Italy V Republic of Ireland - Wednesday, 1st April 2009 - World Cup 2010 Q

Oh sweet jesus, they're still talking about our excellent squad of players needing to be liberated, "managers would die for the kind of players we have". Also extremely controversial that he didn't play the injured Finnan. I think Eamo's been on the drink again.

We'll go back to squeezing the life out of the game when we go away to Bulgaria...the reason being that Bulgaria will want to be an attacking threat. If we don't double up at the back we'll expose the likes of McShane, O'Shea, Kilbane, Keogh and even in the second half on the break you can see how nervy we are with good teams running at us.

I bought a subscription to RAI (italian langauge channel in new york) for the match because 20$ is too much for watching it at the pub and the internet streams are rubbish. My voice is totally gone after roaring at the telly. Stephen Hunt was briliant!! Grosso proabbly should have been sent because he couldn't handle hunt on the right.

Caleb Folan impressed me. I'd let him keep the number 9 shirt for the match away to Bulgaria.

McShane was willing and his effort impressed me greatly.

Imagine what we could do if we had Stephen Reid and dare i say Mr Ireland at our disposal as well.

Win in Sofia and we're well and truly sorted

Will be interesting to see the selection next time out, Doyle's been great for us in this campaign, no-one could doubt that. But maybe going with Folan is just more effective?

And look who scored against a big team :cool:

HUGE WIN, CAN I JUST POINT OUT THAT IT WAS fINNAN WHO LAUNCHED THE BALL AT THE WORLD CUP FOR ROBBIES GOAL AT THE WORLD CUP....

Nothing more than we deserved and maybe should have won it. I reckon we'll take them in Dublin, although they'll have alot of players back. By the way, it's very depressing watching on RTE. Moan this, Reid that, Need to play like this, like that. They only had ten men bla bla bla. A great result Dunphy, just take it for once, and giles is worse! Jesus.
P.s. Has anybody andy paracetmol for a sore throat!!?? ;)

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1: Those who booed the team off on Saturday and called for Trap's head the following morning must feel like a bunch of eejits.

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i certainly dont feel like an eejit. I stand by my criticisms of Saturdays performance and i just cant believe we didnt kick on after the first goal. Tonight showed what we can do if we are allowed.

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2: Keane does score against the big teams. You know who you are.

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never any doubt. Love Keane.

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3: Hunt can play for 90 minutes. Well done little man.

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Hunt still has plenty of work to do in my opinion. But kept the defence guessing tonight and i liked that.

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4: Long balls do work if Folan is on the receiving end and not Keano.

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I stated after the Bulgarian game - why have Folan on the bench if you wont use him? Tonight showed that Folan is an effective international striker for the type of game we play. I would like Folan to start.

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5: McShane is not a full back

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McShane is not really a footballer.

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6: Keogh is not a winger.

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agreed. That was a forced change to be fair to Trap - McGeady will occupy that berth, barring injury.

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"i certainly dont feel like an eejit. I stand by my criticisms of Saturdays performance and i just cant believe we didnt kick on after the first goal. Tonight showed what we can do if we are allowed."

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But do you not see how nervy we look when decent teams come at us? In that second half with nearly nothing to do the back four still almost gifted them a good chance when Dunne missed a header and McShane was away with the fairies. By doubling up, getting numbers behind the ball and playing on the counter we'll get to South Africa.

boards.ie have some of the stupidest people imaginable. some of the comments:rolleyes:

i love how when bulgaria pass it without going anywhere it shows 'superior technical ability' but when we do it any team can do it.

Anybody heard any Italian reaction? I work with a bunch Italians so I want to be prepared for their reaction.

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Originally Posted by Jicked

But do you not see how nervy we look when decent teams come at us? In that second half with nearly nothing to do the back four still almost gifted them a good chance when Dunne missed a header and McShane was away with the fairies. By doubling up, getting numbers behind the ball and playing on the counter we'll get to South Africa.

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there is a compromise to our style and tactics that can be reached. Tonight proved that.

Have we ever played a double header, against any two teams let alone the two top seeds, where Shay Given has had one decent save to make in 180 minutes?

I can only think of the one against Bulgaria, none tonight?

Good retort Stu.

Thought Dunphy was petty in his summary tonight. Trap responded to the game's progression well though I thought maybe Long's energy might have been wiser than N. Hunt. Doyle hadn't had a touch in the second half.

Another legendary Irish draw I supposde but in context I'm very happy.

You can say all you like about Italy's absebtees but imagine an Ireland squad with both Reids, both O'Briens, Finnan, Duff, McGeady and Ireland available with that attacking mindset...

I think that Robbie may have found himself a new role. A few of us felt he should play deeper and I hope this gives Trap thought that there's more to our game than two tricky wide men.

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/getty/a1/fu...10-ita-irl.jpg

lads, incredible. Ranks among some of the greatest games iv'e witnessed from ireland. Luved it Stephen Ireland who :D

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Originally Posted by Jicked

I can only think of the one against Bulgaria, none tonight?

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No chance with either goal alright, probably shoudnt overstate the fact than Italy played in 10 for 87 mins though, but I take the point.

