Mexico v Republic of Ireland - Met Life Stadium NJ - Friday, 2nd June 2017 - Friendly

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Sad to say that not one of the new introductions has impressed me that much since the Iceland game.

Although I think Egan has been better than Keogh and Duffy tonight.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Hoolahan doing his best there but awful control by Horgan again (tiring, I know).

Possibly our best passage of play in this half all the same.

[tricky_colour]

I still think we can grab a couple of goals.

[tricky_colour]

Really we need to build a wall to keep the Mexicans out.

And who is paying for it???

MEXICO!!!

[SwanVsDalton]

Mexico have won so many 50/50 balls. Part understandable lack of conditioning, part total lack of conviction. We've looked so labourious on and off the ball.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Hoolahan has been pretty impressive since coming on.

[tetsujin1979]

nice finish from Gleeson

[tricky_colour]

Yes!!

I expected we would get 2+ goals.


Just one more needed.

So one bright spark in the game!

[SwanVsDalton]

Decent finish there. 4-3 Ireland, here we go...

[Closed Account]

Hoolahan doing his best there but awful control by Horgan again (tiring, I know).
Can we clone Wes? (Dolly the sheep wouldn't have looked out of the place in that back 3) . Back 4 has immediately made everything look more comfortable.
Tidy finish from Gleeson.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

What a run by O'Dowda!

That would've been some goal.

World of difference since O'Kane, Gleeson, Browne and Hoolahan came on. We are affording them less space and getting closer to every ball.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

I think Hoolahan's confidence rubs off on everyone around him. He is at the center of all our good passages of play.

All things considered it's an improvement on the Iceland performance.

We have actually managed to string three or four passes together which we couldn't do then.

Murphy and O'Dowda came close to scoring but for lack of placement, Christie had a decent effort and McGoldrick could have had an assist if Murphy had greater anticipation.

[tetsujin1979]

Gleeson had to wait ten years after his debut for his first goal, wonder if there's any player who went longer before their first strike?

[Closed Account]

Keogh has done well at right back since the subs, especially since neither Browne or Gleeson have been playing in front of him.

[tricky_colour]

The goal says it all, the Mexican defender backheeled it to Glesson!

I guess he thought we needed a bit of help!

[tricky_colour]

one last chance?

no

[Closed Account]

Worth staying up for. Strangely enjoyable in a car crash kind of way.

[tricky_colour]

Nice back heel across the penalty area, textbook defending. :p


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcozEq8vU6o

[Colbert Report]

Badly need John O'Shea to start against Austria after that shocking performance from our defenders!

[SwanVsDalton]

Worth staying up for. Strangely enjoyable in a car crash kind of way.

Was entertaining, albeit not quite as good as that bizarre friendly against Uruguay a few years back (3-2 to Uruguay I think it was).

Didn't really take anything from that game, since the formation will now go in the bin.

The centre halves were brock, but they're all far better in a back four so harsh to draw any conclusions. Ditto for Hourihane, O'Dowda, Horgan all being played out of position.

Christie looked decent on the ball and Randolph delivered a couple of decent stops along with a tremendous, and tremendously risky, Cryff turn. That's about it for me.

[DeLorean]

Could and should have been a lot worse but it doesn't have much relevance in the greater scheme of things. Duffy is a bit of a worry though, seems to have these nightmare games in him that Keogh at least has the decency to save for club level for the most part.

It is his first proper match in ages though to be fair and of course a lot of it has to be put down to lack of protection in front of him. On reflection, maybe Keogh would be the safer bet for Austria all things considered. Tough call I think now, could do with Duffy for set pieces.

[DannyInvincible]

We didn't start off too badly and I liked the look of Christie in particular early on. He seemed quicker and stronger than usual. According to RTÉ, he travelled to the US early to work on his fitness (https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2017/0601/879700-christie/), so maybe that benefited him.

The second half was dire from the outset. Our defence was exposed and all over the place. The changes were badly needed and at least brought some positivity. The difference Hoolahan makes is monumental.

At least it wasn't a dull game though. Ignoring the fact we were well-beaten, it was quite frenetic/exciting and Mexico do play some lovely football.

