Szmodics has been very good again so far.
Szmodics has been very good again so far.
Awful decision making again from Baz. There was an out ball to Cullen that he turned down and ended up doing nothing and giving them a free hit. Saved by the post.
This feels a bit too Kenny-esque so far, but without the ten minutes' pressure at the start
I didn't think so, not compared to Saturday, they were comfortable, we were chasing, and they owned the ball from the off.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
Fairly poor so far. Thought we were better in possession and more dangerous from open play against Belgium. Missing the directness of Ogbene and the bit of craft of Smallbone. Like much of the Kenny era there’s a drop of intensity from this game to the previous and it feels like the opposition had us figured out from the start. Smodzic probably the brightest spark and Omobamidle has been quite good I think.
I think Szmodics, Omobamidele and O'Shea have done well. Wing backs have been pulled around a lot and questioning what the instructions are there as Coleman has been the furthest man forward a couple of times in that first half. Not easy to compare directly to the Saturday game but based on the evidence there is, it appears Smallbone/Cullen is a more effective/stable nexus than Knight/Cullen (and I am a Knight fan). Ferguson working hard but not much coming his way or working for him. Bazunu and Johnston have been disappointing. Overall pretty flat performance. I hate when you can hear the players call for the ball and stuff so seems the crowd is pretty muted too.
Very regressive substitutions
Yeah rather than change shape we've now got Ferguson RW, Idah CF, and Szmodics LW.Quote:
Originally Posted by third policeman
No debut for O'Brien yet?
Is it six or five subs for internationals? Must say off those subs tonight I dread the thoughts of O'Shea getting the job.
Failed the audition on this performanceQuote:
Originally Posted by JR89
That's that for the JOS talk anyway. Didn't test the Swiss keeper once.
Dara O'Shea showing that quick recovery pace which has seen him clock one of the fastest sprint times this season.
It was incredible.Quote:
Originally Posted by JR89
Better, slightly, in the second half but ah that was very poor overall. Still an improvement on Kenny but we need a fresh perspective. Don't think O'Shea is it - he has potential to manage but i'd rather not him learn the trade in this role.
Would we expect Dara O'Shea to get a move to another premier league club, after Burnley's surely inevitable relegation ?Quote:
Originally Posted by JR89
Is it too much to ask for a manager to be able to fcuking adjust the team shape and tactics mid game. Its like they learn one formation in coaching school and stick to that forever. All the subs we made tonight and not one adjustment to the shape. There was no need for 3 center halfs as that game went on. We had the top goalscorer in the Championship playing wide all night and then when he went off we put our 19 year old striker wide again. Why not try 4 at the back and 2 up top ffs. Something, anything, just not the fcuking same.
That looked like a Stephen Kenny end of days match with O'Shea on his coaching staff.... I hope to jebus the FAI have an Ace card to play
Didn't fancy that keeper based on how he dealt with those couple of late crosses either.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
Can't think of anything particularly positive to come out of that tbh
I realize that most of the excitement watching Ireland under Kenny was born out of fear of imminent catastrophe, but even if we appeared a bit more solid over the past two games, there was also a sense of pre-Kenny deja vu... a sense that these are the solid, boring methods we used for years and started complaining about because it was so turgid and laborious at times. I wouldn't be overly excited about O'Shea getting the manager's job after the two games.
Will they ever score a goal again?
Would it be legal for fans to offer money for goals?
Can't think of anything particularly positive to come out of that tbh[/QUOTE]
Azaz?
Azaz?[/QUOTE]Quote:
Originally Posted by third policeman
Agree about Azaz getting a cap but a five minute cameo is clutching at straws in the big picture!
That its over?
Agree about Azaz getting a cap but a five minute cameo is clutching at straws in the big picture![/QUOTE]Quote:
Originally Posted by SkStu
Probably both fair posts, yeah. Azaz was lively when he came on, and if that's the positive then we're scraping the barrel
Leaving O'Brien on the bench and bringin Doherty on to shuffle Coleman across was not a good look. Azaz should have been in before Sykes too. Not sure why O'Dowda gets on before Manning either.Quote:
Originally Posted by JR89
Bringing a second striker on was an interesting move. Lacked a bit of imagination otherwise.
A promoted side would do well to pick him up given his speed. Depending on the asking price, a few sides might be interest. Burnley might fancy a gain on their 8m and re-investing a portion in a cheaper Belgian.Quote:
Originally Posted by seanfhear
He has just turned 25 which isn't old but would be nice to see him get a bit of security at Premiership level because he has done well in two relegated sides.
so kenny was bad but i think its fair to say so are the players. we are just not very good and wont be for a long time, regardless of manager. need a superstar midfielder to pop up from somewhere.
Don’t agreeQuote:
Originally Posted by Jd2793
We have potential.
Need the right manager to make us stronger
Was at the game.
Did anyone norice in second half Coleman firing something at the bench and shouting at them? Think it was an energy drink
He looked very annoyed
One semi decent performance again followed by a turgid one. Familiar theme.
You need very strong panels these days with the two games so close together, and the players might not get much of a welcome back at their clubs if, they have flogged themselves in two games so close together ! !
