Cyprus V Republic of Ireland - Saturday, 5th September 2009 - World Cup 2010 Q

[old git]

Anyone care about the Australia result now?
thought not

yes ,, :mad: the idea of friendlys is to try new options / players and build up team performance to next competitive match... ireland were very poor against australia and a lot of people put it down to a bit of early season rustiness and some players more worried about weekend priemership matches ... roll on cyprus and i would say at times ireland played worse than the australia match ... but the 3 points were the main agenda but would still like to see ireland play a bit of composed football at times :ball:

[Stuttgart88]

I don't think the idea of a pre-season friendly before a crucial WC game is to try new options. It's to give a dress reherasal for the real thing.

Now the points are in the bag there's nothing to be gained by playing the same XI that started against Cyprus just a few days later, unless it's to get them to have more confidence to play proper football. The SA game is a chance to check out the fringes and see if any new combos click. I think Trap has played it quite well. I'm glad the starting XI will have a different look to it on Tuesday.

I think we can still predict the starting XI against Italy but there may be injuries and there may be a few options from the bench unearthed.

[tricky_colour]

Anyone notice how odd our first goal was?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS5p9r3SiOA
( about 4-7 seconds)

It's like pinball, it bounces off three 'bumpers' (defenders) left right left-right
and them Doyles 'flipper' scoops it into the target for a bonus!!

[jbyrne]

Dunne has really gone off form. Maybe he needs a club manager who believes in him. Ever since Mark Hughes won the lottery he has undermined Dunnes confidence.

I really hope Dunne can get back to the player he was 12/18 months ago.

or three months ago against bulgaria and five months ago against italy

[Stuttgart88]

I'm confident a few games under his belt at Villa and he'll be back on form against Italy. He was poor last night and against Australia, but he was sheer quality in Sofia.

[Manc Irish Wolf]

Jesus Manc, I hope you had a few quid on that!!!



Sadly not - I stupidly prefer to leave my pre-match predictions to Internet messageboards, rather than for financial gain down the bookies. The elation that followed Keano's goal more than made up for it though.

Job done with the three points. Didn't play particularly well and it was frustrating to see various players play below par. However, the well drilled team unit that has been built seems to accomodate for mistakes well and thankfully we weren't, and haven't to date, been severly punished. The defence do have a bit of a worrying tendency for unnecessary errors. Glad to see Doyle have a good game and think his partnership with Keane is a key strength - would like to see Keogh tested with Doyle on Tuesday, as think that the pair of them could stretch defenders well which could work well if the wingers come inside, whereas folan for all his physicality and toil appears more of a spoiler up front.

Crying out for Stephen Reid to come back in which case we will hopefully have more of an option through the middle. Whelan and Andrews do offer a useful threat with long range strikes from deep though. The emergence of another box to box player is essential - hopefully McCann and Gibson can stake a late claim - although would love to see Andy Reid come back into the fold. Think that we are coming to predictable with the wingers, who were getting double marked and nullified too easily.

Also, not happy about the lulls in tempo. To quote a wise man we need to put 'em under pressure. Strategies are all good and well, however to me it's just not in the national psyche to sit back under attack - how many defensive boxers have Ireland ever had? (Apart from Andy Lee) - that said, I do think that we have an issue when it comes to dominating teams. It might come with confidence - but would love to see us doing it the easy way for once.

Overjoyed overall though. Definitely think that Old Trap is a lucky charm for us though. He has brought the team on immensely, created an effective formula, got the players well drilled and given us a great foundation for success, however we are definitely getting the breaks (can't be a coincidence that he's born on Paddy's day). Ordinarily I'd be fretting at 1-1, but was completely calm as I knew we'd score. Some things are just born to be and the more this campaign progresses, the more I'm convinced that we are going to qualify.

In Trap we Trust.

[geysir]

I wonder what the play statistics were in the second half?
I thought we had about 80% of the ball. Whelan and Andrews virtually nullified Cyprus as attacking threat. No real shaky moments, probably St ledger getting that header all wrong was one but at least there was plenty of cover.
I thought Dunne was blatantly dragged to the ground for that injury time free.
Robbie deserved motm for his 2nd half performance.
No wonder the Cypriot manager was in a foul mood afterwards.

[Wexford Delboy]

I wonder what the play statistics were in the second half?
I thought we had about 80% of the ball. Whelan and Andrews virtually nullified Cyprus as attacking threat. No real shaky moments, probably St ledger getting that header all wrong was one but at least there was plenty of cover.
I thought Dunne was blatantly dragged to the ground for that injury time free.
Robbie deserved motm for his 2nd half performance.
No wonder the Cypriot manager was in a foul mood afterwards.

duff was motm always offered an outlet imho

[mypost]

Shocking but we're always shocking away to Cyprus. Those pesky technically superior minnows. I guess you have to compare apples to apples so compared to previous performances away to Cyprus it wasn't the worst.

