Finland v Republic of Ireland - Thursday, 10th October 2024 - UEFA Nations League

[brine3]

Can any other player take a free/throw/corner, other than Robbie Brady.. he'd sicken your hole, every single time grabbing the ball..

The first sign I'll take of leadership in that team, is when I see a player tell him eff off back to left back

did you not see him hit the top corner of the goal from a free kick

[Predator]

That's a shocking mistake from Collins. Very little positive to take from that first half. We look soft.

[backstothewall]

Tough to watch this. Don’t deserve to be behind but have done nothing to show we should be ahead. One stupid moment later and we’re behind. Aimless stuff. And Ferguson is not a target man.

Plus ça change…

Ferguson isn't anything at the moment. I spent the last 10 minutes of the half watching him and Pohjanpalo in comparison with each other.

It reminded me of something Aaron Connelly said in his interview earlier. "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard".

[John83]

We found a little step up since the goal, but you'd be very worried if we didn't. We still don't look like all that much of a threat. We could lose this 2-0, easy. Might salvage it, might not, but any loss and Hallgrimmsson is under huge pressure already.


Ferguson isn't anything at the moment. I spent the last 10 minutes of the half watching him and Pohjanpalo in comparison with each other.

It reminded me of something Aaron Connelly said in his interview earlier. "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard".
Do you think that's about his confidence, fitness, or tactical instructions?

[joey B]

Probably had a perfectly good goal ruled out by the replays at half time….

[John83]

RTE panel mentioned reports from journos online that the team went off to boos from the Irish fans at half time.

[brine3]

RTE panel mentioned reports from journos online that the team went off to boos from the Irish fans at half time.

that's harsh, they are playing well

[joey B]

Cracking header from Scales !

[backstothewall]

A decent set piece from Brady. Wonders never cease!

[brine3]

g'wan. wel deserved

[brine3]

A decent set piece from Brady. Wonders never cease!

you're watching a different match! he's had some brilliant deliveries tonight

[Insidetherock]

We should be behind.. but we can win this

[Insidetherock]

Has Finn Azaz done anything tonight?

[backstothewall]

Do you think that's about his confidence, fitness, or tactical instructions?

There was an example there where Sammy Szmodics ran past him to close the ball down. That can hardly be tactical instructions.

A centre forward who's in form and scoring goals can get away with anything. A centre forward who's struggling in front of goal needs to be seen to be running his nuts off. That's the bare minimum and he's not doing it.

Parrott is scoring goals. To me this is fairly simple.

[yurt]

We seem to have lost control of the game since those substitutions.

[John83]

We've been comfortably better this half, but Finland haven't exactly set a high bar to clear there.

Ferguson and Azaz were the right pair to sub off.

More subs... Interesting he's not made any changes in midfield. Happy with what he's seeing?

[placid casual]

Delighted for Scales. One of the very, very few Irish players who's career is on the rise.
I'm struggling to think of a worse choice for Irish captain in my lifetime than braindead Collins - He shouldn't even be in the team let alone captaining it
I know Ferguson is only turning 20 but he'd want to get his finger out of his hole or he'll find himself playing league 1/ league 2 english football in no time at all.
Bradys only use is as a set piece taker but this isn't gridiron he's playing!
Can still win this as the finnish look fairly woeful

[John83]

Another let-off.

[joey B]

Get in Robbie Brady !

[John83]

Brady!

He's gotten a lot of criticism here. I haven't really understood it today.

[placid casual]

Fair play Brady,he finished it well.
Yer man ebosele is the type of player we should be really trying to cultivate, youthful exuberance is the way to go!

[brine3]

Brady MOTM.

[joey B]

Great little cameo from Ebosele ….

[backstothewall]

Brady MOTM.

Festy was robbed!

[joey B]

Great to win,unfortunately Greece look to have beaten England ….

[John83]

It's England, joey. Go Greece! Hup Hellas!

[geysir]

Festy was robbed!
That was my first time seeing Festy and he looks the part, both technique and intelligence but Brady was a welcome standout this evening.

[joey B]

It's England, joey. Go Greece! Hup Hellas!

Fair !!

Richard Dunne raging I’d say after the result in Finland I’d say!

