Macedonia V Republic of Ireland - Saturday, 4th June 2011 - Euro 2012 Qualifier

[theworm2345]

Anyone seen Cox since the offside decision?

[EastTerracer]

Would like to see Coleman replace McGeady...McGeady has constantly failed to produce an end product and Coleman offers more defensive protection (though, as Tets mentioned, Kilbane has been our best defender)

I agree McGeady isn't the best defensively but when we get the ball to him he is the only one taking the ball into their half.

[DannyInvincible]

Danny you are in rare form tonight haha.

Just nerves, I swear.

[Philly]

Andrews can't put together the easiest of passes. Fahey should be brought on ASAP...

[Crosby87]

I agree McGeady isn't the best defensively but when we get the ball to him he is the only one taking the ball into their half.

If we had someone really tall like Peter Crouch they would score boatloads of goals playing with McG.

[BonnieShels]

Giving the ball away too easily.
Long for Cox.

[theworm2345]

Anyone seen Cox since the offside decision?
Long on for Cox, good decision in my opinion

[BonnieShels]

Andrews can't put together the easiest of passes. Fahey should be brought on ASAP...

Indeed.

[DannyInvincible]

Hopefully Long can freshen things up. Commentator on the feed I'm watching says he was "emotionally drained" after the play-off defeat, which is why Cox was favoured. Tardelli pretty much said the same on Thursday.

[Crosby87]

come on, no long cox jokes? What am i the only 11 year old here?

[BonnieShels]

Top save from Given.

[theworm2345]

Shay again

[BonnieShels]

come on, no long cox jokes? What am i the only 11 year old here?

We had 2 weeks of them during the CNC.

[DannyInvincible]

Terrific save from Given the ever-reliable.

Meanwhile, the Macedonian fans are having a whale of a time in the stands.

[shakermaker1982]

Are we kicking into touch like you would in rugby?

[DannyInvincible]

Goran Popov is the Macedonian Killian Brennan.

[tricky_colour]

Still plenty of time for us to lose it :)

[DannyInvincible]

Are we kicking into touch like you would in rugby?

We generally tend to do that at this stage of a game.

[Crosby87]

there are def fires in the stands like crazy.

[DannyInvincible]

Sitting way too deep.

[DannyInvincible]

Surprisingly, the ball over the top hasn't been an issue tonight. Kilbane has been playing very well. It's in the centre we've looked shaky.

[Crosby87]

Sitting way too deep.

There's your Long Cox chance Danny! Gold! I know, I know. let it go.

[BonnieShels]

6min of hell left. Desperate second half from us.

[Crosby87]

It wasn't that bad compared to recent games in all honesty Bonnie. I thought the last 20 mins have been somewhat tranquil tbh.

[theworm2345]

Nearly the hat trick for Robbie, only took McGeady 86 minutes to find a quality delivery from the flank

[BonnieShels]

We have given the ball away way too much. Unacceptable. As predicted... a free in the last 2 min.

[BonnieShels]

Thankfully over.

[Crosby87]

My only worry is how frustrated the crowd was before half, and the booing at the half...Hope everything is OK in the bars after the game with the fans who traveled.
Hot, frustrated drunk people usually = trouble. Hopefully none for the BIG fans.

[Crosby87]

So people will come on here and write the Magna Carta about giving players grades, some will get a three or four, but you know what? They went there and won 2-0. England had big issues with the Swiss at home. Point being, games are tricky. Things happen.
I will take this any day.

[BonnieShels]

Get in. Thank Jaysus.
All over.

[theworm2345]

Three points hooray

[Noelys Guitar]

****ing GREAT! I'm delighted for T&T and the team. We are on a roll.

[BonnieShels]

Given was brilliant when called upon. Keane was immense. We passed abysmally.

[Sullivinho]

Top of the table on GD?

The summer will be that much more enjoyable now, cheers lads.

[EastTerracer]

3 points and a clean sheet is a great outcome without Dunne, Duff and Doyle. It was hairy at the back at times (mainly in the first half) and we sat too deep at times but still an immense amount of satisfaction with that. Roll on September!

[Philly]

Phew! On another night that could have turned out differently, but at least we can now relax for the summer. Slovakia in September is going to fly around, and is gonna be one very important game...

[EastTerracer]

Top of the table on GD?

Unfortunately we're only third on head-to-head results. We still have time to sort that out though.

[Noelys Guitar]

We "Trapped" out the second half ie we really made it difficult for them to create anything. They ran out of ideas against a team missing a load of players. Delighted with the attitude of the entire team. Yes some faults, simple passes gone astray but the attitude was spot on.

[DannyInvincible]

Poor second half. Another clean-sheet should inspire confidence, although we did look shaky at the back at times. Who knows where we'd be without Shay? Was never a case of us hanging on though, in fairness. Delighted for Robbie to take his tally up to 51. Phenomenal record and he's been in great form these past few games. Cox disappeared in the second half, but we weren't really doing much overall.

[shakermaker1982]

Second half was easy enough. Macedonia had all the ball but didn't look as dangerous as they did in the first half. We've got Dunne and Duff to come back and have a real chance of topping the group.

[Schumi]

Top of the table on GD?

3rd on head-to heads. Doesn't mean much at this stage though.

[BonnieShels]

Loving the Positivity though lads.

[OwenGoal]

Don't know why some people aren't happy with the second half. It's the way they play under Trap, rope-the-dope kind of thing. Sure, there were a few sloppy passes and possession wasn't great at times, but they never looked panicky and weren't hanging on. Second string team aswell. First competitive game I've sat thru without having to change me pants afterwards.

[Poor Student]

So people will come on here and write the Magna Carta about giving players grades, some will get a three or four, but you know what? They went there and won 2-0. England had big issues with the Swiss at home. Point being, games are tricky. Things happen.
I will take this any day.

At this point in the season with the players we were missing the three points is all that matters.

[EastTerracer]

Jingle Bells,
Jingle Bells,
Jingle all the way,
Oh what fun it is to see Ireland win away!

[tetsujin1979]

The main two mistakes from the first half - Popov getting too much space and Pandev given space to run into - were successfully dealt with at half time, they were both far more ineffective in the second half.
About as solid a second half display as I've seen. The passing at times was atrocious, and we didn't create much in the way of scoring chances, but when you're two nil up that's a luxury you can afford.


Nicely set up for the final phase of the qualifiers with an easier run in than our two main opponents.

[Crosby87]

First competitive game I've sat thru without having to change me pants afterwards.

;) Trap just said the same thing in his presser, having nothing to do with the situation of course!!!! It was just past 9 PM...

[Crosby87]

Seriously listening to Trap's presser now, his English is totally fine.....There are big time posters on here who swear he can't speak English. That is Fecking Bull ****.

[tetsujin1979]

almost as pleased with the clean sheet (only the second in the qualifiers) than the win itself.

[BonnieShels]

Seriously listening to Trap's presser now, his English is totally fine.....There are big time posters on here who swear he can't speak English. That is Fecking Bull ****.

Where you seeing that?