Republic of Ireland V Argentina - Wednesday, 11th August 2010 - Friendly

I thought we were woeful.

I don't like laying into Irish players but McShane and Kilbane cannot pass a football. Hoofball. They need to be replaced NOW. Thanks for your service but Cunningham or Coleman need to come into the team now. I couldn't give a monkeys if they are inexperienced, they'll never play as bad as those two did last night. Move O'Shea to full back and keep Dunne/St Ledger as the centre back pairing.

Green was a positive. I like his energy and I he starts the qualifiers with Whelan. Andrews is invisible, wasteful in possession and his place in the starting line up should be under threat.

Duff's delivery was not up to standard last night. We are a set piece team now so our free takers have to do better than that. I've not seen a replay of the goal yet but I was amazed so few people (at the game) knew that you cannot be offside from a goal kick. Di Maria might have been offiside but Higuain (I think it was him) cannot be. Does anybody play 11 a side football any more?!

The stadium is top class but I've got a feeling empty seats is going to be a major issue for the FAI. I hope they start giving schools the tickets for free or at a discounted rate.

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Originally Posted by OwlsFan

Gibson looked totally disinterested when he came on and I noticed he wouldn't show for the ball.

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Nothing new there. Sometimes, I think he actively goes into hiding. Don't know if it's a confidence thing or he just couldn't be bothered at times.

Argentina were miles better and as Tets said, we all knew that. I was just disappointed in our total lack of comfort with the ball at our feet,. It got better for spells in the second half. If we're going to play without the ball for the most part of all our games then at least I'd like too see us look good on the break (we never are) and / or good at set pieces (we usually are, but were rubbish last night).

McShane's distribution was awful - full backs have to be good on the ball and he wasn't. No argument, surely?

I still think Whelan is first pick in midfield, though maybe Green might be a threat to Andrws' place, and Doyle & Lawrence will bring something back - Hunt & McGEdy remaining back up for the wide positions. Cunningham might be worth the gamble in the absence of anything better, but surely McShane can't start RB? Kelly & Foley are both better, so too is JOS and I'd even have SSL, Nolan or Coleman ahead of him.

Armenia losing 3-1 at home to Iran is encouraging.

How McShane is getting a game ahead of Kelly, Foley and Coleman is a mystery. I'm hoping James McCarthy, Marc Wilson and Dave Meyler can push through at midfield. Cillian Sheridan isn't up to International level. We need to find another striker because if Keane and Doyle are injured we have nothing of note upfront. Also Kevin Kilbane has given great service but his legs are gone.

It actually reminded me of the game against the same opposition in 1998. Argentina were excellent for long periods, a class above any team we'll face in the next eighteen months. Like in 1998, we were overrun in the first half, and I was actually counting the minutes until the half ended. However, we did well in the second half, and could have scored, with a bit of luck. What have we learned? Very little that we didn't already know. Kilbane and McShane are liabilities, and need to be replaced. Duff and Keane are still our key players, both are irreplaceable. Our central midfield is still raw. Ireland's main problem in the last campaign was asserting our dominance, creating chances and scoring goals against opposition who were there for the taking (i.e Montenegro, Bulgaria), and in that respect, the Paraguay and Algeria games were more informative and constructive. Last night was solely about defence, discipline and organisation, and we were impressive in those regards, if little else. Keogh was impressive in feeding off scraps, and seems to have more potential than others (Best, Folan, Long) in providing a goal threat.

It was sad to see KK not being able to pull off his one trick along the wing. Like an aging legend singer who can't hit the hight notes on stage.

Hunt is out for a couple of months isn't he? and McGeady hasn't had a shot in anger yet this season.
I think we will have a tight squad with not too many options for starting places in the first few games.

