Post Match and looking ahead

[MeathDrog]

Just back from the game. Bitterly disappointed. Was all going to plan in the 1st half. Apart from Anelka, France didn't look a threat. It all went downhill in the 2nd. We gave them far too much space and Anelka duly obliged.

After the goal, there was no urgency from us at all. No winning mentality has been installed. Our best midfielder isn't even being named in the squad.

I just get the impression that Trappatoni presumes that we would hold them off. Once we went behind, the lads looked lost. Not taking off Robbie Keane was another mistake. He was poor. Yet again he is immune from being taken off.

France weren't great and didn't seem bothered either but between Anelka and whoever their left back is (Diarra I think), they had enough quality to deserve the win.

We only have a small hope now. An early goal is crucial. 1-0 and France will only see us out over ET. 2-1 is our best chance tbh. A small one at that.


Oh and Kevin Doyle MOTM?!?! It was Lawrence by a mile. Nobody else even came close.

[MeathDrog]

Are you mad? Domenech's tactics were superior because he had a player who ran the show from the first minute and didn't give the ball away but once. If only Trap had have thought of telling Whelan to be one of the best players in the world eh :rolleyes:

It was men & boys, you're right, and the fact it was 1-0 thanks to a deflected shot that smacked off the post, whilst we also had 3 good chances is proof that we had our tactics correct.

And Robbie isn't struggling at all, he played very well tonight.
2 of those chances were French errors.

[Angus]

Are you mad? Domenech's tactics were superior because he had a player who ran the show from the first minute and didn't give the ball away but once. If only Trap had have thought of telling Whelan to be one of the best players in the world eh :rolleyes:

It was men & boys, you're right, and the fact it was 1-0 thanks to a deflected shot that smacked off the post, whilst we also had 3 good chances is proof that we had our tactics correct.

And Robbie isn't struggling at all, he played very well tonight.

Yes but, all of the pre match talk was around the players not trusting RD etc etc - and while I respect your opinion on Robbie, I cannot agree. I work for a company with abig office in the UK and all of the spurs fans rave about robbie for spurs - but I just can't see it. He looks to me like he is trying to look good rather than to be effective

[Jicked]

2 of those chances were French errors.

Most of their chances were errors by us, their goal was very lucky. Not many teams are going to carve open France, we just have to hope that we take our chances next time however they come.

[MeathDrog]

Most of their chances were errors by us, their goal was very lucky. Not many teams are going to carve open France, we just have to hope that we take our chances next time however they come.
Their goal was a deflection but it was coming. We simply didn't put on the pressure in the 2nd half. It was clear from the 1st minute that Anelka was the dangerman and he punished us for allowing him to move forward.

[Guidedbyvoices]

I doubt Best was sent on solely to help the midfielders but it's not a positive sign if that's the case, Trap probably admitting we were losing out in midfield. I guess it was to put in more tackles in midfield.

I think Leon Best should start in Paris alongside our best finisher Keane. The Doyle-Keane combination just isn't delivering the goals and without goals we won't win matches. Both are nice footballers and all that, but they don't have the muscle to dominate defenders. That's the main reason we don't score from open play, only setpieces.

Best is awkward and I would say cause the French defenders more problems than Doyle would.

No doubt Trap will change it for Wednesday with probably Best up front. The starting team tonight struggled to threathen the French defence. We need all out attack from the off in Paris.

Why would you leave out Keano? He cant score if he doesnt get the ball and there was no one capable of giving it to him. The usual hoof it up the pitch job. 'ANDY REID SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE' no two ways about it.

[MeathDrog]

Why would you leave out Keano? He cant score if he doesnt get the ball and there was no one capable of giving it to him. The usual hoof it up the pitch job. 'ANDY REID SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE' no two ways about it.
Maybe if he jumped for a ball instead of always dropping off the defender trying to anticipate a mistake, then he might do better. Keane was ok tonight at best, but he really could help himself out more.

[Emmet7]

Why would you leave out Keano? He cant score if he doesnt get the ball and there was no one capable of giving it to him. The usual hoof it up the pitch job. 'ANDY REID SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE' no two ways about it.

