Republic of Ireland V Latvia - Wednesday, 22nd March 2023 - Friendly

[Razors left peg]

That's some endorsement. He's preferable to Brown and Hendrick, may have the edge on Knight if we want to include Smallbone as a creative influence, but he's a decent championship player, and I still hope that in a year or two, we'll have better midfield options available.

Id agree that I'd like to have better options available down the line, but I think right now hes a guaranteed started for us. Hes done very well in the last year.

[passinginterest]

Watching it back at the moment and the first 17 minutes really is pretty much perfect. Latvia hardly have a touch. Two well executed goals, positive attacking play and no real mistakes to speak of.

Just spotted the Latvian manager chatting to the midfielder in 19 minutes. I’d spotted that in the ground and whatever little change they made certainly had an impact.

*it looks to me that they asked one of the front two to drop a little deeper and man mark Molumby.

[Razors left peg]

Watching it back at the moment and the first 17 minutes really is pretty much perfect. Latvia hardly have a touch. Two well executed goals, positive attacking play and no real mistakes to speak of.

Just spotted the Latvian manager chatting to the midfielder in 19 minutes. I’d spotted that in the ground and whatever little change they made certainly had an impact.

*it looks to me that they asked one of the front two to drop a little deeper and man mark Molumby.

Id be curious to see what you think on the watch back about how much changed for us once Smallbone dropped deeper in the second half. I cant say I really thought about it at the time, but that seemed to coincide with us getting a bit more control back?

[passinginterest]

Probably being harsh on Doherty for the first Latvia goal. He’s under pressure and was one of the best players up to then. We have plenty behind the ball. He probably should have played the easy ball back to Omobamidele but it shouldn’t have been as deadly as it turned out.

The striker who scores is the one who started man marking Molumby and that’s how he finds himself in that space to score. He had been tracking Molumby back, then Molumby drops deeper chasing the ball while he just lingers in the space. It’s a great strike but Kelleher really doesn’t seem to get off the ground at all, starting position probably a bit off and left himself too much to do.

Didn’t play as badly between the Latvia goals as I’d felt in the ground. Actually had a couple of decent chances, Obafemi had a good effort blocked and might have had a penalty with VAR for the Latvia handball.

I thought Molumby was hard done by for the free kick. Thought at the time he was pulled back first and feel the same seeing it again. It is poor defending for the two lads to bump each other and fluff the clearance. Still think Kelleher was a little flat footed and could have saved it.

Overall, it was a positive half and hard to believe it was level going in. Only glaring errors I can think of were Browne missing what was effectively one on one with options either side too, one terrible pass from Ferguson, the Doherty pass leading to the first goal and I think Collins had one bad one.

The Latvian change to cut off the easy out ball to Molumby did make a difference. It meant we couldn’t get the ball out to the wings as often further up because we had to play out through the wingers more often rather than up the middle and then wide.

[Fixer82]

Re Brady: Out of form and on the bench for PNE. Saw him come on as a sub against Rotherham recently and he did alright. I think he has just dropped down the pecking order for Kenny given McClean and the emergence of O'Dowda as an option there who is playing there week in, week out and doing very well by all accounts.

Would it not make more sense to keep Smallbone there instead of Hendrick and have the pace of Obafemi or Ogbene beside Ferguson or are you thinking of the extra man in midfield to address France's pace on the counter? I fear Ferguson could be very isolated up top, we'd just be giving the ball back to France all night and an outlet like those two might to some extent keep their defense more honest? Not really an attractive proposition either way you look at it, i suppose!

Yes I'd leave Ferguson up top on his own with Smallbone offering support when possible

[John83]

This is the Paul O'Shea that I ****ing detest. I know what you're referring to, you know what you're referring to, and it grates me the type of wummery that you engage in, that was absolutely destroyed in fora not associated with foot.ie.
mod warning: Kingdom and POS cut it out please.

