Poland V Republic of Ireland - Saturday, 11th October 2015 - Euro 2016 Qualifier

[tricky_colour]

bradies kicks have been poor and that was another one

[Crosby87]

The ref is Turkish, do you think he's ever been in a Turkish prison? Or seen a grown man naked? Or enjoys films about Gladiators?

We are going to end up drawing the Dutch. I guarantee. They should just announce it right now. Also US should fire Klinsmann after last nights home debacle.

[Colbert Report]

Robbie Keane hasn't done a thing since he's been on.

[Crosby87]

You were wrong again Colbert :).

[tricky_colour]

ffs how many time has brady given the goal to the keeper

[tricky_colour]

wasted so many chance and he does not give a toss he will hand the next one to the keeper too, he need slapping

[Colbert Report]

I think this is the most amount of attacking players we've had on the pitch since the extra time against Spain in 2002.

[Crosby87]

Damn. So close.

[paul_oshea]

1 shot on target we didn't deserve the draw anyway.

Slap bang reality smacks us right in the face.this has been a brutal display.

[Colbert Report]

O'Shea and Walters out for the first leg of the play-off. Total disaster.

[paul_oshea]

We haven't moved on at all.we can show one big performance against a top team but that performance is as bad as anything since O'Neill took over.

[Stuttgart88]

Really poor. Huff and puff and not much else. Set pieces poor. Brady had a poor game which we can't afford, being one of our few players who can use the ball.

[tricky_colour]

should have played the 11 who beat Germany for physiological reasons apart from anything else,
we know our regular line up cant deliver the good and so it turned out.

[tricky_colour]

was noticable how v germany you could see two clear line of defence a good shape, today just a ragged mess.

[IsMiseSean]

You'd think Whelan & McClean would be chomping at the bit to put in a display after missing the Germany game. Probably are two worst players tonight.

[boovidge]

It was a brutal performance that hopefully doesn't dent their confidence too much going into the playoffs. No Walters and O'Shea is a massive blow. I'm also not sure we can justify a place for Robbie Keane anymore as great as he has been over the years. He's still the best finisher we have but the rest of the side's not good enough to make him of any use. We need the brute force and pace of Walters and Long

[paul_oshea]

can't see us getting past 8 of 10 possibilities over 2 legs. Slovenia are about the only one I can see us beating over two legs and even that would be tight. We simply aren't good enough.

These players can't produce consistent performances because they're not good enough. We were very much second rate throughout the whole game. Our touch was terrible, our control was terrible , our passing was terrible, our defensive line and structure was terrible ,and that was simly bexuase we didn't have two lines of defence.*

Was it 1 shot on target? Keoghs header.Brutal.

[osarusan]

Whelan and McClean were poor alright. Brady also. McGeady didn't do much either, apart from one decent cross. Keane too, but he never had a chance to get into the game. We can't afford so many poor performances.

Really open fast-paced game in the first half and we never really got to grips with them. Until the last 20 minutes maybe, then we got on top a bit, but that was also just them going more defensive.

We didn't deserve anything from the game. 45 minutes to score 1 goal, and we produced only one Keogh header.

[zero]

poor show but poland were decent going forward. i do think the emotion / exertion of thursday took it's toll.

if my calculations are correct, to be seeded in the playoffs we need: croatia to beat malta, and norway to not win in italy AND one of

cyprus to beat bosnia
or
ukraine to beat spain

[davidatrb]

poor show but poland were decent going forward. i do think the emotion / exertion of thursday took it's toll.

if my calculations are correct, to be seeded in the playoffs we need: croatia to beat malta, and norway to not win in italy AND one of

cyprus to beat bosnia
or
ukraine to beat spain

I'm not sure if Ukraine beating Spain helps any more. We can't even draw with Poland but now will very very likely have to beat Ukraine, Sweden, Bosnia or Denmark. Might even throw Netherlands in there.

And do it without O Shea and Walters.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Too many bad performances, we were lucky enough to lose by one I thought. Really dissapointed with showings from Brady and McClean, while Whelan, well, was Whelan. We move on, wait and see about the play-offs.

[zero]

I'm not sure if Ukraine beating Spain helps any more. We can't even draw with Poland but now will very very likely have to beat Ukraine, Sweden, Bosnia or Denmark. Might even throw Netherlands in there.

