Republic of Ireland v Finland - Thursday, 14th November 2024 - UEFA Nations League

[elatedscum]

Anyone going to tell him that firstly the 21s do have games and secondly Moran is now too old to play competitive games for the 21s

sorry his exact quote was "the 21s don't have a competitive game" - i was filling in the blanks "Andy Moran's 21s group don't have a game". so he might know that the 21s have a game but might not know that Moran is no longer eligible

[~YTM~]

Or English isn't his first language and he does know but words it awkwardly.

[Snapshot]

Or English isn't his first language and he does know but words it awkwardly.
A bit like Stephen Kenny then.

[ifk101]

He didn’t sound enthusiastic about Moran. Seems his selection was swayed by others talking up Moran as a future senior international. Mentioned Moran isn’t the most physical in the squad, which is obvious to all that have seen him play.

Overall, HH talks a lot of sense and is likeable – but certainly is getting in the excuses. Spoke about not having time to train so doubtful we’ll see anything new this evening. Feels like a really low key build up for this game, a game we are expecting “not to lose”. What could go wrong … ?

[seanfhear]

He didn’t sound enthusiastic about Moran. Seems his selection was swayed by others talking up Moran as a future senior international. Mentioned Moran isn’t the most physical in the squad, which is obvious to all that have seen him play.

Overall, HH talks a lot of sense and is likeable – but certainly is getting in the excuses. Spoke about not having time to train so doubtful we’ll see anything new this evening. Feels like a really low key build up for this game, a game we are expecting “not to lose”. What could go wrong … ?Sounds a bit like a man making a plan to escape from a high security jail !

[texidub]

I like HH too, but he also talked about these games being an opportunity to test players before we get into WCQ action, so there's a bit of a contradiction going on - maybe it's a language thing.

Where we are at the moment, we need to treat every game like an existential threat to civilisation/cup final. I'll be disappointed if we don't win tonight but under no illusions that we'll have to earn it. Then off to Wembley to batter England :D

[Eirambler]

FWIW he's right about Moran. He still looks like a strong gust of wind would blow him over. It's great to see a technical player like him coming through, but it's hard to see what practical role he could play just yet. Azaz gives you more than Moran does going forward and has more presence to him as well. Maybe he could be used as a late throw of the dice off the bench if we're chasing a goal or something, but I'd say we'd be more likely to go for someone like McAteer or Johnston out wide in that situation.

I have a feeling Moran will be the golden boy for a section of the support for the next while, but that doesn't necessarily mean he should be playing.

[elatedscum]

If anyone has tickets they can’t give away, let me know. I got given 5 from my brother’s brother in law and gave them away to lads I play football with. There were a tonne of willing takers who I’ve had to say no to

[third policeman]

FWIW he's right about Moran. He still looks like a strong gust of wind would blow him over. It's great to see a technical player like him coming through, but it's hard to see what practical role he could play just yet. Azaz gives you more than Moran does going forward and has more presence to him as well. Maybe he could be used as a late throw of the dice off the bench if we're chasing a goal or something, but I'd say we'd be more likely to go for someone like McAteer or Johnston out wide in that situation.

I have a feeling Moran will be the golden boy for a section of the support for the next while, but that doesn't necessarily mean he should be playing.

Interesting to read the doubts being expressed about Moran and earlier Connell. Pretty much the reasons why Wes never got picked until we ran out of alternatives. What exactly do we have to lose giving him a chance against England? The Championship is a very physical league and thus far he’s managing pretty well.

[Eirambler]

Depends where you play him. If you play him in centre mid you risk getting walked through again like the home game where we only put two in there. You could play him wide/behind the striker instead of Szmodics. But then you wouldn't have Szmodics.

Basically you reduce the standard of the team as there's no position where he's better than the current starting player at this point in time. He's just about holding his own in a mid table Championship team. Other than at left back, that's not going to get you a start for Ireland.

[SkStu]

Azaz is streets ahead of Moran at this point for the reasons Eirambler points out. I would definitely be open to calling up Luca Connell for a look in midfield though.

[~YTM~]

Azaz is streets ahead of Moran at this point for the reasons Eirambler points out. I would definitely be open to calling up Luca Connell for a look in midfield though.

I hope next June, if our qualifiers don't start till September, that HH gets really experimental for the summer training camp. Get a ball playing 6 like Connell or Moran next to workhorse in that double pivot with Azaz as the 10.

