Georgia down to ten men - Scotland pressing against Germany though.
Georgia down to ten men - Scotland pressing against Germany though.
down to 10 men but still gotta keep the pressure on
Georgians will be playing with 10.
We probably won't use our last sub.
Right on cue. My ticker starts.
3 mins
2 ..............................
Great stuff from James. Should relieve some tension.
60 seconds to go. :):ball:
Yes, 1 min left in Scotland game. It's all over. Great 4 days for Ireland.
Fantastic. I'll take that.
Fantastic to get the three points. Scotland lose. Yes! Great stuff.
3 results Ireland Scotland and my bet that's as good as it gets. :)
Only Kyle Lafferty put a dampener on my evening. Great results all around otherwise.
"We have got to stop talking ourselves down"... " Germany haven't got the players"- Eamonn Dunphy
Ffs.
Big change in second half, whatever was said in dressing room - can imagine some Keane thunder and lightning maybe - did the business. There's the stuff Ireland can do: decent attacking football that creates chances. Should have won by more, and it was great to see the crowd find a voice. Best and worst of MON's Ireland tonight.
Given - 6. One minor scare, nothing much to do otherwise.
Coleman - 6. Not fit. Did well enough down the right, but crosses were poor. His cut-ins never lead to anything.
O'Shea - 6. A few good defensive moments here, some bad passes and fouls there.
Clark - 6. Pretty much the same. Never had much to do, but did slip-up for that second Georgia chance.
Brady - 7. Up and down all night, did something thick for everything good, but was getting involved all the time.
Whelan - 5. He was there. A few shots from distance, a stupid bit of guff to the ref. Won't cry any tears over his suspension.
McCarthy - 5. Honestly didn't think much of him out there, some occasional moments of good football, but a lot of errors and anonymity in sections.
Hendrick - 8. Took him a while to really make an impact, but he was our best attacking player by the end. Made the goal.
Hoolahan - 6. Like McCarthy, just a little bit better.
Walters - 7. Started well, but had faded big time by HT. Much bigger impact in second, well placed for the goal, but pace was a problem throughout.
Keane - 4. One bad shot choice, then failed to get on the end of a great through ball. Wasn't sorry to see him come off.
Long - 7. Threw himself around upfront, injected the kind of tempo Ireland really needed. Should have scored, and weirdly lackadaisical with that late chance.
McClean - 7. Crazy start to his brief time, but did great to set-up Long.
I wouldn't say I'm satisfied, and I worry what Germany might do to us, still needing points to confirm qualification. But this team can get third. They can get a point off Poland at least, and might not even need it. They just need to be motivated properly.
Everything has gone exactly to plan these last two rounds of fixtures results-wise. I really didn't think we'd be in this position after both Glasgow and then Scotland in Dublin. Great night all round. Fair play, lads!
I think we're going to head into the final round of fixtures needing a draw at away to Poland. Germany will do us at home in the first match. Scotland are playing at home to Poland and if they get a draw then we'll need a draw against Poland in the last match because Scotland play Gibraltar in the final round and they won't lose there. They also have the tiebreak on us so we had better hope Scotland don't beat Poland at home. If they do, we'll need to beat Poland away to go through to the play-off.
At least we'll go into the final round knowing exactly what we need. We could still yet come in third as long as Poland beat Scotland - we could lose both of our next matches and still finish third if that was the case.
Really? I think that's very unfair to Long. McCleans cross was fast, not much time for Long to adjust his feet at all. A good chance, sure, but not as simple as being made out. Also, the sort of chance that Keane missed many times in his career and I don't think today's Keane would have been in that spot.Quote:
Originally Posted by DannyInvincible
One more thing, I'd like to see a hd breakdown of that chance. In one of the replays it looked like Long actually got a touch on it, then blocked by defenders boot, then off Long and out for the goal kick. (My stream wasn't awful but wasn't great either).
We were so much better second half, is that the difference Long for Keane makes?
The opposition get an easy ride with Keane, no real threat in the air or and no pace to worry about.
Long is a different kettle of fish.
At times it is like we have 10 men with Keane up front, one defender and deal with him with easy, not so
Long he has the pace to cause problems so you need an extra man for back up, that allows us to play, and play we did.
Poland beating Scotland would be very nice, thank you. They will be well up for it though so who knows but cross that bridge when we come to it...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colbert Report
If Scotland get a draw and we beat Poland we will finish 2nd? :triumphant::positive:http://foot.ie/images/smilies/triumphant.png
It is still all up in the air though but we are right in the race.
The second half was great never felt like we would concede and we were creating up from, making Georgia look poor, as we should.
Nice win. Feel kind of stupid, I thought they were playing the State of Georgia until about 5 mins ago.
Don't worry we all know Americans don't do geography!! :)
Walters was so close to offside for the goal!!
The RTE lads reckon we won't miss Whelan against Germany... I dunno. He left a bit of a Gap when he went off injured over there. Not sure Quinn or Hoolahan dropping in, as they suggest, would be adequate either. Would entertain Wilson coming in to the middle against Germany, to occupy that space. I'd probably even bring Meyler in for Hendrick for the Germany game if I'm honest.
