Republic of Ireland V Wales - Monday, 8th February 2011 - Carling Nations Cup

[Stuttgart88]

I actually thought Gibson was OK tonight, even before the goal.

I'd be happy for Clark to start against Macedonia.

I had reservations about Sledge before the game but I thought he looked very comfortable.

Walters didn't do enough for me, not bad but not mobile or pro-active enough and I think this frustrated Gibson & Whelan.

Coleman did well enough but I'd still favour McGeady I think.

[seanfhear]

Westwood should have got a half

Coleman has a bit to learn about playing defensively at premier league/international level. He was lucky not to give away a penalty (also in a few premier league games).
He could probably play full back for an attacking Brazilian team (they don't have to worry about the defending so much).

Clark looked llike he has been playing for Ireland for years.

Gibson needs to be playing regular football before he can be judged. He is not getting enough games at utd.

Walters put in a good shift and is certainly an option.

Duffer was good and he has that bit of know how that most of our players hav'nt.

Delighted to see Wilson get some time on the pitch.

Hopefully McCarthy will get some game time in the near future.

[Noelys Guitar]

Team to start against Macedonia barring injuries will probably be
Given
O'Shea, Dunne, St Ledger, Clark
McGeady, Whelan, Gibson/Green, Duff
Keane, Doyle

[ifk101]

Didn't think any of our players were better than average tbh. But a good result, a clean sheet, three good goals (from our point of view) and three debuts.

Surprised how poor Wales were, offered absolutely nothing going forward.

[Adrock]

Its nice to see us beat someone 3-0 but there has to be more useful international exercises available. This was a bit like watching West Brom versus Preston .......... really no point.

[Sullivinho]

I'd be happy for Clark to start against Macedonia.


Clark looked llike he has been playing for Ireland for years.

I'd have him in against Macedonia too. Sledge had a baptism of fire in Bulgaria and did well after only a friendly or two so Trap has form for that. Depends on what he made of Ciaran tonight. Like seanfhear says, looked like a regular tonight. So tidy and confident.

[TrapAPony]

Westwood should have got a half

Coleman has a bit to learn about playing defensively at premier league/international level. He was lucky not to give away a penalty (also in a few premier league games).
He could probably play full back for an attacking Brazilian team (they don't have to worry about the defending so much).

Clark looked llike he has been playing for Ireland for years.

Gibson needs to be playing regular football before he can be judged. He is not getting enough games at utd.

Walters put in a good shift and is certainly an option.

Duffer was good and he has that bit of know how that most of our players hav'nt.

Delighted to see Wilson get some time on the pitch.

Hopefully McCarthy will get some game time in the near future.

I would agree with this. Happy with the result and happy with the second half. Didn't think we had to do much to win though. Macedonia will be the one that counts.

[SwanVsDalton]

Dire first half, but good in the second. First of all Wales were pretty awful, despite withdrawals I thought they'd put it up to us far more but were content simply to be an obstacle. In truth it was very comfortable.

But it's not often we beat anyone 3-0. And there were lots of positives. Clark started nervy, but grew into the game and he's such a natural, confident player. I don't know if he's a left back solution but welcome to the fold young man.

Coleman showed glimpses of what he can do and we know he can do more. I actually thought Walters had a very good game, won lots of ball in the air, made countless runs in behind, barreled into opponents with glee and made a total nuisance of himself. Also very good for Duff's goal, and his interplay with Duff and the midfield was really very neat and quite impressive at times. He doesn't look the most intelligent going forward but looks a useful addition.

Gibson and Whelan were so-so at times, but were quite good at others. Whelan ticked things over in midfield, and both made some telling forward runs (obviously lacking in previous games). Darron's goal was a screamer, was delighted for him and that's the kind of confidence boost that will bring him on.

Dunne and Sledge despite current form we're excellent. O'Shea had a shaky start but got better. Given had nothing to do. Of the subs I thought Keogh made a useful cameo, popped up in dangerous areas as the game opened up. And Shane Long will likely be annoyed he didn't score. Fahey took his free kick well.

Duff was MOTM. The classiest player on the park by far.

All in all it's one of the better friendly exercises we've had in recent years. As a new year confidence boost, and a nice bit of momentum pre-Macedonia, it could prove priceless.

