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

[Schumi]

Poor game overall but at least we won it.

McShane can't play full back and we need someone in midfield who can hold onto the ball. Duff and Doyle were great but I wish McGeady would get a cross in after making good runs.


I think the game was not Ireland at their best and still winning, when is the last time that happenedSan Marino?

[jmurphyc]

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.

I don't get why so many people are saying Doyle had a great game and Robbie was poor. Sure, Doyle was the better player on the night, but not by much. Robbie scored the winner too. They both worked incredibly hard; Doyle was constantly chasing balls but Robbie was getting back and helping out the defence a lot.

[NeilMcD]

Yeah I thought Doyle was man of the match with Dunne just behind him. Robbie played well. Mc Shane was the only one who had a very poor game. GIbson and Whelan, were carrying out orders but did not impose themselves on the game at all so basically we were playing without a midfield in a constructive sense, as they were both there to destroy and did that ok.

Duffer was great.

Crowd was not great again. It was one of my quietest games for standing up due to injury but I still tried but the atmosphere is still very poor.

Its probably down to the fact not enough people knowing how you are supposed to behave at a football ground.

[galwayhoop]

There are a lot of idiots going to Ireland games.

i have found this for years. i didn't make it myself last night but in general i have found supporters at ireland (home) games to be less well educated in football terms than almost any grounds i go to.

[bwagner]

Lads all is going well , 6 games un beaten now (also the games against the clubs in Portugal and Notts) its all about getting a few results which we are now doing.
The 3 steves will be back for the next match and if we win that ( which I think we would) we are in the driving seat ! Gibson will improve and Whelan will need S Reid with till he develops a bit more...

[NeilMcD]

On what basis are you sure that they will all be back. They could get injured or anything could happen.

[Duggie]

hopefully between now and the georgia game whealan either starts more games for stoke or gets out of there. read in the papers last week that he said if he didnt soon get a look in he might look elsewhere. id say he'd get a game every week with most champs teams. better than sitting on the bench in the prem. key is to hope steven reid stays fit.

[superfrank]

Got the three points.

IMO, the best thing a team can do is play poorly and win. Don't think Gibson is up to much at the moment. Whelan wasn't too bad. The main problem last night was that the players were very quick to get the ball out to Duff and McGeady. It didn't always come off. Both those players did well though, Duff especially. I think Robbie had a better game than people are giving him credit for. Defence still looks a bit shaky. McShane needs to be replaced. How he gets his game (for Hull or Ireland) is beyond me.

[Duggie]

i thought kilbane was a bit dodgy with possesion at times last night aswell.

[NeilMcD]

Was that Keanes first goal at Croke Park. ?

[redobit]

If injuries arent a problem then switch
Finnan for McShane,
S. Reid for Gibson,
J. O'Brien or A. Reid for Whelan (depending on the opposition).
That would be a very decent team.

[irishfan86]

If injuries arent a problem then switch
Finnan for McShane,
S. Reid for Gibson,
J. O'Brien or A. Reid for Whelan (depending on the opposition).
That would be a very decent team.

Agree with the first two suggestions, but Whelan doesn't really deserve to be dropped unless Joey O'Brien really proves to us in a friendly that he can play at this level in central midfield.

I'd be frightened of playing him in there after the Cyprus debacle.

I realize he's been doing well for Bolton in a 4-3-3/4-5-1, but I'm not convinced he is miles better than Whelan, and not sure he would work in our system.

[conlonn]

qill take 1-0 victory and three points. Bulgaria drawing their third team really gives Ireland the chnace to at least get second place in the group

really worried about centre mid field though. Whelan was worse than Gibson. Yard off the pace was Whelan. Ireland as a team not enough ball retention.
They missed Finnan and S Reid. A Reid should be in team but will not be. Trap should be making subs too in the games. He is very very cautious, a bit too much I think

Taught McGeady was OK but why cannot he do things a little faster instead of taking 3,4 or 5 touches which gives the defenders the chance to get goalside in centre of defence then make clearances easier. McGeady looks to have low confidence too. I think he is over rated by a lot of people but he is improving...

