[SwanVsDalton]

Think the Gibson comments are harsh. I actually thought he looked for the ball fairly regularly - he just looked for it in his own half. He kept it simple while Whelan made some horrendous passes and decisions. Gibson's job wasn't to get forward and it's clear Trap sent him and Whelan out to sit and protect the defence.

Which they did fairly well - Cyprus controlled possession and created only two clear cut opportunities mainly because we were supremely well organised and disciplined imo. Meanwhile we had at least half dozen decent chances. If the forwards had of shown a bit more urgency in their finished, and Ireland had won by a couple, I doubt anyone would say the harsh things they're saying about the midfield.

Having said that it wasn't exactly great. Still I'm convinced we're moving in the right direction and I'm convinced that if that was anyone but Trap we wouldn't have won. Three points on the board, job done.

Ratings;
Given - 7
McShane - 5
O'Shea - 7
Dunne - 9
Kilbane - 6
McGeady - 6
Gibson - 6
Whelan - 5
Duff - 8
Keane - 7
Doyle - 8

[noddy102]

McShane was the weak link tonight.

We were always going to be under pressure in central midfield and that was definitely the case. I was a bit disappointed with Whelan, but it is hard to expect him to perform as well as he did against Montenegro and Georgia, when he's not playing for Stoke.
Gibson made a great home debut for me. It was a difficult game for him to be put into a cauldron, but he stepped up to the mark and kept looking for the ball, especially in the latter part of the game, which was very encouraging.

Dunne, Doyle and Duff were brilliant. Given was as usual equal to the task whenever called upon and O'Shea was very good too (really am starting to grow to his maturing abilities).

Kilbane was solid enough, McGeady too, but both made poor mistakes as well.

Keane got his 35th goal, so regardless of what else he did, he won the game.

7 points from 3 games is brilliant, and with Bulgaria drawing, we are in a great position. Shame about McGeady and Given getting late yellow cards... I think they are the first 2 yellows of the qualifying campaign so far?

[barney]

Tonight's midfield should have been made up of Andy Reid and Kevin Kilbane

:eek::eek::eek:

Dear God no. Wouldn't be much better than the Kilbane/Ireland partnership from a couple of years ago.

Andy Reid is a bit unfortunate in that he is neither an out and out winger or a traditional central midfielder. He doesn't fit either description and Trap seems to want two solid centre mids and two out and out wingers to have a balanced side. In saying that I heard a rumour (my mother's aunt's cousin's father type thing) that Reids omission is to do with his attitude.

Comments on Whelan are a bit harsh as well. He was God's gift after the last two games and now he's suddenly rubbish. That said, the argument that he isn't playing regular football does carry some weight.

[SwanVsDalton]

The sole problem of that game is the centre midfield, which is a big one but otherwise everyone else was very impressive. Thrown Steven Reid and Carsley into that game and we would have run riot.

Your joking. As if Carsley would've made a huge difference. Steven Reid, fine, great player and a vital cog. But Carsley's, while a committed performer, is past it. And he wouldn't have protected the defence any better than Gibson or Whelan. He wouldn've got the ball, passed it square or given it away - much like Gibson or Whelan tonight funny enough.

I think the days where we can include words 'Carsley' and 'ran riot' in a sentence are long over - that is if they ever began.

[Qwerty]

This team is still a work in progress, but I think we all know when the campaign ends we will have a much better team and whoever takes over will have a good squad and a good system to build upon.

We were lucky today but you have to give Cyprus credit, they have been improving over the last few years, when we played them at home under Kerr the scoreline showed 3-0 but they had 2 gilt edged chances to score. And look at the results and performances they have had since.

We don't have a big squad and Trapp is still learning about some of the players. I think Gibson or Whelan would have played much better if S Reid had been playing. Would Miller have made a difference? Would Andy Reid? We don't know.

But it's been a long time since and Ireland team could really control a game by passing the ball. I hope Trapp looks at going to 4-5-1 and bring in A Reid and maybe dropping Keane back in place of McGeady, that might work better especially away from home.

[Qwerty]

One comment on the substitutions or lack of, it was a very tight game and I think the only change he could have made would have been to take Keane off.

If you insert another player in midfield particularly in amonst 2 rookies and disturb whatever relationship they have established then I think there is the chance of conceding a goal . I think Trapp played the percentages and got it right. If the brought on Reid and we conceded wouldn't it have been much worse :D

[SwanVsDalton]

This team is still a work in progress, but I think we all know when the campaign ends we will have a much better team and whoever takes over will have a good squad and a good system to build upon.

We were lucky today but you have to give Cyprus credit, they have been improving over the last few years, when we played them at home under Kerr the scoreline showed 3-0 but they had 2 gilt edged chances to score. And look at the results and performances they have had since.

We don't have a big squad and Trapp is still learning about some of the players. I think Gibson or Whelan would have played much better if S Reid had been playing. Would Miller have made a difference? Would Andy Reid? We don't know.

But it's been a long time since and Ireland team could really control a game by passing the ball. I hope Trapp looks at going to 4-5-1 and bring in A Reid and maybe dropping Keane back in place of McGeady, that might work better especially away from home.

Well said. Totally agree.

