Republic of Ireland V Croatia - Sunday, 10th June 2012 - Euro 2012 Group C

[shakermaker1982]

Sickening.

Doyle is giving Corluka fits.

[Crosby87]

Can we score two in the second half and not concede? Is it possible?

[cavan_fan]

Can we score two in the second half and not concede? Is it possible?

yes and no

[dancinpants]

Thats us FCUKED. Standing off AGAIN.

[shakermaker1982]

Oh ffs.

Please close your men down

[shakermaker1982]

That was a penalty.

[FarBeag]

We are brutal. Just making up the numbers. What are Spain and Italy going to do to us?

[dancinpants]

We are brutal. Just making up the numbers. What are Spain and Italy going to do to us?

Punching WAY above our weight at this stage.

[FarBeag]

No plan B. we have not one creative player there.

[backstothewall]

Croatia are a good outfit. They will cause Italy and Spain problems

[backstothewall]

Walters has held the ball up much better than Doyle since he has come on. Trap won't be happy with this performance at all

[dancinpants]

ZERO imagination, and zero creativity....and thats just Trap.

[FarBeag]

We were beaten by a much better team. We are the worst team in the tournament by a mile.Terrible terrible display. Let these guys play football and we may have some chance. This hoofing the ball and hoping for something is well found out. Embarrassing stuff.

[Crosby87]

No Biggie, we just have to beat Spain and Italy now. In the span of 5 days. With no offense. And a keeper who looks 70 years old.

[Noelys Guitar]

That was depressing on so many levels.

[cavan_fan]

A small thing I know but if you give 5 minutes injury tim and the winning team make a substitution (taking a minute), it really p*sses me off whn the game ends after 5 mins, how tough is it to add another minute.

Anyway an odd game, we played awfully and yet there were 3 pieces of poor luck
- The clearest penalty Ive ever seen us not get
- For their goal he was offside from the original ball all the time until he scored.
- If we scored a goal like their third everyone on here would be saying it was undeserved luck

A normal performance from us and I think we'd have won. I suspect Trap knows that.

My prediction for the Spain game is Green for Doyle!!!!

[backstothewall]

He was in a marginally offside position in the first phase, but he wasn't interfering with play. In the second phase he was a mile offside, but the ball was played by Ward so it isn't an offside. There arguably may have been a foul on Ward, but it certainly wasn't an offside.

[cavan_fan]

He was in a marginally offside position in the first phase, but he wasn't interfering with play. In the second phase he was a mile offside, but the ball was played by Ward so it isn't an offside. There arguably may have been a foul on Ward, but it certainly wasn't an offside.

But he never got back onside, he was active when the ball was played in originally

[shakermaker1982]

If we go 4-4-2 vs Spain it could be 6-0.

The defence was awful tonight. I mean that third goal was just basic defending. O'Shea should close his man down & St Ledger should be mm from his man not metres in the box. Don't get me started on the other 2.

Why did we bring Cox on?

Why keep Robbie on so long?

Is Given fit?

It was a big ask but we were at fault for all 3 goals.

Duff did well & was our stand out player.

[cavan_fan]

If we go 4-4-2 vs Spain it could be 6-0.

The defence was awful tonight. I mean that third goal was just basic defending. O'Shea should close his man down & St Ledger should be mm from his man not metres in the box. Don't get me started on the other 2.

Why did we bring Cox on?

Why keep Robbie on so long?

Is Given fit?

It was a big ask but we were at fault for all 3 goals.

Duff did well & was our stand out player.

I actually thought McGeady played ok too certainly in the first 30 mins, we didnt have much of the ball but he set up the goal and I think would have added in the second half.

[backstothewall]

But he never got back onside, he was active when the ball was played in originally

He was no where near the ball when it came in first time round. If you think he was active that's a matter of opinion, but I can't agree with you. If the ball isn't both played to, and got somewhere near you, there is little chance of you being declared active these days.

Under the current interpretation of rules the fact that he never got back onside is neither here nor there these days.

[theworm2345]

10 years of waiting for that shower of ****...nice. The ref was awful and we were worse. Wheel and come again I guess.

[rebelmusic]

In fairness to Andrews he had a good game and was about the only player showing the "spirit" that pundits say is our weapon. That was singlehandedly the worst performance i have ever seen Given play in an Irish shirt...the first goal was a joke and being frank he should have done a lot better with the third.

