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

[gastric]

Jeez, this thread needs a health warning at the moment. Just off to take a lot of Prozac!

[DannyInvincible]

I didn't think it was that bad, to be honest. At least, it wasn't all negative and we looked like we were trying to do something to score. Fair enough, it didn't quite gel or work out on many occasions but we had the ball in Turkey's half for a lot of it and tested their keeper on numerous occasions. As Charlie says, we didn't look out-of-place at all, nor were we over-run. Things will improve and hopefully we can be a bit more clinical with the players spending more time working together. Walters' goal was a lovely finish in spite of the terrible defending by his man; how he didn't realise Walters was always going to have to turn back in on his right to shoot, I don't know. The goals we conceded were as a result of disorganisation, so definitely something to work on at that end for the management team.

[DannyInvincible]

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.

Roy would look that way anyway. I think you're trying to read into things that require no reading into. :rolleyes:

[NeverFeltBetter]

See, I know its inevitable that people will conjure up a rift between MON and Keane at some point (because who doesn't love to stir), I'd just rather it waited until a few competitive games.

[tricky_colour]

Lack of any atmosphere made it a difficult game to watch, the defence needs working on, don't think Alan Hanson would have
been impressed with the it, particularly for the second goal, would have been hard to draw a line through the back four,
unless it was a circular one.

[Charlie Darwin]

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.
When were people, apart from you, praising Trapattoni? (Having worked under him for 5 years, you'd think you'd have learned to spell his name by now.)

The team are obviously adapting to a more positive style of football. The defensive vulnerabilities remain, but there is a clear positive vibe in the replacement of old school defenders like Dunne with ball players like Delaney and Wilson. They'll make mistakes but Turkey's defenders made more mistakes, but unfortunately our strikers weren't as clinical as they were. I wouldn't worry too much, Sean, if you get a contract at a decent Championship side next season and are playing football I'm sure you'll be in the loop.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Just in, fairly ropey all round.
Walters took his goal well, otherwise not great cause for optimism. Not so much pessimism either.

[Stuttgart88]

That's the most uplifting post yet.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Well, refreshment had been taken. The goal aside, no great positives to recall. Just extremely ordinary.

[IsMiseSean]

Anyone know which TV station are covering the Costa Rica friendly?
Setanta have the Italy & Portugal games but no mention on Costa Rica.

[geysir]

Well, refreshment had been taken. The goal aside, no great positives to recall. Just extremely ordinary.
Yes AB, but your reported "Not so much pessimism" is a paradigm shift regardless of your inebriation levels and therefore your post could be interpreted as an uplifting statement.

I'd generally agree, but I'm not looking for an immediate shift in our fortunes on the football field, we still have the same players and all the baggage that goes with that. But there's evidence that MON is looking for us to play a game, that for years most wanted Ireland to play. That's enough for me at this stage.

Not much point in berating players for not being better than they are, or howling at the moon because we don't have more quality players, but we can have plenty opinions on how they are organised to play.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Well, yeah. No-one should dispute that.
For me though, less about the system, but who actually plays, at times.

[tetsujin1979]

Anyone know which TV station are covering the Costa Rica friendly?
Setanta have the Italy & Portugal games but no mention on Costa Rica.
no mention here - http://www.live-footballontv.com/ - which is fairly reliable for football listings.
I had looked into going over to New York for a week, but flights at that time of year are abysmally priced (not a real fan, cost is no object to true fans, every member who's ever registered on ybig is going, etc, and so forth)

[ArdeeBhoy]

Only know of 2 people going from this side of the pond, cheer up tets...

[Stuttgart88]

At least we have Brady, Keane, Gibson, McCarthy, Dunne even, and one or two others still to come into contention.

I thought Whelan could have cost us goals twice in the first 5 minutes. He is clinging to his place now. I was also aghast at how often our players mis-weighted simple enough passes. There were some good bits alright and the defensive errors can be worked on, but I'd still like to see an Irish XI looking cohesive from back to front throughout the game. Even two bit number 4 and 5 seeds can do it at times. I think I might be waiting a while.

