France (H) match discussion thread

[drinkfeckarse]

More than capable of winning the last 2 games as long as we don't get too downbeat about the result last night.

A draw would've been a fair result, there was a lot of huff and puff from both sides without creating an awful lot. It was always going to need a moment of magic from someone to win it and the odds were on the French doing it considering the amount of possible matchwinners they had.

We played well though I thought and RMK was very good.
My marks out of 10.

Given-7.5, Carr-6, Dunne-7.5, Cunningham-7, O'Shea-5.5,

Reid-6.5, Kilbane-6, Keane-8, Duff-6,

Morrison-6, Keane-6.

[stickyjoe]

thought we played well last night defending but we never looked like scoring. should still get the wins we need. but when was the last time this Irish team beat anybody that was a half decent team in a competitive match? holland 2001 it was i think. since then we havent beaten russia,switzerland,france,israel and the swiss again.

atmosphere last night was super for once. how did it come across on the telly?

[Cosmo]

I thought we played well last night and didn't deserve to lose. However in saying that there were a couple of disappointing performances from people we needed on their game if we were going to win. Duff for one - unfortunately didnt produce a piece of magic that we know he can do (difference between a win and not winning) and robbie keane was poor too (big fan of his though).

Refuse to buy a paper today cos im sure at least 1 will run with the story that robbie keanes poor performance was down to having a few pints last friday - i dare 1 paper to say it, f**king wan*er journalists :rolleyes: .

Doherty is muck - Doyle wouldve done a better job than him.

Kerr will probably get loads of stick, doesnt deserve it imo. If robbie keane hadnt have got injured against israel at home we wouldve beaten them and be in a far better position. Unlucky lastnight.

Still confident that we'll win our last 2 matches - havent really looked at the table and worked out all the scenarios so sont know if that will be enough for 2nd spot

[paul_oshea]

i think it was myself and terryphelan who were the realists. i didnt think we would lose 2 or 3 nil but i thought a couple of minutes of magic from zidane would create the win for them....i was wrong....it was zidane. the best team lost in my opinion, henry had about 4 touches and once chance last night, but its the optimism i spoke of yesterday that i beleived was unfounded. eirebhoy may come back with his statistics and the likes, but at the end of the day we lost. it was extremely hard to take last night, i am still depressed over the result but i was very happy with the way we played last nite. keane and reid were quality in my opinion. Gallas had duff in his pocket. that keane "penalty" chance in fairness wasnt a penalty, but morrisons shirt was being tugged for his shot which i thought should have been a penalty.

fair play brian kerr. you made up for the other games. if only we had played like that against israel..... :( :( :(

[drinkfeckarse]

Gallas had duff in his pocket.

Did he???? I thought Duff played on the left with Reid on the right....considering Gallas played at left back that would mean he was marking Andy Reid...

[Albert]

Very tough to take the result last night I felt we definately deserved something from the game. We just didnt have a Henry for a touch of magic, and it always looked like that is what it would take. Given did well enough, he is not the greatest keeper ever but he is good and I dont think he could be faulted last night. Carr gave his all but seemed to me to tire towards the end. Considering Dunnes history I thought he put in a good performance again he is not a top class defender but he did his job in the main. Cunningham was excellent and as always raises his game in an Irish shirt even though he is quite limited overall. O'Shea, not great but I lost faith in his abilities long ago so Im just happy he didnt have any howlers. Robbie Keane was poor for me but then I can hardly remember the last time I thought he had a good game so its a bit much to expect him to pull it out of nowhere against France when he cant make the spurs team, but in fairness he did try and the same goes for Morrission, struggling at club level but he put his heart into it. Roy Keane as always the only really top class act that we posess how I wish he was 10 years younger! So considering the players we have you look to the only 20 million rated player we have they guy who plays regularly and plays with the premiership champions......Duff. AWOL last night and Im sorry but I dont think thats acceptable from him on an occassion last night, His tackiling was poor, he made very few runs and rarely took people on, for me he was more concerned with avoiding Injury and because we needed something special I felt that he was the worst performer in an Irish shirt and was very let down. Thats several games now where he has done poorly to OK and considering how highly he is rated thats just not good enough. Also thought Finnan should have come on for Reid who tired and to be honest Reid incrreasingly looks over rated too, decent but by no means a magical unlocker of defences

[fosterdollar]

fair play brian kerr. you made up for the other games. :(
He still hasn't the bottle to see it through to the end. Doherty is way off the standard required. Why isn't Elliot being given some experience at least? Are we going to persist with that mad ape up front?

