Ireland V Australia - Wednesday, 12th August 2009 - Friendly - Thomond Park [Archive] - Page 2

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Wexford Delboy

13/08/2009, 12:12 AM

rambler14

13/08/2009, 12:14 AM

lads i know im going to be killed for this but kilbane doesnt deserve to be in he squad, how many more goals does he have to be at fault for before the blinkered fans on this site realise hes past it??

People are blaming Kilbane just because he's an easy target.
Nobody seems to be metioning Richard Dunne turning his arse to both of Tim Cahill's goals tonight!

kingdomkerry

13/08/2009, 12:16 AM

Wexford Delboy

13/08/2009, 12:16 AM

fair enough dunne did turn his back but it was definately kilbanes fault for the second goal he left the centre backs totally exposed

DmanDmythDledge

13/08/2009, 1:01 AM

He has been playing on the right for Celtic so far this year, and is obviously right footed player. So obvious in fact that every right-back he meets when he plays on the left works out after 15 minutes that there isn't a cat in hells chance of him going down the touchline, and sends him into the middle of the park and eliminates danger of a decent cross.
I never noticed he was right footed, thanks for pointing that out. Ever heard of players playing on the opposite side to what their natural foot is?

He got away with that against half rate defences in Scotland, but international full backs have him worked out. he has played most of his career on the left, but thats owing to Gordon Strachan playing him out of position.
McGeady, from what I gather, has been playing in a free role this season for Celtic so the side of the pitch he is on does not have as much relevance. Previously he played on left (as you pointed out) and beyond doubt showed that his best performances came from the left. Regarding his strongest side- it's simply a black and white issue that's been proven beyond doubt.

And as for Duff, the only thing he has proven is that his best position is on the left wing, and that he can do a job up front. His only good performances on the right wing were in a very good Chelsea team when he was a lot younger
I never said Duff's strongest position wasn't the left. He's performance more that adequate recently for Ireland on the right so there is absolutely no problem with him on that side as far as I'm concerned.

You only should play 2 defensive midfielders when playing a team that are better than you.

If you do that to lesser teams you play into their hands.
I don't think that's a problem at all. Liverpool did it last season and it worked really well for them. The two main problems with us using that system are:

1. The players aren't good enough. Whelan is decent enough but that doesn't cut it at this level and Gibson is not ready yet. Admittedly I have not seen as much as Andrews in the Premiership as those two but from what I saw of him for Blackburn he seemed like a weaker option than many players we have available in the position.

2. Two men upfront. Unless you have really, really good wingers you can not get away with using two holding midfielders. An extra centre midfielder with more freedom needs to be added or Keane has to drop back and play deeper (like the Italy game first half, which makes things more astonishing as it worked so well). The gap from the centre midfielders to the nearest players directly in front of them is far too large so going to the wings is the only option. This one dimensional play can be stopped easily enough if the opponents are aware of our game plan. We're losing too much possession/not making enough breaks because the simple ball is not an option often enough and attacking through the wings will obviously create more chances from crosses into the box rather than breakaways, which does not suit us. Maybe if the wingers were given more freedom it may work but I'm not convinced.

Full backs were a huge issue also ... no creativity there at all.
I never agreed with this line of thought. Once their distribution is sufficient that's fine as far as I'm concerned. Let them concentrate solely on defending and leave the creativity to the positions that you would expect to find it. (Obviously it would be a bonus if we had full backs with creativity but is it certainly not essential).

O'Shea, I can't figure this guy out. Looks a good player for Utd but has been shaky for Ireland , with a couple of good performanced sprinkled in.
It's been more than a few good performances in fairness to him. He has been excellent through most of this campaign and solid in most of the previous one.

just as the 4 nil in denmark meant nothing and the 3 nil at home against sweden meant nothing, this will mean nothing in my view. poor game and poor performance.
I think given how serious the management team were taking the game and the fact that many of the deficiencies have been prevalent throughout the qualifying campaign it is a major cause for concern. Now that we've faced a team that can dominate us in midfield and create chances we were blown away. The Italy game would have been similar I reckon if they hadn't been reduced to ten men.