[Yard of Pace]

I thought Whelan could have cost us goals twice in the first 5 minutes. He is clinging to his place now..

But was showered with praise by Stoke fans all season. He's the most curious player I've seen for Ireland. Over 50 caps and he's only 30 and I think he's absolutely useless every time he plays.

[Stuttgart88]

I'm a charitable guy and like to look for the good in people. I can see that he is talented and has a nice touch, a decent range of passing and is actually the type of player that we haven't created enough of over the years. But he exasperates me. Our midfield problems began long before he became a regular, but he has done nothing to alleviate them. God, to think we used to berate Matt Hollland!

[Bungle]

At least we have Brady, Keane, Gibson, McCarthy, Dunne even, and one or two others still to come into contention.

I thought Whelan could have cost us goals twice in the first 5 minutes. He is clinging to his place now. I was also aghast at how often our players mis-weighted simple enough passes. There were some good bits alright and the defensive errors can be worked on, but I'd still like to see an Irish XI looking cohesive from back to front throughout the game. Even two bit number 4 and 5 seeds can do it at times. I think I might be waiting a while.

Fully agree with all of that. It's shocking the lack of concentration and ability of some of our players on the ball. The most basic skills of football seem to be missing, yet they are all millionaires a few times over!
While I hate the way alot of the public have turned their back on the team and many view our players as joke figures which really annoys me when they are clearly giving it 100% for our country, it does get harder and harder to defend the lack of the basics.

We may well be 5th seeds for the next draw if we don't start putting together some results which is absolutely frightening. A few good results from the next 4 friendlies and a good start to the next campaign and we might be third seeds (I'm a glass half full kind of guy!!). We probably need to pretty much win all of our games to be second seeds or do something like beat the Germans.

[the doc]

At least we have Brady, Keane, Gibson, McCarthy, Dunne even, and one or two others still to come into contention.

I thought Whelan could have cost us goals twice in the first 5 minutes. He is clinging to his place now. I was also aghast at how often our players mis-weighted simple enough passes. There were some good bits alright and the defensive errors can be worked on, but I'd still like to see an Irish XI looking cohesive from back to front throughout the game. Even two bit number 4 and 5 seeds can do it at times. I think I might be waiting a while.

Ah hmm,

Haven't you forgot someone?

[Stuttgart88]

Is that true about WC seeding?

[shakermaker1982]

It's scary how many places are up for grabs for the first competitive game next season. Keane,McCarthy, Forde & Coleman (maybe O'Shea and or Dunne if fit) would be nailed on. It's a team in flux at the moment and we'll have a few more bad nights before we start to see improvement in results and team organisation (hopefully).

Disappointing turn out. Wasn't the same ground packed out for a Liverpool Z side the other week? Maybe the FAI need to organise friendlies against Premier League reserve teams to get the fans to flock to the ground....

[Stuttgart88]

Ah hmm,

Haven't you forgot someone?sorry, young Hendrick is an exciting prospect. And David Forde looks better than Elliott.

I suppose you could argue for someone who hasn't played a club game for about a year and is currently looking for a new club.

But Westwopd isn't going to be a miracle cure :)

[Bungle]

Is that true about WC seeding?

Right now, we're 32nd in Europe according to the Fifa Rankings so we're just about in the 4th seeds batch, but scarilly near being 5th seeds.

The only positive is that alot of those teams aren't very good, so you would like to think that a few good results will get us right back up there.

[pineapple stu]

There's a lot of assumptions - and a long time to go - but here's (http://www.football-rankings.info/2013/11/2018-fifa-world-cup-qualifying-draw_8639.html) a site which has us as fifth seeds for the moment alright.

Edit - sorry; the most recent version seems to be this (http://www.football-rankings.info/2013/12/2018-fifa-world-cup-qualifying-draw_3471.html) one, which has us back up to fourth seeds.