[EnDai]

Sagnol was marking Duff.

[VinnyL]

:eek: :mad: the fcuker!!! that is NOT on, write to the FAI and complain about him, he will be banned from lansdowne, and then i and many other decent supporters who make supportive noise will move up the waiting list...

Please write in about him, you have witnesses, it is not fair that d!cks like him have tickets :mad:

i have full intentions of writing/emailing them... who do i write to in the FAI?? do you reckon they'll even take it seriously. so ashamed that if this a***hole it was great the way we all turned on him though. he didnt sing 1 irish song for the whole game either...

[brine3]

They had two or three on Duff most of the time.

[Slash/ED]

Kerr did nothing worthy of praise, the moment he brought on Doherty all hope was lost.

[Dotsy]

I though both teams played very poorly last night and a draw would have been a fairer result. We needed all our top players to play well and unfortunatley while RMK and Given played very well, Duffer and Robbie were poor. I thought we gave them too much space to build from in their half and should have put them under more pressure higher up the field. Especially in the second half they had too much possession of the ball and are alway us likely to hurt you with a moment of genius in that scenario. Once we went behind I just couldn't see where we were going to get a goal from. We made no effort to play the ball out wide and just hoofed balls up to Doherty. I would have liked to have seen Elliott come on for Morrison (who I thought played reasonably well but seemed knackered when he was subbed but it could just as easily have been Robbie who was replaced).

We can win our last two games but it is going to be difficult. I think it would be madness to replace Kerr at this stage of the campaign. If we don't make the play offs then I think that would be the time to make a change. At this stage Switzerland haven't done anything more than us to deserve the playoff place.

[deego11]

i have full intentions of writing/emailing them... who do i write to in the FAI?? do you reckon they'll even take it seriously. so ashamed that if this a***hole it was great the way we all turned on him though. he didnt sing 1 irish song for the whole game either...

Thats absolutely awful people like that should deffo not be given tickets in the future. Email the FAI at info@fai.ie and mark it for the attention of the ticket office. They have details of where all tickets are sent to. At least they will know which football club got that ticket!

[patsh]

Kerr did nothing worthy of praise, the moment he brought on Doherty all hope was lost.
Agree.
When any oppostion team sees Doherty coming on, they must know its the same thing as admitting defeat.

[lopez]

Kerr did nothing worthy of praise, the moment he brought on Doherty all hope was lost.Absolutely. It's one thing for an international not making the Scumski first team and playing for Ireland, and another not playing for Norwich. Elliot would have done no worse that Doherty. The man needs to decide if he's a defender or a forward.

Losing to France is not the problem (seeing we picked up a point in Paris). It will be the four points lost to Israel that will prove decisive. Unless the Swiss beat France (which I doubt) then winning the next two games would give us a play-off place - something we would have thought was our best hope a year ago. However I wouldn't put money on this side beating either, such is Kerr's inability to win games against even mediocre opposition in their own back yard or half decent ones in his own.

[joeSoap]

Pure class. Ray D'Arcy said he was watchin on telly, and Jim (foot in mouth) Beglin said after 65 mins "George, I can't believe how quiet Henry is"...the rest is history.

I'm probably being a little over critical here, but did anyone else think Shay was a little caught off his line by it??

