Gibraltar V Republic of Ireland - Monday, 16th October 2023 - Euro 2024 Qualifier

[weldoninhio]

Gibraltar couldn't beat us, could they? Would table to to head to head or GD if they did??

[ifk101]

Is it possible they could beat us atm. A blessing the game is not in Gibraltar as we really struggled there before, too much wind and bumps (apparently).

[seanfhear]

is it possible they could beat us atm. A blessing the game is not in gibraltar as we really struggled there before, too much wind and bumps (apparently).
~ lol ~

[pineapple stu]

I'm not sure if they can win - they'd need to score for that, and I'm not sure they have it in them. Though God knows we've conceded enough of long-range stunners against minnows down the years.

But a 0-0 draw? Yeah, I could see that. I wonder will Johnston start this evening? He was such an obvious omission in the home game, and he turned things completely when he came on at half-time.

(We need to lose by four to come bottom of the table - head-to-head is the first tie-breaker)

[ifk101]

Wales scored 3 headed goals against them last week, so a lineup with pace/ trickery outside + somebody who can put a whip on the ball from set plays. I think I'd start with Johnston and Ebosele.

[Stuttgart88]

Irish Times says Moran was earmarked for this game but he injured his ankle on Friday

[joey B]

Might just watch Greece/Holland tonight instead,don’t have the heart for this !

[Razors left peg]

I dont remember ever been less enthusiastic for a game. If Kenny is not replaced for the NZ friendly I cant imagine there'll be even 5000 in the stadium

[elatedscum]

I dont remember ever been less enthusiastic for a game. If Kenny is not replaced for the NZ friendly I cant imagine there'll be even 5000 in the stadium

James McClean's goodbye

[Razors left peg]

James McClean's goodbye

Ok, there'll be 5002 there if his parents show up!

[JR89]

1713971234109583487

[Razors left peg]

The fact that Doherty continues to keep his place ahead of Ebosele means he should be fired with the hour to go before KO.

[pineapple stu]

Ah Festy was ****e on his two cameos last month in fairness; I think he's got a bit of improving to do yet to be a real first team option.

Johnston in shows he's learning at least. Very very slightly. And a bit too late obviously.

[zero]

sticks with duffy aswell ahead of collins or o'shea. collins maybe carrying a slight knock to be fair.

can't make any judgement on festy based on those minutes.

[Fixer82]

Collins was taken off against Greece with an injury. Still doesn't explain his brainfart to step up while the Greek player was in his own half though.

[elatedscum]

Re the changes:

1) Ah you're imagining they won't do anything offensively and having Duffy there for attacking corners is an advantage vs anyone else. Important to be strong at set pieces for teams that will play 11 behind the ball.
2) Mikey Johnstone has the ability to go past players in tight areas
3) McGrath's movement and creativity also useful against such weak oposition

re Doherty v Festy

4) Doherty is still arguably our best player, (you could argue Ferguson or Ogbene) - Festy hasn't really played at RB, he's more vying for Ogbene's slot. and he'd largely do what Cheo does, I don't particularly see his pace as an attribute when they'll be defending with everyone behind the ball

5) i possibly would have started Molumby ahead of Cullen, just I think Molumby is a bit better at winning the ball back if there's ever a break and if you want waves and waves of attack then Molumby helps that. Other than that, that's the team I would have played.

[Olé Olé]

Re the changes:

1) Ah you're imagining they won't do anything offensively and having Duffy there for attacking corners is an advantage vs anyone else. Important to be strong at set pieces for teams that will play 11 behind the ball.
2) Mikey Johnstone has the ability to go past players in tight areas
3) McGrath's movement and creativity also useful against such weak oposition

re Doherty v Festy

4) Doherty is still arguably our best player, (you could argue Ferguson or Ogbene) - Festy hasn't really played at RB, he's more vying for Ogbene's slot. and he'd largely do what Cheo does, I don't particularly see his pace as an attribute when they'll be defending with everyone behind the ball

5) i possibly would have started Molumby ahead of Cullen, just I think Molumby is a bit better at winning the ball back if there's ever a break and if you want waves and waves of attack then Molumby helps that. Other than that, that's the team I would have played.

On Duffy and McGrath, I think it sums up where his head is right now i.e. damage limitation. If McGrath sets one up for Duffy to head in he will be happy. Even though it fixes nothing.

[SkStu]

Goal for Ferguson - good build up all round.

We may never be beaten again.

