Ireland v Wales - Post Match Thread

[theworm2345]

In the end, Ireland deserved to win because Wales really were god awful the entire match. Ireland wasn't too much better, but a 10 minute stretch in the 1st half was enough for the 3 points. If we want the same result on Wednesday we are really going to have to step it up

Videos (capped from stream): Amhrán na bhFiann
http://www.attachmax.com/Amhran_na_bhFiann_Stream.html
20' Keane Chance
http://www.attachmax.com/Keane_Chance_in_the_20th_Stream.html
31' Bellamy Chance
http://www.attachmax.com/31_Bellamy_Chance.html
36' Duff Chance
http://www.attachmax.com/36_Duff_Chance.html
39' Ireland Goal
http://www.attachmax.com/Ireland_Stream.html
80' Doyle Post
http://www.attachmax.com/Doyle_Post.html
84' Keane Penalty Shout
http://www.attachmax.com/Keane_Penalty_Shout.html

[topfan]

Steve Finnin left back why?O'Shea right back why?Douglas right wing why?Duff up front why?Doyle and McGeady on the bench why?This is actually embarrassing.....A very sad day for Irish Soccer:mad:

[superfrank]

Yez won the bloody match!!!

[nismo]

robbie keane is **** and no one will convice me otherwise!!i remember a time on this everyone was giving out about steve ireland.. ha saved us twice now!

[tippex]

its time now to drop the likes of keane and duff who think they are world class and let the guys who are hungry show them what they can do.

[strangeirish]

Good stuff there worm.

[Cymro]

Post match thread? Post match rant more like.......

That was awful. Really, really bad. I'd like to say we lost because Ireland played to their potential and therefore the better team on paper won, but I haven't even got that crumb of comfort. Ireland won because they were slightly less shocking than us.

I thought the first half Ireland played OK. Second half we dominated, but our passing in the final third was so inept that we never looked like scoring. Bellamy and Giggs could have done some damage, but we were giving long punts upfield and a 5'8" midget like Bellamy is never going to win those. Toshack's tactics were very poor. He seems to think that we should play one style of football against every team. Fair enough, but the style he has us playing is one that's completely unsuited to our players. We need to play 4-4-2, not 5-3-2 and keep the ball on the ground more.

As if that isn't bad enough, at 70-80 minutes when we badly needed to score, he brings on a defender. Of course, he brings on a forward on 91 minutes when it's far too late. For someone who's achieved what Toshack has in the game his decisons today were unbelievable.

I think Ireland did enough today and it might be that they felt they didn't need to do more and had a couple of extra gears. However, if that's your best you'd better start praying for some miracles if you want to qualify. If anything, Ireland looked even less comfortable on the ball than us, and that really is saying something. Robbie Keane looked good though. I don't know why he gets slagged off on here. Him and Duff basically provided the difference between two very bad sides.

Anyway, good luck against Slovakia on Wednesday. After today it basically boils down to us and them for fourth place so we could really do with you taking some points off them. We have to beat San Marino of course, which I'm still moderately confident we'll do with Koumas (how much did we miss him today) back in the side.

[Dodge]

Anyway, good luck against Slovakia on Wednesday. After today it basically boils down to us and them for fourth place
Slovakia more of a chance at getting 2nd then we do...

[Cymro]

With the current group positions we have 3 points from 4 games and Slovakia 6 from four. Assuming we beat San Marino (not certain!) we will go level with them on points if you beat them.

[naughtb4]

yeah but the table without san marino tells a different story:(

[lim abroad]

stephen hunt impressed me today when he came on,looked dangerous every time he ran at the defence

[Needtoknow]

Steve Finnin left back why?O'Shea right back why?Douglas right wing why?Duff up front why?Doyle and McGeady on the bench why?This is actually embarrassing.....A very sad day for Irish Soccer:mad:

I agree with you!

