Spain V Republic of Ireland - Wednesday, 12 June 2013 - Friendly - Yankee Stadium

[Charlie Darwin]

Think Randolph should have saved that.

[The Fly]

Beautiful goal. 2-0.

[DannyInvincible]

Bah, thought Randolph had that covered.

[BonnieShels]

All Sledge there.

[Charlie Darwin]

Anybody who thinks Spain weren't taking this game seriously should see how they celebrated that goal.

[SkStu]

Trap OUT!!!!

[SwanVsDalton]

Think Randolph should have saved that.


Thought he should've been off his line quicker too.

Committed performance this. Miguel Delaney made a point on Twitter about intensity levels between teams at the start and end of a life cycle. Positive if we can maintain and improve our intensity for the crunch games in September.

[BonnieShels]

Frustrating end.

[Charlie Darwin]

Thought he should've been off his line quicker too.

Committed performance this. Miguel Delaney made a point on Twitter about intensity levels between teams at the start and end of a life cycle. Positive if we can maintain and improve our intensity for the crunch games in September.
Think he would have saved it if he was brought on ten minutes earlier. To be honest, I think it was a 1-0 game and we were unlucky. We could easily have drawn it in spite of Spain's dominance.

I'm glad we decided to have a go and try and get the draw instead of sitting back and settling for 1-0, even if it meant Spain scoring again. 2 years ago, I suspect we might not have had the character to do it.

edit: yes, Randolph was definitely too slow in coming out

[tetsujin1979]

2-0 was possibly harsh on Ireland, but you have to say every one of those players gave it their all for the team tonight

[boovidge]

Not the confidence shattering thrashing I had feared. Still felt Spain could have turned it up another gear if they had to.

[geysir]

Fiesty for a while after Spain scored, quinn slotted in well.
2 nil isn't too shabby.

[SwanVsDalton]

Plenty of food for thought for future squads/teams too. Thought Stephen Quinn looked really good on the ball. between him, Meyler and Hendrick, is it a case of Darron who?

Fair play to Sammon. I'm not sure I would start him against Sweden, but he's made a case.

[Charlie Darwin]

Not the confidence shattering thrashing I had feared. Still felt Spain could have turned it up another gear if they had to.
In what sense? That Spain team was a lot closer to full strength than ours. Spain played at the intensity they always do and our second team coped with it quite well. I'm sure they'd have been stronger if it was a World Cup game, but it wasn't. It was what it was, and we negated them well.

[CraftyToePoke]

Got picked off for the second but as said at least we were looking to score a goal at the time and you couldn't really say Spain weren't value for that lead. Much to admire in our lads tonight, a lot of grit displayed. Much more so that when it really mattered in the summer but at least we dug in, tried, bit of pride shown, could have even equalized maybe.

Glad to see Meyler get a run out however brief after making the voyage. Hendrick impressed me.

@ Danny - coolsport stream worked a beaut, best yet. Appreciated.

[Charlie Darwin]

There are a lot of positives we can take from this. Hendrick and McCarthy performed, I think, as good or better as Andrews and Whelan did against Brazil after a long season. We are in much better shape than we were 3 or 4 years ago where we literally had no options in midfield. We're now looking at Meyler, Quinn and Brady playing in the Premier League, and Hendrick will likely be courted by the promoted teams plus Aston Villa etc. Delaney should have been on after 60 minutes but he looks like he can press his case. Coleman can play on the wing in games we know we will be under pressure. I am very happy right now.

[tricky_colour]

Well better than our last effort v Spain and we did score a disallowed goal.

Seemed foolish to be trying to pass it around too much when we had the ball, that short corner really annoyed me right after we scored
from the previous and of course as expected we lost the ball in less than a second!!
Whilst it was not our strongest side it would have been much the same even if it were I expect.
Maybe Hoolahan would have allowed us to keep the ball a little longer and perhaps created something.

[Grafter]

Never feel good after a defeat but it was heartening.

Stephen Quinn did look assured when he came on, McClean's aggression on the park good to see too.
Really the team can go on their hols in good spirits after this game with hope in their hearts for the Autumn.

P.S. Forde really had the 40's matinee idol look going with the hair tonight;)

[texidub]

We avoided getting lashed out of it. We shouldn't underestimate the value of that; especially after the scoreline the last time we played those fancy dans from Spain. So, there were low expectations, but it was a heartening team performance with some good individual moments. Not much more to say when it comes to end-of-end-of-end-of-season games. When does pre-season start for these players?