Three points against Georgia and we are on 10 after 4 games. Its been years since we have had that many points after 4 games

[paul_oshea]

I generally dont feel the need to post as its generally already been said, but waht were ye weirdos doing up till 4 in the morning writing essays?! :D

I will say this though, I thought Whelan was dangerous in possession, dangerous in the fact he could give the ball away if he didn't pass it backwards 6 yards. Gibson when he had hte ball sprayed it nicely, granted this was limited to about 5 passess. There is no excuse for sitting so deep outside your 18 yard line that you let wave after wave of attack and dont show for the ball from wingers. This happened continuously last night where duff and mcgeady were running down blind alleys becuase there was no support form midfield, in mainz i noticed how much off the ball running reid does to support both backs and wingers. Gibson has a football brain at least, whelan doesn't seem to have a brian or much else either. The simple fact of attacking is the best form of defense is true, if gibson was played further up then all the clearances (headers, blasting hte ball into the air forward from kilbane and oshea etc) then he may have picked up on some of these and held the ball up and sprayed it out to the wings. We didn't do this and therefore we invited cyprus to come onto us, we did defend well, but we also were lucky because we defended so deep that in other times(times as in managers/eras/games etc) we would have conceded(so maybe that in itself shows luck is on our side).

On mcgeady, lads he overran it so many times agani, where he took one touch too much, because playing in the SPL he gets the chance to do this and retains the ball, but in international football you cant get away with this. His end product is very poor too, his crossing is poor, he did show for the ball though and his pass to duff for the goal was great. The one thing I will say for him is that he is getting better with every game, and all that should be required is Trap to say to him when exactly he needs to release and where he neeeds to be putting his crosses in, then practice it in training sessions. I think he can get better, and hopefully stronger.

We proved last night that we have 4 very good attacking players, we also proved that we have a solid CB pairing. We were also shown how a right back is not meant to play, McShanes positioning is terrible(its already been mentioned though so not going to repeat whats been said), and his tackling was poor yesterday, but lads the balls kept going over Kilbanes head too, reminds me of harte when he used to keep getting caught out as he was coming too far infield and not quick enough to get back out to the full back area. Both our full backs were poor yesterday. I think with finnan back and stephen reid back we are two players short of a seriouslly strong team, a team that could compete with anyone else. If we can find those 2 by the end of the campaign and we are on our way to SA then we could do very well out there.

Oh and bringing on Hunt would have been even worse, mcgeady and duff made breaks and held the ball up well, even created chances on teh counter attack, Hunt would have been dangerous as well except dangerous for cyprus rather than us, giving hte ball back.

The space in the midfield is worrying though, Trap wants us playing so deep that we dont have anyone cutting out that space.

[Cortezuma]

''but lads the balls kept going over Kilbanes head too, reminds me of harte when he used to keep getting caught out as he was coming too far infield and not quick enough to get back out to the full back area. Both our full backs were poor yesterday. ''

Exactly what I was thinking Paul. It was real head in hands stuff at times from both fullbacks. McShane should not get another chance as from where i sat behind him in the first half in the Davin Stand he really did look like he was not a professional footballer. Kilbane has also always been a liability in possession with possibly the worst first touch I've ever seen in the top flight and really needs to be given his well deserved testimonial and retired.

[RepOfEire]

People need to realise that football is a results business. It is a good sign that we are grinding out results without actually playing particularly well.

We are certainly a lot more robust and determined in our approach to defending and closing down the opposition. Every team is built on a solid defence and we have only conceded 1 goal in 3 games. We carved Cyprus open on a number of occasions and with a bit more composure we could have been 3 nil up.

At this moment in time we are a team in transition .i.e. we are adapting to a new tactics and system, this takes time. I believe we are fortunate to play the so called weaker opposition first to enable us to fine tune our game for the more difficult games against Italy and Bulgaria.


I think Gibson and Whelan do not deserve the flak they are receiving. These two are young players who need to gain experience and could become vital components of the team in years to come. By giving these young players experience we are increasing the depth of our squad.

I think it is unfortunate that neither Gibson nor Whelan could play with a more experienced midfielder such as S Reid or Carsley. Most promising young players require some guidance.

I also believe that if it was not such a tight game, Trap would have brought on Andy Reid. If we were 2-0 up I’m sure Andy would have been brought on. He also has the chance to stake a claim during the Poland friendly.

[NeilMcD]

Yeah I think Reid will play against Poland.

[tetsujin1979]

Tets has to go pro :D
too right, I'll whore myself out for anything!