[gastric]

That's some endorsement. He's preferable to Brown and Hendrick, may have the edge on Knight if we want to include Smallbone as a creative influence, but he's a decent championship player, and I still hope that in a year or two, we'll have better midfield options available.

Out of interest, who do you feel will be our better midfield options in a year or two? IMHO, it's our weakest line.

[Razors left peg]

Out of interest, who do you feel will be our better midfield options in a year or two? IMHO, it's our weakest line.

Hodge, Connell, Coventry, Philips, Lawal are players that could come into the midfield in the next 2 years. If even just 2 from them are good enough thats s decent return.

[Kingdom]

mod warning: Kingdom and POS cut it out please.

Sorry mod. Will do.

[third policeman]

Hodge, Connell, Coventry, Philips, Lawal are players that could come into the midfield in the next 2 years. If even just 2 from them are good enough thats s decent return.

I’d add Moran and Azaz to that list.

[Jd2793]

youd have to hope that hodge is the one to kick on from those mentioned. philips is a really interesting one, looks like a player that needs a full season in l1 to find himself maybe a similar route that hourihane took. he wont be near PL level returning from loan. Not one to question brightons pathways to first team football but youd be thinking moran probably needs a move to a championship contender in the summer aswell. the 6+8 spots are badly short of players we desperately need some depth in there over the next 2 years. one thing is certain , molumby cant deputise for cullen. the lack of any real replacement is our biggest current worry.

[TonyD]

Hodge, Connell, Coventry, Philips, Lawal are players that could come into the midfield in the next 2 years. If even just 2 from them are good enough thats s decent return.

If we could find a Ferguson or a Collins for midfield I think we’d actually be well on the way to having a very decent team. If you can project forward 2/3 years when Collins, Omobadele and O’Shea have a couple years more experience, when Ferguson is 20/21 we could be in a much better place. Of the midfielders you mention I’m not really familiar with them. Saw a bit of Hodge in one of the U21 games and I thought he looked good. Have also seen Coventry at that level and thought he looked ok,but not necessarily someone who is going to step up. It’s been mentioned before about the possibility of doing a “Paul McGrath” with Collins and pushing him forward into midfield. It might be worth looking at given the depth of options available at the back. He’s potentially good enough on the ball to do it.

[Stuttgart88]

Maybe its been mentined but the for the first goal it was a sloppy short backward pass that had the defender lunge for the ball as he was closed that was the 'creative' moment that sparked the attack and the good interplay to wide right and cross.100% true, I mentioned it to my pals at the time. It shows that that's how to beat the press - something a bit unexpected even if this was accidental rather than clever.

[Fixer82]

Coleman a doubt with thigh injury.

Apparently why he missed Latvia game.

You’d think if they knew about it before then that Monday would be time enough to get him right?

[Stuttgart88]

Late to this thread after a hectic 48 hours at work.

I enjoyed the game. I thought we played well for most of the game but our habitual brainfarts made it closer than it should have been.

We played some very enterprising football. Smallbone has a lovely elegant nonchalant swagger about him. He and Doc read each other’s games beautifully. It was a fairly easy debut for Smallbone though and his final ball wasn’t always great, but he deserved his MOTM award.

Ferguson yet again shows he has the knack of the ball finding him where it’s easy to score. I think this lad will score a lot of single touch tap ins.

Collins could definitely do a job in midfield if it was ever needed. It’s not something I’d typically endorse but in Cullen’s absence Collins took the ball out of defence into Cullen’s space and developed play. O’Shea is a good ball carrier too.

I think Ireland are a bit like Shamrock Rovers. We play with the right intentions but are vulnerable in transition and we seem to be getting disproportionately punished by half-chances from distance. Defending set pieces is a bit of a worry and individual mistakes are continuing to hurt us.

