If he wants to be involved with management for his country I'd be delighted for the FAI to facilitate him to start with an underage sideQuote:
Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
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If he wants to be involved with management for his country I'd be delighted for the FAI to facilitate him to start with an underage sideQuote:
Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
Don't know where my opinion is going to fall with Ward. He was extremely culpable for two of the Danish goals the other night. However, he's been quite good the rest of the campaign. Some on this thread are absolutely castigating him now.
Personally, I appreciate how good he has been in this campaign, aside from the Denmark match. But maybe there's no harm in looking at Matt Doherty and Greg Cunningham as younger alternatives to 32 year-old Ward. Enda Stevens too maybe, but he needs to show over a more prolonged period than 4 months.
I also think that that trio could do with demonstrating their comfortable at a level above. I think it's a race to the PL between them and that will see them staking the claim for Ireland. Otherwise, it's hard to differentiate.
One not to be ruled out is Derrick Williams. He was Blackburn's player of the year and is supposed to be in flying form in L1. Might have the the tools to climb the ladder. As might Kevin O'Connor.
As I said, I think the race to the PL is on. Doherty (primarily a RB this season, plenty experience at LB) and Enda Stevens are sitting pretty at the top of the Championship so they are in pole position.
You think Keane is insightful, i dont. i think he is like a lot of footballers, a bit dim. If he turns out to be the new Alex Ferguson I dont mind holding my hands up. But I highly doubt it.Quote:
Originally Posted by mark12345
By the way: Here is a good article on a new manager who is doing great things in Sweden.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/41902664
Dont know Tricky, with Peru getting through tonight, Denmark are third seeds so it will be hard for them.Quote:
Originally Posted by tricky_colour
Why? Let him prove himself somewhere else first. We need our underage sides coached by qualified people.Quote:
Originally Posted by backstothewall
Several reasonsQuote:
Originally Posted by brine3
1. Because every kid in Ireland knows who he is. That inspiration factor has a short short life while he is still in the mind of kids who weren't even born at the start of his career
2. Because he is qualified https://m.independent.ie/sport/socce...-34346860.html
3. Because he knows more about scoring goals than anyone else available to us. If a kid picked up just some of that magic from him. If we produced someone who went on the score half as many goals as he did it would be incredible for us.
agree with this. the rugby lads have a coach for every skill in the game so why not give Robbie the role of purely working with the strikers?Quote:
Originally Posted by backstothewall
and added this and Ole Ole's suggestions I'd say Rice, Cullen, Lenihan and Browne would be in the mix.Quote:
Originally Posted by backstothewall
I know he's no superstar but I like O'Kane. He does what few others do - seeks to actually get on the ball and do something with it.
Must not have many coaches then.Quote:
Originally Posted by jbyrne
Yeah I am referring to him.Quote:
Originally Posted by DannyInvincible
You're a super poster around here, probably the most in-depth and one I've oodles of respect for. I'm going to suggest that your personal knowledge of James and that he's a Derry boy is blinding you to the obvious.
Hand-on-heart, I'm not referring to him the person, as a scumbag, but him the footballer.
Everytime I see him make a tackle it looks to me that he's trying to do the opponent.
The Sisto incident, he lost the ball in the tackle and kicked out at sisto's standing leg, sisto. This was around 70 odd minutes.
I cannot agree with your argument for any of the above. He rakes his studs down the back of Bendtners lower-lower leg. He's trying to do him.
Its all been said pretty much after people have read the papers, but here is something I prepared early yesterday morning before departing for America.
Watching ireland reminds me of watching roscommon. We flatter to deceive and only a mistake or two away from a hiding.
MON never had us playing football, so when we needed to we had no idea how to keep shape and what to do. Again ye wouldnt have seen thus on the tele, not having a go, but an individual mistake of a full back on the wings well away from the box shouldnt result in a goal, but how we lost shape and space opened up was just phenomenal, no one knew where to go or who to mark. There was so much space in behind and we all got drawn to one side of the pitch twice because of an individual players mistake. The ward one was iromic in that he trjed to play instead of hoofing, perhaps being beside mon he actually shouted instructions to do so, but even that mistake shouldnt result in a goal, if a team is used to losing possesion theyll know where to pick up and where to cover the space. We had absoloutely no idea, and denmark had one man who can pick the string in the net he wants to hit. Christie covering was said already by backstothewall I think had he come up the whole danger was averted but that's easy say in hindsight, so on reflection I am not sure he can be blamed too much. At the end of the day since trap came in we've unlearned how to play football and it comes baxk to bite us every so often with a wallop. We need to start playing football and getting used to making mistakes and recovering from them. Mon has shown he isnt the man to do that, forgetting about the terrible tactics and substitutions last night, and thats whats important.