Was that Keanes first goal at Croke Park. ?
yeah, it was. they mentioned that in the report on Sky Sports News

[tetsujin1979]

Post match interviews and analysis on rte.ie: http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/

[gspain]

Three points against Georgia and we are on 10 after 4 games. Its been years since we have had that many points after 4 games

1994/95 I reckon. 3 wins to start, draw at home to NI then beat Portugal. We finished with 1 win (Latvia H), a draw (Liechtenstein) and 3 defeats and lost out in a playoff.

Still a good start. We need to improve though.

[Wolfie]

Oh and bringing on Hunt would have been even worse, mcgeady and duff made breaks and held the ball up well, even created chances on teh counter attack, Hunt would have been dangerous as well except dangerous for cyprus rather than us, giving hte ball back.

I think Duff reiterated last night that himself and Hunt are on two different footballing planets entirely.

Hunt in Duff's position for the goal last night just wouldn't have had the guile, composure or vision to create that goal.

Don't want to villify anyone - but has to be said - the horrific vision of McShane and Hunt on the same wing last night is the stuff of nightmares.

[paul_oshea]

''but lads the balls kept going over Kilbanes head too, reminds me of harte when he used to keep getting caught out as he was coming too far infield and not quick enough to get back out to the full back area. Both our full backs were poor yesterday. ''

Exactly what I was thinking Paul. It was real head in hands stuff at times from both fullbacks. McShane should not get another chance as from where i sat behind him in the first half in the Davin Stand he really did look like he was not a professional footballer. Kilbane has also always been a liability in possession with possibly the worst first touch I've ever seen in the top flight and really needs to be given his well deserved testimonial and retired.

Ya we mentioned this a few times where he could have controlled the ball down, granted it was near the touchline and a cypriot player was 6 or 7 yards away, and then passed or blasted it forward rather than kicking it out for a throw in, surely a professional footballer who has years of practice etc can contorl the ball when it comes down from the air?

Btw, has McShane played gaelic growing up, my mate was saying it and have to agree he reminds ye of a G.A.A player coming out player soccer for the first time or something, just runs around hard but without much purpose or direction.

I thought yesterdays performance was a step back from the previous two(and i wasn't particularly happy with Montenegro away either) but hopefully that was just down to the absence of Reid....

Finally, what some of you are forgetting is, the only real difference between our results and Bulgarias is they failed to score in Georgia, they took 1 poiint, we took 2, but we played georgia in mainz and it was like a home game. So really only 2 points in the difference and had we played georgia at home we could be in the exact same position. I know though with the last few campaigns its better to get the points in the bag.

whelan isn't that young, gibson is. Whelan is 24 isn't he? He should be getting to the top of his game. Age and inexperience are two completely different things, and so is just not being good enough.

[Kingdom]

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.

I don't mind people not singing, some people are shy etc, its to be expected. Its the nonces who tell you off for singing I can't stand. I'm in the Cusack Lower and my section is absolute gash - I think Michael McMullen is actually doing the commentary behind me with his wife.
But to whine and jeer at the team when they are retaining possession for more than thirty seconds gets my goat up.

To be honest I'm just waiting to get back to LR. Passed there this morning for the first time in ages and it has progressed a lot. Can't wait.

[Wolfie]

1994/95 I reckon. 3 wins to start, draw at home to NI then beat Portugal. We finished with 1 win (Latvia H), a draw (Liechtenstein) and 3 defeats and lost out in a playoff.

Still a good start. We need to improve though.

A decent start but there will be very little margin for error in this group.

Following Georgia we've a series of head to head's with Italy and Bulgaria - a pattern only broken with the away trip to Cyprus - from March to October 09.

The '95 implosion was a mixture of the sands of time affecting a group of players nearing the end and a major dip in confidence. Paul McGrath spoke about that time and how they could all feel "the confidence just seeped out of the team".

Without being a harbinger of doom - but we'll have to scrap every inch of the way in this campaign.

[Supreme feet]

In the last campaign, if you look at our results against the respective teams, we competed quite manfully and competently against Germany, the Czechs and Slovakia - yet Cyprus were the only team to give us a hiding. They were also the only team to dominate us at home.