I didn't say I would leave out Keane. I said I would leave out Doyle. He's not a world class finisher and he doesn't close down enough which is very important. In the 3 big games against the Italians and French he never looked like scoring or even dangerous in the box. I'm all for putting in shifts but putting in shifts in non threathening areas is not going to win us matches. We need goals, simple as that.

[Jicked]

Why would you leave out Keano? He cant score if he doesnt get the ball and there was no one capable of giving it to him. The usual hoof it up the pitch job. 'ANDY REID SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE' no two ways about it.

What do you think Andy would have contributed going forward? Would he have got enough time on the ball against their big two central midfielders? Would he have been as able to get back and deny space to French attackers? When we were forced to have so many players back defending, what would Andy have done exactly apart from, y'know, hoof it up the pitch?

[mypost]

I don't think we're coming back from that, I felt we were well in it and 0-0 would have been happy days.

Haven't a hope of recovering. To do that, we had to take something to Paris. France bossed the game and if they can do that at half pace here, christ knows what they'll do in front of their own fans on Wednesday. If we're not 2 down by half time on the night, it'll be a miracle.

Damage limitation from here on in lads, I'm afraid.

[Guidedbyvoices]

I didn't say I would leave out Keane. I said I would leave out Doyle. He's not a world class finisher and he doesn't close down enough which is very important. In the 3 big games against the Italians and French he never looked like scoring or even dangerous in the box. I'm all for putting in shifts but putting in shifts in non threathening areas is not going to win us matches. We need goals, simple as that.

And Best is?:D:D:D

[Closed Account 2]

I think we can still do it, we created 3 clear cut chances, had these fallen to Keane or Duff we would have gone away with 2 goals. France might now try and sit on the 1-0 which could invite us to attack them. The had lots of the ball and were dangerous running down the flanks but they didnt have a HUGE number of clear cut chances. Given had little to do except for their goal and KK's howler, they had shots but most were central right at him or wide.

We have to test Lloris from long range, while he is good at claiming crosses, he stands very far up the field when they have the ball and he's very slack at retreating to his line position. We need to get the likes of Duff, Keane and Whelan to shoot if they have space around 35m out - Ian Harte would have had a field day against Lloris. If we score first, any time before 70 mins, we could do it. I wonder how Trap will approach the game, he's got to be tempted to start with McGeady. I would be tempted to go 4-3-3 we need to go for the jugular.

[Guidedbyvoices]

What do you think Andy would have contributed going forward? Would he have got enough time on the ball against their big two central midfielders? Would he have been as able to get back and deny space to French attackers? When we were forced to have so many players back defending, what would Andy have done exactly apart from, y'know, hoof it up the pitch?

He has a footballing brain something half the others are missing. That enough for me.

[jo84]

Its not over yet. France definitely bossed the game in the second half particularly, and although the goal was a fluke, their performance merited a winner.
That said, we came so close a couple of times to nabbing a goal. We're still in this tie, regardless of the gulf in class between the sides. Its only 1-0. Anything can happen.

I thought Hunt actually gave a couple of sloppy passes tonight, but I think he shud be on the pitch on Wed at some stage.
Fair play to Lawrence, great game.
Kilbane nearly messed it up, but he'l surely keep his place anyway.
Best didnt do great, but if he wasnt wrongly-adjudged to have fouled Evra, he was in on goal for a chance at the end.

Anyway, I head for Paris more in hope than anything else, but there could be a twist yet.

Its not over till its over.

[Closed Account 2]

Maybe there would have been a case for throwing Reid on late in the game, but the fulll pace for 90 mins would have meant he would have been running on fumes after about 60 mins

[Guidedbyvoices]

- Ian Harte would have had a field day against Lloris.

Bring him back. In fact bring Stan back. Anyone but Kilbane.

[Alf Honn]

Class won out tonight. Results have shielded Trap til now. He set out for a nil-all draw and had no Plan B, a la Folan in Bari.

