Republic of Ireland V Montenegro - Wednesday, 14th October 2009 - World Cup 2010 Q [Archive] - Page 2

shaneker

14/10/2009, 8:04 PM

get real and comment on whats in front of you, or is it now the fashionable thing to say wer brilliant and anyone that says otherwise is a dunphy lover??? italy are not a great team

This may take some explaining.

We got hammered by Australia in a friendly. We then matched Italy - maybe not a 'great' team like, for example, Spain are (they are probably the only 'great' team in international football right now, possibly Brazil too, but nobody else) but certainly a 'top' team in terms of winning the last World Cup and topping their group for the next one. Italy will be in the quarters or semis next summer at worst. Clearly the friendly result meant nothing to our next competitive game.

So drawing 0-0 while dominating the game, hitting the crossbar and generally playing reasonably well with a severely weakened side in what was clearly a game played at friendly pace means...sorry, just getting the calculator...sod all.

Go on a France or Portugal forum and find the posters saying 'I really hope we draw Ireland, they've looked dreadful in qualifying.' We've done very well, unbeaten in 10 and 2 great results against a top team. We're not muck, we're just dull and efficient. Find me Padraig O'Iniesta and Dermot FitzMessi and then we can complain about that. Until then - I repeat - take the negativity and go jump into bed with Eamon. This team and this manager deserves respect for how far it's come in 2 years. Cyprus, San Marino, Slovakia, Czech Republic. Not ancient history. We've as good a chance as anyone in the play-offs.

CF1989

14/10/2009, 8:04 PM

Take it easy lads, it was a glorified friendly.

Injury time winner for Italy, 3-2. Probably as well we didn't win the last night - how sickened would we have been if that had happened tonight after we beat them on Saturday.

im sure if they needed the result italy would have hammered cyprus

ronburgundy

14/10/2009, 8:05 PM

I laugh when I hear that. No one fears getting us in the play-offs. Only Slovenia would arguably be a better draw as far as the seeded teams are concerned.

well said. its sad how far up our own arses we have gone

centre mid

14/10/2009, 8:05 PM

I laugh when I hear that. No one fears getting us in the play-offs. Only Slovenia would arguably be a better draw as far as the seeded teams are concerned.

Good to know

France & Portugal have been god awful during this campaign, the last thing they want is a well organised team that are hard to break down, (which is all we are at the moment) they dont want to get us in the Play-off.

Brendan 82

14/10/2009, 8:07 PM

I laugh when I hear that. No one fears getting us in the play-offs. Only Slovenia would arguably be a better draw as far as the seeded teams are concerned.

Emmm, how do I say this? ..Your an idiot. The only teams to have not lost a SINGLE game in qualifying competition are... Germany, Denmark, Spain, Holland, and Ireland

Metrostars

14/10/2009, 8:10 PM

Emmm, how do I say this? ..Your an idiot. The only teams to have not lost a SINGLE game in qualifying competition are... Germany, Denmark, Spain, Holland, and Ireland

Actually Denmark did lose 1 game. Plus Italy were also unbeaten.

briancool21

14/10/2009, 8:10 PM

I'd only really fear russia..I can see Arshavin laughing in our faces at the thoughts of running our midfield ragged

ronburgundy

14/10/2009, 8:11 PM

This may take some explaining.

We got hammered by Australia in a friendly. We then matched Italy - maybe not a 'great' team like, for example, Spain are (they are probably the only 'great' team in international football right now, possibly Brazil too, but nobody else) but certainly a 'top' team in terms of winning the last World Cup and topping their group for the next one. Italy will be in the quarters or semis next summer at worst. Clearly the friendly result meant nothing to our next competitive game.

So drawing 0-0 while dominating the game, hitting the crossbar and generally playing reasonably well with a severely weakened side in what was clearly a game played at friendly pace means...sorry, just getting the calculator...sod all.