[Charlie Darwin]

http://www.101greatgoals.com/gibson-golazo-duff-fahey-guide-republic-of-ireland-to-3-0-win-over-wales/82970/

`Goals there for those who haven't seen them
Do RTE know that George and Ronnie have been moonlighting?

[geysir]

Kenny C on radio after the game made a fair point about Gibson, that he is the better player when he (cue for one of Kenny's stock phrases) speculates to accumulate.
Meaning I think, that he is not a good holding player which Trap requires, but he is a better player when getting forward like he did in the 2nd half, making it happen, making the one two which led to his goal.
It was great to see 2 new players such as Clark and Coleman, to be playing with such confidence.
For us, I would like to have a player like Coleman at RB, but not just yet, even if we are crying out for player like him at RB. Clarke can start at LB and maybe Coleman on the bench against Macedonia.

[Charlie Darwin]

I think Clark did enough to play himself into the team for Macedonia. He had absolutely nothing to do in the second half, but in the first half Church gave him a real test and he stood up very well. Better than O'Shea on the other side, for sure.

I actually think this was quite a useful exercise. We've shown we're well able to soak up pressure but we tend to panic when we get the ball. Today, we were forced to wait for our opportunities and for the most part the players were patient and probed for openings instead of going for the killer pass right away (an unfortunate symptom of the British style of play). As soon as we increased the tempo after half time we easily outclassed Wales, though you have to consider they were harder hit by injuries than us.

Gibson's performance was encouraging. Still not sure on him defensively but he does allow us to play football in midfield, and Whelan seemed to enjoy the freedom this gave him to get forward. Coleman is raw but very promising, Dunne and St. Ledger dealt well with a tricky customer in Earnshaw and Doyle/Long/Walters linked up well together. Can't disregard the quality of opposition but definitely a test passed.

[noddy102]

For 60 mins we were relatively crap, other than Duff.

The goal did wonders to instill confidence in the players, although the movement after half time was a good bit better.

Definitley plenty of encouraging signs from this game, but there's a lot of work to be done for Macedonia in March.

[IsMiseSean]

I thought Clark done well, I'd have no problems with him starting against Macedonia.
Coleman did OK, could be a good impact sub if we need a spark in that game.
Walters worked hard, but he wouldn't fill me with confidence if he came on and we needed a goal in the last 10mins.

[tricky_colour]

Decent result all in all, not a great game first half, positives are the three goals, nice to see Duff scoring and great strikes from Fahey and Gibson.

Defensively we looked solid, Given had less to do than he does at Man City :rofl:

[geysir]

The last 15 minutes was that part of the game that had my full attention, when we had to defend.
Trap gave a good Italian post match interview. He spoke fulsomely about Clark, was asked if Clark will play against Macedonia, Trap hummed a bit and said something like that we have to respect Kilbane and we have time to consider that question.
Strange when fans jumping on Trap's back about his treatment of Kilbane, they would not have given the slightest thought about KK chances of playing ahead of Clark.
It is bizarre that some of Trap's comments are twisted out so much out of context, on the RTE panel Sadlier was claiming that Trap was comparing McCarthy situation to the Stephen Ireland fiasco. A lost in translation experience for a culturally myopic Sadlier.

[rebelmusic]

I think people may have seen a different game than me.

For the first half our defence and midfield (defensively) were excellent. No bad mistakes and nice simple passes. Our lack of attack in the first half was largely due to too many passes to Doyle who had one of his worst games in an irish shirt. In fairness, he played 2 days ago so you can't really blame him.

Whelan was at his absolute best. Supported the strikers as much as he could and laid off some beautifyl passes.

Duff was outstanding, back to his very best.

Walters was good at holding up the ball, and did some nice runs. To be honest, felt he deserved a goal

Long was disapointing, could have done a lot more.

Clarke proved how bad our LB position has been. Kilbane should in no way get his starting place back unless Clarke screws up majorly

Coleman was okay, seemed a bit overawed, but at the same time he tracked back very well.

Our defence was rock solid tonight, best it's been in a long time and as the commentators acknowledged - the first half was a great defensive display by both teams. Duff stepped it up for the second half and Whelan was more imposing and i think that made the difference.

Gibson's goal was sublime, but other than that he was generally useless and did nothing to sell himself.

