Didn't Giles retort that not being told to be offensive and go for the win, amounts to the same as being told to hang back and defend?Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Printable View
Didn't Giles retort that not being told to be offensive and go for the win, amounts to the same as being told to hang back and defend?Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
won 2-1 in Cyprus, only scored the winner in the 92nd minuteQuote:
Originally Posted by geysir
were 2-0 down at home until Gilardino came on and scored a hat trick, the winner again in the 92nd minute
According to Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_FI...3_UEFA_Group_8Quote:
Originally Posted by geysir
Last minute winner against Cyprus away, last minute equaliser away to us, two own goals to beat Georgia in Tbilisi. Not to mention two late goals to win 3-2 at home to Cyprus.
Trap almost certainly instructs the central midfielders to 'protect the back four' first and foremost. I think it was Paul Green who said those were his instructions upon joining the setup.Quote:
Originally Posted by geysir
the full post match discussion is online here: http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/mns/2...action_av.htmlQuote:
Originally Posted by geysir
Needs realplayer
Brady mentioning working in the backroom, and Trapattoni's tactics is at the 6:30 mark
It's Bill who retorts, he interrupts Brady to say "but they did play like that [they were told to hang back] at times"
I agree with all you wrote except I would not have used the word "almost".Quote:
Originally Posted by Sullivinho
But it's not exactly like the 4th secret of fatima is it?
The bit I was trying to remember came after Brady explained the 'long ball to Doyle strategy' where Liam mentioned that Trap 'does not tell the players not to get forward'. Giles said as part of his reply that there is a difference between not telling to do it (i.e. not to tell the players not to get forward) and encouraging them to do it (i.e get forward).Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Trap didn't get where he is, by taking risks. Having qualified for one tournament in 16 years, taking risks is not a policy that serves us very well.Quote:
Originally Posted by ArdeeBhoy
The game on Friday was no classic, but the points on the board make up for it. A more carefree approach would probably have resulted in less than what we have.
Exactly.Quote:
Originally Posted by geysir
Nor would I think the Holy Father and co. are keepers of the fact our central midfielders are fairly limited. With talk of straightjackets and the like you'd think we had some reservoir of flair and creativity that Trap was stubbornly refusing to tap. In my opinion, Paris was less about escaping the Don's shackles and more the players realising a one-off situation and the fact they were 90 minutes away from the World Cup, which caused them to excel within the system. Even so, it's not like Andrews and Whelan were channelling Giles and Brady on the night. What I wouldn't mind seeing is a little more of the assertiveness/confidence they showed on that occasion. That at least, they're capable of.
Exactly. That's why we ended up in the play-offs last time.Quote:
Originally Posted by mypost
And the same I suspect will happen on this occasion, albeit for a far more pointless tournament.
It's highly probable that we'll head to Zilina with 9 points in our pocket. So the style of play works. You mightn't like it, but it works. And while it works, you can't moan about it.
The European Championships is a pointless tournament??Quote:
Originally Posted by ArdeeBhoy
Not only is the European Championship pointless but ArdeeBhoy thinks the WC is just less pointless than the Euros.
You have managed to dig a rather massive large hole for yourself Ardeebhoy in this recent discussion :)
You'd think he'd have been delighted about the Catholics beating the Orangemen in the final this year. Apparently not.
Except it's mainly tongue in cheek.
But yes, the Euros are largely pointless when compared to the spectacle of the World Cup.
That said would settle for qualification, but just can't see it with the current tactics overall. We seem to be trying to be a poor man's Switzerland??
Maybe we'll turn on a great performance v.the might of Andorra and all will be sweetness and light.
As for Spain, beating the uber non-football of the Dutch in Soccer City, was a virtual no-brainer. Though even they mainly disappointed in terms of real flair. Germany & Argentina were the best teams to watch IMO.