[CraftyToePoke]

They were easy to watch definitely, the movement in front of our defenders when in midfield possession posed problems we had no answers for. But given it was a back three / five trial run and a midfield trio that may well never line out for us at the same time again, its maybe best not to read too much into it. When we reshaped to something approaching our usual way it did improve things. We at least traded punches with them then. That's what I'm telling myself anyhow. But they gave us a real lesson in middle third possession and movement for much of it, yes.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Richard Dunne talks about the merits (or lack thereof) of a three man defence.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/dunne-backs-clarke-and-duffy-to-build-solid-defence-for-the-future-35780533.html

Who does Ciaran Clarke play for?

[tricky_colour]

Wildly optimistic starting line up, too attacking and of course that meant an inadequate defence, however once O'Kane was one
we has a proper defensive midfield and they never scored after that (and we did). There were other changes too and of course
maybe Mexico went easy on us after they went 3 up so I would not read anything into that.

Quite an entertaining match from a spectator point of view and no doubt our players enjoyed watching the Mexicans run rings around us (lol).

We were never going to get anywhere with that starting line up, our midfield needs to be anchored down otherwise it just drifts off into the sunset and ends up on the rocks, we tried something like that v Cyprus once, looks good on paper but a disaster in reality, although not quite as big a disaster on this occasion and against better side, but at the end of the day it was a friendly so at least we were entertained.

[Stuttgart88]

A 3 minutes Irish highlights package would make us look good. Murphy's header, Christie's runs, Gleeson's finish, O'Dowda's run, McGoldrick's late chance and Duffy's Zidane-turn and pass to Keogh who galloped up the pitch with the ball at his feet.

A pity about the rest.

Positive is that some players looked decent individually.

[Olé Olé]

Ugh. Fell asleep at about 1 on the couch and woke up when the match was over. Sounds like it was a very entertaining match.

Anybody put their hand up, in particular? I'm gleaning Egan and maybe McGoldrick from looking over the thread?

[OwlsFan]

From a commercial point of view, which is what it was primarily about, it seems to have been a success with +40k in attendance.

[jbyrne]

From a commercial point of view, which is what it was primarily about, it seems to have been a success with +40k in attendance.

of far more importance is that possibly 5 or 6 of that starting team will start against austria and will have tasted action for the first time in a few weeks

[Closed Account]

A 3 minutes Irish highlights package would make us look good. Murphy's header, Christie's runs, Gleeson's finish, O'Dowda's run, McGoldrick's late chance and Duffy's Zidane-turn and pass to Keogh who galloped up the pitch with the ball at his feet.

A pity about the rest.

Positive is that some players looked decent individually.
E-4cG-rCwwk

[Stuttgart88]

...ok, maybe not THAT 3 minutes :)

[geysir]

I watched the first 35 mins and enjoyed the anarchy of us taking on a very good football side, trying to trade technique for technique. Sometimes we have pulled this off in the past, even to the heady heights of a McShane step over v Italy and still ran out winners
It was a nonsense fixture to have in the middle of preparations for a wcq.

[passinginterest]

Entertaining game for a friendly. Can't understand Horgan and O'Dowda rather than O'Kane, Gleeson in the middle. Left the back three extremely exposed and Duffy in particular really struggled. I'm sure the minutes under the belt will have been welcome at least for the players who haven't played in a while.

[DannyInvincible]

Ireland's Mick Conlan there as well!

Bizarrely, Conlan was brought on to the Mexican television broadcast for a very brief interview: https://twitter.com/FM_Ireland/status/870433777675362304

Mostly, the presenters/pundits just seemed to ramble on in Spanish around him. Presumably, they were interested in him as he beat Alfredo Chanez of Mexico last weekend in his second professional fight, but, as he sat there at the side of a football pitch wearing an Ireland football jersey, the less perceptive of the pundits asked him: "Do you like football?" :confused:

If I heard the other pundit on the left correctly, he had earlier said of the pundit sitting on the right, "He played with Roy Keane." Who is the guy on the right?

[paul_oshea]

looking at the Mexican squad they have a heavy sprinkling of Mexicans clubs, the Mexican league is no great shakes I've had the pleasure of a couple of games live and I'd put it somewhere with Europes lower leagues or championship level. So why are they so much better than us and producing much better players? That question still isn't answered, how international teams with players from average leagues are still miles ahead of us in terms of pace, power, speed ant technical ability.

Duffys a worry, all over the shop again. I think Brighton if they want to stay up will have to bring in another CB and Duffy will lose his place before end of next season.

We're still not scoring goals either or taking our chances, 1 goal in 4 or so games, a major worry.