How can we stop this disgrace from continuing. Stan is a disgrace, i had such respect for his heart & he was a great pro as a player. But he obviously hasn't a clue as a manager. I am building for the future S*** does not wash, if he is building why leave McGeady, Doyle & Hunt on the bench. Played both Full backs on the wrong side, starting Steven Ireland on the right wing. Listening to him talk is like listening to a 10 year old who isn't that bright. We have to do something as fans to stop this disgrace by the FAI (i.e. John Delaney) as Stan will never resign as i don't believe him capable of writing & posting his letter of resignation. Sorry Stan, but you have to go! Terrible soccer almost unwatchable.:ball:

[lim abroad]

Terrible soccer almost unwatchable.:ball:

have to agree,i've seen better games of subbuteo

[naughtb4]

stephen hunt impressed me today when he came on,looked dangerous every time he ran at the defence

totally agree lokked like he gave a sh*te!
if he doesnt start against slovakia......

loving his all action style at the moment somthing a couple of the others could learn from!!

[frog-gufc]

on form alone, mcgeady,o dea and hunt must start
#then again " hes the gaffer"
what he says goes
fcukin arsehole

[Dan K]

Positives

- Ireland looks more and more accomplished every time I see him.
- Duff looked relatively better than he has done of late.
- Doyle was lively when he came on, if a little rusty, which is to be expected.
- Kilbane, Douglas and Carsley were tenacious in the middle
- We won while not playing that well
- McShane did well overall as did Hunt when he came on.


Negatives

- Our use of fullbacks was confusing and caused problems
- Lack of width when attacking (see fullbacks)
- Team seemed nervous
- Despite effort, Keane never clicked like he's been doing for Spurs

All-in-all, I'm happy with that result and performance bearing in mind what has gone before. I don't expect us to be world beaters just yet, but I do expect application, effort and pride, all of which we did have today. We now have something to build on at last.

[Lionel Ritchie]

Horrible game. Thought Robbie had a pretty good game by his recent standards. He does look fitter but more importantly a few of his passes were sharp and intelligent -not words I've used to often describing him in the past.

All in all, happy to be wrong on my 0-2 prediction but we need to get our act together or Slovakia will slaughter us.

[dodgycanadian]

dont think robbie deserves to be slated for his match today. brilliant ball on to ireland and his movement off the ball was brilliant, made a lot of good flick ons and was constantly getting into open space, played very well in my opinion

[barney]

The abuse of Robbie Keane on here really is ridiculous. Firstly he was undone by Stan on two counts. Keane was effectively our only striker on the park till Doyle came on. Keane is not, never was and never will be a target man. Not that type of player. Secondly, the midfield was such a mess that he got no service anyway.

Anything good that we created was because of Robbie. See the goal and Doyle's effort for evidence. But don't leave that get in the way of a witch hunt.

We don't play well and people go looking for a scapegoat (Keane and Duff usually) without actually looking at what went on.

[Soko]

You really have to stop this annoying you. It will not get any better with Staunton in charge. Its not possible. I gave away my tickets for the game today and will do so for all games that he is responsible for. I just can't bear that ****e

[Soko]

Another thing, its a crying shame that clown detracted from what could have been a great day. I got no sense of pride in the build up to this like I did for the rugby. I knew that they would at least go out with some shape and form unlike this absolutely brutal side. Dunphy is right, its killing the players and killing Irish football. Bite the bullet and show him the door now

[clearskies]

awful game, was in the canal end and when a mexican wave takes center stage instead of the football,you know there is something wrong! brutal stuff...and stan goes on with his beyond-predictable saying "a win is a win!"

[tricky_colour]

You really have to stop this annoying you. It will not get any better with Staunton in charge. Its not possible. I gave away my tickets for the game today and will do so for all games that he is responsible for. I just can't bear that ****e

Calm down Roy!!

[bellavistaman]

one stephen ireland!!!thought robbie wasnt as bad as yere makin out he did have a assist to his name, thought the yellow was harsh and he played lone striker nearly all game.****e match tho

[Qwerty]

Steve Finnin left back why?O'Shea right back why?Douglas right wing why?Duff up front why?Doyle and McGeady on the bench why?This is actually embarrassing.....A very sad day for Irish Soccer:mad:

Douglas was in the center with Carsley. Duff started in a withdrawn positon but switched with Ireland later so he ended up on the right. Doyle is not match fit.

