Andy Reid was nothing short of brilliant tonight. Controlled the entire field of play, everything we had went through him. Why didn't he play against Slovakia again?
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Andy Reid was nothing short of brilliant tonight. Controlled the entire field of play, everything we had went through him. Why didn't he play against Slovakia again?
Stan wanted to try someone with less experience and ability.
Like watching Liam Brady in his prime. Brilliant performance from Reid.Quote:
Originally Posted by Colbert Report
Stans a tool and should be booted out - I hope Keogh goes on to be a great player but as me ould fella would say - "he could pass water or beat eggs".
When McGeady came on he was great - should have been on from the start!
SligoBhoy67 - McGeady is 10 times the player Keogh will ever be HOWEVER I know for a fact Aiden himself was disgusted the way the last two internationals went and knew himself he didn't really deserve a start. To be honest Aiden was probably best used from the bench tonight anyway but was used too late. Should have had your cloggers like Kilbane and Keogh on for an hour and then got McGeady and Long on sharpish on the hour mark for those two.
Great player but can't cover enough ground over 90 minutes for a central midfielder and that's why he's playing at Charlton and that's why his internaitonal manager doesn't trust him away from home.Quote:
Originally Posted by Noelys Guitar
Quote:
Originally Posted by McGeady10
Maybe bringing him on was the best course of action but 10 minutes was a joke! McGeady tore them a new whole going down the right.
P.S. not a mention about it from that tosser Whelan either altough he was quick to critises him for every other mistake in the other two games
Exactly my thoughts - McGeady should have been one much much earlier. Keogh played well but he was knacked for the last twenty minutes he was on the pitch. Andy Reid kept sending him down the right hand side of the pitch and he just couldn't beat the German left back for pace. In fairness he's a striker not a winger but McGeady played crap the last few games for Ireland so he didn't deserve to start. Had Carr been fit maybe Finnan could have played right wing.
Agree. Aiden didn't deserve to start but should have been on earlier and did well when he came on.Quote:
Originally Posted by Colbert Report
well he certainly made amends in this game was the best player on the park by far for the last ten minutesQuote:
Originally Posted by Colbert Report
Given 6 - didn't have too much work on the night though he made one good reaction save in the first half
Kelly 4 - looked completely lost. It was a good thing the Germans didn't have a decent right winger out there
O'Brien 5 - I squirmed every time he came near the ball. He was solid enough but not really tested at all
Dunne 7 - saved our bacon a few times, looked good with strong convincing challenges all night
Finnan 7 - looked brilliant all night. great header off the line to save the game early on
Kilbane 6 - didn't do much but didn't mess up either. a couple of good crosses, maybe he's worth keeping around for the world cup campaign after all
Reid 10 - absolutely unreal. he looked knackered by the end but he played the best game of any player i've seen for ireland since one Roy Keane left town.
Carsley 6 - a couple of good tackles, kept things in check and allowed Reid to be creative. he should never, ever try to pass the ball farther than five yards though
Keogh 5 - started well but didn't have the fitness needed. not much of anything creative down the wing, which is something we really needed. what i woud have given to have duff fit for the match
keane 4 - i love robbie but he wouldn't have scored in a brothel tonight. how many times did he have an easy chance but found some way to mess it up?
doyle 6 - ran hard all night and used his head to set up loads of chances.
long 6 - did well and caused the germans problems at the back
mcgeady 6 - wasn't on that long but managed one good cross into the box
murphy - not on long enough to rate but he looked big and tall, maybe we could have used him earlier as most of our chances in the end came off the long ball
Mostly agree.
Although Reid was good I think the only reason he seemed so earth shattering is that we have had a lack of a good midfielder for so long. IF he can keep fit for the next 18 months he could be vital alongside his namesake.
I'd swap Robbie and Doyle's scores. Doyle did nothing and what he did was trash. Robbie tried all night as always.
One thought about this campaign, has there been a single game when we got a better result than we deserved?
cast your mind back to the San Marino game!Quote:
Originally Posted by cavan_fan
reids passing was great tonite but it always is. thought o brien had a good game. thought the match wasnt that great to watch. but that was maybe cause there was nothin really at stake.we have some good players but is staunton the man to get the best out of them?
Sweet jesus, the more rubbish like this I hear the more I want to start supporting Stan. If he had started with McGeady everyone would have said 'You see he doesnt know what he's doing.....' McGeady is at best an OK player but has never played well for Ireland. When he came on he was entusiastic but with little end result.Quote:
Originally Posted by sligobhoy67
It's a bit like the people chanting 'you dont know what you'r doing when Long came on for Doyle.' Of course Long was far more dangerous than Doyle
In reality we deserved to win, OK in the end it was a last minute goal but we were the better team.Quote:
Originally Posted by ollie
I watched the game on German TV and the commentator kept quite most of the time when an Irish player had the ball, presumably because he didn't know them well enough to recognise them from the upper echelons of Croker :D Anyway, there were 3 or 4 passes in a row from Reid out to the right wing that were simply amazing. The game was OK and we had a few close attempts but for me Reid's passing was the standout feature of the game. I'd really love to see him and the other Reid get a run of games together in CMF for Ireland and hope that Duff can regain his old form.
