Republic of Ireland v Georgia - Thursday, 6th October 2016 -World Cup 2018 Qualifier

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Originally Posted by Fixer82

Bit harsh on McClean. Thought he was one of our most positive players tonight

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Agreed. He caused a lot more problems to Georgia than Walters and Long I think.

Duffy was very good. Really like him. No mistakes or half-mistakes which is a huge plus and he has been nominated for Championship player of the month for September so that's enough said about Blackburn and his torrid August: http://www.skysports.com/football/ne...-for-september

I thought Brady was the driving force behind the resurgent second half until he went off (best wishes to him, looked rough). Hendrick didn't have the impact I'd have liked. Actually, a point on that pair. They're well able strike a ball. That keeper for Georgia was dodgy. Disappointed they didn't test him more.

Overall, bad night at the office but we got 3 points and the other game was a draw. Line to be drawn under that. Only worrying thing is that's the second uninspiring performance in a row. Even though we've managed 4 points from these 2 matches, it's disappointing and Austria might not be as kind as Serbia were to us.

There was one point in the second half last night Brady got the ball under no pressure in the centre circle. He had 20 yards to walk forward with the ball before he’d have come close to a Georgian player. He looked up and gave a pass to McCarthy that I could have given. When your most creative player is reduced to such conservatism you wonder what’s going on.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Seriously, was all this started simply by a poorly informed comment by Merson?

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yep. pretty much.

I'll never have the time to post here in the volume I did previously (thank god says ye), but I miss not being about enough to debate what I see as serious failings.

It comes down to one simple problem for me: Either we play this way by design, and the manager takes the responsibility, or the players are playing like this, and the manager takes responsibility. In the first scenario, the manager takes responsibility by persisting with the calamity that is our way of playing, and suffers the ultimate consequence. In the second scenario, the manager takes responsibility for the players NOT implementing the way of playing he wants, and certain players get dropped.

When neither happens, something has to give. I don't want to wade through another qualifying campaign and hope that the right bounce of a ball/wrong bounce of a ball dictates where two years work has gone. We've got the core of a group that probably have to the end of Euro2020 together. That is a nice target to have in time.

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Originally Posted by Kingdom

It comes down to one simple problem for me: Either we play this way by design, and the manager takes the responsibility, or the players are playing like this, and the manager takes responsibility. In the first scenario, the manager takes responsibility by persisting with the calamity that is our way of playing, and suffers the ultimate consequence. In the second scenario, the manager takes responsibility for the players NOT implementing the way of playing he wants, and certain players get dropped.

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to me the problem comes down to what our full backs do and this must be down to management instruction. coleman in particular put in crosses and passes from positions too far from the bye line to trouble the opposition in the first half. I don't think he took on his player more than once. in the 2nd half he was obviously instructed to push on a bit and get in behind them and for 20 mins this stretched the Georgians more and we scored. we must give our full backs better freedom to push on. makes a massive difference for me

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Originally Posted by jbyrne

to me the problem comes down to what our full backs do and this must be down to management instruction. coleman in particular put in crosses and passes from positions too far from the bye line to trouble the opposition in the first half. I don't think he took on his player more than once. in the 2nd half he was obviously instructed to push on a bit and get in behind them and for 20 mins this stretched to Georgians more and we scored. we must give our full backs better freedom to push. makes a massive difference for me

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JB - Do you think Coleman is hindered with the Walters situation? Genuine q btw, not a loaded one.

Attachment 2470

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I've attached three pictures which I feel supports the argument made a page previously. I accept however these can be interpreted as just a snapshot in time. I would prefer to consider them a snapshot of time.

For balance, our pressing setup is very very solid out the field. So much so, that I cannot understand why we get opened up so easily once teams get close to our area.

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Originally Posted by Kingdom

JoeDenilson mentions Long needs to stop chasing the ball down - I disagree, purely because he's good at it, it works and we should be able to capitalise upon it. But as a team we just do not play high enough up the pitch, and we're not fluid as a group.

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To clarify, Shane chasing down defenders 30yards away from him with no concerted backup of a pressing game from his teammates behind is pointless.

We've seen this Irish team push up on Italy and it working but last night, as soon as Georgia got the ball, it was 10 men into our own half.
In that scenario, Shane is wasting his time. A high pressing game would not tire Shane out as much because the workload is shared.

Little things like his headed chance from McCleans cross, may have worked out better had he not being a headless chicken for the previous 60mins. But again, not a criticism of Shane, that's his game, a criticism of management/tactics.

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Originally Posted by joe_denilson

To clarify, Shane chasing down defenders 30yards away from him with no concerted backup of a pressing game from his teammates behind is pointless.

We've seen this Irish team push up on Italy and it working but last night, as soon as Georgia got the ball, it was 10 men into our own half.
In that scenario, Shane is wasting his time. A high pressing game would not tire Shane out as much because the workload is shared.

Little things like his headed chance from McCleans cross, may have worked out better had he not being a headless chicken for the previous 60mins. But again, not a criticism of Shane, that's his game, a criticism of management/tactics.

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I've learned not to assume things of others, but I suspected that's what you meant. I agree totally with all you've said.

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Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

Should be on the player, I've watched games back there before.

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Still not there, not in Latest or in Categories - Sports

Just some snips of pundit talk and post match interviews

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Originally Posted by SkStu

If you do watch it, skip the first half! Will save you a lot of frustration. Second half was slightly better.

Ref was ok. A bit too picky at times but no really bad calls.