I'm very much pro changing systems and formations, but you lose the merit of it when you are playing with a very weakened squad and many players who wouldn't be used to playing that way and who wont actually be making the first 11 in a competitive game, coupled with a side like Mexico who are in top gear ahead of their important WC qualifiers then there is nothing really gained at all. So long as MON doesn't use it as a reason for saying we don't have the ability or players to play that system in the future.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Was Duffy's first game in months, but he was pretty bad tonight.

Egan is catching a bit of shrapnel from some fans.

I thought there was less flashpoints involving him than Keogh and Duffy and there's probably a reason for that. If you aren't drawing attention to yourself by stepping out of line, overcommitting, lunging and getting turned inside out, it's probably a good thing. Kevin Long, similarly enough, didn't draw attention to himself and had a quietly good performance after coming on.

I still think it was a better performance offensively at least than Iceland. McClean really improved in the last 20 minutes, Christie and O'Dowda carved out good chances for themselves, Murphy and McGoldrick both had good chances to score, Hourihane had a decent effort and right at the start, Murphy should have been on the end of an excellent McGoldrick delivery.

As bad as we were defensively, Mexico made us look like Brazil a couple of times - much more than Iceland.

Christie, along with Hoolahan, was one of the bright sparks but I worry about him when the onus is on him defending in a back four.

McGoldrick was bright in the opening 10 minutes but his performance gradually tapered off after that. I think O'Dowda needs to assert himself more at this level. Horgan, I think has raw talent but needs to be more intelligent and make better decisions.

[Stuttgart88]

looking at the Mexican squad they have a heavy sprinkling of Mexicans clubs, the Mexican league is no great shakes I've had the pleasure of a couple of games live and I'd put it somewhere with Europes lower leagues or championship level. So why are they so much better than us and producing much better players? That question still isn't answered, how international teams with players from average leagues are still miles ahead of us in terms of pace, power, speed ant technical ability.

Duffys a worry, all over the shop again. I think Brighton if they want to stay up will have to bring in another CB and Duffy will lose his place before end of next season.

We're still not scoring goals either or taking our chances, 1 goal in 4 or so games, a major worry.

I'm very much pro changing systems and formations, but you lose the merit of it when you are playing with a very weakened squad and many players who wouldn't be used to playing that way and who wont actually be making the first 11 in a competitive game, coupled with a side like Mexico who are in top gear ahead of their important WC qualifiers then there is nothing really gained at all. So long as MON doesn't use it as a reason for saying we don't have the ability or players to play that system in the future.Yep, wholly agree with last paragraph.

Mexico have always been a smooth machine on the ball, often let down by the absence of a great finisher since Hugo Sanchez. It doesn't really seem to matter how strong the league is, they are a huge country with a good footballing culture.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

First time in 222 games that we didn't field a Dubliner in starting lineup.

https://twitter.com/noriordan/status/870445830544789505

[Razors left peg]

Wouldn't read anything at all into that game. Playing 2 wingers in center midfield left us unbalanced and led to us being completely open at the back. We looked much better once we actually got some midfielders into proper positions towards the end of the game.

It was all about getting some minutes into the players legs who hadn't played since the end of the club season and will be forgotten about in a week.

[Closed Account]

First time in 222 games that we didn't field a Dubliner in starting lineup.

https://twitter.com/noriordan/status/870445830544789505
In contrast have we ever had as many Derrymen and Corkmen around. Must be zero craic.
Cork:


Colin Doyle


John Egan


Kevin Long


Conor Hourihane


Alan Browne


David Meyler



Derry:


Shane Duffy


James McClean


Eunan O'Kane


Darron Gibson

[Closed Account]

http://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/mnt-squad-confirmed-for-uruguay-game
MNT: Squad confirmed for Uruguay gameRepublic of Ireland squad
Goalkeepers: Darren Randolph, Keiren Westwood, Colin Doyle
Defenders: Cyrus Christie, Alex Pearce, Richard Keogh, Shane Duffy, John O'Shea, Kevin Long, Andy Boyle, John Egan, Stephen Ward
Midfielders: Aiden McGeady, Eunan O'Kane, Glenn Whelan, Harry Arter, Conor Hourihane, Alan Browne, Robbie Brady, Jeff Hendrick, Daryl Horgan, Wes Hoolahan, Callum O'Dowda, James McClean, Jonny Hayes
Forwards: Jonathan Walters, Daryl Murphy, David McGoldrick

[Closed Account]

Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill has added nine players to the squad ahead of the Three International Friendly against Uruguay on Sunday, June 4 in Aviva Stadium.