I thought Kelly improved immensly on his last two games. When I saw that J. O'Brien was starting at CB alarm bells rang but he did fine. However he wasn't really tested to a great extent and Dunne mopped up a lot of dangerous balls into the box. All in all I would say Ireland did a decent job of containing a good German side missing a few key players but didn't turn the screw enough to be clear winners, which should have been expected from the home team desperate for 3 points. A draw was probaly a fair result, which is not bad against one of the best teams in Europe/The World. I get the feeling this is the type of game where S. Ireland might have made a difference, even from the bench.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cavan_fan
Well said cavanfan. But think you're wasting your time arguing it here. Just look at the usernames involved in the pro mcgeady conversation on this thread
Job done for the Germans. They went through the motions in the second half knowing that a draw was all they needed.
We didn't have the urgency required to win the game - Robbie Keane had a great chance to score but other than that we didn't have that many scoring chances. Considering Joey O'Brien was making his competitive debut tonight out of position I thought he did very well. Reid gave a good account of himself tonight whilst the rest of the team did the minimal that was expected of them.
Staunton's in a no win situation. If he went with McGeady from the start he would have been attacked for not trying something new. He didn't have much other option on the right side - Liam Miller maybe, but I think he had a knock heading into the match. O'Shea and McShane were both out so Finnan had to stay at the back.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cavan_fan
thats ****e talk - beat players, quality crosses and got in amongest them - that is the very essence of "end result" - he did everything bar score a goal - which he nearly di also.
I take your point about his other two games - but not this one
We were ok with a make shift team but once again we are back in the very same place.
Staunton did not make the right substitutions early enough in the second half.
The team is still effectively leaderless and without a real coach. Quite frankly, this does nothing for us. I am genuinely concerned that we have another 2+ years of crap ahead of us.
reid was excellent tonight. he ran himself ragged which was clear when they showed a close up of him at the end of the match. Strangely enough McGeady was good when he came on. did more than he did tonight than he did vs the czechs and slovakia!
I thought Joey O Brien showed fantastic composure considering he played cb and I hope rb is not going to become his permanent position as we have options there.Be interesting to see how he would do in cental midfield and he seems to have a strong mentality.Andy Reid was excellant and Keogh did ok considering he was out of position.McGeady seems better as an impact sub.
That was one of our better performances under Stan. Will probably buy him a bit more time. I think the last 2 games will determine whether he stays. We deserved to win. Andy Reid was immense, think a few are being a tad harsh on Keogh, he was OK. Kelly was abysmal. Shows how desperate we need a LB.
I still think there are some positions in the team which an EL player deserves a shot. I think Ken Oman deserves a shot at Centre-Half. He has been outstanding all season but seamingly EL players are once again being ignored for Internationals.
What about that young lad at Aston Villa, O'Halloran I think his name is. He looks like he can do the business at LB for us for the next ten years.
You're not sure of his name but you think he is good enough to play for Ireland until 2017.....oh ok then...........!!!!!!!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Colbert Report
He's playing with the u21s at the moment. The England game should be a good test for him on tuesday.one for the future according to some.
He's 21 already, should have broken into the first team already. A loan spell at Wolves might do him good.
He's rated at 59 in FIFA 2008!
What a crap match.
I think it's the worse possible outcome tonight. We've got a "creditable" draw with Germany. That is what Stan and Oscar Wilde at the FAI will say. This will be used as some sort of validation that the "team is growing", "the learning process is working" etc etc. Stan will lead us to failure in 2010 qualifiying...
The fact of the matter is this group was fairly easy, a decent level of organisation would have seen us get through. We've been very sloppy in every match bar the Germany ones. Even then tonight the Germans were without key players, esp when Schwienstiger went off. But Stan just wanted the draw.
I cant understand the overreaction to McGeady. He had 10 minutes against a tiring defence where we were trying to throw everything forward.
On that note , one thing that frustrated me with Kerr (and it seems as if Stan is the same) was our strategy in the last ten minutes of a match. Its a game that we have to win at any cost so why are we replacing one striker for another and going like for like (doyle and Long) ?
Why are we not sacrificing a defender ?
Also, why isnt Richard Dunne sent up front for the last ten minutes ? Whats the point in Reid and co throwing in crosses when Keane and Long are about 30 cm shorter that the two central defenders ? Take some chances and chuck the kitchen sink at them.
