Republic of Ireland V Georgia - Tuesday, 26th March 2019 - Euro 2020 Qualifier

[geysir]

Georgia didn't outplay Switzerland, they had passages of very good play in the 1st half. In the 2nd half the Swiss almost totally dominated and pinned them to their rearguard. They are just about worthy of 4th seed, not consistent enough to make it higher. But on their day they'll do in a better team.

[Real ale Madrid]

Agree - this game is about being effective, being aggressive, winning the ball and getting on with the play.

It's not going to be easy for us
But it's not going to be easy for them either

[Kingdom]

I've a tendancy to ****e on a fair amount with my posts. It does nobody any good.
Keeping it simple, We need to press Georgia high up the pitch, from the start and often. Our goalkeeper is too deep when we have the ball up high, and it forces our defenders to drop back further than required.

I'd drop McClean. I'd drop Maguire. Withdraw McGoldrick into his natural position, with Byrne alongside him. We don't have any wingers in our squad, so trying to accomodate them in a 442 or 451 isn't going to work. Arter has the athleticism to cover roving full-backs, where is where our width is going to have to come from. We have one right-sided player who is tearing up the PL in an attacking sense on the right-side. It's Doherty, and he should be played there. Stevens doesn't appear to be as proficient in that regard on the left. But having Brady on that side might compensate. There's another reason why Byrne, Maguire, Judge, Brady won't get picked together. Defensive set-pieces.

------------------Randy
Doherty----Keogh----Egan-------Stevens
-------------------Arter--------------------
------Hourihane----------Brady----------
------------Byrne------McGoldrick-------
-------------------Collins------------------

[Fixer82]

I agree with some of this.




------------ Randolph ------------
---- Coleman Duffy Keogh ------
Doherty ------------------- Brady
--------------- Arter -------------
------- Hendrick Hourihane -----
-----------------------------------
------- McGoldrick Hogan -------

Agree with this except I’d drop Hogan and put Judge in as no.10 behind McGoldrick. Give McGoldrick 45 minutes to prove himself after a poor performance against the Spanish Brits

[backstothewall]

Agree with this except I’d drop Hogan and put Judge in as no.10 behind McGoldrick. Give McGoldrick 45 minutes to prove himself after a poor performance against the Spanish Brits

That makes more sense than my version given that Hogan isn't even in the squad!

I'm convinced that 3 at the back is the future for us though.

[shakermaker1982]

Owlsfan - The Swiss had 25 shots to 6 and 65% of the ball vs Georgia!

[shakermaker1982]

Mick isn’t going to take any risks. He cannot afford to and doesn’t have time to experiment by chucking in kids in must win games. It’ll be 451 or 442.

Following his comment about Doherty it would not surprise me to see him dropped with Brady coming in. Harsh but he isn’t going to drop Coleman.

It really is an average squad and is completely unbalanced. We don’t have any wingers and we don’t have a striker who is consistent at getting the ball in the net.

If we had a ball player at CB it would really push the team forward and open things up. Duffy and Keogh are great at blocks and defending set pieces but the modern game needs a centre back to start attack’s and being comfortable on the ball. The days of lumping it long just does not work anymore.

[Fizzer]

I don’t think in my lifetime that I’ve ever expected us to lose against theoretically inferior opposition,and definitely not at home,kills me to say it but I fully expect us to lose tomorrow.Theres just too many players that aren’t international standard.Duffy’s probably our best goal option so hopefully he’s not out.Doherty’s having a brilliant season and we’re considering dropping him because basically we don’t have a midfielder that he can pass inside to and expect to get the ball back.I’d take any kind of draw and hope someone can find form for the next round or that we can find some better players.

[samhaydenjr]

I don’t think in my lifetime that I’ve ever expected us to lose against theoretically inferior opposition,and definitely not at home,kills me to say it but I fully expect us to lose tomorrow.Theres just too many players that aren’t international standard.Duffy’s probably our best goal option so hopefully he’s not out.Doherty’s having a brilliant season and we’re considering dropping him because basically we don’t have a midfielder that he can pass inside to and expect to get the ball back.I’d take any kind of draw and hope someone can find form for the next round or that we can find some better players.