To sum up, luck played a part in a few of our performances, but we were totally disorganised, the individual mistakes would be rectified if we played a more possession game as we would know what to do when pulled a part. We have no idea how to counteract the man losing possession because we never play with, we are used to just lying deep and always having another man in behind if the first line is broken - that's not how possession football works. Whilst Wards mistake was massive, and I disagree with a lot of people saying Christie was good and his positioning generally decent, had we trained and played with possession more often we wouldn't get pulled left, right and centre. Its exactly the same as happened 1.5 years ago against Belgium and O'Neill never thought we needed to change. Certain types of teams will always be able to do that to you if you don't or aren't used to playing with the ball.
Its really annoying because although yes we could have lost 1-2 or even drawn 2-2(I really felt we would get a second even if he made no halftime substitutions) bar a couple of individual mistakes we weren't that far off and Denmark certainly aren't that good.
Wales probably looking on thinking we could have taken Denmark, and I'd agree too.
We shall see.Quote:
Originally Posted by bennocelt
Poland is in pot 1, they beat them 4-0 and 6-3 (combing home and away games).
We shall see though, I'd say they have as good a chance as anyone making it to the second round provided Eriksen is playing.
I appreciate the words and the respect is mutual, which is why I'm so surprised you've got this one so wrong. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by Kingdom
In seriousness, I admittedly do have a soft spot for James. I think he has a great heart and what might come across as recklessness or an intent to do damage to others, I see as a raw passion, tenacity and desire to physically get stuck in and show opponents who's boss. He's not a finesse player and his footballing education didn't come through an academy where the more physical side of a player's game might be discouraged or suppressed. I think, at worst, he can be rash and hot-headed - he undoubtedly bullies opponents and can get frustrated or swept up in the heat of the moment - but I don't think that equates to premeditation or a malicious intent to cause injury to other players. I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt.
With the Allen and Poulsen incidents, there would have been no injury to either of those players had Meyler and Ward not been involved. James can't be responsible for their involvement/positioning which is ultimately what did the damage (unintentionally) in both cases. James' involvement was contributory, but indirect. If James is going to be accused of intending to cause injury in those incidents, you'd also have to accuse Meyler and Ward of the same.
Please tell me you're coming to interview for the US managers job.Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/f...-a8057286.htmlQuote:
It was something that Eriksen’s predecessor Brian Laudrup also told the Independent after the game in Dublin, as he expressed disbelief that Martin O’Neill gave him “the freedom of the pitch” in the second half.
You just can’t allow that with someone his manager is already describing as “one of the 10 best players in the world”.
Notably, neither Eriksen himself nor Bendtner would quite go that far.
“For me, he is a fantastic player, but can you compare him to the greatest in the game?” the former Arsenal player said. “It is about making that special moment happen and he is doing that more and more. That is what takes you to the next level.
I guess to be fair to Martin he did face the slight problem of needing 2 goals at that point and we were gonna lose whatever.
Stayed off forum for a few days to work through the Kubler-Ross stages of grief, survive a man cold and finally gather my thoughts
First of all some positives
Ireland were the lowest seeded team from the group stages to reach the play offs, and the only fourth seed to do so
We went through the qualifying campaign unbeaten away from home
The average age of the squad has dropped from 30.2 at the Euros last year to 28.5 for the play off squad - a minor change, and the retirement of Robbie Keane accounts for a lot of it, but still a positive
The squad is currently ranked 26th in the world
Beating Austria away from home was the first away win against higher ranked opposition in a qualifier since 1997 against Lithuania
Martin O'Neill is the first Irish manager to win two away qualifiers against higher ranked opposition since the ranking system was introduced in 1993
O'Neill now has five wins against higher ranked opponents (Germany, Bosnia, Italy, Austria and Wales). Every other Irish manager combined has six
In three away games against our main group rivals Wales, Austria and Serbia, we took seven points from a possible nine
And now, the inevitable negatives
We didn't score anywhere near enough goals across the campaign, especially at home. Only two players scored more than once in the qualifiers. Counting Duffy's goal in the play offs brings the list to three.
