Republic of Ireland V Uruguay - Tuesday, 29th March 2011 - Friendly

[Noelys Guitar]

FFs. took his eye off the ball

[SkStu]

wow - unlucky Keogh. Great ball in from Treacy

[BonnieShels]

aifgbao;VLAIVBAVOAvbaonvow\ND JP;'A M;OQFFJ

[ken foree]

oh for a team of 11 shane longs.

[Noelys Guitar]

Two sitters in the space of two mins from keogh

[BonnieShels]

Should be 4

Long has been excellent. He's a seriously strong player!

[Noelys Guitar]

How is Shane Long not playing in the Premiership or abroad? giving some serious defenders the runaround.

[zero]

long motm for me, he scored and created a host of chances.

very entertaining game i have to say.

[SkStu]

seriously Gibson is a fat waste of space.

McGeady excellent again.

We deserve the equaliser.

[irishultra]

sorry robbie your times up shane long come to the fore

[Noelys Guitar]

useful work out and one of the more entertaining friendlies.

[BonnieShels]

So long playing up front on his own with Doyler as a link man. Duff and McGeady on the wings and McCarthy and Fahey in Midfield. Coleman at RB, Dunne and Clark in the centre and JOSH on the right?

Nice.

*presuming one of Given or Woody in goal.

[tricky_colour]

Should be 4

Long has been excellent. He's a seriously strong player!


We could call him Andrex, "soft strong, and very very Long."

[Noelys Guitar]

McGeady looks like he is really enjoying his football. Great to see. Just give him the ball.

[livehead1]

Westwood very good again, gives Given a serious challenge. Would be very interested to see what Given would do if he was left out of the starting 11 for a qualifier, must be getting closer to a realistic possibility now more than at any other time in his Ireland career.

[Stuttgart88]

Yeah you're right Paul, proves what you were saying all along. Particularly the first save when he 'played the averages' and didn't sprawl to his right - where the ball was likely to go - and stood up to save the chip. Consider yourself justified.I feel your pain SvD.

[SwanVsDalton]

Shane Long post match: "I've come on leaps and bounds and it's definitely because I've been playing 90 minutes week in, week out."

Take note Gibson (and Given, Whelan etc.)

[BonnieShels]

Looking at that ball again from Lawrence for the goal.
Top quality from Liam.

[backstothewall]

Not much to take from that. Long obviously the highlight, but in truth it was little more than a training match.

As much as Long has put clear blue water between himself and those behind him, Keogh has surely fell behind. Out on the left in the first half, so hard to judge there, but had ten minutes up front when we went to 442. Nothing to remember but a shocking miss. OK Green may have but him off, but Doyle/Long would have scored that 9 times out of 10. Robbie would have knocked in all 10.

If we had a major tournament next month, and assuming everyone was fit and we would have 5 strikers in a squad of 23, Keane, Doyle and Long are certainties. Best is probable given the form he is showing at club level and previous performances in green, so its one from Stokes, Walters and Keogh, with Folan and Sheridan outsiders.

[BonnieShels]

Shane Long post match: "I've come on leaps and bounds and it's definitely because I've been playing 90 minutes week in, week out."

Take note Gibson (and Given, Whelan etc.)

EXACTLY,

Imagine if Lawrence had stayed in Stoke? There's a lot to be said for football any football. Killer dropping to Huddersfield is another great example.

[Stuttgart88]

Clark has work to do before being considered a candidate for LB anytime soon. I always thought Delaney did enough in his first two games to stay in the squad and maybe tonight he did enough to stay in.

Fun match. Long & Westwood both did really well tonight. Fats did well in places. None of the other starters did much to impress me, while a few look a long way short of international standard.

Paul, I'm sorry: you just can't compare any part of Westwood's double save to the first goal. The ball fell perfectly to an unmarked guy only yards from goal when none of our players were expecting it to come back. That was a goal against any keeper, ten times out of ten.

I'd keep Westwood until Shay becomes a first team regular again.

[tricky_colour]

Just noticed Australia won 2-1 in Germany.

[shakermaker1982]

Shane Long is a beast.

McGeady looks the real deal now.

Fahey impressed.

