Ireland V Australia - Wednesday, 12th August 2009 - Friendly - Thomond Park

I was at the game. Poor game, poor performance and poor result.

1st half was quite lethargic. Whelan played well as did Mcgeady and Duff. However, we were poor when it came to the final 3rd. Keane had a good chance. That was about it. 2-0 flattered Australia going into the break but they deserved their lead.

2nd half was no better, if even worse. Keane was rubbish all game. Really needs to stop falling over, whinging for decisions and wiggling his finger when he thinks an offside call is wrong (it usually isn't). Whelan played well and Andrews did ok. Dunne improved in the 2nd half. There was a Kerryman behind me who was splooging in his pants for Stephen Hunt. Can't really see why. Yes he tried hard, but end product is poor as always. Cracking 3rd goal for the Aussies.

I know it was only a friendly, but it was the same for Australia and they've already qualified, so that's even less reason for them to care. But still, we were shockingly bad at times. Trappa would want to sort it out quick. Here's hoping that he will get rid of his stubborn attitude.

And for those who booed at FT, go fcukoff home and never come back. Totally pointless and unnecessary for a friendly match at the end of pre-season.

Shocking performance. Mcgeady and keane looked sharp at the start. blamed kilbane for the 1st goal. be honest he's been a good servant but he is a liability. cost us 4 points against bulgaria. Gibson had keane through on goal in the first half and gave a shocking ball to the right. turning point.

3 nil. Crikey :eek:

just as the 4 nil in denmark meant nothing and the 3 nil at home against sweden meant nothing, this will mean nothing in my view. poor game and poor performance.

I've had this rant brewing since Trap took over and started watching Ireland literally scrape through games and I knew one day I'd get to vent my fury.

Since Trap took over as manager I've always said(including on foot.ie) that eventually we are going to be absolutely outplayed, out-classed and hammered in a game and well tonight it happened.
I'd made peace with the fact that:
- He doesn't pick the best available squad.
- He doesn't pick the strongest team from the players he makes available to himself.
- His tactics stink.
- His lack of and choice of subs are p!ss poor!
- He picks Liam Miller when no club will have him even though there are players involved with Premiership/Championship teams who play week in, week out that don't even get a look in like Keith Fahey, Rory Delap even Clinton Morrison would do!(he's better than Andy Keogh anyway)
-Our defence is a mess. I know people like to point the finger at Zinedine Kilbane but in my opinion Trap has turned Richard Dunne into a pussycat who now turns his arse at everything like he did for the Cahill's two goals tonight.
-The midfield is useless.
Trap picks Darron Gibson contantly purely because he plays with Man United. He is 6th choice centre-mid at Utd, if he was 6th choice centre-mid at any other club he wouldn't be near the squad. Now saying that I do believe he will be a key player in the future.
McGeady is the most over-rated Irish player EVER!....Run with your head up and cross the feckin ball once and a while!!!
The quicker Stephen Reid is fit and Trap swallows his pride and brings Stephen Ireland and Andy Reid back the better.
-We have 6 strikers in every squad and unfortunately only 2 are good enough to be there(Keane and Doyle)........nothing he can do about that really!

I think thats it but other than that things are peachy!:)

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Originally Posted by rambler14

I've had this rant brewing since Trap took over and I knew one day I'd get to vent my fury.

