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

[BonnieShels]

Thoughts from the front:

Forde is awful.
All the irish around me are saying hoolie needs to play deeper.
Staff is yelling at mcgeady to shoot more.
I was right behind mcclean when he got tied up with neto, his leg went one way, his knee the other, I was nervous when he came up limping.
Its kinda hot out I dont know why ireland put those collars on their tops.
Keogh is the whipping boy amongst the irish in the stands.
MOL looks like he has lost some weight.
It annoys me that the porto keeper has one pink shoe and one powder blue shoe.
Varela and Almiela are too tall. We need some height.
Sorry about any misspellings ive had a few belts. Porto fans seem really friendly, almost pathetically trying to be positive about the BIG to some irish fans....
I snuck in a flask of grey goose and passed it around but now im nervous about germs.

It's worrying when you are talking seriously and are almost bang on. You need a fish pun or two.


We are, but Coleman, Dunne, Sledge, O'Shea, Delaney, Wilson and maybe even McShane would all be ahead of the current 4 in there, so I'm not TOO worried. If anything I hope this drubbing consigns Ward and Kelly to the nether regions of the stand-by list or worse.

Them languishing is the best. Not the worst. I still can't believe that Ward is getting a game in an Irish shirt after that horror show in Poznan.

[pineapple stu]

anyone know if this is accurate: https://twitter.com/OCowzer/statuses/476522478454726656
Don't think it's too relevant as yet; 12 months is a while away yet and we've more important games to come.

The FIFA World Rankings site (http://www.fifa.com/worldranking/rankingtable/) has a programme where you can enter in results and get an updated score. Putting in a 4-0 defeat here (and 1-1 against Costa Rica) drops us from 473 to 440 points. That would drop us to 76th, just behind Haiti, Senegal, Israel and Zambia. Though Trinidad & Tobago and Zambia have played games this month which I think will drop them back below us.

[Razors left peg]

MON's body language tells me that he is planning for life without Dunne. Do you think these performances may have changed his mind, Razor?

I think he probably has to since Dunner isnt getting any younger. Id say he wants to pair Wilson with O'Shea. Problem with that is that Ward is next choice left back.

[tricky_colour]

Wow how bad was that cross from McClean?

[pineapple stu]

That is one of the worst crosses I've ever seen. Pinpoint - if he was aiming for Lansdowne Road.

[Charlie Darwin]

I think he only started playing CB regularly a three or four years ago and he's 28 in a couple of months.
Regardless, he's a centre back now and he's been torn apart by Almeida and Ronaldo tonight, as I'm sure you'll agree. He has to be assessed on that basis.

[tetsujin1979]

McClean stands on his right foot, he's wasted out on the right wing
Strange that there was no subs from either side at half time

[Razors left peg]

We have put in a good few crosses tonight without ever looking dangerous from any of them. Walters isnt mobile enough to play lone striker role. At this stage Id restrict him to a battering ram role off the bench when need

[pineapple stu]

Flappy flappy Fordey again.

[Stuttgart88]

Forde had absolutely no idea that cross was going nowhere. Probably as much Kelly's fault though.

[pineapple stu]

McClean!

I think we deserve that.

[tetsujin1979]

Get in there James McClean!!

[pineapple stu]

Lovely finish actually. Portuguese asleep and missing the free wide guy from the free is criminal.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Take Walters off and we might get another consolation.

[SwanVsDalton]

First international goal - good man yourself James.

Now, don't concede and let's keep this going.

[Charlie Darwin]

First goal for Ireland, well done McClean.

[tricky_colour]

Wow how bad was that cross from McClean?


Was as bad as his goal was good!!

What a contrary player!!

[pineapple stu]

Quite the dangerous spot for a free, this

[Razors left peg]

Ever time they good forward we sh1t ourselves. Been impressed with Meyler tonight though

[pineapple stu]

Ward off injured.

Careful what you wish for, eh?

[pineapple stu]

Long and Keane for Walters and Ward, is it?

How's that work?

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Feel bad for Ward. This may affect his chances of getting a move from Wolves this summer..

[ArdeeBhoy]

McClean to left back again?

[pineapple stu]

And Ronaldo off for Portugal.

[Razors left peg]

Long and Keane came on for Houlihan and Walters so I dont know what the story with Ward is

[pineapple stu]

Commentator there saying McClean to right back and Kelly to left back?

Pilkington on now

Edit - extratime says Hoolahan still on. The sub just now was Quinn for McClean, which confuses the full back issue more. And the Pilkington issue.

Really struggling with the subs these past few days!

[Razors left peg]

Looks like Quinn to left back!!!!

[Charlie Darwin]

Feel bad for Ward. This may affect his chances of getting a move from Wolves this summer..
I'd be surprised if his inability to shut down Ronaldo affected his chances of getting a contract in the Champonship.

[pineapple stu]

Team now is -

Forde
Quinn
Kelly
Keogh
Pearce
Hendrick
Pilkington
McGeady
Meyler
Keane
Long

I think.

[Razors left peg]

Robbie looks a bit trimmer than Ive seen him in a while. Knows he has a fight on his hands for a starting spot?

[tetsujin1979]

US commentators saying Keane is one of the best overseas signings in the MLS

[tetsujin1979]

is that Pilkington to right full?

[pineapple stu]

Doyle and Cox on for Kelly and McGeady.

This is interesting!

Maybe playing 0-6-4 makes more sense than keeping that defence on.

[Razors left peg]

We've turned into Holland 2001 now... Cox and Doyle on for Kelly and McGeady. 4 strikers!

[tetsujin1979]

undeserved, but we were our own worst enemy there

[tricky_colour]

Bad defending from Keogh, he has to stay in the centre.

We seem to do this a lot and it is a major gripe of mine, we forget about
everyone else on the pitch and all attack the man with the ball.
Of course we are then left wide open, what is the point in doubling and trebling up
on a man if you are going to leave 2 unmarked, you don't have to be a genius to figure
our he will pass to the unmarked man and then it's game over!!!

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Keogh has been consistently bad at least.

[SwanVsDalton]

In fairness, should've been a definite free to us in their half. Someone was bundled over.

[pineapple stu]

Hm

Stutts may well correct me, but for the last two goals, Forde has just shovelled the ball straight out in front of him. Am I being too harsh to say that he should go for Goalkeeping 101 and push the ball away to one side wherever possible? I know they were both point blank saves really, but still.

[Crosby87]

I feel for forde but why cant he hold onto the ball?
Ronaldo spends half the game whining at the officials.
Mcclean is by far the pluckiest irishman since damien duff.

[Stuttgart88]

He's been quite lean for a couple of years now I think.

[tetsujin1979]

Get up Nani, not anything close to a penalty

[pineapple stu]

Bloody hellfire.

[tricky_colour]

Our system seems to be to mark empty space to prevent empty space scoring.

[Stuttgart88]

That's 3 hours sleep I won't get back.

[Crosby87]

Ok, we are leaving. 3 matches in person for me 3 horrible results. I give up.

[Razors left peg]

FFS This is embarrassing at the back. Gonna have to move out of the gaf now, the mrs wont let me live this one down for a long time!!!

[Stuttgart88]

I feel for forde but why cant he hold onto the ball?

No idea. Straight into the tummy = instinctive catch in my book.

[pineapple stu]

Offside.

Thank God.

[DannyInvincible]

Diabolical stuff. We've been absolutely torn apart.