3-0 defeat, Decent Performance?

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02/07/2007, 9:49 AM
passinginterest

3-0 defeat, Decent Performance?

My man in the trenches, OK my Dad, reckons that the scoreline was very unfair on Saturday.

He felt Wexford missed some good chances and after a poor first 15 minutes dominated a lot of the first half. He said Kyle Dempsey put in a promising display on his first run for the senior side, holding the ball up well and never afraid to take on his man.

Are things looking better? Apparantley it was a far better dispaly than against Harps anyway, although Wallace was seen wandering around the field alone and dejected looking after the game.

I also hear the supporters club were intimidated by the very noisy 50 or so from Dundalk, and were outsung, but that all involved are doing a great job, just need a few more members and a bit more confidence. Looking forward to seeing you all at the Shelbourne game :)
02/07/2007, 11:47 AM
WexDec

Was out at it myself, I finally made a match, and I reckon thats a very accurate description. We were the better team in the first half after a shaky start and yeah yer man Kyle was dangerous especially coming down the left wing often having the beating of his man and nearly scored after beating two. Good speed, ball control and was able to recover it more than once after momentarily losing it in a tangle - in other words got stuck in.

We're probably not cute enough though tending to shoot on goal given any chance rather than being more composed. Their second was against the run of play at the end of the first half which was a killer. Keeper parried a shot he probably should've held and they easily scored from the rebound. Third looked like an OG (I went to our attacking end both halves), the ball chipping in over the keeper off defender's foot, in a scrappier second half.

Thought we were poor from set pieces even though Sinnotts deliveries looked decent so maybe more a case of physically getting on the end of them. It got bit handbaggy towards the end, they had a guy sent off, and could see our lads had the passion and were frustrated with themselves gifting two goals like that.

We should've deffo had 2 in first half and had chances for 1 or 2 more. In second most dangerous moves were actually when we were defending a Dundalk free kick and outstretched leg from the end of the wall intercepted the sneaky pass out to the wing, we spotted I thought, and we broke quickly in numbers. We massively outnumbered them with 3 bearing down on them past their last defenders (in line or behind with the ball though). It was called back for offside not much inside their half and I seriously doubt it and certainly the players did, lucky no booking for saying so. Linesman called a few dodgy ones like when Kyle was hugging the touchline but kept marginal balls in.

We got and subsequently wasted a lot of free kicks around the area. They were strong in the air. But a blatant handball block in the area went unpunished when it was as clear a peno as I remember seeing, right in front of me and the linesman who had exact same view (but maybe not the same optician !). Incidently their man got sent off seconds after that, we were really having a got at them at that late stage. A peno would've been too late to change anything anyway but might've shown the scoreline up a bit. It was never a 3-0 match. I'd say a score draw or even us edging it would've been a more accurate reflection of the performances.

Considering Dundalk are top I'd be hopefull of getting results with that kinda performance against lesser teams especially given some decent away results. Can't believe it was Dempsey's debut, it didn't look it. That must be the player people were talking about before the match, I took it to be along the lines of "he won't be playing for the Under 21s then" presumably as he started for the senior side. Unfortunately of the remaining matches I can make the next Dundalk home and away are two. The Cats, Harps, Shelbourne (home + away) are the others.
02/07/2007, 11:56 AM
WexDec

BTW I thought the Dundalk support while noisey given their numbers but were regurgitating half arsed English footie chants. Like I said it was the first time I could make it out to a match so don't know what our support is normally like but I found Dundalk's a bit cringeworthy. Same for the guy giving Wallace abuse going off at halftime and presumably at full not that he was bothered.