I don't understand the O'Shea Finnan positioning, maybe Stan thought that it would motivate O'Shea to put him up against his club teammate?

[Billsthoughts]

I was watchin the hightlights of the match on the news for a few minutes before realising I was actually at this match! possibly the most boring 90 minutes in a long long time. was glad to get home. what has hunt done not to deserve a start? agree with the welsh poster. two very very bad sides.
am glad robbie is out for the next game to be honest. he didnt have the shocker some are implying but he had one golden chance in the game and he fluffed it bigtime. he was looking for the penalty more than the goal with predictable outcome. the quicker staunton is fired the better.

[half_full]

robbie keane is **** and no one will convice me otherwise!!i remember a time on this everyone was giving out about steve ireland.. ha saved us twice now!

agreed he brings nothing and never will bring more to the ireland set-up

he peeked in 2002 and has been on the decline since at internationl level

im thrilled hes suspended for wednesday:)

[barney]

agreed he brings nothing and never will bring more to the ireland set-up

he peeked in 2002 and has been on the decline since at internationl level

im thrilled hes suspended for wednesday:)


Typical Irish (and Waterford) attitude. Knock the best of yer own. Come back to me on Thursday morning and tell me if you're still thrilled that Robbie is out for the Slovakia game.

Jesus just 'cause he doesn't get the ball beat 8 players and score he takes stick. Suppose you'd prefer Clinton Morrisson or Gary Doherty up front?

[andrew1977]

Just in the door from the match,
My opinion , drab match, Wales are an awful team, , we were just as bad as them today,
Glad of the 3 points , we just managed to play better than the welsh.
Keane terrible up front again, Duff only has the left foot to use and any time he beat a man , he seemed to double back on them again.
Ireland industrious and busy again, he is starting to blossom somewhat.
3 points today papered over the cracks again and from where we are going to get goals in future matches i just dont know
Thought the atmosphere would have been electric today but apart from the goal was pretty muted all round. Glad to hear the final whistle .
Hope we can nick 3 points on Wednesday night but reckon at best a draw for us

[strangeirish]

Ireland is out of the game Wednesday, due to a groin injury. Who do you start in his place?

[Soko]

Ireland is out of the game Wednesday, due to a groin injury. Who do you start in his place?



Well it has to be another central midfielder who is uncomfortable playing on the right. Give John O' Shea a bash, he plays for Manchester United

[lim abroad]

Ireland is out of the game Wednesday, due to a groin injury. Who do you start in his place?

mcgeady?

[cheifo]

Douglas is deffo not up to the job, Hunt has to start next match.Only bright spot(and I'm aware I'm clutching at straws!) was defence looked a bit more solid.

[Soper]

I think Mary Harney could have coped with the Welsh attack today

[zenokelly]

I was one of the sceptical fans that wanted to give Stan a chance and maybe thought that the fact we were doing so bad was down to the players.

HOWEVER, after today's absolute disgrace of a team selection I have finally copped on to what most of you have been going on about for months.

After I just sat down in the stadium I was told the team. I was ****1ng baffled that :
: Finnan was playing left back to accomadate O'Shea
: O' Shea playing at right back (Stan might have been aiming to curb BEllamy threat but we don't see the best out of Finnan only on the right)
: No HArte for set-pieces that were bound to be key
: Playing an inexperienced 20 year-old (Ireland) out of position on the right wing
: Not playing the in-form natural winger, Hunt instead of Ireland (as he was not going to play Duff ther)
: Playing Duff up front behind Keane which we know well doesn't work!
: Leaving our best striker of the season on the bench which wasn't expected from anyone.

This was a truly diabolical performance from us. Hunt did more in the 15 minutes he was on than the rest of them put together in the whole match. But I still somehow can't foresee him starting on Wednesday night, hopefully I'm wrong.

Man of the Match??? I couldn't name one from our team, seriously.

I was not looking forward to Stan's selection one bit but the team I thought he would pick is no comparison to this confusing selection.

No matter what result comes from Wednesday night the FAI need to take a serious look at what he has done and see if they can really see this clown actually leading us to any major finals.

