Republic of Ireland V France - Monday, 27th March 2023 - Euro 2024 Qualifier

[Jd2793]

One more thing. The last creative midfielder we tried to incorporate into the team was Jack Byrne. How far are we removed from that.

we played smallbone vs latvia...

[tetsujin1979]

Beaten by one of the outstanding teams in World football who didn't seem to move out of first gear.

POS and weldoninhio posting, it really is an international window now. I look forward to you reappearing in June.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

France were not there for the taking last night, not even close. And we will not beat Greece - we will melt in the heat of Athens. And after that we'll struggle to score more than one against Gib. Last night may well have been the highlight of our campaign

Here we go, it's begun already. We're playing Greece at night. It'll be 30 degrees during the day but fine at night. And France were there for the taking, did you watch the match?

[Razors left peg]

I could tell all the rest of the players were heavily impacted by playing 5 days previously too. The French could hardly stand having played 3 days before.

Enough with the crap. Ferguson was exhausted as was Knight (who didn't play last week) and Molumby because they worked their ar$es off. They put in a massive performance for the team and thankfully now we are getting some good depth to the squad so had excellent replacements off the bench. We used all 5 subs yesterday, which I believe is pretty unusual for Kenny? Everyone of the 16 players used contributed to an excellent performance and we really deserved a draw.

Coleman proved there's life in the old dog yet. I thought Doherty was immense, especially in 1st half. Collins was great throughout the whole game and proved that he has what it takes to be a top class player. Molumby was my motm, he was everywhere.

Ogbene keeps proving me wrong time and again. I've never rated him, but he's so effective. He was brilliant. There was 1 time he should have got his head up and played Ferguson through the middle, that frustrated me but he worked his socks off all night. Wouldn't have given him Motm but I wouldn't argue too hard against it either.

This was Kenny's best performance as Ireland manager, even if we did lose. The team he picked was right, our shape all night was excellent and his in game management was spot on, which has been my biggest criticism of him.

Last night was positive, if a loss can be positive, but this has to be the beginning of something now and not just a once off. Greece away in the heat of the summer will be exceptionally hard, but we need a draw at minimum and look to beat them at home.

I wish the next game wasn't months away

[weldoninhio]

Wouldn't cross your mind to consider they were kept in low gear by a team who didn't allow them to get out of it?

If Ireland had scored they would have went up through the gears. They rested Tchouameni and Kounde and didn't even bother bringing Coman on. It was a very handy night for them. 2 shots on target from Ireland, both at the very end of the game.

But another glorious defeat for Kenny. Lets see how he gets on against Greece, will he continue his record of having Ireland out of contention for qualifying after 2/3 games.

[Jd2793]

If Ireland had scored they would have went up through the gears. They rested Tchouameni and Kounde and didn't even bother bringing Coman on. It was a very handy night for them. 2 shots on target from Ireland, both at the very end of the game.

But another glorious defeat for Kenny. Lets see how he gets on against Greece, will he continue his record of having Ireland out of contention for qualifying after 2/3 games.

if youve been paying attention youd know tchouameni doesnt start much. the other 2 changes were clearly tactical but again you seem knowledgable so im sure you can tell us why both of those changes were made.

[Razors left peg]

If Ireland had scored they would have went up through the gears. They rested Tchouameni and Kounde and didn't even bother bringing Coman on. It was a very handy night for them. 2 shots on target from Ireland, both at the very end of the game.

But another glorious defeat for Kenny. Lets see how he gets on against Greece, will he continue his record of having Ireland out of contention for qualifying after 2/3 games.

You're a gas man. Able to tell what would have happened, no need to play any games we can just have Mystic Weldoninhio tell us what's gonna happen in every situation

[backstothewall]

He was definitely tired. He put in a hell of a shift. I don't feel he was exhausted. But these things aren't black and white. One mans tired and another mans exhausted might be the same thing. Unless we're talking about Stephen Roche in La Plagne these things are clearly points on a spectrum

But I'll say thing again in case anyone missed it.

Running on fumes or not, he's demonstrated he has a poachers instinct and we needed a goal. IMHO we needed to get him more support, not hook him.

Yes, he was tired, but that doesn't automatically mean he should have come off. When the ball was being fired in to the box in the last 10 minutes he was our best chance to bundle something over the line.

[Jd2793]

france dropped coman and didnt play diaby because they wanted to use giroud for his aerial ability for knockdowns. they dropped pace for a target man because they knew we'd sit off. but anything to discredit the performance...

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

I think with all the talk of playing a different style, it's worth noting that our biggest threat against France came from set pieces. Some Kenny fans like to dismiss it as a dinosaur tactic but is it worth having Duffy on the bench for the last 10 minutes? It was made for him last night.

[lofty9]

This was Kenny's best performance as Ireland manager, even if we did lose. The team he picked was right, our shape all night was excellent and his in game management was spot on, which has been my biggest criticism of him.

Last night was positive, if a loss can be positive, but this has to be the beginning of something now and not just a once off. Greece away in the heat of the summer will be exceptionally hard, but we need a draw at minimum and look to beat them at home.

