With competent officials Croatia would never have won.
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With competent officials Croatia would never have won.
Well we are where most people expected us to be. At the bottom of a very tough group. Qualifying from the group was always going to be a longshot. We all knew that.
Just disappointed that we picked the first game of the championships to start making uncharacteristic mistakes. Very unlike us under Trap to concede such soft goals. Shay doesn't seem right at all. I have never seen him go down so slow as he did for the first goal. Normally he would have thrown his hat on a not very powerful header like that.
Combine that with a few decisons that went against us such as the foul on Ward that caused him to slice his clearance for the second goal and the stonewall penalty on Robbie not given and it was a very frustrating evening's viewing. Croatia are better than us as it is but they also had all the luck going tonight. Maybe we used up all ours in Moscow.
Wish Trap would let the team play a little bit more though. We seem to play best when we go behind and if we draw level we retreat back into our shells again.
I'm not sure,.....but my girlfriend'll tell me in the morning no doubt.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crosby87
I doubt know if any of the other lads that are in Poznan have posted but I'm gutted after tonight.
We were un characteristically poor in a lot of departments.
But I'm doing to concentrate on the positives as the officiating was atrocious.
Richard Dunne and the Saint were immense. Ward recovered well after his brainfart for the first goal. Josh was Josh.
Duff was great in the second half. Andrews was our MOTM. And in my eyes has achieved undroppable status.
Walters madman obvious difference when he came on. He has to start v Spain.
One thing I can't fathom is Cox on the wing? He was melodian.
Gutted but delighted I was there.
Come on you Boys in Green!!!
Came home, tired, disappointed and had to endure a stream of text messages from gloating croatians, but since they'll never be anything but croatian and thus outside of civilization, I'm not too upset. But what was very annoying last night, and mabe someone else heard this, but ref whistles were blown at either end at crucial times. The Russian commentators picked up on this, it was clear for the 10,000+ crowd watching, and I can name at least 3 times when the whistle blew but it wasn't the ref. One was just as the Irish equaliser was headed in, another was the non "offside" - watch the players stop and look at the ref before anything happens, even the croatians. And the 3rd was at a corner in the 1st half and the players stopped en masse, but the ref didn't blow. So apart from some weak pussyfooting around by the ref at times, he and his crew were not so bad (penalty excepted) and when you have a team, croatia, who bring cheating and gamesmanship to a fine art, it's going to be tough. So depressed, no, homicidal, yes, if the gobsheens with the whistles have to be treated like anti-communists in 1945.
Ya the whistles were crazy, american commentators on my stream picked it up too. Really thought Sledges goal was going to flagges offside. Im not sure if it would have made much difference but it added to a night of suspect referee decisions.
I had a dream I was being stalked by a mountain lion. Sums up how I feel.
Croatia were the better team
S**T happens !
Anyway the Spanish are in the happenny place when it comes to running up debts re; per head of capita.
See ; we are better at them at some stuff .
We were very lucky to get to the finals in the first place. Croatia victory was hardly unexpected. If (as is probable) Ireland lose all three games, it's not unlikely that Trap will resign. I would then expect a much more adventurous team to emerge based around more creative players like Coleman, McClean and McCarthy.
I expected us to lose but never like that, never so utterly destroyed that Croatia could go into conservation mode with 30 minutes to go. Did the croats ever even get out of 1st gear? There's pride in losing a game against a decent team who played well, there's nothing in rolling over for a comfortable defeat, this won't have taken a lot out of the croats and thats sad.
Having watched all the other Euro games I have to admit that I felt somewhat embarrassed by what we showed last night, I'd long since told friends abroad that the Trap team were greater than the sum of their parts, that they'd see what I mean here. But that didn't show in the slightest, whatever about Group C we were worse than all the teams in Group A. We looked like we didn't deserve to be there, this being an unlucky side in a difficult group is nonsense, we'd have lost to anyone playing like that and lost quite comfortably.
I felt a few careers of many of my heroes died last night which makes it even sadder. That was not the Shay Given or Robbie Keane that I'd come to know.
I'm disappointed. I will keep the faith though I know I'm hoping against hope. Roy Keane talked of the one big result. I want that on Thursday but I'm realistic on that and what the result probably will be.
Noticed the whistles myself too. In a packed bar of about 300 people, about 50 started celebrating Sledges goal, everyone else thought whistles had blown.
People simply have to be searched going into games. Missiles thrown at some matches, whistles blown at others. Security just has to be stepped up.
I'm not too disappointed or depressed. Half knew we were going to get nothing out of this group. Disappointment comes hand in hand with being a Harps fan so I guess I'm used to it.
I feel the same as I did after the loss to Russia. Haven't given up hope completely but we've gotten a sharp reality check. Sure Spain and Italy are both crap anyway.
Exactly. This is what hurts more then anything.Quote:
Originally Posted by Murfinator
No one can do a better job with the tools in this toolbox. Of the players we have only Keane, Duff and McGeady can hold the ball and make things happen in the opposition half. And the former pair have lost that yard or two you need for international football. You cannot make wine without grapes and we just don't have the grapes.Quote:
Originally Posted by koneinc
I do attribute some blame to Trap's players (ie the ones he's stood by like Whelan and Andrews and O'Shea and Ward). All gave it their all but four passengers in reality. He had options like Wilson, Foley or Coleman, Hoolahan). Anyway it doesn't really matter at this stage - we play a prehistoric brand of football that deserves exactly what it got yesterday.
The problem when your country has such low expectations is that nothing will ever change. If any other country lost 3 games in a row, serious changes would be thought of, we're just happy to qualify.....
Another part that ****es me off is Croatia is the smallest country in the tournament; we're the second smallest. So we've managed to be manhandled (physically, technically, tactically) by the only team w/ a smaller talent pool, obliterating the "small country punching above our weight" angle that normally takes a bit of the edge off the pain. We're the oldest team in the tournament, where were the cool heads and composure that come with experience? Where the hell did this great belief in the camp go that we've been hearing about for weeks?
Croatia may be a smaller country than us but they've always been much better at football than us. So any result would still be punching above our weight.Quote:
Originally Posted by boysingreen
Just the obligatory rhetorical question, but why do you think that might be? Could it be because they actually coached their kids properly 15 or 20 years ago?Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin
It's probably partly because their population actually gives a crap about Croatian football and thus the focus at grassroots level is to produce strong, technical players who can succeed in the domestic league and then filter out into stronger European leagues, rather than everything being focused on a neighbouring league that is fast and exciting but technically-deficient.
There are plenty of technically strong players coming out of Ireland - not as many as other countries - but they tend to get it coached out of them in order to improve their chances of succeeding in the agricultural leagues nextdoor.