In 365 nights time, we'll be coming back from Moscow. If, as is likely, we are in a great position going into the last two games to qualify, anyone who whines that going across the border to Donetsk the following summer is "pointless" risks earache at best.Quote:
Originally Posted by ArdeeBhoy
You qualify for what you can, when you can. The World Cup great spectacle as it is, isn't the same standard of football as the European Championships. The difference between the last two tournaments demonstrated that clearly.
I like your confidence. But do you genuinely think we'll comfortably beat Russia at home? I'd love to see it, and I admit I didn't see Russia against Andorra - maybe they were truly diabolical - nor can I really say I'm up-to-scratch on the ability of their current side, but I can't see it being an easy game, or a "highly probably" three points, as you put it. If we come out of that tie with the three points, I have a feeling it'll be after a tenacious dog-fight and having scraped our way to victory.Quote:
Originally Posted by mypost
Is the Slovakia game definitely in Zilina then?
I admire your optimism.Quote:
Originally Posted by mypost
We'll have the ball for 90 minutes to score one goal at home. That should be enough. Russia will come for a point, but they're not Germany, Italy, or Spain, and if we harbour serious ideas of winning the group, we really have to beat them and the Slovaks at home.Quote:
Originally Posted by DannyInvincible
And there in lies the rub. Do we have the creativity to beat both our main rivals at home. Not to mention Macedonia/Armenia, for sure?
Even if we get to 'Polkraine', such will be the 'enthusiam' myself included, that most people on here won't even contemplate going.....
Really wish the lads all the best for the qualifiers but if Trap doesn't change the overall tactics, especially given the stubborness over certain players, we're going to make really hard work of the campaign. And it won't be pretty.
Mypost, I actually expect Russia to have more of the ball than us. That's the way we play.
I love ArdeeBhoy's open mindedness. No matter how many times it's spelt out that even with our cautious tactics we create quite a few chances he assumes we don't.
I think he's right when he says we'll make hard work of the campaign and it won't be pretty, but wildly wrong if he thinks that playing less pragmatically will make it any easier work.
Even if we score 10 tonight it won't change anything in my eyes.Quote:
Originally Posted by ArdeeBhoy
Like ifk101 I'm looking for a crisp high tempo performance. That's the way to beat minnows. Playing long balls and speculative passes plays into their hands.
I was pleasantly surprised by how forward minded we were against Armenia. Yes they had a good portion of the ball (UEFA doesn't give the possession stats) but they created few genuine chances:
- Dunne's header
- Movsistyan's bullet from outside the box where he sidestepped Green, narrowly over, (on that point, he was an ox of a dude. Seriously strong and held the ball up extremely well) - not so much a chance but would have been a wonder goal
- The great chance in the box that Mkhitaryan miscontrolled
and that was it. So they created one real opportunity in the box. We on the other hand created 4 great chances, Robbie x2, ledger's header and the goal. We didn't pepper the goal with speculative shots, the few we did would amount to efforts in my opinion (Whelan first half i/t, McGeady and Doyle runs + shots) as the Armenian equivalents were included.
Green, Killer and perhaps McGeady aside, I thought we did quite well, given the conditions and the players situations coming into the game. We often committed the full backs forward, John O'Shea seemed to be on permanent overlap :eek: and we did have a couple of periods of excellent football. I think there might be an aloofness with the Irish media tbh. The notion that we should be hammering Armenia. I said before the game that if we scored early I thought we could do damage, and I stand by that. If Robbie had scored in the 7th minute, and I think on balance he probably shpuld have, it would have opened things up a little more and maybe given McGeady a bit more space to exploit.
I'm confused here. What do you want? Success or a pat on the back for being pleasing on the eye? If Spain disappoint you then Ireland really have their work cut out.Quote:
Originally Posted by ArdeeBhoy
Exactly. The funny thing is we are quite capable of playing crisp one-touch football. Lawrence is an extremely underrated player. There is an excellent axis ofQuote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
----Doyle-----
Whelan----Lawrence
---------O'Shea
on the right hand side and they are very adept at interchanging play between them. Doyle is the fulcrum now in my eyes. His drive, his strength and his aerial ability will be key tonight. If, and it's a big if, we could settle quickly, then we could have an interesting night tonight.
