Team For Wednesday

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Originally Posted by elroy

How anyone can suggest McGeady instead of Lawrence is beyond me!!

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A big part of the reason for me is that I'd prefer to see an attacking threat than a full back nullifier. Lawrence did his job pretty much to perfection but McGeady would have been far more difficult for the French to cope with, in my opinion. To suggest he's done nothing for Ireland is harsh beyong belief. He's had a decent qualifying campaign. It easy to throw the no goals thing at him but that's pretty much a non-issue for me. In the games he started he provided the cross for Doyle in Mainz, was motm by a distance in Croke Park against the same opposition, looked dangerous against Cyprus at home and to be fair was pretty average against Motenegro away and Bulgaria at home. He had a really good match at home to the Italians. I think he's been improving all the time for us, nothing at all against Lawrence but our system was already so defensive that I don't think sacrificing another attacking option was necessary. As for the set pieces, what was the story with Duff taking outswingers from the left and Lawrence from the right, totally stupid. It was our so called best chance of scoring and inswinging corners are far more dangerous.

Hunt should be nowhere near this team. The only thing he guarantees is to constantly give away the ball, and against a good team like France when we have the ball for so little time anyway, playing somebody like Hunt is just shooting ourselves in the foot.

Lawrence did ok the other night. Duff was very intelligent with the ball but it was obvious that he was given licence not to track back, hence the reason that Kilbane looked so exposed.

The big thing I'd like to see isn't so much a change in personnel but a change in mindset when we're counterattacking. We counter with three players, maximum, and usually there's only one person in the box when the ball gets there. We're missing either the other winger or one of the midfielders getting there as the late man in, which they're all very capable of doing.

And as for the people around me who were berating the team for not pushing everybody into attack when we went a goal down, well, they just don't understand football. 0-2 to the French and the tie is dead; 1-1 and we still have to score in Paris so nothing changes there.

And don't get me started on the fecking Eircom ads blasted out at full time when we were trying to give the lads a good send off for Paris. Muppets.

Why the massive changes? We're only 1 nil down, not as if we have to score 8 goals, and being more adventurous would leave in a position to be ripped apart from get go. Go man for man against the attacking threat that the French have? Madness.

If anything this line up needs to be more defensive than the home one. If we can get some set pieces and deliver them a bit better then we'll be in the game. Change it later on if we need to.

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Originally Posted by twoenz

Why the massive changes? We're only 1 nil down, not as if we have to score 8 goals, and being more adventurous would leave in a position to be ripped apart from get go. Go man for man against the attacking threat that the French have? Madness.

If anything this line up needs to be more defensive than the home one. If we can get some set pieces and deliver them a bit better then we'll be in the game. Change it later on if we need to.

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I don't think we had one free kick anywhere near the french end. Domenech done his homework on that one. Would it be a better option to have McGeady on from the start as he runs at defenders and might be able to get us a few set pieces?

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Originally Posted by Dun Laoire

I don't think we had one free kick anywhere near the french end. Domenech done his homework on that one

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more like everytime we got into their third of the pitch the officials found some way to penalise us. did anyone else see the linesman for the lawrence chance? when it looked like lawrence would score his flag shot up for offside but when it went wide he changed it to a goal kick when it should actually have been a corner

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Originally Posted by Dun Laoire

I don't think we had one free kick anywhere near the french end. Domenech done his homework on that one. Would it be a better option to have McGeady on from the start as he runs at defenders and might be able to get us a few set pieces?

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But we need someone with decent delivery, so he can't do that, and Evra will get the chance to get forward a lot more than he did in the first game.

i think it'll be the same team for the first hour and then 'we'll see'.

it could well be over by then anyway. it's a shame folan is out - he had a big impact in the game in italy when he came on, whereas best did nothing on saturday.

i'd be surprised if mcgeady started - he provided no width at all on saturday, it was quite strange.

if something had happened or we wanted to change it up in midfield, who else is even in the squad for central midfield?