Since Trap took over as manager I've always said(including on foot.ie) that eventually we are going to be absolutely outplayed, out-classed and hammered in a game and well tonight it happened.
I'd made peace with the fact that:
- He doesn't pick the best available squad.
- He doesn't pick the strongest team from the players he makes available to himself.
- His tactics stink.
- His lack of and choice of subs are p!ss poor!
- He picks Liam Miller when no club will have him even though there are players involved with Premiership/Championship teams who play week in, week out that don't even get a look in like Keith Fahey, Rory Delap even Clinton Morrison would do!(he's better than Andy Keogh anyway)
-Our defence is a mess. I know people like to point the finger at Zinedine Kilbane but in my opinion Trap has turned Richard Dunne into a pussycat who now turns his arse at everything like he did for the Cahill's two goals tonight.
-The midfield is useless.
Trap picks Darron Gibson contantly purely because he plays with Man United. He is 6th choice centre-mid at Utd, if he was 6th choice centre-mid at any other club he wouldn't be near the squad. Now saying that I do believe he will be a key player in the future.
McGeady is the most over-rated Irish player EVER!....Run with your head up and cross the feckin ball once and a while!!!
The quicker Stephen Reid is fit and Trap swallows his pride and brings Stephen Ireland and Andy Reid back the better.
-We have 6 strikers in every squad and unfortunately only 2 are good enough to be there(Keane and Doyle)........nothing he can do about that really!

I think thats it but other than that things are peachy!:)

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Maybe a tad harsh but some good points made.

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Originally Posted by MeathDrog

I was at the game. Poor game, poor performance and poor result.

1st half was quite lethargic. Whelan played well as did Mcgeady and Duff. However, we were poor when it came to the final 3rd. Keane had a good chance. That was about it. 2-0 flattered Australia going into the break but they deserved their lead.

2nd half was no better, if even worse. Keane was rubbish all game. Really needs to stop falling over, whinging for decisions and wiggling his finger when he thinks an offside call is wrong (it usually isn't). Whelan played well and Andrews did ok. Dunne improved in the 2nd half. There was a Kerryman behind me who was splooging in his pants for Stephen Hunt. Can't really see why. Yes he tried hard, but end product is poor as always. Cracking 3rd goal for the Aussies.

I know it was only a friendly, but it was the same for Australia and they've already qualified, so that's even less reason for them to care. But still, we were shockingly bad at times. Trappa would want to sort it out quick. Here's hoping that he will get rid of his stubborn attitude.

And for those who booed at FT, go fcukoff home and never come back. Totally pointless and unnecessary for a friendly match at the end of pre-season.

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thought hunt lifted team and supporters with his introduction and was more of a threat in 45 mins than duff had been in first 45 .. poor game to watch and ireland definatly gave the aussies to much time and space ... as for booing at ft agree with you .. but a lot of apes near me on west terrace had no more intrest in match were chatting away during game and had no idea on some of the players names , had the feeling alot of fans only went for the novelty of thomond park factor and were not genuine soccer fans :mad:

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Originally Posted by old git

had the feeling alot of fans only went for the novelty of thomond park factor and were not genuine soccer fans :mad:

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Welcome to Ireland.

I said it at the start and i'll still say it now. Friendly or not Trap is being shown up for being the clueless mercenary buffon he is. Ireland are where they are in the group, despite him and not because of him.

I want my 55euros back.NEVER going to another friendly again,utter sh*te.Ive seen far better at Terryland Park this season.
Trap OUT-HIS TACTICS ARE BRUTAL WITH 2 HOLDING MIDFIELDERS WHO DONT EVEN "HOLD".

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Originally Posted by Hairy Bowsie

Welcome to Ireland.

I said it at the start and i'll still say it now. Friendly or not Trap is being shown up for being the clueless mercenary buffon he is. Ireland are where they are in the group, despite him and not because of him.

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That has to be the funniest post of the month!

lads i know im going to be killed for this but kilbane doesnt deserve to be in he squad, how many more goals does he have to be at fault for before the blinkered fans on this site realise hes past it??

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Originally Posted by Wexford Delboy

lads i know im going to be killed for this but kilbane doesnt deserve to be in he squad, how many more goals does he have to be at fault for before the blinkered fans on this site realise hes past it??

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People are blaming Kilbane just because he's an easy target.
Nobody seems to be metioning Richard Dunne turning his arse to both of Tim Cahill's goals tonight!

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Originally Posted by Wexford Delboy

lads i know im going to be killed for this but kilbane doesnt deserve to be in he squad, how many more goals does he have to be at fault for before the blinkered fans on this site realise hes past it??

