Republic of Ireland v Denmark - Dublin - 18th November 2019 - Euro 2020 Qualifier

[shakermaker1982]

I like McGoldrick but he needs to be the 10 because he drops deep so we have nobody in the box. Will he throw Parrott on 2nd half with 20 to go? Wouldn’t surprise me to see Brady get a shot as well.

[centre mid]

Jeff Hendrick’s lack of a brain is the biggest impediment to the team at the moment. Either gives it away or makes a stupid run away from the only place he could receive the ball resulting in lost possession.


I wonder is Hendricks pass completion rate in single digits. Cos how that guy gets a game is beyond me, it really is.

He's a shadow of the player he could be

[osarusan]

Decent first 20 minutes in terms of possession, didn't do a lot with it. Then the Danes took over in midfield and had the better of things but didn't do much with it either. We came back into it in the 5 minutes before halftime.

Just hard to see where a goal will come from. We get up to the final third easily enough, then have no idea what to do with it.

Hendrick has been woeful.

[NeverFeltBetter]

The back is solid. Duffy showing his quality of course, but in truth the Danes haven't shown much in the way of bite. The midfield is...alright I guess?, Whelan doing the best, McClean and Hendrick showing exactly why they shouldn't be here. McGoldrick basically just a slightly more forward midfielder really.

The only real chance of the game came from a Danish error, and resulted in a really tame effort on goal. It's really hard to see Ireland getting a winner, but they'll have to go for broke at some point.

[centre mid]

Probably our best 45 mins of the campaign but with only half chances to show for it. Done fairly well at containing the Danes and good to see us on the front foot. Need something to happen upfront.

[rebelmusic]

Hendrick playing absolutely crap again. McCleans doing well defensively at least and won that corner in the end. Whelan playing very well.

It's encouraging but Hendrick is just an empty pair of boots out there

[tricky_colour]

I wonder is Hendricks pass completion rate in single digits. Cos how that guy gets a game is beyond me, it really is.

78.9%

[geysir]

The elephant in the room is that we have to score.
Main ambition should be to find McGoldrick, he's got the brains.

[shakermaker1982]

Considering our limitations that was an 8 out of 10 performance in that half.

I don’t rate Denmark at all, get at em!!!!

[SkStu]

Bring on a number 9 (Parrott, Maguire) (sub Jeff), drop McG back to 10, bring Robbo on the right (sub McClean), push Hourihane on the left and drop Brown back beside Whelan. Have one sub left (Cullen/Long for leggy Whelan) to protect the undoubted lead we will get ;)

Randolph
Doherty
Egan
Duffy
Stevens

Whelan
Browne

Robinson
McGoldrick
Hourihane

Parrott/Maguire

[pineapple stu]

Hourihane's miss was absolutely criminal.

Apart from that, plus ca change really. Only encouraging thing is we're dragging Denmark down to our level.

[Olé Olé]

Hourihane should have stuck that. Browne and McGoldrick had good efforts. We are creating chances. More than you could say for Switzerland game.

Positive so far. Pity we don't have Connolly or someone as an option to come in for Hendrick.

[passinginterest]

Hourihane's miss was absolutely criminal.

Apart from that, plus ca change really. Only encouraging thing is we're dragging Denmark down to our level.

Think that's a bit harsh. Kept the ball much better for the most part and haven't really conceded any chances. That's a big improvement from just hanging on and lumping the ball back to the opposing team.

Ok definitely run out of ideas a bit and ending up just playing it long into the channels a fair but, but at least it's contested possession after a period of ball retention.

I usually don't mind Hendrick, but he's been really frustrating this game. McLean hasn't been as poor. Would be interesting to see if Byrne and Parrot could bring some creative intelligence and a goal threat if introduced but don't think we're likely to see either.

[NeverFeltBetter]

McClean must be a great presence in the squad or the training ground, because he doesn't exactly justify his place otherwise. That square ball just now exhibited a serious lack of brainpower.

[pineapple stu]

Think that's a bit harsh. Kept the ball much better for the most part and haven't really conceded any chances. That's a big improvement from just hanging on and lumping the ball back to the opposing team.
I think the latter is something McCarthy's been working on steadily in fairness. Georgia was awful, but it was more a MON issue.

But it means nothing while we're still so toothless though...

