Malta V Republic of Ireland - Sunday, 20th November 2022 - Friendly

Christ that was a long hard watch, and after a truly dreadful WC opener too. I put myself in the shoes of one of those Americans who doesn't get football and thought maybe they're right.

Sykes looked good in his 5 minutes.That was about as exciting as it got, and added to the frustration - why not take a look at guys like this for longer?

I don't think any player played particularly badly. We had almost total control of the game, it was just the continuously slow, laboured, unpenetrative build up and recycling never looked like creating any pressure or chances.

https://extra.ie/2022/11/19/sport/so...-stephen-kenny

the fighting spirit thing is a bit nonsensical tbh. we are crap , sack him for that reason, sack him for his poor in game decisions. not for "losing the fighting spirit" which is at best some imaginary thing we feel is innate to us a nation

Today I feel like a disappointed, red haired Republic of Ireland fan - Infantino

I think he may have been using "fighting spirit" as a reference to intensity, energy, tempo....... all of which were absent from both these games.

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Malta after bringing on a guy who didn't work out at Pat's last year, just to put this in context

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Very kindly put. Not having the ability to kick snow off a rope is another way of summing up his time in Richmond.

It was obvious after only a few minutes how bad Malta were. Was their starting XI last night much different than against Greece? Was Greece's XI close to their normal first XI? Because 2-2 isn't a bad result at all for Malta v Greece but on yestrerday's evidence it's hard to see where it came from.

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Originally Posted by third policeman

I think he may have been using "fighting spirit" as a reference to intensity, energy, tempo....... all of which were absent from both these games.

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It was there for parts of the Norway game and during those parts we were decent enough.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

It was obvious after only a few minutes how bad Malta were. Was their starting XI last night much different than against Greece? Was Greece's XI close to their normal first XI? Because 2-2 isn't a bad result at all for Malta v Greece but on yestrerday's evidence it's hard to see where it came from.

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Greece had a man sent off

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Originally Posted by texidub

Today I feel like a disappointed, red haired Republic of Ireland fan - Infantino

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Some people just can’t catch a break.

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Originally Posted by Diggs246

Greece had a man sent off

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after 79 mins , they were already 2-1 down at that stage

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Originally Posted by Diggs246

Greece had a man sent off

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They only got the red card with 10 minutes left to be fair with the game at 2-1 Malta at the time. They got an equaliser with 10 men with 4 minutes to go

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Originally Posted by Diggs246

Greece had a man sent off

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Malta started against Greece with -

Henry Bonello
Steve Borg
Enrico Pepe
Jean Borg
Joseph Mbong
Matthew Guillaumier
Teddy Teuma
Ryan Camenzuli
Paul Mbong
Shaun Dimech
Jurgen Degabriele

I think one of the Borgs, Dimech and Degabriele didn't play against us, though Jodi Jones of Oxford came in and that should have strengthened them you'd have thought.

Other thing that's worrying lately is our defence. Can't remember the goals against Scotland - other than one being a daft penalty against I think Browne? - but against Armenia we conceded two soft goals that Bazunu in particular should have done much better for, then Norway was two really lax set pieces, and last night then Malta had two great chances which a better side would have made Kelleher work a lot more for. The first one in particular was a defender (Coleman?) completely missing a header and leaving a 3v1 break, and then another good chance late in the second; a shot from the D which again a better player will punish

We do play up better than down, and we've done backs-to-the-wall defending reasonably well against Serbia and Portugal. I suspect we'll need to do it against France in March, and if we're not defending as well as before, it could be a very long night

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Other thing that's worrying lately is our defence. Can't remember the goals against Scotland - other than one being a daft penalty against I think Browne? - but against Armenia we conceded two soft goals that Bazunu in particular should have done much better for, then Norway was two really lax set pieces, and last night then Malta had two great chances which a better side would have made Kelleher work a lot more for.

We do play up better than down, and we've done backs-to-the-wall defending reasonably well against Serbia and Portugal. I suspect we'll need to do it against France in March, and if we're not defending as well as before, it could be a very long night

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we do look very open in any sort of counter situation though. even last night early doors got caught twice. its a common theme under SK thats never really been addressed, another issue with our midfielders imo.

Probably do, but in Portugal for example our defence held firm and against Serbia our keeper bailed us out. But they failed us against Norway and Armenia respectively.

They really can't afford to do that against France.

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Other thing that's worrying lately is our defence. Can't remember the goals against Scotland - other than one being a daft penalty against I think Browne? - but against Armenia we conceded two soft goals that Bazunu in particular should have done much better for, then Norway was two really lax set pieces, and last night then Malta had two great chances which a better side would have made Kelleher work a lot more for. The first one in particular was a defender (Coleman?) completely missing a header and leaving a 3v1 break, and then another good chance late in the second; a shot from the D which again a better player will punish

We do play up better than down, and we've done backs-to-the-wall defending reasonably well against Serbia and Portugal. I suspect we'll need to do it against France in March, and if we're not defending as well as before, it could be a very long night

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Yes, Browne. Other was a header from a cross after Doherty over-committed himself and was beaten easily.

Watching England V Iran here. England schooling them. I'm positive Iran would beat us well

t's hard to tell what level Iran really are but I'm watching this just depressed on how far off the level required to be competitive we are. It's not just the skill, it's the pace and athleticism.

I hear Steve Bruce is available.