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I agree

fair enough dunne did turn his back but it was definately kilbanes fault for the second goal he left the centre backs totally exposed

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Originally Posted by backtowalsall

He has been playing on the right for Celtic so far this year, and is obviously right footed player. So obvious in fact that every right-back he meets when he plays on the left works out after 15 minutes that there isn't a cat in hells chance of him going down the touchline, and sends him into the middle of the park and eliminates danger of a decent cross.

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I never noticed he was right footed, thanks for pointing that out. Ever heard of players playing on the opposite side to what their natural foot is?

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He got away with that against half rate defences in Scotland, but international full backs have him worked out. he has played most of his career on the left, but thats owing to Gordon Strachan playing him out of position.

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McGeady, from what I gather, has been playing in a free role this season for Celtic so the side of the pitch he is on does not have as much relevance. Previously he played on left (as you pointed out) and beyond doubt showed that his best performances came from the left. Regarding his strongest side- it's simply a black and white issue that's been proven beyond doubt.

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And as for Duff, the only thing he has proven is that his best position is on the left wing, and that he can do a job up front. His only good performances on the right wing were in a very good Chelsea team when he was a lot younger

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I never said Duff's strongest position wasn't the left. He's performance more that adequate recently for Ireland on the right so there is absolutely no problem with him on that side as far as I'm concerned.

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Originally Posted by stevieontour

You only should play 2 defensive midfielders when playing a team that are better than you.

If you do that to lesser teams you play into their hands.

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I don't think that's a problem at all. Liverpool did it last season and it worked really well for them. The two main problems with us using that system are:

1. The players aren't good enough. Whelan is decent enough but that doesn't cut it at this level and Gibson is not ready yet. Admittedly I have not seen as much as Andrews in the Premiership as those two but from what I saw of him for Blackburn he seemed like a weaker option than many players we have available in the position.

2. Two men upfront. Unless you have really, really good wingers you can not get away with using two holding midfielders. An extra centre midfielder with more freedom needs to be added or Keane has to drop back and play deeper (like the Italy game first half, which makes things more astonishing as it worked so well). The gap from the centre midfielders to the nearest players directly in front of them is far too large so going to the wings is the only option. This one dimensional play can be stopped easily enough if the opponents are aware of our game plan. We're losing too much possession/not making enough breaks because the simple ball is not an option often enough and attacking through the wings will obviously create more chances from crosses into the box rather than breakaways, which does not suit us. Maybe if the wingers were given more freedom it may work but I'm not convinced.

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Full backs were a huge issue also ... no creativity there at all.

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I never agreed with this line of thought. Once their distribution is sufficient that's fine as far as I'm concerned. Let them concentrate solely on defending and leave the creativity to the positions that you would expect to find it. (Obviously it would be a bonus if we had full backs with creativity but is it certainly not essential).

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Originally Posted by papa-j

O'Shea, I can't figure this guy out. Looks a good player for Utd but has been shaky for Ireland , with a couple of good performanced sprinkled in.

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It's been more than a few good performances in fairness to him. He has been excellent through most of this campaign and solid in most of the previous one.

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Originally Posted by NeilMcD

just as the 4 nil in denmark meant nothing and the 3 nil at home against sweden meant nothing, this will mean nothing in my view. poor game and poor performance.

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I think given how serious the management team were taking the game and the fact that many of the deficiencies have been prevalent throughout the qualifying campaign it is a major cause for concern. Now that we've faced a team that can dominate us in midfield and create chances we were blown away. The Italy game would have been similar I reckon if they hadn't been reduced to ten men.

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Originally Posted by rambler14

I've had this rant brewing since Trap took over and started watching Ireland literally scrape through games and I knew one day I'd get to vent my fury.

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You've made some excellent points, especially tactically (if it's the same stuff I'm thinking of) as some of the errors were obvious even before a ball was kicked by this side. It's shocking to see a manager like Trap make such basic misjudgements.

