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

[BonnieShels]

Where are you seeing it online on RTE?

[Charlie Darwin]

It's not live on RTE, they have deferred highlights at 8.30.

[BonnieShels]

It's not live on RTE, they have deferred highlights at 8.30.

That's what I thought. Danny said that RTE are carrying it above.
Cheers Chuck.

[TrapAPony]

Elliott Coleman O Shea Delaney Ward Whelan Wilson McGeady McClean Hoolahan Long

[Charlie Darwin]

More or less the same team as the Serbia game, injuries and absences notwithstanding.

[brine3]

God awful kit, some kind of slime green colour. And no white shorts...

[brine3]

Wilson, McGeady, Hoolahan and Coleman are the only players who can keep possession.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Clueless from Ward and what were O'Shea and Delaney doing focusing on the one player and losing the scorer so easily? F'n hell.

[tricky_colour]

God awful kit, some kind of slime green colour. And no white shorts...

On mu low resolution stream they become part of the pitch

[Charlie Darwin]

Clueless from Ward and what were O'Shea and Delaney doing focusing on the one player and losing the scorer so easily? F'n hell.
McClean's man.

[Charlie Darwin]

McClean is all over the place. He's leaving acres out on that left hand side and Turkey are looking to exploit it every time.

[brine3]

I know it has only been friendlies so far, but the type of football under O'Neill has been complete rubbish so far. As bad as Trap.

These guys aren't even trying to pass the ball. The manager should be giving them a bollocking from the sideline. I can only think that they are under instruction from the manager to play the direct ball even when they have an open player next to them. Can only wonder what is going on in Roy Keane's head when he is watching this rubbish.

[Charlie Darwin]

I know it has only been friendlies so far, but the type of football under O'Neill has been complete rubbish so far. As bad as Trap.

These guys aren't even trying to pass the ball. The manager should be giving them a bollocking from the sideline. I can only think that they are under instruction from the manager to play the direct ball even when they have an open player next to them. Can only wonder what is going on in Roy Keane's head when he is watching this rubbish.
Stop talking nonsense. They're playing passing football with the occasional long ball when they're starved of options. It's not great but it's a totally different style.

[brine3]

Stop talking nonsense. They're playing passing football with the occasional long ball when they're starved of options. It's not great but it's a totally different style.

At least Hoolahan is playing, and there is a three man midfield. But otherwise, it's pretty stoneage stuff.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

That Turkish goalkeeper is good.

[Charlie Darwin]

At least Hoolahan is playing, and there is a three man midfield. But otherwise, it's pretty stoneage stuff.
The fact we're dominating possession and putting together passages with 20+ passes registers as stone age to you?

[tricky_colour]

That Turkish goalkeeper is good.

He is we would has had a couple against lesser keepers.

The Turkish Shay Given

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

I'd like to see Stokes given at least half an hour seeing as he is in such good form.

[DannyInvincible]

By my reckoning, if we can beat Turkey and Costa Rica and draw one of the other games, it should be massive in terms of our ranking points. All four teams are far higher up the rankings, so in some ways, we are in a position where we can only gain substantially.
Scotland is very high up the rankings because of their good run so a few good wins will really stand to us. Hopefully starting today!

Friendlies count for very little in terms of accumulating ranking points. Scotland's rise is mainly down to recent good results in competitive fixtures.


That's what I thought. Danny said that RTE are carrying it above.
Cheers Chuck.

Sorry, my mistake. I'd checked this site earlier which lists all channels broadcasting the game and it listed RTÉ: http://liveonsat.com/LJS_FT_friend_intl_ALL.php

[Yard of Pace]

On mu low resolution stream they become part of the pitch

An anti-piracy initiative from Umbro in conjunction with Sky perhaps. I'm struggling to see the players too.
I wonder how it is for the players themselves...?

Anyway, poor defending for the goal but I think we've done a lot of good things. Hoolahan is lovely to watch and McGeady has been excellent.

[bennocelt]

If looking for a stream........
http://www.streamhunter.so/soccer/ireland-turkey-shs14srh#

[brine3]

The fact we're dominating possession and putting together passages with 20+ passes registers as stone age to you?

I have seen repeatedly that a player has somebody open next to him and he plays the direct ball up front for an Irish skull and Turkish skull to do battle over.

And nearly all the goal kicks are long.

I guess we are just watching different matches.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

http://www.coolsport.tv/skysports1-hd.html

For future reference, this channel streams the Sky Sports channels 24/7 and has never let me down.

Remember the name..... coolsport.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

As usual, scoring or even testing the goalkeeper is anathema to McGeady.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

That's it. Bring on Walters and Murphy and leave the guy who has scored 15 odd goals in the last 3 months on the bench.

[tricky_colour]

http://www.coolsport.tv/skysports1-hd.html

For future reference, this channel streams the Sky Sports channels 24/7 and has never let me down.

Remember the name..... coolsport.

I used to use that but I thought it had stopped broadcasting, I've been using another one
but it has over zealous mods on so I will with back to coolsports.

[tricky_colour]

Walters!! Rare goal. Collectors item. There is only believed to be one other in existence.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

O'Shea putting all his experience and organisational skills to good use by getting dragged around all over the place again...

Fantastic finish by Walters though.

[brine3]

As usual, scoring or even testing the goalkeeper is anathema to McGeady.

You could say the same about Luka Modric.

McGeady isn't on the pitch for his shooting skills.

[Charlie Darwin]

Walters!! Rare goal. Collectors item. There is only believed to be one other in existence.
He has the same strike rate as Shane Long.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

He has the same strike rate as Shane Long.