Doc was very careless for the first goal. I was more than underwhelmed by Kelleher tbh. The first was a worldie but his anticipation, footwork and his actual dive were all poor. And although the second was deflected you could tell by the way he tried to save it that he did see everything early enough to save it – but just didn’t. So Doc and Kelleher were poor for our goals imho. Common theme? Neither is playing regularly.

We had a nailed on penalty denied for a handball at 2-1 and Browne wasted a chance for a super goal from clever build up play.

Kenny’s subs (for once!) were perfect and perfectly timed. Johnston was a joy to watch and at least once took the unselfish option where he might have been better off continuing solo – my guess is because he was debut-boy and didn’t want to appear selfish. I never got the negativity about his call up. I said I had an open mind, and I’m glad I did. He was very highly rated when younger. If what he did was so easy because it was only Latvia, how come nobody else did it? CO’D, McClean…

A few pages back or in another thread I think it was Razor who listed all the players 25 or under who are already regulars in the team. Ferguson, Smallbone and Johnston all look like really good “new signings” to add to an already relatively young first XI. Isn’t that just what we want from these friendlies? I think there was a lot of information value in this game, unlike Malta. I’d have liked a look at Sykes but otherwise it was very worthwhile.

New kit looked just fine too.

[third policeman]

Yeah not giving Sykes minutes seems like a wasted opportunity. What did we find out about Browne and Hendrick that we didn't already know? The former isn't good enough and the latter is no longer good enough.

[Kingdom]

Perhaps they've looked at Sykes in training and he's hesitant. I'm trying to think how many squads was Will Keane in before he got his first run - was it 3(as in 3 windows, rather than 3 games)?

If Coleman is a concern, then Browne would be cover I'd imagine, along with Ogbene in a 343 if we're chasing the game. Not ideal, and would question (again would question the reluctance to have involved Danny Mc at this stage - without even intimating that he's at the level of the incumbents);

[geysir]

I have only seen the first half in any good detail. From a Latvian perspective I was impressed with how they played the game considering their players are mostly from the lowest league in europe and it hasn’t even started yet. They are an extremely well coached team. Compared to us, they had a good tactical plan and were purposeful in carrying it out.
They pressed high, didn’t allow Ireland to play out, kept the press on, were mobile all around the middle, easily shut out any possession in center midfield. Browne and Molumby were effectively made redundant.
Their positive pressing led to both their goals and in general they were prepared to attack when it was favorable. Tactically they reminded me of Iceland in 2016.
Ireland had a huge hole in centre midfield where nothing was managed in the first half except for one ball driven forward which incidentally happened to lead to the first goal.
Ireland have an ineffective press, Latvian defense bringing the ball out could spread it with ease. I still don't get what game Kenny wants Ireland to play, we are going to cough up the ball in splutters.
If Latvia can do that to Ireland, what then? Apart from the new kids I was overall disappointed with the first half performance and the managers tactics.

Obafemi is still a ? Browne and Molumby are just not good enough.
There’s a big onus on Cullen to perform, and which other midfielder will support him?

[Stuttgart88]

Yeah not giving Sykes minutes seems like a wasted opportunity. What did we find out about Browne and Hendrick that we didn't already know? The former isn't good enough and the latter is no longer good enough.

I suspect he just wanted experience on the pitch for the last part of the game given how naivety had cost us a lead once already.

[Yard of Pace]

It’s been mentioned before about the possibility of doing a “Paul McGrath” with Collins and pushing him forward into midfield. It might be worth looking at given the depth of options available at the back. He’s potentially good enough on the ball to do it.

I think this is definitely worth a try and I wonder have they experimented in training. The way Collins strides out with the ball, communicating to his team-mates about where he's going to play the ball makes me think it could work. He's so composed. And we've a shedload of centre-halfs.

[Razors left peg]

Im not sure about moving Collins into midfield, yes he has decent feet and can bring the ball out of defense, but taking the ball on the half turn in midfield and passing the ball forward like Cullen does for example is a completely different skillset that I just cant picture Collins doing. Not saying its not worth looking at, but Id have my doubts that it would work. McGrath was exceptional.