I've had this rant brewing since Trap took over and started watching Ireland literally scrape through games and I knew one day I'd get to vent my fury.
You've made some excellent points, especially tactically (if it's the same stuff I'm thinking of) as some of the errors were obvious even before a ball was kicked by this side. It's shocking to see a manager like Trap make such basic misjudgements.

However, there some of your points I disagree with.

- He picks Liam Miller when no club will have him even though there are players involved with Premiership/Championship teams who play week in, week out that don't even get a look in like Keith Fahey, Rory Delap even Clinton Morrison would do!(he's better than Andy Keogh anyway)
This has been the only squad where Miller has been selected while unattached so saying picking him while no club will have him is not strictly true. As far as his selection for this squad is concerned the topic has been answered many times in the squad selection thread so you should check that out. But to give a brief answer here; if he is still in the squad for October's games while unattached I would have an issue with that but not with the first game back this season.

-Our defence is a mess. I know people like to point the finger at Zinedine Kilbane but in my opinion Trap has turned Richard Dunne into a pussycat who now turns his arse at everything like he did for the Cahill's two goals tonight.
Quite simply not the case. Overall our defence (and defensive play) has been extremely good this campaign, although the obvious concerns about Kilbane in the team remain. The criticise Dunne for one game is ridiculous.

Trap picks Darron Gibson contantly purely because he plays with Man United.
Rubbish that doesn't need an explanation to answer it.:)

Jicked

13/08/2009, 1:04 AM

Wow, football fans are idiots. Trap a buffoon? We lost a pre-season friendly, whoop-de-fecking-do. The point of the few days will have been to start making preparations for Cyprus and getting reacquainted with the players after a few months off. Do you think Man Utd/Arsenal/Chelsea/Liverpool fans would be freaking out over ther result of a Charity Shield game?

Against Cyprus I fully expect us to get a comfortable enough 1-0 win, come on here and find people still saying how rubbish we and Trap are. And next summer I look forward to the posts on here saying how Trap's rubbish tactics mean we're going never going to win that Second Round knockout game, "sure Glenn Whelan only plays for stoke he must be rubbish, they should play clinton morisson, i read an article on teletext that he played really well....."

christo

13/08/2009, 1:24 AM

Hunt had the desired impact when he came on in lifting the pace of the game.

Sorry but Hunt was woeful, ok he controled the ball well most of the time, only to subsequently lose the ball with a poor pass or cross straight into Schwartzer's hands.

We need to nip this Stephen Hunt buzz in the bud now, everyone said look at the commitment from Kilbane and the the chap won't go away (sorry Kev love ye really) and Kilbane has much more talent than Hunt.

Keane played well tonight I thought, he held up the ball and held off the Aussie defenders a few times, I would never have put him down as a strong player. Defence was ok, Whelan made a good few defensive tackles and Andrews proved to be better than Gibson with his cameo. Duff had one or two good bits of play.

But the thing is Trap doesn't view International friendlies as any other Irish manager has in the past. He views them in the same way the likes of England, Italy, Brazil etc. they are just warm up exercises and the result doesn't matter. It's no longer about picking up world ranking points, just look at our result against Serbia and Poland. Austrailia are also a very good side so I wouldn't worry too much about the result, it's all about the game against Cyprus

DmanDmythDledge

13/08/2009, 1:27 AM

But the thing is Trap doesn't view International friendlies as any other Irish manager has in the past. He views them in the same way the likes of England, Italy, Brazil etc. they are just warm up exercises and the result doesn't matter. It's no longer about picking up world ranking points, just look at our result against Serbia and Poland. Austrailia are also a very good side so I wouldn't worry too much about the result, it's all about the game against Cyprus
The management team have been pretty open in the build up to the game with how important this game was in their eyes. If the result is not important then what about the performance? Because that was even worse than the result so that completely negates your point.

