Republic of Ireland V Switzerland 25th March & Slovakia 29th March 2016 - Friendlies

[Paddy Garcia]

McShane invites the attack - terrible terrible performance.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Pilkington getting no joy.

[tricky_colour]

I always said McShane had a goal in him.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

McShane invites the attack - terrible terrible performance.

Don't worry, you're grand. Stu isn't trying to get you banned.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Impressed with Hayes. He doesn't seem phased by the step up.

[tricky_colour]

time for a goal

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

90 mins for Whelan and McCarthy. No Meyler. Somehow no room for Judge.

I'd say the signs are pointing towards O'Neill bringing Arter.

[Paddy Garcia]

I'd say the signs are pointing towards O'Neill bringing Arter.

I'd bring Arter too.....

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Was Hoolahan burping there?

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

TOWK's ratings

Elliot - 5 Christie - 8 O'Shea - 6 McShane - 5 Ward - 5 Whelan - 5 McCarthy - 7 O'Kane - 6 Hoolahan - 7 McClean - 7 Long - 8

Randolph - 6 Pearce - 6 Brady - 6 Hayes - 6 McGeady - 6 Pilkington - 5

[tricky_colour]

England losing 2-1 to Holland. :neutral:

[Stuttgart88]

Oh just fcuk off TOWK. We understand the point you've been making. Probably agree too but you're just a negative whinging one dimensional to$ser. contribute properly or sod off again.

Infraction or ban accepted.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Don't give Stutts an infraction or ban.

What he says comes from the heart and he isn't just trying to stir things like Stu.

[zero]

not sure how i feel after that. a real mixed bag. i thought ward mcshane and o'shea were really poor. o'shea and mcshane had apparently zero understanding, contrast that with clark and duffy the other night.

whelan was poor. mcgeady was a bit of a pity when he came on, one little turn and nothing else. mcclean ran around to moderate/good effect. o'kane was good in the first half.

long was man of the match for me despite only playing 45 mins.

[Paddy Garcia]

Indeed - ban Ward & McShane instead ..........

[SkStu]

Pffff this thread I've directed two posts your way one a request the other an observation. This is the third. That's it since you started posting again. If that's stirring then you need thicker skin - you are always the victim of course. Yeah I don't want you here, you are a horribly negative and petty person. A troll. And a good troll at that because you are good at pretending to be sincere.

[paul_oshea]

Twok don't mind them they love whelan and those sorts I think svd says he is one of those you don't notice on the field. I definitely don't notice him on the field until he is giving the ball away :D

I knew the second half would play out as it did.we were more impotent than the swissies. Slightly better defensively.a game of two halves as they say.

I hope mon doesn't use the first half as a justification for his more negative tactics.

Mshane and ward hopefully don't make the plane.two I've always not rated. Whelan I'm not bothered either way he is crap and was being asked to play further forward so he was even more crap than usual.I think crap is the technical word. Certainly more descriptive than "extremely limited footballer with tendencies to give the ball away and let players sail past him"

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Pffff this thread I've directed two posts your way one a request the other an observation. This is the third. That's it since you started posting again. If that's stirring then you need thicker skin - you are always the victim of course. Yeah I don't want you here, you are a horribly negative and petty person. A troll. And a good troll at that because you are good at pretending to be sincere.

Every interaction I have with you is a negative one so why don't you ignore me/block me? Since I never respond to any of your comments unless I am being attacked. My own dumb fault as I should simply ignore the provocation but I never learn - so I take full responsibility for that.

[SkStu]

McClean, Billy Ray, Wessi and Long were all top notch. Good from McCarthy and O'Shea too. Ward has booked his spot I think very solid. I liked O'Kane again too.

[SkStu]

Every interaction I have with you is a negative one so why don't you ignore me/block me? Since I never respond to any of your comments unless I am being attacked. My own dumb fault as I should simply ignore the provocation but I never learn - so I take full responsibility for that.

Apparently you only respond to my comments when you're being attacked by other posters. Nice try though.

[SkStu]

Twok don't mind them they love whelan and those sorts I think svd says he is one of those you don't notice on the field. I definitely don't notice him on the field until he is giving the ball away :D

My thoughts on Whelan are well documented.

[Olé Olé]

McClean, Billy Ray, Wessi and Long were all top notch. Good from McCarthy and O'Shea too. Ward has booked his spot I think very solid. I liked O'Kane again too.