Yesterday, as then, they worked extremely hard to close down and isolate our full-backs, forcing errors through pressing and long, diagonal balls. The midfield was completely bypassed, and because of Cyprus' pressure off the ball, Given and our defenders resorted to the long ball too. The midfield was thus bypassed, and the flow/rhythm of the game wasn't helped by an atrocious referee who seemed to whistle for any smidgen of contact. It was a strange game for a central midfielder, in that neither team dominated or played through that area. It's hard to judge if Andy Reid would have made a difference - particularly given how badly he played against the same opposition a year ago. I doubt if we will play against a harder-working team in this group, and I was happy with the result and the amount of chances we created, given the scrappy nature of the contest.

However, if we beat Georgia, it will represent our best start to a qualifying group since Euro 96. If we beat Bulgaria after that, the group becomes a two-horse race between ourselves and Italy. We're in a great position, and I'm happy.

[paul_oshea]

Yeah I think Reid will play against Poland.

I hope he does. Neil did you think the country lads ran hardest last night?


All this talk about getting better in the future about whelan and stuff, does everyone remember dunnie around 21/22, and how we all thought he was great but lacked concentration/composure etc?! Well, all these players that we have come to fruition who have been class, generally start off that way and have flaws they need to either eradicate or build on, whelan doesn't strike me as one of those players. He does nothing sensational or does nothing to take any note. People saw this yesterday because reid overshadowed it previouslly.

[Claret Murph]

To be honest I'm just waiting to get back to LR. Passed there this morning for the first time in ages and it has progressed a lot. Can't wait.

When you say a lot, well can you like say like to where are we ?

[Ozymandias]

Given - 7

McShane - 5
Kilbane - 6
O'Shea - 6
Dunne - 9

Whelan - 4
Gibson - 5
Duff - 8
McGeady - 7

Keane - 7
Doyle - 9


Trapp - 7 for not addressing the hole in the middle of our midfield. This could have cost us...

Happy with the win though

[magnumpi]

doyle was fantastic last night - i couldn't believe how much aerial ball he was winning against two large cypriots at the back.

did anyone else think keane was extremely slow in realising that doyler was winning flick-ons everytime? i dont think anything came of any flick on, despite him doing so well.

doyle then had to revert to taking the ball down and holding it up, which he did excellently, but would liked to have seen a bit more savy from keane in this regard.

thoughts?

[NeilMcD]

[QUOTE=paul_oshea;1041423]I hope he does. Neil did you think the country lads ran hardest last night?


Well I hobbled and I sure you ran pretty hard somewhere so maybe.

[Kingdom]

When you say a lot, well can you like say like to where are we ?

:D

The last time I was there you could look over the hoardings and see all the work going on, now it looks like they are ready to start the top level. I'm just excira!

[donalmcdonagh]

People keep saying that we were sitting back, but the fact of the matter is if Duff/Whelan, McGeady and Doyle finish those chances we're scoring 4 goals.

It came down to finishing, not a lack of creativity or offense.


I agree, there was a serious lack of guile/conifdence about the attempts these 3 had. It was like we didnt need to score. I think Trap admitted after the match that the mid field didnt work..He said Gibson didnt use the ability he has, he said he didnt impose himself.....basically bottled it, but at least he did so in a match we won so he wont be hit too hard from all sides. If we had lost he would be feeling a lot worse and thats not good for a young man making his debut.
I though Robbie and Doyle could have came off with 20 to go, for Reid and Folan. They could have just been told to do the exact same, I think Keane and Doyle were knackered, they worked so hard, was great to see but it was unfair on them and the subs not to make a change. I agree with the thoughts of others regarding subs, we should have seen some.


End of the day it is 3 points, so valuable. But a lot to learn from it. I have a feeling Trap is one to learn from his mistakes, he took a chance and got away with it(as opposed to it paying off). I dont think he will do it again. Roll on Georgia

[carloz]

Given 8 - Always reliable when called upon, thankfully not as often as usual tonight!
McShane 5 - dodgy, very dodgy! Always always seems to be a mistake in him. I want to like the guy but he is a mistake waiting to happen.
Dunne 9 - solid in 1st half, defensive mastercalss in second
O'Shea 7 - doing well under Trap, solid
Kilbane 7 - steady as ever
McGeady 6 - some very good moments, frustrating at times
Whelan 7 - solid but not spectacular, more involved than Gibson
Gibson 6 - no major mistakes really, did a job
Duff 8.5 - excellent game looks like he still has it. Memories of old Duffer
Doyle 9.5 - thought he was excellent led the line fantastically and worked so hard, ball retention was fantastic. Looked a class act and deserved a goal.
Keane 7 - quiet game, concentrating on his marker rather than the ball too often, but got a goal and did some good things too.