Anyhow we got our revenge I suppose.

When Italy scrape a win in Cyprus, we're supposed to hail their World Champion resolve. When we scrape a win in Cyprus, it's because we're shyte. :rolleyes:

We went there to get 3 points and we got them. Stop complaining lads.

[Scram]

A few of us, Stuts etc. spot on with 1-2 predictions.

Commiserations to "fans" like Weldohinho with pathetic hopeful predictions like 2 and 3-0 to Cyprus. These posters should be ignored completely.

We really are riding our luck still

[elroy]

Here lads, check out this photo from other night, proves why Shay is so good......hes got three hands :D

[DeLorean]

When Italy scrape a win in Cyprus, we're supposed to hail their World Champion resolve. When we scrape a win in Cyprus, it's because we're shyte. :rolleyes:

Most people have been going on about how rubbish Italy are at the moment so nobody was hailing their resolve. Let's hope Bulgaria get a draw against them and we can have a cup final at Croker. Don't really want Bulgaria going there and winning cos it will make little difference to us catching Italy, but a massive difference to Bulgaria catching us.


We went there to get 3 points and we got them. Stop complaining lads.

I'm inclined to agree with you despite giving out like anything for 90mins. We're only Ireland and not even an Ireland with a particularly good side so we should be delighted with the position we're in. Undefeated with all our away games played in a big achievement, regardless of the torture along the way.

[paul_oshea]

In terms of results so far, how have they differed from Kerrs campaign? I know we only finished with 14 or so, but we didnt lose away under kerr either and we drew a lot of home games too, bar the france result.....we beat cyprus away and home, we drew with israel away and home, and that could yet be the same with montenegro, so our results wont be much different to how we were under kerr. Arguably now we have a more experienced Team also, with a few new finds such as doyle, st ledger etc. I never fancy us winning when we really need to win lads, i dont think we are capable, and im on about montenegro game here as oppossed to Italy, as we dont actually need to win that game, but we might need to beat montenegro.

[Stuttgart88]

Ordinarily I'd be fretting at 1-1, but was completely calm as I knew we'd score. Me too, oddly enough. I was quite relaxed at 75 / 80 mins.

[paul_oshea]

I certainly wasn't i kept moving like i was on speed or something.

[shakermaker1982]

I wonder what the play statistics were in the second half?
I thought we had about 80% of the ball. Whelan and Andrews virtually nullified Cyprus as attacking threat. No real shaky moments, probably St ledger getting that header all wrong was one but at least there was plenty of cover.
I thought Dunne was blatantly dragged to the ground for that injury time free.
Robbie deserved motm for his 2nd half performance.
No wonder the Cypriot manager was in a foul mood afterwards.

I've not seen the % broken down by halfs but taken the whole match into account here are some interesting facts from the Telegraph:

Possession:

Cyprus 51% Ireland 49%

Territory:

Cyprus 52 % Ireland 48%

Successful Passing:

Cyprus 72% Ireland 61%


I have to admit I thought the game was fairly even over the 90 minutes. I wouldn't say we had 80% of the ball in the second half but I may be wrong. I'll have a look on the net to see if I can find a breakdown.

[DeLorean]

In terms of results so far, how have they differed from Kerrs campaign? I know we only finished with 14 or so, but we didnt lose away under kerr either and we drew a lot of home games too, bar the france result.....we beat cyprus away and home, we drew with israel away and home, and that could yet be the same with montenegro, so our results wont be much different to how we were under kerr. Arguably now we have a more experienced Team also, with a few new finds such as doyle, st ledger etc. I never fancy us winning when we really need to win lads, i dont think we are capable, and im on about montenegro game here as oppossed to Italy, as we dont actually need to win that game, but we might need to beat montenegro.

Yeah but Kerr took over a team that had qualified for the previous WC. I know they had a disasterous Euro Qualifying campaign but I think that was due to the fall out from Saipan and retirement of Roy Keane. Trappatoni has a lot less to work with. I don't think a midfield of Andrews and Whelan can be measured to a midfield that includes Roy Keane, which Kerr had for most of the big matches anyway. Trappatoni took over at a stage where we were probably at our lowest ebb in the past 20-30 years. We finished 12pts short of the Czechs and 10pts short of the Germans in the last campaign and we're challenging for top spot this time. I'm not saying everything is rosey but it's an improvement beyond belief. It doesn't really matter how he compares to Kerr (who for the most part didn't do a particularly bad job anyway) as he had a lot bigger job to do.