Maybe this is the way with all LOI singing, I wouldn't know since there's never been a club in it before that I've felt associated with (and yes I include Waterford in that !)
02/07/2007, 7:48 PM
brokenstar

All reports that I heard about the match pretty much agree with what's been said here. Very encouraging signs but still alot of inexperience surfacing now and again. This goes with the territory I suppose. Heard Kyle's performance was very very encouraging and apparently he wasn't even fully match fit. This only bodes well for the future, cos as it is, our current crop of strikers don't seem to have that greedy streak it takes to be a good striker. Hopefully Kyle will get a run in the team and a chance to make his mark 'cos we need goals badly
02/07/2007, 8:38 PM
GavinZac

Quote:

Originally Posted by WexDec

Maybe this is the way with all LOI singing, I wouldn't know since there's never been a club in it before that I've felt associated with (and yes I include Waterford in that !)

the majority of singing would be based around the usual english chants, but then the same could be said for any english speaking club.

however a little bit of continental flavour does come into it with derry's allez allez or our "ascoli" song. Not forgetting of course local anthem like our own "banks of the lee"
03/07/2007, 3:42 PM
WexDec

Nice to know there's a bit of variation on it. Just that for Ireland matches although there's not a massive repertoire that least there's Irish songs and I'm continually amazed by the difference between the home and away "songs" at Anfield as you become quickly jaded by the "same old" chants especially from London teams.

Thought hearing you're supposed to be at home / we won it 5 times (or whatever variation it was) was weird. Have always been in the anti Who Are Ya brigade anyway but I guess some would say it doesn't matter what you sing as long as you make some noise. I'd be of the opinion as long as you're supporting your team/players rather than just slagging off the other team (or worse slagging off some arch rival who's not playing) it probably doesn't make much odds.
03/07/2007, 3:47 PM
WexDec

Quote:

Originally Posted by brokenstar

All reports that I heard about the match pretty much agree with what's been said here. Very encouraging signs but still alot of inexperience surfacing now and again. This goes with the territory I suppose. Heard Kyle's performance was very very encouraging and apparently he wasn't even fully match fit. This only bodes well for the future, cos as it is, our current crop of strikers don't seem to have that greedy streak it takes to be a good striker. Hopefully Kyle will get a run in the team and a chance to make his mark 'cos we need goals badly

He got taken off late in the second half which I was surprised at but since as you said he wasn't match fit it made sense in a game we weren't going to get anything out of at that stage. No fear of him not getting a run in the team as I didn't know it was his debut, you'd never have guessed. Until I saw the back of his jersey I thought he must be this Sinnott fella that I had heard was our best player......that kinda says it all really.
03/07/2007, 9:46 PM
new blue

Tired of this "3-0, decent performance" baloney.
Promising striker but no goals. All over them - goals against the run of play!
We're not exactly playing Inter Milan.
Same old lame excuses you hear from the hurling team. I was there.
4-0 away, 3-0 at home. Does that sound like progress?
Reality is the way forward.
04/07/2007, 8:21 AM
passinginterest

Quote:

Originally Posted by new blue

Tired of this "3-0, decent performance" baloney.
Promising striker but no goals. All over them - goals against the run of play!
We're not exactly playing Inter Milan.
Same old lame excuses you hear from the hurling team. I was there.
4-0 away, 3-0 at home. Does that sound like progress?
Reality is the way forward.

Now that's baloney.
04/07/2007, 8:45 AM
wexman

hows is that baloney? what he said is right. how the **** is a three nil loss at home a good ****ing performance?? im not going to individualy pick out players and slate them but that team is a shambles run by a crowd of muppets. there are some good young players at the club who should b gaining experience playing u - 21 instead they are fired into the deep end to try and cover up for the players wallace picked that just arent up 2 the job. these young players are not ready for first team yet and wallace will break their hearts b playing them against far more experinced players. does wallace give a ****e i think not.:( these players like the two dempseys kearney and mcguire are players for the future not the present.
04/07/2007, 8:52 AM
passinginterest

Quote:

Originally Posted by new blue

Tired of this "3-0, decent performance" baloney.
Promising striker but no goals. All over them - goals against the run of play!
We're not exactly playing Inter Milan.
Same old lame excuses you hear from the hurling team. I was there.
4-0 away, 3-0 at home. Does that sound like progress?
Reality is the way forward.

