I agree its early days and a real end of season performance from everyone. Trap,Tardelli and Brady were great when the goal went in! That was great to see.Quote:
Originally Posted by Noelys Guitar
But shocking how many people left before the end. Cant and will never understand that...
Yeah you are correct. Duff always plays well for Ireland and even if not at his best is still one of the most important players we have.Quote:
Originally Posted by Razors left peg
Yeah, the stadium was half empty about 10 minutes before the end. It was only a friendly but considering it was Trapattoni's first game the atmosphere was shocking. It was probably the worst that I've experienced so far. Judging from today's showing from the crowd you'd think we only had one song. At least the mexican wave died an early death though. We really need to get working on new songs or at least air our current ones as much as possible.Quote:
Originally Posted by craig7042
Duf was very lively all night, really impressed with Delaney too. Whelan was pretty wuiet in the Middle, and Doyle was terrible p front, cant lay too much fault on him though as the service wasnt great!, McShane was totally at fault for the goal, Defenders dont do what he did. I was sitting in the Davin stand and had a great view of it, he was all at sea!
I have a feeling Duff and Keane are going to thrive under Trap. Duff's final ball was sometimes poor but he gave the runaround to some of the best defenders I have seen at Landsdowne for awhile. The Serbians have some top players and I love the way they play football. Yet you could see they had real respect for Duff. Very pleasing part of todays game. If the old Duffer turns up for the whole of the next campaign then we can qualify.
Agree with much of this but I completely disagree about Whelan. Thought he was awful, CM is our biggest problem, Miller looked poor though one or two good balls. Whelan gave the ball away too much, not imposing enough, easily my vote for weakest player.
Duff was good, Dunne, Keane, Kiely did OK. Delaney is a possibility. I was impressed with Kelly, looked very composed. Hiunt enhanced his supersub reputation. Goal well taken by Keogh.
A little disapointed in the complete lack of creativity in the midfield aside from Duff. We seemed lackluster and a little uninterested. Was happy with the performance of Whealan and Delaney and they can bot be relativly happy. Both are tough commanding players which is what is needed.
McShaneds mistake was something a school boy would do. It was crineworth. I feel sorry for the guy as he had a good game but in every game he seems to have one major howler aved up that he has to use.
Biggest disapointment for me was Hunt. I thought he was awful and proved to me anyhow that he wont be in the starting 11 come the qualifiers. I thought he was a big let down.
Despite his tough year i think Doyle showed some great touches and was much the better of our two striking options. Nice to see Trap shw that Keane is not an untouchable.
Keogh took his goal excellently and it was nice that we showed a bit of fighting spirit.
however i still fell a sense of disapointment about the game. When the Serbians attacked they looked to have a lot more about them and a lot more running off the ball. We seemed very lacklustre and stern
The game was so...well meh.
Delighted for Trap that Keogh scored.
In relation to atmosphere I and a few others tried our best to get some stuff going on the Hill, but to no avail.
How did you expect to get anything going when the Hill was practicaly empty?
Overall it was quite promising, certainly looked like they had more of a clue than they did under Staunton. Delaney was good enough, and may be a possibility for the campaign ahead, but can't see Whelan being anything more than another Potter/Douglas who isn't going to a complete disaster, but really is way away from being international class.
Oh and McShane and Hunt really shouldn't be starting in that side, neither look up to it. Stephen Kelly isn't an international quality player, really struggled in the first half, and his distribution was brutal.
I was right behind the dugout and got to watch Trap all game long. The man is brilliant, completely passionate and radiates enthusiasm, and he did his best not to look too annoyed when there were schoolboy errors from McShane and Kelly. At the final whistle there was a fist pump and you could tell Trap is very, very up for this.
the atmosphere will improve as the team develops and the games matter more. We're not that bad...
The thing I dont understand is people walking out before the game ends. Thats just strange, weird and very annoying!