On a side note, I seen that Argentina beat Panama in a friendly last night with 2 late goals. It made me wonder what the reaction would be here if it was Ireland vs Panama and we just about squeezed past them. Id have no doubt that the knives would be out out.

[Diggs246]

Argentina have a little bit more credit in the bank!

[Razors left peg]

Argentina have a little bit more credit in the bank!

And we are a small nation who have no right to beat anyone simply because we've had good teams in the past

[Diggs246]

And we are a small nation who have no right to beat anyone simply because we've had good teams in the past

We are a small nation. But I believe we have every right to beat anyone and that's the beauty of football.

[Razors left peg]

We are a small nation. But I believe we have every right to beat anyone and that's the beauty of football.

We can beat anyone, that doesnt me should beat everyone, including what would be perceived as smaller nations. Most Irish people were shocked to see how far Morocco got in the World Cup, because most wouldnt follow football very closely. If we had lost to Morocco a year ago Kenny would have got hammered for it, but when you look at the players they have and who they play for they are excellent.

Latvia for example seen as a very soft touch, we should beat the 5 nil if you looked at most social media comments. They had only lost 1 game in 12 going into the other night. Won their NL group, a division below us, but if they get promoted for that we will be in same NL division next time. In recent years they have drawn with Norway, lost only 1 nil to the Dutch and beaten Azerbaijan who we had our obvious struggles with.

My point is that we would of course expect to beat them and we did, and yet because of 10 mins of madness where we concede 2 goals its still seen as a terrible over all performance by some.

Edit: they were in League D to our B so were 2 divisions below us.

[Kingdom]

Noticed Luxembourg drew in Slovakia yesterday.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

Noticed Luxembourg drew in Slovakia yesterday.

No way! And we only lost to Luxembourg 1-0 at home. Outstanding achievement by Kenny! :D

[Colbert Report]

Anyone have two tickets for sale? Is this the right place to be asking? Thanks.

[pineapple stu]

On a side note, I seen that Argentina beat Panama in a friendly last night with 2 late goals. It made me wonder what the reaction would be here if it was Ireland vs Panama and we just about squeezed past them. Id have no doubt that the knives would be out out.
Panama were at the Russia World Cup and are around our level in the rankings

Anyone who'd have the knives out if we narrowly beat them doesn't really know what they're talking about tbh

[Razors left peg]

Panama were at the Russia World Cup and are around our level in the rankings

Anyone who'd have the knives out if we narrowly beat them doesn't really know what they're talking about tbh

Anyone in our Nations League group is pretty much exactly on the same level as us, because that's how it works... And yet the knives have been out big time because we didn't win every game.

[John83]

Anyone in our Nations League group is pretty much exactly on the same level as us, because that's how it works... And yet the knives have been out big time because we didn't win any games.
Fixed that for you. Even Kenny didn't expect to win every game, just the group.

[Razors left peg]

Fixed that for you. Even Kenny didn't expect to win every game, just the group.

I must have hallucinated us beating Scotland and Armenia?

Yeah we would have hoped to do better but the 3 other team's in that group are our level at the moment whether we want to admit it or not and the games were all close for the most part.

The bright side is I believe we are an ascending team who will continue to improve over next few years to a point we can expect to compete with better teams than Ukraine, Scotland and Armenia on a regular basis.

[elatedscum]

Fixed that for you. Even Kenny didn't expect to win every game, just the group.

Aim, not expect. It’s been rewritten by Boomers and others that he said he expected to win the group and to not do so was a failure. The quote was:

“Listen, I have always set targets. I have set the bar high in dressing rooms I’ve been in. I’ve always done that. There’s no guarantees. If we don’t win the group it won’t be for the want of trying.