Also I'd say that Trap has treated friendlies the exact opposite to previous managers with the level of seriousness he attaches to them.

youngirish

13/08/2009, 1:45 AM

the-blue-harp

13/08/2009, 1:49 AM

tricky_colour

13/08/2009, 2:39 AM

I thought we were much better second half, Hunt made an impact when he came on.
Keane cause a lot of trouble in the box, the Aussie presenters I was watching heaped praise on him.
But for a wonder strike the second half would have been 0:0.
Apart from that no one realy stood IMO, Given made a good save, Andews hit the post.
However you have to give credit to the Aussies, they did play well, I expect they will have a good world cup.
Andy Reid was out walking his dog, probably the fittest dog in Sunderland by now ;)

I have a theory that teams usually 'bounce back' after a bad result, unfortunately for us
Cyprus lost 6-1 :)

DmanDmythDledge

13/08/2009, 2:51 AM

on topic,big deal it was a friendly!!! trap will get the results when they matter in qualifiers.
The management team didn't see it as just a friendly though which makes the performance a cause for concern as far as I'm concerned, especially as it was not dis-similar to the manner of some performances throughout the campaign which goes to show that mistakes and deficiencies are not been spotted or dealt with by Trap.

Get the results? Based on what, blind faith? As I've said Trap treated that game as it mattered. Difference between this game and most of our qualifying games is that a performance around that standard we got away with it. We will pick up 0 points in our remaining games if we play like that unless we get a huge slice of luck.

I have a theory that teams usually 'bounce back' after a bad result, unfortunately for us
Cyprus lost 6-1 :)
That's the only positive I can take from the game, we usually respond well to abject performances like this, 1-1 at home to the Czechs and Italy this campaign (albeit against 10 ten men) in recent times come to mind.

MeathDrog

13/08/2009, 2:55 AM

But for a wonder strike the second half would have been 0:0.

Result!

Kevin77

13/08/2009, 5:35 AM

Don't think it's fair to blame Trap. He's the main reason we still have a chance of qualifying. In the first 11 that he's had to manage with for most of his competitive fixtures we only have 3 what any sane person could consider to be good quality Premiership players - Keane, Dunne and Given. Finnan and S Reid are always injured so they can't be counted. Duff can be quality but the days when he reaches those heights get rarer by the year.

The likes of Whelan, Kilbane, Andrews, McGeady, Hunt, Folan and McShane are very poor quality Premiership players. Gibson has potential but not much else at the moment. I can see him eventually winding up at a mid table Premiership team in the future but he certainly doesn't look like he has the quality to make a career at united at present. O'Shea is an average player who does a job as a utility man for united and little else. Doyle still has to show he has enough ability to suceed at the top level.

We are 3 players short of similar quality to Keane, Dunne and Given from being a good international team. Luckily for us we are in a p*ss poor group which we've bundled our way through thus far. A fit S Reid and Finnan and the emergence of a St Ledger, Foley or McCann could make a world of difference.

Even so Trap is doing a very good job imo. If Stan was still in charge we'd be nearer the botom of the group than the top.

Finally, some sanity in this thread.

The cold hard truth is that this current Irish XI (and squad) is the poorest that I can remember (I am 32). Trap is basically making a sow's ear out of a pigs behind. No chance of a silk purse here.

We could attempt to play attractive football with the players we have and give up on qualification. Or alternatively we can play to our (limited) strengths and hope to sneak into the play offs and get lucky.

Based on the current squad and our performances over the last 5 years we probably don't deserve to qualify. I just pray that if we do somehow may it (clearly because of Trap, not in spite of him as someone mentioned elsewhere) that a few of the younger players or fringe players have a great season.

One final point. All the posters saying that ALL Trap has to do is recall either Reid or Ireland, are oversimplifying the matter. I am confident that if Stephen Reid was available (read consistently fit and game hardened) then he would be picked. Andy Reid is only lionised because of his absence. It's arguable he should be in the squad, but in reality he is no Essien or Gerrard. He's not going to provide that box to box presence we so badly need. And saying that Trap should pick Stephen Ireland is beyond stupid. He's simply not available to us.

We need to live in the now. We need to realise that we have very little quality and class available to us. And we need to support the team with hope, not expectation. We do NOT deserve to be competing at the level some people are suggesting. We can only get close that by maximising our strengths and becoming more than the sum of our (limited) parts.

Sadly for a country with our resources this type of result should be the rule and Euro 88, Italia 90, USA 94 and Japan/Korea 2002 are the exception.

shakermaker1982

13/08/2009, 6:46 AM

Poor performance and once again the game exposed our frailties in the middle of of the park. Whelan and Gibson were clueless when it came to moving the ball forward.

