Republic of Ireland V Bulgaria - Saturday, 28th March 2009 - World Cup 2010 Q

[old git]

Trap will probably be happy to sit on this lead for the next 45 miinutes.
We have had a few close shaves already, we could do with another goal.

listened to rte at half time johnny giles must be watching a differnt match as he was very disapointed by bulgaria so far and they have not really created any clear cut chances !!!!!! :D

[SkStu]

mcgeady should have scored there

[strangeirish]

Should have had one there...damn!

[Irish_Praha]

Should have had one there...damn!

fup!! OG

[Maroon 7]

1-1

Kilbane OG

[Dunny]

Sh!t.

[SunnySweeney]

b*llocks anyway - but we've been asking for it.

Bulgaria have ben playing like the home team.

[strangeirish]

Nothing more than they deserved. Can we come back now?

[Sheridan]

Get in! :D Accumulator's back on.

[SkStu]

it was coming and deserved if we're being truthful.

Hope we can lift it again.

[Irish_Praha]

maybe we will start playing now

[christo]

Italy now 2 up

[Crosby87]

Disaster. Funny though when the one announcer said he thought trap needed to bring someone else on and the other guy said who? noel hunt? Keogh? Gibson. Truly, it is a SHORT bench.

[Irish_Praha]

We have nobody decent to come off the bench either.

[SkStu]

il trap dont do substitutions

[SouthAfrica2010]

As said already why are we playing like the away team unreal we deserve to lose crap crap performance masked by that early goal and now completely revealed.

[strangeirish]

Time for a Keane special...C'mon!

[SkStu]

Get in! :D Accumulator's back on.

have Burkina Faso win and Ireland draw returns 7.5 roughly. Would gladly give that up for an Irish win.... :(

[Irish_Praha]

il trap dont do substitutions

Normally I'd complain about that but none of the subs ould inspire me.
Here's hoping he puts on sub that scores with his first touch so I can eat my hat.

[SkStu]

game has opened up big time

[SunnySweeney]

C'mon Ireland -

that was 2 good chances, let's put the next one away.

Bulgaria aren't playing for a draw so they game is still very open.

[SkStu]

horrible horrible play from ireland. This style has become typical of us under Trappatoni but im not gonna be too harsh on him as we just arent good enough nor do we have the strength in depth required. I still think he shold have freshened things up earlier. Keogh on with 2 mins to go? Please, thats almost time wasting.

This is bullsh1t.

[Irish_Praha]

C'mon Ireland -

that was 2 good chances, let's put the next one away.

Bulgaria aren't playing for a draw so they game is still very open.

Such a load of boll!x that we only started playing as soon as they got the goal. Pity the didn't score in the first half.

Sometimes this is like looking at a team managed by Kerr.

[Maroon 7]

Chance for Doyle right at the end. Free header. Just a tad too high for him.

[Crosby87]

Italy might make them look bad.

[SunnySweeney]

that was rubbish:mad:

[Irish_Praha]

Italy might make them look bad.

Bulgaria have already made them look bad.

[Maroon 7]

Well that's a chance to finish off the Bulgarians gone.

Whelan and Andrews in centre midfield is just not going to work. The two of them were completely outplayed by Petrov by himself.

[SkStu]

absolute muck. I gave up helpin the missus clean the house to watch that sh1te.

[Crosby87]

Get Andy Reid back!

[fionnsci]

Less than inspiring performance. What a wasted oppurtunity! We really could've put Bulgaria to bed. We're playing for 2nd now basically.

[christo]

We need to sort out the centre midfield, Andrews is ok but Whelan has been a bit poor. BUT Andy Reid is not the solution, I don't know what is but Reid is getting way to big of a name for being a two-bit player at Sunderland

[Youths4Ever]

What a poor performance center mid was severely lacking need andy reid in the team to add some creativity. Why not Carsely know not creative but better than Andrews and Whelan. McGeady in to central needs to stay out wide to take on full back. I have thought in past Stephen Ireland should stay away from team but we no matter what people opinions on him Ireland need him.

Trap is far to negative after start we had should have pushed on from there. Also need to learn to make subs earlier in the game Hunt looked out on his feet after about 75 mins. No point in making a sub on 90 mins if only just to waste time. Bench was not great today but players on there could make a difference. Ok I know not all our players are world class by any stretch but then are as bad as that performance either

[livehead1]

I was actually concerned when we scored that goal and said I would have preferred it to remain 0-0; I knew exactly how we would play and I wasn't dissapointed.