And do it without O Shea and Walters.

ah... you are correct. though i'd rather hungary as a potential seed than ukraine.

so we need the norway draw/loss and the cyprus win to be seeded? not going to happen.

[thischarmingman]

So poor. One heroic performance against Germany aside, we don't deserve to be going to the Euros.

[Cymro]

I have to say, I think some of the comments here a being a tad harsh on the performance tonight. Poland looked a very dangerous side going forward and played with a huge intensity for basically the whole game, only really dropping off the pace in the last 10 minutes. The two goals although poor defensively to an extent were also world class finishes and the 'poor' defending for the second goal was actually down as much to the pressure and positioning of the Polish forwards than to actual poor defending. Granted, the marking was poor initially, but the defender did the right thing in trying to cover Grosicki (?), which then allowed Lewandowski to get in and score. If Lewandowski hadn't, the other guy probably would have.

In my opinion, if Poland were in our group, they'd probably be competing to win it. They'd walk NI's group, and in England's group may have taken something from England and challenged them a bit more than the Swiss. They are not great defensively but play with not just intensity but class going forward. It's very difficult to deal with as the results from the group have shown.

If you compare tonight's game with the Germany game which I saw bits of, Poland looked the much more dangerous team offensively.

For the play-offs, the draw looks difficult as you look set to be unseeded. Losing O'Shea is also a big blow. The draw is all-important, Slovenia, Ukraine and Bosnia-Herzegovina are quite beatable though. Bosnia-Herzegovina are vulnerable if they start getting injuries. They lost 3-0 to Israel and have also lost to Cyprus in our group, and in all honesty up until they scored last night we shaded the game. I think you would have maybe a 50-50 chance against them.

[paul_oshea]

I don't see that Scotland managed two draws against them and were very unlucky to concede last minute.

They were very comfortable in Dublin and we did very little going forward against them and were always looking ljke we could concede when they went forward we were so disjointed. Perhaps we werent as well drilled defensively as the first game but I don't think it's that.

Germany scraped through tonight, Poland and Scotland were close enough to them in the contests but we never really looked as competent against poland or Scotland and scraped a draw at the death agausnt Poland and comprehensively beaten by Scotland and Poland without creating any real chances.

Bar 1 decent performance and a dollop of luck( which we didn't get at the death tonight ), we have been very poor.

McClean and long should have come on late today.

[geysir]

We were beaten this evening, but not by much. We didn't perform to any great standards and were beaten by Poland who performed a little better on their home turf. It was a tight, nervy game of few chances for either side. Thanks to Platini we still have another life in these Euros.

That RTE panel talk a load of pretentious know it all crap. Did Giles ever get an away point when he was actually an Irish manager?

[tricky_colour]

To be honest I never expect to win, defending all game and hoping to hit them on the break is one thing,
but going to Poland and expecting to beat a odd and determined side is another. They are not the Germans
too arrogant so break into a sweat and with nonchalant attitude to the result.

So my main hope was on the play off and obviously still is, after all it is easier, two legs
home and away and I doubt we will meet a tougher team, afterall you have to be pretty shoite
to finish third, we are living proof of that!! :p

So who are we likely to face? I have not really looked into it yes and understand it is not settled yet.
I best go and read the relevant stuff I suppose. :)

Bosnia or Slovenia would be nice :)

[backstothewall]

Overall I thought we were average tonight. Both sides looked nervy. O'Shea was awful - we've seen the very best and worst of him this week.

Plus points were Randolph, Hendrick & Keogh. Coleman was immense.

[TrapAPony]

I personally don't fancy our chances too much in the playoffs. We're not better than any of the potential sides. I suppose our best chance is drawing our way to the Euros by going through on away goals.

[Cymro]

I don't see that Scotland managed two draws against them and were very unlucky to concede last minute.

They were very comfortable in Dublin and we did very little going forward against them and were always looking ljke we could concede when they went forward we were so disjointed. Perhaps we werent as well drilled defensively as the first game but I don't think it's that.

Germany scraped through tonight, Poland and Scotland were close enough to them in the contests but we never really looked as competent against poland or Scotland and scraped a draw at the death agausnt Poland and comprehensively beaten by Scotland and Poland without creating any real chances.

