Republic of Ireland V Argentina - Wednesday, 11th August 2010 - Friendly

Lads, here's my judgement

Given - 8 Anything he had to deal with he dealt with well. Could do absolutely nothing about the offside goal
O'Shea - 7 Great, great game from O'Shea, was brilliant in defense. Forget St. Ledger, he should be center half without question
Dunne - 7 Same as O'Shea. Their partership is perfect, should not be broken up under any circumstances
Kilbane - 2 Worst player on the pitch. Countless mistakes, distribution was terrible. Horrific going forward. His day is done.
McShane - 3 Marginally better than kilbane. Never give this man the ball in the oppositions half. Liability, out of his debt, far better options
Fahey - 4 Big game for him, didnt take the oppurtunity. Didn't put his name out there, bad distribution, bad defensively.
Duff - 6 Always has a spark, played great defensively in positions he shouldn't even have had to cover. We all know his story
Green - 6 Better than Andrews, but often the simple pass was on and he took a weird option. Was at least willing to try and beat his man
Andrews - 4 He may have the ability to play out of his socks like paris, but in the end of the day, he doesnt impose himself and made some
terrible decisions. Another liability
Keane - 7 Showed some world class at times. Tried his heart out to lift the team. Was simply given no decent service.
Sheridan - 2 Why was this man started???? Was beaten in the air by midgets, did nothing useful, and chased down no ball. Bad, bad footballer

Subs

Cunningham - 7 Was the only full back who seemed to be aware of the opposing winger. Should 100% get his game over Kilbane. Really happy
with is performance. Hope he's out starter for the campaign, regardless of game time with city
Keogh - 5 Injected some energy, some nice play, proved that sheridan has loads to do. Should have been stoked imo tho
Gibson - 5 Marginal improvement of Andrews, not by a long shot though. Going forward i think he should start though.

Whelan was the biggest miss of tonight but i'll say one thing. Kilbane and McShane were rediculous tonight. We have far better options in those postions. I love KK but his time is done and he cant play for us anymore. Squad player for the experience thats it. McShane should never play for this country again. Trap...I love you, but sort your **** out. Kelly should have been playing. Bench player from a PL team vs bench player from a CH team...HMMMmmmMmmMmm!!!!

Sheridan won practically everything in the air in the first half.

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Originally Posted by hoops1

Amazingly it seems that some of our highly paid,hugely experienced players don't know the bloody rules and think you can be offside from a goal kick.
Shay should hang his head in shame, he must be playing the game professionally 15 years now. I find it very disappointing.

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Don't be ridiculous. Di Maria was offside. That's what Shay et al would have been complaining about. I trust that Shay, at least, as a goalkeeper and regular taker of goal-kicks, knows full well that the offside rule doesn't apply in such instances. From where did your supposed intimate knowledge of what Shay and Kilbane were actually debating with the linesman arise? You can only speculate as to why Kilbane raised his arm, but to assume that Shay wouldn't be aware of this exception to the offside rule because he decided to legitimately question a linesman over the goal's questionable standing isn't fair to him at all.

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Originally Posted by Razors left peg

Sheridan is absolutely awful. He has no first touch, no pace, no strenght and doesnt even bother to work that hard.

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I think that's a bit harsh on him. Didn't he play 90 minutes in the under-21's 5-0 win over Estonia the night before?

One thing that worried me slightly about Cunningham was that he was left flat on his arse after being duped by his man on one occasion and later completely misread the bounce of the ball, instead, allowing himself to be dragged forward by his man and letting it bounce right over his head. Maybe I'm just nit-picking and he's still very young, but an international footballer ought to know to watch the ball and not be led astray by his opponent's feet.

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Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

You have no idea what they were arguing. Di Maria was offside the second Higuain touched the ball. They may or may not have thought Higuain was offside but they couldn't have failed to notice the actual offside.

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I will confess I thought he was offside, as I've seen hundreds of cases of offsides given from goal kicks over the years. Turns out the goal was illegal anyway, but given as usual.

Footballwise the result is meaningless. Recordwise, losing your first game in your new stadium looks terrible. It was an awful evening in truth, not just the result, but the game was not worth 4 Euro, let alone 40. Major letdown. It shouldn't but, if it happens again next month, you'll hear the boos all the way to Croker.