[shakermaker1982]

Gonna have to change something Mick...don’t wait too long.

[The Fly]

Feck!

[shakermaker1982]

FFS good tracking Doherty

[sbgawa]

Wait for the pathetic like for like substitutio from mick

[NeverFeltBetter]

Always a danger, but very disappointing defending. No way back with our toothlessness. What do we prefer, Cardiff or Sarajevo?

[third policeman]

Wait for the pathetic like for like substitutio from mick

McClean got to subbed before he gets a red.

[The Fly]

Doherty made up for his mistake there.

[tricky_colour]

YES!!!!!!!!!

[The Fly]

That's pretty much as good as it gets for us. Unfortunately, our toothlessness up front costs us big time.

[sbgawa]

Played a bit of football tonight , wonder would we beat the likes of Gibraltar by more than 1 if we tried every match

[shakermaker1982]

They put a massive shift in and we were the better team.

Desperate for a goal scoring forward to play with McGoldrick.

Doherty needs to start from now on, Coleman may be captain but Doherty is playing the better football.

Don’t think the Browne/Hourihane picks worked.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Fair killed themselves in the last ten minutes but we don't have that star to rescue the situation. That recovery tackle from McClean is probably why he's in the team I suppose.

No more Denmark please. I'm utterly sick of them.

[centre mid]

A heroic failure. Again.

[tricky_colour]

A valiant effort, a bit of sloppy play at times but this was always a big ask.

I guess I am now forced to figure out how the play offs work, something I have been dreading. :(

[osarusan]

Came close in the end. Decent spell from about 50-65 or 70, then when they scores you think it's all over. But we came back as we do, and really had them rattled after the goal.

Thought McGoldrick did well, though dropped too deep at times. Thought Maguire did well when he came on. Doherty slipped up for the goal but was great going forward.

That last 5 minutes shows why McClean is in the team, even though he is so so limited. Turns up in the right full position to pressure the Danish winger, then is the guy bursting a gut to track back and stop a counter.

[Bottle of Tonic]

Gutted, but very proud of the team for the first time since maybe the euro game vs Italy. Brilliant performance in comparison to what we are used to. We will never score much. Its international football. But tried valiantly and almost forced one or two more.

[wonder88]

A great performance. Just didn't get the break, luck still plays a role in this game. I thought Enda Stevens had great game, I know everyone is raving about Doherty who had great 2nd half, apart from that lapse in concentration.

[pineapple stu]

A heroic failure. Again.
This is it. A third 1-1 draw where we equalised with a late header after a spirited comeback too. We're nothing if not predictable.

Mick has done a good job overall, and I'm not sold on the idea of replacing him already. Certainly this performance was completely different to a MON one. But in the end of the day, we just don't have the players. That's the result of 20 years of FAI mismanagement, and it'll take more than a Parrott or Connolly to change that.

[tommy_c12000]

Reasonable performance against a subpar Danish team. Not bad given the clear limitations of our midfield and forwards. We have less of a chance of qualifying now, than we had before tonight, but you never know.

Badly need a supporting striker with McGoldrick, hopefully Connolly and Parrott will be strong options for the playoffs. Randolph should have done better for their goal, but yes Doherty lost his man and it was mainly his fault. This was our strongest back 4 (by default) and should remain like this into playoffs. Clark was pretty solid when he came on. Cullen will (and needs to) replace Whelan, I believe Whelan has stated this will be his last “big” game. He has been a great servant. The playoff game will come too soon for Molumby. Again Hourihane and Hendrick not up to much. Hendrick was so far forward in second half, why didn’t Mick just bring on a natural no 9 in his place sooner? Maguire seemed to be playing wide right when he came on which was odd. I appreciated McCleans right back harrying and last ditch covering on the left in the dying minutes, but he should not start another game. It was a difficult ask of Browne to play wide right. We will have to wait and see over the next few months to see what to do with our winger positions, pretty problematic at the moment. McGoldrick looked good, just lacked the appropriate support.

I will be glad to see the back of Mick next summer. I am thankful that he has introduced some new youngsters however so the last 2 years won’t have been a complete waste of time if we don’t qualify. Brighter days ahead for us very soon

[Lionel Ritchie]

Can't fault the performance at all. Still disheartening. Just seems when we play out of our skins we get draws and when opponents play out of their skins we get dicked.

