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Squad announced today. Two wins required, tough task for Noel King's side.
Republic under 21s in need of two wins
Squad:
GK - Ian McLoughlin, Aaron McCarey
DEF - John Egan, Greg Cunningham, Rob Kiernan, Shane Duffy, Niall Canavan, Richie Towell, Aidan White
MID - Jeff Hendrick, Adam Barton, Conor Henderson, Conor Clifford, Samir Carruthers, Eunan O'Kane, Sean Murray, Robbie Brady
FOR - Sean Scannell, Rhys Murphy, James Collins.
I'm a bit surprised Joe Mason isn't included.
A very decent looking squad there. Future looks good if these guys continue to progress. Wish Trap would do a bit of blooding of a few over the next campaign. Friendlies and possibly the Faroes/Kazakhstan at home should be used.
The match is being streamed here from 4pm according to the FAI. Not sure if it's free or not, I assume it must be.
http://www.sport1tv.hu/
There are links to this game being streamed on First Row and VIP box.
Conor Henderson starting, first time I have ever watched him, really looks an Arsenal player.
1-0 Huns.
We don't look at the races at all here.
2-0, we're a shambles defensively.
Cunningham wins us a peno with a surging run into the box.
Brady converts, 2-1.
some scoring record at this level for Brady.
Pen Huns.
Duffy caused it, he has had a terrible game for us so far :mad:
McLaughlin saves brilliantly.
What a dreadful miss. Ridiculous defending from Duffy.
HT.
Our problem is that we keep giving the ball way cheaply at the wrong end of the pitch which the Hungarians are punishing mercilessly. Duffy has been awful in central defence, looks big and awkward and is being twisted and turned all over the place by the quick-footed Hungarians. Henderson looks a very tidy player, spreading play about nicely and trying to get forward. Hendrick has been a disappointment for me. He hasn't closed down the opposition midfield enough and too many passes of his have went astray. Brady has been useless of the right wing, every time but once he got the ball, he either lost it or miscontrolled it.
They're flowing through our midfield on the break.
Egan & Duffy looking very dodgy
I don't know what O'Kane is suppose to be doing...
Anyone think Brady needs to shed a few pounds? Another Andy Reid...
Did Cunningham hit his head in the tunnel at half time?
No, it was a tackle.Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin
60 minutes gone, we are getting truly bossed here.
Are we? I'm only flicking in and out, but we're playing some nice, controlled stuff.
I wouldn't say we're getting bossed. We seem to have more possession.
The last 10 minutes we've come into it alright.
Doran & Barton on for Murphy & O'Kane
Pretty woeful from Egan there, nearly 3-1.
That was a pen
Yeah, dunno how you could possibly not give a penalty (and a red card) for that. Blatant barge in the back.
Finally a good ball from Brady after Henderson picked him out with an amazing ball. Hendrick should have scored.
Main difference in the game seems to be that Hungary's defence is much better than ours; we're not getting much change out of their back four.
Fine save from McLoughlin to deny a certain goal there.
They're doing a hatchet job on Gregory Cunningham, poor lad looks like he's been in the wars.
Had he not saved it, it probably would have been a goal alright.Quote:
Originally Posted by Carrigaline
Forde for White.
The defence are under pressure because we give the ball away so cheaply so often. We are constantly trying 60 yard Hollywood crosses when a 5 yard pass is the better option.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
We really aren't trying that many long balls. And I don't think we're giving the ball away as much as having bad first touches, which should be more curable (right idea, just bad execution). When Hungary break, it looks like we've no-one back, whereas when we have the ball, Hungary have everyone back.
Anyways, 2-1 is a result now.
All over, 2-1. A poor performance from us over all.
Positives? McLoughlin did well in goal, saved a penalty and a few shots on goal.
While Henderson gave the ball away sloppily far too much, I think his intent was commendable. He was always trying to pass the ball forward, pick out a player in a threatening position, as opposed to just hitting it and hoping. Was fairly mobile around the pitch too. The defensive side to his game isn't too hot though.
Brady came into the game a lot more in the second half. Always on the ball, always willing to try and go past the defender. Unfortunately, the few decent balls and runs he did make were dwarfed by the number of miscontrolled passes and blind runs into opposing players.
Negatives? Most of these players look miles off where we need them to be to stake a claim in the senior squad. Egan really struggled at right back as the Hungarians cut inside time and time again with him unable to deal with it.
Murphy upfront was totally ineffective, I think it's safe to say that he has no international future whatsoever.
Hendrick was the biggest disappointment. Maybe it was the occasion that phased him, but he was really poor, didn't pass well at all, didn't close down, I honestly thought with his bags of first team experience that he would relish this occasion.
Maybe I am expecting too much, but our lads (with the exception of Henderson and Brady) just looked far too afraid and timid when on the ball. The Hungarians were simply better than us and only allowed us into the game after they settled on their 2-1 lead.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
I can understand that the under-21 team is about just grooming talent for the first team, but on the basis of displays I have seen in the last few years, I don't see that they're learning anything useful. If the lads aren't winning matches (we have won something like 4 in 20 and two of those were against Liechtenstein), and aren't learning anything, surely the whole setup needs to be looked at?
After all the flack Givens got for his under-21's shortcomings maybe its time King had some coming his way.
He's got a more talented squad of players than in previous age groups Givens worked with but they've underperformed, woefully at times, during the campaign and what's more lots of players seem to be withdrawing or rejecting call ups for no immediately explicable reason. Whether thats to do with the manager is anyone's guess but it seems under-21 foootball for the Republic of Ireland is not a very appealing evening out for many young players, compared for, say playing for Scunthorpe United for instance
Nonsense contribution. I think that is well out of line in fairness.This has been a good campaign with some good football played in sligo in particular. Its a limited squad we have for instance tonight egan had to play full back out of neccessity. Some players such as canavan, connolly clifford were needed for club games on tuesday and collins and scannell were injured. I dont think u can blame lads who are tryin to make a living in the lower leagues staying with their clubs for 2 games if they were requested to do so by their employers instead of been away on international duty, itsan unfortunate economic fact that these lads will be scrapping for a contract at a league club and need all the help they can get. The majority of the best footballers duffy, brady, murray, carruthers, forde, williams, egan etc are from the under 19 crop who made the euro final and r still available for next campaign. The only real doubt over selection that I see is mason at cardiff who has not been involved but there may be a good reason for that and gunning who may have been left out for disciplinery reasons. The next group is the one we should have realistic expectations of qualifying with due to the quality of player that made the euro final and others such as graham burke, paul george etc. Duffy, henderson, cunningham and brady will be good senior irish players from this group with egan(as a centre half) and white winning senior caps as well but I dont see many more featuring much at senior level from tonights team. Cant see how u can say King has done a bad job.if we dont make the playoffs next time then he deserves some flack maybe but not now.Quote:
Originally Posted by Adrock
I am not so sure about that to be honest. How many players currently in the under 21 set-up would you be confident of playing for a top 6 club? I can't think of any. There are a few who might be able to secure mid table PL football like Duffy or McCarthy, not many more though, if any.Quote:
Originally Posted by Adrock