[ifk101]

We played a lot of long aimless balls in the second half so I'm not surprised Cyprus had more possession than us. Considering the midget that was playing in goals for Cyprus, I was disappointed we couldn't get more crosses in.

[geysir]

here are some interesting facts from the Telegraph:


Territory:

Cyprus 52 % Ireland 48%



Strange,
Sky Sports has us with 59% of the territory over the 90mins.

[shakermaker1982]

Strange,
Sky Sports has us with 59% of the territory over the 90mins.

looking through the sites there seems to be a range of figures on possesion! Statistics eh?!

[paul_oshea]

faulty computers!!

[Thommo]

As has been said poor perfromance but we'll take it three points is three points, after downing a few pints afterwards I watched Brazil v Argentina made up for the lack of entertainment in our game.;)
Hoping for a draw Wed night which would mean were two points behind Italy with two home games to come.
82,000 in croker on the 10th of Oct it will be like a cup final bring it on, could this be another Holland 2001!

[DeLorean]

could this be another Holland 2001!

It'd be better as we wouldn't still have a playoff ahead of us, well Montenegro would become the playoff except with a 2nd chance if we feck up

[OneRedArmy]

Whelan and Andrews virtually nullified Cyprus as attacking threat.Unfortunately they also pretty much nullified us as an attacking threat too.

[Den Perry]

A bit off topic here, but did anybody hear that swine Ray D'arcy this morning?

He was talking about the hurling yesterday and the soccer on Sat. He was on about what a brilliant game the hurling was (which it was by the way) and went on to compare it to the soccer on Sat night and said something along the lines of "and these guys get paid....". What a moron. Such a statement shows his complete lack of knowledge of sport. Did he expect Ireland to go and get a 5-1 win while playing like Brazil? I bet he'll be on the bandwagon next year when we qualify and if gets the chance to interview Robbie Keane etc he'll be full of charm...

That said, I thought the performance was poor but three points is three points and I'll not be complaining if we qualify. Think the game proved that Stephen Hunt should only be used from the bench though...

[jbyrne]

I bet he'll be on the bandwagon next year when we qualify and if gets the chance to interview Robbie Keane etc he'll be full of charm...


nail on the head with that statement. you get a lot of "soccer" bashers out there who will jump on the ole ole bandwagon if we qualify for the wc. this morning hurling is the bandwagon but was it the case when the tipp v limerick semi was over after about 5 mins? wouldnt take what ray darcy says too serious to be honest.... id say the next piece on his show was a campaign to get the slow set back into night clubs or some similar bog basic discussion

[Scram]

As has been said poor perfromance but we'll take it three points is three points, after downing a few pints afterwards I watched Brazil v Argentina made up for the lack of entertainment in our game.;)
Hoping for a draw Wed night which would mean were two points behind Italy with two home games to come.
82,000 in croker on the 10th of Oct it will be like a cup final bring it on, could this be another Holland 2001!

Am I the only one hoping Bulgaria win ?

As far as I'm concerned I'd rather know now if we are to qualify or not and 6 points from our 2 games with Italy losing to Bulgaria should confirm that.
Play-offs are too unbearable and unpredictable.

[Stuttgart88]

I don't want a Bulgaria win but at the same time I think we should focus on ourselves and get as many pioints as we can.

A draw is absolutely the best result as far as I'm concerned.

[elroy]

I'm not saying everything is rosey but it's an improvement beyond belief. It doesn't really matter how he compares to Kerr (who for the most part didn't do a particularly bad job anyway) as he had a lot bigger job to do.


Very true, this time the last campaign we were out and out by a distance. Whereas now we have a realistic chance of first, everyone wouldve been happy with that. Id take results and average performances over the results in the Stan era anyday. As I read somewhere recently, you dont need a top quality team to do well in international football, if you have a well organised team you can go a good distance. And in fairness to trap, we have a team with organisation and purpose, may not be pretty but so far its working very nicely. Call it luck but in every game so far the team/structure/organisation has adapted to get the result.


A bit off topic here, but did anybody hear that swine Ray D'arcy this morning?

He was talking about the hurling yesterday and the soccer on Sat. He was on about what a brilliant game the hurling was (which it was by the way) and went on to compare it to the soccer on Sat night and said something along the lines of "and these guys get paid....". What a moron. Such a statement shows his complete lack of knowledge of sport. Did he expect Ireland to go and get a 5-1 win while playing like Brazil? I bet he'll be on the bandwagon next year when we qualify and if gets the chance to interview Robbie Keane etc he'll be full of charm...