[Legendary Bear]

3 points in the bag so im happy. The performance of the the midfield two was dictated by Traps insistence that our full backs do not overlap our join the attack and that when our mdfield two pass the ball to one of the attacking 4 ( 2 wingers and forwards) they are to sit and not join the attack. With that set up the middle two have very little options and couldnt make runs forward to join the attack except for Whelan in 90th min. Most of their passes were back. They were also compounded by the fact that Cyprus played 3 in the middle and kept the ball well.

Have to say Dunne was immense.

[FarBeag]

Think the Gibson comments are harsh. I actually thought he looked for the ball fairly regularly - he just looked for it in his own half. He kept it simple while Whelan made some horrendous passes and decisions. Gibson's job wasn't to get forward and it's clear Trap sent him and Whelan out to sit and protect the defence.

Which they did fairly well - Cyprus controlled possession and created only two clear cut opportunities mainly because we were supremely well organised and disciplined imo. Meanwhile we had at least half dozen decent chances. If the forwards had of shown a bit more urgency in their finished, and Ireland had won by a couple, I doubt anyone would say the harsh things they're saying about the midfield.

Having said that it wasn't exactly great. Still I'm convinced we're moving in the right direction and I'm convinced that if that was anyone but Trap we wouldn't have won. Three points on the board, job done.

Ratings;
Given - 7
McShane - 5
O'Shea - 7
Dunne - 9
Kilbane - 6
McGeady - 6
Gibson - 6
Whelan - 5
Duff - 8
Keane - 7
Doyle - 8

Best post on here by a mile.

[thepiedpiper]

Back from a game which I very much enjoyed. Good first half from us where we looked threatening but we regressed badly in the second half and were perhaps fortunate to get a win though delighted with it. Performance was poor but win was what is vital. Badly missed Steven Reid tonight and we could do with looking at a parternship of him and Andy Reid against Poland.
Given 8 - One good save nothing else to do really
McShane 3 - Poor defensively and was really poor with the ball
Dunne 9 - Excellent display
O'Shea - 7 Solid display though let his man in badly in first half where he should have been good side. Still played well in his last few Ireland games and looks to have a good relationship with Dunne
Kilbane - 5 Let his man in poorly in first half when a simple clearing header would have done. Also could have been a bit more positive in possession
McGeady -7.5 Looked dangerous and could create something. Crossing wasn't the best
Whelan - 5 All too quiet, poor in possession
Gibson - 6 Little better than Whelan but was also too quiet and could have dominated the game more
Duff 8 - Good skill throughout and like McGeady looked dangerous with the ball though did a little better with it than the Ulsterman
Doyle 9 - Worked so hard, linked play superbly and turned their defense well on occassion. Really developing into a very good player
Keane 7 - Linked play well too though could have done more when he had the ball in dangerous areas

[mypost]

A lot of fans have to be re-trained to adapt to watching us keep possession, instead of running around losing the ball like chickens, or like Aiden McGeady.

Apart from the shot that hit Given in the side, in the first half, we defended stoutly, as all Trap's teams have done. When they did get within sight of the goal, there was always one or two players tracking back to block their progress.

Not a great performance, but enough to win the game, and that's what counts. The bigger picture shows that we're now very well placed to scrap the group out with the Italians. Win the next two games, and if Italy screw themselves in Montenegro, we're top of the group going to Milan/Rome/Naples/Venice/wherever. :)

Italy needed a last minute goal to win in Cyprus, and an own goal to win tonight, however I doubt there's mass panic yet.

[Neish]

Fairly poor prefromance from Ireland tonight. Espically since Cyprus had a few of their best players out if they had them they could of taken at least a point from it

Doyle & Dunn were GREAT, but baring them two I wasn't overly impressed by anyone, Andy Reid should of been on in good form for Sunderland instead of a guy who is about 6th or 7th choice for his club side

[TheBoss]

The style of play of Trap is what we saw, when a goal in front, let the opposition try to break us down and we will try to score on the counter, a simple tactic. I think the game was not Ireland at their best and still winning, when is the last time that happened, we win a game, not playing well is always a positive to take, It is only Traps 3rd comp game, he is still yet to figure out which players are best for his system, that is why he is sticking with Whelan for the moment.

The defence was great although McShane was a lazy on more than 1 occasion, I can not see him playing in future games as the reserve Right Full. O'Shea and Dunne were brilliant, never made mistakes, Dunne has to be up there as one of the best in Europe. Kilbane was OK, did the job quietly as you expect from him these days. McGeady, despite being a pain at times was a threat, I reckon the Cypriot players did not know what to expect from him, good or bad. Duff aswell was a real threat, still a little off his best, so we can expect much better, which is great. Whelan and Gibson, it depends what you want to see here. They were to be 2 players in front of the back 4 and they did that, their passing and decision making going forward was disappoiting at times, but defensively, they did the job well. Doyle was immense once again, I can see him scoring a good few in the next games, his confidence must be real high. Keane was not involved too much, mainly running around but not pressing too much.

Overall, a decent result that we usually do not get in the circumstances.