No excuse that we don't have the players either - Andy Reid a case in point.

Romania, Austria and Serbia gave the French better tests than we did.

Game over. World Cup on the telly for us again.

[Metrostars]

The team put in an admiral performance but over all France turned it up after half time and when you keep pressing like they did, something will come and they got a bit of luck with the deflection.

Best hope for Wednesday is to keep it at 1-0 for the first hour starting Hunt and Lawrence and then throw all caution to the wind bringing on Duff and McGeady for the last half hour.

[Emmet7]

And Best is?:D:D:D

It's not that simple tbh.

Look at Bari. We had Doyle and Keane up front and we didn't look like scoring. I know Folan came on earlier but we only scored after Doyle came off.

Keane and Doyle are too similar. Doyle is not a target man even though he is being asked to pretty much play that role. Keane is and always will be the more lethal finisher at international level. The Keane-Doyle combination isn't delivering goals. Stick in Best as the target man and Keane will probably get more chances to score as will some of the other players.

Our forwards setup is the least effective in Europe I would say and we are heavily dependent on set pieces, midfielders and defenders to score us goals.

[geysir]

Tough to come out being a goal down, chances for both teams were just about even.
Anyone who thinks the French were strolling around in the low gears just have not got the foggiest about how international football is played.
We played better than I expected, the players did their best against a very good team.
Considering the opposition, I'd say it's the best performance we have managed at home since beating Holland in 2001.

Fortunately we have another game, I'd expect the French to be strong enough but who knows.

[Guidedbyvoices]

It's not that simple tbh.

Look at Bari. We had Doyle and Keane up front and we didn't look like scoring. I know Folan came on earlier but we only scored after Doyle came off.

Keane and Doyle are too similar. Doyle is not a target man even though he is being asked to pretty much play that role. Keane is and always will be the more lethal finisher at international level. The Keane-Doyle combination isn't delivering goals. Stick in Best as the target man and Keane will probably get more chances to score as will some of the other players.

Our forwards setup is the least effective in Europe I would say and we are heavily dependent on set pieces, midfielders and defenders to score us goals.


If we had Keane, Doyle, Stokes, Folan, Hunt, Best and Long there tonight we still would not have scored.

[mypost]

Class won out tonight. Results have shielded Trap til now. He set out for a nil-all draw and had no Plan B, a la Folan in Bari.

No excuse that we don't have the players either - Andy Reid a case in point.

Game over. World Cup on the telly for us again.

Having Andy Reid playing against France in Dublin last time, made little difference. And it wouldn't tonight either.

France just used the ball better all night, we just gave it away all the time. France's goal came from an aimless clearance at the corner flag. :rolleyes:

We saw after the goal, what's in store on Wednesday night. Us throwing caution to the wind, France creating more chances. On Wednesday night they'll take them.

[RoversInn]

I fancy France to win in Paris, We tried to close them down, We defended brilliantly, But they just have that extra bit of class.

[Emmet7]

If we had Keane, Doyle, Stokes, Folan, Hunt, Best and Long there tonight we still would not have scored.

Our forwards are limited agreed. Folan was dangerous in Bari no question but he was injured tonight. Doyle wasn't dangerous tonight.

I don't want to get on Doyle's back, he's a good player. But look at the difference between the Drogba's, Anelka's and Torres of this world and the Irish forwards. Drogba and co are in the team for one single reason and no other reason than to score goals. Keane and Doyle just aren't scoring enough. I've gone into this before and it's a technical thing which you probably aren't interested in, but they are too similar and both of them are too small and easily pushed off the ball. Contrast that with Drogba and Torres who are able to push big defenders like Ferdinand and Vidic off the ball.

Doyle and Keane's job is not to put in a shift, it's to score goals or else knock the ball down for someone else to score goals.

[galwayjames]

Having Andy Reid playing against France in Dublin last time, made little difference. And it wouldn't tonight either.

He's much better now and we'll never know how effective he could be until we use him. We had the oppurtonity tonight to win the game and a bit of skill and composure from someone like Reid might've gone a long way towards the result.