The stand out player for me was Sammon who seems to have has a decent touch alright and holds the ball well too. He looks an awkward height for marking and he's ungainly in an advantageous way. If he worked on his close control and distribution, could be a really, really good player. I hadn't seen much of him before the last two games anyway and was impressed... the Irish Kohler? (Neither one a patch on Niall Quinn in his heyday.)

Game for tourists, suckers and also for people visiting from outside New York. But as an exhibition game, it's hard to draw any conclusions beyond no harm done (if only we could say that after every game!).

[Colbert Report]

Why no Richard Dunne? Did he even make the trip over?

[DannyInvincible]

Thought we showed great tenacity and spirit last night. Certainly a more heartwarming performance by the team than in our last against Spain a year ago. We also played better football with the little possession we had.

Felt sorry for St. Ledger to have his goal chalked off but there is no doubt Cox was in an offside position. Thought McClean's directness made things a bit more interesting in the second half after he came on; almost game-changing. Coleman also played very well and Sammon demonstrated himself to be better than for what a lot of critics give him credit. His performance pleasantly surprised me. Forde also did well.

[ArdeeBhoy]

We avoided getting lashed out of it. We shouldn't underestimate the value of that; especially after the scoreline the last time we played those fancy dans from Spain. So, there were low expectations, but it was a heartening team performance with some good individual moments. Not much more to say when it comes to end-of-end-of-end-of-season games. When does pre-season start for these players?

Game for tourists, suckers and also for people visiting from outside New York. But as an exhibition game, it's hard to draw any conclusions beyond no harm done (if only we could say that after every game!).
Yeap.

'Only' losing 2-0 to Spain is pretty much a pointless exercise in itself. Though some of the fringe players did enough to stake a claim as regular squad members...
Just pray Whelan is injured in the first week in September too...

[Stuttgart88]

Plenty of food for thought for future squads/teams too. Thought Stephen Quinn looked really good on the ball. between him, Meyler and Hendrick, is it a case of Darron who?Glenn who?

[Stuttgart88]

We avoided getting lashed out of it. We shouldn't underestimate the value of that; especially after the scoreline the last time we played those fancy dans from Spain. So, there were low expectations, but it was a heartening team performance with some good individual moments. Not much more to say when it comes to end-of-end-of-end-of-season games. When does pre-season start for these players?

The stand out player for me was Sammon who seems to have has a decent touch alright and holds the ball well too. He looks an awkward height for marking and he's ungainly in an advantageous way. If he worked on his close control and distribution, could be a really, really good player. I hadn't seen much of him before the last two games anyway and was impressed... the Irish Kohler? (Neither one a patch on Niall Quinn in his heyday.)

Game for tourists, suckers and also for people visiting from outside New York. But as an exhibition game, it's hard to draw any conclusions beyond no harm done (if only we could say that after every game!).International managers get little time with their players. I think this last 2-3 weeks will have been really useful for the likes of Meyler, Hendrick, Quinn, Sammon and even people like McCarthy, Coleman, McClean and Forde. The game itself and its outcome were of little hard consequence but I'd say there are a lot of players in the squad who benefited from it. "No harm done" might be one way of looking at it, but I'd say there are other soft positives to be taken.

Anyway, Cox has now cost us a winner against England and an equaliser against Spain!

[BonnieShels]

Anyway, Cox has now cost us a winner against England and an equaliser against Spain!

The expletives that were shouted at him...

Does he know what the line is?

[geysir]

Plenty of food for thought for future squads/teams too. Thought Stephen Quinn looked really good on the ball. between him, Meyler and Hendrick, is it a case of Darron who?

Fair play to Sammon. I'm not sure I would start him against Sweden, but he's made a case.

Spain is one team where you don't mind our goalie getting plenty of welly behind the kick out.

With our style (or lack of), the 2 CM need to be lively and looking to move the ball forward or to the wide players. It's one reason why a modest footballer like Green improves on the likes of our nr 1 slow motion midfielder. The recent additions, Brady, Meyler, Quinn, Hendrick and Hoolahan give us a host of workable options.
I don't wan't our team to be starting with Sammon, we don't need to be hoofing the ball against the likes of Sweden and Austria, anyway he doesn't look like he can get his head on the ball. When he's running one-on-one against the goalie, it's time to turn away. His neat touches would earn him a place on the bench.

