Ireland Vs. China [Archive]

eirebhoy

28/03/2005, 10:19 AM

Hopefully McGeady and Elliott will come on no later than the half hour mark.
Just can't imagine Kerr making a couple of subsitutions after 30 minutes. :D ;)

McGeady has to start. He has 3 caps now and all of them have been as a substitute. Kerr knows he'll never get a better chance than this to give him his first start and I really can't see him not playing from the start.

I think Finnan will start at right back as Carr is suspended for our next game. This is Kav's chance to get back into that 3rd choice spot for central midfield. Can't believe Roy is still with the squad for a game like this. :)

boysingreen

28/03/2005, 10:46 AM

Hell I want to see McGeady start too. Had it in my head when I posted, for whatever reason, that him starting was out of the question.

onenilgameover

28/03/2005, 12:20 PM

If we play like we did against israel will will do well to beat em....

2-1 Ireland

supasparx

28/03/2005, 7:20 PM

I'm hopeful of a 2or3 nil, would like to get a look at McGeady and Elliot. Any foot. lads meeting for couple o scoops before this one? If so where?

Colie

28/03/2005, 7:58 PM

Anyone afraid we'll be sang out of it again like at the Bulgaria match? I recon there'll be a load of Chinese there.

We'll be on the N Tce singin our heads off for the whole thing as ever with whatever voice we can muster after the weekend. If anyones down there please come over & giveus a hand.

2-0 I recon

dancinpants

28/03/2005, 7:59 PM

1-0 Ireland

thejollyrodger

28/03/2005, 8:14 PM

Ireland needs this match to get some confidence back. we really need to crush this china team. Not just a 1 goal victory, at least 3 nill.

Can't believe Roy is still with the squad for a game like this

Either can I, whats going on there like :D :D

Mc Geady HAS to start. There is no point ****ing around with a few minutes. he needs a full game. We need options apart from Duffer. Same goes for Elliott.

davey

28/03/2005, 9:29 PM

I think Mcgeady will get the full second half. Kerr is cautious but McG recent performances will mean he plays more than a bit part

eirebhoy

28/03/2005, 9:43 PM

I really will eat my very own hat if McGeady doesn't start. After the China game we play Celtic. If Celtic get to the cup final they will play that the day before our match which not only means McGeady will play that but it makes the game a bit of a farce and won't be even treated as a friendly (more like the Liverpool legends match yesterday). The only other arranged friendly coming up soon is the Italy one. The team that will play that is the one that will play against France so there's no experimenting there. Kerr doesn't play players in competitives without them at least starting in a friendly so all this leads to McGeady starting tomorrow. I hope. :)

De Town

28/03/2005, 9:45 PM

I reckon we will win 2-1.

eirebhoy

28/03/2005, 9:57 PM

Aye, it'll be tight. I'd rank China with the likes of Australia.

我们必须赢取由至少三 ;)

Cough (http://world.altavista.com/) :)

Eire06

28/03/2005, 10:49 PM

Delighted were playin China hopefully that'll lift the heads a bit after the weekend...

mcGeady to start defo and its about time he showed us what he can do.. hopefully he'll put on a good performance for us..

eirebhoy
您必須有一點做□管閒事翻譯站點。您廢鑄品ya. 他他我無論如何會說這將是二nill

EDIT:
Ok just tried to translate that back into what I said in the first place and it came out all stupid :confused: ah well you'll get that stupid computer :rolleyes:

FarBeag

28/03/2005, 11:48 PM

We will win it by about 2 goals.No pressure to win and we always do when this is the case.Maceady will probally play the second half.I really hope Reid and Kav get a run.

Closed Account 2

29/03/2005, 3:08 AM

The Chinese are missing all of their top flight European based players. So far as I know the only lad theyve got who plays in a European League is Shao Jiayi. He plays for München 1860 (now in Div 2) and cost about £1m 2 or so years ago... He's a very average player.

I have to say I dont think they'll be tricky opposition even if we put out a second string. Theyve been knocked out of the World Cup Quals already, failing to get through a group with Kuwait, Hong Kong and Malaysia (although to be fair they just lost out on goal difference). Also theyve sacked their coach (think it was the Dutchman Airy Haan) and are in transition.

They were runners up in the Asian Cup 2004 (the Asian equivalent of Portugal 2004) which they hosted (lost to the Japanese in the final). But from what I saw they werent great. A narrow 1-0 v Qatar, a 5-0 win over Indonesia, and a 2-2 with Bahrain in the groups. Then a 1-1 vs Iran in the semis (lucky result for them) and went thru on pens. Outplayed by the Japanese (3-1) in the final, which upset the home fans.

