Republic of Ireland V Slovakia - Friday, 2nd September 2011 - Euro 2012 Qualifier

McGeady offers nothing in attack, so it was inevitable that Ward (who did make mistakes) would be under pressure. McGeady is being praised for offering defensive assistance to Ward; this is fair enough, but if McGeady was able to retain / use the ball higher up the pitch then there wouldn't have been as much defending to do. It was also Ward's first competitive game so he would have benefited from having a more assured, composed partner on the left wing - McGeady is usually just a bag of nerves, so Duff would probably have been a better option on the left.

Doyle is also getting too much flak I reckon. He's coming back from a bad injury, had been under the impression that he wouldn't be starting the match, and is also probably growing tired of having to repeatedly drop so deep to receive possession.

Whelan and Andrews don't make runs when someone like Dunne has the ball - they actually seem to just run up to the opposition's midfielders, effectively marking themselves out of the game.

Shaker, I was thinking last night that Gibson and / or Fahey would have moved the ball better. People slag off Gibson for doing no more than basic stuff, but he'd have been more than capable of improving midfield.

They had a straight line across the middle and once or twice we made simple passes through that line, allowing us a clear run at their back 4. It was simple, but we only did it about twice.

What we saw last night was two teams who are accomplished off the ball and one team reasonably accomplished on it.

I think Trap's tactic was to keep it tight and unenterprising, knowing we'd get a chance or two. In that respect he was right, but Slovakia are no great shakes. We should be prepared to get full backs forward and midfielders forward and prepared to shoot. I'm just worried that we're not able to.

Can't help but feel that the Slovakian manager studied the game against Russia from last year, and duplicated their tactics. Three in central midfield, doubling up on Mcgeady and ignoring the threat from our full backs

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Originally Posted by elroy

Take the scenario that going into the final game, we are on 18, with both russia and slovakia on 20, I don't accept that either team would play for the draw there, particularly slovakia because one they are at home and second a draw would not get them automatic qualification.

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That is not correct though. In that scenario a draw would be enough for Slovakia as that would mean that they would beat both Russia on their own head to head but also would be top of the mini group of three should we also finish on 21 points.

Will Hunt start on Tues? He brings a certain energy that no one else but Duff seems to bring. Not that it always translates into anything of course.

I dont think that excuses Ward, he was marking Weiss (who tellingly ran riot against us so it was completely ineffectual marking) and was often getting dragged centrally by him. At times he was seemingly being made a fool of by the slovaks and made looked amateurish by drifting Weiss centrally and letting others exploit the space left behind. McGeady covered him time and time again but I don't think that had anything to do with ball retention. Either Ward had very strange man marking intructions on Weiss (no reason to follow him centrally at all with two DMs) or (more likely) he was diabolical in a positional sense and we had to sacrifice a winger just to carry him through the game.

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Originally Posted by Crosby87

Will Hunt start on Tues? He brings a certain energy that no one else but Duff seems to bring. Not that it always translates into anything of course.

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I've always preferred that energy as an impact sub. McGeady knows the Russians better than any one so I'd imagine he'll be pencilled in to start this one, the 90 minutes yesterday would have done him the world of good since hes clearly lacking fitness. Duff is undroppable. Although if Ward plays like he did yesterday again we'd need to play 2 left backs so no left winger is going to be bustling with attacking energy.

I agree Stutt - Slovakia were there for the taking. I don't like disrespecting other sides when we are so often average but Slovakia were nothing to write home about. Solid but blunt up front. A dream 2nd seed team and we managed 2 points against em.

If Fahey was fit he'd be starting Tuesday. Nice tidy player who understands the basics of how a central midfielder should operate.

Do we go 4-4-2 again or will the Trap shore up midfield? I've got a feeling he'll go for the former and it'll be like a knife cutting through butter when the Russians pass and move the ball around Whelan and Andrews.

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Originally Posted by DannyInvincible

I'm trying to think would there be much extra worth from a draw than a loss in Moscow anyway... Maybe a draw would be just as worthless to us as a loss, save in the scenario where Russia might lose to Slovakia.

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For that one scenario though (which is not completely beyond the realms of possibility) it is definitely worth taking a draw instead of a defeat. We draw in Russia and Slovakia beat them. Assuming a win for us and Russia in the other games and we pip them by one point to finish on 21 to their 20 points.

Excuses for Doyle but no excuses for McGeady, considering this was his first game in months after a serious injury?
You cant be serious!

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Originally Posted by geysir

Excuses for Doyle but no excuses for McGeady, considering this was his first game in months after a serious injury?
You cant be serious!