“We’re not favourites. We’re third-favourites. I could easily just play it down. We’re on a good run of form. We’ve improved a lot.We’ve only one defeat in 12. It’s an emerging team. You feel the team is going to get better."

“We’ve the capacity to score goals. We’re defending better. We’re on a run of good defensive performances as well. The progression of the team, we’ve seen the team evolve over a period of time.

“From March to March we scored 23 goals and the team has improved, keeping five clean sheets in the last six games, so we know it is a big incentive.“

“So I feel that the team is getting better and there is a good connection between the experienced players and the younger players. You can really feel that in the group.”

“There is a lot of motivation there but we realise we have been drawn in a tough group — Ukraine, quarter-finalists at the Euros, a really exceptional team, Scotland are on a high as a nation at the moment and Armenia are improving of course."

“So we have a tough group but it is certainly our ambition to win the group. That is what we are trying to achieve.”

[Razors left peg]

And he gets ridiculed for saying that... imagine if he had come out and said "ah sure, it's a tough group and we'll do our best but let's be realistic lads we won't win it"

[John83]

That's fair. I hadn't read the quote in context before.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

I think I said his target was to win the Nations League. Here's his actual quote:

“Our ambition is to win the group because that gives you a playoff,” said Kenny. “We take the Nations League very seriously.

“If we apply ourselves, improve as players get more exposure to international football, and improve again, we’ll give ourselves every chance. If we make it a priority, we can strive to do that.

“That’s what we want to do, that’s the ambition. I felt that it was realistic for us to want to do that.”

He made it a priority, they were striving to achieve it, he knew of the play off significance but we still came closer to coming bottom in the group ahead of an awful Armenian team. So no matter what way you try to spin it, he failed.

Here's another quote for you all to mull over:

"We’re going into the competition to win matches and to do well in that tournament. The objective of this team and the way we built this team is to qualify for Germany 2024 and one of the things about the Nations League is that obviously winning the group or possibly finishing second even could give you a playoff for the Euros and that’s motivation enough.”

[pineapple stu]

Anyone in our Nations League group is pretty much exactly on the same level as us, because that's how it works... And yet the knives have been out big time because we didn't win every game.
The knives were out because we were bloody close to being relegated by losing home and away to an Armenia side the other two hammered, and because we lost to Ukraine's reserves.

People were generally delighted with Scotland at home and encouraged by Ukraine in Poland.

All of which is a world of a difference from narrowly beating Panama in a friendly as you suggested

[Yard of Pace]

Im not sure about moving Collins into midfield, yes he has decent feet and can bring the ball out of defense, but taking the ball on the half turn in midfield and passing the ball forward like Cullen does for example is a completely different skillset that I just cant picture Collins doing. Not saying its not worth looking at, but Id have my doubts that it would work. McGrath was exceptional.

.

Aye, you're dead right there, good point.

At least we agree it's an idea worth a look.

Question for the old timers:
I was a few years too young (only just, mind): how many games did Lawro and McGrath (or Mcgraff as I always hear his name) play in midfield. And was it something that worked well or was it obvious they were centre halves playing in midfield?

[SkStu]

I remember a bit of Lawro playing midfield most memorably I think scoring from midfield away to Scotland in the Euro 88 qualifiers. Wasn’t old enough or wise enough (still applies) to recall how he performed in the role but I do remember McGrath playing there. He played almost like a midfield sweeper and was so good on the ball. I remember him scoring a few sweet goals from outside the box, volleys from half cleared corners and stuff so he was l technically strong and I think either BBC or RTE (before a major tournament) did a segment on him as a midfielder under Jack and they were singing his praises. He didn’t look out of place to me but again I was probably still a bit too young to really be able to assess. Might have to rely on some of the elder elder statesmen on here (you know who you are :)) to fill in the gaps.

[Stuttgart88]

Lawrenson was also good in midfield.