I think Trap will have looked at tonight's game and realised that Green can only be used as back up to Whelan. It was our best performance in a long long time and the only bad thing was our offensive play in the first half which was sorted out. Clarke in my opinion claimed his place so the only problem area left is Whelan's midfield partner which we all hope i would think will be McCarthy.

[SkStu]

just checked out the goals. 2 super strikes from Gibson and Fahey. Surely though that was a miskick from Long for Duff's goal?? Im pretty sure a few posters tried to characterise it as a dummy from him a few pages back...?

[SwanVsDalton]

Gibson's goal was sublime, but other than that he was generally useless and did nothing to sell himself.

I agree with most of your post, this aside. Very harsh, I really can't see how anyone can say one central midfielder playing better than the other. I can recall Gibson constantly dropping deep to pick up possession and move it forward, pinging some lovely through balls and linking well with Whelan. I can also recall him giving away a few and generally not imposing himself physically enough. A decent performance for me, in tandem with Whelan, capped with a lovely goal.


just checked out the goals. 2 super strikes from Gibson and Fahey. Surely though that was a miskick from Long for Duff's goal?? Im pretty sure a few posters tried to characterise it as a dummy from him a few pages back...?

Think at least a few were joking. Clearly kicks the ground when attempting to strike the ball.

[Nedser]

Think at least a few were joking. Clearly kicks the ground when attempting to strike the ball.

This is from the RTE live text commentary: "Some shocking defending from Welsh substitute Chris Gunter allows Walters to nick the ball from inside their penalty area. He cuts it back and Shane Long cleverly lets the ball roll across him and into the path of Damien Duff who makes no mistake from six yards out"!!

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2011/0208/ireland_wales.html

[Nedser]

Going on your reckoning, Adam Rooney, Richie Foran and Conor Salmon should also be in the panel. Anyway in my opinion Stokes isn't much better than any of them; though his ego is a lot bigger.

My "reckoning" as posted on this thread was "He's still only 22, and has been in great form for the past year and a half". Hard to see how that applies to Sammon or Foran. I suppose it does apply to Rooney, but he wasn't even playing at SPL level for a year of the period in question.

Anyway, I have expanded in other threads about why I believe Stokes should be there, just in case you genuinely believed that the sentence above fully described the entire basis of my opinion. Clearly you have a different opinion of him - fine.


Yep - two full houses in Thomond a couple of years back.


I assume this is sarcasm?

[tricky_colour]

just checked out the goals. 2 super strikes from Gibson and Fahey. Surely though that was a miskick from Long for Duff's goal?? Im pretty sure a few posters tried to characterise it as a dummy from him a few pages back...?

Either a very bad mis-kick or a very well disguised dummy.
I'm really not sure, there is a defender closing him down at the time so he may have decide to leave it, however Duff was
invisible to him at the time. Maybe Duff shouted leave it?
I think Long needs to spill the beans, his body shape looks very off if he intended to shoot.

[Charlie Darwin]

Clarke proved how bad our LB position has been. Kilbane should in no way get his starting place back unless Clarke screws up majorly

Coleman was okay, seemed a bit overawed, but at the same time he tracked back very well.
Very harsh on Killer, especially considering how useless Wales were. We can only judge Clark against him when he plays in a competitive game against a decent side.

I didn't think Coleman was overawed at all - witness his numerous give and gos and that one foray all the way across the pitch.



just checked out the goals. 2 super strikes from Gibson and Fahey. Surely though that was a miskick from Long for Duff's goal?? Im pretty sure a few posters tried to characterise it as a dummy from him a few pages back...?
I suspect he probably got a shout from Duff and pulled out. There's no way of knowing for sure, but who on earth would dare deny Duffer his first international goal in five years? I thought he was going to break John O'Shea afterwards.


I assume this is sarcasm?
Could it be anything else?

[SwanVsDalton]

This is from the RTE live text commentary: "Some shocking defending from Welsh substitute Chris Gunter allows Walters to nick the ball from inside their penalty area. He cuts it back and Shane Long cleverly lets the ball roll across him and into the path of Damien Duff who makes no mistake from six yards out"!!