Steven Reid needs to get fit asap and stay fit for the remaining 3 games. The Trap won't consider Andy Reid so our only hope lies with Steven staying fit. International football requires a midfield pairing who can pass the ball more than 10 yards without it going to the opposition. If you keep giving the ball away your constantly on the back foot.

Kilbane has got to go at LB. He has been a loyal servant but is not a left back and never will be. Somebody will have to tell him your supposed to go and close the winger down in dangerous areas if we still persist with him. How many fouls did he give away in the first 20 minutes last night? Stupid niggly fouls that put the team under pressure.

Doyle looked injured and it was crazy to start with him. I bet Mick wishes he kept him wrapped up in cotton wool instead of letting him come over.

Positives?

Keane looked sharp. Shane Long's pace is an asset and Hunt upped the tempo.

Given - 6
O'Shea - 5
Dunne - 5
St Ledger - 5
Kilbane - 4
Duff - 6
McGeady - 6 (second half he was dreadful but a good first half)
Whelan - 5
Gibson - 4
Keane - 8
Doyle - 4

Subs:

Hunt - 7 (at least he looked like he wanted to be there)
Long - 7
Folan - 6
Nolan - 6
Andrews - 6

ifk101

13/08/2009, 7:06 AM

Keane was the only player that offered an attacking threat. I thought he did well and created one or two good goal scoring chances through his own individual skill.

Hunt did well when he came on and added a bit of urgency to the team. However I think last night showed that his best position is on the bench - for use as an impact sub.

I thought Dunne did relatively well and saved St Ledger's blushes on a few occasions.

Josh had probably his weakest game under Trapattoni. I'd move him back into the centre and drop St Ledger.

Kilbane tried hard again but his limitations were exposed lack night.

I think Gibson played himself out of the Cyprus match. I would have liked him to show for the ball more - there were a number of instances in the first half when Australia were sitting on the half way line waiting for us to come forward but our defence had nobody to pass to. It was in situations like this that we needed somebody to show for the ball and to try draw the opposition out of their shape.

McGeady takes too much out of the ball for an international player.

Duff, Doyle and Whelan I thought were overall relatively absent from the game but Whelan did ok in the second half.

As for the subs, it was really just Hunt and possibly Andrews that had any sort of impact. I think Folan is a donkey - his height is his only asset.

bennocelt

13/08/2009, 7:19 AM

thought hunt lifted team and supporters with his introduction and was more of a threat in 45 mins than duff had been in first 45 .. poor game to watch and ireland definatly gave the aussies to much time and space ... as for booing at ft agree with you .. but a lot of apes near me on west terrace had no more intrest in match were chatting away during game and had no idea on some of the players names , had the feeling alot of fans only went for the novelty of thomond park factor and were not genuine soccer fans :mad:

:eek::eek:
what country have you lived in before, are you Irish?
I'm sure in the dictionary under the word bandwagon there must also be a line somewhere about Irish fans and sport in general

Row Z

13/08/2009, 7:33 AM

last night's game confirms for me that Gibson just cant cut the mustard(yet) at international level. between him and Whelan, gibson is the one who is supposed to get on the ball and keep it moving, however, i thought a lot of his play was rushed and lacked accuracy.
Even though we did look ragged at the back i am a fan of St Ledger. Also, folan might not have the most ability in the world but he does put himself about (evidenced in Italy) and works hard.
all in all, hopefully its a wake up call and we can push on through the Autumn.

Duggie

13/08/2009, 8:19 AM

when i listened on radio i was very downbeat but when i saw the highlights not as much. i wouldnt read to much into the defeat. i mean we beat sweden 3-0 and denmark 4-0 so lets not get to carried away. robbie had a good chance in the first half to score to go 1 up. great feet but pity he didnt finish it. overall it was fairly dour, i think we will be better for cyprus. actually it might help us not to get to confident and back down to the hard work.

Wolfie

13/08/2009, 8:36 AM

I wouldn't be too dispondent regarding our qualifying hopes based solely on last nights performance. Its there to be fought for, despite a dodgy friendly result.