Go on a France or Portugal forum and find the posters saying 'I really hope we draw Ireland, they've looked dreadful in qualifying.' We've done very well, unbeaten in 10 and 2 great results against a top team. We're not muck, we're just dull and efficient. Find me Padraig O'Iniesta and Dermot FitzMessi and then we can complain about that. Until then - I repeat - take the negativity and go jump into bed with Eamon. This team and this manager deserves respect for how far it's come in 2 years. Cyprus, San Marino, Slovakia, Czech Republic. Not ancient history. We've as good a chance as anyone in the play-offs.

ok i understand what your sayin and we all want to go to the world cup, its just you cant say anything is wrong at the moment without bein called negative. i didnt say we were muck in general, just thought we were tonight.

youngirish

14/10/2009, 8:12 PM

Emmm, how do I say this? ..Your an idiot. The only teams to have not lost a SINGLE game in qualifying competition are... Germany, Denmark, Spain, Holland, and Ireland

What a fool, go back to reading the Sun. We also have won less games than anyone else in the play-offs. Stop spouting those useless 1 line statistical pieces of nonsense you read in the tabloids and watch the performances and consider some of our other results. If you think France, Portugal or Russia are fearing drawing Ireland then you are the idiot. Muppet.

shaneker

14/10/2009, 8:17 PM

ok i understand what your sayin and we all want to go to the world cup, its just you cant say anything is wrong at the moment without bein called negative. i didnt say we were muck in general, just thought we were tonight.

Fair play, we certainly weren't at out best tonight, although with a weakened side that's somewhat to be expected. We agree on that to a degree.

However, would you agree the campaign has been a fantastic success, considering the Euro '08 campaign and our lack of top quality players?

briancool21

14/10/2009, 8:22 PM

2 wins against Cyprus and georgia and 6 draws doesn't really make good reading i agree with Dunphy for one we are very lucky and awful to watch

boysingreen

14/10/2009, 8:28 PM

Go on a France or Portugal forum and find the posters saying 'I really hope we draw Ireland, they've looked dreadful in qualifying.' We've done very well, unbeaten in 10 and 2 great results against a top team. We're not muck, we're just dull and efficient. Find me Padraig O'Iniesta and Dermot FitzMessi and then we can complain about that. Until then - I repeat - take the negativity and go jump into bed with Eamon. This team and this manager deserves respect for how far it's come in 2 years. Cyprus, San Marino, Slovakia, Czech Republic. Not ancient history. We've as good a chance as anyone in the play-offs.

Does anyone know if Dermot FitzMessi will be fit for the playoffs?

I feckin' hope so.

Noelys Guitar

14/10/2009, 8:38 PM

Can I have that 92 mins of my life back please.

Emmet7

14/10/2009, 8:52 PM

It was a result, that's all that matters.

Dallasirish

14/10/2009, 8:55 PM

People need to get off the Dunphy Train. We are an average team with average players that have been well organised by a very good manager. Does everyone forget what a ****e capaign we had for the European Champioship, when we were playing with Reid and Ireland in games. Was Dunphy praising staunton then for those choices?? NO!!.

We all looked at this group back at the start and thought we would be doing well to get second place. We have secured that with a game to spare, we are unbeaten, we have drawn with the world champions at home and away............can anyone just give the team and manager credit for what they have achieved so far. We go into the playoffs with the possibility of Steven Reid becoming available and in fairness to Trap.....he hasnt rule'd out Andy Reid but Im happy leaving that decision to him as opposed to some drunk ass negative, publicity seeking muppet who has achieved nothing as a player or manager of any significance and who has slated every manager we have ever had. If Dunphy was manager of this team, would we be where we are, would be unbeaten, would people think its a joke, would the players respect him.........if he is so good why is he not in Mgt.......the guy is a waste of space. END OF STORY!!
PS --- GREECE PLEASE and after that anyone but Russia! Russia is nightmare from a football perspective and a long ass flight from Texas :)
Hope Trap's luck/Mgt Skills/whatever he has continues.

shaneker

14/10/2009, 9:26 PM

Aaahhh feck it. 200 posts so I'm celebrating (sad I know).

To the fella I'm disagreeing with here - you're obviously deeply involved in Junior Football, making you one of the good guys as far as I'm concerned. Look forward to jumping up and down like a mad thing in the stands next to you in Africa next year. Fingers crossed.

Also to the Montenegrin - classy opposition fans always welcome round here. Buy you a pint in Poland in 2012.

To paraphrase Father Dougal Maguire - we're all going to Africa lads, wahay :)

Closed Account 2

14/10/2009, 9:30 PM

I think we've done well, the most important thing tonight was keeping the yellow card count down and ideally not getting defeated. Only Rowlands got a yellow and that shouldnt be significant as I doubt he'll start for us in the playoffs. You have to look at like this, we were a pot 3 team going into the qualification and we had probably the hardest pot 1 team. We finished in second so that is a good progression. If at the start of qualification we had been offered a play off we would have taken it.

osarusan

14/10/2009, 9:58 PM

We were unbeaten throughout the campaign. We also failed to beat Italy, Bulgaria, or Montenegro. We actually only beat Cyprus and Georgia.