The last time we reduced ourselves to a performance like this was home to Russia and it was almost an identical game. Doyle shouldnt be capped for the rest of the tournament, he's not being playing well for a while and all 3 sub strikers were far superior to him.

I actually agree with the Cox substitution...the winger game simply wasnt working.

O'Shea was horrific, Whelan was as bad. Robbie was a disgrace...sighh....

[cavan_fan]

In fairness to Andrews he had a good game and was about the only player showing the "spirit" that pundits say is our weapon. That was singlehandedly the worst performance i have ever seen Given play in an Irish shirt...the first goal was a joke and being frank he should have done a lot better with the third.



Shay is injured i think. Saw this on bbc website

Things could get worse for the Republic yet. Towards the end of the game, Shay Given was not taking goal kicks and there are suggestions he may have picked up an injury. It doesn't just rain in Poznan for the Irish...

Normal Shay would only have conceded one of those goals so if hes not fit Westwood should start (and should have started today).

[rebelmusic]

Yup i agree...we had all week being convinced that he was fine when the second i saw him i started worrying. A fit Shay Given would have never let that first goal in. Anyway, ****** to this its, 5am here so i'm off to bed. Seriously debating staying up for the Spanish game now!

[backstothewall]

In fairness to Andrews he had a good game and was about the only player showing the "spirit" that pundits say is our weapon. That was singlehandedly the worst performance i have ever seen Given play in an Irish shirt...the first goal was a joke and being frank he should have done a lot better with the third.

The last time we reduced ourselves to a performance like this was home to Russia and it was almost an identical game. Doyle shouldnt be capped for the rest of the tournament, he's not being playing well for a while and all 3 sub strikers were far superior to him.

I actually agree with the Cox substitution...the winger game simply wasnt working.

O'Shea was horrific, Whelan was as bad. Robbie was a disgrace...sighh....

I thought Andrews was decent myself. I'd swap Doyle for Walters for the Spain game myself. I'd also bring in Kelly for Ward and swap O'Shea to LB

I agreed with the Cox sub. I thought he was trying to occupy the 2 centre backs with the strikers, and create an opportunity for Cox to cut inside the fullback and get 3 against 2. Didn't work but there you go

[cavan_fan]

Yup i agree...we had all week being convinced that he was fine when the second i saw him i started worrying. A fit Shay Given would have never let that first goal in. Anyway, ****** to this its, 5am here so i'm off to bed. Seriously debating staying up for the Spanish game now!

I know what you mean re the Spain game, but come on think back to the Stan years and would you then have thought of not watching a major tournament match

[rebelmusic]

I know what you mean re the Spain game, but come on think back to the Stan years and would you then have thought of not watching a major tournament match

Era spoken in the heat of the moment. I know i'll be up annoying my chinese neighbours shouting curses at my dodgy stream :) I think the sinking in reality that the only real possible positive outcome of the spanish game is a draw, and with the Croats with 3 points, even beating Italy will unlikely get us through

[Irwin3]

Darron Gibson time?

[cavan_fan]

Darron Gibson time?

Possibly as part of a 5 man midfield

[koneinc]

Possibly as part of a 5 man midfield

Ah now lads let's not go overboard! ;-)

[the bear]

we had absolutley nothing about us tonight. duffer was are only attacker that looked capable of any sort of composed play. fair play to sledge and andrews as well. i was hoping we could be hard to beat and make an impact at this tourno, but after watchin the italy spain game earlier we will be really up against it. croatia were ok but nothing special. we were just nothing.

teamwise i would of had walters in for doyle. bizarre decision to play cox who is a good striker out on the left. our wingers are normally the only real sparks of creativity in the team so sacrificing one for an out of position striker was ridiculous. mcgeady should of been brought off but why not hunt of mclean. i hope we can come back from this

[elroy]

Gutted, v disappointing. Hitting Poland on wed and right now struggling to get myself up for it, though I know I will.

No excuses, beaten by better team. We were awful in second half. All 3 goals were very poor and somewhat unfortunate. Very unlike us to concede so early and so many.

Such a shame, as at 1-1 I thought we were playing well and had the momentum

[NeverFeltBetter]

Dissapointed. Outplayed, poor in most respects. First goal was defended poorly, second goal wasn't offside (on reflection), third goal was a killer. Given is clearly not fit, forwards aren't getting the service, McGeady and Ward had little impact, poor tactical choice regards Cox, long ball didn't work, unable to get Plan B working once they went behind the second time. No excuses.

It's hard to be optimistic right now, going up against the World Champions in a few days. Feel for the team, they just seem out of their depth. Not sure what they can do.