With Green, Paul said he is not the answer but what is the question he had to answer? :)
He was a strange sight last night, blonde hair and red faced from the effort of a double shift. From the first moment he came on at the RDS he adjusted immediately and fitted in with effect, that's a sign of a solid, mature, no-nonsense honest pro. At least he has earned a first sub position on the bench.
Last night we were weak at the back, weak in the middle, weakened up front without Doyle and up against Argentina. I wouldn't read too much into it.
The questions are around a very reluctant Trap making a couple of needed changes for the qual campaign.

It's simple tho isn't it, what we are missing? Two decent full backs and one consistent midfielder who can hold up the ball and get it out to the wings, not back to given.

Right back we have Coleman, Kelly and Foley who are all miles better than McShane
Left back we have Ward and Cunningham who are light years better than kilbane
That oh christ central role...Green should start ahead of andrews, but i'd still hope Gibson makes the step up. McCarthy is the other option.

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Originally Posted by TrapAPony

I'm hoping James McCarthy, Marc Wilson and Dave Meyler can push through at midfield.

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I believe this lad in particular was on the right trajectory for at least a squad place before his injury. A Trap-style midfielder with ability and attitude, he'd have been impossible to ignore. In three games, Paul Green has gone from relative unknown to (I should think) threatening Keith Andrews place. I wouldn't suppose to know Trap's mind but I reckon Meyler's loss was Green's gain.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Cunningham might be worth the gamble in the absence of anything better

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We desperately need to replace Kilbane and I'd take that gamble against Armenia and Andorra but I'd be less confident pitching him in against the bigger teams in the group at this stage in his development. It's far from ideal, but I'd be more inclined to move O'Shea over and bring Kelly in at RB. He has his moments (Georgia in Dublin comes to mind) but I find him easier on the nerves than McShane. Who worryingly, appears to be a favourite of Trap's.

McShane & Kilbane are not even above average footballers. They should not be in that squad. Kelly should get his chance.

Kelly's had his chance and hasn't taken it, a stop gap at best before Coleman gets a regular place in the team.

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Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

Sheridan won practically everything in the air in the first half.

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He did. I can't believe the stick some people are giving him. Its like they were watching a different game.

They were good headers too - two of them found Robbie in good space and should have at least resulted in a test for the keeper.

Am I the only one who noticed that our full backs appeared to have license to attack last night? Granted, Messi and Di Maria are hardly your tracking back-type midfielders, but it was nice to see McShane and Kilbane take on defenders, even if the final product was fairly poor. I really hope it's a sign of things to come and not just Tardelli going rogue while Il Duce is laid up.

If I was picking the team I'd go with:

Given
Coleman, Dunne, St. Ledger, O'Shea
Lawrence, Green, Whelan, Duff
Keane, Doyle

John O'Shea on the offside:

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"I don't think the goal should have been allowed, I don't think the linesman saw the first touch from (Gonzalo) Higuain before Di Maria put it away. It's one of those things, you hope the linesman and the referee would see these things but they didn't so that's disappointing. We didn't deserve much from the first half but there are lot more positives from the second half," he added.

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Hmm... From that, you can't really tell whether or not he thought Higuain was the one who was offside or not.

Ah, you can. If he'd thought Higuain was the one who was offside it wouldn't have mattered if he'd touched it.

Are you sure? Had Higuain not touched it, Di Maria wouldn't have been offside. Or are you assuming that O'Shea acknowledges Higuain would have been pulled up for interfering with play for even going near the ball had he actually been offside?

Actually, that's a fair enough assumption to make when I think of it, so I guess that's O'Shea off the hook over this anyway. :p

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Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

John O'Shea on the offside:

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Where'd you get that quote? From the one I read off him in the examiner, it sounded like he wasn't sure of the rule.
""I think their goal was offside in the end but we should have been able to deal with it before that. We think it was offside, not just from the kick but Higuain touched it first before Di Maria stuck it away"
Read more: http://www.examiner.ie/archives/2010...#ixzz0wTNdeVN1

Maybe my assumption wasn't a fair one to make after all. That's rather worrying, especially the use of "we", and this being after the game too, so surely subsequent to the players having had a chance to discuss it amongst themselves at half-time or whatever.