Paul Green isn't that bad. I'd prefer him to Whelan & Gibson at the moment!

[rebelmusic]

Argh had a massive reply written and my page died...:@{}!!!

Ill write it again after i go shout at some windows..

[Razors left peg]

Long fantastic tonight, first time in a long time that we have proper competition for places up front.
P
Only thing Gibson did when he came on was prove that fahey needs to start ahead of him now. Fahey so much more productive on the ball but I suspect trap might use the 2nd Uruguay goal as a reason not to pick him.

Keogh proved again that he shouldnt be anywhere near the squad and clark was poor which was very disappointing.

Overall entertaining game

[geysir]

It's actually not much real benefit to be trying out a different system with the 2nd team.
Seeing as Long is already proven, Fahey for Gibson is about the only upgrade worth considering for the Macedonia game. Some/anyone to replace Darron.
One time Green laid off the ball to Gibson in some space, Gibson in a panic just gave it back to Green who was already surrounded. I find that very very frustrating from a CM who is supposed to do something different. Maybe it's just me.
I think McCarthy needs the next friendly to impress himself more. Green was tidy throughout and made the obvious pass each time when others just complicated it
Nice to have Doyle, Long and Keane, probably we will ever have only 2 of them fit.

[republicofwhite]

Long and Westwood superb and a joy to watch, as was Fahey for a lot of it, apart from some glaring errors where he lets himself down badly. McGeady coming on would have been worth the admission alone almost, I want some of what they're giving him in Russia. Plenty of poor points though, Andy Keogh was painful to watch, he was like a new born foal out there, and absolutely knackered, it was like watching Ali Dia. Don't even get me started on those two chances, Long illustrated a huge gulf in class. Green, just not really there. Clark will have learnt a lot tonight about international football and positioning. We were embarrassing in terms of shape at the back for a lot of it. Speaking of which, I've always wanted Kevin Foley to be more involved but he's emerged as something of a positional liability. I don't why everybody was singing his praises so much on Saturday, he got away with murder twice when he was nowhere to be found down the left twice... and he was exposed for going completely walkabout again tonight. You cannot do that at any level. Would have liked to see Keogh hauled off for Stokes a lot earlier, but all in all, extremely entertaining all the same! Robbie and Shay will be a little bit worried now. Its so refreshing to see the way Long plays btw, especially when contrasted with Robbie's terrible decisions, ill advised tricks, and throwing his hands up in the air and not playing the whistle...

[backstothewall]

The defence was hard to judge tonight though. At any given moment it was hard to tell if someone was out of position, or whether it was the other 3!

[rebelmusic]

Okay i'll try again

Westwood - Not at fault for any of the goals. Made a super double save in the second half and it must be said he distributes the ball better than Shay. Also nice to see a keeper coming for corners.
Foley - Not terrible, but not as good as Saturday. Gave away some easy balls.
Kelly - Simply not a Center Back and should only be used there in emergencies
O'Dea - I really think this guy has the makings to be the next Dunne. Needed a real leader beside him which he didn't have. His hoof-ball game is oddly more productive than Dunnes
Clark - Probably the worst performance. I hope it was just a bad night from him and again showed he needed more experience beside him. Justifed Trap selecing Killer on Sat
Keogh - Missed 2 absolute sitters. Not a winger and has to be bottom of the selecton list in all his positions
Fahey - Defo one of are best CM starting options. Needs to work on his defensive play. Great penalty and decent performance
Green - In fairness, he played to the best of his ability and we should realise we won't get more out of this guy. Some silly errors.
Lawrence - Some great crossing but gave the ball away too easily too many times. Simple passes were beyond him for the most part. Not in contention for the wings i would think anymore.
McCarthy - Even though some reports will say he was anonymous, ireland did not play to the strengths of a 4-5-1 tonight. We played this formation but continued to use our wings as an outlet. McCarthy wasn't fed enough i think. Really annoyed he didn't get 10 mins as CM when we reverted to 4-4-2
Long - Outstanding, 10 out of 10. The thought of a performance like this with Duff and Mcgeady on is mouthwatering. Really wondering should Keane still have his auto-start anymore.