However, there some of your points I disagree with.

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- He picks Liam Miller when no club will have him even though there are players involved with Premiership/Championship teams who play week in, week out that don't even get a look in like Keith Fahey, Rory Delap even Clinton Morrison would do!(he's better than Andy Keogh anyway)

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This has been the only squad where Miller has been selected while unattached so saying picking him while no club will have him is not strictly true. As far as his selection for this squad is concerned the topic has been answered many times in the squad selection thread so you should check that out. But to give a brief answer here; if he is still in the squad for October's games while unattached I would have an issue with that but not with the first game back this season.

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-Our defence is a mess. I know people like to point the finger at Zinedine Kilbane but in my opinion Trap has turned Richard Dunne into a pussycat who now turns his arse at everything like he did for the Cahill's two goals tonight.

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Quite simply not the case. Overall our defence (and defensive play) has been extremely good this campaign, although the obvious concerns about Kilbane in the team remain. The criticise Dunne for one game is ridiculous.

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Trap picks Darron Gibson contantly purely because he plays with Man United.

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Rubbish that doesn't need an explanation to answer it.:)

Wow, football fans are idiots. Trap a buffoon? We lost a pre-season friendly, whoop-de-fecking-do. The point of the few days will have been to start making preparations for Cyprus and getting reacquainted with the players after a few months off. Do you think Man Utd/Arsenal/Chelsea/Liverpool fans would be freaking out over ther result of a Charity Shield game?

Against Cyprus I fully expect us to get a comfortable enough 1-0 win, come on here and find people still saying how rubbish we and Trap are. And next summer I look forward to the posts on here saying how Trap's rubbish tactics mean we're going never going to win that Second Round knockout game, "sure Glenn Whelan only plays for stoke he must be rubbish, they should play clinton morisson, i read an article on teletext that he played really well....."

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Originally Posted by Junior

Hunt had the desired impact when he came on in lifting the pace of the game.

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Sorry but Hunt was woeful, ok he controled the ball well most of the time, only to subsequently lose the ball with a poor pass or cross straight into Schwartzer's hands.

We need to nip this Stephen Hunt buzz in the bud now, everyone said look at the commitment from Kilbane and the the chap won't go away (sorry Kev love ye really) and Kilbane has much more talent than Hunt.

Keane played well tonight I thought, he held up the ball and held off the Aussie defenders a few times, I would never have put him down as a strong player. Defence was ok, Whelan made a good few defensive tackles and Andrews proved to be better than Gibson with his cameo. Duff had one or two good bits of play.

But the thing is Trap doesn't view International friendlies as any other Irish manager has in the past. He views them in the same way the likes of England, Italy, Brazil etc. they are just warm up exercises and the result doesn't matter. It's no longer about picking up world ranking points, just look at our result against Serbia and Poland. Austrailia are also a very good side so I wouldn't worry too much about the result, it's all about the game against Cyprus

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Originally Posted by christo

But the thing is Trap doesn't view International friendlies as any other Irish manager has in the past. He views them in the same way the likes of England, Italy, Brazil etc. they are just warm up exercises and the result doesn't matter. It's no longer about picking up world ranking points, just look at our result against Serbia and Poland. Austrailia are also a very good side so I wouldn't worry too much about the result, it's all about the game against Cyprus

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The management team have been pretty open in the build up to the game with how important this game was in their eyes. If the result is not important then what about the performance? Because that was even worse than the result so that completely negates your point.

Also I'd say that Trap has treated friendlies the exact opposite to previous managers with the level of seriousness he attaches to them.

Don't think it's fair to blame Trap. He's the main reason we still have a chance of qualifying. In the first 11 that he's had to manage with for most of his competitive fixtures we only have 3 what any sane person could consider to be good quality Premiership players - Keane, Dunne and Given. Finnan and S Reid are always injured so they can't be counted. Duff can be quality but the days when he reaches those heights get rarer by the year.