That said, it was disappointing that we were so lethargic, disjointed and the ago old issues regarding midfield continue to haunt us.

We've talked it to death but circumstance has conspired to rob us of Stephen Reid and the Stephen Ireland issue is very frustrating.

Trapp has little time or alternatives to shore up midfield. Hopefully Reids recovery continues and he's just about ready for action in September.

You've got to remember though - When did any Irish team ever do it the easy way?

as_i_say

13/08/2009, 8:37 AM

Bar 1 thing. I know Kilbane has been a great servant and is much loved by many fans but he should never start another game for us. Give him 3 sub appearances in friendlies to give him his 100 caps but let that be it. He is so far past it now that its becoming embarressing and he is destablising the whole defense

As one of the "I love Kev unconditionally" brigade, sadly I would have to agree with you at this stage. He has been a complete and total liability for us in the last few games and should be dropped. Nolan doesnt look like much at this stage but Stephen Kelly should be in there against Cyrpus.

Junior

13/08/2009, 8:44 AM

I know we arent spoiled for choice but wouldnt we be better off bringing in the likes of Foley or Nolan and letting them develope into the team in the knowledge that they are improving all the time. Kilbane is going the other way and the younger lads couldnt be any more of a liability

Perhaps in pure footballing ability terms you are right but I think you are under estimating the experience 97 caps brings with it, I dread to think what could happy to a Foley / Nolan should they freeze in the headlights for 3 massive massive games for us. Agreed Kilbane is not ideal at LB for us and his time is probably nearly up but I think he'll stay in for the rest of this campaign and I for one didnt think he did anything outrageous last night. There were plenty ahead of him for the wooden spoon, including Gibson and St-Ledger, two of our young and up and coming stars - no?

as_i_say

13/08/2009, 8:49 AM

If it was a competitive game, Killer could well have been sent off before half time.

Tipp Townie

13/08/2009, 8:50 AM

A very lethargic display from most players bar Hunt and Mc Geady...Tipp must not have suited them!:p

:mad::mad:

Don't you go blaming Tipp!!!

(must admit the same thought crossed my mind..)

Junior

13/08/2009, 9:08 AM

blamed kilbane for the 1st goal. be honest he's been a good servant but he is a liability. cost us 4 points against bulgaria.

Are you on some sort of commission to keep posting that point? I swear Ive read that 3 or 4 times from you in different threads, there is definitely some deja-vu going on.

For the record, I dont agree. The 'team' put in a shocker at home to Bulgaria, the fact that Kilbane had the touch for the og was academic. He was certainly more at fault in the away game for their goal but to say we would have won both games without Kilbane is way off the mark IMO.

gspain

13/08/2009, 9:15 AM

It was a poor performance however it was still a friendly. Now the Holland 2006 friendly was a portent of things to come but hopefully not this one.

There were a lot of distractions leading up to this with civic receptions, PR jobs etc.

Beat Cyprus and it won't matter however anything else will have reprecussions.

I still think we have a great chance of reaching a playoff. Wins over Cyprus and Montenegro almost certainly will do. Winning the group is a faint hope as we need Italy to drop other points apart from losing in Dublin.

We can get our revenge for last night next June.

Drumcondra 69er

13/08/2009, 9:16 AM

shocking performance, but we have said that before after the friendly against Poland and we have stepped it up in the compeditive games so as annoyed and disgusted I am with tonight Im not gonna go on a rant and Im gonna keep the faith...

Bar 1 thing. I know Kilbane has been a great servant and is much loved by many fans but he should never start another game for us. Give him 3 sub appearances in friendlies to give him his 100 caps but let that be it. He is so far past it now that its becoming embarressing and he is destablising the whole defense

Exactly what I said last night, I've all the time in the world for him due to his attitude but time to go. Only problem is would you trsut a rookie left back in such a vital game as the Cyprus match?

Tipp Townie

13/08/2009, 9:19 AM

For what its worth here are my random thoughts on last night..

Friendlies are always difficult to judge. As a number of people on here have said, in the past our wins v Sweden and Denmark meant virtually nothing in the grand scheme of things. Sometimes they do matter though - see the battering by Holland a couple of years ago as an example.. not long before we travelled to Cyprus..