[Crosby87]

I just read all of these posts. This is as usual a good post on a great site. I am greatful for it.
...I watched, was exhausted at the end thinking they would give up a goal. I read the media bits just now...my point is, Im not sure everyone gets that the goal here is just to get to the World Cup. People are complaining about subs (Italy used 3 today). I mean, the team won. It will be a long time before Ireland has regular international wins that are stylish and definitive in my opinion. Subs? Its funny, people argue who should be in the first team on the basis that its not very good, then want subs. So you want players to come on who arent good enough to start on a mediocre team. Frankly, after the last half decade, Im just happy with a win. As I was walking to the pub (Dont forget we here in NYC need to pay a $20 cover charge just to watch ugh) I thought, jeez a draw or loss is a disaster. Irish in the bar told me a draw wasn't the end of the world. I was convinced we needed a win to start thinking about bagging a Rhino and watching games in SA 2010.
Why does McShane play? Trap thinks Reid is fat I guess.
Why cant they beat Cyprus 4-0? I dunno. It doesnt matter to me. North beat San Marino 4 nil? So who cares? Things are finally OK, 7 points out of 10. See you in March.
By the way, Gibson is getting a chance. People bitch and moan for playing the same old players then when he does something different and caps Gibson, people bitch and moan. There's no magic at the end of the rainbow here in my opinion. (No offense intended). Trap has a limited team to be sure. Im happy he capped Gibson, I think it gets the juices flowing in the reserves. Lets them know they can play if they work hard. Trap, for the fact that he is umm Not Irish and umm not going to be around here so long, is taking the post seriously with one eye on a future he wont be managing. Why else is he thinking about Caleb Folan and J Mac getting caps? This should be noted. He cares. Also, the quotes thread is good. I trust Trap, he is a good man. I see good things here after the winter chaps. Chaps?

[mypost]

Good post.

Under the last manager, young/reserve players were used that we never heard of before, and they failed. Trap uses one young/reserve player in midfield, (2 if you include Whelan) is accused of being eccentric, and wins.

Yet, he gets the stick for not including an overweight enigma in midfield. :confused::rolleyes:

[tetsujin1979]

Given was excellent when called upon, which was twice. The mark of a good keeper is having nothing to do for large parts of the game, and still keep up his concentration levels. Hope he gets the night off against Poland, he deserves it.

I felt the 2 full backs were the weak links, McShane moreso than Kilbane, but only because Kilbane wasn't as exposed. Constantly in the first half he was drifting into centre (which I've posted about before) and giving space to the opposing left winger. McShane was making the same mistake, drifting away from the touchline and giving the opposing winger space to move into.

Of the two central defenders, Dunne was imperious, clearances, marking, keeping possession, absolute masterclass. Another one. This was the worst O'Shea has played under Trapattoni at centre half, but still far ahead of anything he's done before this. He created problems for himself, and the rest of the defence with some poor clearances, including headers that went straight up in the air, instead of straight up the pitch!

Genuinely didn't think the centre of midfield was as poor as some here have said. Against Cyprus 2 years ago, Kilbane and Ireland didn't make a tackle and left the 2 central defenders (O'Brien and Dunne) completely isolated. Tonight, Whelan and Gibson protected the centre of defence, and gave the wingers an option when they needed someone to pass to. I didn't see Cyprus making any kind of progress through the middle of the park at all, their shots came from bad clearances, and all their creativity was on the wings.

Duff was the better of the two wingers, although McGeady had the better chances to score. Both gave their fullbacks a terrible time, and the switch before half time obviously caused confusion. McGeady had the better chances to score, and Duff could have ended it late on. After all the talk of set pieces over the last week, I thought that some of deliveries to the near post were poor, and Dunne was the clear target man at the far post. With a little more luck he could have had two goals. Surprised Sparky never taught him how to volley correctly! Duff linked better with Kilbane than McGeady did with McShane, although I'd blame the full back there rather than McGeady. Other than Lawrence, and possibly Keogh, I don't see who else can come into the side for McGeady, so I think he'll continue on the right for the forseeable future.

Up front, Keane scored early on, and Doyle should have had at least one. Both worked the Cypriot defence very hard, and forcing them into making mistakes. Keane dropped deep a lot in the first half, and may have just been exhausted in the second half.
Folan came on to win the ball from a kick out. Which he did. Probably the shortest debut since Jason Byrne!

The lack of substitutes was puzzling, some players were clearly out on their feet, and Cyprus used all 3 of their substitutes, so they were playing against fresh legs. On the other hand, bringing on players could have lost us the game. We can definitely say that not bringing on more won it.

One of the lads made the point after the game that we've played a very similar type of game for 3 games now, defensively solid and in the middle of the park, creative on the wings and effective up front. We won't need to change that gameplan for tougher teams. We could have beaten Cyprus by being more attacking or free flowing tonight, but teams like Italy and Bulgaria won't allow us to be as attack minded, so by keeping to the same gameplan tonight, the team will know what to do when faced with a stronger side instead of panicing when we're not given the same space. It's an interesting thought, did beating the likes of Canada, San Marino and the Faroes playing an attacking brand of football mean we didn't know what to do when faced with stronger opposition like France or Germany?
Actually he said it a whole lot better than that, but I felt it deserved to be mentioned.

[Colbert Report]

Given 8 - not called upon too much but he was solid when needed
Kilbane 6 - was beaten for pace but in fairness he's not a left back and Cyprus' right winger was the best player on the park in my opinion.
O'Shea 7 - I can't seem to remember him doing anything so that can't be a bad thing for your central defender!
Dunne 9 - man of the match for my money. He was immense all game and saved our bacon many times.
McShane 5 - he's a donkey and was made to look as such today several times. By far our worst player.

