3:0 Ireland

Have to say the most impressive thing about last night for me was the team spirit and the attacking formation and the movement of the front 4. I think Robbie playing as a attacking midfielder is something I have tried in Pro Ev many times and it has worked. I am glad to see that Staunton has tried it too. I thought Staunton may have got the job on the back of his Championship manager performance but it looks like it was Pro EV. Anyway I digress,

I though that Joey O Brien was solid and he is really benefitting from playing in a very tactically aware team and coach. He looked very solid.


Dunne was fantastic and on any other night he would have got man of the match. His tackling was fantastic and reading of the game was great. It was a top class performance.

O Brien was solid beside him without doing anything wrong. He lost his footing a few times but I would blame the pitch for this as it was happening to a few players also like Doyle.

Harte linked really well with Duff and it was his header that layed on Keane for the goal. He was first to the ball a lot of the time ahead of his man which is a good thing. I do think against a top class winger though he would struggle and I think Kilbane is an option here and he looked solid too and he as the pace to recover. Something wich Harte does not.


I though the midfield was solid once it got going and Reid had a very good game and was only surpassed maybe by Duff Dunne and Robbie Keane. HIs tackling was crisp and hard at time and should not have been booked for a great tackle. He also set up Duff for the goal with a lovely pass out to the wing. Certainly outshone O Shea how in my view was poor. Kavanagh for me every time there. Espiecially if we are playing this attacking formation. Kavanagh knows how to show for the ball and is calm on it. I think Stuttgart right about the out ball and its something you see even if you are playing football in the park or 5 a sides, some players know how to get out of trouble. I think Andy Gray says something about seeing a picture and Rooney has it in an attacking sense but O Shea seems to lack that awareness which you need and see the big picture.

Duff well what can you say great performance, now start showing it in the games that matter. Maybe I am being a bit critical but he does do the business in friendlies ever time but then does not show it in the games that matter. A joy to watch last night


Robbie Keane was great and I thought his positioning and movement was great and showed for the ball ever time. Took his goal really well and had a good relationship with the ref. Something which was not mentioned when he got the captaincy. I think we could see Robbie getting away with chatting or moaning to the ref as he is captain.


Doyle and Elliot looked very solid and impressive up front or out on the wing. They swapped really well and used the ball in an impressive manner in my view. Neither got a guilt edge chance and Elliot was a bit unlucky that the ball bounced right at his hand from Duffs Deflected cross at one point.


All in all a good night. However I was in Glasgow for Kerrs first game which ws a 2-0 away from home which is pretty impressive. We also had a great night in Amsterdam which was exciting. Football is a cruel game and can bite you on the bum but I suppose lets enjoy it and look forward to Holland and then Germany in the Autumn. Actually lets hope we have away game in May.

Great result if only a friendly. Great to see Millar Robbie and Duffer score, Millar especially. I was particularly pleased to see Stan move away from the cautous approach and instead just throw on 3 players at a time without having a big think about it. Our best assets are going forward and attacking while defending we look suspect. Im happy enough with that though.

Great start

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

I said already, this is his 4th man of the match award from the last 4 friendlies he has played.

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I'm feeling a bit short changed myself now.
Think Finnan is the best RB available to us, Hartes display gave some hope last night but he wasn't tested. Not sure about Andy O'Brien, we'll see how Paddy McCarthy develops. Joey mightn't be bad on the right side of midfield but Steven Reid is in the best form of his career.
Doyler did ok, didn't look a bit out of place.
Stephen Ireland looked busy.
And lastly a plea to Sky Sports, can we please get Niall Quinn off the telly, his face is burning an image into my tv screen as his voice is on my brain , he's on so often.
As one of the lads in the office put it this morning.
"There were times last night listening to Quinn that I thought he was pleasuring himself live on air."

Was at the game last night. Only just defrosted :).
I thought it was a great performance. A great start for Staunton. The team seemed to be liberated to have a go.
It may have been only a friendly and we did play well in them under Kerr but never got a result like this. So I think we can take some encouragement but there are still some things to work on.
Duff absolutely destroyed their full back. I thought his crossing wasn't the best at times. Too close to the goalkeeper.
Keane was also good.
I thought Reid showed that he can play in CM.
Ireland showed what a great prospect he is and could force his way into the starting line up.
O'Brien was very good.

I have to say that was a pretty impressive performance last night. Steven Reid is very impressive and looks a terrific athlete and very comfortable on the ball

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Originally Posted by sirhamish

Lotta happy people in Louth especially tonight I reckon.:D

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Yes it was a great performance even if it was a friendly and we are all delighted for Stan up here :)

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Originally Posted by Peadar

One question remains for me though. How would you fit Andy Reid into that team? Is he destined to be a bench player?

