France V Republic of Ireland - Thursday, 7th September 2023 - Euro 2024 Qualifier

[tommy_c12000]

Truth been told, Ogbene been a bit wasteful/frustrating in good positions. An easy sliding pass would have set Collins free

[mark12345]

The Idah experiment has worked wonderfully well for Kenny so far....not. This game is crying out for Will Keane

[tommy_c12000]

Stevens so loose defensively. Would have played O’Shea there. He did a solid job for West Brom there everybody time i saw him play there

[tommy_c12000]

Will Keane has no place in an international arena

[SkStu]

Truth been told, Ogbene been a bit wasteful/frustrating in good positions. An easy sliding pass would have set Collins free

Agree he could have played that pass but other than that and one other sloppy touch, he’s provided a fantastic out for us and has won possession and free kicks in good positions. Harsh enough take there, Tommy.

[tommy_c12000]

“A bit wasteful” nothing drastic!

[TonyD]

Stevens so loose defensively. Would have played O’Shea there. He did a solid job for West Brom there everybody time i saw him play there

Might well see Stevens hooked at half time for O’Shea. He’s struggling big time against Dembele. Jason Knight is putting in a great shift getting back to help him.

[SkStu]

Bazunu - not much he could do for the goal but has had a couple of shaky moments that could be put down to lack of communication.

Browne - has done very well. That slide tackle was excellent.

Collins, Egan and Duffy - have more or less done fine. Under the cosh and holding fairly steady. Poor clearing header from Collins for their goal.

Stevens - started well but has looked way off the pace in the last 20 mins. Who else there? Ebosele? I think he’d be murdered.

Cullen - doing fine. Was it he or Molumby that jumped early from corner they won in the lead up to their goal. Whoever it was gave them the space to get the cross in that led to their goal.

Knight - fairly anonymous but working hard.

Ogbene - see my earlier posts.

Idah - wasn’t in my starting line up but I think he has worked well with Ogbene when we’ve had the chance and has worked really hard.

[SkStu]

“A bit wasteful” nothing drastic!

Haha fair enough!

[geysir]

France cruising, still in first gear.
I very much doubt Deschamps thinks France are cruising it.

[Colbert Report]

Stevens definitely needs to come off. Hard to criticize Kenny here, he has the tactics right and is doing the best he can with the players at his disposal. I love how the camera focuses in on Duffy every time we have a free kick in their half though. Everyone knows his head is our only hope of a goal here. We'll be lucky not to concede three or four more.

[Dermobohs]

Idah and ogbene been ok so far , feeding off scraps with no support they’ve by and large done well.
Stevens is beyond awful, total bottle job.
Browne and the centre backs have done well but as usual we have zero presence , offensively or defensively with that weak midfield.they go missing when we need cover and stifle every attack.
Bazunu has been ok if a bit shaky sometimes

[SkStu]

O’Shea an option to replace Stevens actually as per Tommy above. Not his natural side but he has played there at club level.

[osarusan]

All down hill after the first 10 seconds.

It's gone as you'd expect. We defend in depth, they spend the half in or approaching our final third, we break occasionally. They look like they've another 3 gears in them so they were always going to get a goal, and our only chance is from a set piece or an error or something.

The second half will probably be just the same, as any other approach would just make us more likely to concede.

Grim stuff, but they are just far far superior in every way.

[Nesta99]

Soooo if anothe manager was in charge, one of those that have been given the nod by a few people here, what would they do different, how could they get more out of this Irish side against a superior side. How would they have prevented a pure class strike (closing down not a call as it was a short inside pass, no back lift and sailed in to the side netting). What should be changed for the 2nd half. Yup calling on a little more better decision making up top, using the space available wide - but a world class manager, what is their master class?

[osarusan]

Soooo if anothe manager was in charge, one of those that have been given the nod by a few people here, what would they do different, how could they get more out of this Irish side against a superior side. How would they have prevented a pure class strike (closing down not a call as it was a short inside pass, no back lift and sailed in to the side netting). What should be changed for the 2nd half. Yup calling on a little more better decision making up top, using the space available wide - but a world class manager, what is their master class?

Bit of a strawman argument. I don't think there's anybody on here who has suggested that a different manager would have us going toe to toe with France. These aren't the games where we learn much about our manager's (or players') qualities.

[geysir]

I didn't think Idah was fouled in the build up to France's goal, he felt the contact heavy enough as it was but he dived to the floor. The ref has done good so far.

[elatedscum]

I’d be inclined to do Stevens for Manning after about 10 mins or if he gets a booking

Could see Connolly replace Idah and Smallbone replace Knight when legs tire. Hendrick is the only option to replace a deep midfielder I guess, so if Molumby gets a booking or his legs go…

Could see Ebosele replace Browne when we need a bit more attacking threat.