[MeathDrog]

Tough to come out being a goal down, chances for both teams were just about even.
Anyone who thinks the French were strolling around in the low gears just have not got the foggiest about how international football is played.
We played better than I expected, the players did their best against a very good team.
Considering the opposition, I'd say it's the best performance we have managed at home since beating Holland in 2001.

Fortunately we have another game, I'd expect the French to be strong enough but who knows.
Cop on will ya. France weren't that good. Deserved to win, but were not outstanding.

[geysir]

Who said they were outstanding.
I said they were a very good team

[MeathDrog]

Who said they were outstanding.
I said they were a very good team
It's what you implied by saying that was our best performance at home since Holland 2001.

[Ciaran W]

Unbelievable first half,great atmosphere and the team tackled and played brilliant from the very start,but we just parked the bus in the second half and they were always going to score

[Greenbod]

Sorry for the long post!


Wish you really meant that! Congratulations on mentioning Andy Reid 3 times in a post about a match he wasn't involved in. He should have been though..........anyone can see our non-existent mid-field is the problem....Maybe if Doyle our Keane got a pass they might score.

[Crosby87]

If anyone thinks we will go to France and get a result, they are totally deluded. They are far superior to us and that is with them not getting out of first gear.

He has 67 posts and looks to be someone that comments on other people with slim posts so this must be gospel.
Merge all of his posts and I think we have a winner.
Lad people know you have mulltiple screen names. They just have too much going on in their lives to comment.
Notice no one responds to you.
I wish you well. You need help friend.

[Emmet7]

Wish you really meant that! Congratulations on mentioning Andy Reid 3 times in a post about a match he wasn't involved in. He should have been though..........anyone can see our non-existent mid-field is the problem....Maybe if Doyle our Keane got a pass they might score.

Nonsense and you know it.

Doyle had the ball loads of times tonight, why else would one pundit make him man of the match? He had the ball loads of times against Italy in both games as well and in good positions too.

Yet can you remember him having even one shot on target or even one shot off target against Italy in either game. Tonight his only shot on target was a deflected cross.

Contrast that with Henry and Anelka who everytime they receive the ball are looking to shoot at goal and that's where the goal came from.

Without shooting at goal you won't score. It's a forwards job to get the ball and make chances. You know as well as me, that in tight games you can't expect chances handed to you on a plate. Look at the Anelka chance, he litterly made it by himself from nothing. Same as Henry in 2005. Great strikers make their own goals, that's the difference.

As for Andy Reid I am just putting forward the other side of the argument to people who say he would have won us the match tonight. More than likely with Reid in the team we would have lost 2-1 and the tie would be over. As it is we still have a chance.

But I won't meantion him again if you don't.

[Ciaran W]

John giles is right,andrews and whelan tackled really well but they cannot play on the ball,needs to be sorted out quick

[Emmet7]

I think Whelan and Andrews have become scapegoats for the generally poor play of the Irish team. In my view both had excellent first halfs and both put in several crunching tackles. It's a bit much to blame them all the time when Ireland play poorly, they were the best midfielders on the pitch in the first half. Of course it all goes back to Gilsey and Dunphy's obsession with a certain Sunderland player.

Ireland were desperately poor up front for whatever reason. Our forwards just cannot do the job they are on the field to do, that is score goals from open play. I think playing two small forwards up front is not the way to go. Robbie Keane had 4 or 5 great chances in Italy when playing off of Folan and his knock downs. When he plays alongside Doyle he hardly ever gets a sniff. Better one forward to get 4 or 5 goal chances and convert 1, than neither forward getting any chances in the current Doyle-Keane system.

Kevin Kilbane has also been a week link at left back and was again on a few occassions tonight. McGeady again didn't do the job he is on the pitch for, create clear chances for the strikers. He has no end product. There are serious flaws in the Irish team which were exposed tonight and those flaws are not just in central midfield. You could put Kaka and Pirlo in centre of the Irish midfield and you'd still have serious flaws elsewhere.