Given the makeshift nature of our team for this game, I'm not sure that we can even refer to Georgia as theoretically inferior - the gap on paper is looking quite narrow, if we consider Shaktar Donetsk, Lokomotiv Moscow and Vitoria de Setubal to be on a par with Burnley, Brighton, Wolves and Everton and Magdeburg, Luzern, Zurich, Gent and Sturm Graz to be reasonably comparable to Preston, Middlesbrough, Stoke and Sheffield United. Five of our starters on Saturday had fewer than ten caps.

There is no learning curve option here - we can't afford to play like we did against Gibraltar, even taking the wind and the pitch into consideration - this team, which again is pretty makeshift, will have to click from the start tomorrow and all of them will have to play close to their best if we are to have any reasonable level of confidence that we will beat Georgia. If they manage it, even if it's a messy, ugly, single-goal victory, then they, and Mick, will actually deserve some plaudits for getting the campaign off to a safe start and giving us a platform to take on to the games against Switzerland and Denmark, when we will hopefully have a stronger team.

That said, I am very concerned about our chances tomorrow

[Scrufil]

Who are the youngest players in the squad? I think we need the fastest fittest young players to start in midfield. The age profile of the team lacks balance.

[paul_oshea]

Mick isn’t going to take any risks. He cannot afford to and doesn’t have time to experiment by chucking in kids in must win games. It’ll be 451 or 442.

Following his comment about Doherty it would not surprise me to see him dropped with Brady coming in. Harsh but he isn’t going to drop Coleman.

It really is an average squad and is completely unbalanced. We don’t have any wingers and we don’t have a striker who is consistent at getting the ball in the net.

If we had a ball player at CB it would really push the team forward and open things up. Duffy and Keogh are great at blocks and defending set pieces but the modern game needs a centre back to start attack’s and being comfortable on the ball. The days of lumping it long just does not work anymore.

I agree with most of this, however watching switzerland especially first half the last day and early second half they played long ball after long ball. They obviously identified Georgia's midfield as their strong point and wanted to avoid it. They did this by playing long balls a lot of the time and bypassed the midfield, that's what caught Georgia out a few times and hurt them with the first goal. And even with all these high balls they still had something like 68% possession first half. I think Georgias midfield is very good but they are lacking a striker to finish up or a proper number 10 but their backs especially with balls over the top are susceptible to mistakes. Their midfield is very accomplished though and certainly better than ours. The striker who scored against us plies his trade in America and even has to pay his own flight back but he still has a decent international record.

We are very imbalanced though I think that's the big problem and its all round pegs and square holes, that's why I'm begining to agree with Kingdom lets just play our best players in their best positions and worry about the rest against the bigger teams after. That's why we always look so confused and frustrated on the ball because of this imbalance and making up through formation and tactics. I dont think though having Duffy would be a problem if we had a proper midfielder to pick up the ball off him and turn and use it. And his remit was simply to always pass to this player, but we dont so he cant play. And this is from someone who has always thought he shouldnt be playing. But against better sides when we've needed the draw I was happy to have him there, especially with his size but hes even getting worse from set pieces. I think his height and aerial prowess will cause Georgia problems though

[Eminence Grise]

----------Randolph

Doherty Duffy Keogh Stevens

----------Whelan

Hendrick Houlihan Brady

-------McGoldrick
--------------Maguire

Not very imaginative, but that's largely our problem. Whelan in to shield the back four and take short passes from Duffy. Could probably line up as a misshapen 4-4-1-1.

---------Randolph

-----Coleman Duffy Egan

Doherty ----------------Brady

----Hendrick Arter Houlihan

-----McGoldrick
--------------Maguire

A bit more imaginative. WBs transitioning between 5-man defence, 5-man midfield, or 4-man midfield allowing Hendrick/Houlihan/Brady to push forward supporting the forwards. Coleman in as ball player out of defence.

Common theme in both: Duffy should not be passing the ball out of defence.