Duff 8 - he looked very very good and set up a great goal with a wonderful turn. He is not the Duff of old, he's not able to sprint for ninety minutes anymore. Good performance.
Whelan 6.5 - provided nothing in the way of Andy Reid-type slicing passes but he was not asked to do so by the manager. He was sat on the back four and to be fair to him, Cyprus created nothing going forward through the middle, it was all on the wings.
Gibson 6.5 - see Whelan's comments above. Offered absolutely nothing in Cyprus' half bar one over the top shot. He didn't look terribly out of place. One to watch for the future for sure, but I'm not sure I'd ever expect anything out of him in the way of being a long-term replacement for Roy Keane in the middle.

Keane 7.5 - ran his socks off and tracked back early on. Good performance.
Doyle 8 - brilliant workrate. Never stopped running. One great shot with his left foot that almost went in. Too good for the Championship.

[Morbo]

Here is my ratings correct to 4 decimal points;
Given - 7.1024
McShane - 3.3275
O'Shea - 7.0177
Dunne - 9.2185
Kilbane - 6.3132
McGeady - 6.6481
Gibson - 5.4823
Whelan - 5.3291
Duff - 8.8794
Keane - 7.0136
Doyle - 9.3289

Not a convincing performance to be sure but there was 3 great individual performances from Doyle, Duff and Dunne, a little disappointed that neither Gibson or Whelan was subbed as it was clear it wasn't really working, we badly need S.Reid back he is probably our 1 of our 2 most crucial players for this campaign(the other being Dunne) can't afford to lose either of them against Bulgaria or Italy. McShane was shocking, we were very lucky he didn't cost us 2 or 3 points, also disapointed not to see the subs used, I think Hunt would have caused them problems comming on late for a tired Duff or McGeady

[OneRedArmy]

mcShane's performance tonight was verging on as bad as I've ever seen in international football. His positional sense, either at right or centre back is non-existent. Whilst he has heart & commitment by the bucketload it doesn't hide that he fundamentally isn't a footballer.

On the positive side, Keane, Doyle & particularly Duff were like the Holy Trinity, absolutely everywhere. They were a joy to watch.

Judgement reserved on midfield, but new wing backs required.

BUT, 7 big points..

[Hibs4Ever]

Kilbane 6 - was beaten for pace but in fairness he's not a left back and Cyprus' right winger was the best player on the park in my opinion.

Dunne 9 - man of the match for my money. He was immense all game


:confused:

[Fergie's Son]

Huge win and deserved one. This is NOT a bad Cyprus team. They are a genuine threat in this group and could have taken points off of Italy.

For the last time, however, Andy Reid is a media creation and nothing else. Stephen Ireland who is at least the player Reid is was destroyed against Cyprus because he is not a ball winner. Reid is not a ball winner either nor does he hold the ball particularly well.

Keane does not rate Reid so highly at Sunderland that he is willing to give up one of his defensive midfielders to accomodate him. Perhaps in a 5 man midfield he is an affordable luxury or maybe in a 4-4-1-1 otherwise he does not, and should not, play for this Irish team. Get over it and move on.

[ifk101]

Too much space between Gibson/Whelan and Keane/Doyle in the second half. Served to invite Cyprus onto us.

We had a number of good scoring chances - the only chances Cyprus had came from individual mistakes by McShane. McShane showed last night that he is not good enough for this level and he's not a viable option if Finnan is injured.

Positives were the pairing of JOSH and Dunne, and the work rate of Keane, Doyle, Duff and McGeady. And of course the result. Bulgaria have only 3 points from 3 games - the win against Cyprus means we now have a great chance of finishing the group in the top 2.

[jbyrne]

Dunphy summed it up well after, if that was Staunton or Kerr they'd be getting a lot of 'welly' after that performance.

we have 7 pts from 3 games where as stan had 1 point after 3 the last campaign. enough said

[GenerationXI]

This no substitutes thing really annoy's me.
Subs are there to be used and they should be used. They are in the squad because they are good enough therefore there should be no excuse as to why they ain't being used!

Kind of puts Andy Reid's moaning into perspective now. He knew full well if he was on the bench he'd stay there for the night, which is bullshlt really, a scumderland player he may be, but he's much better than the toddler who disappeared for 90mins last night.

I know i'm not gonna make any friends with this either but I felt like the referee gave everything our way, especially in the first half. Seemed a tad biased to be honest.

Good result and things are looking up, but i'd be having a word with McGeady about doing his job and squaring balls for our strikers. If I was Kevin Doyle I'd be blaming him for robbing me of a well deserved goal or several.

[Duggie]

ok so we played poor but we still won - we will take that all day long if it gets us to south africa. my ratings would be

given - 8 couple of great saves, sound as usual
kilbane - 7 couple of dodgy moments but ok
dunne - 10 coundnt fault him atal, immense
o'shea - 8 another solid performance
mcshane - 5 terrible, couldnt pass, gave it away every time
mcgeady - 8 thought he was brilliant, just maybe he could give it off a fraction quicker and delivery a little better but some great skill. one of his best games for us.
whealan - 5 came into it a wee bit in the 2nd half but didnt get stuck in atal. very poor
gibson - 4 game passed him by, didnt do anything really
duff - 9 great game, did everything. brilliant
doyle - 9 pity he didnt score but was brilliant tracking back
keane - 8 one chance one goal, 35th in total now. vital to us

[Noelys Guitar]

The night club form reared its ugly head (and showed us who our best players are). Whelan, Gibson and McShane are simply not good enough. Huge gap between our forwards and our defenders. The game was crying out for Andy Reid to come on. A Berbatov or Del Piero would have taken 2 of those chances last night. Lets not kid ourselves here. Delighted with the 3 points but not with our game plan.