There are a lot of Irish players we don't have an end product from and that's why we concede needless goals and why we cannot score from open play.

[OneRedArmy]

This thread is hilarious.

Half of you wouldn't know if it was blown up or stuffed.

The team were very good tonight and can only be faulted for not taking two gilt-edged chances. The atmosphere was the best since the move to Croker and much better than the Italy game.

Our players to a man are technically inferior and less athletic than the French (Giles comments are as naive as they are ridiculous, he knows nothing about modern football, give it up grandad) and yet we competed for 90 mins, which points towards bottle and good tactics.

Our only real hope lay in not conceding and I can't see us scoring more than once in Paris, but if we can keep it tight again and squeeze something from a set piece its game on.

P.S. An Institute fan supporting Ireland? Wonders never cease...

[Emmet7]

I guess the Irish tactic for the foreseeable is to keep it tight and hope to sneak one from a setpiece.

It's a bit depressing really if that's the case.

I'd like to see us create and score more chances from open play. We seem to offer no threat from open play save for half chances. Even if A. R. was in the side i don't think he'd break down the French on his own.

As Jim Beglin said we are lacking craft and guile. One skillful midfielder would not make a difference even if he should be in the squad. From numbers 2-11 we are lacking craft and guile with only occassional bursts of brillance from Duff and a few others.

However that said in the second half France were different class to Ireland.

[mypost]

The team were very good tonight and can only be faulted for not taking two gilt-edged chances.

yet we competed for 90 mins, which points towards bottle and good tactics.

It points to France not pressing home their superiority, they're waiting until Wednesday to do that. You get very few chances against the French in the WC, so when they come, they have to be taken. They weren't.

Tonight was the last competitive football international at that 3-sided kip. Thanks be to....

In a cruel twist, the Frogs won the first competitive rugby game there and the last competitive football one. Is it luck or class? Probably the latter.

[Noelys Guitar]

This thread is hilarious.

Half of you wouldn't know if it was blown up or stuffed.

The team were very good tonight and can only be faulted for not taking two gilt-edged chances. The atmosphere was the best since the move to Croker and much better than the Italy game.

Our players to a man are technically inferior and less athletic than the French (Giles comments are as naive as they are ridiculous, he knows nothing about modern football, give it up grandad) and yet we competed for 90 mins, which points towards bottle and good tactics.

Our only real hope lay in not conceding and I can't see us scoring more than once in Paris, but if we can keep it tight again and squeeze something from a set piece its game on.

P.S. An Institute fan supporting Ireland? Wonders never cease...

I have no idea what Giles said but I thought this was a poor Irish performance. This French team are nowhere near as good as the Italian side we played in Dublin. Look at the the wayward shots and terrible passes. I thought we gave them way too much respect. Duff and Lawerence for me did'nt do enough. I thought Robbie Keane, along with Doyle was excellent (Doyle should never have been brought off). But the service they received was awful. Kilbane has to go (and before Wednesday). He can't pass the ball anymore. Their goalkeeper was excellent. But I thought their defence was not just bad but awful. Yet we never really exploited it. This thing is nowhere near over. But stop building the French up. They are not a great team. I can see why Platini made his comments during the week about starting from scratch. I thought they were just slightly better than us. And we were **** poor overall.

[OwenGoal]

Does anyone else think they were a tad slow in closing down Anelka for the goal?

[wexfordman]

Man so gutted after that, just back from the game i would like to watch the highlights on tv again.

Firstly i know i am biased on this but emmet a lot of the stuff you are saying about doyle is bull. Yes Doyle was poor away to italy when at a time he was playing with the injury that later in the season required surgery to cure, italy at home he was only returning following said injury.

But you question his workrate in tonights game when once again he has ran himself into the ground for the team, plus constantly competing with 2 centre halves in the air for all our kick outs and long deliveries. he is not the tallest of strikers but has a fantastic leap and whins far more than the 1 in 5 headers you suggest plus any header he looses the defenders clearing header does not travel far clear because of his commitment to challenging the defense in the air.