[sheao]

A very disgraceful performance.There was no sign of pride or passion for any of the players to play for their country.We badly need Stephan Ireland and Andy Reid at this moment in time.Bulgaria deserved a point,if not all 3.

[tricky_colour]

I'm not too disappointed, I still think there is everything to play for. I thougt Doyle would put that header in the net, I think we will produce a shock or two away from home against Italy and Bulgaria.

[FarBeag]

I said it before and I will continue to say it, we are a brutal team. Luck has got us this far and not Traps excellent managerial skills. Why he continues with journey men like McShane, Kilbane, Whelan ,Hunt, Keogh and a few others is behond me? There were players in the U21 team last night that would have done themselves justice in that team. We have the players out there like St Ledger, McCann, Lawrence, Garvan, and Reid. Bulgaria played a second string team out there and should have won the game. We have no chance against Italy and Cyprus will hammer us again. What is it that NI are doing right that we cant do?

[SkStu]

I'm not too disappointed, I still think there is everything to play for. I thougt Doyle would put that header in the net, I think we will produce a shock or two away from home against Italy and Bulgaria.

i dont know what you saw in that performance or the Georgian one at home that gives you cause for optimism?? Baffling really. We are terrible. Our table position belies the fact that we have had a pretty easy schedule so far.

[BobbySands]

That performance was pathetic. A flukey early goal and then outplayed for 90 mins. Like most "fans" I readily admit tactics are not my strong point. Hence, when Trap (crap) leaves out Reid I've given him the benefit of the doubt. When that eegit Ireland does not come back and we are given Traps "he's not my son" and "ze door is open" etc I assume my gut instinct is wrong and il genius will pull it out of the bag.

Putting on Keogh with 6 seconds left. Fer gods sake......

Emporors new clothes come to mind. Nothing less than a resounding win on WEdnesday will convince me that this guy is not only here for one last pay day and as such.......

Mise le meas

[tricky_colour]

i dont know what you saw in that performance or the Georgian one at home that gives you cause for optimism?? Baffling really. We are terrible. Our table position belies the fact that we have had a pretty easy schedule so far.

Doyle should have put his header away, I expected him too, as McGeady should perhaps have took his chance too, not that I expected him to, their goal was a bit of a fluke. We are in a strong position for second place, I don't think Bulgaria will pick up the points they need to catch us, we will also be hard to beat, even for Italy. Currently we are the best placed second place team, the teams below us will take points of each other, there are more draws to come from Bulgaria. We could have done with a couple of subs coming on earlier though. Trap will sort it out, we will run riot over Italy :cool:

[SkStu]

alright, whatever you reckon. I just wish the smiley you used had rose tinted glasses instead of shades...

[irishultra]

t he colombia performance was a sign of things to come

[OneRedArmy]

Trap is polishing a turd.

We carry so many passengers it's unreal.

Maybe Reid would make a difference, but not sure it would really have changed things.

We lack any real quality, long and short of it.

[irishultra]

Trap is polishing a turd.

We carry so many passengers it's unreal.

Maybe Reid would make a difference, but not sure it would really have changed things.

We lack any real quality, long and short of it.

on the bright side better teams than us were beaten tonight...belgium at home to bosnia for example

[Crosby87]

silver lining is, a win vs Italy would fix all. They can't possibly play worse....

[irishultra]

for me its not the result that gets to me, just how bland and predictable are play was...the only time weve shown anything under trap was the first half in oslo

[Dr. Ogba]

just back from the match there so quick review before off to bed (up at 4.30 in the morning to catch a flight to Milan :eek: )

as i'm sure has been mentioned before our centre midfield needs to be sorted out and fast. Glenn Whelan is earning a title of "the next Matt Holland" (i.e mr invisible), i kept my eye on him quite a bit and i must say i've never seen a central midfielder so scared of the ball and so lightweight in the tackle in my life...Andrews did well but he was basically playing the role of 2 players there...

Secondly, again not sure if mentioned already, Stephen Hunt's role in that shambolic goal...yer man that crossed the ball from the left had acres of space and where was Hunt (who was supposed to be playing on the right at this stage) but marking absolutely nobody in the semicircle at the edge of the box...absolutely shocking...