Bar 1 decent performance and a dollop of luck( which we didn't get at the death tonight ), we have been very poor.

McClean and long should have come on late today.

Scotland's two goals were outstanding individual strikes, on another day Poland would probably have won that game. I can't really comment too much on most of the games having not seen them fully, but it does seem to me that Poland are one of the better second-placed sides to have made the finals.

[AlanOB]

Poland 2-1 Ireland: Left-sided defensive weakness and absence of Hoolahan guile condemns Irish to playoff (https://tacticstruck2.wordpress.com/2015/10/11/poland-2-1-ireland-left-sided-defensive-weakness-and-absence-of-hoolahan-guile-condemns-irish-to-playoff/)

[Yard of Pace]

I agree with Cymro that the criticism is overly harsh. We were playing, days after an emotional victory, away in a noisy cauldron of a stadium against a team who were so obviously up for it and who have probably the world's best striker at this particular moment.
Also, when Brady has a dead-ball off-day it's, well it's a disaster really. Keogh getting that free header showed they would have been vulnerable if Brady had his usual deliveries. I hope MON has learned from the two games and jettisons Whelan. McCarthy was much better once he was gone.

I wouldn't fancy drawing us in the play-offs, I gotta say.

[paul_oshea]

All those factors have nothing to do with how poor our performance was. The noise, the team being up for it, the emotion.

We couldn't control the ball for the first 50 mins.we were second to evertyhting and they always seem to have an out. Everything that we could control, that was within our control,we didn't and couldn't control. Forget all the other external factors gotta look introspectively first and we were just very poor. 1 header. On any other day that game was a 2 - 0 loss and probably more because at that point we would just collapse and probably be exposed at the back as we chased 2 goals.

[DannyInvincible]

Game was very tense. Nerves were wrecked. Ultimately, it was terribly disappointing though. We were all over the place and created absolutely nothing, bar Keogh's header, when we really needed to go all out for a goal. It was all very frantic. We looked exposed and disorganised. Not sure I fancy us making it through the play-offs. We just lack a consistent cutting edge, if we have a cutting edge at all.

Lewandowski was very cynical (or clever; whatever one wishes to call it) all game - worst I've seen since Dudu Aouate - but that's how FIFA/refs allow the modern game to be played and we weren't up to dealing with it. It was terribly frustrating to watch, though. McCarthy was visibly seething with him. Not that it cost us the game - we were the cause of our own downfall - but it would be nice to see the authorities make a proper effort to stamp that crap out.

Polish fans created a great atmosphere. Was a cauldron of noise and I'm sure it aided their team and ensured our players didn't feel too comfortable. A lot of our players played poorly. Did they buckle under the pressure? There were definite signs of tiredness after Germany as well, although we should remember that Poland played on Thursday nigth too and had to travel back to Warsaw from Glasgow.

Overall though, disheartening. Onto the dreaded play-offs we go... Bah!

[tricky_colour]

Poland 2-1 Ireland: Left-sided defensive weakness and absence of Hoolahan guile condemns Irish to playoff (https://tacticstruck2.wordpress.com/2015/10/11/poland-2-1-ireland-left-sided-defensive-weakness-and-absence-of-hoolahan-guile-condemns-irish-to-playoff/)

I was wondering about this, mind you I have only seen the game on a stream where it is hard to identify players,
however I think we would have been better off with Ward at left back and Brady on the wing.

Indeed I would have played the team which beat Germany, I bet Poland were delighted to see us change it!!!

That team would have had a certain 'fear factor' which would have helped up and would bring
the confidence and experience of that win with it.

So a blunder by O'Neil imo.

[Charlie Darwin]

That was the reality check we had coming after the euphoria of Thursday. I thought we looked tired from the first whistle, to be honest. Poland took the game to us and, while they were no great shakes, were better than us. And they have the best striker currently playing the game, which ultimately proved the difference. Five changes showed that we're still a long way from having the squad we need to compete at this level, but we have a play-off and we'll see what happens. O'Shea and Walters big losses for the first leg, though O'Shea in particular was poor all game.


I was wondering about this, mind you I have only seen the game on a stream where it is hard to identify players, however I think we would have been better off with Ward at left back and Brady on the wing.
Ward wasn't on the bench as far as I know, due to the injury he picked up against Germany.