[brine3]

Soooo if anothe manager was in charge, one of those that have been given the nod by a few people here, what would they do different, how could they get more out of this Irish side against a superior side. How would they have prevented a pure class strike (closing down not a call as it was a short inside pass, no back lift and sailed in to the side netting). What should be changed for the 2nd half. Yup calling on a little more better decision making up top, using the space available wide - but a world class manager, what is their master class?

The top managers get the points against the other teams.

[brine3]

James McClean

[elatedscum]

I didn't think Idah was fouled in the build up to France's goal, he felt the contact heavy enough as it was but he dived to the floor. The ref has done good so far.

Was an obvious push. Two hands in the back. Even when you don’t make much contact, and he did, when you come into someone’s back with 2 hands, it’s always a free

[geysir]

Dembele? is he the same man as ex Celt Dembele?

[mark12345]

I’d be inclined to do Stevens for Manning after about 10 mins or if he gets a booking

Could see Connolly replace Idah and Smallbone replace Knight when legs tire. Hendrick is the only option to replace a deep midfielder I guess, so if Molumby gets a booking or his legs go…

Could see Ebosele replace Browne when we need a bit more attacking threat.

Connolly and Keane and hit everything long in the second half

[backstothewall]

That's just too easy.

[brine3]

Totally open there down our right side.

[weldoninhio]

Dembele? is he the same man as ex Celt Dembele?

No, he’s Barcelonas Dembele. Moussa is in Saudi now

[geysir]

The RTE commentator is doing my head in with his constant reference to the 'Republic of Ireland'.

[Colbert Report]

The RTE commentator is doing my head in with his constant reference to the 'Republic of Ireland'.

France is actually named the French Republic, so I feel your pain.

[SkStu]

Don’t understand the McClean for Stevens switch. Trying to solve a problem with the same, possibly worse, skillset… a bit baffling.

[brine3]

The RTE commentator is doing my head in with his constant reference to the 'Republic of Ireland'.

Some D4 windbag and Ray Houghton with his monotonous voice next to him.

I found French telly. The French commentators can't get over the fact that a guy from the English fourth tier is on the pitch.

[NeverFeltBetter]

James McClean, fresh from Tranmere away, thrown on against the side that were a few penalties away from being the world champions 10 months ago.

France now in total cruise control. You don't expect anything against a team this good in terms of result, but the performance since the second goal has been dreadful.

[SkStu]

Didn’t look to me like Browne shouted “megs” as he went past Griezemann there so unfortunately doesn’t count.

[Supreme feet]

The worst thing is that we look physically weak, slow, and lacking in athleticism, bar Collins and Ogbene.

I don’t even know how a direct, aggressive gameplan could work for us anymore.

[Crosby87]

Haha I needed a laugh

[Fixer82]

Ogbene our best player tonight for me. Good performance but a gulf in class

[Crosby87]

How many ask out before Sunday

[tommy_c12000]

Will Keane has no place in an international arena

Didn’t last long unfortunately

[Crosby87]

Is Ferguson really hurt or did he just not want to bother?

[brine3]

Out till mid October apparently

[pineapple stu]

Festy coming on?

[Insidetherock]

Unfortunately we're seeing Josh Cullens limitations..

Same with Burnley.. he's an excellent Championship player, but he'll be dropped in a week or two at Burnley, and he'll spend the rest of his career getting teams to the Premiership, them getting let go

[Crosby87]

What kind of food is served in French stadiums? Do they have fancy hotdogs

[Colbert Report]

No shame in this performance at all. France are really, really good. While we're all disappointed in the result, I think this went as well as it could have.

[tommy_c12000]

Agree on Cullen, as I’ve said previously he’s a championship level player. Burnley will need to upgrade in that area if they are to survive

[tommy_c12000]

It would be great to get someone new in now, it is inevitable so why waste time when you can give the new guy early dead rubber competitive games

[third policeman]

What kind of food is served in French stadiums? Do they have fancy hotdogs

Smallbone looks like a better long term option as a 6. Can actually play the ball forward.

[brine3]

No shame in this performance at all. France are really, really good. While we're all disappointed in the result, I think this went as well as it could have.

We did better in Dublin

[SkStu]

We just didn’t lay a finger on them second half. The one thing we knew would happen is that France would come out blazing and looking to put the game to rest and we made it so easy for them. A bit cynical but stick a foot through them early in that half and set them back a bit. Take a yellow. But we just let them come at us. After that goal there’s nothing you can do as players, heads drop and it’s just damage control.

[Crosby87]

The entire program is stuck in neutral at best

[tommy_c12000]

Men against boys. Lucky not to lose by more. France coasted and did what was needed.