[Razors left peg]

I wouldnt be considering Moran for the England game and Im a huge fan of him. I do think hes going to be a massive player for us. Yes Azaz would be ahead of him right now but Moran will be better that Azaz in my opinion. Azaz is excellent on the ball but hes slow and not particularly mobile, but I do also like the bit of size he adds to us too. Moran is lightweight but hes been well able to handle the Championship and hes been good mostly, hes not that far from pushing for a regular place in the Ireland team, but I dont think hes there yet.

Luca Connell is a decent option to be thinking about because I think he will be in the Championship sooner than later, but we also shouldnt forget about Lawal either. Lawal will be back from injury soon and could very much be part of our midfield picture by the time March/ April games come around

[pineapple stu]

The excitement for this one is palpable it seems.

Doherty starts despite being left out of the original squad. O'Dowda and Johnston the left side? That's very... non-defensive. Festy is fit. Ferguson and Sammy up front so no room for Parrott

1857128868903330296

[Eirambler]

Seems very attacking. And light on numbers in midfield again.

[passinginterest]

Midfield is worryingly lightweight. It’s going to be an interesting night!

[tetsujin1979]

Starting XI stats
https://www.instagram.com/p/DCXMQorKFg9/

[passinginterest]

Johnston is lost. Midfield is almost non existent. Weird lineup, weird formation, weird performance.

[Eirambler]

Watching it on the Viaplay feed with no commentary really brings home how dead the atmosphere is. It's an awful stadium anyway in terms of atmosphere, same issues at the rugby, but it sounds particularly morgue-like so far tonight.

[passinginterest]

Really is two poor teams. Finns look much worse when we put them under some pressure. We’re giving up easy chances by losing control of the middle. On the plus side Ferguson looks much sharper than recent games. I’m not sold on Smodzics, but he took the offside goal very well. Couple of flashes from Festy but final ball not great.

[Eirambler]

Very lucky to still be at 0-0. We had one good spell for a few minutes but otherwise not much to get excited about.

[Eirambler]

Don't think we deserve to be ahead after they hit the woodwork three times but we'll take it. A lovely bit of play from our latest short arsed Scot in green to set it up. It doesn't happen without some great last gasp defending from Collins before that as well.

Really think we could do with another body in midfield all the same.

[pineapple stu]

Finland will be kicking themselves there. Kamara - who I think has been one of their better players - kept the ball in for us and got himself injured in the process. Daft stuff; just give up the throw.

They've been impressive in terms of how they work the ball forward in fairness. I kind of feel we've been a bit more lively up front than they have, but that doesn't tally with how often they've hit the post. And a big save from Kelleher too

Can still see three results in this yet

[passinginterest]

Such a strange game. Could be 2 or 3 down, but also missed a few half decent chances too. Delighted for Ferguson. Great ball in by Johnston, doesn’t change the fact that he’s completely lost in a 3 man midfield. Could really do with another proper central midfield player on the pitch and would hopefully allow us to have a bit of control of the game. At the moment, it’s all a bit chaotic and disorganised but at least we look relatively dangerous in attack.

[centre mid]

Strange half, we've been relatively bad - especially with two in midfield. Yet the first time we've given Evan Ferguson a decent ball he scores. I know we're missing 4 or 5 players but we have to be better than that first 45mins.

[Nesta99]

Finland will be kicking themselves there. Kamara - who I think has been one of their better players - kept the ball in for us and got himself injured in the process. Daft stuff; just give up the throw.

They've been impressive in terms of how they work the ball forward in fairness. I kind of feel we've been a bit more lively up front than they have, but that doesn't tally with how often they've hit the post. And a big save from Kelleher too

Can still see three results in this yet

That goal might be appreciated by Messrs Horgan and McMillan!! It is an Irish like error to keep the ball in like that and be in no position to keep possession, dont know what he was thinkng unless he expected someone flanking him closely, Daft indeed.

Intriguing game. Amazing what a rub of the green can do for the assessment of a half, maybe a game. On the performance so far you'd have to expect Finland to take at least one of their chances. What changes can you make bar sitting in fully to hold?

[Eirambler]

I feel like all of Szmodics, Johnston and Ebosele have had good moments, but I'm not sure we can afford to have all three of them on the field at the expense of midfield, especially now we have something to defend.

[centre mid]

A goal for Finland seems inevitable as well as another for us.