That said a few of their team were in the WC2002 and they looked a very pacey side, so we might want to watch that. Im not too concerned about the result, I just want to see young players and those on the margins given a chance to perform.

elroy

29/03/2005, 9:56 AM

A big win is needed to get everyones confidence back after sat, would love to see Elliott play, is Keane (roy) gonna play?
I'll prob be in the lower east stand singing my heart out.

dancinpants

29/03/2005, 7:41 PM

A big win is needed to get everyones confidence back after sat, would love to see Elliott play, is Keane (roy) gonna play?
I'll prob be in the lower east stand singing my heart out.

Well, I doubt thats gonna happen - 0-0 after 52 mins... :eek:

ken foree

29/03/2005, 8:14 PM

goal!

morrison, nice take

dancinpants

29/03/2005, 8:21 PM

Ken Foree, what was the game like?

ken foree

29/03/2005, 8:32 PM

sorry i didn't see it either, just clicked yer man's link above and bang morrison scored (maybury hit a ball up the right and morrison lobbed the keeper who was racing out to that corner of his box). kavanagh did well a few minutes later and created a great chance for himself with some persistence (and not a little skill) and should've put it away for two nil but blasted straight at the keeper and over (mighta skimmed the top of the bar). from what i saw, ireland looked a lot like they did on saturday, plenty of possession but a bit jittery at times.

thejollyrodger

29/03/2005, 8:41 PM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/4390921.stm

The BBC didnt rate Ireland at all.

ken foree

29/03/2005, 8:44 PM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/4390921.stm

The BBC didnt rate Ireland at all.
ugh..

boysingreen

29/03/2005, 8:58 PM

[Removed for advertising without permission.]

Thanks for the link. How come the print on the site indecipherable?

dancinpants

29/03/2005, 9:00 PM

Going by aertels report you'd nearly think they were worse than Saturday!!! :eek:

eirebhoy

29/03/2005, 9:03 PM

Really disappointed in Kerr tonight. The game was crying out for McGeady.

How on earth anyone can want to see O'Shea as a central midfielder is beyond belief. I'd say his pass success rate tonight was about 20%.

Anyway, poorest match I've seen in Landsowne in years. Pity Kav didn't get a goal. At least he showed what he can do when he's allowed go forward. He and Keane would be a letal partnership.

Colie

29/03/2005, 9:33 PM

Fair play to the Chinese fans; they dominated us (as per usual at home friendlies).

I've been to a few games with rubbish Irish fans in my time & this ranks among the top. I think the home friendly fans are some kind of weird race. I'm actually happy that all the competitive games don't go on general sale even tho I'm not a block booker.

I tried singin for the whole first half on the North Tce, even did the whole of "Team Of Gary Breens" to number 12 with choruses & no-one else sang it. At one stage I sang something & some knob down the back gave me an "on yer own, on yer own"!

Went down the South Tce for the second half to see if it was any better but it wasn't so I just gave up. The biggest moment of the night for most of the fans (after the goal) was when Roy Keane came on. Are they only there for him?

To make matters worse we were stood beside a couple of know it alls that wouldn't stop criticising the team. Theres so many of them at these games. One of them even shouts at Johnno; "O'shea, you're nothin but a fukcin lanky donkey".

Like I dunno, I already have a ticket for the Italy game, but that'll be my last friendly. And they wonder why our friendly attendances have been so poor.

Free therapy; thanks Foot.ie

Irish_Praha

29/03/2005, 10:09 PM

I didn't see the game myself but this is what www.sportinglife.com had to say, they seemed more interested in writing about what Kerr said after the game rather than what happened on the pitch :cool: :

Clinton Morrison spared the blushes of boss Brian Kerr with a goal of pure genius which stood out like a beacon in the dire gloom of this meaningless friendly.

This was one of those games everybody connected with the Republic of Ireland will want to forget in a major hurry, but for Morrison who remains out in the cold for club, but can do little wrong for country.

Morrison's exquisite 82nd-minute finish was his fourth goal at international level from his last six appearances.

Prior to Morrison's strike China had the better chances in both halves.

With 10 minutes of the first 45 remaining Paddy Kenny had to make a sharp save from Zhao Junze who fired in a low shot from the edge of the area.