I think it’s worth noting though that the ball almost always went long from the goalkeeper so Lawrenson and McGrath would usually be facing the ball on its way back when they’d first get hold of it. It wasn’t really until Keane came into the team that we had a midfielder who could receive the ball deep and pivot to face forward and it was well into Mick’s tenure that this became routine. He did it so well too, receiving it on his left, turning with ease and facing forward with the ball in his right foot. I’m sure Giles and others did this but under Jack there was no Cullen type role. I think people misremember how good we were in midfield under Jack - Lawro, McGrath, Houghton, Sheedy, Whelan, Sheridan… - but there was never really any deep ball player.

Collins would have done a great job in a Jack midfield.

[Yard of Pace]

Lawrenson was also good in midfield.

I think it’s worth noting though that the ball almost always went long from the goalkeeper so Lawrenson and McGrath would usually be facing the ball on its way back when they’d first get hold of it. It wasn’t really until Keane came into the team that we had a midfielder who could receive the ball deep and pivot to face forward and it was well into Mick’s tenure that this became routine. He did it so well too, receiving it on his left, turning with ease and facing forward with the ball in his right foot. I’m sure Giles and others did this but under Jack there was no Cullen type role. I think people misremember how good we were in midfield under Jack - Lawro, McGrath, Houghton, Sheedy, Whelan, Sheridan… - but there was never really any deep ball player.

Collins would have done a great job in a Jack midfield.

I have watched some whole matches and would Brady not have been the first to be constantly looking for the ball far back in our half? He's absolutely amazing in the matches I have watched.

Nathan Collins is not even 22 till next month so maybe it's something for the future. Cullen is probably our most important player. I thought Molumby had some fantastic games last year but I still don't think he's top level or will ever be. He's great, don't get me wrong, but (and I know this isn't great punditry) he's still too much of a nutcase. He'll either kill someone or no one. He's only had a few games in between that, when he's been fantastic.

[Stuttgart88]

Yes Brady of course but Brady retired quite early in Jack’s tenure. My main point is that Collins could have played well in Jack’s midfield but that being able to receive the ball on the half turn wasn’t an essential part of a midfielder’s role under Jack. Despite being defenders by nature I don’t recall Lawrenson or McGrath really doing that. I’m not sure a natural CM like Whelan did much either, but it was bloody ages ago now!

[seanfhear]

Lawrenson did well in midfield when he was used there ~ As did Paul McGrath with the added bonus that no opposition was going to try to throw their weight about anywhere near Paul McGrath.

I remember a game where McGrath was probably actually playing centre-back at Wembley ~ Anyway Brian Robson ( a truly great player / all-round great player ) was throwing his weight around big time fro the first 15 minutes or so ~ Probably believing that as England Captain at Wembley he would be unlikely to get a yellow card or red card as that was kind of the way things were back then ~ Anyway McGrath waited for his chance, and it came with Robson about 35 yards out from the English goal ~ McGrath put Robson high up in to the air and that was the end of Robson throwing his weight around for that match anyway ~ That kind of thing had to be done, now and again back in those days.

[TonyD]

Yes Brady of course but Brady retired quite early in Jack’s tenure. My main point is that Collins could have played well in Jack’s midfield but that being able to receive the ball on the half turn wasn’t an essential part of a midfielder’s role under Jack. Despite being defenders by nature I don’t recall Lawrenson or McGrath really doing that. I’m not sure a natural CM like Whelan did much either, but it was bloody ages ago now!

Yeah, thinking about it I’d definitely agree with this. Both Lawrenson and McGrath did well in midfield for Charlton teams, but he wasn’t looking for his midfielders to receive the ball deep from defenders, so as you say they’d mostly have got the ball when facing forwards. The point with Coll8ns is more from a defensive point of view really. He might give us an extra solidity in front of the back four (and help cut out these shots from outside the box) while still being decent enough in possession not to panic when asked to get on the ball. I’m not sure it would work either, but it’s something that might be worth a look. We are very wide open in the middle at times. Funnily enough we may be less so against the French, when they are likely to have more possession. It might allow us to be more compact. I would seriously think about starting Ogbene with Ferguson up front. He’s likely to put in more of a shift than Obafemi without the ball I think, and could potentially make a nuisance of himself for the French defenders, plus he as the pace to cause a threat on the break. He may not be suited to games where we're trying to break teams down, but if we are looking to play on the break this just might be one for him.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

Anyone got the latest on Luxembourg tonight?

