Ireland v Hungary and Armenia - September 2025

Just so there's no illusions for those at the game, there was no question about the red card. I agree HH took too long to take advantage and Cullen deserved a slap for getting that yellow.

We did get a few yellows tonight so the team needs to be tactical and maybe control the suspensions. Probably we're better off missing players for Armenia at home?

Anyway, whatever else, there's some hope. I'd forgotten what it was like to have a qualification campaign to look forward to and unless Hungary somehow beat Portugal it's more than likely going to be down to Budapest

Make no mistake, this was yet another disaster in a seemingly endless series of years - no decades, of disasters. I’m sick of it.Sick of all the stupid pre-campaign talk of “good vibes in the camp” and empty promises of qualifying for this and that. We were given a golden opportunity, a favourable draw with our players fresh and seemingly on the up and up. A must-win game to get this sprint off to a good start. And what happens? Well, what always happens with our “must-win” games - we don’t win. Instead we throw it all away before it even gets off the ground. Individual performances that were shocking. Doherty was virtually a twelfth player for Hungary. The entire back four were dreadful. Azaz and Szmodics anonymous spectators to the unwinding of a campaign which had barely started. We’re not qualifying for this, or any other World Cup, the prospect of doing so is too outrageous, too fearful a concept for an Irish team to allow it to occur. We played most of the second half against ten men and all we could think to do was to swing it in to the back post time and time again. Idah celebrated the equalising goal like we’d won the World Cup, he had no notion of how important it was to actually win the game.Despite the numerical advantage our keeper winds up man of the match and now we listen to the plaintive pleas that “at least we’re still in it”. We’re not in anything except an attempt to avoid being bottom of the group.This team is not going to miraculously change into being anything other than what they are.

Surprised with how negative the general tone is on here after we saved our campaign in the 90th minute.

Couldn't disagree more on the Ogbene hate either. I was calling for him to be given the ball every single he was on the pitch. If we go anywhere near the WC he's going to be central to it. The pace and strength he has makes him a completely different threat to any other Irish player.

The comments here saying we were done and dusted at half time were spot on. We'd no right to get a result this evening at half time and the team pulled it out of the bag. The sending off completely changed the game obviously but the momentum had just swung at that stage anyway. We got the first against 11 and put them under serious pressure the rest of the game and it eventually told.

The reality is we aren't a great team, all of us should know that. That second half was good though. We maybe lumped the ball into the box from bad areas at times but generally it was the right way to approach the game. We won a ton of first balls in the box and I'm surprised we hadn't got a lucky bounce much earlier in the second half to equilise.

I am less positive about our chances of coming second than I was at the start of the day but I am just so ****ing relieved that the next few days of build up to the Armenia game in the media isn't going to be about the what ifs.

I might be in the minority but I'm pretty happy after that.

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Originally Posted by Fizzer

Despite the numerical advantage our keeper winds up man of the match

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Kelleher wasn't man of the match. I know he was called out as it but that was ridiculous.

Thought Manning was decent and whoscored gives him the best rating by a distance.

I think there's a place for a bit of a reality check but that post is too far. Yes, we were awful first half and it's easy to forget that given how the game ended - Hungary took the foot off the pedal with an eye on Tuesday I feel and they shouldn't.

But equally there needs to be credit given for the second half. I couldn't give a ****e that we got back into it with Jack Charlton football. It was bloody effective.

We don't have a good squad. A draw in that manner can absolutely have positives, even if we'd like to have won

(As an aside btw - just seeing the replays of the red card and I do think we got a break there. Definite yellow but a soft red for me)

It was a high tackle from behind with what looked like malicious intent. Straight red every day of the week.


Agree as well about the negative tones. I made the mistake of reading the comments on the 42 app and dear god people are horrible about this team. I know a lot of it comes from passion but we are 60th in the world rankings and although that might be harsh, we need to be serious about where we are.

We have a trio of players that have the potential to go all the way in Kelleher, Collins and Ferguson but it's still only potential. There's a lot to be positive about and we have 5 games to enjoy now where we can have some belief. Even with our best teams historically it was always scraping through playoffs. We have a chance, that's more than we've had in four fecking years :)

It was a definite red, it was an attempt at a malicious hack with no intent to get the ball.

Clear red. Tackle from behind, studs showing, after the ball had gone.

The morning after the night before and I still don't know whether it was a point gained or two dropped. I suppose if we win in Armenia we'll be in a much better position after two group games than we have been for a long time. And it would more or less guarantee that we stay alive to the final weekend of the group, which would be progress in itself.