I do worry when i see people giving Gibson 1 and Whealan 3. Like Dunphy, they are ust trying to be controversial and its bloody annoying. Our central midfield didnt gel as well as hoped but beween both players they are still in single digit caps. Cut them a bit of slack. They did their job. Yes they were both only average but some of the abuse they are getting is frankly annoying. Last night would have been fantastic experience for Gibson and he will be one for the future. Barring a lot of injuries at Old Trafford, he will need a move however. Im still very impressed with the shape of our team and think that with Mcgeady and Duff on the wings and Doyle in that form, we will trouble anyone. Dunne at this moment is irreplacable. Great advantage that he hasnt got a booking yet

[Torn-Ado]

I was left unconvinced at the final whistle. Trapp again, failed to use his bench. there was some tired players out there with twenty minutes to go and he should have injected some energy into the side. The central midfield duo was completely incompetent. They didn't seem like they wanted the ball and when they did get the ball they took the ultra cautious approach and passed it back. It was no wonder McGeady lost possession on those occassions when he had an extremely static and over cautious central pairing to help him out.

Another note. Does anyone else find that we score a lot of early goals in matches and this in turn leads to sitting back a lot. I can count numerous times over the last three campaigns where we scored in the first 15-20 minutes and our second half performances deteriorated and we found ourselves on the back foot. Wales, Slovakia, Slovakia, Israel, Israel, Switzerland to name a few. We can score and open up defences but we seem to struggle to keep up momentum.

[carloz]

Its the mentality of a lot of players to sit back when you get a lead, its a natural reaction and is something that is very hard to get rid of. Most of those examples you gave, we conceded in them. At least last night we didnt, which can only be viewed as a positive. Really Cyprus had very few clear chances in the game. Of the 5 best chances, 4 of them were Ielands

[Drumcondra 69er]

I was left unconvinced at the final whistle. Trapp again, failed to use his bench. there was some tired players out there with twenty minutes to go and he should have injected some energy into the side. The central midfield duo was completely incompetent. They didn't seem like they wanted the ball and when they did get the ball they took the ultra cautious approach and passed it back. It was no wonder McGeady lost possession on those occassions when he had an extremely static and over cautious central pairing to help him out.

Another note. Does anyone else find that we score a lot of early goals in matches and this in turn leads to sitting back a lot. I can count numerous times over the last three campaigns where we scored in the first 15-20 minutes and our second half performances deteriorated and we found ourselves on the back foot. Wales, Slovakia, Slovakia, Israel, Israel, Switzerland to name a few. We can score and open up defences but we seem to struggle to keep up momentum.

On both points this is how it will be under Trap, he won't make changes he deems unnecessary in tight games when we're winning and he will sit back on leads. I agree with your second point, I suppose the thing you would hope it that under Trap hopefully more often then not we'll hold onto these leads. How many 1-0 wins do people reckon he must have had in his managerial career by now??!

[paul_oshea]

a lot?

[eirebhoy]

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.
Doyle:
"I thought Aiden was particularly impressive last night.

"He is a creative player and he was running at them down the right and causing problems, and across the other side of the pitch we have Damien Duff doing the same.

"Obviously it required a good team performance to secure the three points, but I thought those lads were pretty special."

Given:
"Damien, and Aiden McGeady on the other side, were fantastic last night."

As I said in another thread, McGeady has probably set up more clear cut chances in the 3 games so far than the rest of the players combined. Last night I thought he played very well.


McGeady looks to have low confidence too.
No he doesn't, I can assure you of that. It's taken a good while but looks confident playing for Ireland now.


Not sure why some people gave Doyle 8 or 9 ratings. He worked hard but never really looked like scoring.
He did a lot more than work hard. He was winning every ball hit up to him. Every kick out was onto his head. His control and link up was excellent. He drove at Cyprus a couple of times. He forced the keeper into an excellent save too. I thought he was immense. He didn't score but Heskey gets praise in a much better team than ours for doing the non-scoring stuff.