Only Gibson I think, assuming Miller misses this game as well.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Only Gibson I think, assuming Miller misses this game as well.

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that sounds right.

frighening.

4 wingers and 3 central midfielders. when central midfield is a key part of our system?

I think Lawrence could be moved into central midfield if we needed to change into a more of an attacking formation

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Originally Posted by Razors left peg

I think Lawrence could be moved into central midfield if we needed to change into a more of an attacking formation

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do you reckon? have you seen him play cm? I have no preconception of it so I can't judge it. I'll take guidance from somewho who claims knowledge.


I don't usually feel inclined to criticise but feel a little down that we didn't bring thru someone else (not sure who) in friendlies so they'd at least know the position.Or at least push miller/gibson for the spot.

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Originally Posted by dynamo kerry

do you reckon? have you seen him play cm? I have no preconception of it so I can't judge it. I'll take guidance from somewho who claims knowledge.


I don't usually feel inclined to criticise but feel a little down that we didn't bring thru someone else (not sure who) in friendlies so they'd at least know the position.Or at least push miller/gibson for the spot.

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Im only judging on his style of play to be honest. I just think he has the work rate and passing ability to be an option in there

we need Clinton morrison back, he always produced a few good goals.

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Originally Posted by Razors left peg

Im only judging on his style of play to be honest. I just think he has the work rate and passing ability to be an option in there

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I agree. He's not a winger, more of a direct wide midfilder, a bit in the Ljungberg mould. Ljungberg was well able to play centrally, albeit mainly in the last third.

I'm wondering if we might see Gibson at some point in the game. He can hit a powerful shot from distance.

Same back four
Id changed the midfield to Mcgeady andrews lawrence duff
Keane and doyle up front.

And NEVER bring on Leon Best again!!!

I think its a pity we haven't got Folan to throw in if we need a goal towards the end. He would surely ruffle the likes of Gallas when the ball in is the air.

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Originally Posted by twoenz

Why the massive changes? We're only 1 nil down, not as if we have to score 8 goals, and being more adventurous would leave in a position to be ripped apart from get go. Go man for man against the attacking threat that the French have? Madness.

If anything this line up needs to be more defensive than the home one. If we can get some set pieces and deliver them a bit better then we'll be in the game. Change it later on if we need to.

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I think we need to change the set up of the team from the off.

It takes time for players to get into a game. It's extremely difficult to expect Leon Best, Hunt, McGeady, or any sub to come on with 20 minutes to go and suddenly produce an opening, very difficult, and it's also too big a risk to bring them on late. Their first few touches are going to be poor and they are going to make mistakes the first few minutes they are on.

It probably takes any player 10 minutes to get a feel for a game. That would leave only 10 minutes to start creating chances, hardly enough time.

When Folan came on early in Bari, he settled extremely well into the game and by the end was probably the most comfortable Irish player on the field. That's where the real advantage of a sub is, and Trap was right to change things early in Bari when he saw plan A was failing.

I think starting again with the same starting line up as in Croker would be a mistake. That line up was setup to hold out for a 0-0 draw and possibly sneak something from our defenders at a setpiece. It wasn't set up to as an attacking team.

If we go to Paris, follow the same format, it's probable Anelka or Henry will score again in the second half, leaving us needing 2 goals.

We need to attack from the start.

Personally I think our best chance is to aim for a high scoring game and hope to come out on top, that means, 3-2, 4-3 or something like that. Throw caution to the wind, abandon the conservative mindset and attack with 3 forwards from the off.

keep the same 11 as saturday. up untill 70 mins i thought it was our best performance under trap. it was only after anelkas goal that things began to unravel. when hunt and mcgeady game on we lost the plot. half the team wanted to sit back with paris in mind and avoid conceding a second which would have killed us, while the other half wer treatin the game as a once off match and bombing forward for the equaliser. duff played his best game for ireland for years, while mcgeady has been playing poorly for celtic this season and didnt have the confidence to take on sagna. id start with lawrence and possibly throw hunt in for him after 60 minutes and try win some freekicks. if we need a goal or two in the last 20 mins id throw best on for kilbane, switch o shea central to a 3 man defence and pump long balls up to best and doyle.