[Diggs246]

I would be very suprsied if Seani keeps his place. I know everyone was sh*t on Saturday but he looked very light weight

[paul_oshea]

----------Randolph

Doherty Duffy Keogh Stevens

----------Whelan

Hendrick Houlihan Brady

-------McGoldrick
--------------Maguire

Not very imaginative, but that's largely our problem. Whelan in to shield the back four and take short passes from Duffy. Could probably line up as a misshapen 4-4-1-1.

---------Randolph

-----Coleman Duffy Egan

Doherty ----------------Brady

----Hendrick Arter Houlihan

-----McGoldrick
--------------Maguire

A bit more imaginative. WBs transitioning between 5-man defence, 5-man midfield, or 4-man midfield allowing Hendrick/Houlihan/Brady to push forward supporting the forwards. Coleman in as ball player out of defence.

Common theme in both: Duffy should not be passing the ball out of defence.

Your Eminence, total fabrication.

Things are that bad youre making up players.

[third policeman]

Your Eminence, total fabrication.

Things are that bad youre making up players.


Just pining for Wes I suspect.

[shakermaker1982]

Whelan is BACK!

[liamoo11]

Whelan is BACK!

God help us

[geysir]

Whelan is BACK!

So is the Christmas Tree!!

[third policeman]

I’m beginning to suspect Kenny will be in post a lot sooner than we think.

[shakermaker1982]

Youngest player is 27. Depressing stuff really.

[Razors left peg]

I’m beginning to suspect Kenny will be in post a lot sooner than we think.

I think we'll know more after todays game, but yeah agreed.

[Cathalsmart]

We have been brutal so far.

[Eminence Grise]

Your Eminence, total fabrication.

Things are that bad youre making up players.

Ah, knickers. Freudian slip - you know,where you say one thing and mean your mother. And wishing Wes was still the bright young prospect lining up for Shels against Deportivo la Coruna. Would you notice if I slipped in a P McGrath in defence as well?

[passinginterest]

Missed most of the first 10 mins but looking pretty decent so far. Five shots already is more than the total for most games in recent history.

[pineapple stu]

It's an improvement for sure, but we're shockingly reliant on the long ball, which Georgia aren't defending well

They're streets ahead of us technically though

[osarusan]

Decent tempo and keeping possession well enough, a bit of purpose about us.

Anybody else finding that the RTE player is pausing all the time?

[NeverFeltBetter]

We need more tennis balls, if that's the result!

[Eminence Grise]

Wes who? It's Hourihane for me now! Sweet strike.

[shakermaker1982]

Actually enjoyable to watch. Pressing suits us so much better than sitting back.

[passinginterest]

Now please, please, don’t start to stand off them and let them back into it. I know the goal was a set piece but it was won by playing a bit of football around their box and it was the second or third one. It might not be total football but it’s a significant improvement so far.

[centre mid]

Good 40 mins or so. Not perfect but watchable and not half as turgid as under O'Neill

[tricky_colour]

I see we scored but I am struggling for a decent stream seeing 5 seconds in 5 minutes, anyone got a decent stream?

[geysir]

Very good so far by our standards. Lovely to watch at times, some good interplay with intelligent movement. Fortunately Georgia did not press us in our own half, their plan was to hold out at least 'til half time. I'd expect them to be more 'proactive' in the 2nd half.

[geysir]

They go and on about Shane Duffy's slight movement in the wall, not a patch on our European u16s final winning goal v Italy, from a free kick where the Italian wall was sideways skittled.

[Insidetherock]

for the best stream, go to navixsport.com and download their apk (app).. best streaming app I ever used.

[tricky_colour]

for the best stream, go to navixsport.com and download their apk (app).. best streaming app I ever used.

could not get that to work but I managed to get a stream on my tablet some how, my 10 inch tablet, better than the 7 and 8 inch one I have, itis not my 24" monitor but then the low res looks better on a small screen.

Still 1-0.

Headed for 1-1?

[tricky_colour]

We are pretty negative. Georgia play it straight forward.

[tricky_colour]

Nearly 1-1. still time for us to get another couple to make it look decent.

[centre mid]

Good result and a good performance overall. McClean is brain dead though.

[osarusan]

Good result and a good performance overall. McClean is brain dead though.