Subs
Gibson - Horrific and embarassing. Needs to leave Man U now, it's really showing his lack of consitent gameplay.
Delaney - Far better than Clark and delighted to see him back in the fold. Pretty dodgy in attack though.
Stokes - Not given enough time, should have subbed Keogh earlier.
Treacy - Again not given much time to impress but I really like his attitude. Nice delivery, Stephan Hunt type player.
McGeady - Great impact. Wing position is his to lose, was shouting at the tv for him to come on earlier. When we were on top between the 50th and 75th mins i think he would have been the difference.


All in all I was happy with the match. One of the more entertaining in a long time, thanks largely to Longy. I think the game also showed all the crying for these new kids is pretty silly. Trap has the right idea of balancing experience and youth and the last two matches have shown this.
To sum up the ol thoughts -

Westwood is a comfortable replacement for Shay. Gives you that sense of trust when the opposition are attacking
O'Shea is still by far the best option at RB
O'Dea has a future as a CB, needs to get to a club where he's playing here.
Long should always be starting or coming off the bench. Seems to be better as a starting player though.
Gibson shouldn't be starting until he cops the feck on about his club situation.
McGeady has seriously matured.
Clark is not yet the answer for LB.

[paul_oshea]

im writing this now to remind myself for tomorrow.

mcgeady -eirebhoy used to go on about he always wanted to see mcgeady play in the hole role the short time he played today he sorta did that and looked very good.

lots more to write around told you so's and admitting being wrong too!Haha.

one thing for now which was mentioned earlier was green doing he simple thing.i don't like this a lot of the time when fahey got the ball he cut back in or played a neat through his legs to open up he whole other side of the pitch and allowed us to get on the offensive far quicker.this is one aspect that has really effected our ganesh under trap and limited our ability to counter and to find players in space quick enough

[SwanVsDalton]

It's hard to judge much of anything, but it was a productive game nonetheless. I think Long and Westwood really enhanced their reputations, Lawrence did well (assists for the goals really underline that he can make a key difference) and great cameo from McGeady.

Hard to say much about such a cobbled together back-four. They obviously struggled, but it wasn't helped by our CM who offered them little protection particularly during that 20 minute period in the first half when we totally shredded. Fahey did well, particularly in the second half, but I'd have real concerns about teams really hurting us through the middle if he plays there competitively. Missed a couple of crucial challenges leading to goals too. No doubt his composure on the ball is excellent, but we were highly porous in midfield. Green had a few customary harries and what not, again didn't offer good protection when it was really needed. And since that's what he's supposed to bring to the table, I'm hoping he'll be out of the squad when Andrews gets fit again.

Keogh - well, I didn't think he had a terrible game. Some nice touches and good link-up with Long at times. But he isn't up to this level. McCarthy pressed Uruguay far up the pitch and linked well, although was crowded out by the opposition's DM's on other occasions. Think it was a shame he wasn't tried out at CM proper.

Of the subs, well Gibson had a bit of a shocker from what I saw (stream was getting choppy), Treacy looked eager and Delaney seemed a bit more solid at LB. Clark can play a better game than tonight at LB, but he does need to be beside and behind experienced players who can direct and protect him. I also think he was trying too hard tonight (his flicks and turns in the first half came off, but were bit a bizarre). With Dunne missing in Skopje, Delaney might be a better choice of back-up (or to start should Killer be missing).

Out of all the defenders Foley is probably the one who disappointed the most, simply because I expected the most. But hard to judge given the circumstances.

[paul_oshea]

shane has a long career with Ireland.

shane shines as koegh has long night.

[Fixer82]

Westwood was excellent and should be starting ahead of Shay now in my opinion. His kick-outs and kicks from passbacks are much more assured and accurate.

Clark was poor and does not merit inclusion ahead of Kilbane in starting line-up yet.

Kelly didn't do a whole lot wrong.

O'Dea looked confident and strong. Solid. Though was he at fault for Uruguay's first goal?

Foley did some great things and then did some poor things. Positioning looks well suspect. Surprising he started ahead of Kelly on Sat, yet Kelly was captain this evening.