Just as long as people feel the atmosphere can improve I'm happy....just saying I tried to get something going...wasn't that bad. Probably the first time I've been vocal at an Ireland match.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jicked
Anyway love to hear this. The man is a legend in my eyes.
There was a Trapattoni chant on the hill after the goal went in.:D
Oh BTW people leaving early is a joke. That actually did annoy me.
People what I need to know is how to I get in line to get tickets for the forthcoming home qualifiers. I want to be on the hill every time.
Problem with that is the Hill is usually for away fansQuote:
Originally Posted by irishultra
Really? Damn that sucks. It could really be good if utilised right. They should put the away fans in the furthest corner of the Hogan stand.Quote:
Originally Posted by Razors left peg
Yeah, the only way to get tickets for the hill is if the away team doesn't sell out their allocation (as far as I'm aware) so it's a gamble relying on those tickets for qualifiers.Quote:
Originally Posted by Razors left peg
thought the defence looked solid, McShane made 2 mistakes, and was lucky to get away with the slack back pass.
Whelan and Miller weren't a great central midfield partnership. In future, I expect it would be one of these + a creative player beside them.
Hunt was poor on the left, and most of the midfield forward play came through Duff, I'd expect him to be dropped on Thursday
Duff played better than I've seen him all season, but still wasn't enough to provide for the front 2.
I find it hard to criticise Keane and Doyle, there was very little support from the midfield and, even if they played the game of their lives, you can't score without the ball
Delighted for Keogh, Trapattoni namechecked him during the week as a player that impressed him, and he delivered.
We need a player or 2 to come out of the woodwork or else we won't qualify. Where is our Houghton or Aldridge? I hope just around the corner.
That and the antics of the numerous clowns more interested in getting Vidic's autograph than watching the game. Seriously why bother coming to a match if you are going to spend it using your mobile to record a player sitting on a bench.Quote:
Originally Posted by jmurphyc
Trying to watch the football after the rugby made it seem soooo dull and boring. the rugby was so fast and exciting in comparison.
Ireland seemed improved since the group stages, with a bit more intent when with the ball. Still should get rid of that gob****e robbie keane
My thoughts:
Kiely did well, but didn't have much to do. Glad to have him back though, I feel safer with him than any of our keepers apart from Shay.
Kelly had a solid game at right back. Glad to see him put in a good shift after being targeted unfairly on here a bit.
Dunne didn't have his best game, and was a bit sloppy with his distribution.
McShane and Delaney were both at fault for that goal. McShane should have been closer to his man, and Delaney should have stepped up. Either way, there should have been some communication going on, and unfortunately it only seemed to start happening after the ball was in the net.
McShane is turning into a scapegoat on here and I think that's a bit unfair. Not a great performance by any means, but the way people have turned on McShane since his debut is shocking.
Delaney put in an okay debut, but I think some people are getting a bit ahead of themselves in their praise for him. The amount of attention he's getting on here after this game really shows how much we need a left back.
Glad to see Duff show glimpses of his old self. Hopefully he'll bring more consistency after a good pre-season.
Hunt was disappointing on the left, but you can see he's tired- he really gave his all to keep Reading up and you can see the toll that has taken on him.
Miller was his usual self- he disappeared for large portions of the game, and would then hit a brilliant ball every now and again.
Whelan had a good debut, but again, not as brilliant as some on here would have you believe. But it is a good start, and he's young enough to improve.
Up front, Doyle and Keane were fairly isolated. Not really much to say about them. Again I'm skeptical that they will form a good partnership.
The subs all did well though, and it was nice for Keogh to score after Trap's praise in the week.
I'm always impressed by Shane Long, and I hope he gets the chance of more starting time with Reading in the Championship next season- I really think he'll thrive there if given starts.
I'm not a huge fan of Murphy as a striker, I prefer him more on the wing...but he does add some height to our team of midgets, and might come in handy in the qualifying campaign.
He always seems to give defences a handful, but he desperately needs to start bulking up. He gets bullied and pushed off the ball far too easily.Quote:
Originally Posted by irishfan86