Rep. of Ireland 2-1 Australia

Good and bad about the game tonight. We started poorly and didn't really look like getting going until they scored, having said that if it hadn't been for Colgan in the one on one against Viduka we could have been two down quickly. I thought John O'Shea was excellent, thoroughly deserved his goal, i thought Kilbane was very good when he came on and dare i say it, offered more than Duff had the first half (he looked better in the middle). Clinton needs a few games under his belt with Birmingham to get his sharpness back fully, (the Dugarry injury could be a blessing for us) he did well but you could tell he hadn't played in a while.

good points:
O'Shea. Great team spirit after going behind. Good performances where i wasn't really expecting them (Colgan, Kilbane and Harte).

bad points:
took us so long to get into gear, need to be much sharper against the russians. robbie's injury, hope it's not serious as it looked.

overall, we'll need to step it up a gear against Russia, but at least we knbow that we have the players to do so.

Yeah, wasn't a great game, but we got the win without playing really well. Australia were definitely up for it, so the result means something.

Thought our full-backs were losing their positions a lot throughout the game, which was fairly worrying. Colgan did very well - deserved man-of-the-match (best Irish player anyway). Going forward, we were far too slow and ponderous, but I suppose in three weeks when we play Russia, there'll be another three or four games under the belt, so it's not too mch of a concern.

Kerr's record is beginning to look very impressive though - 1 draw and 5 wins so far - none against really good teams, but we're grinding out the results against capable teams, which bodes well for Russia and Switzerland.

Great result for the U-21s too - when did they last score 5?!

And the guy with the world service passport scored aswell .... great !! :)

Poor preformance up until O'Sheas goal, played like Brazil after that, you could tell our players were ring rusty, people like Duff and Healy looked very tired so only showed flashes, Australia were much the same, Emerton was well off the pace, so really it was two rusty teams going against each other for a while, Kilbane, having played more then most, made a difference coming on, as did Harte who's passing was simply breathtaking and yet defencively he let Viduka walk past him at one point, he's an enigma, you take the good with the bad as you'll get both, would love to see him given a run as a winger at club level.

Morrison simply must start, what more can he do? He's a real difference maker, his running is absolutley superb, he is strong, holds up the ball well, has great technique and is the best finisher and most natural goal scorer in the side, plus he's very pacey which helps. I know he wasn't fit today so couldn't start, but weather Keanes fit or not, Morrison must start.

Holland and Kinsella aren't upto it as a mid field partnership, it's blatant live, they just hide from the ball, Healy demanded the ball and even though he didn't play his best he still showed flashes and was a good outlet for the defence, we need to try Delap out aswell.

Another positive for me was Carr, who looked fantastic until his departure, all in all I think there were more positives then negatives, we were playing poorly but that was mainly rustyness and sloppyness I felt, when we attacked with purpose we carved open more chances in the last 25 minutes then either side did before that, which is a plus.

But the bottom line is we beat an excellent side while putting in a below par preformance and that can only be a good thing, Australia are every bit as good as Russia or Switzerland and took this one very seriously, so that's a real confidence boost.

S'pose you can't really argue with winning the game while playing below par, but there are plenty of points for Kerr to work on before the Ruskies roll into town.

The centre midfield simply must contain Healy. I lost count of the amount of times one of the centre halves had the ball taking it out of defence, and had no outlet in the in the centre of midfield and had to resort to either hoofing it or playing it to a very tightly marked Duff. Healy, although looking rusty at times, dropped deep to pick up the ball and always made himself available. When he gets fully fit, he should be a dead cert on the team sheet.

Elsewhere I must say I thought Connolly did well when he came on. His enthusiasm was infectious and he produced several delicious little flicks and passes. I'm not his biggest fan, but was willing him on to score a goal at the end.

It will be very interesting to see how Duff copes this season both at club an international level. He will have two men on him almost every time he gets the ball from now on and I thought Lucas Neill played him very well last night. If he is to become a world class player, he needs to show he can do it no matter how many men the oppostion put on him.

Another positive was Carr and Finnan down the right. You could see at times that Finnan wasn't entirely comfortable that high up the pitch, but it gives us a real option to Lee Carsley and (if he's ever fit) Steven Reid.

Plenty of work to do, but plenty to work with.

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Originally posted by Slash/ED
Australia are every bit as good as Russia or Switzerland and took this one very seriously, so that's a real confidence boost.

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The team from Oz were very poor, the two centre backs made the angry ant look good. Seem to be very fit but their first touch was very poor for internationals. giae away the ball cheaply. Only interested in getting Ireland on the break.

The result was good the performance was crap. Thought the atmosphere was crap for most of the game (I was in the West stand, never again - EL section for me).

Should have lost only for colgan o'shea morrision(not very good in the air). Ireland must get the ball quicker to duff.

Dunno how Colgan got MOTM as IMO Viduka messed up his chance more than Colgan saving it.

Kilbane & Harte were the subs that turned the match ;)

Connolly again was muck - i'd expect more than few flicks from 50 minutes of football. He is NOT international standard & never will be. Alan Less should have got in the squad ahead of him to be given a chance.

Lansdowne "atmosphere" was non-existent & almost like a $hel$ match at Tolka with probably similar amount of $hel$ fans there.

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Originally posted by NigeSausagepump
Duff .....I thought Lucas Neill played him very well last night.

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I agree, Neill knows him inside out from Blackburn and i thought that came across clearly, Duff never found any space at all.

I thought Connolly did OK, not all the flicks came off but he was up for it and worked hard. it's clear he's never going to lead the line for us though.

I think Duff, and the team in general, looked lethargic and lacking pace, probably a result of the time of year it was played at. At one point, Duff beat his man and felt a slight tug on his shirt, instead of continueing with his run he just stopped and looked at the ref who then gave the decision his way, a fully fit flying Duff would have continued regardless, most of the team just looked tired and lazy. That'd probably explain Kilbanes impact, he did well when he came on as he's a first division player and has now played three (I think) club matches this season.

Seeing as Duff is going to be double teamed every time why don't we take full advantage of the extra man in another part of the field.