[Nesta99]

Yeah, thinking about it I’d definitely agree with this. Both Lawrenson and McGrath did well in midfield for Charlton teams, but he wasn’t looking for his midfielders to receive the ball deep from defenders, so as you say they’d mostly have got the ball when facing forwards. The point with Coll8ns is more from a defensive point of view really. He might give us an extra solidity in front of the back four (and help cut out these shots from outside the box) while still being decent enough in possession not to panic when asked to get on the ball. I’m not sure it would work either, but it’s something that might be worth a look. We are very wide open in the middle at times. Funnily enough we may be less so against the French, when they are likely to have more possession. It might allow us to be more compact. I would seriously think about starting Ogbene with Ferguson up front. He’s likely to put in more of a shift than Obafemi without the ball I think, and could potentially make a nuisance of himself for the French defenders, plus he as the pace to cause a threat on the break. He may not be suited to games where we're trying to break teams down, but if we are looking to play on the break this just might be one for him.

I think this is the key for this game and not in a backs to the wall and hoof it out way. Compact with an out ball and putting phases together on the counter that may make the French think twice about constantly trying to overload us. I will probably have a dozen mini strokes if trying to pass it out under a high press but old habits die hard. I also agree on the observation on how reluctant Kenny is on making early tactical subs, but that was mentioned more than once in Oriel Park back in the day - I think he backs the players to just come good and there are times when it just isnt happening. We cant argue against the odds that we are more likely to loose than win but a good performance is important with the natives getting restless. I did like Deschamp's description of how Ireland used to be 'Direct and vertical' ala 2016 and that there is a little more to the way we play since, even if its just pre match nicities - its not totally untrue either.

[Nesta99]

Anyone got the latest on Luxembourg tonight?

No but do have the Portugal result - won 6 nil! Do you think we should be Portugal out of interst? Assuming your question wasnt just simple and straightforward!

[Kingdom]

Anyone got the latest on Luxembourg tonight?

Im sure if you ask your mum nicely she'll give you the wifi code to let you use google to check out the uefa website.
Unless its past your bedtime?

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

Im sure if you ask your mum nicely she'll give you the wifi code to let you use google to check out the uefa website.
Unless its past your bedtime?

:D Rattled.

Tonight's the night. It's finally here. I'm excited. You can't underestimate the impact a full house screaming for blood has on the opposition but more importantly our own team. I'm going to be losing my voice anyway. France won't come in to this game with the right attitude. They will be assuming they'll win. We will hit them hard and they will struggle to recover. Yes there will be ropey moments but we're going to win! I can feel it. We'll be dancing for the night in Lansdowne until they kick us out. Ireland 2 France 1.

BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!!

[paul_oshea]

Maybe in terms of results Paul? Staunton failed with a better bunch though. It was all the more glaring when he had some of our best players of the past 3 or 4 decades to pick from, some of whom were right in their prime e.g. Dunne, Finnan, O'Shea and Keane. 2007 was a fairly stellar year for a lot of them. Not from memory but using a bit of Googling: Dunne got his 3rd POTY in a row for Man City, Finnan played in the CL final, O'Shea had a great year with United and Keane struck up his Berbatov partnership at Spurs and had his best ever year (31 goals and 13 assists in 40 appearances and the highest PL scorer in that calendar year)............... Then we got taken apart by an out of form Cyprus. Look on the bright side, we just beat Latvia with nobody near those players in terms of ability or form.