The likes of Whelan, Kilbane, Andrews, McGeady, Hunt, Folan and McShane are very poor quality Premiership players. Gibson has potential but not much else at the moment. I can see him eventually winding up at a mid table Premiership team in the future but he certainly doesn't look like he has the quality to make a career at united at present. O'Shea is an average player who does a job as a utility man for united and little else. Doyle still has to show he has enough ability to suceed at the top level.

We are 3 players short of similar quality to Keane, Dunne and Given from being a good international team. Luckily for us we are in a p*ss poor group which we've bundled our way through thus far. A fit S Reid and Finnan and the emergence of a St Ledger, Foley or McCann could make a world of difference.

Even so Trap is doing a very good job imo. If Stan was still in charge we'd be nearer the botom of the group than the top.

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Originally Posted by Jicked

Wow, football fans are idiots. Trap a buffoon? We lost a pre-season friendly, whoop-de-fecking-do. The point of the few days will have been to start making preparations for Cyprus and getting reacquainted with the players after a few months off. Do you think Man Utd/Arsenal/Chelsea/Liverpool fans would be freaking out over ther result of a Charity Shield game?

Against Cyprus I fully expect us to get a comfortable enough 1-0 win, come on here and find people still saying how rubbish we and Trap are. And next summer I look forward to the posts on here saying how Trap's rubbish tactics mean we're going never going to win that Second Round knockout game, "sure Glenn Whelan only plays for stoke he must be rubbish, they should play clinton morisson, i read an article on teletext that he played really well....."

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what the hell has that to do with a Republic of Ireland v Australia game?
should we base our reactions on what these fans do our what?

on topic,big deal it was a friendly!!! trap will get the results when they matter in qualifiers. I dont know what some of you guys expect with these donkeys we have playing for us anyway!

I thought we were much better second half, Hunt made an impact when he came on.
Keane cause a lot of trouble in the box, the Aussie presenters I was watching heaped praise on him.
But for a wonder strike the second half would have been 0:0.
Apart from that no one realy stood IMO, Given made a good save, Andews hit the post.
However you have to give credit to the Aussies, they did play well, I expect they will have a good world cup.
Andy Reid was out walking his dog, probably the fittest dog in Sunderland by now ;)

I have a theory that teams usually 'bounce back' after a bad result, unfortunately for us
Cyprus lost 6-1 :)

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Originally Posted by the-blue-harp

on topic,big deal it was a friendly!!! trap will get the results when they matter in qualifiers.

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The management team didn't see it as just a friendly though which makes the performance a cause for concern as far as I'm concerned, especially as it was not dis-similar to the manner of some performances throughout the campaign which goes to show that mistakes and deficiencies are not been spotted or dealt with by Trap.

Get the results? Based on what, blind faith? As I've said Trap treated that game as it mattered. Difference between this game and most of our qualifying games is that a performance around that standard we got away with it. We will pick up 0 points in our remaining games if we play like that unless we get a huge slice of luck.

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Originally Posted by tricky_colour

I have a theory that teams usually 'bounce back' after a bad result, unfortunately for us
Cyprus lost 6-1 :)

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That's the only positive I can take from the game, we usually respond well to abject performances like this, 1-1 at home to the Czechs and Italy this campaign (albeit against 10 ten men) in recent times come to mind.

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Originally Posted by tricky_colour

But for a wonder strike the second half would have been 0:0.

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Result!

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Originally Posted by youngirish

Don't think it's fair to blame Trap. He's the main reason we still have a chance of qualifying. In the first 11 that he's had to manage with for most of his competitive fixtures we only have 3 what any sane person could consider to be good quality Premiership players - Keane, Dunne and Given. Finnan and S Reid are always injured so they can't be counted. Duff can be quality but the days when he reaches those heights get rarer by the year.

The likes of Whelan, Kilbane, Andrews, McGeady, Hunt, Folan and McShane are very poor quality Premiership players. Gibson has potential but not much else at the moment. I can see him eventually winding up at a mid table Premiership team in the future but he certainly doesn't look like he has the quality to make a career at united at present. O'Shea is an average player who does a job as a utility man for united and little else. Doyle still has to show he has enough ability to suceed at the top level.