[Wolfie]

Given was excellent when called upon, which was twice. The mark of a good keeper is having nothing to do for large parts of the game, and still keep up his concentration levels. Hope he gets the night off against Poland, he deserves it.

I felt the 2 full backs were the weak links, McShane moreso than Kilbane, but only because Kilbane wasn't as exposed. Constantly in the first half he was drifting into centre (which I've posted about before) and giving space to the opposing left winger. McShane was making the same mistake, drifting away from the touchline and giving the opposing winger space to move into.

Of the two central defenders, Dunne was imperious, clearances, marking, keeping possession, absolute masterclass. Another one. This was the worst O'Shea has played under Trapattoni at centre half, but still far ahead of anything he's done before this. He created problems for himself, and the rest of the defence with some poor clearances, including headers that went straight up in the air, instead of straight up the pitch!

Genuinely didn't think the centre of midfield was as poor as some here have said. Against Cyprus 2 years ago, Kilbane and Ireland didn't make a tackle and left the 2 central defenders (O'Brien and Dunne) completely isolated. Tonight, Whelan and Gibson protected the centre of defence, and gave the wingers an option when they needed someone to pass to. I didn't see Cyprus making any kind of progress through the middle of the park at all, their shots came from bad clearances, and all their creativity was on the wings.

Duff was the better of the two wingers, although McGeady had the better chances to score. Both gave their fullbacks a terrible time, and the switch before half time obviously caused confusion. McGeady had the better chances to score, and Duff could have ended it late on. After all the talk of set pieces over the last week, I thought that some of deliveries to the near post were poor, and Dunne was the clear target man at the far post. With a little more luck he could have had two goals. Surprised Sparky never taught him how to volley correctly! Duff linked better with Kilbane than McGeady did with McShane, although I'd blame the full back there rather than McGeady. Other than Lawrence, and possibly Keogh, I don't see who else can come into the side for McGeady, so I think he'll continue on the right for the forseeable future.

Up front, Keane scored early on, and Doyle should have had at least one. Both worked the Cypriot defence very hard, and forcing them into making mistakes. Keane dropped deep a lot in the first half, and may have just been exhausted in the second half.
Folan came on to win the ball from a kick out. Which he did. Probably the shortest debut since Jason Byrne!

The lack of substitutes was puzzling, some players were clearly out on their feet, and Cyprus used all 3 of their substitutes, so they were playing against fresh legs. On the other hand, bringing on players could have lost us the game. We can definitely say that not bringing on more won it.

One of the lads made the point after the game that we've played a very similar type of game for 3 games now, defensively solid and in the middle of the park, creative on the wings and effective up front. We won't need to change that gameplan for tougher teams. We could have beaten Cyprus by being more attacking or free flowing tonight, but teams like Italy and Bulgaria won't allow us to be as attack minded, so by keeping to the same gameplan tonight, the team will know what to do when faced with a stronger side instead of panicing when we're not given the same space. It's an interesting thought, did beating the likes of Canada, San Marino and the Faroes playing an attacking brand of football mean we didn't know what to do when faced with stronger opposition like France or Germany?
Actually he said it a whole lot better than that, but I felt it deserved to be mentioned.

Agree with much of the above.

Watching from the Davin Stand, I felt most of our trouble was stemming from our full-backs and Cyprus exploited this continually. Their positioning was woefully wayward and both lacked any compusure on the ball. I thought Kilbane was just as poor as McShane - certainly in the first half.

McShane tried his heart out but he's painfully limited. O'Brien would have been a far better alternative there.

Cyprus got a lot of joy by circum-navigating the midfield and turning the full backs at every opportunity.

Make no mistake - those lads are determined and can play. Nicosia will be very very difficult indeed.

Given - no more to be said. Absolute quality.

Dunne was excellent and O'Shea was generally solid.

The Gibson gamble didn't pay off and Reid was conspicuous by his absence during that tricky 2nd half.

I thought Duff and Mcgeady played very well although Mcgeady was receiving the ball standing still far too often for my liking. I think we would have got behind the Cypriot back 4 more often if McGeady could have been picked out "on the run".

There were occasions were Duff and McGeady should stay wide as opposed to checking back and trying to beat their man for the 3rd time - particularly
when protecting a lead. Just run the channel and lay the ball off!!!

Overall - we got the result and I would have taken 1 nil yesterday.

[paul_oshea]

looks like i was right about whelan, its reid beside him making him look good. what was he at in the last few minutes he should have shot, not tried to take it down and pass it, total lack of any purpose or knowledge on what he should be doing.

Trap is stubborn, he didnt make substitutions as though he didnt want to show that his midfield picking on gibson and whelan was wrong. Neither of the players won the ball, or when they had the ball used it, gibson hit some nice passess but you could count them in one hand. Andy reid would have at least controlled the game there.