Agree with all these. McClean worked his socks off. He was utterly relentless and showed some good interplay too. Christie really came good in the second half after a mixed bag of a first half (he was quite good but there were too dreadful touches by him when they needed to be better) but he was positive overall. Ward was solid too. Good in possession.

Wes and Long: Love the pair of them. They very rarely perform below 7/10 for us, if ever.

I liked O'Kane as well. MON clearly likes him too having given him so much time tonight. He brings a good combination of ball retention and energy in the the middle third that could prove valuable at the Euros. He tries to push the ball forward a lot and he's always active. Nice player. I hope he gets some game time between now and the season's end for Bournemouth as that will do him a lot of good, I suspect. Arter has a bit to do to catch him now?

McShane in real trouble now. If Clark, Keogh and O'Shea are nailed on to go then a direct comparison between Duffy's performance Friday and McShane's tonight doesn't work out favourably for him.

Other than that, I'm not sure what was learned from tonight. MON already loves McClean (so do I) and he demonstrated why. Long is really pushing hard to be our number 9 now. It would be cruel if we didn't fit him in now. Whelan and McCarthy looked cumbersome at times. It was easy to tell that they've played a lot of games this season. I was critical of Quinn and Meyler on Friday but at least Whelan and McCarthy moved the ball well, even if it wasn't always forward. Ward and Christie are able deputies and Ward was decent enough to warrant pushing Brady forward at this point. However, pushing Brady forward means McClean is unlikely to start (Walters, Wes and Brady behind Long gets me all excited).

Disappointed we didn't see Judge in there. Was surprised he gave Hayes the time ahead of him. Maybe they made up their minds on him? If they have, I would hope it's positive.

Gutted for Elliott. I hope it's not serious but he looked in serious pain and I'd be worried it's ligament damage to the knee.

[geysir]

2nd half wasn't up the intensity of the first, or both sides just cancelled each other out, a friendly stalemate of sorts.
Hardly a hoofball played all night and Hoolahan was excellent, Judge as the next best technical player should have replaced him.
Though it's a sad state when we have to applaud a manager for resisting the urge to play hoof ball.
Some players I'd like to see more of, like Pilks and O'Kane, probably at this stage their squad inclusion would depend on injuries.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

B̶u̶t̶l̶a̶n̶d̶
E̶l̶l̶i̶o̶t̶
Randolph

[DannyInvincible]

First-half was very promising. Played good football and moved the ball around well, especially between the front players who linked up well. Long coming off limited our attacking capabilities quite a bit. Pilkington didn't get much of a chance. Defence was very sloppy and vulnerable for the goals we conceded. Would have been good to see a goal from open-play, but it's not as if we looked toothless.

Elliot has suffered thigh and shoulder injuries in the past. Not sure if the right knee has caused him bother previously can't see mention of it anywhere - so maybe just a new issue rather than a recurring one. Hopefully the scans indicate it won't be too bad. Very unfortunate for him as he's a good keeper and I'm sure he's desperate to try and make his mark, but injuries continually stunt his international progress.

Long and McClean worked hard. Thought O'Kane and Christie did well. Hoolahan had a good game and Brady too I thought. Good to come through the two games with a win and a draw; unbeaten at least and keeps momentum going. It'll help confidence and should give our rankings a slight boost as well.

Just seeing on Twitter now that Martin O'Neill has confirmed Elliot's injury is "serious". I wonder if that's since the scan...

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Looky what we have here. Player ratings.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/ireland-player-ratings-bad-night-for-paul-mcshane-and-stephen-ward-as-wes-hoolahan-shines-34582806.html

[DannyInvincible]

McShane in real trouble now. If Clark, Keogh and O'Shea are nailed on to go then a direct comparison between Duffy's performance Friday and McShane's tonight doesn't work out favourably for him.

Wilson believes he'll be back and ready in time to put him in contention too, although he'll obviously not have much, if any, game-time if that transpires to be the case.

Definitely Duffy over McShane for me though, as things stand; Shane is a much sturdier, more robust defender and a serious threat in the air too, as he proved the other night. (Maybe a hint of local bias there too. :o )

[SwanVsDalton]

Twok don't mind them they love whelan and those sorts I think svd says he is one of those you don't notice on the field. I definitely don't notice him on the field until he is giving the ball away :D

You're right. I love Glenn, I admit it. From the moment he lumbered into the team, he's been pushing all my buttons with all that sexy, oh so inconsistent and anonymous play. I mean, just look at those legs barely in control of themselves and slowly moving! That's it, you've rumbled me. Ya absolute balloon.