4-0 to 3-0 I think if you do the math that is progress.
In all seriousness if you were there surely you will have noticed the improvement that the other regulars have.
Or are you blinded by your bitterness?
This is a Dundalk side that is easily good enough for the premier division. Playing against a team of players who have a quarter of a season at first division level behind them. It's a minor miracle that we're not losing games 7-0. Compare recent match reports to the early season ones, we might have won a few and drawn a few, but, it was backs to the wall and hope for the best. Now we're attacking teams, even, god forbid, 'dominating' for long spells. The goals and the confidence will come, and impatient, unrealistic, 'supporters' like your good self will be left eating humble pie. It may take 2 seasons, but in terms of the history of a football team that's very short term.
04/07/2007, 8:58 AM
passinginterest

Quote:

Originally Posted by wexman

that team is a shambles run by a crowd of muppets.

Once again the only people with issues are the ones who have personal problems with Wallace. I'm not a big fan of the way his teams play, but I don't have a massive chip on my shoulder because he never picked me for one of them. :p
Have you ever heard the saying if your good enough your old enough? Should he just stick with the players that aren't good enough? Surely it's the right decision to admit your mistakes and give others a chance?
Wallace is putting vast amounts of time and money into the entire venture yet people still attack him. Let's not forget this team would never have existed without him. Even if he walked away tomorrow the whole thing would fall down.
Unless, of course, you have a few million burning a hole in your pocket to run an Eircom league team?
04/07/2007, 9:15 AM
Sunny Jim

I've said here recently that I couldn't see any progress and I wondered if we were ever going to get any better. Since then we've played Kilkenny off their own pitch with a performance that showed real potential and a more attacking threat than I have seen before. Against Dundalk, we could have had three goals in the first half alone, thanks mainly to the two new boys, McGuire & Dempsey. I thought the first half performance against Dundalk was the best 45 minutes of the season so far from Wexford in an attacking sense. It was hugely heartening and I think things are looking up for us. The young(er) lads could make a real difference.
04/07/2007, 9:17 AM
wexman

i certainly have no personal issues with wallace as i have never spoke to him & also 4 the record never tried 2 get on any of his teams. if u think getting beat by three goals instead of last times 4 goals is an improvement u are a mad man. our two main strikers havent scored yet and a player wallace didnt pick at the start carlos scores four goals in local cup final. i also notice lee walker his best player in all ireland didnt make his u 21 panel yet he has dunphy in goal 4 them. can u justify that? something seems slightly wrong there boy and looking from the outside you would have 2 assume management havent a clue.
04/07/2007, 10:17 AM
passinginterest

Quote:

Originally Posted by wexman

i certainly have no personal issues with wallace as i have never spoke to him & also 4 the record never tried 2 get on any of his teams. if u think getting beat by three goals instead of last times 4 goals is an improvement u are a mad man. our two main strikers havent scored yet and a player wallace didnt pick at the start carlos scores four goals in local cup final. i also notice lee walker his best player in all ireland didnt make his u 21 panel yet he has dunphy in goal 4 them. can u justify that? something seems slightly wrong there boy and looking from the outside you would have 2 assume management havent a clue.

Lee Walker - Was rotated by Wallace in the youth side, played half the games. Dunphy has huge potential but needs to gain confidence and play matches. Walker has years at under 21, I think he's still under 18.

Carlos - Major questions about attitude and commitment. I think it was Sligo he played before, see what their fans have to say about his penchant for the night life. Scoring 4 goals in a local cup final hardly makes him Ronaldo.
Also on strikers Liam O'Loughlin was a top junior player and consistently one of the top scorers is the Wexford junior league, Lloyd Colfer was also highly rated by a number of Eircom league squads.