In the second period the Sheffield United goalkeeper could only watch as the impressive Sun-Xiang clipped an effort just wide of the post after his pace had taken him through on goal.

The quality of the match then descended further and looked to be heading for a draw until Morrison made the difference with his smart lob.

Republic of Ireland boss Kerr felt Saturday's draw with Israel had taken a lot out of his players and admitted China were difficult to break down.

He said : "China got a lot of people behind the ball, they were an awkward team to play against.

"The pitch didn't help - it was in diabolical condition for a full international - but in the end we got the victory, although I would have liked us to be more fluid and better.

"There's no doubt mentally and physically the boys put in huge effort in Israel but tonight was different - their system of 5-4-1 was difficult to break down."

He added on Sky Sports: "It was a risk for us, taking on this game but we've had 35,000 come along and look at the number of players we used.

"It's 21 or 22 over the two games and that has its benefits.

"It's good for the morale of players to know they're not just making up the numbers - and I think we used the numbers well."

IsMiseSean

29/03/2005, 10:20 PM

The one thing I learn from tonight is Alan Maybury is **** and should never be allowed to play for Ireland again and why McGeady didn't start I'll never now.

thejollyrodger

29/03/2005, 10:23 PM

The atmosphere would be better at a wake. We have some of the quitest supporters in the world.

That was one of the worst friendlies ever. Pitch was dreadful, standard of play was dreadful to. In the final third we are useless and dodgy at the back when we are put under any pressure.

Fúck we have so so many players who are in teams without first team football !!

FarBeag

29/03/2005, 11:03 PM

They were brutal again and surely nobody can argue with that.China should have wont this game.What appears to be the problem with Kerr giving McGeady a run.Robbie was running around like a headless chicken again,falling all over the place looking for a free kick.Clint proved again how important he is.Elliot tried and should have had a pen.Doc(S*it) Reid had his moments,Kav..good shift as had duff, kenny, O 'Brien Dunne and Paddy Kenny,Miller..reasonable but clearly too light,Mabury..we need to lose this guy..O Shea..Same old same old..Kilbane(crap)..We would want to improve dramatically if we are to progress any further in this group stage.AS for the Crowd Fcuking Dire apart from the Chinese

Dawn_Run

29/03/2005, 11:07 PM

"The pitch didn't help - it was in diabolical condition for a full international - but in the end we got the victory, although I would have liked us to be more fluid and better.
I've seen better Junior League games played on sheer muck

He added on Sky Sports: "It was a risk for us, taking on this game but we've had 35,000 come along and look at the number of players we used.
a)block bookers were forced to buy them
b)largest away attendance in Lansdown in years

I'm not calling for Kerr's head - far from it in fact but I would love to know what was going through his mind tonight with his subs.
- Roy should have been no where near that bench - he should have been workin for Sky tonight instead of Stapo
- Mcgeady should have gotten at least an hour

Fair play to Kav, Clint and Elliot - played well. As for the so called experienced players....Moran was right - none of them had any interest tonight. Hard to lay the blame soley with the players either. It was a stupid fixture. Would have been more beneficial last Wednesday :(

boysingreen

29/03/2005, 11:55 PM

Anyone have a clip of Morrison's goal?

onenilgameover

29/03/2005, 11:58 PM

Well that was forgetable....

There was ups and downs and so

UPS
1. Great finish from Morrison...
2. Elliot looked sharp and eager....
3.The passing of the arm Band from Kenny to Kilbane and then when Kilbane was replaced by Keane he chose not to wear it but pass it on to Kav who will always rememeber captaining Ireland. I found it amusing and a very nice gesture form Keane.
4. The fact that Keane stuck around for the match which was utterly meaningless was another gesture of good will and unity that should not go unnoticed by those who do not agree with his Royness.
5.Lots of happy Chinese people with there little red flags.
6. Miller didnt play really crap.
7. Full game for PKenny and good save in first half and end of second.

DOWNS
1. I'm not a celtic fan but NO MCGEADY
2. Brian's is obviously very worried by the amount of critism
3. John O'Shea and Maybury fought it out for worst match ever at Lansdowne. (Maybury should not be in the squad and its very worrying that he is our best cover)
4. The match highlighted the fact that Kerr has not brought that many new young players into the squad and is afraid to do so even against the likes of China.
5. Very poor atmosphere at LR. Understandable considering the weekends result but still.
6. Why must we always get a result in these crappy friendlies its hurting the progress of the squad and these things don't seem obvious to Kerr? (which is worrying
Couple more but I wont go on moaning....