I have to be honest, I'm disappointed Gibson isn't playing. I don't think he's as fantastic as some people make out, but the boy can pick a pass, and has an eye for goal, and he does seem to have that inner confidence that he is able for this level. Paul Green I'm just not as sure about.
Ideally, we'd have properly blooded Cunningham, Foley and McCarthy through either handy friendlies or the B games, as I think a match like tonight would be perfect for them. Cunningham and Foley would offer something both offensively and defensively on the flanks, making life easier for McGeady and lawrence, while McCarthy similar to Gibson would be a good rover from the middle.
At one point, well into the second half, SKY showed that we were on 57% possession vs. 43%. That's quite high.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kingdom
I think they caused a few scary moments, but we created real chances (even if 2 of them were from Shay's long kicks). Watching the replays you could see Keane was clearly tripped for a penalty too. With a bit more of an edge in front of goal we could easily have replaced the Estonia 2001 performance as the benchmark of a job well done away.
Serbia, Portugal & Belgium slipped up there. World & European Champions Spain won there 2-1. Everyone should just accept the points. Of course point out the inadequacies and work on them, but don't paint a grim picture of doom.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kingdom
The stats are on skysports.com: http://www.skysports.com/football/ma...263110,00.htmlQuote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Code:Armenia Team Statistics Republic of Ireland
0 Goals 1
0 1st Half Goals 0
7 Shots on Target 4
8 Shots off Target 5
8 Blocked Shots 2
9 Corners 6
16 Fouls 16
0 Offsides 3
1 Yellow Cards 1
0 Red Cards 0
71.2 Passing Success 71.8
17 Tackles 18
94.1 Tackles Success 88.9
48.7 Possession 51.3
47.1 Territorial Advant 52.9
Those stats are surprising. Did Armenia definitely have nearly twice as many shots on goal as us? :confused:
They had a few long shots that Given had to stop but weren't exactly dangerous so I think the stat is a bit misleading.Quote:
Originally Posted by DannyInvincible
Yeah they were pretty much shooting on sight.
I think there's a surprising amount of negative given how we overcome a potentially tricky opponent away from home. Unlike ArdeeBhoy, I couldn't give a fig if we are the dourest, luckiest team in the world if we get the result. There's been too many years of careless football and bad luck, with no return, for me to care. But, to be fair, we arn't THAT bad to watch. ArdeeBhoy's glass isn't so much half empty, as half smashed into tiny shards of naysayery. ;)
True enough, I saw that as well, possibly after the hour mark or even later.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
end of game stats on skysports.com linked by Tets
Armenia 48.7 Possession Ireland 51.3
47.1 Territorial Advant 52.9
That just goes to demonstrate what a difference going a goal up with 10 minutes remaining, does to our overall possession stats :)
Slovakia go one up in Russia. Stoch, I think, with a great strike after a horror show from the Russian defence.
The Russians have been on top but both sides look like they'll concede.
Have you got a link for the game?Quote:
Originally Posted by SwanVsDalton
http://entertainmenow.net/channel1.php Arabic commentary Surely more goals in this one.
I wouldn't want to post it, but My P2P has all the links.Quote:
Originally Posted by JGKyne
Huge result for Slovakia if they can maintain this. Long way to go though.
Slovakia are a goal up in Russia. (stoch 27")
http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro2012/mat...ght/index.html
Russia 0 - Slovakia 1 (Stoch) HT
It could be 4-2 to Russia, extremely open, fast-paced game. Both sides look great with the ball at their feet, especially Russia, but both are leaving themselves really open at the back. On this evidence we'll have our work cut out against both, but we could frustrate them and nick a goal.
1-0 at half time. Great first half. Russia playing skillful possession football. They nearly recreated that Argentina goal from the 2006 world cup. Slovakia are very direct going straight for goal when they can. I cant see this staying 1-0 for very long.