[pineapple stu]

Those Finland changes have the feel of the ones Kenny would face when he'd been sussed out

Need to get back in this game again; Finland dominating the last few minutes

[brine3]

Not much of a defender, Evan Ferguson

[Nesta99]

The view from behind, that ball looked as if it came off the midriff and on to the arm. Is that still a penalty if ball is goal bound? For all the years watching football and this stuff confuses.

Ok we really should be at about 2-5, post twice, missed penalty, the sitters 2nd half...when your luck is in...

[Eirambler]

I honestly think if we lost that game we couldn't have had too many complaints. And yet, we won and played some nice stuff at times too. I still don't think the starting setup was right, but maybe the number of injured centre mids we have right now contributed to that call.

Finland are probably the highest ranked team we've done the double on in a group for a long, long time.

It's still not great, but it's a huge step forward from the Kenny era.

[osarusan]

Pretty grim stuff in some ways (gave it away far too easily in our own half), but a couple of years ago we were losing these matches by the odd goal, not winning them.

[passinginterest]

If ever there was evidence that lucky generals exist then that was it. As bad as any performance in the last few years but what matters is the result and this time it was in our favour.

Will lost by 5 or 6 to England without a dramatic improvement. Knight suspended for it too. Expect Cullen, Molumby and Azaz to start that one.

[zero]

any kind of win is welcome at this stage. we could have shipped a few but could have scored a couple more ourselves. kelleher has really come on in the last year or so and is a huge asset.

[sbgawa]

shocking stuff if we are honest , we are so far off being halfway decent it isnt funny
Have tickets for the rigby tommorow and am looking forward to watching an ireland team that look like tjey give a **** and actually might win against a team ranked xxx in the world

[SkStu]

I’m definitely in a minority here it seems but I was never really worried at all in that second half. Even when waiting for the (inevitable) penalty award, I was sure we’d go back up the pitch and win it. They had chances, fair enough, but I thought we looked very comfortable. First half was different, weird half, they should have scored a couple but we played some good stuff too and did actually score.

[Nesta99]

Bit harsh to say th dont give a ****. We obviously lack confidence as much as ability throuhout the squad - rushing passes out of the block, i was relieved a few times when they just went long down the line, charging in to a block that was never on too. There was something riding on this game, must not lose, and played in a must not make a mistake way rther than with any freedom. It wouldnt surprise me to see a better general performance against England in a dead rubber for us, there wont be a result but its a good opportunity to build the rebuilt rebuild!

I never took you for a Rugger head sbgawa, you day-tripping barstool bandwagoner. Though you may have said you said you grew up near to AIL clubs in the past?

[rebelmusic]

Main positive takeaway for me is how they saw out the game from the 85th minute. Really mature and made all the right decisions. The impact O'Shea had on the team was immense and I feel he's crucial for us. Agreed that I never worried in the 2nd half and yeah, huge step in the right direction from the Kenny era.

[Eirambler]

One thing I did like was that we seemed much more purposeful when we did have the ball. It didn't always work but we were trying to advance the ball up the pitch a lot faster than we have been in recent years. Plenty of attempts to get the ball in the box as well. None of the pointless dicking about with the ball at the back that was a hallmark of the last few years.

I don't think there was a moment where we passed the ball straight to a Finn and left them straight in on goal. That's almost a ridiculous thing to even have to say, but we've done it so often in the last couple of years that it's worth noting that we didn't tonight.

Looking ahead to the England game and with Knight now gone as well we're going to be desperately short in midfield. Cullen, Molumby and Azaz will all have to start, but that just leaves Moran to cover from the bench. There will have to be one more call up to replace Knight at a minimum, Coventry is probably the most likely and a reasonable chance he will get his debut off the bench on Sunday.

[Razors left peg]

Bunch of moany cnuts on here to be honest. We got a win and the mood is still just constant negativity.

It wasnt brilliant, but we got a win in a game we didnt play very well. How many times in recent years have we played much better and lost games with stupid mistakes or shots from outside the box. They put us under pressure in 2nd half and they got a break with the penalty but, other than that Kelleher wasnt exactly making save after save. We did look dangerous enough going forward at times too and with some better decision making at times we might have created a bit more. We also went into preserving the lead mode towards the end so of course they were the ones putting us under pressure as the game wound down.

Massive positive for Ferguson to score, and an excellent strikers goal it was. The hang time was class and it was the perfect ball by Johnston to him. I thought Collins was excellent throughout but other players had good moments and bad during the game. Festy for example looked brutal at times, but he also did scare them with his pace.