However it is of course the performance that we're mainly worried about, and there's no doubt that it was very poor last night. I think there was a fair bit of rustiness around, although it didnt seem to affect the Aussies, who are mostly (all?) European based aswell. Plus they had maybe 5 or 6 of their first team missing last night, apparently.

I thought Whelan had a decent 2nd half, and Folan's aerial prowess continues to impress me. Hunt made a good impact when he came on, althought the crossing was still not quite up to it. And although Long was on only briefly i thought he did well in a very short space of time - but i am probably biased!

Finally - the thing that bothers me most about Trap's reign is the home form. It'll be an issue when we come to the Montenegro and Italy games.
However away from home his tactics seem to work well, and its that which i cling onto in preparation for the Cyprus game.

Drumcondra 69er

13/08/2009, 9:20 AM

I said it at the start and i'll still say it now. Friendly or not Trap is being shown up for being the clueless mercenary buffon he is. Ireland are where they are in the group, despite him and not because of him.

Hi Eamon! Nice column in The Star today. ;)

Junior

13/08/2009, 9:22 AM

Hunt had the desired impact when he came on in lifting the pace of the game.

Sorry but Hunt was woeful, ok he controled the ball well most of the time, only to subsequently lose the ball with a poor pass or cross straight into Schwartzer's hands.

We need to nip this Stephen Hunt buzz in the bud now, everyone said look at the commitment from Kilbane and the the chap won't go away (sorry Kev love ye really) and Kilbane has much more talent than Hunt.

Where did I say Hunt was magnificent? Im not a big fan of his at all but he did raise the tempo when he came on (as he has done many times for us in the past). He also attempted a few low crosses whipped in with pace, some failed, some didnt but it was something we hadnt really seen in the 1st half.

After the 1st half performance, we needed something like Hunt, ultimately it didnt bring about the vastly needed improvement in performance but it certainly didn't make things any worse!

geysir

13/08/2009, 9:25 AM

Exactly what I said last night, I've all the time in the world for him due to his attitude but time to go. Only problem is would you trsut a rookie left back in such a vital game as the Cyprus match?
Nolan looks confident enough and looks to be a decent full back.
I wouldn't trust Foley yet, Nolan has done better than him both times he has been on.
Kelly, only if he is match fit, at rb is the obvious one with O'Shea at lb.

paul_oshea

13/08/2009, 9:49 AM

There are some great managers on this site.

Football manager 2009 that is.

Lionel Ritchie

13/08/2009, 9:57 AM

Wow, football fans are idiots. Trap a buffoon? We lost a pre-season friendly, whoop-de-fecking-do. To be fair ...he called him a buffon -not a buffoon. :D

Against Cyprus I fully expect us to get a comfortable enough 1-0 win, come on here and find people still saying how rubbish we and Trap are. I wonder what a comfortable enough 1-0 win would look like. In all my years I've never witnessed one.

Sorry but Hunt was woeful, ok he controled the ball well most of the time, only to subsequently lose the ball with a poor pass or cross straight into Schwartzer's hands. I believe it was Fanning (Dion not Dave) who said on the wireless recently that fans tend to really like Steven Hunt because he plays the way a fan would ....gimme the ball, head down, charge at the opposition.

To be fair to him, he caused Australia some real problems last night but only to the extent that he was incoming traffic and had to be marshalled. He'd find a cul de sac on a spaghetti junction and his crossing and dead balls were almost entirely pish.

...trap will get the results when they matter in qualifiers. I dont know what some of you guys expect with these donkeys we have playing for us anyway! I hope you're right blueharp. Trying to keep the faith and yet on the way home from TP last night found myself whistling a tune called 'The Light At The End Of The Tunnel (Is The Light Of An On-Coming Train)'.

Incidently just in ref to your donkeys remark - I found it remarkable last night just how poorly, inadequately, inefficiently TOO MANY of our players do basic, simple things like trapping a ball, short passing, 1-2s... don't get me started on crossing and switching. It just wasn't pro.