Agree with the general consensus on here re the Turkey game; thought we tried to play ball, which was nice to see, but we have no penetration at all really. We particularly didn't fancy shots from just outside the box, which was strange. Main concern still remains how we have few enough players to replace 2012's ageing spine - Given, Dunne, O'Shea (ish), Duff, Keane. Replace those with the likes of Elliot, Delaney, St Ledger, McClean and Murphy and we deserve to be fourth - or even fifth - seeds.

[Stuttgart88]

It's definitely FIFA rankings that count forward seeding, yes?

Anyway, another rant. The more I see us playing in a half empty stadium the more it kills me that we didn't go ahead with eircom Park. Politicians, within and outwith the FAI, cost us dearly in that regard. The costs were underwritten by Deutsche Bank, Irish football would have had a compact and personal stadium and the association wouldn't have had to stump up a penny, relatively speaking anyway. It pains me.

Wasn't JD instrumental in its demise? I think Geysir can recall the facts. All I can really recall is the government using the Baldonell flight path as an excuse, and the FAI hopping on Bernard O'Byrne's generous use of his FAI credit card.

There are dark forces in our country looking to undermine our participation in the world game at every opportunity. Unfortunately, many of them are involved in football but they get a generous helping hand from others.

I'd love to "map" the vested interests that made a balls of our country's economy to the sports they contribute to.

[bennocelt]

It's scary how many places are up for grabs for the first competitive game next season. Keane,McCarthy, Forde & Coleman (maybe O'Shea and or Dunne if fit) would be nailed on. It's a team in flux at the moment and we'll have a few more bad nights before we start to see improvement in results and team organisation (hopefully).

Disappointing turn out. Wasn't the same ground packed out for a Liverpool Z side the other week? Maybe the FAI need to organise friendliest against Premier League reserve teams to get the fans to flock to the ground....

Heh, remember the days when Ireland played Manchester United (Moran test), Celtic (Bonner test?) and a Premiership all star team? Thats actually not bad idea

[Charlie Darwin]

It's definitely FIFA rankings that count forward seeding, yes?

Anyway, another rant. The more I see us playing in a half empty stadium the more it kills me that we didn't go ahead with eircom Park. Politicians, within and outwith the FAI, cost us dearly in that regard. The costs were underwritten by Deutsche Bank, Irish football would have had a compact and personal stadium and the association wouldn't have had to stump up a penny, relatively speaking anyway. It pains me.

Wasn't JD instrumental in its demise? I think Geysir can recall the facts. All I can really recall is the government using the Baldonell flight path as an excuse, and the FAI hopping on Bernard O'Byrne's generous use of his FAI credit card.
No way, not even close. Eircom Park was a sham of an idea that cost the FAI millions and probably would have bankrupted them if they'd gone ahead with it. JD was one of the people within the FAI who forced the board to admit they had no idea if it would cost £60m or £130m and that they hadn't actually got any advance financing whatsoever. If people think the FAI is badly run now, they were 10 times worse then. Lunatics running the asylum comes to mind. There are a lot of things you can put down to 'dark forces' in Irish sport and politics, but this isn't one of them.

[pineapple stu]

Disappointing turn out. Wasn't the same ground packed out for a Liverpool Z side the other week? Maybe the FAI need to organise friendliest against Premier League reserve teams to get the fans to flock to the ground....
15000 or so at the Turkey game apparently. (Like all the best LoI sides, the FAI have stopped announcing official attendances lately) 42500 for the Liverpool v Rovers game.

But of course, the Ireland game was only a friendly. Not quite the same as a Dublin Challenge.

But friendlies never get great crowds. You can look around Europe for a few examples - 2500 at Slovakia v Montenegro, 6500 at Finland v Czech Republic. Even Germany "only" got 35000 for their game last week (in a 50000-capacity ground)

I know we used to get better crowds for them (30000+ often), but there's a recession, there's a lot more friendlies these days (it feels that way anyway) and we're not very good lately. Understandable that crowds have dropped.

[Crosby87]

They need to do some sort of deal where you get a bucket of crackbird included with admission. The only thing is stutts said he has been watching the team for 40 years so if he is in his 50s he could have a heart attack.