That's not to excuse the lack of adjustment for long range shots or the general sense of chaos that seems to strike us after conceding a goal. Last night wasn't pretty in parts, particularly in the middle but there were some good moments further up the pitch.

Would it be fair to say you don't seem to rate many of the players on their individual threads but you also don't rate the mgmt team? Would like to hear your ideal starting 11 and tactical approach with the current squad.

I think in terms of players there's probably as good as players coming through now but just lacking the experience. I meant in terms of the frailties that we have spoken of in this thread and in the past few threads. Staunton had us playing some lovely football at times. That slovakia game, the away Denmark game(a friendly i know), the first czech game. But then we had some awful attacking performances away mostly when we were already out of the running. The similarities were the gaping holes in midfield, the lack of concentration, the silly mistakes in defence and some general lovely football pleasing on the eye. Managers who just didnt have the experience of managing at international level and who are/were very rigid in their mindsets of how the game should be played.

I don't not rate players, but I dont rate them the same as people on here do. I'd rate them like the general public do I imagine, for example Idah.

I think we have the bones of a potentially very good team if the trajectory of certain players keeps going at 0(n) or 0(log n) rate they are currently on. I believe we have 5 players who are easily going to be as good as those mentioned above by you. Remember though the PL is 15-20 years more competitive than it was in the mid 2000s, its a world league dominated by Global stars, so the likes of Finnan at CL liverpool or even Dunne POTY at City is much more difficult and therefore much more unlikely to be seen anytime soon but that does not mean 5 Irish players playing mid premier league in 2-3 years isn't just as good an achievement. I've gone through my team before when Skstu asked, but that would change now a bit. I am excited by Ferguson hes one of the few players from the start who has shown something other than holding up the ball. I am excited by Obafemi but I worry he's more of an international type player and this limits him drastically. I am excited by Collins, but not as a Central Defender or certainly not in a back 2. My main concern with Collins is he's just not good enough for any one position. I am happy with O'Shea, Omobamidele. I believe Coleman, Egan, Doherty still have a lot to offer to us. I am excited too by Festy, Coventry, Smallbone too but havent seen enough of them yet. Cullen is decent, and happy with him but he's not the player to worry a Tier 1 or even Tier 2 team but until we find something better more than happy for him to be one of the first on the teamsheet. So I think we are in considerably good health compared to the last two managers looking ahead to the future. I had no complaints about the starting 11 v Latvia and said as much before hand that i wanted to see 2 of 3 with Ferguson and I got that.

On Nestas point, I have seen a lot of Kenny with Dundalk through Europe, I have seen him stubbornly leave substitutions till very late but Ive also seen him rigidly stick to his belief of playing one way when is plainly clear for all to see it needs to be changed. I still cant get that game away in Larnaca, going out there with it all to play for and getting thrashed 4-0 when it was clear their danger man needed someone following him around as Dundalk kept getting caught on the counter due to being too open and religiously sticking to his 4-3-3 ( yes I know that mould has been broken perhaps due to Barry or not). That's my main fear still with Kenny. We can look to be in the game but then we could be out of it in 10 minutes and even then he wouldn't look to change it. Good managers will identify and change, a fluid approach without the need to compromise their principals.

Lastly on Collins in midfield, I had been saying for a while I'd like to see him in midfield just sitting ahead of the defence but I'm not sure he has that two yard 1 step turn thats needed to get out of trouble and/or open the pitch up he's just a little bit slow, a bit static for that I feel. Would still like to see him tried in there before the campaign is out.

One other thing that's been on my mind reading comments on here is that I believe fans are somewhat blinded by players, obvious issues shrouded by the ability to play nice ball, getting lost in the fact that the player just isn't good enough even if he's pleasing on the eye. Like the nice one in the club, getting the attention, then giving you the attention, then she'd disappear or go missing she'd let you down last minute (again).