I have spent a long time looking at threads on this site and wondering whether i should post and tonight spurred me into posting.
First of all I would like to acknowledge a player who is constantly slated on this forum. Robbie Keane was brilliant tonight. He missed a few chances, but any player who has played up front at any level will recognise that the work he did tonight was unbelievable.
A lot of people have made reference to the fact that he seems to play better for Tottenham than he does for Ireland but I believe that if you look at the guy on the park he puts in as much effort than I've ever seen anyone put in for Ireland.
Another man whot is regualarly made fun of is Steve Staunton!
I'm sick of looking at the telly/radio/forums and regularly hearing so-called experts/fans dismiss his contribution to our national team.
When Brian Kerr took charge of Ireland I was delighted. I thought, "Here is a guy who understands our game, who has grown up in Ireland with the league as it is here, and who knows how it is to be a supporter of Irish football."
I feel Staunton has learned from the mistakes of Kerr. He has brought players into the team who would never have got a look in under any other manager. These players have a loyalty to the manager who gave them their first cap. Look a Keogh tonight. He didn't use the ball well at all times but when we were with or without the ball, he showed that he had a desire to play well for team and manager.. for country.
I also want to praise the contribution O' Brien made tonight. Coming into the side and distributing the ball excellently as well as playing well positionally (and this is not an easy thing to do) was a welcome sight for me. This man really stepped up to the plate.
The performance of Andy Reid will be talked about by one and all. This fella should start every international for us.
mattie, i dunno if your on a bit of a wind up, but robbie keane certainly was not brilliant tonight, and your point about keogh being willing etc, that is a basic minimum for any footballer and not a whole lot to do with the manager, kevin kilbane for example has been willing to break his arse for 3 irish managers and keogh is in that mould, it has nothing to do with "the gaffer" and even if it was thats all Staunton offers which is not enough at any level, a manager should have all the bases covered, tactics, organisation, selection, set pieces et al and for me and i dont think im alone in thinking that staunton doesnt cover any of these basesQuote:
Originally Posted by mattie
I am sure he is a lovely fellow,and he done ok in a cameo apperance tonight but in fairness, McGeady wouldn't kick snow off a rope,possibly one of the worst players at present to wear the Green. Well that's my opinion anyway.Quote:
Originally Posted by McGeady10
Inexile, No windup, I promise.
In retrospect brilliant was a bit strong for Robbie tonight, but he was not far short of it, and you probably won't agree with me, he wasn't far short, and it was a captain's performance...something I haven't seen from him 100% till tonight... On your resonse to Andy Keogh.."minimum".. that is unfair. What I saw from him tonight was far beyond "minimum".. he put effort in where other players (like mcGeady who people were calling on to be in the staring line-up) would have given up.
Also, it is worth pointing out the gane that the likes of Steve Finnan and Richard Dunne had tonight.. These guys played like they wanted to play for Ireland.
I would say that I thought Staunton should have introduced Miller at some stage tonight, but other than that I thought the manager had an extermely commendable performance!
First of all, welcome to the madhouse, that is foot.ie. :D
Staunton is made fun of, with good reason. This has been a weak group, we've shown against Germany, Czech Republic, and Slovakia at home, what we're capable of, given the right boss, the right tactics, and the right team. Staunton is not even LSL material. You don't lose 5 goals in Cyprus and qualify for tournaments. You don't win only 4 games from 10 and qualify for tournaments. You don't lose 3 qualifying games and qualify for tournaments. We didn't lose the group tonight, we lost it many moons ago.Quote:
Originally Posted by mattie
The next qualifying draw is in 7 weeks time, and with a proper boss in charge, we might actually win the group with the players at our disposal. Staunton is not that man.
Cheers:)
Mypost, Are you being fair.. LSL is no slouch;)
but seriously,
I agree, Cyprus was a DEBACLE, worst Irish peformance in a long time
BUT.. this might need to happen to a team (and don't anoyone dismiss this as a a give em a chance routine).
Look at Scotland. Average players. Given belief...not just by a manager but by the media and by support.
Look, help me out......
Does anyone else think we are turning into ENGLAND the way we critisize everthin the minute things go slightly wrong?
Sure it's not perfect but does anyone else think we are moving forward or am I on my own??
Andy Reid was top class tonight really showed his passing ability. I thought that Joey O Brien was a close second for man of the match. His reading of the game was top class and considering he was played out of position it was an immense performance.
Robbie Keane and Kevin Doyle were poor and Keane should really have scored that goal. Long should have been on earlier for either one of them.
All in a nothing match really.
Well Andy Reid should from now on be one of the first names on the teamsheet. He's the only player in midfield than can pass the ball and be creative with it. Hopefully get Duff back for the WC qualifiers.
McGeady was good when he came on. The makings of an excellent player is there. It's his decision making that lets him down IMO.