While I'm being glib and defeatist -we now need to produce 2 more consecutive performances of that calibre to qualify when stats suggest we have a single isolated performance of that calibre every 3.5 to 4 years.

[Tipp Townie]

I'm a bit frustrated with Mick's interview on Sky afterwards. I know I probably shouldn't hang too much on mundane comments made straight after a match, but it was words to the effect of "if we play like that we can beat anybody (in the playoffs)".
History, of the distant, recent and of the 5-minutes-ago kind, suggest otherwise. We have an endless capacity for heroic draws. They don't usually get us to tournaments.

I agree with other posters on here that Denmark are ordinary.
Having said that, I think most of us also recognise that our current squad is one of the weakest we've had in recent years.

[irishfan86]

I honestly don’t know what more Mick could do. This is an extremely limited squad, certainly on the offensive side, and he’s brought our team spirit and organization back. We can get incremental arguments going about certain players but my sense is that he’s getting the best of a very limited bunch.

[Tipp Townie]

Genuine question - is the team spirit what it should/could be?
Mick has picked it up from where it was with MON, but tbh I expected more from Mick in terms of motivation. The only other time I felt it in this campaign was in Denmark, where I thought we played pretty well (considering) and obvs forced a late equaliser. But home to Swiss, and especially in Georgia and away in Switzerland I thought it was distinctly lacking. I almost never get a 'team spirit' vibe from Hendrick or Hourihane and I thought Doherty had a sort-of sullen demeanour all night tonight too (I don't often watch Wolves matches - is he always like this? I hadn't noticed it before in highlights)

But i'm just watching it at home in the UK on a cr*p laptop. Conscious that several of you will be much closer to it and perhaps feel more positivity than I'm getting.

[brine3]

Finished runners up in World Cup group with MON. Now third in Euros group with Mick Mac. Can hardly call it an improvement.

Maybe we could have just gone with Kenny from the start, and not have to sit through two more years of put em under pressure ******.

[irishfan86]

I think it was just a stressful/intense/tight match so I don’t know exactly what you’re looking for in terms of expressions on players faces.

Personally I evaluate team spirit based on the team’s fight and willingness to continue pushing forward to the end — that was there tonight and has been there throughout the campaign.

In my view our biggest issue has been a lack of quality, not a lack of effort, poor tactics, or low morale.

[brine3]

Doherty sat out most of the qualifiers on the bench.

You'd have to think after his performance tonight that we might have picked up some more points with him in the side.

[Diggs246]

I thought we were great tonight. Just a bad goal to concede cost us

[brine3]

When Brian Kerr finished third in a group, the knives were out.

Teflon Mick

[pineapple stu]

Ah, the squad Kerr had was much better, and we had a irritating habit of squandering leads by playing overly conservatively once we scored.

[tetsujin1979]

When Brian Kerr finished third in a group, the knives were out.

Teflon Mick
Kerr finished fourth

[Fixer82]

Doherty sat out most of the qualifiers on the bench.

You'd have to think after his performance tonight that we might have picked up some more points with him in the side.

But Doherty (and Duffy) was at fault for Denmark’s goal

[brine3]

That's because we were going full out for the three points and Duffy and Doherty were attacking as well as defending. They were tired.

It's clear as day that Doherty is one of the top players in the squad if not or best player at this stage. If he had been playing in all matches then we'd have had more to offer in terms of football.

[Charlie Darwin]

Finished runners up in World Cup group with MON. Now third in Euros group with Mick Mac. Can hardly call it an improvement.

Maybe we could have just gone with Kenny from the start, and not have to sit through two more years of put em under pressure ******.
I'd love if we played more put 'em under pressure stuff. The problem is we still have the Trap mindset of sitting deep and being compact. Maybe it makes sense against big sides but Denmark ain't one, albeit in Eriksen they have a player who can tear you apart if you make mistakes.

[Charlie Darwin]

Maguire seemed to be playing wide right when he came on which was odd.
He's played wide on both sides a lot for Preston, to be fair. Has played nine a bit recently but usually it's Barkuizen with Maguire off the right or left.

[Charlie Darwin]

Frustrating game as I think Denmark were there to be beaten but we just lack the bit of extra quality they showed for their goal. If that hadn't gone in I think we could easily have nicked it but it was a poor enough game in which we were just slightly better.