[Nesta99]

Lucky managers, good managers or something in between. If all was equal but SK was manager Finland would have buried those 3 great 2nd half chances....sn SK would have brought on the subs with 30 seconds to go! Kelly was spot on on commentary, ye dont have to be great against such similar ranked opposition, ye know if theyre pressured they wont be playing nicely round the corner and out of a press. Just pushing up high was enough to create opportunities and some good moments of course too like the Brady free and Scales header. Would we have gone after them like that if we hadnt goe behind. Take every confidence builder we can!!

[brine3]

Lucky managers, good managers or something in between. If all was equal but SK was manager Finland would have buried those 3 great 2nd half chances....sn SK would have brought on the subs with 30 seconds to go! Kelly was spot on on commentary, ye dont have to be great against such similar ranked opposition, ye know if theyre pressured they wont be playing nicely round the corner and out of a press. Just pushing up high was enough to create opportunities and some good moments of course too like the Brady free and Scales header. Would we have gone after them like that if we hadnt goe behind. Take every confidence builder we can!!

I saw this Ireland team tonight repeatedly winning the ball back in midfield and then look to get it straight to a free man in an attacking position. Very positive stuff. Give Halgrimsson credit.

[SwanVsDalton]

Wow winning a football match. Strange feeling. What do we do now?

I only got to properly watch the second half. Looked like we were the better team in that half, albeit we got spooked in the last 15 and retreated. That's a team very low on confidence so not overly surprising. Take any win you can get, especially away.

Two good goals, especially the second. Brady's selection recently has shipped a lot of stick even though he's generally done OK and he's got something that few of his teammates have - genuine quality.

[Nesta99]

That was my first time seeing Festy and he looks the part, both technique and intelligence but Brady was a welcome standout this evening.

Was pure raw pace and strength before going to Italy, obviously been coached in the finer aspects of the game and now in the Championship can put the 2 together and kick on, hopefully going back to top flight in Italy in due course rather than become a nice earner for the parent club to moneybags Eglish game. I like how he played the opportunities in front of him like hitting the gap and the cross, on his weaker foot I think and the trickery and nice cutback after shows he has some vision and decent decision making too - some of the things Ogbene can really frustrate with.

[Nesta99]

I saw this Ireland team tonight repeatedly winning the ball back in midfield and then look to get it straight to a free man in an attacking position. Very positive stuff. Give Halgrimsson credit.

Im not knocking the result at all! All credit for Halgrimsson changing up the press at HT and for the subs he made. But we got lucky too, more tongue in cheek on SK as per the subs with 30 seconds to go to change things comment.

[Eirambler]

First competitive win against anyone other than Gibraltar for over two years. We seem to have a knack in the Nations League of finding one team worse than us. Desperately needed win just in terms of squad confidence and morale, and also to put an end to the "manager under pressure" chat, which was ridiculous after two or three games.

It's only one win, but there's a viable path forward from here now - a great chance to avoid auto relegation from the group, hopefully a winnable playoff in the spring, and then something of a free hit at the world cup qualifiers after that with hopefully realistic expectations there.

[Razors left peg]

That felt like progress. Rode our luck a little, but so did they (that goal from Ferguson in 1st half should have stood).

When is the last time our manager got a hold of the players at half time and we instantly looked better in 2nd half. Theres still plenty of room for improvement, but thats a football match we deserved to win and we did... feels good.

[Insidetherock]

We absolutely rode our luck..

Three times we should have been 2-1 down.. Kamara especially missed a sitter..

But a poxy poxy win.. is a win

And it means if they can get a draw against Finland at home.. they'll have a decent chance of staying in B, in a relegation play off..

Won't help much for WC qualification.. but makes a huge difference for future Euro qualification

Also means we're pretty sure of a 3rd seed in the WC qualifiers

But mainly, maybe, just maybe.. we might be starting to get lucky again

[backstothewall]

The less said about the first half the better, but that’s a very welcome result, and a welcome second half performance. Perhaps the most pleasing bit aspect of it is that they had to show that bit of character to come from behind. In a game that was hanging in the balance HH was brave enough to give Ebosele the 15 minutes he’s been waiting 18 months for, and Festy rewarded him with the ball to Brady for the winner. It’s telling that neither Kenny or O’Shea managed to do that during the string of friendlies or games against part timers we’ve had in the last couple of years. If we get something in Athens on Sunday things will be looking up in a way they haven’t since the win over Scotland in 2022.