Slash/ED

30/03/2005, 12:03 AM

Doherty gets on, McGeady doesn't. A shambles. Kerrs convervatism and treating friendlys like competitive games is very very frustrating, what was he playing at with the selection and subs? Duff starts? Pointless. I was looking forward to seing Elliot and McGeady for the full 90 minutes and that's why I wanted to goto this game, I ended up with neither and wish I hadn't bothered jumping on the DART at all.

The Chinese fans were brilliant though, outsung us (Not hard) and were superb for the whole game, I know more than likely they all live here anyway rather than traveled but even so, they were there in numbers and were well heard, fair play to them.

Closed Account 2

30/03/2005, 12:56 AM

My scores for the players tonight (out of 10):-

P.Kenny 7 - Didnt have to do too much but made the odd good save
Cunningham 6 - Pretty much average (only played 1st half)
Dunne 6 - As above, not really tested too much by the Chinese forwards
Maybury 4 - Did not look at all comfortable, lost his rag with a Chinese winger late on.
O'Shea 5 - Very average game, looked at bit lost at the end of it, didnt seem comfortable with the ball late on
Duff 5.5 - Not at his usual high standard, still caused them some problems in 1st half
Kavanagh 7 - Took a while to get into the swing of things, but gave a solid performance by the end - nearly scored a great goal.
Kilbane 5.5 - Average at the start, but was really drifting by the time he was taken off. Tiredness perhaps ?
A. Reid 6 - A couple of good crosses, but has played much better for us on other occasions.
Elliott 6.5 - Tried hard, made positive runs early on, not quite the finished product for us yet tho.
Robbie K. 5.5 - Not one of his greatest games, nearly got a pen. early on. Looked drained by the time he was taken off.

Subs
45min
O'Brien 6 - Wasnt really tested.
Miller 6.5 - Not bad, better than he's normally been.

62min
Morrison 8 - Full of enthusiasm, scored a good goal, saved us from a bad result. Def. seems to enjoy playing for us.

66min
Roy Keane 6.5 - Nice that he played, average performance

67min
Doc 7 - Not much time, but caused the Chinese no end of problems. Won almost every header, but his knock downs were not always into the right channels.

Overall it was a pretty sloppy show tonight. I was hoping the players might be up for it after the result slipping away on Sat, but (except one or two) they seemed very, very pedestrian. I know its China, and its only a friendly but even in other friendlies theyve had a bit more application and effort. Given the circumstances it was a shame BK didnt experiment a bit more. It would have been interesting to see if the likes of McGeady could have mixed it up a bit and if Spurs' Kelly hadnt been injured it would have been ideal for him. Still Paddy Kenny's got a full 90 mins under his belt now, and other players in the margins did ok when they came on (Dunne, Miller) even if the opposition wasn't of a particularly testing standard.

It goes without saying we will have to improve tho, if we're to win our next few proper matches. I wouldn't fancy our chances of winning, even in Tórshavn or Nicosia, were we to play like that.

tricky_colour

30/03/2005, 1:15 AM

Whilst you may rate Maybury a 4, I think it is worth mentioning that it
was his long pass which gave Clinton his opertunity, without that
we were stuffed.
We only seemed to only sparking life when Keane and Clinton came on.
I though Paddy Kenny's save was a little similar to the one which Given
didn't quite save, so it was good that he got a full 90 minutes in goal.

AmenToThat

30/03/2005, 2:12 AM

Whilst you may rate Maybury a 4, I think it is worth mentioning that it

Agreed but he got cought out three times in the second half and is clearly not good enough.
I hope Kelly continues to progress at Spurs.

Nice to see Paddy Kenny keep a clean sheet, good back up for Given.

O Shea's passing was ****e but defensively he was solid and surely cant pass the ball that badly again.

Glad Dunne got a game and although you cant fualt the defensive partnership of O Brien and Cunningham I think Dunne is a better player than O Brien.

Reid, solid.

Duffer, I simply refuse to say anything bad about him no matter how he playss.

Kilbane hasnt been the same since christmas for Ireland or Everton.

Kav, did well and I hope Wigan go up this year.

Elliot, more lively than Keane.

Clint, god bless the chap.

Miller, better than expected.

Roy Keane, roy keane.