I thought Azaz was very good when he came on. For me he'd have to start against England. Id add him to the midfield as part of a 3. The 2 man midfield just isnt enough and I thought both Knight and Cullen were crap.

A win is important, we've too much of a habit of losing or drawing close games. We have players to still come in and improve us over the next year or so. Im happy to take the postives where they are, and if we cant be happy with winning a game then whats the point!

[Yard of Pace]

Bunch of moany cnuts on here to be honest. We got a win and the mood is still just constant negativity.

!

Yep.

Can I ask all to go to youtube and search for Ireland Finland 2020 and watch the highlights from the two one nil defeats. Then go watch the highlights from tonight and post match interviews. The difference in attitude, belief, body language, personnel and most importantly, THE RESULT tonight....come on. We were at absolute rock bottom. I always felt we'd win tonight. Everything is changed, utterly.

It's far from perfect, we all know that, but it's so much better it's unreal. Fantastic to get another win and we have some absolute gems in this team.

Delighted.

[Eirambler]

I think the big difference is that while we were lucky last night (and the reality is that we were lucky), it was partly because we gave ourselves a chance to be lucky.

The change for me is that under the previous manager, and also the caretaker period, we just weren't giving ourselves a chance at all. We were ponderous in attack, hardly created any chances, but were also wide open at the back, and especially susceptible to long shots. There's a narrative that we were unlucky then, but we weren't really, we just never gave ourselves a chance due to the tactics being so poor and unsuited to the players we have.

We were still lucky last night, because we're still giving up chances. And that will continue to be the case until we adequately resource the centre of midfield. But at least we're more purposeful going forward and actually giving ourselves a chance by putting the ball in dangerous areas.

Just taking the goal last night, if that had been a year or two ago that ball would have just been played back outside the box again, the cross wouldn't have gone in and the attack would have just broken down. That's the area we have improved the most in under Hallgrimsson. Previous to this it really does feel like that game would have been a draw or a narrow loss, and after the game we'd be yet again hearing about narrow margins, 14 injured players (which is what we currently have) and how unlucky we are. Sometimes you make your own luck.

[Diggs246]

Bunch of moany cnuts on here to be honest. We got a win and the mood is still just constant negativity.

It wasnt brilliant, but we got a win in a game we didnt play very well. How many times in recent years have we played much better and lost games with stupid mistakes or shots from outside the box. They put us under pressure in 2nd half and they got a break with the penalty but, other than that Kelleher wasnt exactly making save after save. We did look dangerous enough going forward at times too and with some better decision making at times we might have created a bit more. We also went into preserving the lead mode towards the end so of course they were the ones putting us under pressure as the game wound down.

Massive positive for Ferguson to score, and an excellent strikers goal it was. The hang time was class and it was the perfect ball by Johnston to him. I thought Collins was excellent throughout but other players had good moments and bad during the game. Festy for example looked brutal at times, but he also did scare them with his pace.

I thought Azaz was very good when he came on. For me he'd have to start against England. Id add him to the midfield as part of a 3. The 2 man midfield just isnt enough and I thought both Knight and Cullen were crap.

A win is important, we've too much of a habit of losing or drawing close games. We have players to still come in and improve us over the next year or so. Im happy to take the postives where they are, and if we cant be happy with winning a game then whats the point!

Thanks for this post.

HH finds ways to win, not the exact opposite.

I actually believe if they had scored the peno we would have got another goal and won it anyway.

Btw Nathan Collins was man of the match. He was amazing.

[ifk101]

"Yes, happy with, of course, winning," said Hallgrimsson, speaking at the post match press conference.
"It's always good, not only the points, but I think psychologically good to have a win, good to give the fans a win here at home is a good feeling."
"Performance, some good, some bad and surely we were lucky - they hit the post twice and Caoimhin saved a penalty," he added.
"But I think this group of players probably deserve luck. They have been unlucky many times, so probably they deserved a little luck.
"But of course happy with a lot of things, but we are under no illusion that we need to play better than we did today."
https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2024/1114/1481045-hallgrimsson-not-jumping-for-joy-despite-finland-win/

Sums it up really. Unlucky many times before, lucky tonight. Happy with the result, not the performance. Learn and move forward.

[passinginterest]

Sums it up really. Unlucky many times before, lucky tonight. Happy with the result, not the performance. Learn and move forward.