[VinnyL]

Thats absolutely awful people like that should deffo not be given tickets in the future. Email the FAI at info@fai.ie and mark it for the attention of the ticket office. They have details of where all tickets are sent to. At least they will know which football club got that ticket!

thanks i'll do that, but will they even take it seriously?? if he didnt shut up after we all confrounted him we would have called a steward over

[onenilgameover]

.
As for Kerr Garry Doherty? I'll say no more. The fact he's in the squad is an absolute joke, nevermind being replied on. There are plenty of better strikers than him out there, abroad and in our own league. He is an absolute joke, Kerr useing him constantly is even worse.


Agreed....That really topped it all off. After already resorting to the long ball we then bring on Doherty. An absolute out and out disgrace!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One instance when he went up for a header with Boumsong and they both missed and the ball gets mysteriously tangled up in The Doc's legs was awful. You could here the pain in the groan from pit of 35.000 stomachs. Is this really good enough for Ireland. I fuppin don't think so.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[paul_oshea]

sorry yes, sagnol got booked for fouling duff, you are right he was on duff.


what really annoys me is people here saying that we dont play a long ball etc, and kerr getting annoyed that other teams see us as long ball opportunists, the simple fact is WE ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!WE ALWAYS resort to the long ball if things arent working out for us...so the one good thing that comes from this is people here will cop on and hopefully too will kerr, that we do play the long ball a lot.

[Cosmo]

no, thought that myself. also thought henry was given too much space for it. Not taking anything away from the goal though, super finish

[paul_oshea]

lads all the players were given too much space outside the box, as it seemed the defence didnt want to commit in case they were nut megged. dunne turned his bloody body for gods sake rather than attacking henry. i dont know, i just dont know.... :( :(

[onenilgameover]

I thought that myself too. He was far too far out and wasn't expecting it. What happened just before that was it a misplaced Dunne clearance. Henry takes it down has some space pushes it forward, did defenders back off??? i know we've seen henry pull off sh!t like that but in fairness it all seemed to easy and a little bit sureal.

[The Stars]

it as one of those moments when you knew it was in the second Henry got the ball.It was like slow motion,everyone stopped and even Henry was so cool in his finish.

[Littlest Hobo]

Plenty of fight and spirit, but lack of class.
After 60 minutes and seeing how the game was unfolding, I had a bet with a couple of guys in the pub, that the french would knick it by one. Earned meself a few quid. It was pretty obvious at this point who was in charge and was looking like winning. They dominated the middle with zidane pulling the strings, we sat back too deep and invited them, to play in front of us.
How many times did I see both Robbie and hog the halfway line, chasing shadows :confused:
Roy played well and broke up their momentum, bit slow on the tackle a few occasions.
Kilbane was totally at sea and the gulf of class between him and Viera/Zidane was clearly evident. He will fair better aginst waeker cyprus and the swiss.
I was fuming at the long ball tactics. The back four were launching high balls at every opportunity. Scenes from the charlton era. robbie and clint hadn't a hope. What a waste:confused: :mad: Reid and Duff didn't get enough opportunites to punish them from the wings.
Pre-match, Gallas was right when he said Ireland are long ball experts, and play old english type football. They never looked thratened by our attacks.
When big Doc came on I almost left the pub :(
Glad Roy, Duff and Reid didn't resort to those desperate measures. They kept it on the floor all game. :)

In a nut shell, we were never going to win and should never have expected to. THAT MY FRIENDS IS RELAITY.We got lucky aginst the Dutch Sep '01, and skill/class/and tactics were always going to decide this one.
The French were a class outfit, who deserve to win the group after that performance.
I still we believe we have enough class to beat the cypriots and swiss for a play-off place. That's what we deserve and our abilities merit.

One more thing, did anyone hear Niall Quinn on Skysports. After 50 minutes
he was settling for a 0-0 draw. That and alot of other comments, make this man a pessimist and an extrmely irritating person.

[paul_oshea]

well said hobo.

quinn was trying to dig at keane at every opportunity. i think he is a big time "ireland are great" type commentator to be honest.

