Agree re Smallbone. For all his quality on the ball his defensive play is not as disciplined and with Doherty off the pace and getting caught in no man’s land it’s a big weakness that the Greeks are exploiting.Quote:
Originally Posted by SkStu
Agree re Smallbone. For all his quality on the ball his defensive play is not as disciplined and with Doherty off the pace and getting caught in no man’s land it’s a big weakness that the Greeks are exploiting.Quote:
Originally Posted by SkStu
Our defence is an accident waiting to happen it feels
The back line is really struggling. I'm not sure what the issue is but they look disorganized and nervous.
Maybe a bit too confident from Ferguson...
Anyone other than Ferguson should have been subbed off immediately for that effort!
There’s an example about 35/36 mins in where Smallbone was on top of Lenihan on the left but I assume is supposed to be covering that right side channel. They worked it quickly back right into massive space. He’s all over the place and exposing Doherty and the rest of the back line.Quote:
Originally Posted by passinginterest
As much as I thought there was potential in the front two, it’s probably contributing to the issues closing down the Greeks out wide. Maybe Knight for Idah and have him and Smallbone close those channels more with just Ferguson through the middle.
Idah's been really poor
Smallbone is the main positive here I think. But overall this feels more how I expected the France game to go
Not the only one mind. We're giving the ball away far too easily. If we do draw this, it'll be a really bad performance and not a positive for Kenny
Idah is just filling a shirt out there, no more. Bring in ogbene who will at least do his defensive work as well as put the opposition under pressure. Idah is just like parrot, an Irish striker who has managed to pave out a great living for himself in english football but has no real burning desire to be anyway successful.
Greece giving us more problems than France...
Bazunu good, Ferguson good. A few others are OK, but the back line and Idah are a disaster. It's been poor overall, Ireland are letting Greece dictate everything.
This is a huge half-time for Kenny. He's got to send them out better organized and ready to go for the win.
Aside from the defence being loose , Kenny seems to have set the midfield up to play as a non midfield I.e. shambles , clueless and useless …. And yet it’s 1-1
Tsikas or whatever his name is is just shredding us
In general that was awful,that we’re level is the only positive,hopefully a big improvement in the second half….
We should have been down 3-0 in the first ten minutes.
I think that's harsh. I've said before on here that Idah is like Conor Sammon. His work rate is superb and it brings him up to a level where he's still not really good enoughQuote:
Originally Posted by placid casual
It's why Cannon was such a big loss. We're desperate for options (plural!) up front
Midfield is non existent.
I think it’s time for a formation change. Kenny needs to do something….
Definite traces of end of season sleepiness. Great to get a goal back quickly, but they need to bolster midfield. Bazunu brilliant.
Yeah it was always an uphill swim for Sammon.
I really wish there was a world where Bazunu would get a chance at a big club, one where he wouldn't be constantly left exposed by the 3/4 in front of him.
Don't know. But has anyone else seen the laser on the faces of Irish players and the ref?