[elroy]

I know last nights performance was poor and an opportunity missed which we may prove to regret. However, I want to note the over the top negativity from the rte panel. Is it any wonder the general public has a low opinion of the team.

Considering we just beat the world champions in our last game, the negativity and particularly Dunphy ranting prior to kick off was a joke. Overly focused on the Houlihan omission. Little technical analysis or insight.

I'm not asking for cheerleaders but we deserve better than this old drivel and constant negativity.

[jbyrne]

I know last nights performance was poor and an opportunity missed which we may prove to regret. However, I want to note the over the top negativity from the rte panel. Is it any wonder the general public has a low opinion of the team.

Considering we just beat the world champions in our last game, the negativity and particularly Dunphy ranting prior to kick off was a joke. Overly focused on the Houlihan omission. Little technical analysis or insight.

I'm not asking for cheerleaders but we deserve better than this old drivel and constant negativity.

smallish point but dunphy kept referring to hoolahan being left out v Scotland away but conveniently ignores the fact that wes was injured for that game. he also said Holland were in the play off teams when their participation is unlikely at this stage

[shakermaker1982]

After coming back from the game in Cardiff that was a bit of a come down. I thought we were gonna snatch a 2-2 draw at the death.

MO'N picked the wrong team last night. He had got the perfect combination in midfield against Germany but went back to the old tried and trusted (but ultimately) unsuccessful option of Whelan. As I pointed out the other day McCarthy is miles better when Whelan isn't in the team. We have to use him as the DM for the play off games. We also need to steer well clear of starting McClean - impact sub at best.

Brady was woeful last night- keep him in midfield.

Lewandowski is a talented player but by God does he love a dive. O'Shea just kept falling into the traps, you'd think an experienced defender would be wise to such things.

I hope we end up with Sweden or Denmark. I think we could nick a score draw over there. Let's not all go back to the doom and gloom after the euphoric victory on Thursday. Emotionally and physically the players were spent, Hoolahan not being 100% was a problem and it ultimately cost us a result. Need to wrap him up in cotton wool. I just thought we'd have sneaked a draw. Oh well 2 more games....

[IsMiseSean]

Lewandowski is a talented player but by God does he love a dive. O'Shea just kept falling into the traps, you'd think an experienced defender would be wise to such things.


Agreed Lewandowski went down easily but O'Shea is experienced enough at this level to have copped onto it. He continually man-handled him. If Shane Long was doing similar at the other end of the pitch we'd all be praising him. O'Shea was terrible last night.

[Yard of Pace]

[QUOTE=paul_oshea;1843033]All those factors have nothing to do with how poor our performance was. The noise, the team being up for it, the emotion.

QUOTE]

Nothing? ;)

Get up the yard. I don't know how you put a percentage value on it but it had something to do with us being on the back foot from the start until about 25 minutes from the end. It's a fact that the home team wins more often than the away team. And a determined Polish side ripping into us from the start roared on by however many thousands of pivo fuelled Poles had an effect. The way you've dismissed it, you make it sound like it could have been a pre-season friendly behind closed doors and we'd still have been so poor.

However, just to reiterate, it's fairly clear I'm not blaming our poor play solely on that.

:rolleyes:

[jbyrne]

Agreed Lewandowski went down easily but O'Shea is experienced enough at this level to have copped onto it. He continually man-handled him. If Shane Long was doing similar at the other end of the pitch we'd all be praising him. O'Shea was terrible last night.

Lewandowski didn't need to be even touched to go down last night

[IsMiseSean]

Lewandowski didn't need to be even touched to go down last night

Cute forward play. It's up to the referee to stop that, who I thought was poor last night. And there are plenty of incidents were JOSH is all over him.
JOSH's two yellow cards were for fouls on Lewandowski. The first one was a little soft, but there was an elbow on the side of the head (not intentional) but you're giving the ref a decision to make. The 2nd YC is just plain stupidity knowing your already on a yellow.
Walters yellow is the most ridiculous, why he feels the need to pull back Lewandowski is beyond me. Plenty of cover around & he was going nowhere.

[pineapple stu]

Don't think there was too much difference between this performance and our game on Thursday to be honest. Main difference was Poland had an attacking threat, which Germany didn't have.