I think crap is the technical word. Certainly more descriptive than "extremely limited footballer with tendencies to give the ball away and let players sail past him"

I did quite enjoy this though.

[DannyInvincible]

A bootless Long was holding ice to his leg in the tunnel, but hopefully just precautionary.

[tricky_colour]

A bootless Long was holding ice to his leg in the tunnel, but hopefully just precautionary.


Throw the ice pack in the bin Shane, there is zero evidence it is beneficial.

Indeed what evidence there is point to it be detrimental, as I would expect it to be.

Blood needs to get to the injury to heal it and preventing that with ice is likely to be harmful and what evidence there is proves it is.

http://breakingmuscle.com/mobility-recovery/put-down-that-ice-pack-science-casts-doubts-on-icing



This comes just one month on the heels of another study (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22820210)showing that applying ice to fatigued muscles didn’t improve recovery. Nay - it delayed recovery. In fact, participants in the group that iced their muscles reported feeling more fatigued than the non-icing group at 72 hours after exercise.

[DeLorean]

O'Neill said it looks like a very serious knee injury for Elliot, presumably a cruciate so. Disaster for him and possibly Newcastle, wasn't their only other goalkeeper that young fella who was a bit all over the shop in a game he played early on in the season, was it West Brom away? Think we might have discussed his performance on here for some reason, or else I'm going totally mad and it wasn't even a Newcastle goalkeeper! :) The obvious question should be whether or not this might open the door for Westwood a little, surely Forde and Given in the one squad would be nuts at this stage of their careers? Maybe Henderson could get another look if there is a strain in the relationship between O'Neill and Westwood.

Hoolahan is a joy to watch, by any standards he's just pure class. O'Neill tried to play down his influence afterwards, it was a bit Trap-like.

I really like the look of O'Kane, he's composed and tidy but also forward thinking. Huge potential I think. McClean is relentless, an unmerciful pain the hole to play against I'd imagine.

Poor McShane, he basically took both himself and Elliot out of the Euros equation. Harsh at it sounds! Have to feel for him, he did a ballsy interview afterwards where he went through the goals in detail and took responsibility, have to commend him for that at least.

[zero]

O'Neill said it looks like a very serious knee injury for Elliot, presumably a cruciate so. Disaster for him and possibly Newcastle, wasn't their only other goalkeeper that young fella who was a bit all over the shop in a game he played early on in the season, was it West Brom away? Think we might have discussed his performance on here for some reason, or else I'm going totally mad and it wasn't even a Newcastle goalkeeper! :) The obvious question should be whether or not this might open the door for Westwood a little, surely Forde and Given in the one squad would be nuts at this stage of their careers? Maybe Henderson could get another look if there is a strain in the relationship between O'Neill and Westwood.

Hoolahan is a joy to watch, by any standards he's just pure class.

I really like the look of O'Kane, he's composed and tidy but also forward thinking. Huge potential I think. McClean is relentless, an unmerciful pain the hole to play against I'd imagine.

Poor McShane, he basically took both himself and Elliot out of the Euros equation. Harsh at it sounds! Have to feel for him, he did a ballsy interview afterwards where he went through the goals in detail and took responsibility, have to commend him for that at least.

i think it's telling that when elliot went off it was randolph that came on rather than forde, despite the former having had the full 90 on friday. forde seemed not even a realistic consideration.

the other newcastle keeper is darlow and while not quite a novice didn't cover himself in glory in that game and is not well rated by forest fans (his former club). newcastle's next keeper is freddy woodman who is 19 or so. they might be eligible for an emergency loan - maybe shay could have come back in if butland wasn't injured!

[SwanVsDalton]

Player thoughts ahoy.

Rob Eliot: Gotta feel for the guy. Hope he's ok to travel because he deserves to go and Given should be kept away from the team. Randolph didn't have an awful lot to do except watching Paul McShane's deft finish flash past him,

Cyrus Christie: Love this guy. All this gung-ho attacking is bound to get found out eventually but it's a risk worth taking because he fair terrorises opposition wing backs.

John O'Shea: Wasn't a great night compared to the exploits of Duffy/Clark the other night. Looked rusty. Will do better.

Paul McShane: Knows he's sunk himself. Should've stood off the guy for the first, bit of misfortune for the own goal but probably could've tried to get a proactive touch on it instead of letting it bounce off him. Can't travel.