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I think thats what they call an oxymoron. :o

I suppose its better to win a friendly 3-0 instead of lose 3-0 however as we've seen before friendly results count for little when the real games start.

Tactics were straight out of the Mourinho playbook. Has Stan been reading those Chelsea tactics that been on the web?

To find some negatives:
- Sweden were abismal. Worst team i've ever seen at Lansdowne.
- Henderson was terrible. His one good save was really a poor larsson effort when you see the replay. He flapped at every cross to come his way.
- Morrisson was on the pitch 10-15 minutes & don't think he touched the ball. Seemed confused with new system
- O'Shea is still crap.

The probably with last nights performance is that was almost entirely due to Duff. France knew this so marked him out of the game with result that no other attackng options. In a friendly the opposition won't change their system to kill the game like that. Staunton needs to use the friendlies to develop an option without Duff.

O'Brien is 2nd choice centre back who will playing Championship football next season. The lack of virtually any tried options there is a major concern.

If players do not show enthuasism for new manager in 1st game then may as well give up. Players always do well for new manager as clean slate. If they win matches the moral improves. If they lose matches moral will soon sour - Staunton is nothing special in that.

Last point - hope Doyles performance makes the eL-knockers aware of the hidden quality in the National League. Less than a year ago 95% of the country didn't know who he was, now hes an International starter.

Wanted read other views before coming back to my old chesnut - John O'Shea.

At the moment JOS is not an international footballer, never mind a CM player. His positional play and lack of incisiveness was embarrassing last night. If he could play CB there may be a case for giving him the nod ahead of Andy O'Brien, but he cannot play there either. At best he is now third choice for LB. He has definitely gone backwards in the last 18 months and even allowing for the fact that he has just returned from injury, I cannot see any positive signs.

It was interesting to see the ratings in the papers this morning. I am not sure what game Paul Lennon in the Star was watching, but he gave JOS 7 and gave Richard Dunne 7. Garry Doyle in The Mirror got it right for me with JOS getting 5 (and rated Irleand's poorest player) and Richard Dunne getting 9. I know football is all about opinions but to rate JOS the same as Richard Dunne in last night's game beggars belief.

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Originally Posted by pete

- Henderson was terrible. His one good save was really a poor larsson effort when you see the replay. He flapped at every cross to come his way.

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He didn't have many crosses to deal with but if there's a crowded box Henderson will always punch. He rarely catches the ball which is more playing safe than flapping.

One thing that I felt about last night which hasnt being the case in a good while is that we had decent options on the bench. Morrison, Kilbane, Ireland, Miller, Lawrence etc.....now I'm not saying any of these are world beaters but players that potentially could make a difference.
I still feel our midfield is quite weak, O'Shea is not a central midfielder for me, he played one or two good through balls that got O'Brien and Elliott through, but overall he is not able to hold onto the ball long enough and doesnt seem comfortable in midfield. I've always being a big fan of S Reid and he played well last night and for me has to be first choice in the centre. Who joins him is still open to debate.
Elliott also delivered one or two good crosses on the right, so he certainly looks a good option, I never have being a fan of playing a left footed player on the right (Reid and Duff), so Elliott could be an option although finnan and O'brien should also be tried there.
Overall a good night, best friendly game I've being at in a good while, just the pick us up Irish football required but there is still alot more to do.

I think that Steven Reid/graham Kavanagh and Andy Reid are the best option for central midfield at the moment. Andy Reid is a very creative player and having watched him since he was a schoolboy I believe that centre of the parknis probably going to be his best position. Any comments?

Great start.hope the team can build on this.they need to be full of confidence going into the qualifiers and tonight helped immensely with that.

funny when keane scored and went towards the dugout and the sky commentator says"and keane goes straight over to his manager to celebrate"
keane and the players run straight past staunton and to mick byrne:D

anyone notice that the jacket Staunton was wearing last night was about 20 years old with the the new badge glued on?

and when was the last time Graham Kavanagh did a bicycle kick?

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Originally Posted by pete

I think thats what they call an oxymoron. :o

I suppose its better to win a friendly 3-0 instead of lose 3-0 however as we've seen before friendly results .... If they lose matches moral will soon sour - Staunton is nothing special in that.

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Didn't want to quote your complete post Pete, but I believe this has been the best post-match post yet. Summed everything up in a neat little package.

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Originally Posted by Den Perry

Andy Reid is a very creative player...

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For the limited ability he has, he does himself no favours with his attitude and general unprofessionalism.

On the subject of reserve goalies, Kenny had to go back to Sheffield as he's been carrying a knock now for a while & their season is running into a rocky patch. Henderson did well enough and who knows, he may or may not make it, but God, it's better to give him a chance rather than Colgan again.