But things still don't look right. Hallgrimsson and McCarthy spoke an awful lot of bull**** in the lead up to the game. Was it a psychological thing, almost trying to convince everyone, including the players themselves, that they weren't as mentally weak as they have looked over the last few years? I can't really see any other logic behind it. If it was it didn't work anyway.

Is the solution for Armenia as simple as dropping Doherty? I feel like, if we just have two centre mids again, we're at risk of messing up in Yerevan, bad and all as Armenia are. I'd like to see us put an extra body in there to try and dominate the middle, but they just don't seem interested in trying it.

Something like

Kelleher
O'Brien Collins O'Shea Manning
Cullen Taylor
Johnston Azaz Knight
Ferguson

with Knight tucking in as a third centre mid when we're out of possession, and also making space for Manning to push forward onto the left wing when the opportunity arises.

But I think he'll go for a more conventional 4-2-3-1 and pick two wingers.

Feeling relieved this morning and clinging on to dreams of a World Cup, I hope you are all good gang. Having slept on it, I am still not sure how to feel about that, were we even good? Do I care? Felt like points dropped after the match, but I'm also just glad we didn't loose. Not 100% we're getting 6 points v Armenia, so let's hope we survive the next match, it's going to be a long tiring trip and a short turnaround, something we have really struggled with.

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

But things still don't look right. Hallgrimsson and McCarthy spoke an awful lot of bull**** in the lead up to the game. Was it a psychological thing, almost trying to convince everyone, including the players themselves, that they weren't as mentally weak as they have looked over the last few years? I can't really see any other logic behind it. If it was it didn't work anyway.

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They did. There was an awful amount of, its only good times ahead, from them, during the lead up & HH again looked like a man who'd unexpectedly ended up on a Texas rodeo bull but survived it, in the post match, so I don't think it was a ploy, I think they believed it but it was definitely overdone considering we've done nothing good for almost a decade.

I do think this group of players have a tendency to go out & initially do none of the things worked on which is perplexing him. He mentioned it being a psychological problem & as we know, the FAI can't afford a sports psychologist & that was him saying they could probably do with one. He deliberately said that, last night you'd have to suspect & privately he's more scathing about it & the financial farce his employers are.

I didn't read this match thread from kick off until after the game & it was like the five stages of grief on here, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance only to then be told the person wasn't dead, not yet, not fully anyhow.

So was it a point gained Lazarus moment or two dropped ? Well we don't know. We do know, if we can stay in this, with an eye on the last game, we can rattle Hungary, at least. But what this group of players produce between now & then is anyones guess.

Never seen a game like it.

In the scheme of football financing what would a good Phycologist cost, one players weeks wages? Time for Matt Doherty to give back ;)

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Was talking about that in the ground - there weren't any. Very strange; no idea why that was

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Is it possible that expecting to win meant that the plan was to slow the game down and have no ballboys? It was an old trick by O'Connor at Dundalk that if we went 1 up the ballboys were called in. Last night we ended up needing multiball to keep the tempo up second half and Hungary constantly having to be switched on. Instead the were able to reset everytime the ball went out of play. They even switched the ball a couple of times when the ball went dead, refused the ball that was quickly given to them at throw ins. Super annoying but exactly waht Id want from my said if in front. Its a wider debate but the 4th official being the timekeeper was supposed to eliminate this messing and increase the ball in play time with time added on.We've all seen games go beyond the 100min mark and Id love to look back at the ball dead time though couldnt be bothered, as 6mins added seemed chort changed. My prediction for the final game, we are one ahead, playoff on the line and 12 minutes gets added for the same sort of game management and we concede.....

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

The morning after the night before and I still don't know whether it was a point gained or two dropped. I suppose if we win in Armenia we'll be in a much better position after two group games than we have been for a long time. And it would more or less guarantee that we stay alive to the final weekend of the group, which would be progress in itself.

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Looking at it from 7:45pm you would probably say 2 points dropped, looking at it from about 8pm you'd say a point earned

Honohan in for the injured Szmodics for Armenia. Obviously not a like for like replacement, so looks like a deliberate pick to increase our left back options, or in other words Doherty is no longer seen as a viable option in the position I'd say. But clearly he's not an O'Dowda fan and no route back for McClean (or possibly he doesn't want one himself).

Probably Manning to start at left back now, with Honohan in reserve if he wants to push Manning forward during the game.

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Originally Posted by Neish

Looking at it from 7:45pm you would probably say 2 points dropped, looking at it from about 8pm you'd say a point earned

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How about from 9pm, when we were a goal down, a man up and still had half an hour to play?!:)

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

The morning after the night before and I still don't know whether it was a point gained or two dropped. I suppose if we win in Armenia we'll be in a much better position after two group games than we have been for a long time. And it would more or less guarantee that we stay alive to the final weekend of the group, which would be progress in itself.

