Bulgaria v Republic of Ireland - Thursday 20th March 2025 - UEFA Nations League

[SkStu]

It also gives Cullen the MOTM award :D :D

[Razors left peg]

FWIW, the whoscored ratings agree with RLP :)

https://www.whoscored.com/matches/1895851/live/international-uefa-nations-league-b-qualification-2024-2025-bulgaria-ireland

Jaysus I'm not sure I'd be using them to help me considering the score they gave Cullen :)

[Stuttgart88]

If you cant see the value he added in the second half in disrupting Bulgaria trying to gain momentum then I cant help you. It was priceless. He wasn't perfect of course. Can shoulder some of the blame for the goal (as can a few others) but that aside he made things happen. He didnt too brilliantly with two decent headed chances but did well to find himself in those spots. Offered way more than I thought he would and far and away his best appearance for us. How do you think he hurt us going forward, out of interest?

For what its worth, I'm not alone in my general rating of his performance as one of a couple of players behind Azaz as MOTM. https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2025/0320/1503147-player-ratings-azaz-catches-the-eye-in-plovdiv-victory/

The Irish Times had him top ranked. https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/2025/03/20/ireland-player-ratings-ryan-manning-and-troy-parrott-stand-out-in-away-win-over-bulgaria/

Examiner and Balls had him middle of the pack but called out his physicality, smarts and that it was his best outing in green.we were moaning about how naive we were at Wembley. Manning played a blinder for the team’s cause by drawing foul after foul in the second half. Kill the game, deny the opposition momentum, frustrate them and draw more fouls from them. It wasn’t pretty but it was very professional and good for the nerves. I’d prefer to have something more positive to extol about the second half, but good game management is relatively unusual for us so I’ll take it all day long.

[backstothewall]

Does anyone know if there are any tributes to Eddie Jordan planned for Sunday. Different sport obviously but he was a big football fan and a regular at Lansdowne Road in the 90s & 2000s iirc.

[Razors left peg]

It'd be a nice touch

[pineapple stu]

I think there was a brief blast of The Chain at the end of the programme last night (I'd already changed over) - that might have been a subtle nod from RTÉ.

[Eirambler]

Yes they used it for the closing montage, didn't even twig the connection at the time, but now you mention it that will have been the reason of course.

[backstothewall]

For those of us old enough to remember the 1990s Formula 1 was a big part of the golden age of Irish sport that was kicked off by Big Jack. Back in the days when the only sporting code Irish athletes didn't seem to be enjoying unprecedented success in was rugby.

Apart from Ferarri, F1 cars were basically all giant cigarette packets with wheels driving round at incredible speeds back in those days, but the B&H Jordan livery was as good looking as anything else on the grid. And it was between Eddie and Flavio Briatore for who was the biggest character on the pit wall.

Netflix would have loved him.

[elatedscum]

Game in 36 hours and yet to call up anyone to replace Knight. Taylor comes in for Knight and then we have 0 proper midfielders on the bench. Molumby an obvious shout.

Alternatives:
Browne
Finn
Hendrick
Ronan
Connell
Coventry
Hodge
Lawal
Phillips
Adeeko
Watts
Forrester
Goodrham

[SkStu]

I don’t think he’s suspended. He got two yellows already and missed England. This was the first game since then.

[Eirambler]

Either he isn't suspended or they've called someone up and not bothered publicising it.

It was just something Hallgrimsson mentioned in his post match interview on the pitch rather than something than was mentioned on commentary at the time of the booking, maybe he got confused at the time.

[Diggs246]

Taylor should start anyway

We know what knight brings to the table

I think Taylor could be a really good player.

As someone said " knight good at everything, very good at nothing"

[elatedscum]

Either he isn't suspended or they've called someone up and not bothered publicising it.

It was just something Hallgrimsson mentioned in his post match interview on the pitch rather than something than was mentioned on commentary at the time of the booking, maybe he got confused at the time.

Thought comms said it too, but yeah, remember him getting booked for descent and missing the England game as a result - so mustn't be suspended

[rebelmusic]

I think you're right Stu. Someone said during the lost match commentary...I think it was HH. He had already suggested Molumby might come back in so might gave been foreshadowing his thinking.

Knight wasn't great the other night (no pun intended). If one of himself and Cullen is to be dropped I would keep Cullen. Knight is good as an impact sub as well with all his energy so to me is a good like-for-like with Cullen and coming in for the last 20 to tidy up games when needed.

[Stuttgart88]

For those of us old enough to remember the 1990s Formula 1 was a big part of the golden age of Irish sport that was kicked off by Big Jack. Back in the days when the only sporting code Irish athletes didn't seem to be enjoying unprecedented success in was rugby.

Apart from Ferarri, F1 cars were basically all giant cigarette packets with wheels driving round at incredible speeds back in those days, but the B&H Jordan livery was as good looking as anything else on the grid. And it was between Eddie and Flavio Briatore for who was the biggest character on the pit wall.

Netflix would have loved him.I actually think the original green Jordan 191 with its 7Up and Discover Ireland logos was a thing of total beauty. Incredible how Schumacher got his break too. Many younger guys here probably won’t know the story.

[Jolly Red Giant]

For those of us old enough to remember the 1990s Formula 1 was a big part of the golden age of Irish sport that was kicked off by Big Jack. Back in the days when the only sporting code Irish athletes didn't seem to be enjoying unprecedented success in was rugby.

Apart from Ferarri, F1 cars were basically all giant cigarette packets with wheels driving round at incredible speeds back in those days, but the B&H Jordan livery was as good looking as anything else on the grid. And it was between Eddie and Flavio Briatore for who was the biggest character on the pit wall.

Netflix would have loved him.
Eddie Jordan and his team were the heart and soul of F1 at the time - there hasn't been a character in F1 like him since. During that Bitten and Hisses period I got my hands on a pit shirt worn by one of the Jordan engineers in the pitlane at one of the GPs (they were usually given as gifts to people who were visitors to the team during GPs). A rich yellow colour with all the logos sewn on - beautiful shirt if I say so myself (I must root it out of the box its stored in).

[Jolly Red Giant]

I actually think the original green Jordan 191 with its 7Up and Discover Ireland logos was a thing of total beauty. Incredible how Schumacher got his break too. Many younger guys here probably won’t know the story.
Yea - the Jordan 191 had a lively livery and was an incredible piece of machinery built on a shoestring budget - and Jordan gave Schumacher his F1 break and then Briatore stole him from Jordan before the next race. Jordan also gave debuts to Rubens Barrichello, Eddie Irvine and Ralf Schumacher and he rejuvenated Heinz-Harold Frentzen's career in 1999 after he was dumped by Williams.

[tetsujin1979]

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