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2011/0208/ireland_wales.html

Not my reading of it at all. Looks like he's going for the shot, digs his foot into the ground and the ball rolls on to Duff. Apart from anything else, his celebration appeared more baffled than jubilant - certainly not jubilant enough for a man who just played a colleague in with a samba-esque dummy.

[Nedser]

Could it be anything else?

I've seen people say worse with a straight face!




Not my reading of it at all. Looks like he's going for the shot, digs his foot into the ground and the ball rolls on to Duff. Apart from anything else, his celebration appeared more baffled than jubilant - certainly not jubilant enough for a man who just played a colleague in with a samba-esque dummy.


I fully agree with you. I just pasted the RTE commentary for amusement value.

[Fixer82]

Not my reading of it at all. Looks like he's going for the shot, digs his foot into the ground and the ball rolls on to Duff. Apart from anything else, his celebration appeared more baffled than jubilant - certainly not jubilant enough for a man who just played a colleague in with a samba-esque dummy.

I actually thought he was gonna shoot and heard Duff roaring behind him and at the last second didn't fully pull the trigger, caught between whether to dummy or kick the ball and kind of doing both.
He probably did miskick it though cos he had a bad game really in most other things he did

[Noelys Guitar]

The biggest plus of the night (other than Duff's return and general play) was Clark's link up play and ability to get up and down the pitch. It allowed Duff a freer role to attack. And it will also help McGeady(certain starter IMO against Macedonia) when he and Duff switch wings. Clark has the ability to play quick 1-2's something Kilbane has a problem with. It is a real pity McCarthy for whatever reason did not get to start in this match. Whelan improved in the second half ( I thought he was very poor in the first half. Chris Coleman agreed. Emmet Malone has Whelan having a great game. Opinions ) and Gibson got a great goal but again did not do enough to suggest he is the answer. I'm posting the highlights of the Macedonia v Russia game to highlight why they are a threat (especially from corner kicks) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr-7_9rXIW8. We might well need to score two goals to win that game. NO injuries to the back four that played tonight or Duff, Keane, Doyle or Long will be crucial. And I would still like to see McCarthy at least on the bench if he continues his excellent form.

[shakermaker1982]

Given - 6. 1 shot to save.

O'Shea - 7
Dunne - 7.5
St Ledger - 7
Clark - 7. Solid and hopefully he starts against Macedonia.

Coleman - 6. Showed us glimpses of what he can do. Doesn't lose the ball that often (unlike McGeady & Hunt which is a big plus)
Whelan - 6
Gibson - 6. Great goal.
Duff - 8. MOM. Class act. Held the ball up well and if we have any chance of qualifying then we need Duffer wrapped in cotton wool.

Doyle - 6. Looked tired. Understandable to be honest after running himself into the ground against Man Utd.
Walters - 6.

First half was terrible but we played some decent stuff in the 2nd half. Cruise control performance and the result will hopefully give our players a confidence boost for next month.

[Supreme feet]

Did anyone else notice - or just choose to ignore - Whelan's run early in the second half, when he nutmegged a Welsh midfielder? Thought it was a nice bit of skill. He and Gibson linked well for the goal, but they still evoke the phrase 'two Robins with no Batman'.

[elroy]

Just on Doyle, thought he was poor last night. He is very keen to get the ball into feet all the time, very very rarely will he start a run looking for the ball to be played through, makes life alot easier for the defenders imo.

Thought Coleman did ok, few excellent touches at the start but had a terrible tendency to drift inside many times. Not sure if he was instructed to do this. But with his enthusiasm, his energy and pace I would want the lad to be hugging the touchline at all times.

One other point, with potentially Clark solving our problems at left back, we have a damn good defence now. JOSH, Dunne and Sledge are very solid and reliable. Sledge I thought was very good last night. I do wonder if he is like Phil Babb in a sense, looks excellent beside a very good central defender but if not then he is average. I may be harsh here but solely judging on his performances for Ireland, he makes no sense that he is playing his football with Preston.

[paul_oshea]

result. Didnt see any of it but appears to have been a good second half. Encouraging to see us not hold back after taking the lead. Highlights would be most appreciated!

Highlights, no if you are a proper fan then you have to watch the whole game.

[elroy]

Trap gave a good Italian post match interview.

Maybe Trap should stick to doing his commuinications in Italian and avoid unnecessary confusion due to his inadequate english, save us the media frenzy we had this week.

