Irish involvement in the Football League playoffs

[tetsujin1979]

There is no hyperbole. I think most, maybe not you, have looked at him from September/October last year. I've "seen" him since his debut against Oman, and the away games in the USA. I am saying it because I know what he is capable of and what he is not, as you say the small things become big things, or fine margins can make all the difference. I can attribute 4-5 goals at least where a better keeper would have more than likely saved them. I'd say westwood would have at least got 2 or 3 of those as well.

name these goals, and provide proof that Westwood would have saved them

[geysir]

I know Westwood is no Lev Yashin but he was more than just making routine saves out there, unless the standard is "routine first class goalkeeping".

I didn't think the Brighton lad scuffed that low free kick shot, he aimed into the corner, Westwood anticipated well, got down ahead of time, got a strong arm behind the ball and secured possession under pressure from a lurking Brighton player. That's first class goalkeeping, not just routine.
A routine save would be to parry the ball away and if he's lucky out of danger.
For the last save, routine would be to come way of his line and the ball struck straight at him, he would have been applauded for "making his body big" .)
As it was, he had to dive to his right, a fractions early instinctive save to firmly block a bullet with both his arms.

[DeLorean]

His usual option is to bring on man mountain Nuhiu who is Tony Cascarino gone wrong.

I thought it was a joy to behold when he bulldozed everything in sight out of his way as he managed to retain possession late on against all the odds.

[paul_oshea]

I know Westwood is no Lev Yashin but he was more than just making routine saves out there, unless the standard is "routine first class goalkeeping".

I didn't think the Brighton lad scuffed that low free kick shot, he aimed into the corner, Westwood anticipated well, got down ahead of time, got a strong arm behind the ball and secured possession under pressure from a lurking Brighton player. That's first class goalkeeping, not just routine.
A routine save would be to parry the ball away and if he's lucky out of danger.
For the last save, routine would be to come way of his line and the ball struck straight at him, he would have been applauded for "making his body big" .)
As it was, he had to dive to his right, a fractions early instinctive save to firmly block a bullet with both his arms.

I've not watched it and I've no idea what the save was like, but I agree with you

I don't need to have seen the video to know that it was obviously more than just a routine save.

[Charlie Darwin]

name these goals, and provide proof that Westwood would have saved them

Considering Randolph has only conceded six goals for Ireland I'd say it's more or less all of them.

[tetsujin1979]

Considering Randolph has only conceded six goals for Ireland I'd say it's more or less all of them.

I had thought it was any goal he conceded since his debut, club or international

[Charlie Darwin]

Ah, maybe.

[seanfhear]

I wonder how long it will take Dumbfy to discover how good of form Westwood is in if Randolph /Given makes a mistake

[DeLorean]

Brilliant effort from Derby tonight, some contrast to Saturday. Guts and bottle in abundance but unfortunately just left themselves with too much to do. They can't have any complaints after the shambles at the weekend but some pride restored at least.

Bradley Johnson and Ince were dropped for Hendrick and Weimann and the changes really worked a treat. Hendrick actually played the holding midfield role, allowing Hughes to motor further forward. Those two and Johnny Russell were the pick of the bunch I thought, lovely intricate passing movements all night. It was a really mature performance from Hendrick and he showed no signs of not having played a proper match for a few weeks. He was far more suited to the role than Hughes was on Saturday, who was a little bit lightweight for the position.

Christie was instrumental in Derby's opening goal, a powerful run down the right before whipping in a decent cross that Martin kept alive and Russell bundled in at the second attempt. Keogh had an easy enough night, no major pressure applied by Hull for the majority of the game but he carried the ball out of defence well.

Meyler came on for Hull and used his experience to slow down the game, buying a free kick or two and generally adding a bit of composure to their play.

[Stuttgart88]

Ideal scenario reHendrick, in short term at least. Sharp and effective, and available for Ireland from right now.

[Charlie Darwin]

Hendrick was immense. Some performance considering he's been injured and had practically no gametime to get back.

[SwanVsDalton]

Why not?

I'm not convinced a guy whose relationship with the management could generously be described as ambigious, has a realistic claim to the number one jersey, appears fairly blase about international football and already travelled to a major tournament as a back-up is going to be all that bothered about hitting crosses for two others guys to catch when he could potentially be resting up before a Premier League season.

I don't mean to impinge Westwood's commitment by saying he's blase, I just mean it strikes me that he's decided he'll do his talking on the pitch and if he's picked, grand, and if not - c'est la vie.

I also think he'd be realistic enough to know that if he's taken along, he's very unlikely to get any gametime since he's not been involved at all and won't be around for the Holland game.

[Charlie Darwin]

I think MON has made it clear the #1 spot is up for grabs by dropping Forde, bringing in Randolph ahead of him when Given got injured, then giving Elliot an audition against Slovakia. Should be enough incentive for Westwood I think.

[OwlsFan]

Brilliant effort from Derby tonight, some contrast to Saturday. Guts and bottle in abundance but unfortunately just left themselves with too much to do. They can't have any complaints after the shambles at the weekend but some pride restored at least.

Bradley Johnson and Ince were dropped for Hendrick and Weimann and the changes really worked a treat. Hendrick actually played the holding midfield role, allowing Hughes to motor further forward. Those two and Johnny Russell were the pick of the bunch I thought, lovely intricate passing movements all night. It was a really mature performance from Hendrick and he showed no signs of not having played a proper match for a few weeks. He was far more suited to the role than Hughes was on Saturday, who was a little bit lightweight for the position.

Christie was instrumental in Derby's opening goal, a powerful run down the right before whipping in a decent cross that Martin kept alive and Russell bundled in at the second attempt. Keogh had an easy enough night, no major pressure applied by Hull for the majority of the game but he carried the ball out of defence well.

Meyler came on for Hull and used his experience to slow down the game, buying a free kick or two and generally adding a bit of composure to their play.

Last night just shows how much of football is played in the head. Hull thought the tie was done and dusted as did their fans. None of the intensity of Brighton or their fans the night before. Derby had to go for it and caught them on the back foot and played them off the park in the first half as did Brighton to Wednesday the night before. It reminded me of Ireland's visit to Paris where France were 1-0 from the first leg. They thought they just had to turn up to qualify. The team behind in the 2nd leg plays with intensity while the other one tries to sit on the lead. Once lost, initiative is hard to regain. As in Brighton, it was hard to keep that intensity going in the second half and I was pleased as I think Derby have better players than Hull. Sorry for the Irish of course. Christie was excellent. Even Meyler got on the ball (after a while) when he was brought on as a sub to stem the Derby tide.

[paul_oshea]

Ya you have got to wonder how good Derby really were, versus how much Hull were willing to do anything other than Sit on their lead.

And you can't say a holding midfielder was excellent in that kind of game where he was never going to be under the intense pressure of a team chasing a lead.