Nolan looks confident enough and looks to be a decent full back.Quote:
Originally Posted by Drumcondra 69er
I wouldn't trust Foley yet, Nolan has done better than him both times he has been on.
Kelly, only if he is match fit, at rb is the obvious one with O'Shea at lb.
There are some great managers on this site.
Football manager 2009 that is.
To be fair ...he called him a buffon -not a buffoon. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Jicked
I wonder what a comfortable enough 1-0 win would look like. In all my years I've never witnessed one.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jicked
I believe it was Fanning (Dion not Dave) who said on the wireless recently that fans tend to really like Steven Hunt because he plays the way a fan would ....gimme the ball, head down, charge at the opposition.Quote:
Originally Posted by christo
To be fair to him, he caused Australia some real problems last night but only to the extent that he was incoming traffic and had to be marshalled. He'd find a cul de sac on a spaghetti junction and his crossing and dead balls were almost entirely pish.
I hope you're right blueharp. Trying to keep the faith and yet on the way home from TP last night found myself whistling a tune called 'The Light At The End Of The Tunnel (Is The Light Of An On-Coming Train)'.Quote:
Originally Posted by the-blue-harp
Incidently just in ref to your donkeys remark - I found it remarkable last night just how poorly, inadequately, inefficiently TOO MANY of our players do basic, simple things like trapping a ball, short passing, 1-2s... don't get me started on crossing and switching. It just wasn't pro.
I actually thought that about Glenn Whelan. He landed a right couple of clatters and went right through a player for another.Quote:
Originally Posted by as_i_say
Given: Can't blame him for either of the goals, St Ledger missed a clearance for the first, and McGeady missed a challenge to let in Williams for the shot for the second
Kilbane: usual shift from Kilbane, worked hard but I'm still not convinced by his positional awareness
Dunne: won everything in the air, but his distribution on the ground was poor
St Ledger: similar enough to Dunne, seems to have a bit more pace about him, unlucky not to score at the end
O'Shea: Seemed to be cruising through the game, pushed forward too much for me, and left the defence without and out ball on the right
McGeady: Terrified the opposite full back, but wasn't given the ball enough in the first half, and in the second seemed to run out of ideas when he got into the box, didn't know whether to cross, or shoot and lost possession too often because of this
Gibson: Honestly didn't know he was still on the pitch when he was substituted. In the first half, he seemed to be constantly taking the more difficult option when a simpler pass was on
Whelan: played well, tackled hard, on reflection he seemed to be covering for Gibson a lot
Duff: Poor showing from the Duffer, in comparison with McGeady he was reluctant to take on his opposing full back, and noone was surprised when he was substituted at half time. Given Hunt's performance, may have played himself out of a starting berth against Cyprus
Doyle: Ran everywhere, but little time on the ball. I nearly had a heart failure when he went down clutching his side
Keane: No point in playing long balls to a striker who is giving up at least 4 inches to his marker. Could have opened the scoring just before Cahill scored the first
Subs:
Hunt: Industrious running from Hunt, took over from McGeady in tormenting the full back. Doesn't seem to know what he's going to do next
Folan: Thought with all the long balls in the first half, he'd thrive in the second half. However, most of the balls to him were to his feet, and he was poor in possession
Andrews: Nearly scored late on, would have mirrored his strike against Poland
Long: Came on for a tired McGeady, and looked comfortable in possession, but the same lack of final product. If he's going to play as an out and out striker with his club, how long will he be used as a substitute right winger for Ireland?
Westwood: Little to do, and nothing he could have done about the third goal
Nolan: Don't think I saw him possession, but he was on the opposite side of the stadium to me
Despite having the majority of possession in both halves, Ireland struggled to get any of the play. Australia were content to sit in and around the half way line when our centre halves had the ball. O'Shea and Kilbane were pushed up on the wings, and with Cahill playing in front of the midfield, there was no outball for Dunne or St Ledger, and the ball seemed to be passed among the two of them, back to Given, and then launched upfield. A strong midfield player was sorely lacking here, news about Steven Reid's recovery can't come fast enough. McGeady was Ireland's best outfield player, but is still lacking the final product, either a cross/pass or a shot. The logic of playing longs balls to two strikers giving up height to their respective markers has been lost on me since England played Owen and Vassell against Mjallby and Laursen eight years ago.
