Ireland's crossing.

I'm sick and tired of "hug the touchline, rain in high balls into the box and repeat" seemingly being part of our tactical plan. IT DOESN'T WORK, it never works, least of all when you have two small players in the box.

Duff can at least fizz balls across the box which are appropriate and possible for our strikers to get something on, but I cannot fathom what McGeady was doing yesterday or in most of our recent encounters by raining in high balls for time and time again the defence to clean them up.

We had tremendous joy anytime we played the ball through the middle yesterday, once was deflected goal, another was an offside goal which should have stood and the last was an interception. If McGeady especially had the brains to cut inside rather than outside the fullbacks (like he did with success at home to Macedonia) we'd have run riot against them.
He seemed to try it once all on his own and failed and didn't bother again, what he should be doing is looking up and playing his central midfield into space. Part of the reason our midfield is often absent from games is because our wingers (and again McGeady in particular) never play them into the game. I lost track of the number of times Whelan was free in the middle and Aidean either took on the fullback or smashed the ball to nobody instead of playing the man in space in the middle.

Frustrating.

McGeady was double and triple marked to force him out to the touchline. Hunt had a little more space but was still marshalled towards the corners. The Macedonian wide players defended very well - it was the central players who made all the big mistakes.

There were several occasions Whelan was unmarked and made himself available for the pass but they were never given to him by McGeady. McGeady also chose to bomb crosses in rather than hit them low with pace which are harder for defenders to control aerially. His final option (which Duff frequently does) is if hes absolutely forced out wide to look to win a throw in/corner/free-kick from that position.

He wasted an unbelievable amount of possession yesterday whipping in nothing balls that Keane/Cox would never have any hope of getting anything on. Very poor end product even by his standards.

We played a left footer on the right and a right footer on the left so the tactic must have been to cut in and shoot at the gammy keeper rather than cross balls to small strikers.

To be fair to the Macedonians though they spotted this early on and played the two wingers onto their weaker side every time, resulting in the useless weak footed crosses from the two lads. After half an hour they could have been told to switch wings - that might have improved the quality of the crossing, but with Keane and Cox inside rather than a target man, I can't imagine crossing was ever part of the game plan so that's probably why the switch was never made.

I think you can put it down to smart defending from the Macedonian defenders as much as bad crossing as the wingers were never given the chance to cut inside.

Mc Geady put a great low ball in after an excellent run for robbie towards the end. The defender stuck out a leg to block robbies shot that looked like it was in all the way.

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Originally Posted by Murfinator

There were several occasions Whelan was unmarked and made himself available for the pass but they were never given to him by McGeady. McGeady also chose to bomb crosses in rather than hit them low with pace which are harder for defenders to control aerially. His final option (which Duff frequently does) is if hes absolutely forced out wide to look to win a throw in/corner/free-kick from that position.

He wasted an unbelievable amount of possession yesterday whipping in nothing balls that Keane/Cox would never have any hope of getting anything on. Very poor end product even by his standards.

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You're underestimating what a good job the Macedonian wide men did shackling him. He did ignore Whelan in space a couple of times and he needs to work on his awareness in those situations, but all in all he worked very hard for little reward. I thought he looked tired - usually you'd expect him to have the full back for pace every time.

Let's be honest here. Isn't this really just an anti-McGeady thread masquerading as having something to do with our general crossing? There's a lot more to McGeady than just his crossing ability, be it "sub-standard" in the opinion of certain individuals or not. Don't forget that McGeady is under Trap's instruction. He aids us most significantly in exerting pressure, advancing our game up the field, dragging opponents out of position, tiring opponents, winning free-kicks, winning corners, increasing territorial possession in the opponent's half, retaining possession overall and so forth. Believe it or not, sometimes he even gets a good shot or cross in. Possibly something could even be said for the draining psychological impact that his giving opponents a run-around might have. No-one else in our team can run with the ball like he can. He's our most skilful and technically-gifted player and sometimes I think it's a curse for him as people note this and can't fathom why every single cross he puts into a box can't match the other dazzling capabilities he so obviously possesses.

More directed at the tactical approach of McGeady than the player himself. What he was doing wasn't working and we've seen that from him in that situation before. I accept the defence might have had his number and fair enough but thats when its down to management to alter things and not keep plugging away at the same failed tactic over 90 minutes. Aidean isn't being used very well by us and often finds himself being ineffective when it comes to end products, which I think the management have to shoulder the blame for the direction their giving him. He's not as clever a player as Duff who can vary his game wildly to suit dynamic situations so its down to Trap to have Aidean swap wings or get him cutting inside or looking to win set pieces or whatever.

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Let's be honest here. Isn't this really just an anti-McGeady thread masquerading as having something to do with our general crossing?

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this.

The pitch was shocking on Saturday. When Hunt found himself on his favourite side for about the only time in the game, he shanked his cross high and wide because the ball bobbled up.

I thought McGeady was really good on Saturday btw.

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Originally Posted by Murfinator

its down to Trap to have Aidean swap wings or get him cutting inside or looking to win set pieces or whatever.

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He won the free that the keeper spilt. He won a few frees out left in the second half too, and a corner when he very neraly got through one on one, albeit from a tight angle. Duff is the master at earning frees though. a great asset, esp away from home.

Ireland's crossing? not as good as Miller's