The management picked a squad of 28, it's already been cut to 22 and a few under 21s are being given a chance. The management have to live with what they selected this year. I'd imagine at least another 5 or 6 squad places will be available at the end of the season. Trials will be held again. Players will get another chance to prove their ability and commitment.
The club is a long term project, mistakes will be made and lessons will be learned. When the squad was first announced we all knew lads we thought should have been in it, we have to keep a little faith in Wallace and his team and judge them on their stated goals.
That goal has always been to be challenging for promotion in season 3. Until then I'm not going to be critical of the team or the management.
05/07/2007, 8:02 AM
G-Man

Quote:

Originally Posted by wexman

. these young players are not ready for first team yet and wallace will break their hearts b playing them against far more experinced players. does wallace give a ****e i think not.:( these players like the two dempseys kearney and mcguire are players for the future not the present.

yeah, you're spot on there. Wallace doesnt give a sh!t about young players in Wexford. FFS what has he ever done for the underage soccer players in this county?

your an odd one wexman. Firstly you give out that Wallace is playing U.21 players on senior side, who are doing well and improving the team. And then you give out because he isnt playing 17 year olds on the U.21 team? Seems to me that you will complain about anything Wallace and the team does for the sake of it.
05/07/2007, 8:20 AM
wexman

i wasnt givin out about u 21 players playin in first team i just said they should get a few u 21 games under their belt first as it is a bit much rushin them straight in 2 first team. as for the 17 yo not in wallaces u 21 squad.afaik he is not u 18 next year therefore he has left the club in my opinion he was the best keeper wallace had out there and am just wondering y he hasnt being kept on? dont forget he saved 3 penalties in all ireland final! and was man of the match.
05/07/2007, 5:43 PM
WexDec

Quote:

Originally Posted by new blue

Tired of this "3-0, decent performance" baloney.
Promising striker but no goals. All over them - goals against the run of play!
We're not exactly playing Inter Milan.
Same old lame excuses you hear from the hurling team. I was there.
4-0 away, 3-0 at home. Does that sound like progress?
Reality is the way forward.

Its not the same lame excuses. People that have seen improvement in the performance weren't saying the same thing for the previous games. Its clear that particularly in the first half against Dundalk the team gave an improved performance and the second and third goals were deffo against the run of play and believe me we were denied a stone wall peno and a break in big numbers unfairly by the linesman's flag (when we made Dundalk look like the newbies). We were very unlucky, maybe naive, but unlucky too.

Nobody is denying we need to tighten up and be more clinical but we were playing the league leaders, an unbelievably more experienced side. If we put in the same performance against teams around us, like we did by all accounts away to the Cats, then we can actually hope for some deserved results.

If analysing the actual play is baloney than we may just always go by score line only and never discuss performance and potential. If we do get a few results now I suppose it'll be out of the blue cos nobody ever saw it coming ?

Personally I never said we were all over them but we did have the best chances of the first half and they were created with some style whatever about finishing them. If we were in anyway good at set pieces we'd be lethal considering the amount of them we got particularly when we pushed them later in the game (and yes ended up conceding down the other end). Alas we were brutal at all set pieces which is probably our biggest problem.
06/07/2007, 9:03 AM
Piltownpossy

Didnt take too long for the moaning and whinging to start - did it :rolleyes:

Get a grip ffs.
06/07/2007, 12:46 PM
brokenstar

Quote:

Originally Posted by Piltownpossy

Didnt take too long for the moaning and whinging to start - did it :rolleyes:

Get a grip ffs.

Couldn't agree more Piltown...

It's easy to bitch and moan, try supporting the team for once ffs
06/07/2007, 11:21 PM
new blue

Where were all the brilliant new players tonight playing against a crap team that almost went bust a few months ago and is hanging on by a thread. If we cant beat them who can we beat? I suppose we should be thrilled because we held them for 75 minutes - give me a break!
09/07/2007, 8:45 AM
passinginterest

Quote:

Originally Posted by new blue

Where were all the brilliant new players tonight playing against a crap team that almost went bust a few months ago and is hanging on by a thread. If we cant beat them who can we beat? I suppose we should be thrilled because we held them for 75 minutes - give me a break!

A crap team hanging on by a thread?
They had just signed 7 new players, Alan Keeley had been Waterford's best player, the others were all decent quality, not even close to the worst in the league.