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Originally Posted by Emmet7

When Folan came on early in Bari, he settled extremely well into the game and by the end was probably the most comfortable Irish player on the field. That's where the real advantage of a sub is, and Trap was right to change things early in Bari when he saw plan A was failing.

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Personally I thought that after an hour of being on he looked pretty tired and was becoming less effective as the game wore on.

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And NEVER bring on Leon Best again!!!

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I havnt really seen enough of Leon to make my mind up about him, but there was one incident that p**sed me off on Saturday. In the last 10 minutes and France had repelled another long ball attack. The ball came out to someone, Andrews I think, who has a shot and Best from an offside position gives it a glancing header.

FFS, he should be busting a gut to get back onside as quickly as possible and not stick his head onto someones else shot when he is clearly 3 or 4 yards offside!!!

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Originally Posted by Emmet7

I think we need to change the set up of the team from the off.

It takes time for players to get into a game. It's extremely difficult to expect Leon Best, Hunt, McGeady, or any sub to come on with 20 minutes to go and suddenly produce an opening, very difficult, and it's also too big a risk to bring them on late. Their first few touches are going to be poor and they are going to make mistakes the first few minutes they are on.

It probably takes any player 10 minutes to get a feel for a game. That would leave only 10 minutes to start creating chances, hardly enough time.

When Folan came on early in Bari, he settled extremely well into the game and by the end was probably the most comfortable Irish player on the field. That's where the real advantage of a sub is, and Trap was right to change things early in Bari when he saw plan A was failing.

I think starting again with the same starting line up as in Croker would be a mistake. That line up was setup to hold out for a 0-0 draw and possibly sneak something from our defenders at a setpiece. It wasn't set up to as an attacking team.

If we go to Paris, follow the same format, it's probable Anelka or Henry will score again in the second half, leaving us needing 2 goals.

We need to attack from the start.

Personally I think our best chance is to aim for a high scoring game and hope to come out on top, that means, 3-2, 4-3 or something like that. Throw caution to the wind, abandon the conservative mindset and attack with 3 forwards from the off.

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you need your head examined if you think ireland are capable of scoring 3 or 4 goals away to a team of the calibre of france,we have no option but to keep it tight and hope we can nick a goal.

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Originally Posted by Emmet7

Personally I think our best chance is to aim for a high scoring game and hope to come out on top, that means, 3-2, 4-3 or something like that. Throw caution to the wind, abandon the conservative mindset and attack with 3 forwards from the off.

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Think without two screening midfielders and a gung-ho approach we'd e torn apart. Shame Folan isn't available for the Plan B though. Unfortunately, our best option is to keep it tight and hope to nick one.

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Originally Posted by monsexile

Think without two screening midfielders and a gung-ho approach we'd e torn apart. Shame Folan isn't available for the Plan B though. Unfortunately, our best option is to keep it tight and hope to nick one.

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That was our plan in Dublin, but it was France who nicked one.

Hoping to nick one from a setpiece isn't going to work. The French have copped on not to give away any freekicks or corners for that matter.

In Paris, like in Dublin they will try to retain the ball most of the time and that will make it harder for us to gain enough possession to get into their half and get corners and freekicks.

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Originally Posted by Uncle_Joe

I havnt really seen enough of Leon to make my mind up about him, but there was one incident that p**sed me off on Saturday. In the last 10 minutes and France had repelled another long ball attack. The ball came out to someone, Andrews I think, who has a shot and Best from an offside position gives it a glancing header.

FFS, he should be busting a gut to get back onside as quickly as possible and not stick his head onto someones else shot when he is clearly 3 or 4 yards offside!!!

