Republic of Ireland V Turkey, Italy, Costa Rica & Portugal - May/June 2014

[tetsujin1979]

the way the commentator pronounced his name, it's sounds like semen cocks just came on
(yes I am seven years old)

[BonnieShels]

Why did they limit it to six I wonder?

[paul_oshea]

When we try and be industrious or smart in tight spaces we get it caught in our feet

[pineapple stu]

Nope; Hoolahan was there beside Cox but doesn't seem to have come on for some reason?

[paul_oshea]

Did we reach 6?

[Charlie Darwin]

Cox and Hoolahan for Keane and...
Nobody. The Costa Ricans saw how well playing a man down was going for them and decided to give us another player.

[rebelmusic]

Completely different team since Hendrick came on. Whelan Green should be 5th or 99th down the pecking order. They bring nothing

[Charlie Darwin]

Nope; Hoolahan was there beside Cox but doesn't seem to have come on for some reason?
Hoolahan's on, not sure who for. Quinn maybe.

[pineapple stu]

Is Hendrick on? I've missed half these subs! Maybe commentary in English does help!

Really have to wonder why Andrews is sitting at home.

[SwanVsDalton]

Paddy Pemberton is on fire...

With Forde having a bit of a shocker at the other end, have we missed out on a granny ruler? Is he not from the Inishowen Pemberton's?

[paul_oshea]

McLean is woeful

[Charlie Darwin]

The commentator's pronunciation of Hoolahan is spectacular.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Hoolahan came on for Robbie. Not that it matters.

[pineapple stu]

Costa Rica have played ok a man down in fairness. Exactly the kind of team England don't like playing (but then usually edge out 2-1 or so)

We've improved in the last 20 or so, but still have been a bit slow in the attack.

Last chance here I'd say

[tetsujin1979]

all over, draw not an unfair result
if Costa Rica had won you wouldn't hold it against them.

[Razors left peg]

That was as bad as the Italy game was good, thank god its over!

[rebelmusic]

Only thing i learned from this is that we have a decent enough 'first' side but we've very very little in reserve

[Charlie Darwin]

They're blurring the players' faces now. Too late, lads, far too late.

[paul_oshea]

That was interesting what the manager said

[Closed Account]

The improvement after Hendrick came on speaks volumes. If you watch our kickoff after they scored you'll see everything wrong with us before that. Kicked off against 10 men and managed to pass it back to our keeper before lumping it long. Too many Irish players afraid to take a risk.

[Charlie Darwin]

That was interesting what the manager said
Feel free to translate Paul.

[paul_oshea]

Patrick the Irish slave, christian brother impregnated

[Charlie Darwin]

Hard to see how anybody has enhanced his CV out there. Duffy and Keogh looked OK together, McClean gets a free pass because he was obviously in the wrong position, but I think everybody else has given more reasons not to get picked again. Most worrying is Forde, who was truly dreadful.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Keane very quiet.

Whelan surpassed himself this time. Green is bad but he puts himself about. Whelan never breaks a sweat. He has no presence whatsoever. Maybe dropping him would light a fire under his ass. It works wonders every time he's dropped for Stoke.

Doyle very impressive. Fantastic throwback header. Won a couple of free kicks in dangerous positions. Got a man sent off. Constantly dropped into midfield and did the work of two men, doing Whelan's job for him.

Really should have brought Hendrick, Hoolahan and Long on sooner. Hopefully lesson learned.

[SwanVsDalton]

The improvement after Hendrick came on speaks volumes. If you watch our kickoff after they scored you'll see everything wrong with us before that. Kicked off against 10 men and managed to pass it back to our keeper before lumping it long. Too many Irish players afraid to take a risk.

That was a Trap team in a Trap setup and they reverted to type. I think a few of those guys, Whelan for instance, might be Trap traumatised, possibly beyond repair. Either way, I think this friendly only points towards a very different outlook come Sept. If it helps O'Neill towards that conclusion, then friendlies like tonight are worth it.

Hendrick was one, but Hoolahan (Holla!han) and McGeady were others who actually got on the ball a bit and tried to play through them rather than around or over the top.

Considering we were playing against ten men, that spell from 45 to the 75th minute was atrocious. Between the penalty conceded and penalty miss it resembled a Macedonia or Lichtenstein. Total nightmare.