[DannyInvincible]

no mention here - http://www.live-footballontv.com/ - which is fairly reliable for football listings.

No mention of it here either: http://liveonsat.com/LJS_FT_friend_intl_ALL.php

Is it possible it won't be broadcast on television?

[ArdeeBhoy]

It's on some US channel at the very least (and as a result being broadcast worldwide?), as seen mentioned in my Fbk. feed, will repost a link the next time I see one?

[tricky_colour]

I am sure someone will be showing it somewhere, but Costa Rica has about the same population
as Ireland so it's not a big revenue earner for broadcasters. Probably a bit early for it to be listed
anywhere but someone will broadcast it.

Kick off will be 1 AM UK and Ireland time according to my calculations.

[shakermaker1982]

I do prefer when we are on the road anyway. Gutted I'm missing Craven Cottage in Saturday because of the boxing. Cracking little ground.

To be fair to the FAI I've heard they are giving out a shed load of complementary tickets & we still can't get the punters in. If there is an upturn in results then I'm sure the fans will be back. The Aviva needs to be turned into a fortress, Christ we did better at Croke Park. We must have only lost to France in a competitive game?

[back of the net]

I do prefer when we are on the road anyway. Gutted I'm missing Craven Cottage in Saturday because of the boxing. Cracking little ground.

To be fair to the FAI I've heard they are giving out a shed load of complementary tickets & we still can't get the punters in. If there is an upturn in results then I'm sure the fans will be back. The Aviva needs to be turned into a fortress, Christ we did better at Croke Park. We must have only lost to France in a competitive game?

Yeah only lost to france there competively and think the only other loss there was a 3-2 defeat to poland in a friendly


Fortress Lansdowne is long long gone

[tricky_colour]

Does anyone think the new stadium is responsible for poor results at home?
As in it being less intimidating to the opposition?

I think the old stadium had a grittier look to it.
The new one is about as intimidating as a airport waiting lounge.

[Crosby87]

You're a boxer shaker?

[Stuttgart88]

No way, not even close. Eircom Park was a sham of an idea that cost the FAI millions and probably would have bankrupted them if they'd gone ahead with it. JD was one of the people within the FAI who forced the board to admit they had no idea if it would cost £60m or £130m and that they hadn't actually got any advance financing whatsoever. If people think the FAI is badly run now, they were 10 times worse then. Lunatics running the asylum comes to mind. There are a lot of things you can put down to 'dark forces' in Irish sport and politics, but this isn't one of them.
I'm almost certain a lot of the cost was underwritten by Deutsche Bank who were to securitise the ticket sales for all events held there. Their investors would take the risk of ticket sales not bring as high as anticipated. The FAI were to have been a "non recourse" borrower.

That was at a time when banks were underwriting any risk, even based on numbers presented by the FAI :)

[DannyInvincible]

Kick off will be 1 AM UK and Ireland time according to my calculations.

Where are you getting your times?

The BBC say kick-off is at 15:00, which I assumed was Irish/UK time: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/teams/republic-of-ireland/fixtures

Then again, they also say the Portugal game is on Tuesday the 10th of June at 14:45, but LiveOnSat have it down for the 11th of June at 01:00 (http://liveonsat.com/LJS_FT_friend_intl_ALL.php). :confused:

[tricky_colour]

Where are you getting your times?

The BBC say kick-off is at 15:00, which I assumed was Irish/UK time: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/teams/republic-of-ireland/fixtures

Then again, they also say the Portugal game is on Tuesday the 10th of June at 14:45, but LiveOnSat have it down for the 11th of June at 01:00 (http://liveonsat.com/LJS_FT_friend_intl_ALL.php). :confused:

It seems I added 5 hours rather than take 5 hours away. :stupid:

[DannyInvincible]

Ha, I'm still not sure how you'd have gotten 1AM though. Wouldn't adding five hours have given you 8PM Irish time or were you working from different kick-off times?...

Are these games kicking off around 10AM eastern US time then?

[geysir]

Well, I wouldn't normally presume to 2nd guess Tricky but I presume he added 5 hours to the US ko time and arrived to 1am.