Somehow them muppets probably will.

[YankExile]

This is a small tangent, but did anyone happen to catch how well Carl Robinson looked for Wales? (Asking as a fan of his club.)

[ken foree]

didn't see this game, i've missed the san marino match and this one. i suppose it's for the best judging by everyone's reaction. why do we always play to the level of our opponents? everyone slates stan - by no means am i a supporter of his and wish he'd feck off back to north county louth BUT we were exactly the same in the last campaign. we matched every single team except for france at home when our jitters finally told. today perhaps nerves could've been excused due to the occasion. but this strange, dare i say gutless, malaise has been in place for farrrrrr tooo lonnnnnnng

[pete]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz boring match played at walking pace. I think the Ireland players thought they were at the World Cup when they saw the sun. When the crowd start mexican waves it shows how bored they are.

Wales were shockingly bad.

Duff needs to retire. Douglas looked like he had too many pies at Leeds.

I think the players would do better without a manager as Staunton clearly brings nothing to the role. He has had enough games now to be showing some sort of progress or plan but nothing...

[kev107]

Starting XI for Slovakia anyone?

[joema]

Douglas is deffo not up to the job, Hunt has to start next match.Only bright spot(and I'm aware I'm clutching at straws!) was defence looked a bit more solid.

What did he do wrong?? I thought he played quite well tbh - at least he was prepared to throw in a few tackels - he was only making his 2nd competitive apearance and is inexperienced at this level, he gave us a bit of steel - something we have badly been lacking in this campaign so far

[Qwerty]

Germany helped us with an away win over the Czech Rep :)

[Poor Student]

A far from impressive performance. Clutching at straws I can only hope that successive wins will build some sort of momentum and lift the pressure. As everyone knows the full back area was hugely problematic. Watching O'Shea in action pains me greatly. The brightest spark of the match was the very promising substitute appearance of Hunt.

[Burny89]

As much as Hunt did well today, he still sucks!
Keep him on the bench, then if we take the lead and hold it til the last 10-15 mins, then stick him on and let him put his head down and run straight at the defender to win a free kick and kill a few seconds. All he ever does

[onceahoop]

stephen hunt impressed me today when he came on,looked dangerous every time he ran at the defence
Hunt came on and did what Duff used to do. Run at defenders with pace and commit them. He should start ahead of Duffer on Wednesday.

[plasticpitch]

Starting XI for Slovakia anyone?
O´shea
doyle carsley duff connolly
dunne hunt given mcgeady
harte mcshane


:D

[craig7042]

I dont know what world you're all living in. The level of arrogance in these comments is shocking. I sat there today and saw a team win a game of international football. (what about Scotland? What about England? Everyone struggles to find form. Its normal. The win is the win is the win.) They didnt play as well as they can, but in moments there were clear positives. McShane was immense. Hunt and Doyle changed things with great determination when he came on. Given obviously saved us again. Dunne did well. Duff was far more creative especially in the first half. Kilbane, Carsley and douglas did okay. Ireland didnt do well, but you'll struggle to get a better international goal. Keane ran himself into the ground, but struggled. He's honest...lay off him ya gits. O'Shea was okay...frustrating...but ok. The fans cheered everything positive and where I was sitting there was almost no abuse thrown at the players from start to finish. Moments of frustration...no abuse though. The atmosphere at the start was good..there was a lull in the first half until the goal. (As a Liverpool fan having a lull in a game is not unusual. Liverpool regularly have lulls that last 80 minutes. ditto Chelsea)
After everything...a win is a win is a win.

They did well as a team and it sets things up for Wednesday to start to build again.

I just dont understand you people with your comments..............It wasnt a good game??? Really??
Since then did that ever matter????

[Armando]

I was pleased with Keane today. I was tearing my hair out at the amount of times he'd provide himself with a bit of space and then lay it off to a midfielder only for the midfielder to lose possesion with a crap touch. It happened so often, maybe the pitch was at work here?......Duff struggled at times but was still a creative spark.