If we go with our default hoofing game, we reduce our chances by (a scientifically proven) 50% of getting past teams like Austria and Sweden. It's a handicap.

[Drumcondra 69er]

Could have been worse. Any argument that the fact that the keeper touched the ball before Cox negates the offside? 2nd phase and all that, fair enough if it had come straight off the bar but their player was the last to touch it before him.

[DeLorean]

Mostly positives for me. There are far better sides than us who relinquish possession to Spain, but at least we responded well to their opener and looked like we could genuinely get back into it. Casillas had to make two world class saves to keep Spain ahead.

Forde was as assured and confident, as he has been since taking over the number one spot. I wouldn't blame Randolph too much for the second goal, probably could have been a bit quicker off his line alright but he got a lot on Mata's finish, sometimes they stay out, sometimes they squirm in.

Sledge and O'Dea probably did as well as could be expected. Sledge got a lot of last ditch blocks and challenges in. O'Dea did okay for the most part but could possibly have been more decisive in dealing with what became the opening goal. One really poor pass to the full back early on as well that ran out of play.

McShane and Kelly were both solid. Kelly even had a couple of pressure relieving runs upfield, before inevitably losing possession with little support.

I thought James McCarthy was outstanding, particularly in the first half. He is growing all the time and was a calming influence on Jeff Hendrick beside him I think. I lost count of the amount of tackles he won and little nicks here and there to slow up the Spanish momentum. Even when he gives away possession with no obvious pass on, he does it it a controlled unflustered way, strange as that may sound!

Andy Keogh gave it everything he had but unfortunately offers nothing of value. Consistently coughed up possession (along with many others to be fair) and was never any sort of a threat, granted he's not a winger. Coleman did what Coleman does, offering a badly needed outlet. He coped excellently with Alba's forward runs and even turned him inside out at one stage in the first half.

Keane was pretty anonymous and of the two front men, I think it's fair to say, he was overshadowed by an excellent performance from Conor Sammon. It was hard not to admire his confident first touch under severe pressure at times. The funny (frustrating) thing about him is that he can have quite a heavy touch in less challenging situations. Couldn't fault the guy though, justified Trap's faith in him.

Quinn was tidy when he came on and McClean looked more dangerous than I have seen him for some time. It was incredibly frustrating when he played the short corner just a couple of minutes after the disallowed goal, as Tricky already mentioned. To be fair to McClean, Sammon did come short to offer himself but he should have been told to take his shiny globe back into the box.


Spain were pretty much at full strength and were definitely taking the game very seriously. I think they are in a place where they take every game seriously anyway, that's what the greatest sides do. They have an invincibility about them that they don't want to lose by taking their eye off the ball. Only Alonso and Puyol could be considered absentees from the starting line-up, but it's even difficult to see how the latter will break up the defence of Arbeloa-Pique-Ramos-Alba at this stage. Maybe they'll move Ramos to right back instead of Arbeloa to accommodate him but I wouldn't be too sure. The indirect replacement of Alonso through Pedro or Silva wasn't exactly too weakening either. Quite useful being able to bring on Fabregas, Soldado and Mata in search of a goal, not to mention Santi and Jesus himself!

[geysir]

Could have been worse. Any argument that the fact that the keeper touched the ball before Cox negates the offside? 2nd phase and all that, fair enough if it had come straight off the bar but their player was the last to touch it before him.
Afaiu, Cox was ruled offside because when the ball rebounds off the post or the goalie to him, he was in an offside position.

The one I don't get, is a player being ruled offside when coming from an offside position to challenge for a kick out from his own goalie.

[osarusan]

The one I don't get a player being ruled offside when coming from an offside position to challenge for a kick out from his own goalie.

I've often wondered about that myself. Is it a simple interpretation of the 'offside when the ball was kicked and interfering' or is it because the player coming from an offside position helped them get a better run and consequent jump than the other player?

[peadar1987]

I've often wondered about that myself. Is it a simple interpretation of the 'offside when the ball was kicked and interfering' or is it because the player coming from an offside position helped them get a better run and consequent jump than the other player?