Yeah, it's a fair summary. I'd definitely prefer to be winning games and feeling lucky about it than what went before. I think he has to realise we can't cope with two small lads trying to manage the midfield. Johnston was stepping in to make a third a lot of the time be he looked completely lost. Azaz looked a lot more confident coming on last night, he's in good club form and if he brings that across he could become a real option in there. At least has a bit more physicality about him, even if he's still a very attacking player.

[pineapple stu]

Sums it up really. Unlucky many times before, lucky tonight. Happy with the result, not the performance. Learn and move forward.
Yep, I think that's spot on. And I think it's ok to say it. RTÉ sum it up (https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2024/1114/1480998-nations-league-republic-of-ireland-v-finland-updates/) as "The truth is Ireland were second best and rode their luck, but the Boys in Green will take that" and that's a similar view.

I don't agree with the after-betting - the idea that we wouldn't have worked the goal under Kenny, or that we would have gone on to win even if they'd scored the penalty. I think it's outcome bias to a large degree. It was a Finland team in decline and we scraped past them. "Stephen Kelly says it is "worrying" the amount of chances Ireland coughed up in the game given the step-up in quality England will be on Sunday" is on the RTÉ site too and I think it's fair.

And for all that, we've been a side in need of a win or two of late, so we certainly can't sniff at two in a month. If it gives the side a bit of Iceland Tournament confidence, I'm all for it. (On Eirambler's point, based on Eloratings I think it's the best double we've achieved since beating Turkey home and away in Euro 92 qualifying. Of course, World Cup/Euro qualifying doesn't give you many games at your own level so that stat is probably less surprising than it sounds)

[Straightstory]

I honestly think if we lost that game we couldn't have had too many complaints. And yet, we won and played some nice stuff at times too. I still don't think the starting setup was right, but maybe the number of injured centre mids we have right now contributed to that call.

Finland are probably the highest ranked team we've done the double on in a group for a long, long time.

It's still not great, but it's a huge step forward from the Kenny era.

I can't see this at all. Still largely the same bunch of useless players. We're going nowhere.

[pineapple stu]

Interesting looking at the whoscored ratings (https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1803680/Live/International-UEFA-Nations-League-B-2024-2025-Ireland-Finland) (and as always, don't take them as gospel, but they're objective and can raise a point or two all the same) - they have Kelleher as man of the match,which is completely fair. 8.3 rating.

Next three are Scales, Collins and O'Dowda, all around the 7.6 mark. Scales and Collins again - reasonable. (And when your keeper and two centre-backs are your top players, it tells you a bit about how the game went). But O'Dowda? I was a bit worried when he got booked after five minutes, and Finland in the first half seemed to make good progress down his side. I think their attacks in the second half came more down our right, leaving O'Dowda freer to get forward more, which is arguably playing to his strengths.

Not sure how he'll cope v England when we will be defending a lot, but certainly was an improvement on his last game for us (which was the one in Greece I think). I suspect Coleman has played his last game for us, and McClean presumably has as well (though wouldn't say never with him), and as the wing-back options dwindle it becomes more important to find someone who can play there...

At the other end of the scale you have Cullen (6.0) and Festy (6.4 - not a particularly bad rating, but I think as others here said, he had some good flashes through the game without a huge amount of end product)

[Snapshot]

Bunch of moany cnuts on here to be honest. We got a win and the mood is still just constant negativity.

It wasnt brilliant, but we got a win in a game we didnt play very well. How many times in recent years have we played much better and lost games with stupid mistakes or shots from outside the box. They put us under pressure in 2nd half and they got a break with the penalty but, other than that Kelleher wasnt exactly making save after save. We did look dangerous enough going forward at times too and with some better decision making at times we might have created a bit more. We also went into preserving the lead mode towards the end so of course they were the ones putting us under pressure as the game wound down.

Massive positive for Ferguson to score, and an excellent strikers goal it was. The hang time was class and it was the perfect ball by Johnston to him. I thought Collins was excellent throughout but other players had good moments and bad during the game. Festy for example looked brutal at times, but he also did scare them with his pace.

I thought Azaz was very good when he came on. For me he'd have to start against England. Id add him to the midfield as part of a 3. The 2 man midfield just isnt enough and I thought both Knight and Cullen were crap.

A win is important, we've too much of a habit of losing or drawing close games. We have players to still come in and improve us over the next year or so. Im happy to take the postives where they are, and if we cant be happy with winning a game then whats the point!
No need for the faux outrage. Most people are more or less saying the emboldened. Calling people cnuts is yobbish.