Performance of a lifetime from Dunne.
On a par with McGrath in the Giants Stadium. Unreal
Performance of a lifetime from Dunne.
On a par with McGrath in the Giants Stadium. Unreal
Shattered after that. Have to say happy with the point but some serious questions to be asked about Trapatonni and his tactics. Giving a team like Russia that many chances is not good. It was the individual brilliance of Dunne and some great positioning by Shay saves us in that game.
That team could teach Bear Grylls a thing or two about survival. Unbelievable stuff. Vintage displays from Given and the McGrath-esque Dunne. Nerves absolutely destroyed.
Where's my Armenia shirt.
Richard Dunne does a pretty good Paul McGrath impression. Shay was fantastic. Stephen Kelly stood up to the plate and was excellent. O'Dea solid. Whelan and Andrews not good enough on the ball or looking for the ball. McGeady did well. Cox was very good when he came on.
Trap is too stubborn to change his tactics. He should've taken a striker off and stuck McCarthy or Foley in to stop them ripping us apart....
I get the impression Tardelli was telling him the same but Trap wasn't listening
In many ways don't mind if we don't qualify if that's the best we can play...
A decent team would have ripped us apart tonight.
Credit to Shay, Kelly, Dunne & Hunt, though. The midfield were again woeful. None of them deserve to play again.
Don't know if even McGrath ever put in a performance like Dunne tonight. That was beyond legendary.
This performance by dunne is as good as ncgrath v Italy but won't be remembered because it was a draw with Russia which might not mean anything unfortunately
Dunne enjoying three independent McGrath comparisons within the same minute here says it all about his performance really.
I thought pretty much everyone did well except the midfield 2 who were just passed by, again. Ward's crossing was sh1te though. Worse than sh1te.
I was really impressed by O'Dea. Dunne was the star but best supporting actor from an unfancied player was O'Dea.
Jeez I need a swig of whiskey after that.
Given -9
kelly - 7
Dunne - 11
O'Dea - 7
Ward - 3
Duff - 6
McGeady - 7
Andrews - 4
Whelan - 4
Keane - 5
Doyle - 6
Cox - 7
Hunt -6
Trappatoni - 1/10
Was thinking the same myself.Quote:
Originally Posted by backtowalsall
What a player.
how long left ?
They were a top seed, that means there's not many teams better than them in Europe. They couldn't score, and the team that shipped 5 goals to Cyprus has now gone ten and a half hours without conceding.Quote:
Originally Posted by ArdeeBhoy
do i understand correctly that if we win our next two games we will finish at worst second?
Ditto. I feel guilty being so surprised at his continued strong performances tbh.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Richard Dunne deserves a medal of honor or something after that. Beyond unbelivable his commitment to the cause.
Same for ALL the players. I'll never question their commitment thats for sure.
The fact that we are rubbish at actually playing football is the problem.
Yes I must agree. Possibly even better than McGrath with that clearance off the lineQuote:
Originally Posted by backtowalsall
I'd let Richard Dunne do unimaginable and unspeakable things to me...what an epic performance from him, he was by far the star of the game and he almost single handily stopped Russia by himself...Thought O'Dea and Kelly did well as did most of the team part from the usual suspects in the middle and Ward who was disappointing
With how we played, it's a great point...we're still alive in the group and probably have the easiest run in of the three teams competeting to win the group
They are decent and they did rip us apart.Quote:
Originally Posted by ArdeeBhoy
They just didn't score. :D
I was very happy with most of the players. McGeady was getting flak from Ray Houghton for running the ball around his own box. But he can do that. He got himself out of trouble and gave a good ball to Whelan who gave straight back to a Russian. Kelly and O'Dea really put in a great shift. Robbie played well got better as the game went on. Held the ball up nicely a couple of times and gave the defense a breather. Doyle came more into the game and I was surprised when he went off but Cox did very well. Can't fault Whelan and Andrews for effort but their just not good enough. Can really look forward to the Slovakia game now and roar on Armenia.