We are difficult to break down, but by no means impossible. We had only 3 clean sheets, and even the bottom team, Georgia, scored against us in both their games.

We score goals, but have a tendency to throw away leads.

We will (apparently willingly) give the other team possession of the football for more than we have possession of it.

I honestly don't think any of France, Russia, Portugal will be more worried about us than the other teams. Greece will be worried no matter who they get. They're a lucky side that their rankings are so high because of 2004.

On tonight's game, it was a nothing game where the result was irrelevant, the most important things were for players not to get booked or injured.

MeathDrog

14/10/2009, 10:02 PM

It was a result, that's all that matters.
Erm, no it wasn't.

irishfan86

14/10/2009, 10:08 PM

Anybody getting upset at this performance or feeling that it vindicates anything just doesn't get it.

This was probably one of the most meaningless "competitive" games in recent memory.

Supreme feet

14/10/2009, 10:22 PM

Awful game, but I was prepared for it by watching Germany playing Finland beforehand. I had money on Germany winning, and believe me, it was more frustrating than any Ireland match in this campaign. I'd say there were a lot of terrible performances across Europe tonight from good teams.

There was nothing to be learned from tonight. Neither Miller and Rowlands will ever start a competitive match for Ireland again. It's impossible to judge how good/bad we are, or how competitive we'll be in the playoffs, from tonight's game. If we'd needed a result, the team would have been significantly different.

It's worth noting that Ireland haven't had a full-strength team out at any time in this campaign. Even when Finnan and Reid were fit, Duff was out and Lawrence/St. Ledger were in the wilderness. I'm worried about the lack of depth in the squad, but we're in a much better position in that regard than this time last year.

When Trap took over, he had to build the team up from scratch. Staunton didn't have a settled squad (used over 50 players in his time in charge), let alone a starting XI or centre-back/midfield partnerships. Trap has had to do 4 years work in less than 2. Things aren't perfect, far from it, but in a way, we're still in transition. Many of our fringe players need more experience, our top men need to stay away from injury, and better players need to come in to replace the remaining dead wood. Maybe the playoffs have come too soon, but given a fully-fit, in form team, I'd just about fancy our chances. Here's hoping.

elroy

14/10/2009, 10:38 PM

Why should we care about what other sets of fans think of us, to be honest I think its a good thing if all the first seeds want to draw us. Let them be complacent win they play us!!! With traps organisation and system, we can spring a surprise. There is no satisfing some fans, but we're in a good position and have alot to look forward to.

rambler14

14/10/2009, 11:45 PM

First things first........there should never be a game at 7pm again. I entered the ground at 18.58 and there were more people outside than inside.

Every player was sh!te with Liam Miller:eek: being the best of a bad bunch(I honestly never thought i'd say that).
Richard Dunne.......whats happened? You've turned into Rio Ferdinand.

I'm hearing Stephen Hunt was Man of the Match....Why? Him and his excuse for a brother were easily the worst things on the pitch. I can't remember S. Hunt or Duff to that matter swinging in a meaningful cross all night.
Speaking of Duff, what a terrible shame he's become the player he is!

A shameful performence!:rolleyes:

Well Done to Zinedine Kilbane and Shay Given on achieving their century of caps............legends!:)

Razors left peg

14/10/2009, 11:55 PM

just home after wasting 12 hours of my life that Im never gonna get back, seriously long drive back to Galway after watching a game like that. Simply the worst game of football Ive have been too.

But Im not in the slightest bit bothered by it.It was played for the most part at testamonial pace and none of the Irish players wanted to put in a tackle all night and risk a yellow card. We have bigger fish to fry now and this game will be forgotten very quickly once the playoff come around. Havent read through much of the thread but some of the critisism that I did see is over the top. Anyone who thinks this game is a barometer of how good or poor we are needs to get a grip of themselves.It was a totally meaningless game

geysir

15/10/2009, 12:10 AM

I thought it had some meaning before the game, my mistake.
We do approach the meaningless game very seriously though.

Torn-Ado

15/10/2009, 12:32 AM

Missed the first half because I thought the game was meant to start at 8pm GMT instead of 7pm. Met a few lads who along with me wandered in at half time. Just aswell I suppose.