We were the lowest scoring team to qualify for the play offs. 12 goals in 10 games. Croatia are next on 15 goals. Slovakia missed out despite scoring 17 times
The effects of Coleman's injury, on the player himself, on the result of the Wales game, and on the rest of the qualifiers cannot be underestimated
In three consecutive home games against our main group rivals Wales, Austria and Serbia, we took two points from a possible nine
Taking off two central midfielders, to bring on two attacking/creative players, when facing one of the best attacking central midfielders in the Premier League, is a criminal change. Whatever about training or tactics, I really want to hear Martin O'Neill's explanation behind that change
While there has been no formal announcements yet, the end of a qualifying campaign brings with it player retirements. At the moment there's no obvious replacements for the expected retirees
And some observances
Whatever preparation the management team does, or doesn't do, it worked against Wales and didn't against Denmark
Journalists complaining about players not speaking to them after the game need to get over themselves. Players have Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts to issue statements after games
The group itself was poor. None of the top four sides overly impressed. Serbia topped the group with the lowest points total of the UEFA group winners
Despite the "tinkerman" style accusations, the starting XI is pretty settled IMO. Nine players started seven or more of the ten qualifiers
Is observance a word?
Any stattos out there with MON's results with and without the so called diamond?
Lads, I don't know about the diamond, it just looked alike a wonky 4-3-3 with McClean doing two jobs
It did work - against Denmark away. I think its been covered here numerous times in the past not just recently, that we only have one tactic and one game plan. It works away from home, because we always just sit back and never lose our shape because we always have a man in behind or ready to run behind another to cover the space. We are experts. Sadly we practiced nothing else, and played nothing else.Quote:
Whatever preparation the management team does, or doesn't do, it worked against Wales and didn't against Denmark
And why this? Because O'Neill has this stupid policy of draw away win at home, it backfired on several occasions throughout both campaigns, and then we pulled it out of the fire with strokes of luck, bad misses, oneills , die hard defending and crowding out. We should play the same at all times, but have a backup that we can revert to and experienced in when needs must.
You've mixed in opinion with facts but generally agree with everything you've said above tets.
I'm still not over the result because, in the first time I've ever watched us play I felt confident after duffy scored. I think the players got somewhat complacent before the two goals, but even then I felt we'd get a 2nd. And of all the times I didn't want oneill to change it up drastically as I felt we'd get one before half time or shortly after he goes and does it and it spectacularly backfires, he should have been doing this agains the likes of aaustria and Serbia but not Denmark with a star man like Eriksen who can exploit the space and pick his spot to perfection.
We won more away games games than home in the group.Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
Don't you dare bring facts into this TetsQuote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
What are we going to talk about in this Forum for the next 6 months? I will watch who Denmark draw with interest and in particular their venues. As a WW2 Eastern Front aficionado, I had seen myself driving across the steppes like the commander of a Mark IV panzer in a cloud of dust replete with Irish scarf and jersey. Be prepared to hear the sound of wrists being slit in Sandyford if they draw Germany in Volgograd (Stalingrad).
No but don't pick out one part of a sentence and then go on that. The whole sentence covers the fact that we had that mentality. We had to beat wales away so what? Austria away was the exception - we had no other choice v wales, so he couldn't settle for that. And the approach backfired cos we couldn't win at home. We put too much emphasis on that and too much pressure. We hadn't changed the gameplan sufficiently and then when we really needed to do it we couldn't do it. 4 games and we couldn't win 1. We could only manage to draw two, where 1 team had 10 men for 30 mins, and in the loss where one team finished with 10 men too.Quote:
Originally Posted by BonnieShels
What a stupid statement to be honest, but kinda the silly thing id expect from you BS :)
If O'Neill only has "one tactic and one game plan", then how is his policy to "draw away win at home"? I think the major frustration in this campaign was that he was all too happy to play cagey at home as well as away.Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
It was really silly. I did misspell Tets' nickname.Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
I've fixed it now. Oops. Honestly Paul, your post reads as if Captain Hindsight wrote it. It's hardly that insightful. Especially 3 days later.