We are 3 players short of similar quality to Keane, Dunne and Given from being a good international team. Luckily for us we are in a p*ss poor group which we've bundled our way through thus far. A fit S Reid and Finnan and the emergence of a St Ledger, Foley or McCann could make a world of difference.

Even so Trap is doing a very good job imo. If Stan was still in charge we'd be nearer the botom of the group than the top.

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Finally, some sanity in this thread.

The cold hard truth is that this current Irish XI (and squad) is the poorest that I can remember (I am 32). Trap is basically making a sow's ear out of a pigs behind. No chance of a silk purse here.

We could attempt to play attractive football with the players we have and give up on qualification. Or alternatively we can play to our (limited) strengths and hope to sneak into the play offs and get lucky.

Based on the current squad and our performances over the last 5 years we probably don't deserve to qualify. I just pray that if we do somehow may it (clearly because of Trap, not in spite of him as someone mentioned elsewhere) that a few of the younger players or fringe players have a great season.

One final point. All the posters saying that ALL Trap has to do is recall either Reid or Ireland, are oversimplifying the matter. I am confident that if Stephen Reid was available (read consistently fit and game hardened) then he would be picked. Andy Reid is only lionised because of his absence. It's arguable he should be in the squad, but in reality he is no Essien or Gerrard. He's not going to provide that box to box presence we so badly need. And saying that Trap should pick Stephen Ireland is beyond stupid. He's simply not available to us.

We need to live in the now. We need to realise that we have very little quality and class available to us. And we need to support the team with hope, not expectation. We do NOT deserve to be competing at the level some people are suggesting. We can only get close that by maximising our strengths and becoming more than the sum of our (limited) parts.

Sadly for a country with our resources this type of result should be the rule and Euro 88, Italia 90, USA 94 and Japan/Korea 2002 are the exception.

Poor performance and once again the game exposed our frailties in the middle of of the park. Whelan and Gibson were clueless when it came to moving the ball forward.

Steven Reid needs to get fit asap and stay fit for the remaining 3 games. The Trap won't consider Andy Reid so our only hope lies with Steven staying fit. International football requires a midfield pairing who can pass the ball more than 10 yards without it going to the opposition. If you keep giving the ball away your constantly on the back foot.

Kilbane has got to go at LB. He has been a loyal servant but is not a left back and never will be. Somebody will have to tell him your supposed to go and close the winger down in dangerous areas if we still persist with him. How many fouls did he give away in the first 20 minutes last night? Stupid niggly fouls that put the team under pressure.

Doyle looked injured and it was crazy to start with him. I bet Mick wishes he kept him wrapped up in cotton wool instead of letting him come over.

Positives?

Keane looked sharp. Shane Long's pace is an asset and Hunt upped the tempo.

Given - 6
O'Shea - 5
Dunne - 5
St Ledger - 5
Kilbane - 4
Duff - 6
McGeady - 6 (second half he was dreadful but a good first half)
Whelan - 5
Gibson - 4
Keane - 8
Doyle - 4

Subs:

Hunt - 7 (at least he looked like he wanted to be there)
Long - 7
Folan - 6
Nolan - 6
Andrews - 6

Keane was the only player that offered an attacking threat. I thought he did well and created one or two good goal scoring chances through his own individual skill.

Hunt did well when he came on and added a bit of urgency to the team. However I think last night showed that his best position is on the bench - for use as an impact sub.

I thought Dunne did relatively well and saved St Ledger's blushes on a few occasions.

Josh had probably his weakest game under Trapattoni. I'd move him back into the centre and drop St Ledger.

Kilbane tried hard again but his limitations were exposed lack night.