Jicked

15/10/2009, 2:21 AM

A completely irrelevant evening due to what happened in the 91st minute last saturday. I'd have loved there to be a great occassion tonight worth going for, but after Italy scored that goal this had 0-0 written all over it. And quite rightly so. Not a night for experimentation or throwing the shackles off, a night for re-inforcing situational positioning and ensuring no one got booked who shouldn't have. Very dull, I've spent better �50's and I do feel sorry for guys like Noel Hunt and Leon Best who would have loved a full blooded competitive game to get actually involved and stake a claim, but at this stage it's all about the next two games. I don't fear anyone but Russia, I'll go in to any other tie thinking we can win, if it's Russia I'll just have a horrible feeling going in to those games, then again stranger things have happened.

And of course a big congratulations to Shay Given, and particularly Kevin Kilbane. Irish heroes, both deserving to go to South Africa and experience a World Cup again. They're one win and one draw away from doing so! 10 games unbeaten in a new manager's first campaign, and desperately unlucky not to have turned a few draws in to wins along the way. I'll take that!

DotTV

15/10/2009, 2:46 AM

What a fool, go back to reading the Sun. We also have won less games than anyone else in the play-offs. Stop spouting those useless 1 line statistical pieces of nonsense you read in the tabloids and watch the performances and consider some of our other results. If you think France, Portugal or Russia are fearing drawing Ireland then you are the idiot. Muppet.

Performances:

We've drawn with the world champions twice and could have beaten them bought times.
We were average against Bulgaria twice and still drew with them.
We did everything we had to do for a playoff. Worst result away was a draw.
Obviously we could have done better with only 4 wins but lets looks at our playoff opponents.

France:
Drew with Romania twice, who have been total muck this campaign.
Only beat the Faroes 1-0! That's as bad as we were under Stan.
Lost 3-1 to Austria
Not exactly setting the world on fire.

Portugal:
Lost 3-2 to Demark.
Followed that with three 0-0 draws with Sweden-Albania-Sweden
Pulled out a 3-0 and 4-0 win last two games so look like a team on a high.

Greece:
Lost to the Swiss twice(sound familiar?)
drew with Israel once(sound familiar?)
drew with Moldova
beat Luxembourg by one goal.
Definetly beatable.

Russia:
Lost to Germany twice
beat Liechtenstein by one goal!
drew with Azerbijan

So you can pick holes in the performances of all of our potential opponents.
Life of an Irish fan now reminds me of the scene in In the Name of the Father when Gerry first meets gareth pierce and berates her for giving his father hope! Well Trap has given us hope and I know it will hurt if we hope too much and get f ucked over again!...but this time I'm starting to believe!!!

seanfhear

15/10/2009, 7:25 AM

Any word on Martin Rowlands injury. I hope it is not as bad as it looked.

When it comes to injuries some fellas have no luck e.g.Martin Rowlands and Stephen Reid.

boovidge

15/10/2009, 9:05 AM

Just got back in. Grabbed as much sleep as I could at the airport. Feel pretty cheated , tbh. I know the game wasn't as important as it could have been but the players were barely trying. I don't go to Ireland games for "entertainment" but the players should think about people who've given time/money to watch them play and put in a little effort. Still, mustn't grumble, we're in the playoffs.

Now I've got a two hour lecture on political philosophy :eek:

Duggie

15/10/2009, 9:17 AM

how many times did kilbane give the ball away..every time i think. rowlands was dire, pity he got injured though. i expected more from noel hunt, thought he was poor. all in all im not to worried. were in the play off's so fingers crossed for no injuries leading up to the games.

Duggie

15/10/2009, 9:30 AM

funny to see traps translator's(Manuela Spinelli) face when tony o donoghue said that italy only drew 2-2 with cyprus. haha awwh she's cute, got used to seeing her round with trap and tardelli. poor baby :o
get your facts right tony anyway..:mad:

youngirish

15/10/2009, 9:33 AM

Performances:

We've drawn with the world champions twice and could have beaten them bought times.
We were average against Bulgaria twice and still drew with them.
We did everything we had to do for a playoff. Worst result away was a draw.
Obviously we could have done better with only 4 wins but lets looks at our playoff opponents.

France:
Drew with Romania twice, who have been total muck this campaign.
Only beat the Faroes 1-0! That's as bad as we were under Stan.
Lost 3-1 to Austria
Not exactly setting the world on fire.

Portugal:
Lost 3-2 to Demark.
Followed that with three 0-0 draws with Sweden-Albania-Sweden
Pulled out a 3-0 and 4-0 win last two games so look like a team on a high.