I'm just isolating this. I mean really? Anybody watching any game ever would always draw that conclusion wouldn't they.Quote:
Originally Posted by POSH (realfan)
I have to say, I've missed your absence.
Those substitutions would have been footballing suicide against Austria and Serbia too by the way. Let's not make Eriksen out to be the Messi we turned him into.
Del it would have had the same effect though, his finishing was top quality, but I don't think we would have seen that from Austria or Serbia, perhaps they might have finished it off differently. I wasn't saying I would ever have called for those two subs, but normally watching Ireland I always felt we were blunt and needed change at half time. Always, im realistically negative because of how we play. This was the one time I turned to the guy I always go to and say you know its ok, 1-2 is ok, I feel we will get one before half time or just after. I've never ever felt like that under trap or oneill. We could well not have, but we certainly weren't going to with what he had brought on and what he had taken off.
How many times has he made 1 sub, not enforced at half time where we needed a goal? How many times has he done it twice. I think the answer to both is 0. He definitely needed to make 1, but nothing too drastic until 70 mins. If we'd got one in that period up till then, which I felt we could, I think we could have done it.
Because we played the same, just we passed it about the back a bit more, but we still sat deep. What we needed was not to sit so deep all the time, with that youre always set out to draw away or not concede and then hope you somehow nick one and the crowd and being at home and everything else works. Out on a wing and a prayer which worked away from home when we nicked the odd goal.Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
O'Neill will have to look back on himself and say, we should have gone for this when we were in control of the group, and we didn't. And then we we really had to we just didn't know how to. Against Serbia we could have played another 120 minutes against 10 men and still wouldn't have scored, we were blunt up front, oneill acknowledeged as much, and he did nothing to accommodate or work on alternatives - of any kind. It showed against wales, much more against Serbia due to the desperation, and it never got better. He failed.
Sorry I kinda messed up the quoting I meant to quote that on first reply. The two subs in itself were not sucidial if he had said to hendrick or brady you must sit back at all times and track eriksen( he has played a part in both goals so you have to ensure he is kept out of the game). And he definitely didn't do that, or brady and hendrick ignored him.Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
BS its not hindsight i've harped on even since Serbia away they were there for the taking. And i'm still saying the same, and its proven to be our own doing causing our own downfall.
I agree with all of this, you've hit the nail flush on the head. MON is very much of the draw away, win at home mentality; so much so that didn't seem that upset with the draw in Tbilisi. The exception to his approach was Wales away which was essentially a must win game for us, so even MON couldn't accept a draw there. As you've said earlier Denmark are good, but not fantastic side. They have a genuinely great midfielder and a top class keeper, I don't think their defence is packed with talent, in the second leg Christie managed to beat three of them in one move and they were in a state of mild disarray for the first 30 mins or so in Dublin (e.g. Duffy's goal and the 2-3 solid chances after that). The bulk of their defensive strategy is to simply retain possession (on the flanks and in midfield) - MON's abdication of midfield with the halftime subs played right into their hands.Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
MON seemed to wildly oscillate from a rigid defensive formation to a gung-ho approach at half time. There are two problems with this; firstly it wasn't really that effective (we didn't create that much between the 2nd and 3rd Danish goals) perhaps because he was putting square pegs in round holes (e.g. Hoolahan playing almost as a striker); secondly it was probably too early to be making such a drastic change.
I know when chfh is agreeing with me, I'm making sense :)
Ever since his Celtic days he has seen McGeady for something he is not. McGeady has never performed for us bar Georgia away with the goals. He is an enigma pure and simple. Flatters to deceive. But Mon thinks when alls lost send on McGeady ,hopes all gone, im desperate Mcgeady will pull it out of the bag for me. Misplace sense of loyalty? No its not even that its just he looked around and hoped he would produce some magic, but this was Denmark not an ailing, tired inexperienced Georgian side. It smacked of severe desperation. The one place where we seemed to be getting at them was down the flanks mcgeady kept cutting inside and losing it at vital times, consistently like he always does. The second one wes, made a lot of sense, so he finally gave in and thought yes I admit it im desperate ye have always been right, get on there Wes and do your stuff. So he mixed his woeful desperation with his one bit of ingenuity that we have and crossed his fingers and prayed to St Anthony.