[tricky_colour]

Looking at the goal it was ridulous the amount of space Robbie had for the goal, none of the defenders picked him up, there were three marking Doyle, the guy (no 2) marking Keane seemed to have gone to sleep. Pretty shocking stuff, slap bang in the middle of the six yard box, open goal, and not a cypriot in sight!! (and he was of course well onside when the ball was played).

[Donegalcelt]

Here's my tupence...

McGeady did fine. He is growing in confidence with Ireland after having a tough time against one of the best attacking fullbacks in the world last year in Czech Rep's Jankaulowski. He should never have been asked to do that, especially away from home.

Last night, he did lose some silly ball but he was continually double-marked. The odd time he was supported by McShane (who was very poor but acting under instruction presumably to sit back), McGeady, correctly, thought better of it and took the responsibility on himself. Duff showed us how much we've missed him. Still tricky and very cute in possession. Top class.

A lot of our attacks were predictable, because the two central midfielders were told to win the ball and feed the wingers. Trap praised Gibson on Tuesday for being able to play the "simple" ball. It was up to Duff and McGeady to bring the invention in from there, which they didn't do a bad job of.

Neither Whelan or Gibson seemed allowed to join the attack late, like, for example, Matt Holland used to. Neither provided (through both capabilities and instruction) the drive like Stephen Reid can do - he's a hugely important player for us and hopefully he'll be back sooner rather than later.

Gibson and Whelan are inexperienced at any level above the Championship as yet. Gibson was the better of the two, but shouldn't be thrown in like that. Whelan maybe tried occasionally the more difficult pass and that didn't work out for him. For the most part, they provided devent cover - totally opposite to the Ireland-Kilbane pairing two years ago.

Support from the two central players would have given another option instead of the wingers crossing for two strikers who aren't the tallest, although Doyle is very competitive in the air and in fairness Robbie got his goal from a header, although it would have been harder to miss.

Keane worked hard coming back, but seems to have lost a yard of pace. When breaking away he looked frantically for an outlet before being happy to hit the floor. He's still as good as we have though, and got the points for us last night. Doyle was excellent and worked tirelessy and held possession well.

Agree with the point on Kilbane waiting too often for ball to drop before dealing with it. He's not a natural header of the ball but would need to improve at that before he gets caught around the back. McShane is rubbish. Whoever said "whatever he lacks in ability, he makes up for in commitment" might be right but it doesn't make him an international footballer.

O'Shea wasn't great but is learning from Dunne and seems better when he doesn't have time to think about things. Dunne and Given, brilliant as always.

Don't know if any particular sub would have improved things, certainly not Hunt. the midfield four knew their jobs and disroptung that might have caused trouble. Taking off Keane might have played into Cypriot hands.

Like almost everyone thinks, I believe if we could put in Finnan and the two Reids for McShane, Gibson and Whelan, it's not a bad team. For me, Stephen Ireland would not improve that team, he'd be in a similar position to Andy Reid, considered a luxury.

McGeady, who I still believe to be a better player than Ireland, is more willing to help out at the back. Ireland may have scored goals for his country, but he always left holes behind him. If he couldn't be bothered playing for Ireland, the so be it. McGeady is dogged at every ground in Scotland and abused every night he takes a drink and remains loyal. Fair play to him I say (that's not a Celtic bias either!)


If there was to be a second goal, we deserved it more than Cyprus did. In Lansdowne in 01 and 04 they were terrible and have improved no end.

There have been some stange results in the qualifying groups around europe (Lithuania in Romania, Luxemburg in Switzerland and Albania in Portugal), so at least we avoided a banana skin.

Wins against Georgia and Bulgaria next spring would be unreal, but with three aways in succession, Italy, Bulgaria and Cyprus, it's plausible we could lose all of them. Cyprus, at full strength will be a serious test. How us and Bulgaria fare in Nicosia will go a long way to deciding things between us.

It's also early days and we all said that we'd take a scrappy 1-0 and that's what we got!

[Stuttgart88]

Just back from Dublin.


McShane was all at sea and CM was dreadful. No ball winner in midfield. I like Whelan but I thought he was awful. Gibson was decent enough but not assertive enough. OK, both mucked in and won some important challenges in and around the box but where it mattered most they were totally impotent.

That said, everything else was working well. O'Shea and Kilbane were a bit careless early on but I really thought that Dunne, O'Shea, Kilbane and Given looked the part for most of the game and with Finnan back I think it's a good defence.