Greece:
Lost to the Swiss twice(sound familiar?)
drew with Israel once(sound familiar?)
drew with Moldova
beat Luxembourg by one goal.
Definetly beatable.

Russia:
Lost to Germany twice
beat Liechtenstein by one goal!
drew with Azerbijan

So you can pick holes in the performances of all of our potential opponents.
Life of an Irish fan now reminds me of the scene in In the Name of the Father when Gerry first meets gareth pierce and berates her for giving his father hope! Well Trap has given us hope and I know it will hurt if we hope too much and get f ucked over again!...but this time I'm starting to believe!!!

We are a poor team punching above our weight due to Trap's system. We have been very lucky so far on numerous occasions :

- Home and away to Bulgaria
- Getting a dodgy penalty at home to Georgia when behind with 15 minutes left
- Away to Italy with the sending off
- Not having to play Georgia in Tibilsi
- Home to Cyprus when we scraped an undeserved 1-0 win

Anyway point is if anyone really believes France, Russia or Portugal are dreading drawing the likes of us, a team who has only won 4 games in the entire qualification process thus far over the likes of Bosnia or Ukraine then they need to cop on.
We can beat Greece and Russia if they have an off day (unlikely) but France and Portugal will beat us when it matters over 2 legs whether they are struggling or not.

geysir

15/10/2009, 9:38 AM

You'd expect other coaches to have a lot of confidence to beat any team in pot 2.
If there is some apprehension about meeting Ireland above the others in pot 2, it would be based on that we have some qualification record, Trap's reputation and the illusion that we matched the Italians twice.

seanfhear

15/10/2009, 9:51 AM

Jicked

15/10/2009, 10:09 AM

- Home and away to Bulgaria
- Getting a dodgy penalty at home to Georgia when behind with 15 minutes left
- Away to Italy with the sending off
- Not having to play Georgia in Tbilsi
- Home to Cyprus when we scraped an undeserved 1-0 win

- don't see how we were lucky in either Bulgarian game, might not have most possession but Bulgaria hardly had a chance in either game, we gave them a goal each time and in Sofia McGeady was inches away from winning it.
- didn't get a stonewall peno in Podgorica
- defend one more counter-attack and we'd have beaten the World Champions
- have been unlucky with injuries to big players in the campaign

blobbyblob

15/10/2009, 10:28 AM

Was it just me or was Bill, Eamon and Gilesy sulking last night. They were very quiet altogether.

If the powers that be in RTE are going to give them a dressing down for having an opinion - right or wrong - and not being "upbeat enough" after Saturday night, its hardly worth watching anymore.

Their opinions are what has set them apart from the crowd for the last 20 years and long may it last.

Duggie

15/10/2009, 10:32 AM

dunphy was sucking up last night.

DeLorean

15/10/2009, 11:33 AM

- don't see how we were lucky in either Bulgarian game, might not have most possession but Bulgaria hardly had a chance in either game, we gave them a goal each time and in Sofia McGeady was inches away from winning it.
- didn't get a stonewall peno in Podgorica
- defend one more counter-attack and we'd have beaten the World Champions
- have been unlucky with injuries to big players in the campaign

It doesn't matter anyway and I hope we get all the luck that's going, but I think we've been far more lucky than unlucky in the campaign. You don't always get exactly what you deserve, be it good or bad, but I think the crazy stuff went for us. Not only did we get Georgia at a neutral venue but all of the other teams had to go to Tblisi. The Italian sending off and the penalty against Georgia were decisions beyond belief, not just 50/50 things that happened to go our way. That was the really lucky stuff that went for us, everything else was just normal football stuff that happens I think. Bulgaria were better than us twice probably but two draws wasn't robbery or anything. I think we were pretty fortunate to end up with 6 points from Cyprus but we took our chances and that's what good teams usually get credit for. Outside Stephen Reid, injuries weren't a major issue and I'm sure every team suffered their fair share, Bulgaria missing Berbatov and Martin Petrov at Croke Park for example. Overall we got big breaks but were a far more organised and consistent side than Bulgaria so our second placed finish was very much on merit.

Duggie

15/10/2009, 11:41 AM

we werent lucky or unlucky in this group. we got what we deserved. you can point to this and that but italy won in montenegro, and beat bulgaria at home, thats why they topped the group and we finished second. we need to forget the group now and concentrate on the play offs. but if u look only

italy
germany
spain
holland
and IRELAND

WERE UNBEATEN. thats a real good achievement if u ask me. well done lads.