He could still have made two subs here if he really felt the need, which he did, one being wes and one being long. He could still have kept one of arter and meyler(meyler for me). Its not hindsight its common sense, but Oneill hoped for another miracle and get out of jail card from the most unlikely source. And then yes then when we chasing, maybe still 2 goals bring on someone like say Hogan another striker, or odowda or even mcgeady with 20 mins to go. The problem is if you make that drastic change so early as chfh says then the impetus you have for 15 - 20 mins maybe max, is gone, and then you're all over the place, which is exactly what happened. We created a bit for the first 10 minutes but then lost that impetus and fell apart, people tired, concentration went etc.
I'm not hear for hindsight nor is anyone else, the media etc, but MON is paid to recognise and know the difference.
I hope that this mcgeady performance finally shutups the blinded few on here who think that mcgready offers something.
I hadn't thought or planned anything as before September I was nervously cautious, after September I was sure we wouldn't qualify. But thinking about it now I would have loved to have done the transsiberian as part of it and do a full month, even come around by Ukraine down south Ossetia, azbhekia etc. Its always an area ive wanted to travel after south America(which ive been to most of the countries)Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
It's a fantastic country I've been a few times and if you're thinking of going I would recommend it 100%. We know it wont be the same without the team there, but there is still a lot to see and do there - and you don't need a visa (normally a big hassle) if you're going to a game.
Also don't forget that Euro 2020 isn't really a proper Euros in terms of venues, it's all divided up in different countries, which is good from "spreading the competition", but means it wont really feel like a tournament you travel to. The WC2022 is in Qatar, about the size of Cork and Kerry combined, its being squeezed into 28 days and will be in November to December. It's only really the next Euros (2024) likely to be in either Germany or Turkey, that will feel like a normal tournament you can travel to.
to play that diamond you need a fantastic defensive mid who can pass it and cover the ground and has a defensive mindset and loves a tackle and has discipline and football intelligence which is what McCarthy gives us like against Italy he pushes the midfield forward towards the front men and forces our defence to push up . Nobody else we have can do that job he is a massive loss to us.
Even still, O'Neill played a very cautious, low-risk game against Wales that emphasised keeping it tight at the back and holding on for as long as possible whilst hopefully taking whatever rare opportunities might arise. We created very little. We had 29 per cent of the possession, managed two efforts on target and took the one real chance that we got, which came from Welsh sloppiness at the back, or a defensive c*ck-up, really. You could say we were fortunate as the margin for failure was exceptionally fine. Presumably we would have pushed more for a goal as time went on had McClean not scored on the hour-mark, but you still couldn't say we went all-out attack in that game. We were set up as if a draw would have done us.Quote:
Originally Posted by cfdh_edmundo
Here were the average positions of each of our players throughout the course of the Wales game:
http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/onesport/cps...28_capture.png
Very few of our players spent the majority of the game in the Welsh half; only three did. Admittedly, the players played slightly more advanced than they did against Georgia away (shown below), but the difference isn't huge.
http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/onesport/cps...elandavpos.png
After scoring our goal all the talk of how poor Denmark were might have had an effect not necessarily to our advantage .
Has Martin O Neill got it in him to play another style of football ?
Ireland could play something more like passing football for the next year at least . if it is completely apparent that it is not working we can always go back to Plan A .
Who wants to watch that $hite for the next year..........Paint drying is actually more interesting .
I agree, the tactics he used in the Cardiff game were cautious given we needed the win. It was quite attacking by MON standards but cautious under normal measures. It does look marginally more attacking than Georgia away looking at those graphics 8, 13 and 10 are in the oppositions half which must be revolutionary by MON standards away from home. In Tbilisi it looks like only number 9 is in the opposition half, with 19 on the line.Quote:
Originally Posted by DannyInvincible
I still think he was a bit overly cautious vs Sweden in Euro 2016.
"Monosyllable and dull" is code for working class and Dublin. We don't want common people in our sport.Quote:
Originally Posted by mark12345