Not 100% relevant, but in hockey there is no offside rule (probably because lumping the ball over the top every time is less of an option). A lad I used to play with would wait until the chaos of a corner or something to slip over the endline and sit down behind the goal. Everyone would forget about him (sure he wasn't even on the pitch!), until our next attack, where he would suddenly pop up beside the keeper, 30 yards away from the nearest defender screaming for the ball. Got us a lot of goals before people started copping on

[pineapple stu]

The one I don't get, is a player being ruled offside when coming from an offside position to challenge for a kick out from his own goalie.
Just for clarification, you can only be offside from a kick from the hands, not from a goal kick after the ball has gone wide.

I imagine that, as part of the point of offside is to stop huge long balls, then without this offside, you'd see huge kicks going right to the other box, with forwards dragging the defensive line back because there's no offside if you jump to head the ball.

[paul_oshea]

Cox cost us more than those 2 goals.

Interesting, I just watched the first 65 mins as I had to go to work, but I'e recorded it and ill be watching the rest when I go home. I think only 1 review here I'd agree with.

Granted, Spain were almost at full strength, and we were effectively a mixture of reserves and first team, had it really mattered Spain could have and would have won this game like the Gdansk affair. They could have been 2 up or more before half time! I think people as usual are getting carried away because we were not at full strength and saw a lot of new young faces.

Hendrick was anonymous in his first half cameo, there is nothing you can say about him, as he barely touched the ball. McCarthy got some good touches, but you could hardly call him excellent when they had 73% possession in the first half. He is a midfielder and if/when he gets on the ball he loses/misplaced pass it everytime then he was hardly outstanding or excellent.

We were completely over-run in midfield as expected, and our full backs were exposed time and time again, Kelly more so, thank god for a narrow pitch or it would have been a lot worse.

Sammon is played for his height and strength, I've seen him do nothing with it so far except against Austria for the ball onto McClean. He has a good first touch as much as he has a bad first touch. His run for the goal was all wrong, he has pace and he had a few yards on pique, he shouldn't have narrowed his angle the way he did in order to extend that yardage on pique.

Coleman should have learnt a lot with that game, the importance of knowing when to run and when to hold onto possession he lost it a couple of times too easily.

I don't think there is much positives to take other than we got to see a lot of the next generation players and a whole host of lads who wont with a bit of luck get near the team for the important games, play with pride and heart. I only saw the first 65 as I say, unless we did something outstanding in the next 25 mins I don't see any justification in most of the reviews here. One thing that was against us and suited Spains greater technical ability was the speed of the pitch, we found it difficult for the first 30 mins to cope with the speed.

Its almost depressing watching Spain at this stage.

[Fixer82]

Never feel good after a defeat but it was heartening.

Stephen Quinn did look assured when he came on, McClean's aggression on the park good to see too.
Really the team can go on their hols in good spirits after this game with hope in their hearts for the Autumn.

P.S. Forde really had the 40's matinee idol look going with the hair tonight;)

Forde is like a young Jack Dempsey.

http://www.google.com/search?q=jack+dempsey&client=safari&rls=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=KXe4UeioLoeL7AagpoCgCQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1154&bih=600#facrc=_&imgrc=OmzaQuIfxsnF-M%3A%3B8NNDiZ9TcVtcUM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fmedia-1.web.britannica.com%252Feb-media%252F26%252F79426-004-1E098584.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.britannica.c om%252FEBchecked%252Fmedia%252F97057%252FJack-Dempsey%3B331%3B450

[DeLorean]

McCarthy got some good touches, but you could hardly call him excellent when they had 73% possession in the first half. He is a midfielder and if/when he gets on the ball he loses/misplaced pass it everytime then he was hardly outstanding or excellent.

When your backs are to the wall it takes a different kind of 'excellent' to perform well. When he did receive possession, options were non-existent to it was better to play loose balls into channels rather than dwell on it and be caught in a more dangerous areas. Plus, "every time" is a massive exaggeration.

[paul_oshea]

Forde is like a young Jack Dempsey.

http://www.google.com/search?q=jack+dempsey&client=safari&rls=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=KXe4UeioLoeL7AagpoCgCQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1154&bih=600#facrc=_&imgrc=OmzaQuIfxsnF-M%3A%3B8NNDiZ9TcVtcUM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fmedia-1.web.britannica.com%252Feb-media%252F26%252F79426-004-1E098584.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.britannica.c om%252FEBchecked%252Fmedia%252F97057%252FJack-Dempsey%3B331%3B450

Ha, good one!