Keiren Westwood, John O'Shea, Robbie Brady, Jeff Hendrick, Glenn Whelan, Harry Arter, Aiden McGeady, Jonny Hayes and Jonathan Walters have come into camp, while Stephen Quinn will link up for training.

The 10 players overall will add to the 19-man panel that travelled to the United States for last Thursday's 3-1 friendly defeat to Mexico with the exception of midfielder Stephen Gleeson who has left the squad.

The newcomers to the squad went through a light training on Friday afternoon in FAI National Training Centre, while the players who travelled to New Jersey underwent a recovery session.


Apart from the injured players named in original panel (Elliot, Doherty, McCarthy, Long), that means no call up at all for
McShane, Wilson, Gibson, Kelly, K Doyle and Rooney.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Maguire and Sheridan must look at McGoldrick's performance against Mexico and wonder how they can't get a call up with just 3 strikers included.

Is Stephen Gleeson in the revised squad?

[Closed Account]

Maguire and Sheridan must look at McGoldrick's performance against Mexico and wonder how they can't get a call up with just 3 strikers included.

Is Stephen Gleeson in the revised squad?
No Gleeson, he drops out. I'd guess he might have holidays booked and the lads were honest with him about his chances of featuring. His stock has risen anyway.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Stephen Quinn joining the squad for training, he's obviously still firmly in O'Neill's thoughts.

http://www.newstalk.com/Ireland-squad-for-Uruguay-friendly-confirmed

Is it just the one training session for the likes of Westwood, Brady, Walters et al. tomorrow, or have they been training in Dublin while the rest of the squad were in Mexico?

It's hardly ideal prep for a friendly with a view to a competitive game - if it is just the one training session.

*Team trained this afternoon apparently.
**Gleeson is getting married.

[tricky_colour]

From a commercial point of view, which is what it was primarily about, it seems to have been a success with +40k in attendance.

From that respect it was good it was an entertaining match, it's a good fixture Ireland v Mexico in the USA.

[Kingdom]

I think O'Neill is a bit of a bullsh!tter to be honest. He hung a few lads out to dry with that selection last night, even if it is just to get minutes into guys legs.

Just think about this: Stephen Gleeson was one of 3 central midfield players who was named in a squad for which a team was picked with 3 central midfield players. He didn't start, came on when all hope was lost, and then after the game drops out of the revised squad completely.
In what way does that help him? If he had holidays booked, then give him the full bloody game, and at least pretend to have some structure.

I'd hope the fact that O'Kane didn't start is down to the fact that they feel he might have a real chance of starting the qualifier.

The 352 formation is one that I've long advocated suited our personnel, and potential personnel. But you've got to pick it with the proper players in the proper positions. I know he's not picking a team to lose a match, but it's almost as if he didn't want the formation to succeed so that it's not a debate.

Browne and O'Kane would have been perfect as part of a 2 in front of 3 centre-halves. Pushing Hourihane ahead of them would have made sense with perhaps O'Dowda supporting Murphy and the two wingers as were.

I'd agree with TOWK that Maguire and Sheridan must be wondering why they couldn't have been involved.

As for the upcoming matches, John O'Shea can only be used in an emergency situation. He's finished. His legs are gone, and he just cannot get by with reading the game, that much surely has to have been patently clear during the second half of the season with Sunderland. We are a Stephen Ward shaped hole away from being goosed at the back.

[Kingdom]

I should say I'm sure Mr O'Neill frankly doesn't care what I think.

[tetsujin1979]

Gleeson is getting married this weekend in Portugal according to 2fm

[DeLorean]

The 352 formation is one that I've long advocated suited our personnel, and potential personnel. But you've got to pick it with the proper players in the proper positions. I know he's not picking a team to lose a match, but it's almost as if he didn't want the formation to succeed so that it's not a debate.

Can't see the logic in this? Is he under some kind of intense pressure to try various systems or a wing back formation specifically... or something?

He's been a big fan of this particular system down through the years so I can't understand why you would think he'd want it to fail to prove it's not worth doing.

I'm sure he realises himself that it would have a better chance of succeeding with the likes of Coleman, Brady, Clark, McCarthy, etc.