[SkStu]

Ah Festy was ****e on his two cameos last month in fairness; I think he's got a bit of improving to do yet to be a real first team option.

He was awful. Felt like i was in a minority of one on here in saying it at the time.

[passinginterest]

Cullen having a bit of a mare so far. Energy levels dropped a bit after the good start.

[SkStu]

Chewing gum for the eyes

[CSAD]

Portugal lead 4-0 and its not even half time. This means now that if Slovakia win in Luxembourg Ireland are officially eliminated.

[Insidetherock]

And get rid of Kenny for the next two games.. this is terrible

[passinginterest]

Fairly par for the course. Could have had a few more. After the disappointment of Greece it’s a relief that they at least look comfortable.

I was on holiday for the Greece game so haven’t watched it back. Can’t say I was too sad to have missed it when I saw the result. Would have had a decent view of Iceland v Luxembourg from the hotel, but spent the evening on a fruitless search for the northern lights instead! Altogether a disappointing Friday night!!

[CSAD]

It's weird that I find myself rooting for Slovakia in the last game as it will seal our fate meaning there's no excuse for Kenny to stay on after tonight.

[zero]

very much the air of a friendly. a lot of playing at walking pace which has been a bit of a feature of the kenny regime. there doesn't seem much if any desire for further goals but they may come in the last 20.

Gibraltar seem worse than usual.

[SkStu]

Irrelevant to tonight but Belgium Sweden game abandoned after two fans (Swedes?) were shot dead. It appears to be outside the stadium and before kickoff but the news is unclear and is breaking...

(some reports say it was an Islamic State attack)

[CSAD]

Irrelevant to tonight but Belgium Sweden game abandoned after two fans (Swedes?) were shot dead. It appears to be outside the stadium and before kickoff but the news is unclear and is breaking...

The news is the fans are being forced to remain in the stadium for safety reasons as the killer is still at large.

[SkStu]

Mikey Johnston gets MOTM... Doherty might feel a bit hard done by, a goal and 2 assists...

[texidub]

I just hope this win doesn't go to their heads.

[ontheotherhand]

Absolutely certain to beat Holland now.

[joey B]

Gus sent off in Athens this evening ,the Dutch pretty much guaranteed to qualify now ……

[Crosby87]

If only we could play the Flying Gibbies ten times a year lads.

[tetsujin1979]

1714024666191298827

[Crosby87]

I remember that match.

[Razors left peg]

Tonight was fine, against a crap team we did what had to be done, but even within us winning you could clearly see some of the things that have caused us trouble against better teams.

Duffy has no business being the main receiver of the ball from the goalkeeper and bring it into midfield. When its not being carried forward and hes looking to pass it, hes not capable of picking a good pass, but also more importantly theres no midfielder looking to receive it and be positive. Ball goes into Cullen, Cullen usually has his back to goal, ball goes back to Duffy or other defender, pass around back and repeat into midfield. Now tonight Cullen had more time so he did more often turn and try to pass forward, but he was poor too. Its all so slow and predicable. So often in the Greece game I was screaming at the tv for the lack of movement and cleverness from a midfielder to create space to receive the ball with a good body shape to get moving forward.... again tonight wasnt so bad because of the opposition, but you could still see it.

I think Cullen might be the most disappointing player of the whole campaign as he should be that ball receiver and distributor in midfield.

Again I know the subs were fine because of the result, but I didnt understand the reasoning of them either. Ebosele might not be the messiah, but he an exciting young player playing Serie A, why not give him 30 mins. Id like to have seen more of Sykes. Id like to have seen Smallbone in the deep midfield role, Omobamidele as the ball playing defender instead of Duffy. Things that could have been tried for last half hour. I dont care that Robinson came on and scored against Gibraltar, in a full strength squad I dont think he'd even be picked.

All in all, I just hope that the work is been done behind the scenes now to plan for the next appointment and we dont have to wait 6 months for new manager after a long review process that the FAI seem to love

[Jolly Red Giant]

The game demonstrated the ineptitude of Kenny - despite winning, the players were so slow passing the ball and made little or no effort to cross the ball into the box. Kenny mantra is probably 'be patient' - but that translates to 'be slow'.

Our best player has been a periphery figure in both of the games in the last week, despite a goal at the start of the game. He was so frustrated that he had to come back into Ireland's half to try and get a touch of the ball - and I didn't count, but I would be surprised if he touched the ball more than ten times before he was taken off. You can't create a situation as a manager that you fail to get the ball to your best player.