[VinnyL]

no chance for given, top corner. he abs buried it

[Dublin12]

One more thing, did anyone hear Niall Quinn on Skysports. After 50 minutes
he was settling for a 0-0 draw. That and alot of other comments, make this man a pessimist and an extrmely irritating person.[/QUOTE]

I would have settled for a 0-0 draw at that stage too,he just saw it for what it was and we never looked like scoring and were beginning to flag in midfield.If Roy wasn't playing it would've been alot worse.

[joeSoap]

no chance for given, top corner. he abs buried it
Given nearly got to it...and was 7 yards off his line...if he was a bit closer to goal....

[OwlsFan]

I'll brace myself for the response but that chant irritated me no end. I posted before that Keane's booking (that's 4 in all this tournament meaning he misses 20% of the games through suspension) in the Faroes for dissent could cost us dear. That chicken may now come home to roost.

Take it as read that Keane was our best player on the night. He loses possession (through his legs) and scurries back to foul a Frenchman who is in a threatening position (fair enough) and the ball breaks to Makalele on the floor (no threat) and he goes in on him with stud showing. Booking.

Our best player has once again put himself out of a vital trip to Cyprus where he carried the team last time we played there. The crowd in response chant "Keano". Muppets. Do those of you who made that chant support his action in getting himself banned for our vital qualifier. I didn't hear any chant of "Reido" or "Morro" when they also got booked - but maybe they haven't got 4 needless bookings in the campaign so they're not worth the chant. They're were plenty other well deserved chants of "Keano" but when someone needlessly put themselves out of a vital game, I certainly won't immediately chant their name.

Time will tell how disasterous his absence will be. 6 pts will pretty much get us a play off place. I would have been reasonably confident of 3 in Cyprus if he had been playing. Now.... :eek: Reid and Morrisson we can live without.

[joeSoap]

I think you might find if you watch the booking again that Andy Reid should have got the card, not Keane, as it was Reids challenge that brought the free kick.

[zinedineontour]

Keane did make a rash challenge to get booked though .. still gets on my tits though when keane touches the ball 30,000 people nearly have an orgasm and cant stop applauding the man .. when he fouls someone the stadium erupts with keano if he gives the ball away its hard luck roy great effort son ... if anyone else gives the ball away its moans and groans and you ****ing eejit your **** .....

The lad played well last night prob our best player after richie dunne but ffs people need to support the team not just roy keane ...

[VinnyL]

rather he be out fot the cyprus game than the swiss game to be honest... he was bound to pick up a yellow in Nicosia if he didnt pick up one last night - its just the type of player he is

[thejollyrodger]

Cyprus are only playing for pride remember

[youngirish]

Have to say we were the better team for the majority of the game last night. Anyone watching it could realise this. We had most of the possession, created the best chances and never looked like conceeding until one moment of magic from Mr Henry.

That my friends was the only difference. Keane and Morrison need s**tloads of chances to be created for them before banging in a goal while Henry can conjure up one from nothing.

I agree that bringing Doherty on was all but admitting defeat and I seriously think Kerr's future has to be looked at. After all who has he beaten of any note in two and a half years? No one.

Also was I the only one who thought it was disgraceful that our fans were booing every touch from the French players throughout the match? This is real English behaviour as far as I'm concerned. No one boos us at away games (well possibly the Turks but we are generally well liked by everyone). It didn't do us any good in the end anyway.

[liam88]

Anyone else think he played really well last night?
He made a stunning save in the first half (think from Zidane), he couldn't have done much about what was admitidally a quality goal from Henry, he played with his heart pushing the team up towards to end and making some quality goal kicks.

[Stuttgart88]

Paul, it's not a bleedin' science. And Terry's most gloomy predictions hardly came to reality did they? So France won but I still think my prediction was about right - we'll get chances & it's down to whether we'd take them. We didn't.

They actually got FEWER chances than I expected & I was delighted to see all THEIR long balls sailing out over the goal line & touchline all through the first half. In the end their overall quality told but only just. The pessimists are hardly vindicated. And it's totally churlish to say " I told you so". Maybe if we'd been comprehensively thumped...

