Encouraging so far, but room to improve. Cullen and Knight creeping towards double figures in caps and looking better than Hourihane - they could be the mainstay of midfield for the best part of ten years, albeit Cullen may need to shift a gear. Need to work on the final ball. Parrott settling into the game, I think. O'Shea looks the real deal. Satisfied, says Kevin Doyle on RTE. Sounds about right.
Solid enough defensively, which was all I was hoping for.
Kenny has clearly done a good job of lowering expectations anyway. Set the bar so low you can't fail and all that. One attempt on goal from Ireland in the whole half, a header from a free kick. Otherwise dreadful, Hungary aren't even any good and they're still dominating us. Nothing from us in general play at all, not even a half chance.
Who's the woman on rte ? She's talking more sense than a lot theyve had on recently
Lisa Fallon. Galway coach.
Said the same before the game that's what I wanted. So relatively happy. Hopefully Hungary take the second half as seirous as the first and don't make loads of substitutionsQuote:
Originally Posted by osarusan
Quote:
Originally Posted by osarusan
Thanks. I meant than a lot of other pundits(male or female)Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
I was only thinking the same thing myself
The days of hanging onto the ball, dominating possession don't look any closer anyway - midfield is just risk averse, panicked, rubbish as always.
Must say, as derided as Duffy is in most circles he always looks like he loves being out there playing for Ireland and really competing . Can't say the same for Doherty or Hourihane anyway.
McClean's best 45 mins for Ireland in a long time. We look much better organised in defence with Duffy in there. Struggling to link midfield with the front 2 and Hourihane constantly passing it back doesnt help.
Hungary arent a quality side at all so we've a decent chance to nick something here. Good save from Bazunu and he's been fairly solid apart from a couple of occasions where he probably should just go long.
Wouldn't be rushing into any changes. Is there a concern over Idah still? He might need replacing. Collins is the only option there. Otherwise, Hourihane should be replaced. I'd either bring Knight back beside Cullen or bringing in Arter or Molumby. Molumby for me would do fine.
Aye, you'd know she coached and isn't just anex player. Sometimes ex players are crap pundits
Great point on Duffy. It needs to be said. He has been good. And he has played some tidy passes, both long and short.Quote:
Originally Posted by centre mid
I didn't realise bazunu was that small.
Kelleher for Bazunu. Fair enough I think.
Lisa Fallon knows all about playing long ball tactics from all her time under John Caulfield's Cork and Galway sides, on this occasion she is right though. Demanding the ball to always be played short out from the back irrespective of a very high press in numbers is too one dimensional, as much so as the old aerial bombardments of the past. It's showing that SK is both evolving as a coach and more pragmatic than he has been previous. It's a huge improvement since the Slovakia performance though we have a fuller hand to pick from tonight and moving on from covid fiascos. Seeing crowds back is great and has to be a help to players and lifts performance. Not too fussed on the result from now as there is evidence of the manager putting a mark on the team and is a longer term process.
****ing Hourihane - a free-kick 7/8 yards inside their half, in a lovely central position, and he turns around and immediately plays a pass 15 yards back.
Ah the ball being taken off his toe there and his lame attempt to recover before Egan had to do it for him. Absolutely frightening stuff.
Molumby has had more of an impact in 6 or 7 mins than Hourihane did in his 50 odd mins.
Is it just me.. or is Daryl Horgan a lovely player.. always seems busy and looking to do something