All in all a good result.

We were lucky with a sending off that wasn't. They played well and should have won the game but for some tactical errors by Lippi. Chief amongst those errors was removing Pirlo whom I thought dictated a lot of the pace of the game as the source of their counter attacks.

That said, we just kept plugging away at them and never dropped the heads. We deserve a lot of credit for that and I think we can run with this result. Not sure about the Gibson/Andrews switch.

Hunt played very well and justified his place. Folan was fairl annonymous but came up good when it counted. Keane might have won it, he had more time then he thought he did.

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Originally Posted by Jicked

But do you not see how nervy we look when decent teams come at us? In that second half with nearly nothing to do the back four still almost gifted them a good chance when Dunne missed a header and McShane was away with the fairies. By doubling up, getting numbers behind the ball and playing on the counter we'll get to South Africa.

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There are always going to be a few scares, no matter how good a back 4 are, when hit by a counter attack

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Originally Posted by OwenGoal

Anybody heard any Italian reaction? I work with a bunch Italians so I want to be prepared for their reaction.

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Momma mia:Di heard that one once:pwhats the name of the chipper you work in

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Originally Posted by OwenGoal

Anybody heard any Italian reaction? I work with a bunch Italians so I want to be prepared for their reaction.

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Chipper owner on the way back from the pub wasn't happy with Lippi for leaving out Cassano and thinks Santon should be brought into the first team. He also said that Ireland deserved it and it wasn't a red card (which is true). Might not speak for the rest of the country though

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Originally Posted by irishultra

boards.ie have some of the stupidest people imaginable. some of the comments:rolleyes:

i love how when bulgaria pass it without going anywhere it shows 'superior technical ability' but when we do it any team can do it.

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It shows that when prepared/allowed to play "properly" we can do it. We had about 60% of our strongest XI available and we played bloody well in Italy's back yard. I think an Italian team determined to defend is a good proxy for a decent 2nd or 3rd ranking team in ordinary circumstances.

Good result, but a slight feekling that it might have been better given the way the game went.

Regardless of the result it looks like we can play ball against good teams if inclined to do so and have way more than just one tactic. Fair play to team & management.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

You can say all you like about Italy's absebtees but imagine an Ireland squad with both Reids, both O'Briens, Finnan, Duff, McGeady and Ireland available with that attacking mindset...

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Excellent point, I've heard a lot this week about the "great" Irish squads of the last 20 years, if we could put injury and pettyness aside, we could have as good an eleven as any top 10 side in the world.

Very surprised Pirlo went off at HT. I wonder were Trap & Lippi playing a game with each other.

I thought Folan was very good tonight, but I wouldn't sacrifice Doyle to put him in. Try Folan in the friendly against Nigeria on 29 May (a week before we play Bulgaria) and see how he does.

you mean a bit of denmark/sweden euro 2004 style shenanigans?

Absolutely fantastic performance. I was never less confident in us getting as result as I was after the Bulgaria performance but fair play to the manager and the players. They showed no fear of Italy at all and took the game to them from the start.Didnt let the heads drop after conceeding the stupid goal either. It can be hard to play against a blanket defense but we kept possesion brilliantly all night and got our rewards in the end. I just hope now that the manager gets confidence in his players after that and sends them out to play like that from now on.
On a side note I thought that a lad who has gotten alot of critisism from me and others,Glenn Whelan, was very good tonight

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Very surprised Pirlo went off at HT. I wonder were Trap & Lippi playing a game with each other.

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Pirlo was standing off the Irish midfield. Who ever Lippi brought on, he hunted and harried the irish midfield.
But Trap sent both Kilbane and o´Shea to go forward.
Trap won hands down.

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Originally Posted by Umberside

I thought Folan was very good tonight, but I wouldn't sacrifice Doyle to put him in.

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I wouldn't either but it certainly poses the question of Doyle & Folan, with Keane withdrawn and only one of our traditional wide two backed by a narrower midfield.

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Originally Posted by Ciaran

Goal.com ratings

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1646/wcq...ly-1-1-ireland

Buffon and Hunt share MOM honours.

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2 v 1 is just unfair

some boards.ie goon seems to believe that our team suits a long ball game despite having a team of midgets. are people gone crazy or what? we had 65% of possession in ****ing bari, the ball was constantly with us, some of whelans passes were quite good. im honestly shocked at the reaction.

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Originally Posted by Razors left peg

Absolutely fantastic performance. I was never less confident in us getting as result as I was after the Bulgaria performance but fair play to the manager and the players. They showed no fear of Italy at all and took the game to them from the start.Didnt let the heads drop after conceeding the stupid goal either. It can be hard to play against a blanket defense but we kept possesion brilliantly all night and got our rewards in the end. I just hope now that the manager gets confidence in his players after that and sends them out to play like that from now on.
On a side note I thought that a lad who has gotten alot of critisism from me and others,Glenn Whelan, was very good tonight

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+1, he dominated aginst de rossi....

Given: 6 - He kicked well under pressure at times. Nothing else really to do.