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I have at this point, not to say he won't be good in time but not at this level now, i was raging when he came on to replace Doyle especially as Trap up until recently rarely made a sub :(

Leon is Best on the bench :D Come on you boys, get stuck in in their back garden!!!!! Have to stay positive or no point going to or watching the game!!! We are going to win believe :)

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Originally Posted by Emmet7

Personally I think our best chance is to aim for a high scoring game and hope to come out on top, that means, 3-2, 4-3 or something like that. Throw caution to the wind, abandon the conservative mindset and attack with 3 forwards from the off.

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You have to be utterly taking the ****

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Originally Posted by Emmet7 View Post

Personally I think our best chance is to aim for a high scoring game and hope to come out on top, that means, 3-2, 4-3 or something like that. Throw caution to the wind, abandon the conservative mindset and attack with 3 forwards from the off.

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Originally Posted by lionelhutz

You have to be utterly taking the ****

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He isn't, and it amazes me that so many people reply to his posts.

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Originally Posted by Evertonian

It is as simple as this.. We are going to play the exact same tactics and exact same team.. Try and force France to break through our wall of 11 players (which they eventually will again), while we try and sneak a goal from a set piece up the other end.

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The same team, Yes, to begin with.

The same tactics, Yes, to begin with.

However, he will make the changes sooner, McGeady should come in for Lawrence on the right.

He's fairly stuck in central midfield though, due in no small part to the ridiculous exclusion on Andy Reid, e.g. we can't bring Hunt on for Keith Andrews because Hunt down the middle is a sure fire way to guarantee France chances as he gives up the ball almost 1 out of 2 times he has it.

If it comes down to desparation, the only option would be to stick Duff in the center and hunt on the left.

A late goal bringing it to extra time would be a dream and I would say that if this happened we would be favourite to progress (the French would be sh!tting it as they would feel they have blown it.

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Originally Posted by Scram

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Originally Posted by Emmet7 View Post

Personally I think our best chance is to aim for a high scoring game and hope to come out on top, that means, 3-2, 4-3 or something like that. Throw caution to the wind, abandon the conservative mindset and attack with 3 forwards from the off.



He isn't, and it amazes me that so many people reply to his posts.

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Scram, I don't really care what you have to say...like the others you don't really understand football.

The front two partnership of Doyle and Keane is the least effective in international football today, am I the only one to see this.

Why is it I see things which are not working a mile off which other people on this site and pundits think is working well.

The Doyle-Keane partnership is not working well, it's been a complete and utter failure. It has not delivered one solid concrete scoring chance from open play in our 7 biggest games and they don't get much bigger or tougher than France in Paris.

Only incredibily poor managers of the kind who end their days as football pundits would persist with something that is clearly failing.

The French defenders are not useless like Cyprus, San Marino or Georgia. The French have Champions League defenders and dealt easily with us the last night. They gave away a minimum of setpieces and defended those comfortably. So how are we supposed to nick one from a setpiece when we won't get any? Cop yourself on man.

We have no option but to chase the game, not keep it tight and hope something falls our way. That's what we tried in Dublin, it failed and now the same people want us to try it again. It's amazing really.

Go for it then Emmet then if you were the manager how would you approach the game v one of the great team's in the world considering our current squad, name your team and tactic's.

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Originally Posted by antrimgreen

Go for it then Emmet then if you were the manager how would you approach the game v one of the great team's in the world considering our current squad, name your team and tactic's.

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Same tactics as in Bari, Best and Doyle up front, Keane playing in the pocket behind.

Now your turn, tell us how you would break down the French defence?

Emmet your posts are almost always non-sensical rants, your football knowledge seems to stem from having played championship manager to a high level or having read many issues of 442 magazine.

"why am I the only one who sees this" - is a condemnation of the utter drivel you are writing, not the lament of a misunderstood football-punditry prophet.

you are entitled to your opinions, but don't be surprised/offended when people wholeheartedly disagree with you, or actually think you are taking the p*** when you post.

Personally, I find your posts bordering on the ridiculous. I respond only to this one, because I agree with Scram, and possibly because your last post irked me perhaps more than any other.