Thought the ref was one of the worst I've seen at this level. Our penalty was never a penalty. O'Shea's first yellow was nonsense, as was Whelan's. I thought Poland could have had a penalty at one stage when O'Shea was all over his man in the box. And the ref was far, far too picky overall - refused to let the game flow. 43 frees overall, and it wasn't a dirty game.

But in the end of the day, we weren't good enough - simple as that. Onwards now to the play-off - though I don't see much different happening there to be honest.

[Closed Account 2]

Cute forward play. It's up to the referee to stop that, who I thought was poor last night. And there are plenty of incidents were JOSH is all over him.
JOSH's two yellow cards were for fouls on Lewandowski. The first one was a little soft, but there was an elbow on the side of the head (not intentional) but you're giving the ref a decision to make. The 2nd YC is just plain stupidity knowing your already on a yellow.
Walters yellow is the most ridiculous, why he feels the need to pull back Lewandowski is beyond me. Plenty of cover around & he was going nowhere.

The other thing was both those cards were so late in the game, the chances of us getting that second goal had gone, it would have been better for Walters and O'Shea to avoid the cards and not pick up the suspension. The Poland game was done at that stage, but we will be a bit weaker for that first leg without O'Shea (our main organizer) and Walters (who has been one of our most hard working attacking players).

[Olé Olé]

People are mentioning tiredness. The worst thing is that it's the same time frame between the two legs of the play-offs.

[Kingdom]

All those factors have nothing to do with how poor our performance was. The noise, the team being up for it, the emotion.

We couldn't control the ball for the first 50 mins.we were second to evertyhting and they always seem to have an out. Everything that we could control, that was within our control,we didn't and couldn't control. Forget all the other external factors gotta look introspectively first and we were just very poor. 1 header. On any other day that game was a 2 - 0 loss and probably more because at that point we would just collapse and probably be exposed at the back as we chased 2 goals.

The world is surely ending. perfect summary.

[triggsrevenge]

I thought we looked very leggy, I don't think O'shea had the legs for the two games in quick succession, in a weird way it may be a blessing that he'll be available and fresh for the second leg, assuming we're still in with a shout. Same for Walters,the intensity of the Germany game took it's toll on the lads.

[triggsrevenge]

After coming back from the game in Cardiff that was a bit of a come down. I thought we were gonna snatch a 2-2 draw at the death.

MO'N picked the wrong team last night. He had got the perfect combination in midfield against Germany but went back to the old tried and trusted (but ultimately) unsuccessful option of Whelan. As I pointed out the other day McCarthy is miles better when Whelan isn't in the team. We have to use him as the DM for the play off games. We also need to steer well clear of starting McClean - impact sub at best.

Brady was woeful last night- keep him in midfield.

Lewandowski is a talented player but by God does he love a dive. O'Shea just kept falling into the traps, you'd think an experienced defender would be wise to such things.

I hope we end up with Sweden or Denmark. I think we could nick a score draw over there. Let's not all go back to the doom and gloom after the euphoric victory on Thursday. Emotionally and physically the players were spent, Hoolahan not being 100% was a problem and it ultimately cost us a result. Need to wrap him up in cotton wool. I just thought we'd have sneaked a draw. Oh well 2 more games....


I personally think that we need to develop another player who can come in and do the Wes role if he's not fit. If it was me, i'd use Brady in that role, and move cyrus/wilson to left full back. We can't replace our playmaker with Glenn Whelan.

[AlanOB]

I was wondering about this, mind you I have only seen the game on a stream where it is hard to identify players,
however I think we would have been better off with Ward at left back and Brady on the wing.

Indeed I would have played the team which beat Germany, I bet Poland were delighted to see us change it!!!

That team would have had a certain 'fear factor' which would have helped up and would bring
the confidence and experience of that win with it.

So a blunder by O'Neil imo.

I agree that the diamond seems to suit us better than the 4-1-4-1, but given that it was introduced to accommodate Hoolahan - who declared himself unfit to start last night - reverting to the latter shape can't really be interpreted as a blunder IMO.

As for Ward, as someone else mentioned, I think he was injured. Though, with all due respect to the lad, although he did well against Germany, we know all too well that he's hardly the answer to any left-sided defensive woes!