One thing for certain is, if we are missing reid in any of the big games we are in serious trouble. And are we good enough to win a playoff? I'm not so sure.....

[back of the net]

yeah would echo most of the posts on ere -- at the end of the day, HUGE result no matter how good/bad the performance - bulgaria dropping more points yday is massive (only 3 from 9 for them).

in the first half i thought whelan was ok -- however he tired in the second and faded out of the game - put that down to lack of first team club football

the lack of subs really frustrates me - thought the game was crying out for hunt with 20/25mins to go as our midfield was starting to sit quite deep


but 3 points is 3 points ...roll on georgia in feb

[Billsthoughts]

1. Doyle
2. Dunne
3. Duff

Our top 3 players by a mile.

2nd half was how Trap wants it to be. It's his way. Very risky if you ask me. I'd rather have Reid in there and have about 5-10% more possession.

Anyway, delighted with the 3 points. Win our next 2 home games and we're 10 points ahead of Bulgaria with them having a game in hand.

Agree with all of the above especially the bit in bold. Way to risky from Trapp and think he will be caught out eventually. However 3 points is 3 points.

thought Mageady justified his selection ahead of hunt tonite on the basis that Hunts workrate was used as the main argument for his inclusion.

Macshane v poor.

Again thought the RTE panel were ott in their criticism.

[Drumcondra 69er]

Gibson looked well out of his depth. Centre mid is a big problem if Stephen Reid is injured, I'd have himself and Carsley as my first choice, Whelan's not getting enough football and it showed last night. Mate of mine was late so had to wait to give him his ticket, was walking up the steps to the stand when the goal went on, missed it by 10 seconds!

Dunne was immense, impressed with Duff and Doyle, thought McGeady had his best game in green although he should have buried that chance. O'Shea had a couple of dodgy moments but was solid enough as did McShane who wasn't solid , Kilbane solid enough, Robbie put in a good shift. Given solid again, happy with the 3 points, plenty of
room for improvement though. Andy Reid deserves a run against Poland if Trap doesn't trust him enough to play in a qualifier. Believe Dunphy was in full on rant mode....!

Lovely few pints after, great bit of craic in the pub, there's definitely a feel good factor growing. I can remember Charlton's team scraping results with iffy performances (2-1 at home to Luxembourg for example) and they were all forgotten once we qualified, hopefully this is the same. Other results are going our way, sometimes being a lucky manager is as important as being a good one. Typical Italian style, early lead and then don't make changes and see it out....

[Duggie]

Agree with all of the above especially the bit in bold. Way to risky from Trapp and think he will be caught out eventually. However 3 points is 3 points.

thought Mageady justified his selection ahead of hunt tonite on the basis that Hunts workrate was used as the main argument for his inclusion.

Macshane v poor.

Again thought the RTE panel were ott in their criticism.

there wasnt a selection issue of hunt over mcgeady. hunt isnt anywhere near the quality of mcgeady. he was class last night and unlucky didnt score.

[Billsthoughts]

I wouldnt say he was class by any stretch of the imagination. But he did enough to keep his place. also think he got a bad ball from Whelan which he made the most of for that shot on goal.

[Cortezuma]

Huge win and deserved one. This is NOT a bad Cyprus team. They are a genuine threat in this group and could have taken points off of Italy.

For the last time, however, Andy Reid is a media creation and nothing else. Stephen Ireland who is at least the player Reid is was destroyed against Cyprus because he is not a ball winner. Reid is not a ball winner either nor does he hold the ball particularly well.

Keane does not rate Reid so highly at Sunderland that he is willing to give up one of his defensive midfielders to accomodate him. Perhaps in a 5 man midfield he is an affordable luxury or maybe in a 4-4-1-1 otherwise he does not, and should not, play for this Irish team. Get over it and move on.

I wont be getting over it, or moving on. I would like to see some semblance of a passing game introduced into this new solid set-up.

Currently we are kicking the ball up to Doyle (or out of play if you are McShane or Kilbane) or our wingers are picking up the ball and trying to all our attacking on our own due to lack of support from the centre.

Football-wise, apart from our wingers play, this was atrocious football from us. Dunphy was right in a way saying Staunton would have been lambasted for this display. It's so unfortunate that the new driving force of the team going forward is so injury prone. Here's hoping for an injury free run for S.Reid.

I can understand Trapattonis reasoning for not playing Andy, but I hope he at least shows signs that he will give him a try when we play Poland.

Our biggest problem was players who have no confidence on the ball - due to mainly a complete lack of technique and touch.

Along with their terrible defensive displays, our full-backs, when they did get the ball more often than not put it over the touchline or gave it straight back to Cyprus. Absolutely woeful from both of them. McShane will have to do a lot at club-level to deserve a start again, and surely it’s time to stop the nonsense extension of Kilbanes international career.

The same can be said of Gibson and Whelan. 90% of their passes completed were short and back to a defender. They do look out of their depth as they barely touched the ball in the first half, and were not much better in the second.

I’d give O’Shea a 6 at best as his clearances and positioning were not as good as the last two matches. However, for once I will defend him, and say that he may have been affected by the headless chicken at right-back beside him, who seemed intent on coming inside to hang out with him when he should have been getting tight on Okkas or Garpozis.

The positives are enough to balance it out overall though, with the 1-0 win acceptable at this early stage. Excellent attacking performances but we will struggle against better teams if we keep getting our wingers to make their own space rather than creating it with the support of an attacking midfielder.