[paul_oshea]

When your backs are to the wall it takes a different kind of 'excellent' to perform well. When he did receive possession, options were non-existent to it was better to play loose balls into channels rather than dwell on it and be caught in a more dangerous areas. Plus, "every time" is a massive exaggeration.

But that's the whole point, people are bigging him up to be this top class midfielder, so even against Spain, he should be able get on the ball more, and at least dictate the play more/better. I said I watched the first 65, I recall 4 misplaced passes in the first half, a couple of frees against, 2 blocks and 2 interceptions, he tried to get in on them but wasn't able dispossess - most of the time. To say he was outstanding/excellent is a massive exaggeration.

[DeLorean]

Fair enough, I think he was a lot better than that assessment given the circumstances. We were starved, as most teams are against Spain, of possession in decent areas so it wasn't really an evening for him to be able to dictate too much in an attacking sense. I would have definitely considered him one of our 'outstanding' players, to take the term literally, along with Sammon and Coleman.

[paul_oshea]

Ya relatively compared to the likes of McShane, kelly, hendrick, keogh, O'dea, keane, sammon he was outstanding, because none of them did anything really. But he was not oustanding outside of any comparison to his peers on the Irish team.

[jbyrne]

Granted, Spain were almost at full strength, and we were effectively a mixture of reserves and first team, had it really mattered Spain could have and would have won this game like the Gdansk affair. They could have been 2 up or more before half time! I think people as usual are getting carried away because we were not at full strength and saw a lot of new young faces.

had it really mattered maybe we would have raised our game also. who knows?
cant stand this attitude when we do some way well that its only because our better opposition werent at full pace etc. The game has to be taken and analysed for what it was and what actually happened. spain didnt go in at ht 2 goals in front because they didnt. if the 1st half mcshane header and salmons chance are put away we could have gone in 2 up.

yes our ball retention wasnt great and we could have been more clinical with the few chances we got but for the squad we have (full strength or otherwise) i think the last two weeks have given some optimism for the future. fair play to the players and management for that.

people need to start throwing some positive comment towards this team and get behind them without constantly searching for gripes and moans. i think our squad have earned it with their efforts over the last two weeks in particular. there should be far more hype and excitement about this team than there is and in my opinion its because many believe its below them to give their support. its seen as a safer option to follow the crowd and be negative really

[Charlie Darwin]

Spain would have been lucky to be 2-0 up at half time. They hit the bar with a fortuitous long-range effort but apart from that they create little and the Irish defence looked very comfortable. On the other hand, Sammon should definitely have scored in the first half, and we were denied two certain goals in quick succession by Casillas in the second half.

[geysir]

Spain would have been lucky to be 2-0 up at half time. They hit the bar with a fortuitous long-range effort but apart from that they create little and the Irish defence looked very comfortable. On the other hand, Sammon should definitely have scored in the first half, and we were denied two certain goals in quick succession by Casillas in the second half.
I thought that ball (from Pedro?) that hit the bar was a superb shot from the edge of the box, came after a piece of dazzling skill.
In that instance, I thought we were the fortuitous ones.

[paul_oshea]

We drew against an average england who were focusing on Brazil, and beat 10 man georgia and the faroes, people need to take a reality check, its not a moan, its factual based arguments.

CD, iniesta was in from what i remember or maybe pedro and should have done a lot better, another chance went across goal. That sammon chance was never going in, McShane should have done better with a free header alright.

The irish defence were all over the place for the first 15-20 mins. We were getting cut open, with some better finishing or more urgency spain could have scored.

I think people are getting carried away with a 2 goal loss and some wins against mediocre opposition. I'm not moaning I'm just stating fact. The real test will come against Austria and Sweden and apart from gaining confidence from winning, I don't see any difference in the performance or the difficulty of the task at hand in september based on Traps team and formation, now than I did 3 weeks ago, with the exception of the introduction of Hoolahan and the hope he will start in September.

Btw I just spoke with my Spanish colleague who said the Spanish media reported, that when Ireland went 1-0 down they actually looked to play a bit and became a bit more open, which made their task easier, but also that they became more aggressive(not in a good way), he also said they felt that it could have easily been 3 or 4-0.