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I meant the ref reference as tongue in cheek,
as in the ref was conspicuous by being absent from the torrent of criticism.

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Originally Posted by geysir

Still not there, not in Latest or in Categories - Sports

Just some snips of pundit talk and post match interviews

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This not it?
http://www.rte.ie/player/ie/show/wor...4200/10632571/
or sky coverage
http://www.matchhighlight.com/full-m...-vs-georgia-4/


It's showing up on the homepage for me now, but I had to go
Programmes -> Categories-> News and Sport -> World Cup 2018 Qualifier -> 2 episodes available -> Season 1, Episode 5

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Originally Posted by joe_denilson

This not it?
http://www.rte.ie/player/ie/show/wor...4200/10632571/
or sky coverage
http://www.matchhighlight.com/full-m...-vs-georgia-4/

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That's it ,thanks.
Where was it listed? How does one find out where it lies? I still don't see it listed anywhere in the various Player cubby holes.

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Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

yep. pretty much.

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Pulling out of games he wouldn't miss for Bournemouth isn't going to assuage doubts.

O'Neill and Keane both sound like they thought he could have participated.

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Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks

Pulling out of games he wouldn't miss for Bournemouth isn't going to assuage doubts.

O'Neill and Keane both sound like they thought he could have participated.

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see my post in the Arter thread, it's not happening.

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Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks

Pulling out of games he wouldn't miss for Bournemouth isn't going to assuage doubts.

O'Neill and Keane both sound like they thought he could have participated.

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Doubts that have arisen how though? And he missed plenty of games for Bournemouth last season, and a whole finals tournament for Ireland. Players get injured and sometimes only for a week or so. I posted a perfectly valid personal example earlier. In general I'd say players are quicker to miss international games than club games. Clubs pay their wages. Club football is their day job.

Paul Merson + Minor injury = defection. Jeez.

http://afalsefirstxi.blogspot.ie/201...orgia.html?m=1

Blog on the game for anyone interested.

Very mediocre performance by the lads. However, I would have settled for a poor performance and 3points before the game. I think Georgia will take quite a few points off the top 4 in the group. The only thing is that I can see a lot of draws in this group and it might come down to goal difference.

Very disappointed by Robbie, Jeff and some of the other lads. There was a real conservative streak in their play. It's understandable against Spain or Germany, but Georgia at Lansdowne Road is not the place for it.

The shining light is that Moldova seem woeful and hopefully won't be a banana skin. It's definitely a game for Wes to unlock a tight defence. Pity it seems unlikely that Arter will be fit.

Republic of Ireland squad update

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The Football Association of Ireland has issued a squad update following last night's FIFA World Cup Qualifying win over Georgia at the Aviva Stadium.


7th Oct 2016

Robbie Brady has been released from the squad following concussion suffered in the 1-0 win over Georgia on Thursday, October 6. Brady spent the night in hospital and underwent a precautionary scan, but he has been cleared by the FAI medical staff.
Midfielder Jeff Hendrick is suspended for Sunday's Group D game in Chisinau, but has travelled with the squad. There is no reaction to the knock that Shane Long received against Georgia and he is expected to train on Saturday.

Sunday, October 9
19:45 (Irish Time) - FIFA World Cup Qualifier: Moldova v Republic of Ireland - Stadionul Zimbru, Chisinau

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Very disappointed with the performance,
the game was one issue but the fans have to do much better with their rendition of the Iceland call, brought to the world's attention from relative obscurity by the Iceland fans at Euro 2016. If the Irish fans are going to do that thing, you'll have to give it more welly soul.
It's not an Ireland call, it's an Iceland call, a killer call, a take no prisoners call.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc_1QDZnwp8

ireland fans were doing that clap before the euros

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Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

ireland fans were doing that clap before the euros

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Didn't know that but still, cut it out please!

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Originally Posted by DeLorean

Didn't know that but still, cut it out please!

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yeah Tets cut it out !! now :)
I didn't hear it at Irish games before the euros.
Not being confused with fans slow to fast hand clapping?

Anyway it sounds like a bunch of wimps clapping at the Aviva, soulless.

nope, definitely heard it before at the Aviva. There's a drummer in the singing section, he beats the drum, clap, drum beat, clap, "come on you boys", drum beat, clap, "come on you boys", drum beat, clap (getting faster), "come on you boys in green", etc

https://www.theguardian.com/football...cup-qualifiers

Guardian’s 10 talking points from the week’s international football:

6) Republic just about good enough

Despite Ireland’s win over Moldova on Sunday, James McClean had something to get off his chest. Fresh from scoring the two goals that sealed the 3-1 victory, McClean seemed irked that Martin O’Neill’s team had received plenty of criticism for their performance in squeaking past Georgia a few nights earlier. “We got a lot of flak after the Serbia game and a lot of flak after the Georgia game, I think unfairly so,” said McClean. “I think the Irish press needs to have a bit of a reality check: we’re not going to blow teams away, we know that. We’ve always been a team that works hard. When has winning never been enough?” Quite so. The problem being that if they play like they did against Georgia much more often – and in parts of that game they barely offered the minimum expected – those wins might disappear fairly rapidly. Still, the performance against the Moldovans was much better, if not enormously impressive – a solid cheese-and-ham sandwich after the burnt toast of Georgia – and perhaps that’s what can be expected of this Ireland team. Genuine, convincing performances in international football are rare, so seven points from their opening three games is good enough

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