Well that was some sort of miracle.
All eyes on Slovakia-Armenia now. Let's hope our friends can do us a favour and draw with/beat Slovakia. If they drop any points, it means qualification is in our own hands.
If we manage to stumble into a play-off we will be beaten because we still don't have capable central midfielders. Thats the bottom line. A Depressing night regardless of how lucky we were because hand on heart I know we can't qualify unless we change the personel in there. Maybe Gibson / McCarthy is a solution but anything, ANYTHING would be better than what just went on for the last 90 mins - its was a horror show. How a manager with the wealth of experience that Trap has can't see this is mystifying. 7 clean sheets in a row - thats the only beacon of light.
I was also, but he made some basic mistakes towards the end which almost cost us goals. So down from an 8 to a 4.5 for those....Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
I'm not really thinking straight atm but I think there exists the possibility of Slovakia and Russia conspiring to draw their game, which might screw us over.Quote:
Originally Posted by zero
When Dunnies in the zone theres no better centre back in the world, smashing game.
Their finishing was as woeful as our central midfield. And they're not a decent side.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sullivinho
Which makes many of our performances are worrying.
Concentrate on the play-offs for 2014 and end the illusion of 2012. It's the hope I can't stand.
If they did that and we all finish on 21 don't Slovakia top the group? Why would Russia willingly accept playoffs?Quote:
Originally Posted by Sullivinho
Then can and will unless the Slovaks drop some points before hand (hopefully beginning tonight)Quote:
Originally Posted by Sullivinho
i thought it went head to head in that scenario, in which case we finish above the slovaks.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sullivinho
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Eu...ifying_Group_B
anyway as i've said elsewhere i reckon there are a couple of more twists to come.
Roy Keane was credited with a massive performance at home to Portugal - a draw. It was the finest individual performance by an Irishman since Brady at home to Bulgaria and McGrath in NY. Dunne's individual performance tonight was better.
Dunne put in one of the best performances I've ever seen for Ireland. Unreal. He deserves to qualify for the Euros as a one man team!
O'Dea proved a lot of us wrong tonight. Ward improved in the 2nd half but his delivery from the flanks was terrible. We need Cunningham to come along soon I think. Kelly also done ok.
Midfield - well, same story. Good work from the wings and very little offered from the middle. Andrews did track back well in fairness though.
Given was a hero.
So, do we have a decent shot at qualifying or it is all looking grim now?
I think so too. In fact I can see us getting 0-0 in Andorra.Quote:
Originally Posted by zero
I'm still in awe of that performance from Dunne.
Let's never forget it and make sure our grandchildren never forget the one we call HoneyMonster.
rte are saying otherwise. talking absolute rubbish though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
dunphy seems to have a partial handle on it.
Superb result. Doing basic maths here and presuming Ireland, Russia and Sloavakia win all their games against the Armenia, Macedonia and Andorra, then the only way we can be denied at least a play-off is if Russia and Slovakia draw. Result probably means we lose out on automatic qualification, but really we didn't throw that away today, the two games against Slovakia is were the finger can be pointed on that front. If all three teams are level on points at the end, we lose out, and my concern is that Russia and Slovakia will know this and conspire to play out for a draw.
Actually no. If we win our final two games and the Slovakia-Russia game ends in a draw and they win their other games, we will all finish on 21 points with us in 3rd after the tie breakers.Quote:
Originally Posted by zero
I'm actually hoping Armenia can get something out of their game against Slovakia today as they are still in with a shout if they win their 3 remaining games.
Dunphy hasn't a clue " hold on Bill - I know this" :)Quote:
Originally Posted by zero
Given - 9
Kelly - 8
Dunne - 10
O'Dea - 8
Ward - 5
Duff - 6
Andrews - 6
Whelan - 5.5
McGeady - 6.5
Keane - 6
Doyle 5.5
Hunt - 7
Cox - 7
If I was Slovakia I wouldnt play out a draw v Russia with a trip to Macedonia to come. I wouldn't go all out for the win either I suppose.