I came to post just that.

Good performance, nice spells of possession, and a bit of intent around the team. Very positive stuff I thought, and you feel there might be more to come too.

McGoldrick was good, put in a real hard-working shift. It was always a bit nervy at 1-0, but only because of the scoreline really, Georgia passed it nicely but didn't offer much in the final third.

McClean though. He does energise with his runs, but his decision-making is atrocious.

[Real ale Madrid]

Hating the Queen will only get you so far.

[passinginterest]

Few hairy moments but plenty of chances to have really finished them off too. Never been convinced by McGoldrick before but he was excellent bar the finish touch at times. Probably should have been more cynical and waited for contact from the keeper when he knocked it past him. Having a few nasty flash backs to late goals conceded by McCarthy’s teams of the past in the last few minutes but just about got there in the end. Something to really build on now.

[pineapple stu]

Main concern for me is the lack of a goal threat. A much improved performance, but we scored from a free, missed a one-on-one and that was pretty much it.

We're still a poor team. But definite improvement at least

[samhaydenjr]

Whew, came home for the last few minutes on radio and had my nerves well and truly jangled. But well done to all the lads involved for getting the three points in a difficult fixture and setting us up for the bigger games later when we'll have some players back from injury and the more inexperienced ones from today (Hourihane, Stevens, McGoldrick, O'Brien, Doherty) getting proper competitive experience.

[geysir]

10/10 to Mick, his changes were positive especially Whelan, and keeping McClean & McGoldrick worked out.
It's a long time since a crowd could enjoy a quality Ireland performance with just one or two half chances for the opposition.

[tricky_colour]

Well that was a real struggle, finding a stream I mean and even that packed up with 5 mins left. Probably saw about 10 mins in all!

Still at least it is 3 points.



Despite Ireland's abysmal campaign at the end of last year that saw them relegated to the third tier of the competition, The Boys in Green are as good as guaranteed a play-off place if they fail to qualify automatically.

Is that true? If so how?

Anyhow I guess the Swiss and Danes drawing works in our favour, will be interesting to see how we fare against the big guns in the group.

[shakermaker1982]

I thought McGoldrick was excellent.

Jeff was much better and looked more like his old self. Need one or two of the u21s to really kick on.

Much improved when compared to the Gibraltar match.

That was also one of McCleans better games for us. He always puts a massive shift in but he’s got to THINK about the consequences of his actions.

I cannot believe the Swiss blew a 3 goal lead.

[Closed Account 2]

Good result and a better performance than the Gibraltar game. We still looked a bit scatty at the back, but Georgia are a reasonable team and it's good that Mick's first two games have seen us get maximum points and not concerns.

[Olé Olé]

We only won by 1 but we were very good. I thought Whelan was imperious. The formation wouldn't have worked with anyone else in his position. McGoldrick is such a slick player but was isolated quite a lot. I would have thought McClean and Brady were intended to offer him more support but they stuck out very wide. He did well though, McGoldrick, really well.

From that performance, I think Alan Browne could be a player to improve us a lot. Coleman was really poor also. If Stevens played like that on the other side then I would be screaming for a replacement.

[SkStu]

In the grand scheme, this international break has been a massive success.

Maximum points from a pair of games which were banana skins where we could easily have dropped 2 or 3 points given the circumstances.

Accomplished performance against Georgia, controlled, measured, patterns, playing football, passing our way out of a tight spot, pressing intelligently for the most part - things we’ve been told to expect we are not capable of.

McCarthy has had no friendlies to get his approach solidified and communicated - and yet has gone into this weekend and come out the other side with 6 points and positivity. Best of all, I think we can and will play even better.

We’ve lost some important players for this squad so they will come back and make a difference in the games ahead. McGoldrick was excellent tonight as was Glen Whelan - 2 players ostracized by the previous management team. McClean (and to a lesser extent, Duffy) would be the biggest disappointment of the last two games.

MON and co (and Trap) should be ashamed of the money they took for the job they did. All they had was a book of excuses. With the success and talent of the U19s and promising early signs from Kenny’s U21s, I think we are turning a corner.

Well done Mick. COYBIG