On a signal chat I'd backed netherlands as a potential darkhorse, but there's not much to fear about them here , apart from the fact we've been playing two seeds below where we should be. But that's us not them

Gotta say that made me laugh. BS kalaka if you took out some lines from your paragraphs you'd have some great points. And probably a great party too

There's one thing (well a lot more than one) I don't get. Why is Ogbene being played as a No 9 when he is a winger? I know Rotherham may have started using him in that role but to me he would be much better as a winger/wingback with his pace. Obafemi as the centre forward and Ogbene raiding on the wing.

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Originally Posted by OwlsFan

There's one thing (well a lot more than one) I don't get. Why is Ogbene being played as a No 9 when he is a winger? I know Rotherham may have started using him in that role but to me he would be much better as a winger/wingback with his pace. Obafemi as the centre forward and Ogbene raiding on the wing.

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never understood it either. he is a lot better out wide than in the congested middle of the final 3rd. whatever about parrotts or obafemis finishing those 2 are miles ahead technically. SK seems to have wedded himself to the idea of ogbene as a forward similar to ebosele. we could have done with seeing him there vs malta IMO. his strong direct running would have been an addition as dohertys best bits come without the ball.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Christ that was a long hard watch, and after a truly dreadful WC opener too. I put myself in the shoes of one of those Americans who doesn't get football and thought maybe they're right.

Sykes looked good in his 5 minutes.That was about as exciting as it got, and added to the frustration - why not take a look at guys like this for longer?

I don't think any player played particularly badly. We had almost total control of the game, it was just the continuously slow, laboured, unpenetrative build up and recycling never looked like creating any pressure or chances.

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Just for comparison, highlights of the Malta v Ireland World Cup qualifier, November 1989 www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cVVFFCsKw4

Thats 33 years ago.

there was another game away to Malta that i remember watching a while back and being really f**king annoyed during it. I think Staunton scored a belter of a free to win it late - 99 or 01 maybe? Anyway, it was cack.

That was the 3-2 game in the Euro 2000 qualifiers. We were very poor that night but got away with it through Staunton's free kick. Didn't count for anything in the end though unfortunately.

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Originally Posted by SkStu

there was another game away to Malta that i remember watching a while back and being really f**king annoyed during it. I think Staunton scored a belter of a free to win it late - 99 or 01 maybe? Anyway, it was cack.

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2-0 up and coasting then we conceded 2 quick goals and as Stu said, Stan bailed us out with a free kick.

Don’t know the coaching situation following the departure of Eustace but it doesn’t reflect well on Kenny that peak performances during his tenure have come when Barry and Eustace had found their feet (in the case of the latter Scotland (H) and Ukraine (A)).

I thought we really struggled in both games in moving the ball from back to front, that transition between defence and attack. We are crying out for genuine quality in a playmaker/ creative role – like a Ødegaard, which we don’t have on the bench or outside the squad. That said, we are able to paper over this deficiency with coaching and inventiveness (ie games with Barry and Eustace) but if that’s not there, we get the passive/ flat performances of Norway/ Malta.

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Originally Posted by ifk101

Don’t know the coaching situation following the departure of Eustace but it doesn’t reflect well on Kenny that peak performances during his tenure have come when Barry and Eustace had found their feet (in the case of the latter Scotland (H) and Ukraine (A)).

I thought we really struggled in both games in moving the ball from back to front, that transition between defence and attack. We are crying out for genuine quality in a playmaker/ creative role – like a Ødegaard, which we don’t have on the bench or outside the squad. That said, we are able to paper over this deficiency with coaching and inventiveness (ie games with Barry and Eustace) but if that’s not there, we get the passive/ flat performances of Norway/ Malta.

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Alan Sheehan, Nathan Jones' assistant at Southampton, is one of our own, and an U-21 international.

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Originally Posted by Demesne Lad

Alan Sheehan, Nathan Jones' assistant at Southampton, is one of our own, and an U-21 international.

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Looking at the games at the World Cup, we are further than ever away from the required standard. Canada would have beaten us handily on the evidence of yesterday

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Originally Posted by mark12345

Looking at the games at the World Cup, we are further than ever away from the required standard. Canada would have beaten us handily on the evidence of yesterday

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absolutely. and if we played them in a friendly a few months ago we'd have been expected to beat them by many. the amount of historically poor teams improving has gone through the roof. we are so far behind canada/usa not to mention the likes of serbia etc

Hard to disagree with that, yet we've been just about competitive against better teams and often self-inflict our wounds. Hope springs eternal I guess...

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Hard to disagree with that, yet we've been just about competitive against better teams and often self-inflict our wounds. Hope springs eternal I guess...

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Should be fine Stutts. One underperforming manager can't destroy decades of investment, development and planning.

Don't be daft OTOH! A new manager will fix everything and then everything's going to be totally great forever.

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Originally Posted by SkStu

Don't be daft OTOH! A new manager will fix everything and then everything's going to be totally great forever.

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Yeah, and a side of mostly Championship journeymen & nearly men will soon after grace a major finals and upset the world order. Just need Kenny out & we're set I tells you, set :D

The prospect of Ireland qualifying for a 24 team Euros again wouldn't exactly be resetting the world order now in fairness.

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

The prospect of Ireland qualifying for a 24 team Euros again wouldn't exactly be resetting the world order now in fairness.

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You misunderstand me, upset it when we get there was what I meant. Soon as that pesky Kenny is ran outta town.

It would be nice though, after two years in charge, for us to have some idea what our team is