I think Gibson played himself out of the Cyprus match. I would have liked him to show for the ball more - there were a number of instances in the first half when Australia were sitting on the half way line waiting for us to come forward but our defence had nobody to pass to. It was in situations like this that we needed somebody to show for the ball and to try draw the opposition out of their shape.

McGeady takes too much out of the ball for an international player.

Duff, Doyle and Whelan I thought were overall relatively absent from the game but Whelan did ok in the second half.

As for the subs, it was really just Hunt and possibly Andrews that had any sort of impact. I think Folan is a donkey - his height is his only asset.

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Originally Posted by old git

thought hunt lifted team and supporters with his introduction and was more of a threat in 45 mins than duff had been in first 45 .. poor game to watch and ireland definatly gave the aussies to much time and space ... as for booing at ft agree with you .. but a lot of apes near me on west terrace had no more intrest in match were chatting away during game and had no idea on some of the players names , had the feeling alot of fans only went for the novelty of thomond park factor and were not genuine soccer fans :mad:

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:eek::eek:
what country have you lived in before, are you Irish?
I'm sure in the dictionary under the word bandwagon there must also be a line somewhere about Irish fans and sport in general

last night's game confirms for me that Gibson just cant cut the mustard(yet) at international level. between him and Whelan, gibson is the one who is supposed to get on the ball and keep it moving, however, i thought a lot of his play was rushed and lacked accuracy.
Even though we did look ragged at the back i am a fan of St Ledger. Also, folan might not have the most ability in the world but he does put himself about (evidenced in Italy) and works hard.
all in all, hopefully its a wake up call and we can push on through the Autumn.

when i listened on radio i was very downbeat but when i saw the highlights not as much. i wouldnt read to much into the defeat. i mean we beat sweden 3-0 and denmark 4-0 so lets not get to carried away. robbie had a good chance in the first half to score to go 1 up. great feet but pity he didnt finish it. overall it was fairly dour, i think we will be better for cyprus. actually it might help us not to get to confident and back down to the hard work.

I wouldn't be too dispondent regarding our qualifying hopes based solely on last nights performance. Its there to be fought for, despite a dodgy friendly result.

That said, it was disappointing that we were so lethargic, disjointed and the ago old issues regarding midfield continue to haunt us.

We've talked it to death but circumstance has conspired to rob us of Stephen Reid and the Stephen Ireland issue is very frustrating.

Trapp has little time or alternatives to shore up midfield. Hopefully Reids recovery continues and he's just about ready for action in September.

You've got to remember though - When did any Irish team ever do it the easy way?

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Originally Posted by Razors left peg

Bar 1 thing. I know Kilbane has been a great servant and is much loved by many fans but he should never start another game for us. Give him 3 sub appearances in friendlies to give him his 100 caps but let that be it. He is so far past it now that its becoming embarressing and he is destablising the whole defense

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As one of the "I love Kev unconditionally" brigade, sadly I would have to agree with you at this stage. He has been a complete and total liability for us in the last few games and should be dropped. Nolan doesnt look like much at this stage but Stephen Kelly should be in there against Cyrpus.

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Originally Posted by Razors left peg

I know we arent spoiled for choice but wouldnt we be better off bringing in the likes of Foley or Nolan and letting them develope into the team in the knowledge that they are improving all the time. Kilbane is going the other way and the younger lads couldnt be any more of a liability

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Perhaps in pure footballing ability terms you are right but I think you are under estimating the experience 97 caps brings with it, I dread to think what could happy to a Foley / Nolan should they freeze in the headlights for 3 massive massive games for us. Agreed Kilbane is not ideal at LB for us and his time is probably nearly up but I think he'll stay in for the rest of this campaign and I for one didnt think he did anything outrageous last night. There were plenty ahead of him for the wooden spoon, including Gibson and St-Ledger, two of our young and up and coming stars - no?

If it was a competitive game, Killer could well have been sent off before half time.

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Originally Posted by 37Beour

A very lethargic display from most players bar Hunt and Mc Geady...Tipp must not have suited them!:p

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:mad::mad:

Don't you go blaming Tipp!!!