He doesn't have the same strike rate as Shane Long.

Edit: club level.

[Charlie Darwin]

1 in 5 to Long's 1 in 4, fair enough not the same but not much different especially when he plays on the wing mostly.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

1 in 5 to Long's 1 in 4, fair enough not the same but not much different especially when he plays on the wing mostly.

A lot of penalties too which distorts things further but I'm probably being too pedantic. They all count.

[tricky_colour]

He has the same strike rate as Shane Long.

I rest my case m'Lud!! ;)

Actually I just checked and his strike rate is not that bad, it's just I remember few of them.

I think only one was a penalty but I could be wrong, I expect Robbie Keane has a higher
percentage of penalties?

[Stuttgart88]

In my near 40 years of watching the team I'm not sure I have ever been so disillusioned. If there is any improvement yet over the last year of Trap's tenure it's marginal at best.

[back of the net]

Just left lansdowne road. .......just awful.

[Charlie Darwin]

People have awfully short memories.

[Yard of Pace]

When Alaba scored that goal in the last minute a malaise set in which has yet to lift. I do think we have the makings of a decent team, though. I'm just not sure it's going to happen under MON. When players are performing well below how they do at club level and don't seem to be gelling whatsoever, it's very worrying.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

As has been said, if there has been any improvement - it is slim.

At least we are picking the right players, which is a start.

And I don't think anyone can possibly make a hames of it - tactically - wise as Trapattoni did so spectacularly in all the big games post Estonia.

But as has been hinted at, we aren't long removed from Euro 2012, the Germany hammering and the Alaba goal and I think we might have been expecting to recover from all these psychological batterings much sooner than was practical.

[Bungle]

absolutely painful stuff. not impressed at all with mon. there is absolutely no spark for me to see, bar wes hoolahan getting a game which is a real positive.

[Charlie Darwin]

What did people expect when MON has had, what, 12-14 days combined with the players over the past six months? He has the group for the next two weeks or so, we'll learn a lot more from this period coming up.

[Charlie Darwin]

I think Hoolahan is getting better with every game. In his first few caps he tended to let the game pass him by and spent too much time standing up front, but he's linking the play a lot more now, more than Keane does when he has to play that role. It's a shame he hasn't been getting first team football this year because I'd love to see him at full tilt for Ireland.

[geysir]

I only saw the RTE highlights but from what I saw, I liked what type of game O'Neill tried to implement, with the available talent.
I'm prepared to take the pain. I'm a bit more optimistic that we can be a competitive team in the qualifiers.

[the doc]

How bad was that?


Poor defending for their first goal, their player wasn't tracked but one of CBs should of read it and closed him down.

Second goal, Doesn't Wilson realise you have to come out to play them offside?

Come back Mr Trapattoni all is forgiven.

[Charlie Darwin]

Wilson possibly shouldn't have followed the runner but it was a breakdown in the defensive system that let the Turk in. Delaney needed to attack the ball for the first goal but again our defensive structure let us down. What would you have done, Sean?

[NeverFeltBetter]

A one goal defeat, in the first in a series of non-competitive games, without the full team, right after the end of gruelling club season, with the managerial team barely having two weeks total with the squad, and people think MON is the same or worse than Trap. Come off it. Talk to me after a few qualifiers.

[Eminence Grise]

Not long back from the game.

Mixed bag sums it up for me. On the plus side, there was an effort to pass the ball more than the agricultural style favoured by Trap, although not every player seemed comfortable with that - there were a lot of passes left short that lost/almost possession. Walters took his goal very well, and the attacking play was more energetic after he came on. Coleman and Houlihan impressed. It will take a long time to regain the confidence and adapt to a new style of play after Trap, but at least players are in their natural or familiar positions.

The negatives are persistent rather than new: I'm not sure what Whelan brings to midfield play, McGeady flatters to deceive, and the tendency to switch off at critical moments needs to be addressed (I've said somewhere here before that we need a really good psychologist to work with the team).

All in all, some glacial signs of better times to come. Of course, what we really need is a team full of SSLs, eh doc?:rolleyes:

[SwanVsDalton]

Missed the last ten minutes because I had to hit the road to Belfast, but I didn't think it was that bad. There's clearly an effort to play more football than we did under Trap, whether players are comfortable with it or not. Considering it's the infamous end-of-season period, players looked a bit tired and this group still look a bit harrowed under from the last campaign, I'm not too down on a slim one goal friendly defeat.

We had a good handful of chances too, which isn't always the case in friendlies.

This was always going to be a painful process, and I've already accepted these friendlies are going to be a bit of an ordeal. But if the players can work out their trauma and commit to playing a few more passes, we'll be a better team for it.

[Charlie Darwin]

I don't understand why people can't see we're trying to play a better standard of football than we did under Trapattoni. I think people are waiting for the first long ball so they can say "aha! I told you!" We played a game against a team who are technically better than us and we didn't look out of place playing the same game. We now have three games against better teams than Turkey and they'll test us even more, and we'll learn an awful lot more by how we react to it. O'Neill is making an effort to bring us up to speed with modern football but we're a few years behind thanks to the Trap era. Our players have the ability to do better and I hope the coaches keep faith with it. Remember that we don't need to dominate games, we just need to play good enough football that we can create enough chances because we know we have players who can score goals.

[the doc]

Wasn't that long ago, we were all praising Mr Trappatoni.

Something's not right in the set up for me, Keanes body language says to me he isn't happy with MON bring one if his sidekicks in.

On a positive side we have plenty of time before the big games and we can bring in the likes of Dunne , SSL and Keane to cope with the better sides.