You praise keane work rate tonight and tell people who were questioning this before hand to take note. Well i was happier with robbie tonight than a lot of games in the past but imo this is the effort he should give everytime he pulls on the green jersey.

Often for example if ireland are attacking up the right wing and robbie is the nearest striker to the player with the ball he will make no effort to make himself available and so doyle will have to make the hard yards and run down the channel to give our midfielder an option. He will not compete in the air for headers and has the uncanny ability to 9/10 make the run into the wrong position following doyles knock on.

Plus you question doyle's ability to hold up the ball and be pyhcisal when he gave a master class in making himself available for every throw and set piece taking in hard won balls and getting them under control making space and recycling clean possesion to kick start attacks. Until he was substitued and the bigger stronger and fresher Best came on and lost every 50/50 ball against a tiring backline, one which kick started the counter attack to the french goal.

anyway long rant over except for the one aspect of all irish players i was disappointed by not one irish player was prepared to make that one cynical tackle to disturb and upset Gorcuff and to a lesser extent Lasanna diarra, anelka, sagna or henry frances most influential players on the night, come in late take a yellow and let them no they are in a war and see how the react. yes some great tough clean tackle were executed tonight but sometimes one late bookable tackle upsets a team more.

Also as we did not get many corners or frees near the box but an abundance of throws i wished to see Delap's name on the program. i think the french would hate to face his aerial bombardment
Anyawy off to paris on monday all we need is a win the tie is still alive JUST.

[irishultra]

so why are ireland so hopelessly bad at getting wins against big teams? if i hear the cliché that we turn it on for big games ill scream!!! come on what small country wouuldnt be up for big games? its not unique to ireland, its not unique to these islands:rolleyes:(you often hear they say scotland have the same thing must be the british mentality:rolleyes:) its easy to be up for the big games.

im not saying its easy for the irish players, the french players are generally stronger, more agile, quicker and generally superior in every way and have that little extra desire to win(inate i think comes from self confidence) but come on you need to go out at least with all guns blazing. we lost than on a wimper.

[Emmet7]

He has scored 2 goals out of the last 11 competitive matches. That's not good enough for an out and out striker. Even the much malaigned Glenn Whelan as well as Richard Dunne have scored that.

I don't solely blame Doyle, I blame Trap's system too. He doesn't know if he wants Doyle as a target man or as a finisher. I don't think Doyle knows what he is either under this system.

He was definately off the pace of the game tonight. He was very slow at closing down, hence the reason Robbie was exasperated and the French defenders had loads of time on the ball to pick out passes. I think basically that's one of the reasons he was taken off by Trap.

By the way, I don't think he should be out on the wings for throw ins. And even if he does receive a throw in, he should be turning on the ball, making a yard or two of space and shooting. That's what Anelka and Henry are able to do.

I accept he is returning from injury but he was only injured recently. His two goals game against group minnows. You need your forwards to step up against the big teams more than any other players, else you get beaten.

I'm all in favour of players turning in a shift, but I'm a bit tired of hearing people say Doyle got through a lot of work tonight. My response is sure, but where was the goal?

Once more Trap changed around the forwards because Doyle didn't look like scoring. There is a serious problem there. We can all bury our heads in the sand and say there isn't a problem, so what if one or both our forwards don't score. But you don't win games without scoring and the difference once more between Ireland and France as in 2005 was the French forwards are able to create and score half chances.

If you don't score you probably won't win, it's really that simple. I'd rather Doyle got through much less work and scored. If your forwards aren't going to get goals, then who will?

[irishultra]

Yeah I love Doyle but scoring is the priority first and formost but tbhIrish style isn't set up for strikers in the Keane and Doyle mould. I can probably name on one hand all the times Ireland have scored goals from a defence splitting pass since i start watching them 10 years ago.

Keane for Ireland is an average player thats just my opinion, it doesn't matter how well he's done for his club with the Irish system and complimentary players he doesnt have the individual genius or any standout qualities to take us up a level(unlike a berbatov or ibrahimovic with countries of a similar standard to us) With Ireland he's an Inzaghi style striker whereas I would have him down at club level as a playmaking striker.

