Hungary V Republic of Ireland - Monday, 4th June 2012 - Friendly

[elroy]

I'd keep Duff for the Croatia game and see how he does. His experience alone means he should be given more time. Doyle, though, has lacked confidence for over a year now and has just being playing bad - simple as. I think Walters looks the most threatening of all our strikers lately and would like to see him start Sunday.

I agree, I think Walters has looked our best option at no 2 up front since the Estonia games last year.

I know trap appears to have said he'd start with Doyle but given the events of the last few weeks, wudnt be surprised to see him spring a surprise. Having said that, he may still want to start Doyle and use Walters as impact from the bench. More likely that Walters might start against Spain or Italy, if trap looks to freshen it up.

[Colbert Report]

Sean St. Ledger on 35 minutes, he lost his footing and gave up a great chance, should have been a Hungarian goal for sure. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt due to the terribly slippery conditions but a mistake like that in Poland will cost us dearly.

[Crosby87]

Meh, this match is meaningless. We will play better on Sunday. No question.
Also reading back these comments believe it or not i think POSH got goaded into negativity.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Let's face it. We're gonna win nothing. Probably ever.


But If Trap has 'mind games', that is one thing veryhard to beat, by anyone.

Hate to be a player in that 'system' though...
:eek:

[theworm2345]

Let's face it. We're gonna win nothing. Probably ever.
:rolleyes:

http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Robbie+Keane+Republic+Ireland+v+Scotland+Carling+4 JePQzMg8VBl.jpg

[tricky_colour]

This is my fear for the euros, the ' Russian effect'. Basically how they played against us in both games, used a diamond format in, which played between and passed through our banks of four. As much as I admire traps organisation and effective tactics, I fear he doesn't seem to have any answer to the diamond formation and associated tactics.

As for traps comments at the end about a change in formation, does anyone else think he often says ,certain things that are either lost in translation or are to appease the journos. I don't believe for a second that he is truly considering changing our formation.

Surely the solution to that is to simply play a matching diamond? You have to match their formation when you do not have the ball at least.
We should be ale to adapt, it would be better to have a midfield captain to do that.

[legendz]

Trap talking about brining in a 5th midfielder. Media suggesting he is contradicting himself. I guess he wants to keep the opposition guessing. Like any game of poker while we had our possible starting XI, we were hardly showing our hand. If we play like last night on Sunday we'll be defeated but I'd expect us to be tighter and not so open to counter-attacks.

[shakermaker1982]

He wouldn't change it this late in the day would he?

Some of us have been banging on about 4-5-1 for years now but we's missed our chance to road test such a system. It can't have just dawned on him that we struggle against skilful mobile midfields? If he does go 4-5-1 then Keane & Doyle would need to be dropped and Walters brought in. That would definitely not go down with the captain.

Other things I'd like to see corrected before the big game on Sunday:

Stop Duff taking set pieces. His corners are woeful, chipped slow balls into the penalty box are a waste of time. They are too easy to defend.

O'Shea and Ward need to close down wingers/wide midfielders a lot quicker. Stop turning your back when it looks like the opposition player is going to cross it and close the bloody man down. EVERY bloody time. Watch tapes of Ashley Cole if you have to.

[geysir]

You need to be invited, though I am out of invites. I know I invited horton and either geysir or gastric (too similar to remember) and neither has used either of their invites so you can ask one of them I'm sure they'd oblige.
It's easy to see where your invites are gone and once an invite has gone out, it can not be taken back.

I have earned another invite, no doubt due to my diligent seeding habits :) if Tricky wants an invite he can 'PM' me his email address.

[brine3]

O'Shea and Ward need to close down wingers/wide midfielders a lot quicker. Stop turning your back when it looks like the opposition player is going to cross it and close the bloody man down. EVERY bloody time. Watch tapes of Ashley Cole if you have to.

Yeah, I've been playing full back since I was a kid and I know that. But O'Shea and Ward aren't natural full backs - and it shows.

As for 4-5-1, I'd like to see Duff moved into centre midfield to form a triangle with Whelan and Andrews, with McClean taking Duff's place on the wing. Duff is a good passer, can hold onto the ball and a clever player. He would be more use in the centre now that his pace is gone. Like Giggs for Man Utd...

But for trap 4-5-1 means "Paul Green" so I'd be very afraid...

[shakermaker1982]

O'Shea must have played 200 plus games at FB. You'd think he'd start to pick up on little things....

I'm also struggling to think of what team to put out on Sunday. I think we'll go 4-4-2 Sunday but I'm expecting some controversial picks for the Spanish game. Green in and Keane OUT.

[backstothewall]

If there is anything in this 4-5-1 at all it probably means no more than Keane dropping back into midfield and sitting between Doyle/Walters and Whelan & Andrews. This is Trap. He isn't throwing our 4 years moulding the players to his system a week before the Euros

[brine3]

If you look at all the teams that caused Spain problems in the last years it is teams that stuffed the midfield and choked them to death. Italy nearly beat them at Euro 2008 (went to pennos and Camoranesi missed from point blank range in extra time). Switzerland beat them in 2010. Paraguay really should have beaten them in 2010 and Holland took them to the final minute of extra time in 2010 and could have won themselves if Robben had brought his shooting boots. So Spain getting beat or nearly getting beat isn't as rare as an occurance as people make out. And Switzerland and Paraguay are no great shakes. And you can be sure Trap will have watched the DVDs for all those matches.

