England V Republic of Ireland - Wednesday, 29th May 2013 - Friendly

[Fixer82]

Brutal tracking from Whelan.

[Fixer82]

McGeady crossing well for once. O'Shea playing very well

[tricky_colour]

Thank you (for the link, not the Lampard goal)!


Had I know I would have waited 10 mins

[tricky_colour]

2 penalties not given

[BonnieShels]

This referee is unbelievable. Terrible.

[tricky_colour]

I have the draw 1-1 backed at 9-1.
Could put some cover bets on or let it ride...

[rebelmusic]

Get Kelly, Whelan and Walters off....hilarious that all the players we would have seen as weak spots and baffling choices are the problem areas. Hoping to see Meyler and Brady/McClean come on. Unfortunately no obvious replacements for Kelly on the bench. Happy enough though, looking pretty comfortable. Goal was a disaster and to me shows that St.Ledger isnt our best option in center anymore

[Fixer82]

Get Kelly, Whelan and Walters off....hilarious that all the players we would have seen as weak spots and baffling choices are the problem areas. Hoping to see Meyler and Brady/McClean come on. Unfortunately no obvious replacements for Kelly on the bench. Happy enough though, looking pretty comfortable. Goal was a disaster and to me shows that St.Ledger isnt our best option in center anymore

The goal was definitely Whelan's fault.
His job was to track and block Lampard and he did neither.

[Fixer82]

Walters not pacy enough to play on the wing.
Perhaps McClean in on the left and McGeady on the right would sort this out

[geysir]

Whelan is solid enough.
Poor football, great atmosphere.

[tommy_c12000]

The goal was definitely Whelan's fault.
His job was to track and block Lampard and he did neither.

The conceded goal was St Ledger's fault 100%. What an appalling missed kick. The ball should have been cleared and should not have gone anywhere near Lampard. We badly need either Dunne to have a renaissance or for Duffy (or some other new blood) to emerge sooner rather than later.

[Fixer82]

The conceded goal was St Ledger's fault 100%. What an appalling missed kick. The ball should have been cleared and should not have gone anywhere near Lampard. We badly need either Dunne to have a renaissance or for Duffy (or some other new blood) to emerge sooner rather than later.

Yeah I've looked at it again on ITV coverage, you're right. I've seen it from the opposite angle.
St Ledger just completely missed it. Poor. Though I still think Whelan allowed Lamoard too much room when it really mattered

[Sullivinho]

Whelan is solid enough.

As opposed to diarrhectic?

[tricky_colour]

I have the draw 1-1 backed at 9-1.
Could put some cover bets on or let it ride...

[geysir]

I have the draw 1-1 backed at 9-1.
Could put some cover bets on or let it ride...
Why sweat over a bet of 55c?

[rebelmusic]

Need less of the long ball this half too, it's working sometimes but we need to use McCarthy. He's motm for me so far but they should be passing through him as well

[tricky_colour]

The goal was definitely Whelan's fault.
His job was to track and block Lampard and he did neither.

I am with you on that one, thought he was neglectful.

[tricky_colour]

Why sweat over a bet of 55c?

It a whole £1 could be picking up £10.

I looked in to covering it but the odds are not good.

Hoping the settle for 1-1 and a good ****-up afterwards. :)

[geysir]

Walters not pacy enough to play on the wing.
Perhaps McClean in on the left and McGeady on the right would sort this out
I think the justification is for McClean to give more support to Kelly and move McGeady over to the right.

[tricky_colour]

get whelan off hes half asleep

[tricky_colour]

coleman having a blinder

[tricky_colour]

coleman again

[Closed Account]

Coleman and McCarthy proving how good they are. McGeady proving he's not that good at all.

[BonnieShels]

Coleman and McCarthy are on a different level to the rest of the team.

[BonnieShels]

Coleman and McCarthy proving again how good they are. McGeady proving he's not that good at all.

Correction.

[Closed Account]

Cox for Keane. Brady will be on next.

[BonnieShels]

McClean on now for McGeady.

Come on Robbie!!!!!!!

[BonnieShels]

Whelan off and Hendrick on. Interesting.

[Closed Account]

Good save by cox...

[BonnieShels]

We call him Nani Nani Nani

[tommy_c12000]

Oh mother of God, Sammon on. Can't wait to see the back of Trap. It is so frustrating

[BonnieShels]

A disgraceful decision again.

Great stop from Forde there.

[BonnieShels]

Coleman named MOTM

[tricky_colour]

6 out of the last 13 games have finished 1-1 which makes available odds of 9-1 look pretty good, indeed I just stuck £1 on just because of that.

But those results were over 20 years ago and no doubt Ireland were higher ranked (fifa ranking don't go back that far, last listed ranking is 6th!! in 1993.

£9 banked!! :)

[rebelmusic]

Sammon....why like. Trap seems to think he's knock down man but everytime the long ball came to him he jumped too early or didnt bother jumping at all. Like the game was screaming for hoolihan or Brady to add some attacking flair....arghrgahghrgahrgahgrhagrh agrahgrargahgrhag!

[Fixer82]

He'll never change it from 4-4-2. Thought Sammon did well actually.