Stephen Ward: Not a great night for Wardy either, and just when he'd cemented himself in the Championship's best team. Didn't have much protection in front of him, and the Slovaks were strong down that flank, but really struggled at times.

Glenn Whelan: Poor performance from my soulmate and spirit lover. Did make one overlapping forward run, his first since approximately 2009. All sorts of bad on the ball. 9/10.

Eunan O'Kane: Very busy and tidy, aside from one heart-in-mouth back header to Randolph. Thought some of his link up play with the forwards was superb. Has given himself a chance of going.

James McCarthy: Too slow getting over for the second goal. Did well apart from that, though didn't appear as busy as O'Kane.

James McClean: What a dog he is. Think he's the bristly bees biscuits, right up there with Glenn Whelan. Wound Skrtel up too, a bonus!

Shane Long: Great link up play and unfortunate too get injured. That touch for the second penalty, just pure goregous - Glenn Whelan-esque. His pace, in conjuction with McClean/O'Kane/Hoolhan's pressing, was key to our early domination.

Wes Hoolahan: The man. Second best player on the pitch after Glenn Whelan.

Man of the match: Glenn Whelan

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

The master of the unseen stuff that us mere mortals don't notice, Glenn Whelan, will be disappointed in his performance tonight after SVD convinced us all of how necessary he is to our fortunes.

Though he did have one influential moment when he intervened in a dispute between James McCarthy and an opposition player after a tasty tackle on Whelan.

[tetsujin1979]

We played much better football tonight than the win on Friday, but only came away with a draw. Football, it's a funny old game.
We did miss a striker in the second half without Long up front, and never really looked like scoring. Elliot can consider himself desperately unlucky, if the injury is as bad as suspected, he could miss out on the European Championships completely now - not that he was in the running for a start, but it's still an achievement to go. O'Kane looked solid, but is unlikely to go, simply because there's a lot of options in his position.
McShane could be considered the big loser on the night, at fault for the opener, conceding an OG, and turning in a performance like that after Duffy gets MOTM on Friday night, he really needs to impress in the last two months of the season to keep his place in the squad.

[SwanVsDalton]

The master of the unseen stuff that us mere mortals don't notice, Glenn Whelan, will be disappointed in his performance tonight after SVD convinced us all of how necessary he is to our fortunes.

He'd be in the dog house - but I just can't stay mad at lovely Glenn.

[backstothewall]

This was the consensus for France in the car on the way back to Belfast tonight

Randolph, Given, Forde

Coleman, Christie, O'Shea, Keogh, Clark, Duffy, Wilson, Ward

Brady, Whelan, McCarthy, Hoolahan, McClean, McGeady, Arter, Hendrick

Murphy, Walters, Keane, Long

[tetsujin1979]

He'd be in the dog house - but I just can't stay mad at lovely Glenn.

Didn't get a mention in the build up, but it was his 70th cap.

[SwanVsDalton]

Didn't get a mention in the build up, but it was his 70th cap.

Wow. Good chance he'll get a ton too. Has a player more hated ever amassed so many caps for us?

I stick with hated, and it's not just because of what's said about him round here. He's the bete noire of this Ireland team, shorthand for everything a lot of Irish fans consider anti-football.

There was a guy behind me at the Bosnia home leg berating Whelan pretty much every five minutes, proper standing up screaming abuse at him. He was unknowingly screaming at James McCarthy at least half the time.

[Charlie Darwin]

Wow. Good chance he'll get a ton too. Has a player more hated ever amassed so many caps for us?
John O'Shea?

Heroes: Long, McClean, Hoolahan, O'Kane

Zeroes: McShane, Ward, Whelan

Overall, decent performance and the only reason we didn't win is because we had a reserve defence out. Thought we'd struggle up front with McClean and Long but they did well in their 45 minutes together, and we'd have been well-placed to score a third in the second half had Long been fit. Have a feeling the game might be mirrored by the Sweden one in terms of us having a lot of the ball, but can't afford to be that open with Ibrahimovic there.

[SwanVsDalton]

John O'Shea?

Very unpopular with some, but don't think he evinces quite the same loathing.

Kilbane way back in his day had his detractors too, but Glenn provokes a real primal response.

[SkStu]

It's really hard to think that anyone would hate a player that has served us so well. I love Glenn Whelan as I love any 70 capper for us but I do think he is a plodder who shouldn't be a starter and I do think he has kept more talented players off the pitch but he has really never let us down apart from Euro 2012 and he was not alone. Hate and loathing are very strong words...