[LFC in Exile]

Take it as read that Keane was our best player on the night. He loses possession (through his legs) and scurries back to foul a Frenchman who is in a threatening position (fair enough) and the ball breaks to Makalele on the floor (no threat) and he goes in on him with stud showing. Booking.

Have you ever played football? He didn't go in studs showing to kick Makelele on the gound. He got caught in possession and Reid fouled Makelele - he fell in Keanes path. Jaysus, I know he has previous but give him a break. In any event he is a central midfielder - central midfielders get booked (a lot) - especially when there is a ref as fussy as last night's. He booked Zidane for nothing. If Keane is walking around trying not to get booked and pulling out of challenges because he is afraid of missing a game he will not be as effective as he was last night when he effectively had to hold midfield on his own.

Maybe you remember a night when Man United played Juve and Keane got booked for a challenge on Zidane - the booking put him out of the Champions League final. Did he pull back? No. It is not his style. :ball:

[zinedineontour]

wow arent you the clever clogs .... look we were not outclassed outplayed and france had two shots on goal all game ... The result on the balance of play was unfair so your no mystic meg really ... I think the reason a lot of people were positive was shown last night ... We dominated the first half and were unlucky not to go in up at half time ....

[Littlest Hobo]

Have to say we were the better team for the majority of the game last night. Anyone watching it could realise this. We had most of the possession, created the best chances and never looked like conceeding until one moment of magic from Mr Henry.

That my friends was the only difference. Keane and Morrison need s**tloads of chances to be created for them before banging in a goal while Henry can conjure up one from nothing.

I agree that bringing Doherty on was all but admitting defeat and I seriously think Kerr's future has to be looked at. After all who has he beaten of any note in two and a half years? No one.

Also was I the only one who thought it was disgraceful that our fans were booing every touch from the French players throughout the match? This is real English behaviour as far as I'm concerned. No one boos us at away games (well possibly the Turks but we are generally well liked by everyone). It didn't do us any good in the end anyway.

Have to disagree. They had most of the possession. Zidane was rolling it around for fun and Viera was surging forward non-stop.
They could string a few passes together alright :eek: . We sat back too often and gave them too much respect. The difference between both sides is a very large gulf of class and experience. Yes we do have some very good players, i.e. Duff/Reid/Roy and Robbie, but nothing else to compete with them. They upped a couple of gears from their previous shoddy performances and are now on course to win. That's something we could never do.

[Seano]

Given's lack of a couple of extra inches are his only down fall, he's technically one of the best ,he doesn't make mistakes, but doesn't have the height at 6', to be the best
in the world.

[ken foree]

thought he was a little off his line for the goal meself. looked like he would've saved it comfortably if he'd been better positioned. otherwise he was very good and not to blame for the result

[thejollyrodger]

given is good nut not great in fairness. he does make some good saves but he makes them look fantastic my diving IMO. he is a little short and useless at penos. Still our first choice keeper though

[Dotsy]

Have to say we were the better team for the majority of the game last night. Anyone watching it could realise this. We had most of the possession, created the best chances and never looked like conceeding until one moment of magic from Mr Henry.

That my friends was the only difference. Keane and Morrison need s**tloads of chances to be created for them before banging in a goal while Henry can conjure up one from nothing.

I agree that bringing Doherty on was all but admitting defeat and I seriously think Kerr's future has to be looked at. After all who has he beaten of any note in two and a half years? No one.

Also was I the only one who thought it was disgraceful that our fans were booing every touch from the French players throughout the match? This is real English behaviour as far as I'm concerned. No one boos us at away games (well possibly the Turks but we are generally well liked by everyone). It didn't do us any good in the end anyway.

I don't agree we were the better team over the 90 minutes. Fairly evenly matched IMO. Both teams played very poorly.

I was in the French section and their fans around me were ****ed off that they were playing so badly and ball over the top and not finding anyone. The guy beside me was trilled with the win becaseu he didn't think they deserved it.

I think your point about the booing is ludicrous. Kerr himself asked the crowd to be grumpy and hostile. Again the French around me didn't have a problem with it. We weren't singling any particular player out for no good reason.