We were never as good as the Italy match and we're not as bad as tonight. That's friendlies. It'll sharpen the management's thinking for the start of the campaign and, I hope, settle their resolve to pick players who are confident and on form.

[pineapple stu]

With a depleted squad and another game in a few days, I don't think too much can be read into the subs. Everyone will get game time I'd say

[Charlie Darwin]

That was a Trap team in a Trap setup and they reverted to type. I think a few of those guys, Whelan for instance, might be Trap traumatised, possibly beyond repair.
You should really capitalise medical conditions like Trap Trauma.

[ArdeeBhoy]

These friendles are just too dispiriting sometimes...you can only pray the competitive games will be much better. In terms of attitude and application.
Won't hold my breath though.

[Charlie Darwin]

I can kind of understatement why no Irish station bid for the rights now.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

With a depleted squad and another game in a few days, I don't think too much can be read into the subs. Everyone will get game time I'd say

I sincerely hope the pressure of not winning several games in succession will scare O'Neill out of giving Simon Cox a sentimental start against Portugal.

[boysingreen]

Sure put on a footballing clinic when they went down to 10 men.

[paul_oshea]

ya I hope you're right svd that cements in oneills head what we should not be doing and who we shouldn't be paying. The only thing we can learn from this as you say is the trap era players are not up to it.

The squad is very threadbare after the first 11. I'm worried about not getting the luck required with regards injuries. I think we are ok if we can pick our strongest 11 otherwise we will struggle.

I'm not making an excuse for forde but was it very humid. He looked really dopey and slow and heavy/turgid, perhaps the heat was having an effect on him.

Costa Rica played like the team with 11 and us with 10. what I hope is that when hoolahan and the rest came ok it wasn't a case of Costa Rica struggling from playing half of the game with 10 men and it was down to our players.

I'm very worried about robbie he was way off the pace. I fear that like the system and what went on he becomes a victim of the system. when we need a goal he will be sprung from the bench.

[paul_oshea]

One of the lads over there said the subs were pushing wes when he went to take the corner towards the end.i remember seeing 6 or 7 of them down there and thinking of are they allowed stand there.

[OwenGoal]

Didn't see the match, but press reports haven't been that harsh on Forde - one or two references about a dropped cross. Why was he so bad other than that?

[ArdeeBhoy]

He gave away a pretty needless penalty and looked shakey throughout.

[as_i_say]

highlights here, sort of

http://balls.ie/football/ireland-vs-costa-rica-highlights/

[geysir]

I missed the game. If you don't see it, then it didn't happen.

Looking at that line up suggests we'll put out the best of what we have against Portugal.

[paul_oshea]

from the score.ie Although he has produced some fine saves as well in recent matches, Forde was also culpable for more than one key goal during Ireland’s World Cup qualifying campaign.

[paul_oshea]

svd did you mention the scarring of the trap era in certain players:

"It's important that we play good teams and certainly teams who keep the ball and have good possession because come September and playing in the qualifiers, we are going to be playing against teams that are very, very good on the ball,” he said.

"At times, we are going to have to be sitting back for 10, 15 minutes and trying to soak the pressure up."

I don't expect that from robbie and i doubt oneill is too happy with that attitude. at the very least it's frigging Costa Rica! !!

[Crosby87]

Forde needs to drop the e from his name. I dont like it.
PS possibly RIP comedian tracey morgan.

[Closed Account]

Forde needs to drop the e from his name. I dont like it.
PS possibly RIP comedian tracey morgan.
You need to drop the e from Tracey.

[Stuttgart88]

ya I hope you're right svd that cements in oneills head what we should not be doing and who we shouldn't be paying. The only thing we can learn from this as you say is the trap era players are not up to it.

The squad is very threadbare after the first 11. I'm worried about not getting the luck required with regards injuries. I think we are ok if we can pick our strongest 11 otherwise we will struggle.
.
I dunno. If we can field something like the team that started against Italy then we should be ok for most games. Then bear in mind that McCarthy, Gibson and Brady ought to be back, and Andy Reid (who has another year of good quality football left in him, at least) so we can have a stronger team even still and a decent pool of 16/17 first team candidates.

I'm glad to hear Doyle played well as I still think he has something to offer. If he displaces Long in a 4231 I'd be pleased enough.

Forde is what he is, a lower division keeper who usually looks comfortable for Ireland. I wouldn't be too worried.