Supple's playing well at Ipswich and is a super prospect. Randolph was on the bench for Charlton last week and despite Supple being a first-teamer, I think Randolph is the Irish U19 'keeper. He's extremely highly rated. With the U19 tournament approaching both of these lads should be allowed to focus on that, and their day-to-day careers.

Quigley & Doyle are slugging it out for the U21 jersey and they should be left to do so. There's no point in rushing kids into international action, in my opinion.

I think we've an abudance of talent coming through in this position but most of these lads are just kids. At least Henderson is a bit older & more experienced and according to Brighton fans has been doing well.

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Originally Posted by Den Perry

I think that Steven Reid/graham Kavanagh and Andy Reid are the best option for central midfield at the moment. Andy Reid is a very creative player and having watched him since he was a schoolboy I believe that centre of the parknis probably going to be his best position. Any comments?

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Yep, I'd like to have seen how a fully fit (by his standards :)) Andy Reid would have done last night. Despite Stan suggesting he'll be building his midfield around O'Shea, I really think he should be building it around Steven Reid. I was thinking that there were many encouraging showings last night, including from Ireland & Miller, but remember too that McGeady & A. Reid were missing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pete

I think thats what they call an oxymoron. :o

I suppose its better to win a friendly 3-0 instead of lose 3-0 however as we've seen before friendly results count for little when the real games start.

Tactics were straight out of the Mourinho playbook. Has Stan been reading those Chelsea tactics that been on the web?

To find some negatives:
- Sweden were abismal. Worst team i've ever seen at Lansdowne.
- Henderson was terrible. His one good save was really a poor larsson effort when you see the replay. He flapped at every cross to come his way.
- Morrisson was on the pitch 10-15 minutes & don't think he touched the ball. Seemed confused with new system
- O'Shea is still crap.

The probably with last nights performance is that was almost entirely due to Duff. France knew this so marked him out of the game with result that no other attackng options. In a friendly the opposition won't change their system to kill the game like that. Staunton needs to use the friendlies to develop an option without Duff.

O'Brien is 2nd choice centre back who will playing Championship football next season. The lack of virtually any tried options there is a major concern.

If players do not show enthuasism for new manager in 1st game then may as well give up. Players always do well for new manager as clean slate. If they win matches the moral improves. If they lose matches moral will soon sour - Staunton is nothing special in that.

Last point - hope Doyles performance makes the eL-knockers aware of the hidden quality in the National League. Less than a year ago 95% of the country didn't know who he was, now hes an International starter.

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A lot of negatives there should you not balance it up with some positives maybe.

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Originally Posted by ollie

funny when keane scored and went towards the dugout and the sky commentator says"and keane goes straight over to his manager to celebrate" keane and the players run straight past staunton and to mick byrne:D

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Noticed that too. On the radio were saying he ran to Staunton & then saw on tv3 he ran straight past almost completely ignoring Staunton. ;)

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Originally Posted by Peadar

For the limited ability he has, he does himself no favours with his attitude and general unprofessionalism.

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for example
???

thats a fairly scandalous thing to say without backing it up

Henderson has been showing a lot of potential at Brighton (I live there) and definitely looks to be one for the future though he'll face stiff competition from some of the younger keepers coming through (Supple looks the pick of the bunch IMO not Randolph or Doyle).

On a more pessimistic note good result that it was I wouldn't get carried away by some meaningless friendly. Everyone seems to forget the 2-0 win in Amsterdam a few months before the start of the last qualification campaign against far stronger opposition than that on show last night. The 3-0 win against Finland a few years previously and the disastrous qualification campaign that followed should also be noted. Also the recent victories over Portugal and Croatia followed by far less impressive performances in games that actually mattered reflect the obvious fact that opposition teams in friendlies rarely seem to treat these games as seriously as us Irish.

On a more optimisitc note I reckon we do have the makings of a very good team in the near future though the Euro 2008 qualifiers may come a bit too early for us. Of the players on show last night I believe both Ireland and O'Brien will make the grade at the very top and I see them as our future midfield pairing. Elliot and Doyle have great potential but need to establish themselves as regular premiership players over the next season or two. Duff and Keane proved again that they are World Class. Dunne proved that can put in top performances at the highest level. If he continues to do that regularly and reduces the number of mistakes he makes then he could prove to be a good International defender.

Still have a few worries though:

1. John O'Shea - This man needs to go.
2. Andy O'Brien - Poor last night and will be playing Championship football next season (not what we need). Also we have no decent cover if either himself or Dunne get injured/suspended.
3. No decent defensive option at left back.
4. No good aerial option up front.

If we can get a couple of these problems sorted I think we should have enough quality to make qualification for Euro 2008 a real possibility.