[youngirish]

I think your point about the booing is ludicrous. Kerr himself asked the crowd to be grumpy and hostile. Again the French around me didn't have a problem with it. We weren't singling any particular player out for no good reason.

No we were just booing all their players for no good reason instead. Booing the opposition like this is pointless. It just gives us a bad name like the English and Turkish supporters. It ****es me off when our players get booed at away games though thankfully it doesn't happen that much. Kerr should be more worried about his tactics and his dodgy substitutions instead of relying on the crowd to get a result for him. It achieved f**kall anyway. Probably only riled Henry up more than usual.

[pineapple stu]

On the Doherty sub, it's very easy to be wise after the event (and yes, it was probably one of the single worst performances in an Irish jersey), but who was our top scorer in the last campaign? Kerr was fully justified to put him on and try and shake things up a bit. It didn't work - c'est la vie. I don't think an untried international with barely any Premiership experience would have fared much better, to be honest.

I thought the Keane booking was for dissent after Reid fouled his man - granted, I was in the South touchline seats and didn't have the best of views for working out technicalities like that. Anyone confirm what exactly happened?

[Dotsy]

No we were just booing all their players for no good reason instead. Booing the opposition like this is pointless. It just gives us a bad name like the English and Turkish supporters. It ****es me off when our players get booed at away games though thankfully it doesn't happen that much. Kerr should be more worried about his tactics and his dodgy substitutions instead of relying on the crowd to get a result for him. It achieved f**kall anyway. Probably only riled Henry up more than usual.

The English fans reputation is from the fact that they have a section of their fans that are hooligans and that they routinely boo the opposition's national anthem. Irish fans don't have a reputatuon for either of these. We do have a reputation for enjoying ourselves with the opposing fans and not causing trouble. Creatiing a hostile atmosphere for the opposing team in the stadium is perfactly acceptable in my mind. Fine if you don't think it effects the players but it's not going to tarnish any repuation we have abroad.

[thejollyrodger]

Domenech: Irish were predictable
08/09/2005 - 14:03:32
http://breaking.tcm.ie/2005/09/08/story219796.html
France coach Raymond Domenech has described the Republic of Ireland as “predictable” after Thierry Henry’s strike proved deadly in Dublin.

But he also issued a warning to any French players who believe the hard work has been done in their mission to reach the World Cup finals.

His players are now level on points with Switzerland at the top of group four, but second on goal difference, and they face the Swiss next month in Berne, before finishing their qualifying campaign against Cyprus.

“There are weaknesses in our game,” said Domenech. “We have a lot of things to improve and we can do better.

“The Irish were tough to control but they were predictable.

“However the Swiss have a more varied game so we will have to be more concentrated and united than ever.

“It will be less easy to get organised against the Swiss than it was against the Irish.”

Back in Paris today, Domenech was reluctant to enter into a celebratory spirit, despite Henry’s fine winning goal which gave France a 1-0 margin of victory.

The Republic are now three points adrift of France, with their qualifying hopes fading, while Israel are a point behind the French, albeit having played one more match than the rest of the top four.

“We are now in the same situation as we were ahead of the Ireland match,” said Domenech.

“If we miss out on our match in Switzerland, we could be in big trouble.

“Also we should not forget that the Swiss will play against the Irish. Everything remains possible.

“This match (against Ireland) was just another stage of the competition and we must clear the next hurdle if we want to keep our hopes alive.

“We have two matches left and any mistake could be fatal.”

The Euro 2000 winners have failed to convince at either the 2002 World Cup or last summer’s European Championships, which perhaps explained Domenech’s cautious stance.

“I am not happy, just satisfied to see that the team is gradually getting into place and improving,” he added.

“My real joy will take place the day we book our ticket to Germany for good. But the other matches before that are just little enjoyments.”

Domenech will spend the coming month travelling around Europe to see his internationals play with their respective clubs.

“The French team is always above the clubs, that’s why there is a permanent contact between me and the players,” said the French coach.