I really hope O'Neill sees that Meyler and Hendrick should stay ahead of Whelan.

I think Keane will be sprung from the bench more often than not, the obvious loser if we move to 4231 permanently, which is what I expect. Again, that's fine by me.

Papers said Keogh and Duffy coped well. Irish Times report mentioned Keogh a lot. Any comment?

[back of the net]

Missed the game last night lads - reading the posts - it doesn't seem we were that impressive

So how where we?

Did we take it on from the Italy performance or were we poor?
Positives and negatives?

[paul_oshea]

He was ok but he and McLean got caught out for Campbells pass. Duffy looked like he wanted to play football, defensively he was ok bar one lapse.

have a look at the game and re-evaluate your assessment on forde, save their very poor finishing it could have been 3 or 4 to them

[paul_oshea]

It was back to trap tactics botnet. very negative sitting back not pressing it was a case of 2 steps backwards 1 step forward from the italy game. I put that down to the players rather than oneill.

I'll leave the positive to towk.

Wilson was good.doyle was very good but he tired and I think a small bit effected by the head injury.

We looked good when long hoolahan and mcgeady came on.well we looked better and created a few chances.hendrick was a lot more assured than the other two midfielders.

[PatJR]

I think Keane will be sprung from the bench more often than not, the obvious loser if we move to 4231 permanently, which is what I expect. Again, that's fine by me.


I didn't see the game but disappointed to hear O'Neill didn't play Wes and Keane together. If there is one striker I would want on the pitch with Wes it is Robbie. He is miles ahead in terms of finishing, football intelligence, awareness etc. Throughout his career Keane has excelled with players like Wes. I don't accept for a second that they cannot be in the same team and O'Neill appeared to agree with that. Hopefully they will play against Portugal.

[Crosby87]

So they wore black?
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/27747167

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Was that everybody's favourite player Richard Kyeuck who got muscled off the ball there?

For that goalscoring opportunity just before they won the penalty? Yes.

Keogh and Duffy did OK. I wouldn't read too much into it. There are much harder tests to come.

Some nice praise for Duffy in The Guardian

"Brian Ruiz, the former Fulham striker who spent last season at PSV, was kept extremely quiet by the robust defending of Everton’s Shane Duffy, making his international debut, and struggled to link up with Campbell to any real effect."

[Olé Olé]

I know some of the alternatives have had a long season, but what can be learnt from partnering Green and Whelan at the base of midfield that the management team don't already know? I'd have far preferred to see the bustling energy of Meyler or Hendrick in there starting beside Whelan to give him a bit of impetus to show some dynamism.

Doyle is looking nicely primed to contribute effectively to the Euro 16 campaign. I don't think many would have envisaged that when Trap gave him the bullet. Strong possibility he'll be in the Premiership next season.

I think certain people tend to be a bit harsh on the players/squad we have at our disposal here. If I were to name players who could form the core of the team with provisions made for lack of form and injury, this wouldn't be all the worst:
Forde/Randolph/Westwood
Coleman/Joey O'Brien, Dunne/O'Shea/Delaney/Duffy/Pearce, Wilson/Clark
McGeady/Walters/Quinn, Meyler/McCarthy/Gibson/Hendrick/Whelan, Brady/McClean/Reid/Pilkington
Hoolahan/Keane/Long/Doyle/Stokes

I mean, I saw someone state the other day that there was a dearth of options at the top level. I'm looking that list up and down now and by 31 August, the keepers aside, the majority of those players will be at Premiership clubs (one in the MLS and one in the SPL also).

That's a very subjective list, by the by, I'm not disregarding Richard Keogh or anyone else. I was just trying to whittle down the numbers slightly to show there are options there. It's amazing that some people see Roberts Lewandowski and Snodgrass and suddenly we're weak in comparison to Poland and Scotland. I don't for a minute believe that. Christ, I remember being a primary school kid in 2002 sniggering at the very notion of Gary Breen being linked with Inter Milan. Hardly able to form my sentences, not to mind my own opinions, as I was.

International football seems to me as being a very simple game. Pick a pool of decent players, ensure they're well organised with a coherent plan and an inherent team spirit borne from patriotism and Greece can win the Euros.

[Crosby87]

What do you chaps think about the triple crown today? Do hope chrome gets busted and bet on a longshot or try to hit a trifecta? Because you cant make any money any other way really. The irish know horse racing.