The "second" offside was very tight; even if Higuain did touch the ball, there's no way Given would have come racing out of goals to argue a half-yard offside. It must have been the initial not offside they were complaining about.

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

The "second" offside was very tight; even if Higuain did touch the ball, there's no way Given would have come racing out of goals to argue a half-yard offside. It must have been the initial not offside they were complaining about.

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totally agree, dimaria i think was just on-side, as you say extremely tight. no way could they be complaining on this.

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Originally Posted by Duggie

totally agree, dimaria i think was just on-side, as you say extremely tight. no way could they be complaining on this.

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Di Maria was offside. No doubt about that. Watch it over and over again if you wish: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxJP1ZVHOkA

As for whether they were complaining about Higuain or Di Maria being offside, we can only speculate judging by their reactions. I just can't fathom how Shay, a goalkeeping veteran of the game, wouldn't know by now that the offside rule hasn't applied on each and every occasion he has taken a goal-kick during his career.

Yeah, he was offside alright (freeze on 50 seconds to see that), but did Higuain actually touch the ball? It's genuinely very hard to tell, even from the various close up angles. You really couldn't blame the linesman for getting that one wrong if he did touch it. I agree you'd imagine Given should know the rules (granted, I only learned that one a few weeks ago after being corrected while yelling abuse at a linesman :) ), but there's no way he was out roaring about such a marginal offside. It has to have been the player standing ten yards behind the last man he was on about.

Also, it's an excellent finish, which has been overlooked a bit.

I think people are being hard on McShane in this game. He made some crucial last gasp tackles and I thought he defended quite well. His distribution wasn't great but that applied to most of the team but when it's McShane we groan even more than normal and he obviously gets frustrated with himself (the hoof in to the stand when he failed to control the ball). He also looked much slimmer than before or was that my imagination? Kilbane's distribution was worse.

Sheridan won about 50% of the battles in the air and his first touch was very poor. Alan Lee would probably have done better.

Gibson looked totally disinterested when he came on and I noticed he wouldn't show for the ball.

I think the match showed that this rubbish by the RTE Panel about us possibly making the semi-final in SA if we had qualified was, well, rubbish. That said we did ok without some of our main contenders and might possibly have earned a draw. Robbie as usual was the only one who looked like scoring and that is our main weakness.

I was disappointed that at half time some of the former players and possibly Charlton who had graced Lansdowne in the past were not brought over. A 5 minute video and that was it - goodbye Lansdowne, hello Aviva.

I see they have brought that stadium announcer from Croker. Talks to us as if we're all 10 years olds.

To be fair, the linesman should of called it. As soon as the goalkeeper kicks it, Di Maria is ahead of all the Irish defenders. When Higuain touches it, which is evident from the bounce of the ball, Di Maria is clearly in an offside position. I don't see how people can say he was "just on-side" or it was extremely tight. The only time Di Maria is back level with Irish defenders is after he's taken his shot. The only reason the linesman could be confused it whether or not Higuain touches it, and most people could tell straight away he had by the flight of the ball alone, had he not touched it, the bounce wouldn't of been as kind to Di Maria.

Anyway the offside decision isn't that important, I'm just pointing it out because of the amount of posters who seem to be confused by it.

The real culprit in the piece is John O'Shea and Richard Dunne. With no one to mark (Higuain is 10 yards behind them), they've let a goal kick bounce 25 yards out from their own goal. No excuse for it. I'd even absolve McShane for letting Di Maria go, because he shouldn't have to cover two center backs from a goal kick.

Thought fahey the odd time he came inside looked very comfortable on the ball. He was one of a few who could play the one touch quick pass, total football approach. However he was isolated too often on the right wing and he is not the kind of player to beat his man.

Oshea, Fahey(on a few occasions) and gibson were the only ones who seemed capable of matching argentina in the passing game, they were the only ones who could keep the ball on the floor and pick out a man through argentine players. Green particularly just turned behind him everytime to make the pass. I thought he and Andrews were pretty non existant in the first half.

Kilbane thought he was back in the early noughties with that flick and run, which didnt work out at all. He gets sucked in to the middle too easy, he really is a liability.

McShane tracked his man well and made some vital interceptions yet I never feel confident when he is playing.

Treacy looked pacy but we didnt get a chance to see anything else in terms of beating a man apart from pace when he was running at speed already, interesting to see if he is a kilbane-esque type player. HIs delivery seemed decent. What was the story with fahey and duff suffering from mcgeady syndrome with every ball going in low and not beating the first man.