If it was a competitive game, Killer could well have been sent off before half time. I actually thought that about Glenn Whelan. He landed a right couple of clatters and went right through a player for another.

tetsujin1979

13/08/2009, 10:02 AM

Given: Can't blame him for either of the goals, St Ledger missed a clearance for the first, and McGeady missed a challenge to let in Williams for the shot for the second

Kilbane: usual shift from Kilbane, worked hard but I'm still not convinced by his positional awareness
Dunne: won everything in the air, but his distribution on the ground was poor
St Ledger: similar enough to Dunne, seems to have a bit more pace about him, unlucky not to score at the end
O'Shea: Seemed to be cruising through the game, pushed forward too much for me, and left the defence without and out ball on the right

McGeady: Terrified the opposite full back, but wasn't given the ball enough in the first half, and in the second seemed to run out of ideas when he got into the box, didn't know whether to cross, or shoot and lost possession too often because of this
Gibson: Honestly didn't know he was still on the pitch when he was substituted. In the first half, he seemed to be constantly taking the more difficult option when a simpler pass was on
Whelan: played well, tackled hard, on reflection he seemed to be covering for Gibson a lot
Duff: Poor showing from the Duffer, in comparison with McGeady he was reluctant to take on his opposing full back, and noone was surprised when he was substituted at half time. Given Hunt's performance, may have played himself out of a starting berth against Cyprus

Doyle: Ran everywhere, but little time on the ball. I nearly had a heart failure when he went down clutching his side
Keane: No point in playing long balls to a striker who is giving up at least 4 inches to his marker. Could have opened the scoring just before Cahill scored the first

Subs:
Hunt: Industrious running from Hunt, took over from McGeady in tormenting the full back. Doesn't seem to know what he's going to do next
Folan: Thought with all the long balls in the first half, he'd thrive in the second half. However, most of the balls to him were to his feet, and he was poor in possession
Andrews: Nearly scored late on, would have mirrored his strike against Poland
Long: Came on for a tired McGeady, and looked comfortable in possession, but the same lack of final product. If he's going to play as an out and out striker with his club, how long will he be used as a substitute right winger for Ireland?
Westwood: Little to do, and nothing he could have done about the third goal
Nolan: Don't think I saw him possession, but he was on the opposite side of the stadium to me

Despite having the majority of possession in both halves, Ireland struggled to get any of the play. Australia were content to sit in and around the half way line when our centre halves had the ball. O'Shea and Kilbane were pushed up on the wings, and with Cahill playing in front of the midfield, there was no outball for Dunne or St Ledger, and the ball seemed to be passed among the two of them, back to Given, and then launched upfield. A strong midfield player was sorely lacking here, news about Steven Reid's recovery can't come fast enough. McGeady was Ireland's best outfield player, but is still lacking the final product, either a cross/pass or a shot. The logic of playing longs balls to two strikers giving up height to their respective markers has been lost on me since England played Owen and Vassell against Mjallby and Laursen eight years ago.
There was considerable column space given to the sales of tickets before the game, and the attendance announcement at the stadium was notable in its absence. After that performance, they will struggle to sell anything approaching the same numbers for the South Africa friendly in September.
Despite the scoreline, Australia didn't impress me, so what does that say about Ireland?

Thebolg

13/08/2009, 10:06 AM

whelan is not a good player. he is extremely limited. last night was about as good as he can play and even with that he was rubbish. i dont understand why people are trying to say he is a good player on this site. he is patently crap. gibson or andrews needs to be given the place ahead of him. what would those two be like playing alongside eachother? if whelan has a specific role surely one of those two could do it better?

what did you think of trap laughing as the third goal went in. even though it mirrored my reaction perfectly i dont know whether it was appropriate for the manager to react that way. i suppose it shows he is not worried by the result and wont feel any undue pressure, but does it show an underlying lack of commitment?

Duggie

13/08/2009, 10:14 AM

ifk101

13/08/2009, 10:18 AM

what did you think of trap laughing as the third goal went in. even though it mirrored my reaction perfectly i dont know whether it was appropriate for the manager to react that way. i suppose it shows he is not worried by the result and wont feel any undue pressure, but does it show an underlying lack of commitment?

:D

Seriously ....