I wish the next game wasn't months away

I'm disappointed in your lack of acknowledgement for Anthony Barry's replacements replacement for our plucky defeat.

[passinginterest]

I could tell all the rest of the players were heavily impacted by playing 5 days previously too. The French could hardly stand having played 3 days before.

Enough with the crap. Ferguson was exhausted as was Knight (who didn't play last week) and Molumby because they worked their ar$es off. They put in a massive performance for the team and thankfully now we are getting some good depth to the squad so had excellent replacements off the bench. We used all 5 subs yesterday, which I believe is pretty unusual for Kenny? Everyone of the 16 players used contributed to an excellent performance and we really deserved a draw.

Coleman proved there's life in the old dog yet. I thought Doherty was immense, especially in 1st half. Collins was great throughout the whole game and proved that he has what it takes to be a top class player. Molumby was my mom, he was everywhere.

Ogbene keeps proving me wrong time and again. I've never rated him, but he's so effective. He was brilliant. There was 1 time he should have got his head up and played Ferguson through the middle, that frustrated me but he worked his socks off all night. Wouldn't have given him Motm but I wouldn't argue too hard against it either.

This was Kenny's best performance as Ireland manager, even if we did lose. The team he picked was right, our shape all night was excellent and his in game management was spot on, which has been my biggest criticism of him.

Last night was positive, if a loss can be positive, but this has to be the beginning of something now and not just a once off. Greece away in the heat of the summer will be exceptionally hard, but we need a draw at minimum and look to beat them at home.

I wish the next game wasn't months away

All credit to John O'Shea obviously

In the cold light of day it does feel like a point dropped. To concede from what was really the only mistake all night and to have their keeper pull off an absolute world class save was really cruel. Not sure anyone can argue the approach was wrong in any way. I thought we kept the ball really well in the first 10 minutes, then after that we had to sit back and be compact and we did struggle to get our for a lot of the first half. Yet there was very little threat on goal from France, the shape was great, Coleman and Ogbene faced down Mbappe and never gave him an inch and when we did counter it was with purpose and Ogbene, Ferguson, Knight and Doherty all won set pieces in dangerous areas with smart attacking play. It is a big weakness to have Cullen on set pieces, he just can't quite get the same whip as a true specialist and we only looked dangerous once, with the flick on from Egan falling to O'Shea.

Second half started reasonably well and then the goal came, nothing more to say about it that hasn't been said. I blame my wife, she decided to take a video, only one of the game, and it coincided with the goal. No more of that in future! Response to the goal was excellent, never panicked kept going about things in a really disciplined way and the pressure gradually built on France. Incredible that Mbappe was never really given a half chance, at one point he did manage to leave Coleman for dead but Collins read it brilliantly and stopped him in his tracks. Cullen finally delivered a couple of good corners and the French keeper pulled off a good save from the OG and the one from Collins was just incredible. In real time I just couldn't comprehend how he'd reacted to fast and got a hand to it. In replays it does look like maybe Collins put it in the one place he had a chance to save it, but it was a powerful header and the keeper had no right getting such a strong hand to it.

All the players came out with credit. I've said before I like Doherty on the left because he has to concentrate and be more disciplined and that brings out the best in him. Some of his runs were excellent and he was never troubled defensively. Ogbene is just a joy to watch, absolutely tireless, quick, strong and direct. I think with the possible ball to Ferguson it was only on if he played it early, I thought the defender had cut the angle once he went towards the endline and he actually picked out a super ball to Knight which he just couldn't quite take in his stride. Knight and Molumby worked themselves into the ground and never wasted the ball, Cullen too even if the glaring error can't be overlooked. Ferguson had some touches of class and was a bit unlucky with a couple of ref calls against him. Coleman has been rejuvinated the last few weeks and you could see him relishing every chance to get stuck into Mbappe, Bazunu did all you could ask of him and the three in front never really put a foot wrong. All the subs had an impact and contributed to the dominant last 15. One of the few times I think Kenny escapes criticism for his changes, the timing and the personnel were pretty much bang on. Only argument might have been to get Smallbone on for his set piece delivery.

[Razors left peg]

I'm disappointed in your lack of acknowledgement for Anthony Barry's replacements replacement for our plucky defeat.

You're right. I should have realized Kenny had nothing to do with setting up that team, it was all John O Shea

[mark12345]

No I didn't watch the match. I turned on the TV and looked out the window at the birds and bees.
Seriously.....
We're playing Greece at night. You ever been in Greece at night and felt the heat, let alone run your bol***** off in it. Reference the games in Armenia and Georgia in arguably lower temperatures.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

No I didn't watch the match. I turned on the TV and looked out the window at the birds and bees.
Seriously.....
We're playing Greece at night. You ever been in Greece at night and felt the heat, let alone run your bol***** off in it. Reference the games in Armenia and Georgia in arguably lower temperatures.

You might need to rewatch it then.

It's actually not that hot at night. We'll be fine. Interesting that the heat in Georgia was never accepted as an excuse but maybe something has changed.