We matched them for the first 45 and could have been 2 up in the early stages as they were still getting to know each other. Second half we were poor no doubt about it. The back 3 individually played quite well, but as a unit they let Shels in behind too often. The wing back offered little in defence or attack, it's a thankless position and one we've struggled with all season. Have to say Kyle Dempsey was disappointing, looked bright early on but then faded. The lads around me were suggesting that he's still far from fit and he's still only a young lad, so maybe i expected too much.

Overall having not seen the team in a couple of months I'd say the improvement is very noticeable. We still sit a bit too deep and don't get forward fast enough, but the players are far more comfortable on the ball. They can play themselves out of trouble much more often (although they seem to run out of ideas once they cross the half way line).

No doubt a lot of work has to be done still, but, progress is being made and players are improving. I wouldn't mind seeing them play 4-4-2 for a few games, however, I don't see it happening.

Fair play to the supporters club, the singing made for an entertaining night. I'm your proudest new member.

And let's not forget... Patsi's gonna get ya... Patsi's gonna get ya....

Ah legend, how many bruised Shels players can one man leave in his wake. :)
09/07/2007, 2:11 PM
passinginterest

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave77

Havent seen L37 but was really impressed with Wexford Youths both times I have seen them against Shels. On Friday they got the ball down tried to hold possesion and play through us rather then long balls and just depending on strength like some of the other clubs in the league. I think they can only be positive for the league.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Galway Harps

Wexford Youths are an interesting and ambitious addition to the league and seem likely to contribute in the coming years. They will develop good facilities and when they ditch amateurism will probably be a decent D1 club at least. They're getting a harsh baptism this year- but the roots appear to be solid enough.

Interesting how fans of Shels and Finn Harps can see the potential and the ability of Wexford Youths and some of our own can do nothing but complain. :rolleyes:
09/07/2007, 5:43 PM
brokenstar

Quote:

Originally Posted by passinginterest

Interesting how fans of Shels and Finn Harps can see the potential and the ability of Wexford Youths and some of our own can do nothing but complain. :rolleyes:

Kind of says it all really :D
09/07/2007, 6:27 PM
WexDec

Thanks for the roving report Passing. Sounds like in the last 3 three games there have deffo been some guarded improvements. Guarded......before I get crucifed for talking up a "crap" team......because we've only taken points from one of them but all seem to recognise the areas we're lacking. Amazing how getting a few points might quicken this improvement though afterall football is a funny old game and these young lads maybe need the confidence that results bring more than most in their baptism of fire season.

BTW love that 3rd party quote about our style of play. Its true at least we're aiming to play the beautiful game and I'd take that and being bottom (or hopefully 3 or 4 places off it) for now rather than route one tactics with relative success. Whats the point of it all otherwise.

Sickened I couldn't make it to Tolka after living around the corner from it before and never thinking a Wexford team would be playing there. Ironically I had to go to a wedding in Wexford. I hope to make the last game of the season there though with it being handily on a Thursday.
10/07/2007, 9:51 AM
brokenstar

It's true. I was at the game on Friday too and i have to say i've seen the improvements. We are slowly pulling it together but some areas of the field still have to be addressed. I'm not too worried about Kyle to be honest 'cos i was talking to one of the lads after the game and apparently he only has 2 proper training sessions under his belt so far. So, with a little bit of time and patience i'm sure he has the quality to take the step up.

The wing-back situation has to be addressed though. It seems to be stretching our defence whenever the ball goes wide. Saying that, our back 3 seem to be very very solid and consistent. Marty Kelly had a bit of a 'mare on Fri as did Conor Sinnott, so hopefully they can recapture some of their early season form soon. Top performers in my opinion were Patsy Malone, Stuuy Lawlor and Anthony Russell. Jason had a good game too and made some good saves. Good to see Ducker back too.

Against a brand new and markedly improved Shels team, i feel we held our own very well and our heads didn't sink after the goal went in. We pushed further forward and nearly got our reward, but sadly it wasn't to be. It's coming together, slowly but surely.

The sight of Patsy Malone, with one boot in hand and still running after the ball makes you think the guy's either a nutter or seriously committed to the cause! A bit of both I think!