Emmet7 don't bother posting again. I'm getting a youtube image of some German kid smashing his keyboard and screaming at his monitor from reading your last posts. Use the log out buttom and go out and get some fresh air like a good lad.

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Originally Posted by Emmet7

Scram, I don't really care what you have to say...like the others you don't really understand football.

The front two partnership of Doyle and Keane is the least effective in international football today, am I the only one to see this.

Why is it I see things which are not working a mile off which other idiots on this site and pundits think is working well.

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Emmet I'm not a mod but if you go about calling people idiots or anything else on this site you'll get the door handy enough. If you want to call someones post idiotic fire away and then back up your assertion.

Incidently, I acknowledge your theory but don't agree with it or your conclusions. I suggest running a series of simulations. Start with Sensible Soccer on the auld mega drive and then work your way up through platforms to the current FIFA. I'm pretty certain that, your formation playing your tactics against any of the French teams of the last 15-20 years will consistently average out on the wrong end of a five nil dicking.

Go for a high scoring game eh? Is it that easy? If we went for a high scoring game we would end up getting slaughtered. Best chance is to keep it tight and hope to nick it 0-1. If France score we are out, end of story.

Our style isnt pretty but we dont concede a lot of goals and are hard to beat, it would be madness to drastically change the tactics now.

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Originally Posted by Emmet7

Same tactics as in Bari, Best and Doyle up front, Keane playing in the pocket behind.

Now your turn, tell us how you would break down the French defence?

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I trust our manager to do what he thinks, he is the boss he has serious experience backed with an Irish hero Brady.

It's Leon Best you are talking about not George Best, as the last post in this thread says if we play a 433 or a 4-3-1-2 as you have suggested there is a very good chance we could get really embrassed. Support the team and support the management, i did complain about Stan but that was because he had no experience and somehow managed to land the job.

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Originally Posted by Lionel Ritchie

Emmet I'm not a mod but if you go about calling people idiots or anything else on this site you'll get the door handy enough. If you want to call someones post idiotic fire away and then back up your assertion.

Incidently, I acknowledge your theory but don't agree with it or your conclusions. I suggest running a series of simulations. Start with Sensible Soccer on the auld mega drive and then work your way up through platforms to the current FIFA. I'm pretty certain that, your formation playing your tactics against any of the French teams of the last 15-20 years will consistently average out on the wrong end of a five nil dicking.

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That's fine...I can have a reasoned debate with anyone...It's usually others who start the insults and go on and on and on with the insults in every post, but nothing said to them....

Maybe I do go ott sometimes, but I've had to put up with name calling too. Gets a wee bit annoying at times.

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Originally Posted by Lionel Ritchie

Emmet I'm not a mod but if you go about calling people idiots or anything else on this site you'll get the door handy enough. If you want to call someones post idiotic fire away and then back up your assertion.

Incidently, I acknowledge your theory but don't agree with it or your conclusions. I suggest running a series of simulations. Start with Sensible Soccer on the auld mega drive and then work your way up through platforms to the current FIFA. I'm pretty certain that, your formation playing your tactics against any of the French teams of the last 15-20 years will consistently average out on the wrong end of a five nil dicking.

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Is that your guess?

Yup it sure lead to a 5-0 drilling in Bari alright, whereas keeping it tight lead to what against the French in Dublin?

It's just madness to persist with a failed attacking formation.

Emmet we love you really. Dont take offence.

But the post about going all out, think about it, you are like bertie living in his bowl looking out and all the bankers down in the wharf thinking everything is rosy, without having a clue about whats going on in the background. IF we go all out we will be seriouslly lacking defensively against a very offensive french team. Yes we will probably create more chances, does that mean we would actually take them? We had 5 very good chances and couldn't finish any of them. We would also concede a lot more chances, and would the french take them? You can be sure they would.

if we had the players to go all out and could pull it off then your post would make sense, well somewhat anyway, as we could score as much or more as we conceded, like that madrid team that went to united and won 5 - 3. Unfortunately though we are Ireland, we are not real madrid and dont contain any players of that calibre bar perhaps duff.