[geysir]

I'm not moaning I'm just stating fact.
Yes Paul, your opinions are ....fact!
And your "facts" are miserly. :)

[Charlie Darwin]

I thought that ball (from Pedro?) that hit the bar was a superb shot from the edge of the box, came after a piece of dazzling skill.
In that instance, I thought we were the fortuitous ones.
I meant fortuitous in the sense it wasn't an obvious goalscoring opportuning, but yes we were lucky the bar saved us.


CD, iniesta was in from what i remember or maybe pedro and should have done a lot better, another chance went across goal. That sammon chance was never going in, McShane should have done better with a free header alright.
You can't say Iniesta was in and should have done better then discount Sammon's much clearer opportunity. Sammon had easily the best scoring opportunity of anybody in the first half and he stuffed it up.


The irish defence were all over the place for the first 15-20 mins. We were getting cut open, with some better finishing or more urgency spain could have scored.
Spain didn't lack urgency, they lacked the precision to break down our strong defending. It's a common method of discounting a decent Irish performance, saying the opposition lacked their usual zip when in fact we just defended well and were a bit lucky that their passes didn't stick.


I think people are getting carried away with a 2 goal loss and some wins against mediocre opposition. I'm not moaning I'm just stating fact. The real test will come against Austria and Sweden and apart from gaining confidence from winning, I don't see any difference in the performance or the difficulty of the task at hand in september based on Traps team and formation, now than I did 3 weeks ago, with the exception of the introduction of Hoolahan and the hope he will start in September.

Btw I just spoke with my Spanish colleague who said the Spanish media reported, that when Ireland went 1-0 down they actually looked to play a bit and became a bit more open, which made their task easier, but also that they became more aggressive(not in a good way), he also said they felt that it could have easily been 3 or 4-0.
Who's getting carried away? Most of us were in the doldrums after Austria, thought we should have taken the game more to England, have to write off the Georgia game and the Faroes are the Faroes. We did OK and look to have some good players coming through.

The Spanish papers also hailed Casillas for his world class saves that probably won Spain the match.

[ArdeeBhoy]

people need to start throwing some positive comment towards this team and get behind them without constantly searching for gripes and moans. i think our squad have earned it with their efforts over the last two weeks in particular. there should be far more hype and excitement about this team than there is and in my opinion its because many believe its below them to give their support. its seen as a safer option to follow the crowd and be negative really

Hardly.
You don't have to be a pessimist to see this team is very limited in its meaningful abilities, handicapped (usually) by a blinkered old fool running it and whose main credit is to run themselves into the ground. If only in an effort to correct their (very many) own collective mistakes.

[jbyrne]

Hardly.
You don't have to be a pessimist to see this team is very limited in its meaningful abilities, handicapped (usually) by a blinkered old fool running it and whose main credit is to run themselves into the ground. If only in an effort to correct their (very many) own collective mistakes.

all things are relative. we have our most limited squad in decades yet for the third campaign in a row are in serious contention as we hit the business end of things.

give realism a go about where we are vs where we should be with what talent we have at our disposal. you might enjoy following this team a bit more (or even at all)

[Fixer82]

I think realistically we can hope for, on a good day with a full strength team, to compete and stay with the likes of Spain for a full 90 minutes with the rub of the green. We'll more than likely never get to that level. But neither will nearly every other international side.
We have good players like Forde, McCarthy, Long, Hoolahan, Coleman.
We have not got a whole lot on the bench when our top performers are injured.
We don't have a huge depth of talent to choose from.
I think last night's performance was heartening in that we were playing one of the greatest teams of all time and we gave them a good go for what was almost our B team and defended well and had a couple of chances.

[Spudulika]

Hardly.
You don't have to be a pessimist to see this team is very limited in its meaningful abilities, handicapped (usually) by a blinkered old fool running it and whose main credit is to run themselves into the ground. If only in an effort to correct their (very many) own collective mistakes.

This looks like something you'd suffer reading in the Indo, which is why I stopped reading the paper of lies back when they invented a story to force the man out of his job. Blinkered old fool indeed.

[Drumcondra 69er]

Played 13 since the Euros. Won 6, drawn 4 and lost 3 v Germany, Greece and now Spain. We're still level with 2nd place in the qualifying group and our main rivals don't look to be that strong so we're still in with a shout.

I think most of us would have taken that when we were coming home from Poland, there's fukk all to be taken, positive or negative, from last night's game. We actually created more last night than we did in Moscow last campaign, it's nothing new.