Lawrence did ok. Beautiful cross in for long's goal. Have seen him play better for Ireland though. Dependable as usual

Keogh was very hit and miss. Don't think he was terrible. Did some nice things and then looked like a gangly teenager at other times

Green was solid. Gave a few balls away but generally played it simple and didn't complicate things. What you want from a defensive midfielder.

Fahey was neat and tidy. Not everything orked out for him but showed flair and tucked peno away very confidently

McCarthy found it hard to get in to the game as wingers were used maybe too often. Did very well to win the penalty i thought

Long was sublime. Couldn't have asked for more from a striker. put in a great shift. Was strong on the ground and in the air and his speed also caused trouble for uruguayan defenders

McGeady was class when he came on.

Gibson was not. He played better on Saturday

Treacy was hit and miss. Would like to see more of him

Stokes didn't see much of the ball except for the end when he should've won a corner

[drummerboy]

Westwood 9 Excellent
Foley 6 Looked undertain as did most of the back four.
Kelly 6 As above
O'Dea 7 Looked a little better than those around him
Clark 6 Struggled at times
Lawrence 7 Worked hard, had a few decent crosses
Green 6 Worked hard, but gave ball away too much
Fahey 6 Done well on the ball, but defensively is a liability. First goal was caused by his bad header, second one he failed to tackle forward.
Keogh 6 Feel sorry for this lad. Not a winger. Despite the misses had a few moments
Long 9 Brilliant performance. Premiership football beckons

[BonnieShels]

This concensus is scaring me. I'm worried for the future of foot.ie.

[Stuttgart88]

It's actually not much real benefit to be trying out a different system with the 2nd team.

Seeing as Long is already proven, Fahey for Gibson is about the only upgrade worth considering for the Macedonia game. First sentence above sums it up for me. Second sentence has a lot of truth about it.

I don't think Keogh missed two sitters, not that missing one is OK. Failing to connect with a driven cross isn't so great a crime.

Clark & Foley big disappointments for me. Maybe Kelly is our back up right back after all. Hey, maybe Trap was even right that JOS-Dunne-SSL-AN Other is the best configuration of our defence?

I don't think one can judge McCarthy on tonight's showing.

I thought O'Dea was markedly better in the second half and actually took charge.

Please come back Steven Reid. Please get match fit Keith Andrews even.

Anyway, this week we got 3 points, are joint top at half-way, and learnt that Westwood, Long & McGeady are the real deal, while others need to do a lot more to prove they can play international footy.

Coleman, Best, Walters, JOS, SSL, Hunt and Wilson didn't even figure, and probably will in May and June.

[Yard of Pace]

Feel very sorry for Keogh. He's not a winger! I thought he was good at times when he moved up front. Linked up nicely with Long. He's not really international standard right now though, and I doubt he ever will be. That said, he never seems to get injured or impregnate his missus so I figure he'll be in the squad for the foreseeable future.

[noddy102]

I think it is worth mentioning that Clark got very little to no support from Keogh.

That said, he was poor enough with his positioning - they playing three up front made it harder for him of course, but that isn't really an excuse.

He's still the best option we have for the future at left back.

[geysir]

I will now join the bring back Steven Reid club.

[Noelys Guitar]

O'Hara might still come into contention (last weeks Sunday Indo suggested Trapatonni will be meeting up with the player to have a chat). I'd love to see Reid back. I'm sure Trap (or Tardelli) would have noted his recent performances for West Brom.

[boovidge]

quite pleased because it was an entertaining enough game and there are probably more positives than negatives to take despite the result. however, the back four choice, particularly kelly in the centre still baffles me even after trap has tried to justify it. keogh is also never a winger in a million years, why has trap got it into his head that he is? fahey should start every game.

[Eminence Grise]

Feel very sorry for Keogh.... That said, he never seems to get injured or impregnate his missus....

He was shooting blanks tonight anyway.

[gastric]

O'Hara might still come into contention (last weeks Sunday Indo suggested Trapatonni will be meeting up with the player to have a chat). I'd love to see Reid back. I'm sure Trap (or Tardelli) would have noted his recent performances for West Brom.
Agree Noely. Midfield remains an issue and while Gibson did pretty well against Macedonia, he did nothing tonight. With Meyler, O'Hara, Reid and McCarthy we would have 4 midfileders who would bring consistency, bite and skill to a team seriously lacking that at the moment.