Local time kick offs
v Costa Rica 8pm
v Portugal 7.45pm.

[Charlie Darwin]

I'm almost certain a lot of the cost was underwritten by Deutsche Bank who were to securitise the ticket sales for all events held there. Their investors would take the risk of ticket sales not bring as high as anticipated. The FAI were to have been a "non recourse" borrower.

That was at a time when banks were underwriting any risk, even based on numbers presented by the FAI :)
This was all in theory - nothing was underwritten by any bank. Deutsche Bank had, according to Bernard O'Byrne, made a commitment to underwrite the project but when everything actually came out it was clear they weren't prepared to underwrite a shortfall anywhere close to as big as the FAI's plans. Building Eircom Park was supposed to cost £65m - O'Byrne eventually admitted DB would underwrite it up to £95m - but he was eventually, after a lot more pestering, forced to admit it would cost at least £135m, and knowing the FAI that was an underestimate.

It was, quite simply, a noose for the FAI to hang itself with. John Delaney is an awful piece of work, and he used the crisis to build his empire, but he was bang on about how bad an idea it was and it absolutely, 100%, would have spelled the end to the governing body for football in this country. Politicians screwed Irish football over with the Bertie Bowl debacle, but they helped save us from this monstrosity.

There's an instructive timeline from the Indo (I know, I know, but they were completely right about this) here: http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/the-rise-and-fall-of-fais-eircom-park-26092895.html

[BonnieShels]

It may have been no bad thing for the FAI to have collapsed into a heap.

[Charlie Darwin]

It may have been no bad thing for the FAI to have collapsed into a heap.
In hindsight, playing in the old Lansdowne would be no bad thing considering the crowds we get, but the knock-on effects would be colossal. Irish football is as big a basket case as it is without the association going under.

[DannyInvincible]

Well, I wouldn't normally presume to 2nd guess Tricky but I presume he added 5 hours to the US ko time and arrived to 1am.

Local time kick offs
v Costa Rica 8pm
v Portugal 7.45pm.

So the games will be at 1AM and 12:45AM Irish time then? Where did the BBC get 3PM and 2:45PM from? Did they get their conversions wrong and deduct five hours instead of adding them?

[ArdeeBhoy]

Yeap.
Clearly the Beeb are getting more sloppy?

Tricky muddies the waters...see below.

[tricky_colour]

Well, I wouldn't normally presume to 2nd guess Tricky but I presume he added 5 hours to the US ko time and arrived to 1am.

Local time kick offs
v Costa Rica 8pm
v Portugal 7.45pm.


Indeed you are correct, I am complete inept at such things.
For example I automatically think left is right, if it says click the icon on the bottom left I instinctively look to the right.

It is a good job I found out actually because otherwise I would be searching for a link for the game
at 1 am in the morning, indeed I am pretty sure I have done similar before.

I am fine with complicated stuff but useless with simple things!

[tricky_colour]

So the games will be at 1AM and 12:45AM Irish time then? Where did the BBC get 3PM and 2:45PM from? Did they get their conversions wrong and deduct five hours instead of adding them?

No the BBC time are correct, I screwed up, i saw the game advertised at 8pm Philadelphia time
but I incorrectly added 5 hours rather than take 5 away.

[the doc]

Well lads, time to move on from the other night and get behind the team for our next game.

We all know that the line ups for the upcoming games will change to our usual line up for the qualifiers, so have a few and relax.

There's a lot of ****e given out on here at times, admittedly a fair bit from me too.

But deep down we all love the team and will back them come what may.

Come on Ireland.

[geysir]

No the BBC time are correct, I screwed up, i saw the game advertised at 8pm Philadelphia time
but I incorrectly added 5 hours rather than take 5 away.
You should have kept quiet Tricky, let this one run out and then pretend you didn't know what Danny was on about..
Just remember, if you fly out at midday from to Dublin to NY, you arrive about midday local time. That means we are 5 hours ahead.

KO times are 5 hours ahead in Ireland