Thebolg

13/08/2009, 10:19 AM

dont agree about whelan. he is a good player, hes actually a very nice passer and has a good shot on him. won his way back into stoke's team at the end of last season. id stick with him in there as he will stick the boot in where needed sometimes also.

whatever about his tackling (at least he makes a few, even though his timing is shocking at times) his passing is definitley muck.

Duggie

13/08/2009, 10:22 AM

whatever about his tackling (at least he makes a few, even though his timing is shocking at times) his passing is definitley muck.

dont agree.

tetsujin1979

13/08/2009, 10:29 AM

whatever about his tackling (at least he makes a few, even though his timing is shocking at times) his passing is definitley muck.

actually I rate him as a better passer than a tackler

tetsujin1979

13/08/2009, 10:36 AM

FAI delighted with Limerick experience: http://www.limerickleader.ie/sport/Limerick-experience-delights-FAI.5550874.jp
Apart from the result, obviously

christo

13/08/2009, 10:39 AM

Where did I say Hunt was magnificent?

Sorry it wasn't really just you, I'm just totally fed up of Hunt

Thebolg

13/08/2009, 10:42 AM

:D

Seriously ....

for some reason it made me like him even more. but i heard a few comments on the radio last night and wanted to guage how people felt about it.

Duggie

13/08/2009, 10:52 AM

traps a legend. hes long enough in the game not to get to worried about last night. roll on cyprus.

the doc

13/08/2009, 11:06 AM

traps a legend. hes long enough in the game not to get to worried about last night. roll on cyprus.

My thoughts too!

It was friendly, a run out to improve on players fitness, the good thing was that Trapp had time with the players over the last few days to work on thing for the Cyprus game ahead.

If we had played Australia in June when all our players were at full fitness then we would of won the game, so theres no point in going overboard about last nights result.

Roll on Cyprus, anyone know of any cheap flights/package deals from England?

MeathDrog

13/08/2009, 11:10 AM

Anyone who thought Whelan was rubbish last night just didn't watch the game closely enough. Simple as.

And some people here really need to get the blinkers off when it comes to Robbie Keane.

Duggie

13/08/2009, 11:14 AM

Anyone who thought Whelan was rubbish last night just didn't watch the game closely enough. Simple as.

And some people here really need to get the blinkers off when it comes to Robbie Keane.

how do u mean on this ?
i hope your not one of his knockers. hes essential to us. ESSENTIAL

DeLorean

13/08/2009, 11:15 AM

what did you think of trap laughing as the third goal went in

I remember thinking after seeing that when I got home, can you imagine if that was Staunton? we'd all be like it's not funny you fu*king moron. The difference being Trap knows what he's doing and he's brought an average/poor team to the brink of qualification, so laugh all you want Trap.

traps a legend

My thoughts too!

So he's in your good books now Doc, seeing as he's playing the Saint:D

Greenbod

13/08/2009, 11:16 AM

The quicker Stephen Reid is fit and Trap swallows his pride and brings Stephen Ireland and Andy Reid back the better.

Agree with you on the two Reids, however Stephen Ireland isn't available for selection....thought most fans would know this, it has been in the news.

eirebhoy

13/08/2009, 11:19 AM

Terrible performance but I really amn't too bothered. Trap played a long ball game in the 1st half and a lot of the 2nd for some odd reason and it just didn't work. I'm glad it didn't work. I don't us winning by playing football like that and I'm just a bit bewildered as to why he tried it. Trap talked about this game being about physical conditions but still no reason to ask your defenders to skip the midfield time and time again.

He has been playing on the right for Celtic so far this year, and is obviously right footed player. So obvious in fact that every right-back he meets when he plays on the left works out after 15 minutes that there isn't a cat in hells chance of him going down the touchline, and sends him into the middle of the park and eliminates danger of a decent cross.
But you're wanting our wingers on their good side so they can get crosses in. In this day and age it should be the full backs job to put the crosses in. You don't need to beat a player to put a cross in. Duff and McGeady should be playing mainly on the sides they were last night and with the freedom to drift in, play passes to strikers, link up with midfield, take shots on goal. The wide players weren't the problem last night for sure.

I don't think player ratings are needed for last night. The tactics were dreadful.