Kelleher: 7 - Did that which would have been expected of him. He’s a solid international goalkeeper at this stage and faces no realistic competition for his shirt while Bazunu is out.
O’Shea: 6 – I don’t know about him at right back. Given the Ebosele cameo we should maybe go back to a 3 and get him back in a position he looks more comfortable in.
Collins: 5 – Had another shaky moment in the second half that could have given the Finns a second. Tomorrow’s back pages would have looked very different. Luckily for him this result will live long in the memory and his performance tonight will soon be forgotten.
Scales – 8 – Solid without being spectacular at the back. There was nothing at all wrong with the pass to Collins. Took his goal well and can be very satisfied with his night’s work.
Brady – 9 – Rolled back the years tonight. Provided an assist and a took his goal well. I’ve said some critical stuff in the past fews years and happy to be proven wrong tonight.
Ogbene – 6 – Tried and tried but it just didn’t seem to want to happen for him tonight. But that happens.
Cullen – 7 – Does a lot of the work that goes unappreciated, but we always look a poorer side without him (see also Whelan, Glenn).
Knight – 6 – Played a nice ball through at one stage, but overall, I just don’t see it. To me he looks every bit of a Bristol City player, but In the absence of Smallbone there’s probably nobody better to play in his position.
Szmodics – 6 – Looked lively but there was nothing particularly good or bad that really jumps to mind. Forced Hradecky to make a save I would have expected him to make at one point.
Azaz – 6 – The only Ireland player who played better in the first half than the second. Seemed to run out of steam and it was little surprise when he was taken off.
Ferguson – 5 – It’s just not happening. Needs to get regular football, either at Brighton or elsewhere. Shouldn’t start on Sunday.

Subs
McGrath – 6 – Did nothing wrong but nothing to write home about at the same time.
Parrott – 7 – We looked far more dangerous when he came on for Ferguson. Due a start in Athens
Idah – 7 – Might have got us a third that we wouldn’t have deserved. Like Parrott we looked more dangerous once he was on the field.
Ebosele – 8 - Boom boom boom, now let me here you say Festy. FESTY!!!


you're watching a different match! he's had some brilliant deliveries tonight

I never replied to this. I was refering less to the preceeding 57 minutes than to his last 57 caps. His set pieces are brutal more often than not, but even a blind squirrel can find a nut once in a while, and it was a cracking ball in for the Scales goal.

[Bottle of Tonic]

Brady was fantastic throughout. Great pace to his passes. Zippy movement. Played a leaders role tonight.

[geysir]

We absolutely rode our luck..

Three times we should have been 2-1 down.. Kamara especially missed a sitter..

But a poxy poxy win.. is a win

And it means if they can get a draw against Finland at home.. they'll have a decent chance of staying in B, in a relegation play off..

Won't help much for WC qualification.. but makes a huge difference for future Euro qualification

Also means we're pretty sure of a 3rd seed in the WC qualifiers

But mainly, maybe, just maybe.. we might be starting to get lucky again

Based on the game that was played this was not a poxy win and being a 3rd seed seed for WCF draw is a plus instead of 4th seed should Ireland be relegated. We never had much of a chance to be 2nd seed as that would have meant topping the group. And Robbie Brady was deservedly man of the match

[Insidetherock]

Based on the game that was played this was not a poxy win and being a 3rd seed seed for WCF draw is a plus instead of 4th seed should Ireland be relegated. We never had much of a chance to be 2nd seed as that would have meant topping the group. And Robbie Brady was deservedly man of the match

We were a better team.. but we were poxed.. they missed 3 great chances to go 2-1 up

[tetsujin1979]

Got asked this on another forum. Quite possibly the most pointless stat I've ever had to look up
1844509209486033079

[elatedscum]

Really happy to win. Hopefully it’ll spark something. A few thoughts:

- Finland are a really bad team. I genuinely don’t think a single Finnish player gets into our starting 11. They’re a much much worse team in terms of players than they were 4 years ago.

- the difference the press made in the second half was huge. Night and day, couldn’t understand why we sat off them so much in the first half, especially at 1-0 down and made their life so easy

- Nathan Collins is a wonderful footballer but he has a real tendency to commit absolute howlers. The goal was inexplicable and he nearly had another where he took it off Kelleher and headed it straight to a Finn. I don’t think he’ll be dropped cause he’s captain but there’s at least a question to be asked

- Scales on the other hand was excellent, made some really excellent tackles, headers and took his goal really well. Excellent performance.

- we were unlucky with the disallowed goal. Pretty clear it wasn’t over the line. But equally, that header at the end was an absolute let off. An inch wide of the post which would have won the game for them.