Also, the two lads going on the pitch last night, langers! Embarrassing how often he happens.

[paul_oshea]

Coleman has a bit to learn about playing defensively at premier league/international level. He was lucky not to give away a penalty (also in a few premier league games).
He could probably play full back for an attacking Brazilian team (they don't have to worry about the defending so much).


I mentioned this on the other thread, but this is straight out of the school of Gaelic football, a quick tug on the forwards jersey before he makes his run, or to hold him to stop him getting a yard on you. He has done it time and again for everton. Not being funny but someone with a gaelic background and involved in coaching him needs to say this to him. Its plain for all to see.



Gibson and Whelan were so-so at times, but were quite good at others. Whelan ticked things over in midfield, and both made some telling forward runs (obviously lacking in previous games). Darron's goal was a screamer, was delighted for him and that's the kind of confidence boost that will bring him on.


I'm not so sure, gibson comes across as confident enough. I think that gives him the belief that he has done enough and keeps his place because of it. Which is completely the wrong way to look at it.

I don't think long did great when he came on, thought he was ok, but thought this was the game against poor opposition to prove if he was coming on. I dont think he is really, and i didnt follow the hype of others from the previous 2 games. He is still at around the same level.

Thought Green did ok actually his passing seems to have improved.

Is anyone else getting the feeling that Shay is going to let us down in a big way sometime soon?

[paul_oshea]

Not my reading of it at all. Looks like he's going for the shot, digs his foot into the ground and the ball rolls on to Duff. Apart from anything else, his celebration appeared more baffled than jubilant - certainly not jubilant enough for a man who just played a colleague in with a samba-esque dummy.

thats exactly what happened, how anyone can see any different. he clearly is suprised to see duff beside him then. He kicks his foot into the ground, thing is for a shot he should be opening up his body more anyway. It would have been blocked by the defender had he got a shot in.


The biggest plus of the night (other than Duff's return and general play) was Clark's link up play and ability to get up and down the pitch. It allowed Duff a freer role to attack. And it will also help McGeady(certain starter IMO against Macedonia) when he and Duff switch wings. Clark has the ability to play quick 1-2's something Kilbane has a problem with. It is a real pity McCarthy for whatever reason did not get to start in this match. Whelan improved in the second half ( I thought he was very poor in the first half. Chris Coleman agreed. Emmet Malone has Whelan having a great game. Opinions ) and Gibson got a great goal but again did not do enough to suggest he is the answer. I'm posting the highlights of the Macedonia v Russia game to highlight why they are a threat (especially from corner kicks) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr-7_9rXIW8. We might well need to score two goals to win that game. NO injuries to the back four that played tonight or Duff, Keane, Doyle or Long will be crucial. And I would still like to see McCarthy at least on the bench if he continues his excellent form.

Agree with all of that.



Thought Coleman did ok, few excellent touches at the start but had a terrible tendency to drift inside many times. Not sure if he was instructed to do this. But with his enthusiasm, his energy and pace I would want the lad to be hugging the touchline at all times.

This was because he was probably a little nervous, and wanted to impress he realised he wasn't getting the ball and wasn't being used as an outlet, so the only way this was going to change was to get more involved and to do that he had to drift in. He also has a bit of urgency about him which others didnt he realised that the balls to the wings wasn't getting us anything and wanted to play neat 1-2s to try and make space and bring on runners.


Maybe Trap should stick to doing his commuinications in Italian and avoid unnecessary confusion due to his inadequate english, save us the media frenzy we had this week.



Does he actually mean in italian or italian-esque?

[OwlsFan]

Its nice to see us beat someone 3-0 but there has to be more useful international exercises available. This was a bit like watching West Brom versus Preston .......... really no point.

Unless you're a WBA or Preston fan. I am an Ireland fan so there was lots of point.

Wales are a warning as to how bad we can get unless things are done right because on paper they were not much worse than us.

Duff was heads and shoulders (which is a strange expression to use for Duff) above anyone else on the pitch.

Biggest negative was John O'Shea. I had a Man U fan sitting beside me so I started slagging every bad pass he made. To my surprise it came to something like 90% (no exaggeration). His distribution is terrible. Defensively though he did ok but we can't afford to give the ball away as much as he did against a better team.