McGeady, god only knows why he didnt get a game, criminal, but solid job at polishing the bench with his arse.

tetsujin1979

30/03/2005, 9:22 AM

Foul, dire game of football.
Positives:
Elliott looked hungry for his first goal, I thought he should have been MOTM
Dunne had a good showing with 2 defensive partners
Morrison's 4th goal in 6 games
Reid and Duff together again, whatever about away from home, when there are going to be times when we have to defend, they should always start at home where the wider pitch makes them more of a threat.
Kenny had a postive showing, performing well when needed
Kavanagh might have played himself into the Israel game ahead of Holland
Err, that's about it.

Negatives:
Everything else!
O'Shea stands on his left leg, and shouldn't be allowed back onto a football pitch until he becomes more two-footed
Maybury was caught for pace with the same move twice, and both times nearly cost us a goal
Miller was on the pitch??
Robbie was anonymous, I said before the game not to play him
Why did McGeady not play after getting promoted from the U-21s? At least with their qualification in tatters he might get into the senior squad more often
The pitch was in a horrendous state after the 6 nations (although this is not necessarily the FAI's fault)
No more international football for 2 months!!
The guy standing in front of me was up to his tonsils in all kinds of chemicals (again not the FAI's fault, but I'm ranting here!)
Again, no penetration through the middle - severely lacking against Israel - the goal was route one Wimbledon football at its best

Eire06

30/03/2005, 9:22 AM

Thought Kavanagh played a blinder last night he was on a different level to the rest of the team.. Strong solid performance throughout the whole match, and really deserved man of the match, I'd like to see him with more first team places...

Reid was a disaster I just held my head every time he got the ball cause I knew he was gona do something stupid with it...

Looking at that team last night they get paid thousands a week to play football and they produce performances like that.. I don't blam Kerr at all it was a friendly time for trying out new players and tactics ect.. they were a mess..

In fairness to them though every time Ireland were attacking they were against an 11 man China Defence.. Which can be hard to crack with the worst of teams.. Fair play to China though they brought it to us, no walkover as expected..
Hopefully this week will be a reminder to the team and us of what can go wrong so easily and they get a kick up the ass from it..

Oh on another point was shocked when Roy came on thought he didn't do friendlies :D That'll shut a fair few critics up

eirebhoy

30/03/2005, 10:50 AM

Lads, people have to take off the glasses and realise that Maybury was a lot better than O'Shea last night. OK, Maybury isn't international class but I don't know how anyone could give O'Shea a higher rating than him last night. My brother absolutely despises O'Shea and it was him that made me notice how many passes he misplaced. He must have had a success rate of 20-30% max.

It was Andy Reid's worst game I've ever seen for Ireland. His little chip ball to Elliott was very good but everything else was not going where he wanted it to go. His confidence was absolutely drained and you could see that when the camera zoomed in on him. He was actually dying to get off the pitch and was nowhere to be seen after a few subs.

BTW, just to let people know. A lot of you know this but a lot of you wouldn't. Kavanagh was never a holding midfielder at Cardiff. He got forward an awful lot and would get 3-5 shots on goal per match. When Roy came on Roy jumped into the holding role and people got to see the real Kav getting forward. I'd absolutely love to see a Kav and Keane partnership for 90 minutes. They're best of mates off the pitch these days and they understand each others game (when one goes forward, the other stays back).

Eire06

30/03/2005, 11:08 AM

BTW, just to let people know. A lot of you know this but a lot of you wouldn't. Kavanagh was never a holding midfielder at Cardiff. He got forward an awful lot and would get 3-5 shots on goal per match. When Roy came on Roy jumped into the holding role and people got to see the real Kav getting forward. I'd absolutely love to see a Kav and Keane partnership for 90 minutes. They're best of mates off the pitch these days and they understand each others game (when one goes forward, the other stays back).

Ya if one good thing came out of the game last night it was Kavanagh, he really played his heart out, and showed how versitile he is..
Himself and Keane will help make a class midfield :D
Hope we see more of it in the upcoming matches

Stuttgart88

30/03/2005, 11:20 AM

Kavanagh & Keane could be a quality duo. But I thought Maybury was really poor and has no pace. Giving him credit for the goal is spurious - it was a bog standard ball up the line & I think it was actually aimed for Doc.

O'Shea's distribution is a problem though I thought he was sound in Tel Aviv.

Andy Reid was really poor and early on I really sympathised with Kerr. If Reid had played like that in Israel we'd have been in trouble, yet our biggest criticism of Kerr is that he never played Reid!

Paddy Kenny was class. Great save and the difficulty of that catch late on is not to be underestimated.