Also Kevin Doyle really is a legend, but lots of work needs to be done on how Keane plays with him. He keeps running into the same space and never picks up on Doyles frequent knockdowns.

[Duggie]

the thing is under staunton we wud prob have drawn the game or worse. we ground out the 1-0 win, wasnt pretty but its 3 points. next up 3 more points against georgia. oh and the polski's in nov.

[OwlsFan]

I felt the 2 full backs were the weak links, McShane moreso than Kilbane, but only because Kilbane wasn't as exposed. Constantly in the first half he was drifting into centre (which I've posted about before) and giving space to the opposing left winger. McShane was making the same mistake, drifting away from the touchline and giving the opposing winger space to move into.
.

Agreed. I was sitting low down in the middle of the Hogan stand. Full backs were losing their men or having the ball pinged over their head and scurring back. I thought Kilbane had one of his poorer games.

I have said it on numerous occasions, Whelan will not alas make the grade having seen him for a few years at Wednesday. But Trapp likes him and he fits in to his plans.

Not sure why some people gave Doyle 8 or 9 ratings. He worked hard but never really looked like scoring. Robbie pretty much disappeared in the 2nd half (as did the team for the first 20 minutes of that half). I think he was tired after the amount of chasing he had to do.

Cyprus are no mugs. In fact there are no mugs in our group and every game so far has been close for all teams. So let's be grateful for the 3 points in a reasonable performance - on another day it might have been 1-1 with that last minute scramble. Such is the fine line between success and failure.

[jmurphyc]

I'm happy with the three points in the context of Bulgaria's result. In the first half I thought we were very good but the second half we definitely could have done with more control from the central midfield particularly (but that extends to the whole team).

There are a number of things to work on but we have a friendly next, so things are good in that respect. We really need to improve our attacking set pieces and get our players to attack the ball in the box more. It's the same with crosses. There were plenty of times when crosses went into the box and there was either nobody in a good position or they just didn't attempt to get onto the ball.

I'm surprised by people giving McGeady such a high rating. I generally like him but last night I thought he was our worst player by a mile. He kept on losing the ball by not releasing it quickly enough. He beat his man numerous times and instead of passing it/whipping in a cross, he turned around and tried to beat the man again by which time he'd be surrounded. He needs to improve in that respect. Last night I thought he was a liability.

I'm very happy overall by how things have been shaping up under Trap, but the lack of substitutions surprises me. I thought numerous players were either tiring in the second half or were playing poorly and we could have done with some renewed energy to rejuvenate us.

All in all though, I'm very happy and had I been told that we'd be three points behind Italy with a game in hand after 3 games, and more particularly 4 points ahead of Bulgaria at this stage I would have bitten your hand off for it. That's the most important thing.

[SuperDave]

was i watching a different game? i thought mcgeady was tired and underhitting his crosses for the last half hour. he also continually chose the wrong option. his crossing was poor, and he kept running into the full back. late on in the game, there was a long ball forward which keane ended up in possession of and attempted to pass back to mcgeady, intending him to run onto it into the corner, but mcgeady was running towards the middle of the pitch! with two minutes left! what was obviously called for and what duffer did a couple of times was playing the ball into the corner and wasting time. robbie keane knew it, duffer knew it, but mcgeady didn't.

now i thought he had a good first half, but frankly he should have scored (had two good chances) and should have showed a little more football brain when his legs were tired (which they painfully obviously were) which he didn't. 8 for the first half, 5 for the second.

[Oink]

Pretty uneventfull game really, I never really worried about conceeding, they just didnt look like they were going to score... even with McShane.

The 2 lads in the middle were un creative but solid enough, it seems they went out with the no-nosense and no sloppy mistakes approach and to be fair the Cypriots didnt break through the middle even though they had a lot of the ball there.

I was pretty frustrated at the lack of substitutions. I would have liked to bring Reid and a quick forward on for Keane and Doyle, put Reid in the Tevez style role and try put their defence on the backfoot with a few nice through balls for the front man to run onto for the last 15 mins or so, I thought their defence was all over the shop in the last 20.

Doyle and Dunne were excellent, its the true mark of a good forward to make yourself a threat in a game where your teams not creating much. Doyle looks like he's pushing for a big club in January.

McGeady has the talent but his decision making is terrible, beat the man and whip the ball into the danger area and that's his job done, its up to the strikers to get on the end of it.... if he went out with that mentality he would be a nightmare to defend against. Last night he just slowed the momentum and either lost the ball or put in a poor late cross, his work rate was good though.

McShane has 2 bad feet, no matter which one the ball comes to it looks like its on his bad one..... no composure whatsoever.

[Den Perry]

I thought it was a poor performance....cyprus were missing three or four of their better players.

However, its a great start....as somebody pointed out above we at 1 point from 3 games when that other clown was managing us, we now have 7 from three.

In fairness, I think very few sides perform very well in qualifying tournaments.Last night was pretty poor, but I think under Trap that we will raide our game to whats necessary aginst the stronger opposition.Its all about doing enough to get there. The real performances come at the finals.

Whereas if you look back to the Clown's regime, the performances were not poor....they were farcical.