There was considerable column space given to the sales of tickets before the game, and the attendance announcement at the stadium was notable in its absence. After that performance, they will struggle to sell anything approaching the same numbers for the South Africa friendly in September.
Despite the scoreline, Australia didn't impress me, so what does that say about Ireland?
whelan is not a good player. he is extremely limited. last night was about as good as he can play and even with that he was rubbish. i dont understand why people are trying to say he is a good player on this site. he is patently crap. gibson or andrews needs to be given the place ahead of him. what would those two be like playing alongside eachother? if whelan has a specific role surely one of those two could do it better?
what did you think of trap laughing as the third goal went in. even though it mirrored my reaction perfectly i dont know whether it was appropriate for the manager to react that way. i suppose it shows he is not worried by the result and wont feel any undue pressure, but does it show an underlying lack of commitment?
dont agree about whelan. he is a good player, hes actually a very nice passer and has a good shot on him. won his way back into stoke's team at the end of last season. id stick with him in there as he will stick the boot in where needed sometimes also.
:DQuote:
Originally Posted by Thebolg
Seriously ....
whatever about his tackling (at least he makes a few, even though his timing is shocking at times) his passing is definitley muck.Quote:
Originally Posted by Duggie
dont agree.Quote:
Originally Posted by Thebolg
actually I rate him as a better passer than a tacklerQuote:
Originally Posted by Thebolg
FAI delighted with Limerick experience: http://www.limerickleader.ie/sport/L...FAI.5550874.jp
Apart from the result, obviously
Sorry it wasn't really just you, I'm just totally fed up of HuntQuote:
Originally Posted by Junior
for some reason it made me like him even more. but i heard a few comments on the radio last night and wanted to guage how people felt about it.Quote:
Originally Posted by ifk101
traps a legend. hes long enough in the game not to get to worried about last night. roll on cyprus.
My thoughts too!Quote:
Originally Posted by Duggie
It was friendly, a run out to improve on players fitness, the good thing was that Trapp had time with the players over the last few days to work on thing for the Cyprus game ahead.
If we had played Australia in June when all our players were at full fitness then we would of won the game, so theres no point in going overboard about last nights result.
Roll on Cyprus, anyone know of any cheap flights/package deals from England?
Anyone who thought Whelan was rubbish last night just didn't watch the game closely enough. Simple as.
And some people here really need to get the blinkers off when it comes to Robbie Keane.
how do u mean on this ?Quote:
Originally Posted by MeathDrog
i hope your not one of his knockers. hes essential to us. ESSENTIAL
I remember thinking after seeing that when I got home, can you imagine if that was Staunton? we'd all be like it's not funny you fu*king moron. The difference being Trap knows what he's doing and he's brought an average/poor team to the brink of qualification, so laugh all you want Trap.Quote:
Originally Posted by Thebolg
Quote:
Originally Posted by Duggie
So he's in your good books now Doc, seeing as he's playing the Saint:DQuote:
Originally Posted by the doc
Agree with you on the two Reids, however Stephen Ireland isn't available for selection....thought most fans would know this, it has been in the news.Quote:
Originally Posted by rambler14
Terrible performance but I really amn't too bothered. Trap played a long ball game in the 1st half and a lot of the 2nd for some odd reason and it just didn't work. I'm glad it didn't work. I don't us winning by playing football like that and I'm just a bit bewildered as to why he tried it. Trap talked about this game being about physical conditions but still no reason to ask your defenders to skip the midfield time and time again.
But you're wanting our wingers on their good side so they can get crosses in. In this day and age it should be the full backs job to put the crosses in. You don't need to beat a player to put a cross in. Duff and McGeady should be playing mainly on the sides they were last night and with the freedom to drift in, play passes to strikers, link up with midfield, take shots on goal. The wide players weren't the problem last night for sure.Quote:
Originally Posted by backtowalsall
I don't think player ratings are needed for last night. The tactics were dreadful.