(must admit the same thought crossed my mind..)

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Originally Posted by kingdomkerry

blamed kilbane for the 1st goal. be honest he's been a good servant but he is a liability. cost us 4 points against bulgaria.

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Are you on some sort of commission to keep posting that point? I swear Ive read that 3 or 4 times from you in different threads, there is definitely some deja-vu going on.

For the record, I dont agree. The 'team' put in a shocker at home to Bulgaria, the fact that Kilbane had the touch for the og was academic. He was certainly more at fault in the away game for their goal but to say we would have won both games without Kilbane is way off the mark IMO.

It was a poor performance however it was still a friendly. Now the Holland 2006 friendly was a portent of things to come but hopefully not this one.

There were a lot of distractions leading up to this with civic receptions, PR jobs etc.

Beat Cyprus and it won't matter however anything else will have reprecussions.

I still think we have a great chance of reaching a playoff. Wins over Cyprus and Montenegro almost certainly will do. Winning the group is a faint hope as we need Italy to drop other points apart from losing in Dublin.

We can get our revenge for last night next June.

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Originally Posted by Razors left peg

shocking performance, but we have said that before after the friendly against Poland and we have stepped it up in the compeditive games so as annoyed and disgusted I am with tonight Im not gonna go on a rant and Im gonna keep the faith...

Bar 1 thing. I know Kilbane has been a great servant and is much loved by many fans but he should never start another game for us. Give him 3 sub appearances in friendlies to give him his 100 caps but let that be it. He is so far past it now that its becoming embarressing and he is destablising the whole defense

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Exactly what I said last night, I've all the time in the world for him due to his attitude but time to go. Only problem is would you trsut a rookie left back in such a vital game as the Cyprus match?

For what its worth here are my random thoughts on last night..

Friendlies are always difficult to judge. As a number of people on here have said, in the past our wins v Sweden and Denmark meant virtually nothing in the grand scheme of things. Sometimes they do matter though - see the battering by Holland a couple of years ago as an example.. not long before we travelled to Cyprus..

However it is of course the performance that we're mainly worried about, and there's no doubt that it was very poor last night. I think there was a fair bit of rustiness around, although it didnt seem to affect the Aussies, who are mostly (all?) European based aswell. Plus they had maybe 5 or 6 of their first team missing last night, apparently.

I thought Whelan had a decent 2nd half, and Folan's aerial prowess continues to impress me. Hunt made a good impact when he came on, althought the crossing was still not quite up to it. And although Long was on only briefly i thought he did well in a very short space of time - but i am probably biased!

Finally - the thing that bothers me most about Trap's reign is the home form. It'll be an issue when we come to the Montenegro and Italy games.
However away from home his tactics seem to work well, and its that which i cling onto in preparation for the Cyprus game.

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Originally Posted by Hairy Bowsie

I said it at the start and i'll still say it now. Friendly or not Trap is being shown up for being the clueless mercenary buffon he is. Ireland are where they are in the group, despite him and not because of him.

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Hi Eamon! Nice column in The Star today. ;)

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Originally Posted by Junior

Hunt had the desired impact when he came on in lifting the pace of the game.

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Originally Posted by christo

Sorry but Hunt was woeful, ok he controled the ball well most of the time, only to subsequently lose the ball with a poor pass or cross straight into Schwartzer's hands.

We need to nip this Stephen Hunt buzz in the bud now, everyone said look at the commitment from Kilbane and the the chap won't go away (sorry Kev love ye really) and Kilbane has much more talent than Hunt.

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Where did I say Hunt was magnificent? Im not a big fan of his at all but he did raise the tempo when he came on (as he has done many times for us in the past). He also attempted a few low crosses whipped in with pace, some failed, some didnt but it was something we hadnt really seen in the 1st half.

After the 1st half performance, we needed something like Hunt, ultimately it didnt bring about the vastly needed improvement in performance but it certainly didn't make things any worse!