On another oint, what bugs me is the way a lot of media and Irish fans think that one/two good performances from a player means he is good enough.
eg Whelan - played very well in the opening two games(against very poor opposition) and everybody sdaying that he was the answer.I rem the same thing with Mcshane against Czech Rep. He was blown all out of proportion..(even though he was at fault for Kollers goal). Mcshane should not play again no matter how stuck we are. I would play around positionally with others to avoid having that calamity anywhere near our back four

[Claret Murph]

I have just read all the whole thread and what I can only say to sum it all up is

WIN , DRAW , WIN .= 7 POINTS :):):)

[irishfan86]

On another oint, what bugs me is the way a lot of media and Irish fans think that one/two good performances from a player means he is good enough.
eg Whelan - played very well in the opening two games(against very poor opposition) and everybody sdaying that he was the answer.I rem the same thing with Mcshane against Czech Rep. He was blown all out of proportion..(even though he was at fault for Kollers goal). Mcshane should not play again no matter how stuck we are. I would play around positionally with others to avoid having that calamity anywhere near our back four

While I agree with you on the fan/media reaction to McShane following the Czech match, I disagree with your view on Whelan.

I remember reading many posts here that were still a bit disgruntled with his selection in those two games.

While he received "man of the match" honours in both games (I believe?), I think the majority of us here had a feeling of what I would call "cautious optimism."

Even going into these games, a lot of people expressed concerns about his lack of first-team football, and the fact that he wouldn't be paired with Stephen Reid this time around.

Basically I disagree with your view that Whelan was ever blown up to be anything bigger than he was by more than a minority of the media/fans.

Most of us thought he was a serviceable player who could carry out a simple role alongside the more impressive Stephen Reid, but I didn't get the sense that anybody was expecting him to become a key player for us.

[Dodge]

First half was entertaining enough. Second half saw a poor Cyprus team pretty much dominate an Irish side with no midfield. Only shocking finishing from Cyprus saved trap from his first embarrassment (and drawing at home to Cyprus still should be an embarrassment).

Whelan is a poor sub championship player. Gibson may not even be that good. How McShane earns a living from football I'll never know. As ever Doyle's phenomenal work rate and Dunne's ferocious leadership helped drag Ireland through. Nice move for the goal too. If Duff could finish, he'd be unstoppable

[Kingdom]

Actually he said it a whole lot better than that, but I felt it deserved to be mentioned.

Tets can you be my official spokesman please! :D

I thought there was a lot of vision when we were on the counter-attack too.

One grumble though: the crowd. There was a stage in the second half when the team had calmed things and initiated the "keep-ball" phase that has been obvious (to me anyway) in the previous two games, yet as soon as the ball went back inside the crowd were baying for it to get hoofed up front.
There are a lot of idiots going to Ireland games.

[geysir]

Tets has to go pro :D

[jmurphyc]

Tets can you be my official spokesman please! :D

I thought there was a lot of vision when we were on the counter-attack too.

One grumble though: the crowd. There was a stage in the second half when the team had calmed things and initiated the "keep-ball" phase that has been obvious (to me anyway) in the previous two games, yet as soon as the ball went back inside the crowd were baying for it to get hoofed up front.
There are a lot of idiots going to Ireland games.

Yeah, that's a good point actually. The crowd was better last night but as usual there were too many people who couldn't be bothered to open their mouths. When we were struggling to retain possession the players really could have done with the crowd generating some atmosphere to lift their spirits but the crowd wouldn't do so until there was a good period of possession or an attack. It's a vicious circle. I guess I'm a bit peeved because it's particularly bad in the section that I'm in. For some reason the people around me are completely different each game yet I'm always in the same seat.

[Docboy]

One grumble though: the crowd. There was a stage in the second half when the team had calmed things and initiated the "keep-ball" phase that has been obvious (to me anyway) in the previous two games, yet as soon as the ball went back inside the crowd were baying for it to get hoofed up front.
There are a lot of idiots going to Ireland games.

To be honest I would have been one of those grumbling but it was more to do with the fact that we were showing Cyprus far too much respect. Perhaps given the 2 results in the last campaign the players have built them up to be a bogey team. Cyprus were there to got at, as seen pretty much any time we attacked. We're at home here and should be pushing for at least that second goal to allow us a little room to breathe.

Doyle was immense as was Dunne at the back. Once again Robbie did little, aside from the goal, but it's worrying that him and Doyle don't seem to be developing any understanding. Still, the group table makes for nice reading this morning.

[Duggie]

To be honest I would have been one of those grumbling but it was more to do with the fact that we were showing Cyprus far too much respect. Perhaps given the 2 results in the last campaign the players have built them up to be a bogey team. Cyprus were there to got at, as seen pretty much any time we attacked. We're at home here and should be pushing for at least that second goal to allow us a little room to breathe.

Doyle was immense as was Dunne at the back. Once again Robbie did little, aside from the goal, but it's worrying that him and Doyle don't seem to be developing any understanding. Still, the group table makes for nice reading this morning.

this amazes me. did little aside from the goal, eh the only goal of the game by the way. FFS what about his 34 other goals dwn the years and his tireless running in every game. if robbie gets injured in the big games then we are in trouble.

[geysir]

The only time I would grumble was with the breakdown passback to Given and then the hoof upfield. We are still novices at the knocking it about game.
Soon I'd hope that Given can find his full back with a pass and then Midfield appear to receive.