[SwanVsDalton]

It's really hard to think that anyone would hate a player that has served us so well. I love Glenn Whelan as I love any 70 capper for us but I do think he is a plodder who shouldn't be a starter and I do think he has kept more talented players off the pitch but he has really never let us down apart from Euro 2012 and he was not alone. Hate and loathing are very strong words...

I know, strong words indeed, but no other player in my time supporting Ireland has come close to that level of dark feeling imo.

Brian Kerr on last night's game, loving Wessi and trusting our midfield (http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/brian-kerr-wes-hoolahan-s-creativity-fills-me-with-hope-for-the-summer-1.2591480).

[jbyrne]

This was the consensus for France in the car on the way back to Belfast tonight

Randolph, Given, Forde

Coleman, Christie, O'Shea, Keogh, Clark, Duffy, Wilson, Ward

Brady, Whelan, McCarthy, Hoolahan, McClean, McGeady, Arter, Hendrick

Murphy, Walters, Keane, Long

would go with that with the exception of doyle ahead of murphy (fitness of doyle permitting).

I have my own issues with Whelan but am far more confident with him in the team than out of it.

[DeLorean]

We played much better football tonight than the win on Friday, but only came away with a draw. Football, it's a funny old game.

Easily explained by the contrast in our defending all the same.

[DeLorean]

I really like the look of O'Kane, he's composed and tidy but also forward thinking. Huge potential I think.

I actually thought O'Kane was only about 22, didn't realise he's 25. Would want to be delivering on that potential at this stage really.

Edit - I see he turns 26 the day of the Euro 2016 final... destiny?

[Olé Olé]

This was the consensus for France in the car on the way back to Belfast tonight

Randolph, Given, Forde

Coleman, Christie, O'Shea, Keogh, Clark, Duffy, Wilson, Ward

Brady, Whelan, McCarthy, Hoolahan, McClean, McGeady, Arter, Hendrick

Murphy, Walters, Keane, Long

Can't disagree too much with that. I'm fearful for the man from Antrim though. Wilson could easily be cut loose for an extra midfielder (O'Kane?) given that you've named Brady in the midfielders. Not saying I'd like to see it because I like Wilson and he's been solid and MON does like him.

There will surely be an injury or two then.

EDIT: Re O'Kane, I forgot about Judge. Different players and different formations between last night and Friday but O'Kane did himself a lot of favours, was name-checked by MON and he does love his Derry boys. Judge didn't get on the pitch last night and we look well-stocked in midfield.

Not taking the p*ss re the Derry boys. It's interesting to note that three of the big winners from this week were O'Kane, McClean and Duffy. I think, in terms of squad place considerations, O'Kane and Duffy have done themselves massive favours. And McClean has demonstrated how well his style of play can translate from the wing to up front which will do him no harm at all, given that he hasn't been an undisputed starter, even though a lot of us have admired his contributions and him (well me anyway).

I'm still laughing about his confrontations with Skrtel. When he got the scrape of a boot off Skrtel and squared up to him it was too brilliant. His yellow card was funny too. Whatever about the first tackle (by someone else, Christie?), McClean had no need to tear into the second player but he did. Hero.

[geysir]

Easily explained by the contrast in our defending all the same.
That was one reason and unlike the impotent Swiss, the Slovaks could punish each mistake ruthlessly, each of their goals was superbly executed.
This is a much better Slovak squad than the one we met in the 2012 EC qual.

[Olé Olé]

I actually thought O'Kane was only about 22, didn't realise he's 25. Would want to be delivering on that potential at this stage really.

Edit - I see he turns 26 the day of the Euro 2016 final... destiny?

I'd say he was still in League 2 with Torquay United at 22. Lovely little player though. Hope he gets plenty minutes for Bournemouth but, as the commentators alluded to on Setanta, Howe is going with a 4-4-2 that only leaves room for Arter and Surman.

[DeLorean]

This is a much better Slovak squad than the one we met in the 2012 EC qual.

Was that close to their best starting XI last night? They seem a pretty old team, the commentator mentioned that something like seven or eight of the guys that started last night were in their World Cup squad in 2010. That's not that unusual or anything I'm just kind of wondering how they've improved so much? Experience? They did seem pretty impressive in qualifying bar the home defeat to Belarus.