Given needs to get more game time in. WHoever said we should have given Westwood a half was wrong. Given needs gametime and lots of it. Almost let one in which he should easily have saved.

[AlaskaFox]

Is anyone else getting the feeling that Shay is going to let us down in a big way sometime soon?

Could've had a Robert Green moment in the first half, and he did look rusty. Would've liked to see Westwood get a run-out. It's Given's own fault he's not playing regularly. For all the talk of a move away from Man City, he did nothing to make it happen.

[Stuttgart88]

I thought O'Shea was going through the motions alright, and was sloppy as a result. I thought he did very well in Slovakia when he was more focused and up for it.

I'm not sure Given nearly let that one in. He wasn't trying to catch it, he was trying to kill the ball / take the heat out of it, which he did. It just went behind him a little!

[geysir]

It looked to be asking too much of Doyle to play in that friendly - like flogging a tired horse.
Shane Long, overall was poor with a some very careless play.
Green is decent enough as a defensive midfielder and looked comfortable in his role. He takes up the covering positions instinctively whereas Gibson looks like a square peg in our half of the field.

[Duggie]

Could've had a Robert Green moment in the first half, and he did look rusty. Would've liked to see Westwood get a run-out. It's Given's own fault he's not playing regularly. For all the talk of a move away from Man City, he did nothing to make it happen.

seems city were intent on keeping him, he cant talk with anyone unless the club agree and give him permission.

[osarusan]

Only watched the highlights, where the whole first half was chopped down to about 10 minutes, and looked like great stuff as a result.

A decent exercise overall I thought. Coleman and Clark did well, though I still worry about Coleman's tackles at right back - giving away a penalty last night is one thing, but making a silly tackle in a qualifier is quite another. He delivered some lovely crosses though.

Gibson showed again that he's capable of striking the ball absolutely superbly, but I'm just not sure how to accomodate him in the Irish midfield. I thought Walters did what he does well enough, and Fahey was sharp to take the freekick as quickly as he did - woeful positioning by Hennessy.

Overall, Wales were poor enough that you can't read too much into it, but if nothing else it was a good confidence builder which we probably needed.

[shakermaker1982]

Wales are a warning as to how bad we can get unless things are done right because on paper they were not much worse than us.



on paper?

Ireland: Shay Given; John O'Shea, Sean St Ledger, Richard Dunne, Ciarán Clark; Séamus Coleman, Glenn Whelan, Darron Gibson, Damien Duff; Jonathan Walters, Kevin Doyle. 10 PL players!

Wales: Wayne Hennessey; Neal Eardley, Sam Ricketts, Danny Collins, James Collins; Andrew Crofts, David Vaughan, Andy King; Simon Church, Robert Earnshaw, Hal Robson-Kanu

Look at that Wales team. I rate J Collins, Hennessey and Vaughan but the rest are very average players.

O'Shea has always had a poor distribution. When the pressure is on he'll give it away. People might go on the guardian website and say look his passing completion is usually 85% but that's 4 yards sideways. When in doubt our back 4 always go long. They panic and before you know it the opposition are coming right back at us. Long balls against a team like Wales who were sitting deep is insane.

[geysir]

I didn't see that penalty claim against Coleman clearly.
From what I could make out, the claim had no validity and the ref was right there on the spot.

[SwanVsDalton]

Is anyone else getting the feeling that Shay is going to let us down in a big way sometime soon?


Given needs to get more game time in...Almost let one in which he should easily have saved.


Could've had a Robert Green moment in the first half, and he did look rusty.

I think Given's more a victim of perception here than anything else. He's not getting games, he makes a very, very minor mistake and it seems indicative of a general malaise. But the 'mistake' last night was never in danger of being a goal, just a minor spill every goalkeeper encounters occasionally. As Stutts said, he killed the ball and collected it - heart-in-mouth execution, but no danger really.

Fact is Shay has made the exact same error on numerous occasions when playing regularly for a club and no one batted an eyelid. We all trusted Shay's ability then and, while lack of games are concerning, there's no reason not to trust it now.

[paul_oshea]

This wasn't a once off though.it would be naive to assume that this was the only occurrence of a few errors in the last few months. He is definitely not as assured or composed as when he was playing regularly. If you counter with he is then he certainly isn't showing it. This showed against Russia where he was at fault for one of the goals. I just get the feeling of a bigger clanger in the works.