- Evan Ferguson wasn’t fit. He had flashes of quality but he wasn’t at all sharp. It was obvious once we got the equaliser that he needed to be subbed and it was a long long time coming.

- Finn Azaz struggled and similarly should have been taken off once we got the equaliser. The consequence of waiting to make that change was Szmodics and Ogbene were already knackered by the time Parrott and McGrath came on. You’d have been better making the first changes after 57 mins and the second after 70-75 mins. Would like to see one of the midfielders (Taylor, Molumby, McGrath) come into the midfield at his expense

- Robbie Brady’s deliveries were really good. I know he can be inconsistent at times but he had 4 from set pieces which were really good tonight

- Cullen was knackered at the end. Molumby was available off the bench, seemed an obvious sub

- you’d also wish we had an actual orthodox options at right back, for as well as Dara O’Shea did, when you’re chasing a game, you’d like a more attacking options than a centre half in that slot. And similarly for game 2, Robbie Brady may well tire and the only option seems to be Liam Scales moving across

- The injury to McGuinness meant we couldn’t fill our bench. A little careless

- it all worked out well in the end and a win is a win

[Snapshot]

Excellent summary.

[samhaydenjr]

Got asked this on another forum. Quite possibly the most pointless stat I've ever had to look up
1844509209486033079

Are you kidding? That's one of the best stats I've ever seen! It even beats out the first time we had two Daryls in the team! We have to get Bazunu on the pitch with all those lads... And promote Babajide Ezekiel Adeeko, Zak Gilsenan, Armstrong Inya Echezolachuku Oko-Flex, Naj Razi and Ike Orazi. Can't believe we don't have a decent Fitzgerald playing at a reasonably high.

[Olé Olé]

A win is a win but it's a tough job picking your starting team for Greece away after that.

I wouldn't change the back 7 players myself. I think you have to reward Festy's contribution with a start. It doesn't set a good example if you don't. Unfortunately that has to mean Ogbene drops out.

You also have to keep Szmodics if you want to exert the same type of energy and pressing.

Azaz and Ferguson are the challenging ones - I don't think either played particularly well. But the problem for me is that, individually, Ferguson could do with minutes. And if he fancies that combo then he might want to give them more time on the pitch collectively.

Parrott and Idah could push for a start. But would you have Parrott in the same role as Azaz? Parrott in the Azaz role behind Ferguson would be an intriguing partnership going forward. You would have more goal scoring potential but it's asking a lot of Parrott.

[brine3]

We were a better team.. but we were poxed.. they missed 3 great chances to go 2-1 up

Their goal came from our mistake, and we had a goal disallowed for no good reason. We had 15 shots on goal vs their 7, and 10 shots on target vs their 3.

It's a case of making your own luck.

[texidub]

Brady redeemed himself. Ebosele had an explosive dream cameo - what does that mean for Ogbene? Great to see Scales score - he's up there with Ogbene for likeability and graft.

Feels like we might be in a brave new world of winning matches now, but (and this is going to sound familiar) we'll know more after the Greece match...

[Acornvilla]

Finland were an even worse football team than I expected, and were given far too much respect for most of the first half. Decent stuff afterwards, it is nice to win a football match. At least we're likely to have that 3rd place playoff now, and a kind draw to give the lads a solid shot at another win would be nice. Would still largely feel we'll lose badly in Greece and England, but should beat the Finns at home, the team needed this, definitely something to build on.

[Bungle]

Finland are probably a high quality 4th seed. So basically in or around our level. Very good result.

Greece going on their results would seem to be a good 2nd seed quality team. Hopefully we can build on this result and get confidence and nick a point on Sunday.

For me, there are a lot more positives than negatives. Coming back away from home is impressive and there was a much better 2nd half than 1st half. Heimar spoke well after the match rather than talk ****e. I feel we have a competent manager.

A major annoyance for me over the past number of years has been how our team, which has been mostly made up of premier league journeymen and good championship level players can be so clueless and out thought and out fought by lesser quality teams. The players should take a lot of the blame, but you can see how a good manager can change things such as last night. I've commented several times how Northern Ireland with a far more mediocre player base have often looked a far more competent team than us in recent years.

[Eirambler]

The Ogbene/Ebosele thing is interesting and they give us good options on the right. I feel like both could be better as impact subs, but it's good to have the ability to have one of them running at a defence for an hour to tire them out and then the other coming on to finish them off. So for Greece there might be merit to starting Ebosele and then bringing on Ogbene. But then that could change around again in future games.