Irish MOTM was probably McCarthy.
I thought Sledge had a very solid second half.
O'Shea didn't put a foot wrong and Coleman had a great first half.
Thought Robbie played well too.
Long as always was one of our best performers and Forde was very confident and made some great saves

[Closed Account]

Poor second half from both teams. The quality of players coming off the bench really showed the difference in resources in both teams. Couldnt of argued if England nicked a winner but good to see Ireland soak up 20 minutes of pressure. England had no cutting edge up front and any chances they made were out of pure luck rather than cutting through us.
Coleman rightly man of the match. McCarthy a close second ahead of any of the England players who really looked like they were playing an end of season friendly.
I didn't like Longs celebration at the end but it's only a personal gripe. Roy Keane would probably agree with me.
At the end of the day, we were living off long punts from Forde where at least they tried to play out from the back, without much success. The big argument earlier in the week about whether England are a top side is pretty moot now. They're good, just not that good.

[geysir]

Trap made good subs in that game, including Sammon. I have no issue with him coming on with a few minutes to go.
Imo, it was toss up between Forde, Long and Coleman for motm.

[tommy_c12000]

I thought McCarthy was very good yet again, he was my MOTM. Coleman was good but got caught out twice by not keeping it simple. Potential accident waiting to happen, hopefully he will stamp this aspect out of his game. Forde was impressive tonight. St Ledger showed the rustiness of his recent spell out. Kelly was a liablilty at LB. O'Shea reasonably solid. Whelan has gone way back, his legs are gone. We need a 3-man midfield of McCarthy, Meyler and Hoolahan. McGeady played like a man who was just off a long haul flight, terrible. Ditto Keane. Walters should not be played on right wing. Did nothing. Long took his goal superbly, was a handful and unlucky not to get more change off the ref.

Of the subs:
McClean is not up to standard and will be playing Championship football next season.
Nice to see Hendrick getting a run but thought Meyler deserved the opportunity.
Sammon - feel sorry for him to be honest, way out of his depth. Trap should be careful about continuing to inflict this cruelty. Amnesty international may be forced to get involved.
Cox - Should not be in squad

In summary:
McCarthy, Coleman, Forde and Long above average.
Whelan, O'Shea average.
Keane, McGeady, Walters, St Ledger, Kelly below average

[Fixer82]

Sammon - feel sorry for him to be honest, way out of his depth. Trap should be careful about continuing to inflict this cruelty. Amnesty international may be forced to get involved.




What exactly did he do wrong?
He won the ball back a few times and got stuck in. More than a few players did over 45 minutes

[SkStu]

Good performance overall. I thought Forde was just so solid, not even just the saves in the last 15, but everything up to then was so confident, calm and assured. Took ownership of his area. He gets my motm ahead of Coleman and McCarthy.

Subs were disappointing for me though was great to see Hendrick get 20 mins. He's such a ride.

Referee was a complete w@nkbag.

[tommy_c12000]

What exactly did he do wrong?
He won the ball back a few times and got stuck in. More than a few players did over 45 minutes

Nothing against him personally. He wears his heart on a sleeve and will work his socks off for the side. But he just is not up to international standard and should not be in the squad

[tricky_colour]

defo Coleman for MOM for me made a goal saved a goal and very effective in defence as well as occasionally going forward.
bit of a question mark about sledge/whelan for the goal but otherwise I can't complain too much, I mean when I put my £1
on 1-1 I was not expecting to see it again because I could not see us scoring, which makes Long runner up MOM because that was
a superb header, gotta be right up there with great Irish goals.

[geysir]

90% of that goal was the Long effect.

[legendz]

Happy enough with the draw. Great to see former LoI players assist and score!

[BonnieShels]

For no reason here's the head-to-head league table of the Home Nations [sic] based on the last time they played each other including tonight's draw with the Tans:




Pld
W
D
L
F
A
Pts


Ireland
4
3
1
0
10
1
10



England
4
2
1
1
3
2
7


Wales
4
2
0
2
4
5
6


Scotland
4
1
0
3
4
4
3


Dem 'uns
4
1
0
3
1
10
3



Incidentally, England and Scotland haven't played each other since 1999. I find that hard to believe. Is it true?

[BonnieShels]

Good performance overall. I thought Forde was just so solid, not even just the saves in the last 15, but everything up to then was so confident, calm and assured. Took ownership of his area. He gets my motm ahead of Coleman and McCarthy.

Subs were disappointing for me though was great to see Hendrick get 20 mins. He's such a ride.

Referee was a complete w@nkbag.

I think Coleman shaded it for me but Forde was magnificent in goal. He has been brilliant since taking over from Shay. When you see him calmly plucking the ball from the air and staying big whilst blocking shots from Oxladelain you have to wonder what he would have done for us last June.

[tricky_colour]

Rare headed goal from Long tipped into the corner of the net.

It's a Long way to tip a rarey.

[Crosby87]

Post match article:
http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1463531/england-ireland-draw-1-1-uneventful-friendly?cc=5901

[tricky_colour]

90% of that goal was the Long effect.

It was a great cross from Coleman he is the best crossers of the ball we have, probably the best.