McGeady was abit infuraiting with his final ball, though I think it's a thankless task bein a winger without a really tall centre forward. His general play was good though he lost the ball carelessly a few times which could have been costly. I think he was unlucky with the goal chance - the keeper closed him down very well. Good point above about getting no support from McShane. Kilbane stuck to his station too for pretty much all the game.

Keane worked hard and had a pretty good game. The stars of the show were Duff, Doyle & Dunne.

I saw SKY's highlights last night and without the tension of an important live game it looked far more comfortable than I recalled at the match. We countered really well at times and with better finishing could have been out of sight.

Yet again I have to say that there's not much wrong with this team that a good CM wouldn't improve drastically.

I hope Trap uses the Poland friendly to good effect.

[razor]

Robbie Keane is but a shadow of his former self.
There were a few moments last night when he got the ball in counter attacking situations, no longer is he willing to take players on and go for goal, now its basically turn into trouble and give the ball away easily or just fall over comically and give the ball away easily.
A once great player falsely trading on his glorious past.

[Billsthoughts]

Robbie Keane is but a shadow of his former self.
There were a few moments last night when he got the ball in counter attacking situations, no longer is he willing to take players on and go for goal, now its basically turn into trouble and give the ball away easily or just fall over comically and give the ball away easily.
A once great player falsely trading on his glorious past.

While I dont agree with your post, he does seem to get the ball in good positions and just stop or look for a free.

[Stuttgart88]

Robbie Keane is but a shadow of his former self.
There were a few moments last night when he got the ball in counter attacking situations, no longer is he willing to take players on and go for goal, now its basically turn into trouble and give the ball away easily or just fall over comically and give the ball away easily.
A once great player falsely trading on his glorious past.Was Keane ever the kind of player who'd pick the ball up 50 yards from goal and make something of it?

[irishfan86]

I've heard a few people mention now that Keane has lost pace- to be honest he's never been pacy.

He's certainly not slow, but he never had the ability to kick the ball past people and win a sprinting match.

His main attributes are his close control and general guile. He gets his goals and makes his contributions at club level by linking midfield and centre-forward with good passes in tight spaces, and good off the ball running.

It is his intelligence that has always made him the player he is, not any sort of pace.

[Stuttgart88]

There was one time early on he covered for McShane at our own right hand corner flag, making a tackle and clearing the ball up the touchline. Just illustrates how hard he works for the team.

[jmurphyc]

Robbie Keane is but a shadow of his former self.
There were a few moments last night when he got the ball in counter attacking situations, no longer is he willing to take players on and go for goal, now its basically turn into trouble and give the ball away easily or just fall over comically and give the ball away easily.
A once great player falsely trading on his glorious past.

Most of the times he received the ball last night the ball was hoofed up to him and he was in the final third with absolutely nobody anywhere near him. He seemed to be looking for an outlet to pass to with about four Cypriots in front of him but there was rarely one. Most players would struggle in that situation.

It's one of the problems with having deep lying central midfielders who rarely look to burst into the opposition half to support the attack. This was exacerbated by the fact that McGeady and Duff were also helping to defend and were slow to join the attack.

[paul_oshea]

Thinking about things, I have come to the conclusion that either
a) trap things we are crap defensively, based on what he saw in the last qualifiers, his quotes as he said in the press earlier this week, and how we slipped silly goals that cost us so dearly
b) trap is trying to instill a defensive aspect to our game that has been missing drastically and when we get this mentaility back, he will start to tell the midfield to push on more etc. I think that maybe he is just gearing us up so that we don't ship goals as easily as we did and in the future when this has come to pass he will play a more attacking midfielder with a defensive midfielder. I think he is trying to build a winning mentality in this team and get a run of unbeaten(with few goals) matches so that our confidence is boosted no end and therefore we can look to be more expansive in the future.

[NeilMcD]

Trap is a defensive coach he always has been and always will. Why is it a surprise to people. Just watch the Italy Sweden game of 2004. If we continue to win 1-0 I will not give a damn.

[Ozymandias]

Trap is a defensive coach he always has been and always will. Why is it a surprise to people. Just watch the Italy Sweden game of 2004. If we continue to win 1-0 I will not give a damn.

I agree but yet the bench was a positive bench only one defender...then again he didn't use it