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McGeady, in an attacking sense, played no better or no worse than he ever has in an Irish shirt. No end product, couldn't cross the ball, and had poor control. Same as his previous 40 odd caps, no?

Looking at the Russian game yesterday Zhirkov was their best player by some distance (as he was against Armenia). So it is going to be O'Sheas job to keep him quiet (if O'Dea starts at center half). Arshavin made a great run for the goal but the defending was a joke. He was allowed to run half the length of the field. Its going to take one mighty performance to get any type of result but we are capable of playing a lot better than we did last night. Trap is likely to stick with most of the team again. Probably O'Dea coming in to replace St Ledger. Hopefully Long replacing Doyle. I would drop Andrews and bring Foley into midfield (better distributor of the ball and quicker player) but I don't think Trap will. Keane will have got over his jet lag by Tuesday and should play better. McGeady and O'Shea should be fitter for last nights game. Not sure what happened to Doyle but I can't see him playing that badly again if Long is not available. Felt like smashing my screen last night (especially when Andrews ran the ball into touch) but glad we know have another match to put things right.

One person in the pre-match thread predicted a nil all. As soon as I read it I feared it was going to be. Half an hour into last nights game I knew it was.

The nightmare scenario of us all finishing on 21pts but us in 3rd place was first mooted on here a few months back. Then I feared it was a very likely outcome but its getting to almost certainty levels now. To avoid such a suicidal scenario I am going to take evasive action and stick a tenner on a final top three of:
Slov 21
Rus 21
Ire 21.

I never win bets so this tenner could be priceless.

I was listening to Kenny Cunningham and John Anderson on RTE radio before the match yesterday and they predicted the game to a tee. Both said if we started slowly and allowed Slovakia get into their stride then we would struggle. More interestingly both said the senior players in the team should not play to Trap's system if they feel it is hindering our chances of winning. They weren't advocating anarachy but suggesting that players who are unlikely to be dropped need to speed up the way we play in games at crucial stages.

It's was disappointing to not play all that well for the most part and still create a few chances for Duff, Keane, Cox and Dunne to win the game. Thought the central midfield pair were awful. Many times they did not help out the CBs as they rarely showed for the ball leaving Sledge and Dunne with no option but to hoof the ball up where Skrtel had a field day all night. It a basic thing a central midfielder does and they hardly did it, thus gifting possession back to them. McGeady does what he usually does, just when you think he's done the hard part by working himself into a good position with the ball, he delivers a poor end product. Duff was great as were Sledge and Dunne. I felt Trap should have changed tactics for the last 1/2 hour by adding an extra person in midfield and leaving one up top, maybe bring on Hunt, switch McGeady and have Duff move to the middle ahead of the CM 2.

As for Tuesday, I'm expecting a loss for us but there's hope as Russia showed they are no great shakes yesterday. It would be one of our most famous victories if it does happen but I not sure if this team has it in them to do it.

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Originally Posted by holidaysong

That is not correct though. In that scenario a draw would be enough for Slovakia as that would mean that they would beat both Russia on their own head to head but also would be top of the mini group of three should we also finish on 21 points.

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Are you sure that's how it works?

I thought it was: if we finish on 21 points,
Slovakia > Russia
Ireland > Slovakia
Russia > Ireland

So we can't be separated and it then goes to GD.

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Originally Posted by freewheel30

McGeady, in an attacking sense, played no better or no worse than he ever has in an Irish shirt. No end product, couldn't cross the ball, and had poor control. Same as his previous 40 odd caps, no?

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No....

He's a confidence player. If he starts a game well he'll continue well. He should have been subbed on 55 mins. Not his fault he was kept on. It'd also help if his team mates found good positions. They didn't. the Slovaks found space at will.

One thing though: I'm glad we're not Scotland. I only saw the end and understand that they rode their luck early on, but those two penalties were unreal. The Czech dive was perfectly deceptive in real time so the ref can be excused, but the one that the Czechs committed just after was blatant. I'd be fuming. I think I'd prefer to be flat and utterly disappointed than livid.

A draw in Moscow would virtually guarantee at least 2nd spot, as long we win the other 2 games.
The scenario of all 3 teams getting 21 points - then its goal diff between the 3. Do we lose then?

I watched the last 10 minutes of Scotland and that is the kind of thing that would happen to us. Joy to despair in the blink of an eye. That was a stonewall penalty for Scotland and I'm amazed Berra didn't kick off with the ref when he got carded for 'diving'.