[Noelys Guitar]

Before the game you could see Dunne, Collins, Doyle and Hennessy and others chatting away in the tunnel so I'm not bothered by O'Shea playing like he was in a summer 7-a-side playing for his in-laws team. Dunne (who was excellent again) was turning Welsh defenders inside his own box. Doyle coming back to almost the halfway line to pick up the ball and Long looking like someone had switched his size 9's with a pair of size 7's. Happens in every friendly. Long played well for us in our last two competitive games and is doing like wise at club level. Dunne, O'Shea and Doyle are having good campaigns for club and country. They are not the problem. Its players not getting playing time for their clubs and their recent performances for Ireland in competitive games. I worry greatly about Given and his confidence level. There is now one major mistake a game. Bellamy (and players of similiar quality)would have been onto dropped ball last night and buried it. Of the midfielders Trap is selecting Fahey is our best option. He came on and scored against Armenia. Played well for a good chunk of the game against Slovakia. And is playing regulary for Birmingham. He is a slightly better option than Whelan, Gibson or Green and helped us collect three points against a very tricky opponent.

[SwanVsDalton]

This wasn't a once off though.it would be naive to assume that this was the only occurrence of a few errors in the last few months. He is definitely not as assured or composed as when he was playing regularly. If you counter with he is then he certainly isn't showing it.

I agree, he possibly isn't quite as assured. Given does look a little rusty. Note - a little. But in terms of actual errors, he's made similar mistakes at regular occasions throughout his career without any passing comment being made. He's just under the spotlight because he's not playing. And none of his errors (in particular last night's, which was totally innocuous) leads me to believe he's a disaster waiting to happen.

[jbyrne]

If the stadium was in any other county you would get more people then this.

The Dubs and surrounding counties citizens are awful supporters considering how low the crowds have been the past year(and the high population of the area).
If i just had to pay the cost of a ticket I'd be there every game, must more costs involved travelling from Munster or Connacht.

remind me how many turned up to the SA game in limerick?

[Wolfie]

The team selection at least resulted in a sense of progression for getting some of the players we want to see established in the squad.

Glad to see Clarke and Coleman up and running - I'd start Clarke in at least one of the remaining Celtic Cup games and the Macedonia game. He's got the composure the slot straight in.

I think Coleman will be a very useful addition for us. Lawrence and McGeady are ahead of him in the pecking order on the wing for now.

Coleman won't weave his way through a body of players - he's more direct and has great pace. He could yet end up an excellent attacking full back, if he improves defensively.

Great goal by Gibson. Credit where its due. That said, there's still a difficulty in how he fully integrates into the team and how we get the best out of him.

The quality of the goal reminded me of a previous midfielder we all had high hopes for at one stage. Everyone remember Liam Miller's cracker against Sweden in 2006?? (2006 Goal of the Year on Foot.ie if I remember correctly????).

[dr_peepee]

Shane Long, overall was poor with a some very careless play.
He strikes as a player that finds it dificult to stay motivated for every game...I believe that's a factor in his form for Club and Country.

[paul_oshea]

Woflie, i think the conclusion and what we can take from teh wales game, or at least the major point is that seamus coleman and ciaran clark have now been embedded in the squad. We all know how cautious and rigid Trap is when it comes to competitive games to have them both in the squad because of this game is a great addition. Lets just hope mccarthy at least makes a subs appearance next month and i think trap will have shown that he is open to change and fast tracking when needed.

[Wolfie]

Woflie, i think the conclusion and what we can take from teh wales game, or at least the major point is that seamus coleman and ciaran clark have now been embedded in the squad. We all know how cautious and rigid Trap is when it comes to competitive games to have them both in the squad because of this game is a great addition. Lets just hope mccarthy at least makes a subs appearance next month and i think trap will have shown that he is open to change and fast tracking when needed.

Yeah - that said, I think its too late for McCarthy to feature for us competetively against Macedonia now.

McCarthy could transform our offensive capabilities from midfield - but the manager may not necessarily welcome this with open arms.

Eg, Reid and S. Ireland previously. (Aware backgrounds not like for like situations etc).

Has to be said again - I thought McCarthy's goal at the weekend was class.