“I will spend next month watching Champions League matches.

“I will also study Switzerland’s game carefully to find the right way to confront them.”
I guess we were predictable

[NeilMcD]

Plenty of fight and spirit, but lack of class.
After 60 minutes and seeing how the game was unfolding, I had a bet with a couple of guys in the pub, that the french would knick it by one. Earned meself a few quid. It was pretty obvious at this point who was in charge and was looking like winning. They dominated the middle with zidane pulling the strings, we sat back too deep and invited them, to play in front of us.
How many times did I see both Robbie and hog the halfway line, chasing shadows :confused:
Roy played well and broke up their momentum, bit slow on the tackle a few occasions.
Kilbane was totally at sea and the gulf of class between him and Viera/Zidane was clearly evident. He will fair better aginst waeker cyprus and the swiss.
I was fuming at the long ball tactics. The back four were launching high balls at every opportunity. Scenes from the charlton era. robbie and clint hadn't a hope. What a waste:confused: :mad: Reid and Duff didn't get enough opportunites to punish them from the wings.
Pre-match, Gallas was right when he said Ireland are long ball experts, and play old english type football. They never looked thratened by our attacks.
When big Doc came on I almost left the pub :(
Glad Roy, Duff and Reid didn't resort to those desperate measures. They kept it on the floor all game. :)

In a nut shell, we were never going to win and should never have expected to. THAT MY FRIENDS IS RELAITY.We got lucky aginst the Dutch Sep '01, and skill/class/and tactics were always going to decide this one.
The French were a class outfit, who deserve to win the group after that performance.
I still we believe we have enough class to beat the cypriots and swiss for a play-off place. That's what we deserve and our abilities merit.

One more thing, did anyone hear Niall Quinn on Skysports. After 50 minutes
he was settling for a 0-0 draw. That and alot of other comments, make this man a pessimist and an extrmely irritating person.


Whats the difference between your bet and Niall Quinns comments.

[Stuttgart88]

The game is moving on, away from us. I think the way we played last night was actually better than our WC02 performances but it still wasn't good enough. We were unlucky to lose but we'd have been lucky to win if the full 90 minutes was taken into account. I'm not ignoring the fact that on a few oaccasions last night we played very clever & quick passing to free up our wide men. But it's just not clever enough. Overall I felt that France used less energy to compete with us than we used to compete with them.

Domenech is right. Switzerland play cleverer football than us, even though I think we'll beat them.

In fact just about every semi-respectable continental European international side plays cleverer & more varied football.

Until recently I was beginning to fear that England were in with a chance of WC06. I always try to separate all their hype from the reality but the hype does actually seep through nonetheless.

But watching the ConFed Cup, Villareal against Everton, Holland's friendly against England, Italy against us etc. makes me think that our style of football (as evidenced in the British & Irish leagues) just won't cut it at the highest level of international football. It may be good enough to make you hard to beat & get some good results but how far will it actually get you? Liverpool and Chelsea's success in Europe this year don't exactly endorse my theory. Nor does Scotland getting a draw against Italy. But I still think it holds water.

Kerr said this as far back as the Albania game but he's been unable to do anything about it. With a squad of players brought up in Ireland & Britain, playing professionally in Britain and coached by a coach brought up in the same tradition we'll always be predictable in the eyes of a top-footballing nation.

Kerr did what any manager who watched Niall Quinn & Tony Cascarino in the last 20 yrs would do. Bring on the tall donkey. But Doc isn't as good as those were. A less predictable coach may have had another plan. I'm not blaming Kerr, just pointing out that maybe there's a way of getting more out of what we have.

[Green Tribe]

fair play to Thierry.....

But just reading up on all the coverage is making me more nervous about not qualifying. I do think that we can do it, but it will be difficult and we need to now concentrate on whipping Cyprus, which will not be the easiest game. I am even more determined to get behind the boys in Nicosia, they need full support. Come on lads, get us to Deutschland!!!!! :ball:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/4224342.stm