Whelan keeps things ticking over, reminds me of Lennon at Celtic in that you don't really know what he does until he's not in the side. Having said that, McCarthy could play that role, with Hendrick playing the box to box role
Could O'Kane come in and give the Germans a good caning?
Or is that poetic nonsense?
I thought they weren't as bad as Ronnie and George H made out TBH. Hendricks bit of Magic aside, I still thought he was lacking something on the night. A bit timid, and second to some balls... But always showed for it which is a plus.
Joking aside I think he is the natural replacement for Whelan who I thought was super in the second half, the only player who looked like a leader of any kind. Ok, the yellow was impetuous but he did his job brilliantly. If only others did the same.Quote:
Originally Posted by tricky_colour
Ugly win, job done, but another game gone by that fails to give much confidence for what comes next. I'm not complaining, but not doing cartwheels either. Next...
We look solid at the back. Clark was excellent. I think he's an ideal foil for O'Shea. The two full backs are immense. Constantly busy and are our most capable footballers, I think.
I thought Whelan was great again. He really pressed the Georgians. Did it in the first half and we should have reaped dividends in the second half but for Long's miss from a lovely McClean cross.
I thought the panel on RTE got a bit carried away with Long's contribution. His miss was poor and Walters finished a similar chance with more pressure from the defender. That miss summed up why he didn't start- goals win games (even if Robbie wasn't great in the first half).
Beautiful skill by Hendrick for Walters' goal. He looked more composed to me, even if he did drift in and out of the game. I think it was Liam Brady who stated it was his main contribution in an Irish jersey, forgetting he also assisted O'Shea's goal against Germany. He's got a bright future in the Ireland jersey and that he and Brady have become starters under MON is positive.
We needed that magic from Hendrick. We were very good in the second half and bright enough for the opening 30 minutes of the first half. There's just a lack of penetration in the final third on a consistent basis.
All I can do about the two yellows is laugh. Whelan got completely carried away with all the cursing and gesturing. McClean did what McClean does when he's dying to make an impact coming on. They'll miss the Germany game and both would have played a part but their misdemeanours were both moments of passion and it's tough for me to be disappointed in the face of that.
Him getting a yellow though could be a blessing. With him certainly out we have an opportunity to pick someone else in that role in a game (against Germany) that could make the campaign but will not break it. So Whelan can slot back in against Poland if AN Other fails to shine v Germany.
Remember the debate a few months back about whether or not we play with fear? Semantics aside, this team is lacking the belief to just go out and play. I'd call it fear myself, but even if it's something else the team lacks a collective drive to impose its will on a game. Ok, we forced a win through grit and resolve but I just can't help thinking that more confidence would yield better performances.
Thanks button not working. Well said Ole Ole though I think you saw more positives than I did.
It surely would. But we need to keep building on something. We consistently have one good result (draw v Germany) and then follow it up with a confidence draining one (v Scotland in Glasgow).Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Avoiding defeat against Germany and who knows what team turns up against Poland.
Big time. Not to mention the rest he'll be afforded by missing the Germany game. He's not getting any younger and he'll see plenty minutes for Stoke between now and the Germany game. No harm to have him fresh as a daisy for the Poland match, given the short turnaround that weekend (Thurs-Sun).Quote:
Originally Posted by BonnieShels
That said, the short turnaround did him no harm this weekend.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fergie's Son
Even if them beating Scotland rules us out of qualifying automatically?
Albeit we would have to win in Poland for that to happen, but the pro with scotland been out of contention if Poland were to beat them
I am sick to death about the negativity around this team. The RTE panel are a joke and over the top, writing the team off before the game and at half time. At full time, there is talk of beating Germany. It is full of contradictions and unfortunately your average joe public listens to these guys. Even the posts here around half time are way OTT.
Yes we are not brilliant, yes we don't play beautiful but we are doing alright in this group. We have an excellent chance to qualify now. We were never going to roll Georgia over, it wasn't that long ago that we scraped by them in Croker with a dodgey pen.
The one thing I do agree with the rte panel is that the team seem to lack belief. Despite playing well in the second half, we retreated into a shell thereafter instead of pushing on. But is it any wonder this team has no belief given public perception led by that rte panel.
I thought that Georgia were not anywhere near as good as the panel seemed to think. That scuffed shot in the 2nd half aside, Given's mis-control of a backpass was probably as good a chance as they had.
We just need to have a bit more belief in our own ability to impose our game on the opposition, rather than letting them impose their game on us.
Home to a team ranked so low - why are we giving them space? Why are we sitting back? We're at home, we need a win - have a go! In the 2nd half we did that, and they suddenly looked poor, but they'd only looked good because we'd let them.
I think McClean is fairly limited in some ways, but he has an attitude to go and attack them, and that's sometimes what we lack. And against a team like Germany, I think that to avoid an onslaught, we need to give them a reason to respect our attack and attacking intent.
I've only just noticed that we've got the meanest defence in the group by 2 goals- that is while both full backs can attack quite liberally and both have had spells of their careers as wingers. Plus, Clark is an improvement beside O'Shea, I think, so that's another positive from this weekend.
Our midfield isn't bad either, in spite of the negativity that would have been flung at McCarthy or Whelan by some corners of the media were our strikers to have missed a few sitters tonight and the game ended in a 0-0 draw.