I think George was actually bringing Beglin's euphoria down a peg or two after we scored.
I think George was actually bringing Beglin's euphoria down a peg or two after we scored.
we met him out in sofia they were on the table beside us drinking and we got the usual pictures and stuff, but anyway we were blaming him for saying the usual and he said statistically 95% of irelands defeats have been down to me :DQuote:
Originally Posted by geysir
He realised that a few years ago he said and has stopped it. Was awful funny him telling us because he almost believed it himself :D
Nipped out of the Electric Picnic to watch the match in a boozer in Stradbally so had to miss Brian Wilson to see it. Delighted with the result but we were poor on the night, no two ways about it, nearly wished I'd stayed in the gig!
Two points, if we're going to persist in playing long balls then we really need a tall striker up front who can win and hold onto the ball to get the midfield involved, otherwise we just concede possession as we did on Saturday. Now, I'm not suggesting for a second that Folan is a better player then Dole or Keane but the tactics on Saturday don't suit their game.
Secondly, if we're going to play the percentages and look for throw in etc in the final third then Rory Delap should be at least in the squad, he's a decent player and could definitely be useful based on teh tactics I saw on Sat.
A draw on Wednesday would be so good and set us up for a cracking finale, fingers crossed!!
Is that your new nickname for Liam Miller?Quote:
Originally Posted by Drumcondra 69er
Well that gave me a good laugh :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Touche!Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Doyle was terrific at it though, first half at least. There must have been 3 defenders on him whenever he had the ball and he always seemed to manage to get it to an Irish player.Quote:
Originally Posted by Drumcondra 69er
Lads, does anyone know where there's any highlights of the Cyprus game online? Haven't been able to find anything other then this which is pretty useless: http://www.footytube.com/video/cyprus-1-ireland-2-21917
Cheers
We're not Holland, or Spain, or England. We don't have the resources, nor the strength in the rankings.Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
Of course, it's a long drawn out process, of course it won't be pretty, but we're competitive. 2 years ago, we were out of contention for second with 3 games to go, which should put it into perspective.
Quote:
Originally Posted by loscherland
http://www.alivetorrents.com/torrent...dtvxvid-tiggzz
Go to the above site, you have to sign up on the site mentioned there
http://www.thebox.bz/signup.php
I went there and signed up and got the torrent from there, then you can
choose you own highlights!
Was out of town and just watched the game there.
Very stressful stuff watching that, but I'm glad we got the job done (THANK YOU ROBBIE).
My analysis:
Given-6- Not much to do, not at fault for the goal.
O'Shea-6- Poor distribution, but lacked support from midfield.
Dunne-6-Probably his worst game this campaign. Looked very nervous near the end when he conceded a silly free kick in a dangerous position.
St. Ledger-6- Didn't look as confident as usual, which was understandable given the magnitude of the game and his lack of experience.
Kilbane-5- Not a full-back, let's try someone else there, ANYONE. Love the man, but we need to explore other options more thoroughly.
Duff-7-Won free kicks and eased pressure, and hit a fantastic cross for the winner.
Whelan-6-Great volley didn't make up for losing the midfield battle.
Andrews-6-I feel he can offer more than he did this match.
Hunt-6-Full of energy, but careless in possession.
Keane-7- Had very little to work with, but scored a very important goal with his only clear cut chance in the match. He really has put goals away at crucial points in this campaign.
Doyle-7-Scored a very important goal with an instinctive, clinical finish, and worked hard all match.
Subs:
McGeady-7- Nearly managed to break past the Cyprus fullback on a counter-attack, but just couldn't. Did well when he came on to push Cyprus back a little bit and free up space for the midfield to push forward.
Folan-7- Made his presence known and won every ball sent his way in the air. If we're going to play long-ball, we may as well start him instead of Doyle.
It's easy for anybody to see that we're having trouble at left-full, and central-midfield. You could even say that right-full is a problem as O'Shea doesn't really offer enough on the ball for a modern full-back (he really is a centre-half, despite the fact that he plays mostly as a right-full for club and country).
I always think of the full-backs as very important figures in terms of keeping possession and dictating play. When you've got one or two very good fullbacks it can really improve your ability to control a game. As it stands, we have a left-winger and a centre-half in our fullback slots, neither of whom can pick out a pass.
This isn't to excuse the central midfielders from showing for the ball, but is it possible that Whelan and Andrews show for the ball, but Kilbane and O'Shea are simply incapable (or scared) to make a pass into that area of the pitch?
Kilbane, for all his heart and passion, has never been a composed player in possession, and O'Shea is usually the worst technical player Man United sends out each match (great athlete and a good tackler, but a very average passer).
When you have four players in Whelan, Andrews, Kilbane, and O'Shea who aren't able, or willing, to try and keep the ball on the deck and play it amongst themselves, long-ball is inevitable.
I'm not against long-ball as a tactic per-se (not my first choice), but if we are going down that road, there's no point in playing two small strikers in Keane and Doyle.
Anybody got any pictures from the game? Or what was the Craic like in the towns?
I'm surprised people say Doyle isn't suited to the long ball. I think he wins more than his fair share of high balls and is class at holding the ball up.
I think Doyle is really strong in the air, but Folan offers a different outlet. Doyle wins flick-ons for people to run onto, Folan gets in between the CBs and knocks the ball back.
In either case it's futile as there's nobody coming through to collect the knock downs. It's just a recipe for losing possession.
Souness on explaining why he'd have given the MOTM to Doyler over Robbie did sayQuote:
Originally Posted by EastTerracer
Quote:
"Doyle was more industrious... put his body on the line more than Robbie did tonight."
"Robbies got great ability, I don't think he uses it all the time.
I think he could give so much more to the cause"
Doyle was definitely motm for me. He was at the top of his game imo unlike most of the rest.
Though out of the front 2, we were fortunate the manager decided to take Doyle off and not Keane.
trap wouldnt take keano off and rightly so. doyle had a good game but robbie is always likely to get a goal anytime given the chance. doyle isnt as prolific. id never take robbie off anyway.Quote:
Originally Posted by geysir
bumping thread