I'm not Trap's biggest fan and It'd be easy to slate him right now, but this is the way they played to get here, so it was the way I expected them to play. It just didn't work tonight.

[shakermaker1982]

How the hell do we cope with Spain? They are 2 levels above Croatia. 4-4-2 will be suicide.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Turtle up. I can only assume that was the plan before tonight and it shouldn't change. Going out against Spain looking for anything other than a draw would be courting annhilation.

[tricky_colour]

We are brutal. Just making up the numbers. What are Spain and Italy going to do to us?

Nothing, Croatia are the best team in the group, Italy and Spaain are mediocre at best, we can beat them both an we will.

[tricky_colour]

I never thought I would see Shay score with a diving header.

[carloz]

Nothing, Croatia are the best team in the group, Italy and Spaain are mediocre at best, we can beat them both an we will.

I am sorry but this is utter nonsense. This croatian side lost to georgia in qualifying and were completly outclassed by Greece. Lets not talk them up to be better than they are

[carloz]

Darron Gibson time?

Should have been starting tonight. Arguably our most in form player, and has a range of passing unlike the utter nothingness of Glen Whelan. During the Bosnia game Gibson was always dropping back and giving the defenders an option when they were on the ball. Whealan turns his back when our defenders are on the ball, and often passes it straight back to them when he does get it. I hate to pick on the guy but he is out of his depth and simply gave us nothing tonight

[the bear]

are you taking the **** tricky? spain and italy were both excellant today. croatia were better than us but nothing special

[Philly]

Was so weird watching that with the family. We were all looking for straws to clutch to but there were none. We were outplayed, outsmarted and outscored. Fair play to Croatia. It could be a rough ride from now on but at least were are there.

[tricky_colour]

Was so weird watching that with the family. We were all looking for straws to clutch to but there were none. We were outplayed, outsmarted and outscored. Fair play to Croatia. It could be a rough ride from now on but at least were are there.

And out cheated, cheated out of a peno by the ref
and cheated into conceding a goal when Ward was fouled.

We are not out of this yet unless Spain and Italy fluke a couple of goals each as well.

[Noelys Guitar]

I'll be amazed if Croatia pick up another point in this group. Spain or Germany would have completely over run us today with 5 or 6. Croatia fully deserved to win but we were awful.

[Philly]

And out cheated, cheated out of a peno by the ref
and cheated into conceding a goal when Ward was fouled.

We are not out of this yet unless Spain and Italy fluke a couple of goals each as well.

Sorry but I just don't agree. They kept the ball and made use of it whereas we gave it away so much and barely created any chances. I hope I'm wrong though! I'd love to see us pull something off.

[Noelys Guitar]

We have 6 points to play for and have 4 days to work out some plan to get at least a point against Spain. They are likely to improve after todays performance against Italy (frightening in itself). But they did give up numerous chances today and might do so against us if we play our top game. The best period of the game for us today was when we pegged them back in their own half midway through the first half. We played some nice football and it was working. Then we got deeper and deeper and you could feel a second goal for them was inevitable. We have to allow McGeady (if he starts) and Duff a little more freedom to get forward and take some risks. Trap won't agree so it will be up to the players themselves. Otherwise it is Adios Thursday evening.

[Irwin3]

Should have been starting tonight. Arguably our most in form player, and has a range of passing unlike the utter nothingness of Glen Whelan. During the Bosnia game Gibson was always dropping back and giving the defenders an option when they were on the ball. Whealan turns his back when our defenders are on the ball, and often passes it straight back to them when he does get it. I hate to pick on the guy but he is out of his depth and simply gave us nothing tonight

Maybe I'm not insane after all.

[tricky_colour]

I am sorry but this is utter nonsense. This croatian side lost to georgia in qualifying and were completly outclassed by Greece. Lets not talk them up to be better than they are

Well we shall see, I don't think Spain are the team people think they are, Italy ranked 12th showed that.
We were cheated out of a result despite a below par performance.
I wouldn't like to be the next team to play Ireland.

[the bear]

fair play to you tricky, keep believing. i hope your right. i hope we get a paris type perormance on thurs

[boysingreen]

If you consider Croatia have an aging, slower back line... felt Shane Long was the man to have up front. Also was baffled when McGeady came off that we didn't bring on McClean. We didn't run at their back 4 all night. Build-up was far too slow. Everytime McGeady got the ball there were 2-3 players on him, hadn't a hope of doing anything.