Of course this is a big advantage to the stronger countries with stronger panels, which I am sure suits UEFA and FIFA just fine.
we've had potential since 2020! facts are our midfield is bad regardless of formation and we dont have the wing backs to really play a back 3 (though i think ogbene should be playing there). i really cant see how a new manager makes a midfield of cullen,smallbone,browne,knight,szmodics better. its championship fodder at best.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fixer82
I don't know, there's an awful lot of mediocrity heading to the Euros this summer. Incredible that we weren't even partaking in the lottery of the playoffs at the end. We have enough to be in the mix if we're properly managed. But it's been as much of a mess off the field the last few years as on it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jd2793
Properly managed in my opinion is creating goalscoring opportunities. The lack of goals in crunch games in recent years has been our downfall. With a goalscorer like Sam Szmodics and wingers like Johnson and Ogbene how can we not be scoring goals?Quote:
Originally Posted by Eirambler
We’ve also had Stephen Kenny since 2020.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jd2793
We have enough decent players to make us hard to beat and competitive and aiming for play-off spots
For obvious reasons I'd love to see someone from Belfast getting their chance and becoming one of our leading players, but in all honesty it isn't going to be Mark Sykes. He's 26 now and playing for a mid-table championship side. That feels like being as good as it will get for him, and he'll make a good living from it and fair play to him, but he shouldn't be called up again unless he can find a new level to his game. He's not good enough to be there on merit, and he's too old to be there as a prospect for the future.Quote:
Originally Posted by Olé Olé
We weren’t in the lottery cause we got ridiculously hard groups both times around. We got France and Netherlands, instead of say Denmark and Finland (to quote our neighbours group)Quote:
Originally Posted by Eirambler
And in the nations league we got Ukraine and Scotland. Ukraine took points off both England and Italy. Scotland beat Spain and took 4 points off Norway. Could easily have had a group with Iceland and Finland instead.
Also if we were in league A, C or D, we’d probably have made the playoffs. Winning the D which Estonia did got them playoffs. All league A teams reached playoffs if they didn’t qualify. And you’d fancy us to be a top 4 team if we were in League C.
It’s the same the time around. We got England. **** luck. One team you want to avoid and we get them…
As for the game. Was pretty disappointing. Freekick given away was needless, O’Shea didn’t need to make the foul, the touch was heavy and Brady was clearing it. Thought Bazunu could have done better for the goal (was at the stadium so haven’t seen a replay). But it wasn’t hit that hard and although it was well placed, I’d be disappointed. Also the pass that gave Xhaka the shot that hit the post was poor. Poor Gav, looks like he’s lost some of the confidence he had at the start of his Ireland career.
We didn’t really give up many chances but we didn’t do enough once we conceded to turn the game around. The shape was uninspired and didn’t get the best out of Szmodics, who is clearly an excellent all round footballer but doesn’t have the pace to play there. Also that 5-2-3 is so defensive chasing the game. We had 3 centre halves when they were playing without a striker. They just overloaded the midfield and dominated possession. You can live with that if you’re playing against superior opposition and holding out for a draw or a win - but to cede that when losing is kinda mad.
Thought Knight didn’t have a good game and Smallbone’s introduction was a notable improvement. Really disappointed not to see Obafemi at all. Ferguson was knackered and totally low in confidence even though his overall game is really good. He had that one opportunity where he got the ball and could have run at goal, instead he went away from goal and laid it across for Cullen. I think a confident Ferguson carries towards goal and scores. Idah made a huge difference when coming on with his pace, impressive cameo.
Dara O’Shea’s recovery pace is excellent. Showed it off well twice. Doherty was good off the bench. Good to see Azaz make his debut, probably should have shot earlier the two times he got in scoring position. Sykes isn’t a winger, I think if he has a future in the squad, it’s as a midfielder. Really want him to do well and he might be a decent footballer but it was a bad substitution.
I think it was pretty apparent tonight, to anyone who wasn’t aware already, John O’Shea isn’t the man to lead us…
It looked like O'Shea had made a plan, on Saturday it worked in fairness to a good extent, but equally nobody had seen it before Saturday either, tonight it looked like Switzerland had [ as part of only one weeks work for them remember ] had a look at us v Belgium, worked it out, countered it and nullified it and O'Shea had nothing in reply. Three at the back, three up front, but hopelessly outnumbered in midfield all night isn't a great look & he made every change but the one required to sort that out, he couldn't and he got beat. His post match was a concern also, there was a confidence there which I would deem misplaced, that what he had seen was ok and on another night we get a couple of goals & win that. I think we could play them five times in a row & he'd be bested five times also. He needed more than one way of setting up, he didn't have that, at the very least he needed to be able to counter the midfield numerical upper hand they had and he couldn't.
Which is annoyingly disappointing after Saturday.
Broadly agree with Jd2793 about the midfield, we don't really have one, and the ongoing unwillingness of posters / fans to objectively appraise what we do have, whoever is manager, in midfield baffles me. Even one very good one would change the dynamic, but the wait continues.
Crafty I think we all agree the midfield is an issue, we don't have a dominant player in there, but we make that situation worse by having 2 against 3 in games like tonight. That was the needed change, get a defender off and get another midfielder in there to help. Instead we got Ferguson playing left wing.... those UEFA coaching courses must teach weird sh1t
That was what I said though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Razors left peg
I'm more on about those thinking the good old days type times are a managerial appointment away. They aren't unless the guys name is Gandalf.