Whats with the universal approval of Stephen Irelands performance? He was abysmal in the first half. I know he was playing out of position but he gave the ball away every time he got it. Staunton had to move him out of there into a bloody forward role for Gods sake and then wouldn't you know he gets the goal:D

The switching of O'Shea and Finnan was stupid. Christ, just play Finnan at right back! Someone mentioned it was to accomodate O'Shea - how exactly? When is the last time he played right back? 90% of his experience as a full back has been on the left.

If we're at our lowest ebb, then what the hell are wales?! Ah well, at least their support got a nice tan.

Here's my team for Wednesday:

Doyle
Duff

Hunt Carsley Kilbane McGeady

O'Shea Dunne McShane Finnan

Given(c)

[republicofwhite]

In fairness, Robbie Keane's abuse is justified... He is a joker, I was at the match and looked at him closely, he just looks to the ref for everything, he had a few half chances which were poorly executed, whereas with Doyle's one half chance he was unlucky not to score and hit the bar. Keane is incredibly frustrating to watch as you know he can be so much better. He just played as if he was stricken with apathy. Douglas tried but is just not up to it, he made one run to the byline and then he just kicked it straight it out, the collective groan told it all. I thought McShane was brilliant. He is great to watch in the flesh. Utter concentration and professionalism etched throughout him for the whole match. His approach to the game reminds me of Roy Keane, he was my man of the match. People who slag off Stephen Hunt he do sou without any justification. I was lifted when I saw him coming on and he didn't fail to deliver. He single handedly injected a pace into the game and attacked with real purpose and genuinely terrorised the defence. Why couldn't anybody else do the same?! I thought he was in a league of his own performance wise today. No one else did anything of note. These barstoolers behind me were constantly barracking S.Ireland which absolutely wrecked my head. His finish was top drawer and did alright considering he was played out of position. He won us this turgid affair for God's sake and is turning out to be our saviour.

[Qwerty]

Hunt came on and did what Duff used to do. Run at defenders with pace and commit them. He should start ahead of Duffer on Wednesday.

I think Hunt tries to run through them rather that at them.

[barney]

In fairness, Robbie Keane's abuse is justified... He is a joker, I was at the match and looked at him closely, he just looks to the ref for everything, he had a few half chances which were poorly executed, whereas with Doyle's one half chance he was unlucky not to score and hit the bar. Keane is incredibly frustrating to watch as you know he can be so much better. He just played as if he was stricken with apathy. Douglas tried but is just not up to it, he made one run to the byline and then he just kicked it straight it out, the collective groan told it all. I thought McShane was brilliant. He is great to watch in the flesh. Utter concentration and professionalism etched throughout him for the whole match. His approach to the game reminds me of Roy Keane, he was my man of the match. People who slag off Stephen Hunt he do sou without any justification. I was lifted when I saw him coming on and he didn't fail to deliver. He single handedly injected a pace into the game and attacked with real purpose and genuinely terrorised the defence. Why couldn't anybody else do the same?! I thought he was in a league of his own performance wise today. No one else did anything of note. These barstoolers behind me were constantly barracking S.Ireland which absolutely wrecked my head. His finish was top drawer and did alright considering he was played out of position. He won us this turgid affair for God's sake and is turning out to be our saviour.


Keane plays regularly for Tottenham. A Premiership club. With and ahead of world class players like Berbatov and Defoe. McShane plays for West Brom. By all accounts he's struggled to even get into the team this year. Ferguson doesn't rate him. Nor, evidently do the 19 other Premiership managers. There's a reason for all that.

Just because McShane has gotten a lot of plaudits for his demeanour on the pitch, and Keane has taken the majority of criticism for the performances under Stan because he's a star (along with DUff) and captain doesn't obscure the fact that he is class and McShane will always be a journeyman pro.

Doyle's chance was created as a result of Keane's ingenuity (sp). It was a class touch. As was his pass for Ireland's goal. With the service he had, Keane did an awful lot.

Stephen Ireland was absolutely abysmal, save for the goal. The "barstoolers" behind you were absolutely right. Part of the reason he was crap was because he was played out of position.

Stephen Hunt did well and deserves a start. But don't expect him to turn in that sort of performance for 90 minutes of any game.