Thought keogh worked hard but very little end product really and should have done better with that chance that keane got blocked.

Oshea really is showing leadership qualities, his distribution was very good, ferguson obviouslly sees things in players others dont, hopefully gibson is one of those too. Perhaps its time for oshea and dunne to stay in CD and look to bring in someone else for right and left back.

Overall I thought we did ok, our midfield is still a major problem, and i dont think green is a solution or anything near it.

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Originally Posted by hoops1

Look at the clip on you tube Kilbane put his hand in the air the second the ball got to Higuain. Given then runs to the linesman and turns to where he was standing and is arguing the same point. Because the two tits dont know the rules

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And you know this how exactly? Were you miced up to the linesman by any chance?

Di Maria was a good yard offside and became active as soon as Higuain touched the ball onto him, it was blatantly obvious and is crystal clear from the replay.

Here's my thoughts:

Given 6: Had very little to do, made his by now customary race to the linesman though, in fairness, he had a case.
McShane 5: Didn't actually play as badly as he might of, but he always appears moments away from a howler. Commitment doesn't mask how uncomfortable he looks.
O'Shea 7: Defended well, comfortable on the ball. Regardless of St.Ledger's emergence I'd like to see him stay at centre half.
Dunne 6: Misjudged the goal kick for the goal, other than that an OK performance. He'll raise it for qualifiers.
Kilbane 4: Very poor. He'll still do a job against the likes of Armenia, but his time has to be up at the highest level. It's up the likes of Cunningham to displace him though.

Fahey 5: Looked comfortable on the ball but showed nothing. Clearly not a winger, but Lawrence isn't an out and out winger either and he's looks a far more canny player. This was a big chance and I'm really not convinced. Time to prove me wrong yet though.
Green 6: Appears to have a bit more bite than Gibson, and more pace than Andrews. Committed but isn't used to this level yet - but might get a chance in favour of the this guy...
Andrews 3: Probably the worst player on the park. He misplaced simple balls 3/4 times in the first half - five to ten yard simple passes. After Paris it almost beggared belief. Generally Andrews is more up for it in competitive games but this was really poor. Any more like this and he'll be under serious pressure. Get the feeling he really missed Whelan but that's not an excuse.
Duff 6: He was his usual self, did well with what he had and worked hard. His set piece delivery was pretty rubbish though.

Keane 7: Worked hard, played well and was on the end of all our decent attacking moves. He's still, by far, our best scoring option.
Sheridan 5: Hmmm I'm not sure. Won one decent flick on, but didn't really compete in the air other than that. Worked hard but is it fair he had to play so much in two days? I still don't get it. Rather have Daryl Murphy personally.

Subs:
Cunningham 6: Looked comfortable on the ball and performed like an actual left back. Could be a prospect.
Keogh 6: Whether because of him or not, we looked a better side with him on the park. He looked to get on the ball and play it, even if he was sometimes wasteful. And he almost scored. Unlucky not to start, hope he gets a move from Wolves and can continue to challenge.
Gibson 6: Technically good, delivered a couple of decent set-plays and ONCE actually overlapped the forward line. However is anyone convinced he ever actually looks for the ball unless it's on the edge of the opposition's penalty area?

It was a pretty meaningless match overall. I'm mostly disappointed that since last year we've only really uncovered Green and haven't solved our problem positions, the full back berths. Trap should've been a bit more experimental over the past few months. But I'm convinced these guys will do well and, hopefully supplemented with McCarthy, I'm fairly positive for the year ahead.

Following on from Paul, we definitely should go back to the Dunne-O'Shea partnership. Sorry Sledge, but they were rock solid for the most part, bar the goal. O'Shea was very impressive i thought.

Cunningham looked good to me, throw coleman/kelly on the right and i think we're getting there

We will have to scratch and claw for every win in the group, and management should just face those facts and go from that standpoint of thought. beg borrow or steal, whatever they need to do to get in.
I think Duff should come off the bench, at this point in his career he is a good second half sub. He runs out of energy too quickly when he starts.

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I think Duff should come off the bench, at this point in his career he is a good second half sub. He runs out of energy too quickly when he starts.

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cant agree with this, hes still one of our most creative players and has to start for us. HAS TO.

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Originally Posted by joe_denilson

Anyway the offside decision isn't that important, I'm just pointing it out because of the amount of posters who seem to be confused by it.