[ifk101]

(Strongly) disagree. We had the right approach, maybe a bit slow but we got in behind their defence on multiple occasions and caused havoc. The goals in the first half came from getting in behind. Kenny’s time is up but this is the template to play against this level of opposition. The simple launching of the ball into the box and playing the game in front of their defence always makes it a struggle. For example, the last time we played Gibraltar away we had 4 shots on target, 10 goal attempts in total, possession 63%, and scrapped a 1-0 win. Last night we had 12 shots on target, 27 attempts in total, possession 74%, and cruised to a 4-0 win.

[Jolly Red Giant]

(Strongly) disagree. We had the right approach, maybe a bit slow but we got in behind their defence on multiple occasions and caused havoc. The goals in the first half came from getting in behind. Kenny’s time is up but this is the template to play against this level of opposition. The simple launching of the ball into the box and playing the game in front of their defence always makes it a struggle. For example, the last time we played Gibraltar away we had 4 shots on target, 10 goal attempts in total, possession 63%, and scrapped a 1-0 win. Last night we had 12 shots on target, 27 attempts in total, possession 74%, and cruised to a 4-0 win.
We got behind the defence but didn't cross the ball - it happened way too infrequently - invariably the ball came back out to the midfield again, went back to the defenders etc. We were way too slow in getting the ball wide and in switching the play from side to side. Ogbene spent half his time with nobody near him and his arms in the air looking for a ball that never arrived. And I cannot agree that 'we had the right approach' - when your best player barely touched the ball all night.

[ifk101]

And I cannot agree that 'we had the right approach' - when your best player barely touched the ball all night.

Play him as a CB then?

[Predator]

It seems that even when his team wins 4-0 against Gibraltar with a completely dominant performance, Stephen Kenny cannot win.

[SkStu]

WAnd I cannot agree that 'we had the right approach' - when your best player barely touched the ball all night.

That is a bit blinkered, lets be honest. If we won 4-0 away to Gibraltar, we had the right approach.

[pineapple stu]

Yeah, it's a team game, not a game of "Give the ball to Ferguson"

It was comfortable - certainly easy better than the home game. That's fine. It doesn't change that he needs to move on after next month, but I'm glad he didn't end up with another shocking result on his CV

[Jolly Red Giant]

That is a bit blinkered, lets be honest. If we won 4-0 away to Gibraltar, we had the right approach.
We should have won by a lot more - if Kenny had any tactical understanding then Ferguson should have easily had a hat-trick last night.

Now - a 4-0 win even against the 198th ranked team is not to be sneezed at. But given how early we scored, how dominant we were and how poor they were throughout the game (particularly their goalie) - we should have run up a cricket score. But the real issue was - how slow the Irish play was, the lack of crosses when we got down the wings, and the lack of serious attempts on goal. Yes we had 24 attempts - but an awful lot of them were miss-hits, rebounds off knees, ricochets etc. There was few cleanly hit shots and I don't remember a single header where an Irish player actually attacked the ball in the box (unlike the Greek goal on Friday).

It was clear that Ferguson was incredibly frustrated from the very start of the game - even when he scored you could see it on his face. When you have someone of his talent you have to use him to the maximum - instead he was an afterthought in everything that happened on the pitch.

[Fixer82]

is there any videos of the highlights? I only saw snippets but can't find any full highlights of the game

[pineapple stu]

The goals were only published on FAITV a short while ago. Normally longer highlights follow in a day or two.

[tetsujin1979]

is there any videos of the highlights? I only saw snippets but can't find any full highlights of the game
full game is on RTE Player?

[Razors left peg]

It seems that even when his team wins 4-0 against Gibraltar with a completely dominant performance, Stephen Kenny cannot win.


In fairness, unless you completely balls it up against Gibraltar (like we almost did under McCarthy), its hard to read too much into any performance against them. My point was that I still seen signs of the things that cost us against better opponents.

[tetsujin1979]

combined player stats from the two games
1714250151676588530

[TonyD]

In fairness, unless you completely balls it up against Gibraltar (like we almost did under McCarthy), its hard to read too much into any performance against them. My point was that I still seen signs of the things that cost us against better opponents.

Possibly, but I can’t help feeling that some people’s view is being coloured by the overall performances in the group. That’s probably understandable in a way, but as a one off last night was fine. If we were going ok in the group there wouldn’t have been a peep about last night. It would have been viewed as job done. I don’t think many are hitting cricket scores against Gibraltar. Remember the last time we played them away it was 1-0.