Other shockers - both full back were very poor, i'm amazed they can call themselves professional footballers with the control and skills (or lack thereof) that they have....we have a solution for rb (foley) but unfortunately no replacement for Kilbane (thanks for the memories and effort but time to say goodbye old friend)

lastly - Robbie Keane as captain? can you imagine him commanding the respect of a dressing room like an O'Driscoll or O'Connell after a performance like that? don't make me laugh...

Positives? Surprising there were a couple:

Doyle was, as ever, excellent...he was everywhere, held up the ball well and won his fair share of headers (which was vital given that we're a blatant route 1 team), shame he didn't get the goal he deserved with that header...

Andrews looked pretty decent again, how i would love to see him have a proper partner in the centre, we wouldn't be such a bad team then...

O'Shea and Dunne again looked like a decent partnership, shame they're surrounded by mediocrity...

phew that was a lot of effort, looks like i'll need to drown my sorrows tomorrow with a few Peroni's :D

[Maroon 7]

just back from the match there so quick review before off to bed (up at 4.30 in the morning to catch a flight to Milan :eek: )

as i'm sure has been mentioned before our centre midfield needs to be sorted out and fast. Glenn Whelan is earning a title of "the next Matt Holland" (i.e mr invisible), i kept my eye on him quite a bit and i must say i've never seen a central midfielder so scared of the ball and so lightweight in the tackle in my life...Andrews did well but he was basically playing the role of 2 players there...

Secondly, again not sure if mentioned already, Stephen Hunt's role in that shambolic goal...yer man that crossed the ball from the left had acres of space and where was Hunt (who was supposed to be playing on the right at this stage) but marking absolutely nobody in the semicircle at the edge of the box...absolutely shocking...

Other shockers - both full back were very poor, i'm amazed they can call themselves professional footballers with the control and skills (or lack thereof) that they have....we have a solution for rb (foley) but unfortunately no replacement for Kilbane (thanks for the memories and effort but time to say goodbye old friend)

lastly - Robbie Keane as captain? can you imagine him commanding the respect of a dressing room like an O'Driscoll or O'Connell after a performance like that? don't make me laugh...

Positives? Surprising there were a couple:

Doyle was, as ever, excellent...he was everywhere, held up the ball well and won his fair share of headers (which was vital given that we're a blatant route 1 team), shame he didn't get the goal he deserved with that header...

Andrews looked pretty decent again, how i would love to see him have a proper partner in the centre, we wouldn't be such a bad team then...

O'Shea and Dunne again looked like a decent partnership, shame they're surrounded by mediocrity...

phew that was a lot of effort, looks like i'll need to drown my sorrows tomorrow with a few Peroni's :D

Whelan was completely anonymous. No joke to say that you would actually forget he was on the pitch at times. If you're not getting on the ball and making passes at least be winning tackles and regaining possession but he wasn't even doing that. At least Andrews managed the odd foray forward.

Full backs are a big problem too. At one stage we seemed to have too many quality full-backs. Now we are struggling for one decent one.

[FarBeag]

We are definitely struggling at left back but he has options on the right with Foley, Kelly and Nolan but that excuse for a professional footballer McShane is the preferred option in Trapps view. I would also take Delaney over Kilbane any day of the week for the left back position.

If we don’t sort the left and right back and central midfield out very very soon we are in big trouble.

[conlonn]

Back from the game and my taughts for what its worth:
Trap way to negative, looks poor in post match interview

Too bad teams playing there tonight. Bulgaria were so bad. Ireland marginally better and if any belief or leadership there would have had a second goal to kill of the game.
Negatives: Kilbane was rubbish. Has been pretty good for his second 50 caps for Irleand but tonight was at fault for about 4 mistakes before the goal. McShane was as nearly bad. 2 complete liabilities there tonight
Centre mid no creativity at all. We need A Reid, S Reid. (S Ireland will not come back so forget him). Strikers were isolated time and again
Il Trap is no world class coach. He is past it.
McGeady again did very little. He plays against the likes of Dundee Utd, Motherwell, Hamilton week in week out. Oh Yeah that's quality. He is completely over rated but on this forum he has delusional Celtic supporters backing him. Get real



Positives: John O Shea and Richard Dunne partnership, Kevin Doyle as in every game is excellent. Robbie Keane tried hard and cannot be faulted but is not a leader...

Ireland have now three wins and 2 draws from five games which is way better than under Stan and we hopefully will score in Bari but Italy should win.


They are playing with better confidence and at least trying to play football
Trap is not open to change and will not change.
Hopefully the next manager will make them better for the next campaign.
They need someone who makes them play with out fear and is not afraid to change personnel.