That said, I thought the performance was poor but three points is three points and I'll not be complaining if we qualify. Think the game proved that Stephen Hunt should only be used from the bench though...


What do some people (and particulary gaa people) feel the need to put down one sport over another when one sport produces a good game on a particular wkd and the other may not?!? Dont get it!!
Ray D'Arcy knows SFA about any sport so dont mind him. I was at the hurling yesterday and while it was a very good enjoyable game it was one of the few genuinely competitive hurling games this year. Nonetheless over two thirds of the scores were from placed balls.
Lets all be honest the Ireland game was not very 'entertaining' on sat night to the outside viewer but i was like a nervous wrecked gripped to my seat. I was far more enthralled with sat night than sun but everyone to their own.

The same Ray D'Arcy will be trying his best to put together another WC song if we qualify in a few months time........Irish people in general are easy to criticise and quick to jump on a bandwagon.

[QUOTE=Scram;1227116]Am I the only one hoping Bulgaria win ?

QUOTE]

Well you're in the minority. From our perspective we have nothing more to gain by Bulgaria winning as opposed to a draw.

A draw or Bul win puts us needing to realistically win against Italy to top the group.

A Bul win however brings them right back in the frame and increases the danger of them passing us should we slip up against Italy or Montenegro.

Whereas a draw keeps them a safe 4 points away with two games to go.
So in other words a draw please and thank you.

[razor]

Finally, Robbie Keane. What a man. How our greatest ever striker can be so unrespected by his own fans amazes me. Great player, great attitude and time again he scores the big, big goals for us. You'd have to start him for his good fortune alone.
Does very little over the whole of the game but gets the goals, you cannot complain about that.

Doyler put in another phenomenal shift.

[Jicked]

You'd have to start him for his good fortune alone.
Does very little over the whole of the game but gets the goals, you cannot complain about that.

Doyler put in another phenomenal shift.

You don't score 40 international goals through good fortune alone. The guy is a class, class act.

[Stuttgart88]

It's not the type of goal I'd have backed Robbie to score. He never convinces me with his head. Credit to him, he kept his eye on the ball when many would have been distracted by the goalkeeper. I remember a similar-ish chance late in the game vs Czech Rep when he failed to anticipate Cech's error - at the back post that time. Good on him. I think that header would have beaten the keeper even if he'd stayed put.

[razor]

You don't score 40 international goals through good fortune alone. The guy is a class, class act.Of course not, theres penalties too :D
Can't argue with those stats.
I guess the main reason certain people dislike him is because he does very little throughout the course of a game. He doesn't tackle or put in the type of effort that Doyler does but then they're different players.
As long as he's scoring then his detractors will be silenced and long may it continue.

[geysir]

Unfortunately they also pretty much nullified us as an attacking threat too.
Whelan and Andrews?
Not their job.
Tactics dictated their role.

[Stuttgart88]

In fairness to both Doyle & Keane, being a forward in our team is a thankless task.

[EastTerracer]

I guess the main reason certain people dislike him is because he does very little throughout the course of a game. He doesn't tackle or put in the type of effort that Doyler does but then they're different players.

Anyone who thinks Robbie doesn't put in the same type of effort as Kevin Doyle is not watching the games in the flesh. Try just watching Robbie in an Ireland game - he is constantly running off the ball trying to create space. In previous years he was also running all over the pitch to try and get the ball when there was no service coming up to him (although Trapp seems to have put a stop to that recently).

He didn't have a great game on Saturday but the service to him was atrocious. He's not going to play like Doyle when long balls are bombarded up to him - he's the player running off the target man to try and pick up any knock-downs. When the ball doesn't get to him he doesn't get on TV so some people don't think he did anything. At times his first touch has let him down in critical situations (what striker's hasn't?) but equally there have been times when he has absolutely stunned me with the quality of his touch.

For 11 years now I've seen Keane run his bolli* off for Ireland in nearly evey game and it sickens me when people start suggesting he doesn't try hard enough or doesn't put in enough effort. Best striker we've ever had - no argument.

[Duggie]

how did whelans shot not go in, what a cracker. brilliant save in fairness. i think whelan did ok, i like him. put in a fair few tough tackles in the 2nd half. he has a lot more to offer than andrews IMO. more aggressive and better going forward(when he decides to).