The real culprit in the piece is John O'Shea and Richard Dunne. With no one to mark (Higuain is 10 yards behind them), they've let a goal kick bounce 25 yards out from their own goal. No excuse for it. I'd even absolve McShane for letting Di Maria go, because he shouldn't have to cover two center backs from a goal kick.

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I just watched it again and just as I thought, because McShane is on the pitch it is assumed that he was at fault.
Criticism of this player has reached an absolute farce whilst turning a blind eye to the hapless centre halves.

There's no doubt McShane had a poor game, especially in the first half. He lacked any sort of composure on the ball and made a couple of errors that gifted the opposition chances.

I know it's quite popular to criticise him but in McShane's case it's justified, he's not up to this level.

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Originally Posted by MeathDrog

I thought the organisation of tonight's game was absolutely sh*te. I had tickets for the East stand, and had walked down near to the train crossing, planing to cross and make my way over to the other side of the ground. But no, was met by a wall of stewards who told me that I had to keep right and walk down another street and take a left.

Fair enough, but the turn to the left towards the ground was at least a 10 minute walk. Myself along with a few hundred more fans were led down a side lane, which was interrupted by Guards. It was 7:45 and I was not even in the stadium, even though I arrived in good time. Everyone around me was frustrated that they also had to take this route because they had a "purple" ticket. What a load of nonsense. I noticed that the kickoff was delayed, could have been due to the thousands of fans not even in the ground by 7:45.
If they had just let me continue on before the rail crossing then it would have been a 5 minute walk to the East stand. Turned out to be a 20 minute one. Extremely poor stewarding and I hope it's sorted for the next game.

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I was in the East Stand too but luckily I'd worked out that I wouldn't get up Lansdowne Road after seeing loads of people being turned away from there at the rugby game two weeks ago.

The route down that path by the Dodder is completely unsuitable though. There's a very narrow tunnel under the DART bridge that could be very dangerous if there were a lot of people pushing to get into the game, that's why the guards were only letting people through 100 or so at a time further back. I'll go in by Serpentine Avenue in future unless they see sense and let people in via Lansdowne Road like they used to.

Argentina are better than Ireland, but I already knew that.

Given: Smart save low down to keep it at 1-0. I blame the defence more than him for the goal

Kilbane: you know what you're going to get with Kilbane. Unfortunately so do the opposition.
Dunne: solid, will play better in future. Stunning tackle in the second half to take the ball off Milito's toe when he seemed certain to score
O'Shea: likewise, although seemed more comfortable in possession than Dunne. Judgement call between him and St Ledger in future
McShane: Improved as the game went on, but felt that Argentina focussed more on our left side as well so he wasn't under pressure

Duff: didn't push forward as much as I thought he would, but still played well.
Andrews: Anonymous in the first half, slightly less so in the second
Green: Full of running and closing down. Never stopped pressuring the opposition in the second half
Fahey: He's not a winger. Seemed to me that he was trying too hard to not make any mistakes and ended up not really trying anything at all

Keane: Desperately wanted to score on the occasion, and possibly could have in the second half when we pushed forward
Sheridan: Gets a free pass from me because he never should should have started (let alone played) after running non stop for the U21s the previous night

Subs:
Gibson: Possibly the first signs of aggression from him in an Ireland jersey, certainly tried to win the ball back more than I've seen from him previously. Didn't get on the ball enough to make any impact
Treacy: More of an difference to the side in 13 minutes than Fahey in the previous 77
Keogh: I've always maintained his best position is through the middle, and this proves it
Cunningham: Very comfortable in possession, he's definitely the long term prospect at left full, but it's up to him to get the first team experience at club level

Was impressed with how Argentina used the width of the pitch and kept possession so effortlessly, especially in the first half. I know it's not going to make me popular but I though Fahey was the most frustrating player in the side. I didn't see him beat a man, or cross - every pass from him seemed to be a direct pass on the deck. Not that he played badly, but I expect more from a winger. Treacy had more of an impact in the 13 minutes he was on the pitch, setting up Keogh for two decent chances immediately after coming off the bench. Green proved he was worthy of his starting spot, and may start alongside Whelan in the qualifiers. When we pushed forward in the second half, we did cause problems for their defence, although it let us open for a counter attack at the other end.

Get well soon Giovanni.