Kilbane: 8 - Very good game. The ball was all over the other side of the pitch in the first half so he never got the chance to look like Maldini against Pepe but he god forward a lot in the 2nd half and created some really good chances.

McShane: 6.5 - One of our most heavily involved players overall. Grosso got forward twice into McShane's position, 1 with crucial consequences so he's dropped down a notch or 2 for that reason. Much better passing than usual and typically dominant in the air.

Dunne: 8.5 - He pretty much played the playmaker role of defence today and was his usual dominant self defensively.

O'Shea: 7 - Did nothing wrong really.

Whelan: 9 - This fella was brilliant. Long passing, short passing, constantly showing for the ball. He dominated the game for us. Italy going down to 10 men changed them psychologically. It didn't change their ability to defend and Whelan ran the show. He looks really suited to the Italian game.

Andrews: 7 - I thought he was playing well before he went off. Showed for the ball much more than previous games. Running towards the ball when he'd previously have waited for it to arrive to him.

Hunt: 9 - He was brilliant. Everything just went right for him. Constantly beat players to win fouls or set pieces. Fantastic volley. I think every one of the Italian defence was fooled by him tonight. The best I've seen him play.

Keane: 8 - Intelligent performance from Keane in the playmakers role. And he gets a goal against the world champs.

Doyle: 6 - Cannavaro was unfortunately on the form that made him the best centre half in the world for the first hour or so and that's just too good for most strikers. Even in games like this though Doyle still just has something about him that makes him look classy.

Folan: 7.5 - He likes the direct game and he looked a very good player. Even his run against Grosso in the first half he had a nice glide about him. Helped create 3 or 4 great chances.


Overall I'm just delighted we did ourselves justice. That's all I ever ask. If our players only of the standard to play long ball at this level then I'll be happy to play that way but I'm glad the Italians saw we can actually play football.

I'd critisise Trap for the way the players sit back when we're leading if it wasn't for the fact Steven Reid doesn't sit back. It's up to the players to use their heads!

I thought we deserved to win. Would of taken a draw before though. Fair play to Trap for taking Keogh off so early. Himself and McShane were liabilities.

OK, so they only had 10, but yesterday a few of us reminisced about the first half in Norway. Tonight'ss game was like that. If we had been Italy we'd have been asking why the ball kept coming back at us and how we struggled to keep it.

Credit where it's due.

Second place is in sight, even first (or third), so hopefully we can play it right from here on in.

I was also impressed by Traps subs and think he won the game of chess against Lippi.

Very happy with a point, would have gladly taken it before the game.

Yep. Hands down.

I wonder how tomorrow's Indo will call it.

I'm sure the giants of the game like Spain, Germany, Brazil & Holland etc. would expect to break down a 10 man Italy but this was a very understrength Ireland and despite criticisms of squad & starting XI I thinbk nobody can deny that Trap won the tactical battle tonight.

Anyone know of any clips of the goals/highlights?
Neither the BBC no Sky seem willing to show a clip, they usually do when it's a bad result for Ireland though!!
[Edit] I caught the highlights here on RTE news which is not blocked, I think it's closed down now though.
http://www.rte.ie/live/

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Very surprised Pirlo went off at HT. I wonder were Trap & Lippi playing a game with each other.

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"Rattled" was the word I used about Pirlo in texts at half time. Our midfield bossed him about and he's very much a luxury player. As much as I think he's one of the most influential players in the world on his day.

btw - anyone know what the possession stat was? I think I heard it was 33 - 67. 10 men or not. If our players misplaced a few passes and lost confidence Italy would have been well back in the game but we never allowed them.

Just working through Gazzetta dello Sport with the aid of an online translator, from what I can make of it they're giving the credit to Trap. Saying Keane's goal was coming and singling Hunt out for praise. Lippi and Pazzini both unhappy with the red card that changed it, but according to the dodgy translator Pazzini refers to the ref as "the beautiful arbitrator" :D Can't see Wayne Rooney coming out with that phrase! Pazzini and the Italians saying that the ref didn't see the elbow too...which I thought aslo, and that the red card was a result of O'Shea's bleeding and the ref being 'forced' in to the decision.

good result tonight but lets not get carried away
1) mcshane is not a right back there must be a better one out there ,even in the league of ireland ,he was brutal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2) Keogh was totally out of his depth ,must be the worst 20min performance by a irish player that i can recall in the last 30years

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Originally Posted by Jicked

Just working through Gazzetta dello Sport with the aid of an online translator, from what I can make of it they're giving the credit to Trap. Saying Keane's goal was coming and singling Hunt out for praise. Lippi and Pazzini both unhappy with the red card that changed it, but according to the dodgy translator Pazzini refers to the ref as "the beautiful arbitrator" :D Can't see Wayne Rooney coming out with that phrase! Pazzini and the Italians saying that the ref didn't see the elbow too...which I thought aslo, and that the red card was a result of O'Shea's bleeding and the ref being 'forced' in to the decision.

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I'll be fluent by the end of this! A poll is up now, only 54% of 5000 voters agree with Lippi that the ref was the cause of Italy's problems.