[rebelmusic]

I think we've all said 1001 times. Keane is a very effective striker when he plays off a target man - in these situations he's one of the best at his particular game, which effectively is poaching and scoring tap-ins.

There was a question put to the panel that the keane-doyle partnership doesnt work. I'm sorry but this is true. Both players work pretty well off target men. Doyle is certainly not a target man at all. Individually they are our best two strikers but i think it's a mistake playing them together.

Also, i have to agree with emmet, doyle does have a huge workrate but he creates very little and doesn't gel with keano at all. Keane is always the more likely to sneak one so i think doyle has to be replaced for wed, only option really being best.

[shakermaker1982]

Anyone who thinks the French were strolling around in the low gears just have not got the foggiest about how international football is played.


The French cranked up the class a little in the second half (not that they were that good or anything - still looked sloppy to me and disjointed at times) after looking like they were hit by a hurricane in the first 45. Our players were excellent in the first half and it's credit to them that the French were rattled but there was a big change in momentum as soon as the second half got underway.

Last night I pointed out energy levels as a reason. Whelan, Andrews and Lawrence ran themselves into the ground last night and nobody could keep that going for the full 90. The French had more time on the ball in the second half and used the ball much more effectively. I think we should have brought on an extra midfielder around the 55 minutes mark because we couldn't keep hold of the ball.

God I'm so disappointed. 0-0 would have been a dream result.

[shakermaker1982]

Just listening to the RTE panel now.

Everybody keeps talking about gears!!!

[Stuttgart88]

Emmet, Doyle receives the ball out wide so often not because he wants to but because he has to. It's about the only part of the final third of the pitch we're capable of finding space in. I'd have thought that that's a simple enough thing to spot. Blame it on the system or the players or whatever but it's a fact. Because we don't play fluent coheseive ball-retaining football our forwards have to work their socks off and find space where they can. I thought Doyle put in a great selfless shift again, as did pretty much the whole team. Can't fault the effort.

[bennocelt]

Interestingly, for all this talk of Domenech being a loony, there was no evidence of that in his team's performance tonight. Thought they sussed us out quite well overall.

Apart from leaving Benzema on the bench:) (or was he injured?)

France def stepped it up a bit in the second half, with Evra and Sagnol more into the game.
Still France dont look any great shakes and they wont go too far in any world cup. ireland have a chance to score in Paris but it will be difficult.

Taking off Doyle was bizarre.

And from watching on TV the crowd didnt seem that good - very quiet overall - but I bet it was very different at the game?

(still - better than the Limerick crowd at the Andy lee fight - woeful!!)

[RivaldoBabb]

I wouldnt be too hard on Keane and Doyle, i think they tried their best. For all the hype about the French back 4 being shakey, they defended well, and got forward well...i can only remember one scary moment when abidal make a c0ck up with a pass. They have to be the fastest back 4 in world football so running past them will never happen, and our strikers arent physical enough to cause them problems that way, they did what they could. Hold it up, bring others in.

Yes, we are out of our depth in this one, but its not over because one early goal for us will really set the nerves off and get the rubbish french 'support' having a go at their players, thats our only hope.

Problem is...i cant for the life of me see where this goal will come from.

[Murfinator]

A bit sickening since I thought we had the beating of them in the first half but really needed a goal to reflect that. When we got tired and started backing off them in the second half only one thing was going to happen.

But the first 45 minutes was intense and the finest I've seen them play in a long time, lack of fitness maybe shone in the end. Duff being back from injury, Lawrence and Kilbane not getting regular game time at the moment, when you throw them into a game of this intensity they'd tire easily and that showed later on. Shows trap was right to not include Finnan or S.Reid on the squad.

Was impressed by our midfield especially last night, never seen Andrews be as imposing as he was last night, Lawrence was sublime in attack and defence and Duff made a mockery of Sagna more than once. They still found it hard to get the front men into the game but hasn't that always been the problem. Looked deflated towards the end too which would worry, they need to pick themselves up and quickly.