[BonnieShels]

I will now join the bring back Steven Reid club.

Welcome aboard.
Tickets please.

[Crosby87]

Anyway, this week we got 3 points, are joint top at half-way, and learnt that Westwood, Long & McGeady are the real deal, while others need to do a lot more to prove they can play international footy.


Exactly. It was a good few days for once and looking like an interesting immediate future. Also No more McCarthy nonsense.

[Torn-Ado]

Any highlights of the game anywhere?

[Supreme feet]

Any highlights of the game anywhere?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lnfXyAgN1c

Goals here.

[tetsujin1979]

Westwood: Can't be blamed for any of the goals, claimed everything in the air, and make a magnificent double save

Foley: Similar to Saturday, didn't play well with the winger in front of him, but was probably the most solid of the defence
Kelly: Anonymous at best, didn't lead as a captain, and didn't organise his defence as Dunne would have. Unless he gets back into the Fulham side, he's dropped to 3rd choice right full
O'Dea: Not as impressive as Saturday, but still pretty good. Seemed to cover for Kelly and Clark at times, and nearly did it too
Clark: Impressive step overs early on apart, he was the biggest disappointment on the night, neglected his defensive duties to push forward far too often

Keogh: Like all his performances on the wing, I'm giving Keogh a free pass because he simply shouldn't play there. Improved immeasurably when he moved up front
Fahey: Any and all doubts I had about him at central midfield are gone. Excellent penalty too (see below)
Green: Played right at the limit of his ability, but still short at this level. Improved as the game went on
Lawrence: Assist apart, I didn't think he played well. Not badly, just not well. Is now behind McGeady and Duff for a starting position on the wing

McCarthy: Some nice touches, but didn't get involved in the game enough to judge accurately

Long: Sublime, possibly the best performance by a lone striker I've seen for Ireland. Will be playing Premier League football next season, with or without Reading

Subs
Gibson: Seemed to lose the ball under his own feet a lot
Treacy: Needed more time to make a bigger impact, but still managed some decent crosses and a strong shot when he seemed to have overbalanced that was saved
Delaney: Strengthened the weak left side of the defence, didn't do enough to decide if he should come into the team
Stokes: Not on long enough to make an impact. Good to see he's in Trapattoni's thoughts
McGeady: Came on to give the crowd, and the team a boost, made a massive step up since moving to Russia

After a dire first half when all we seem to do was launch balls the edge of our box (usually from O'Dea, but also Westwood), we were deservedly behind at half time. The defence was badly missing Richard Dunne's organisation, and Kilbane's experience.
Second half was a whole other game. Spurred on by the early penalty from Fahey we played some great, pressing, attacking football and should have come away with at least a draw.

For those who think that Robbie Keane should be dropped, consider this - with him in the side either of Keogh's chances would have been converted.

For those who think that Robbie Keane should not be dropped, consider this - in the build up to Long's goal, Long won the ball in the air and hit the ground hard. Keane would have thrown his arms in the air and called for a free, Long was straight up, ran into the box and converted a header.

Just watching the highlights on RTE, if Fahey's early shot had gone in off the keeper's gloves, instead of looping over the bar, how different would the game have been?

Incidentally, despite the low numbers, the crowd still made a lot of noise, maybe even more than the weekend

My shot of Fahey's penalty, from where I was sitting in the upper tier in the south stand
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_1mrhoO4lQZw/TZJcrBAPdNI/AAAAAAAAFYg/L9HqkaGxycQ/s576/IMAG0014.jpg

[geysir]

Excellent photo tets, widescreen - the long version.

[tricky_colour]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lnfXyAgN1c

Goals here.

Pretty shocking defending for the first goal, seem like they were trying to play the offside trap or something, never a good idea IMO.

I thought Shane got up well for the goal, however in the interview I was surprised he looked so short next to Stephen Kelly.
I always thought he was well over 6' but he is 5'11 apparently.
I guess because his name Long I expected him to be taller.