[ArdeeBhoy]

http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Robbie+Keane+Republic+Ireland+v+Scotland+Carling+4 JePQzMg8VBl.jpg
Yes, on a par with a chocolate teapot...

[DannyInvincible]

Yes, on a par with a chocolate teapot...

Don't forget:

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc12/poguemahone85/tuscany.png

[Stuttgart88]

If there is anything in this 4-5-1 at all it probably means no more than Keane dropping back into midfield and sitting between Doyle/Walters and Whelan & Andrews. This is Trap. He isn't throwing our 4 years moulding the players to his system a week before the Euros

Was thinking the same, Whelan going even deeper and Keane dropping deep to get closer to Andrews. You'd love to think our players are smart enough to adapt to any shape without needing to try it out. As long as players are being asked to play roles that suit them I don't see why it should be too hard, but I don't see it happening.

[legendz]

Was looking forward to a Hungary starter ahead of the main course which begins next weekend. I had aspirations that we might even stay on for the dessert of knock-out but the starter has soured that view. I don't want to read into much of last night. I am though and it's to be more pessimistic. Hopefully I'm falling into a carefully laid Trap for the Croatians and that all will in fact be ok.

[Stuttgart88]

I think the day when Ireland doesn't give up a good deal of possession and at least one or two clear chances will be the day the GAA adopts the Union Jack as its emblem. We played well enough against Bosnia and in the second half last night to still be confident. Of course there'll be hairy moments but we'll need Shay, Dunney and luck on one hand, and we'll need to take our chances on the other. We will get chances, we always do.

[mypost]

Yes...

Our first international trophy in 25 years.

[ArdeeBhoy]

International?

Against 3 poor teams from the same country, wow!

[theworm2345]

Did you guys think I was serious with the picture of the Nations Cup? :eek:

[mypost]

International?

Against 3 poor teams from the same country, wow!

Won against 3 other separate UEFA Nations. How poor they are is their business.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Yeah, but it's still sh*te and you know it.

20 years ago it might have had a bit of credibility...

[mypost]

I don't call any trophy we win "shte", no matter what it is.

[legendz]

All nations should have a third tournament. Not quite sure what can be slotted in for that though? The nations cup wasn't a bad idea. Maybe it should be replicated across Europe e.g. Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway. Portugal, Spain, France and Italy etc.

[Closed Account]

All nations should have a third tournament. Not quite sure what can be slotted in for that though? The nations cup wasn't a bad idea. Maybe it should be replicated across Europe e.g. Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway. Portugal, Spain, France and Italy etc.
Latvia won the Baltic Cup this year
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Baltic_Cup

[ArdeeBhoy]

It's a bad idea as there's far far too much football anyway.
And playing 3 teams even worse than us proves absolutely nothing.

Though I despise 2 of them, 'Ingerland' , Fr*nce & Holland would have made more sense...

Though I'd have preferred we'd played 2 away friendlies instead.

[Stuttgart88]

They might have been unappealing to the public but it's hard to deny that the Nations Cup get-togethers and the actual games provided a foundation for the second half of the campaign. In my opinion these games were a very worthwhile exercise in the overall scheme of things.

[SkStu]

All nations should have a third tournament. Not quite sure what can be slotted in for that though? The nations cup wasn't a bad idea. Maybe it should be replicated across Europe e.g. Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway. Portugal, Spain, France and Italy etc.

it would be nice if international football was held in the same esteem by club managers etc compared to how it is by fans, and in particular Irish fans. There is a trend away from international football by players and club managers - there has been for years now - and i would be amazed if any other similar "non-meaningful" international tournaments ever got off the ground.

The fact that there was some sort of history there with the Home Nations Cup made the latest version more achievable. Still bet Alex Ferguson and co. were grinding their teeth over it and, rightly so, some would say.

[Charlie Darwin]

There are plenty of Manchester United and Liverpool fans around Ireland who couldn't give a fig about the national team.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Not that I'd agree with them, but to be fair Ireland and most international teams are inferior to the top 20, say, club sides...

That and the fact that the end product is not exactly easy on the eye at times.

[seanfhear]

it would be nice if international football was held in the same esteem by club managers etc compared to how it is by fans, and in particular Irish fans. There is a trend away from international football by players and club managers - there has been for years now - and i would be amazed if any other similar "non-meaningful" international tournaments ever got off the ground.

The fact that there was some sort of history there with the Home Nations Cup made the latest version more achievable. Still bet Alex Ferguson and co. were grinding their teeth over it and, rightly so, some would say.


There are plenty of Manchester United and Liverpool fans around Ireland who couldn't give a fig about the national team.What a lot of these clubs and their accountants don't seem to appreciate is that it is World cups/Euros that draw a lot of young people into football. These clubs may be big but they still cannot generate the kind of atmosphere that can happen in Ireland or England for the world cup or the Euros.

Just watch if Ireland or England have some success at the Euros.

[SkStu]

But club football, it could easily be argued, draws way more youngsters into football. Maybe, nay, definitely not the case in Ireland but we are an exception as footie is seen as a national team thing as opposed to a local team thing in Ireland.

Plus, the clubs and accountants just don't really care about anything other than their respective bottom lines.

[tetsujin1979]

There are plenty of Manchester United and Liverpool fans around Ireland who couldn't give a fig about the national team.I've seen posts from fans of national clubs say the same

[DeLorean]

Bumping thread.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cjihfT1q9E

[DeLorean]

Closed thread.