[Duggie]

For 11 years now I've seen Keane run his bolli* off for Ireland in nearly evey game and it sickens me when people start suggesting he doesn't try hard enough or doesn't put in enough effort. Best striker we've ever had - no argument.

exactly it sickens me aswell, and those who say "who has he scored against" FFS. best striker we have ever had, by a million miles. will never be touched again. top quality player/captain/striker. i wouldnt swap him for any other player in the world. nobody.

[tetsujin1979]

how did whelans shot not go in, what a cracker. brilliant save in fairness. i think whelan did ok, i like him. put in a fair few tough tackles in the 2nd half. he has a lot more to offer than andrews IMO. more aggressive and better going forward(when he decides to).

thought he was better than Andrews, offered more going forward, won the ball back a few times, and was robbed for a cracking goal.
Andrews shot the ball back into the penalty area for Doyle's goal, and had another shot from outside the area that hit the support for the net. He didn't do much in the second half, but that's not his remit for Ireland.

Having said all that, to come from League Two to international level in under a year, and not look out of place is some achievement

[Duggie]

ya but id go back to the whelan - reid combination when hes fit again. fingers crossed for italy.

[DeLorean]

Am I the only one hoping Bulgaria win ?

As far as I'm concerned I'd rather know now if we are to qualify or not and 6 points from our 2 games with Italy losing to Bulgaria should confirm that.
Play-offs are too unbearable and unpredictable.

6 points from two games with Bulgaria drawing with Italy will be enough to top the group as well though:confused:

[Duggie]

6 points from two games with Bulgaria drawing with Italy will be enough to top the group as well though:confused:

exactly - draw the best result.

[Scram]

6 points from two games with Bulgaria drawing with Italy will be enough to top the group as well though:confused:

Fair enough, but if Bulgaria beat Italy and we know that all we really have do is the same, and if we don't beat Italy at home then maybe Trappatoni's selection is just not good enough for WC 2010.

F(uk this scraping through competitions

[Stuttgart88]

A Bulgaria win puts us under massive pressure against Italy. If both us and Bulgaria get 20 points I see it as very likely their GD would be better than ours, so even a draw against Italy would not be a good result in Croker.

An Italy win over Bulgaria takes away our chance of winning the group but gives us bail out option of second place.

[DeLorean]

Fair enough, but if Bulgaria beat Italy and we know that all we really have do is the same, and if we don't beat Italy at home then maybe Trappatoni's selection is just not good enough for WC 2010.

F(uk this scraping through competitions

So basically you're saying that you'd prefer us to be in a position where failure to beat Italy will result in elimination? sorry but this makes no sense to me.

[razor]

it sickens me when people start suggesting he doesn't try hard enough or doesn't put in enough effort.Souness did the other night, I can see both sides, I can see what he brings but he also frustrates me greatly, in the flesh and on tv.

[OneRedArmy]

Whelan and Andrews?
Not their job.
Tactics dictated their role.There are quite a few midfielders in the world that manage to defend and pass in the same match.

I don't watch enough English football to be able to say whether Andrews or Whelan are individually underperforming, but as a unit they aren't doing what a midfield should do and neither of them can grasp the game by the neck. You say its tactics, but even Trapp conceded in the post match interview that the passing wasn't what it should be.

[geysir]

There are quite a few midfielders in the world that manage to defend and pass in the same match.

I don't watch enough English football to be able to say whether Andrews or Whelan are individually underperforming, but as a unit they aren't doing what a midfield should do and neither of them can grasp the game by the neck. You say its tactics, but even Trapp conceded in the post match interview that the passing wasn't what it should be.

I clearly referred to the second half when I mentioned Whelan and Andrews
so I did not get your reference to them nullifying our attack play in a second half context.
Ireland dominated the second half. Andrews and Whelan nullified most of the attacking threat coming through CM.
Trap said he blasted the team at ht also he was referring to the first half play when he mentioned anxiety, fear and passing ability.
'tis a game of 2 halves.

[L37Ultra]

Everyone knew this was going to be tight. We got the result in the end. Not making excuses but its a very difficult place to go to. Poor crowd, very humid conditions, etc... The world champions also recently scrapped a 2-1 win in Cyprus aswell so I am delighted with the result and performance.

[OneRedArmy]

I clearly referred to the second half when I mentioned Whelan and Andrews
so I did not get your reference to them nullifying our attack play in a second half context.
Ireland dominated the second half. Andrews and Whelan nullified most of the attacking threat coming through CM.
Trap said he blasted the team at ht also he was referring to the first half play when he mentioned anxiety, fear and passing ability.
'tis a game of 2 halves.Whelan and Andrews were equally poor in both halves IMO.

Not sure we had a better combination available for selection, but they are the reason we are forced to play it long.