But things still don't look right. Hallgrimsson and McCarthy spoke an awful lot of bull**** in the lead up to the game. Was it a psychological thing, almost trying to convince everyone, including the players themselves, that they weren't as mentally weak as they have looked over the last few years? I can't really see any other logic behind it. If it was it didn't work anyway.

Is the solution for Armenia as simple as dropping Doherty? I feel like, if we just have two centre mids again, we're at risk of messing up in Yerevan, bad and all as Armenia are. I'd like to see us put an extra body in there to try and dominate the middle, but they just don't seem interested in trying it.

Something like

Kelleher
O'Brien Collins O'Shea Manning
Cullen Taylor
Johnston Azaz Knight
Ferguson

with Knight tucking in as a third centre mid when we're out of possession, and also making space for Manning to push forward onto the left wing when the opportunity arises.

But I think he'll go for a more conventional 4-2-3-1 and pick two wingers.

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Is it a psychological thing? It definitely is. We stay in our comfort zone, namely passing sideways and backwards in front of Kelleher. To adventure forward while retaining possession is too risky so let's not try that approach. Let's bury our heads in the sand and stay in our comfort zone and hopefully we'll get a chance or two late on to win the game via a corner or free kick. That may not be the stated goal of this Irish team but it is the mental one, or quite close to it.

Contrast that with Portugal yesterday. For starters we are not Portugal and we do not have a Ronaldo or even Joao Felix. But, like them we do have 11 players on the pitch and unlike them they all work for one another. Case in point, Ronaldo's stunner from distance yesterday. That came about because when Portugal lost the ball everyone in a white shirt busted a gut to close down space and win back possession. The result- a goal for Portugal. And the visitors were 3 - 0 up at the time. That is the approach of the European champions to the game. Ours....we'll if we do go 1 - 0 up early in Yerevan on Tuesday Im pretty sure you'll see the shutters pulled down immediately.

That is our mentality- so yes it is all psychological.

Remember hearing Gianluca Vialli say “you don’t win or lose, you win or learn”. Hopefully HH has learnt, a lot like Amorim needs to, you fit the system to the players, not the players to the system!

Needs to ditch the turgid, antiquated 4-4-2 / four at the back formation immediately and play 3-5-2. We’re overloaded with good centre-halves, have no natural fullbacks (Doherty has been playing on the right of a central three for the last year, as his legs have gone), have two decent enough wingbacks in Manning & Ogbene, a diminutive midfield which needs to bolstered, a creative midfielder in Azaz who should be playing central and two battering ram forwards in Ferguson & Idah who’s physicality will scare defenders.

Sick of hearing about what worked for Iceland. We have a different psyche. Be it football, rugby or boxing we operate at our optimum with high intensity, put em under pressure tempo working as the underdog. If HH doesn’t cop on to that simple fact soon, we’d be better place getting someone like Keane & Duff in, who at least appreciate the pride of playing for their country to instill some passion, rather than overthink and overcomplicate it like we’re doing presently.

I don't know where some of the criticism for players is coming from in some posts here -


My assessment -


I thought Jake O'Brien was outstanding - even in a RB position - he delivered so many dangerous balls into the box last night than on another day could have resulted in several goals.


I thought Ferguson was very good - scoring and he had a major assist in Idah's goal, dragging two defenders with his run to the near post, giving Idah a free header.


I thought Azaz played well - but needed to be playing right behind Ferguson to maximise his input and deliver balls that Ferguson could thrive on.


Manning should have been playing LB instead of Doherty (never liked him there as he cannot use his left foot) with Johnson ahead of him.


We have CBs and I agree with those who suggest putting Collins in midfield instead of Cullen - he has better vision and passing ability without losing anything on the defensive side.


Ogbene is not the best crosser of a ball but his pace is a nightmare for defenders and makes them panic.


I felt the team selection was unbalanced last night and it impacted alot in the first half.


For those who talk about 'Charlton-ball' - two things - against the modern high press you cannot pass the ball out from the back unless you have highly technical defenders - and we don't - otherwise you will get caught in possession. There was no 'Charlton-ball' last night (Charlton used a very specific tactial approach) - what happened in the second half was a more direct approach with an emphasis on getting the ball into the box - particlarly after the sending off when Hungary defended deep. I would persist with this because it suits our players better and will lead to results.

One thing I certainly wouldn't accuse HH of is trying to over complicate things.

It seems like he's a fairly straight forward message to both the players and fans of what he wants the team to be.

I personally would put the slow start down on the players for individual errors. It wasn't as if the shape of the team was consistently ripped apart (although I'll accept it's easier to defend when you are 2 goals down)