Republic of Ireland V Scotland - Saturday, 13th June 2015 - Euro 2016 Qualifier

[RiffRaff]

This is a complete disaster. If people are really looking at possible outcomes where we might qualify, they are fooling themselves. The top 24 football nations in Europe will be competing at Euro2016 and we will not be one. This is shocking and outrageous. The FAI, instead of appointing management teams for each individual campaign, need to appoint someone who will be spend 2 campaigns developing the upcoming players and promoting the LOI as a viable option for our squad players. O'Neill and Keane have failed in their objective, that's all I can say about them

[geysir]

I suppose Murphy over Long was the big issue, but I can't fault a player like Murphy who gave everything and then some more.
I thought O'Neill set the team up well. I was happy enough with the way we played, trying to out scot the scots, but after they scored that total fluke of a goal, I fast forwarded much of the recording so I could get to watch the Faroes stream. Up to then I thought the crowd were behind what the team were trying to do. I suppose it was up to us to respond after they equalised and managing to do so from that gilt edge chance would have transformed perceptions, but it wasn't to be.

Scotland are an ugly team, just horrible, I don't like their coach, probably the only coach in the world that club fans were very glad to get rid of, after winning 3 league titles in a row, I really don't like cummy players like naismith and fletcher, weasily looking for the cheat angle all the time.
I don't mind having double standards, If McCarthy felt he had to elbow the bejaysus of some scot player's face then I trust he had good cause to do so.

[backstothewall]

Just watched the RTE panel bit from after the game. Shocked to discover that Ronnie Whelan gave his man of the match award to Robbie Brady.

Did i miss something? All I saw from him was a passable performance by a midfielder playing out of position at left back, and a succession of crap crosses.

[TheBoss]

If we are being honest about the game it was 2 pretty average teams not showing great quality on the ball, these games can go either way on any occasion.

Whats with all the panic about Ireland's hopes pretty much over, I think now Ireland have to target Poland for that playoff spot, cause they have to go to Germany and Scotland, so its not unrealistic to say that Poland would get 1 point from those games then beat Gibraltar and have a do or die match against Ireland in Warsaw, in which a draw will qualify them. I think if Ireland beat Georgia, Gibraltar and Poland, they will make the playoffs.

[tricky_colour]

Just watched the RTE panel bit from after the game. Shocked to discover that Ronnie Whelan gave his man of the match award to Robbie Brady.

Did i miss something? All I saw from him was a passable performance by a midfielder playing out of position at left back, and a succession of crap crosses.

Too right, me made one decent cross, then bizarrely after finally putting in a decent dead ball, giving me some hope, Hendrick started taking the corners (from the left anyway).

Howver I just realised Brady put in the corner for the goal, the shock of which seem to have cause a short termed memory loss!!

[tricky_colour]

If we are being honest about the game it was 2 pretty average teams not showing great quality on the ball, these games can go either way on any occasion.

Whats with all the panic about Ireland's hopes pretty much over, I think now Ireland have to target Poland for that playoff spot, cause they have to go to Germany and Scotland, so its not unrealistic to say that Poland would get 1 point from those games then beat Gibraltar and have a do or die match against Ireland in Warsaw, in which a draw will qualify them. I think if Ireland beat Georgia, Gibraltar and Poland, they will make the playoffs.

*If* we can step up to the plate we still have a chance.

[shakermaker1982]

Was just watching the RTE post match analysis there and Dunphy's point about kids needing less coaching had me scratching my head.

The rest of Europe have been advocating more A qualified coaches for kids, particularly when they are in that crucial development phase and Dunphy is rambling on about little lads like Wes needing to play street football.

Non competitive football and having fun is important and as pointed out this is going on in Ireland now.

Do we have enough indoor venues when the weather is *****. So 99% of the year?

Are we losing lads to rugby and the GAA?

[liamoo11]

Scotland were so poor they will lose to Germany and drop points in Georgia and against Poland . Criminal not to pick long and mcgeady was huge loss. U can only afford one of murphy or Walters in the side at maximum just no pace or guile there. Brady was far more impressive than Coleman who's crossing was woeful . Thought McCarthy got on a lot if ball and certainly dominated brown. Our centre half a were far better than Scotland's and that will b there downfall .

[ArdeeBhoy]

That was pure awful.
Go MO'N go...

[pineapple stu]

The FAI, instead of appointing management teams for each individual campaign, need to appoint someone who will be spend 2 campaigns developing the upcoming players and promoting the LOI as a viable option for our squad players.

This is all drivel. You don't develop players at senior international level; the international game isn't the pinnacle any more. And promoting the LoI for our squad members will achieve nothing and be impractical anyway. Why would, say, Jon Walters (wage maybe £10k per week) want to play in the LoI (wage - maybe €500 per week) and what would he or the national team achieve as a result?

[the doc]

That was pure awful.
Go MO'N go...

I hear you fella, should never of been given the job, common knowledge in the game he was a spent force.

No doubt people will be pointing to other reasons such as our lack of youth development.

But that's just a red herring, I know a few people who are involved in youth football academy set ups around Europe.

To be successful you need to invest both time and money, not as we have done previously embarked on a long term plan to develop players and football around the country only for the suits to pull the money out time and time again.

Theres so much I could say but not on here!!!!!!!

[Stuttgart88]

Look. Even if the senior international team was phenomenally successful we should be constantly reviewing grassroots structures and practices. The FAI is a dysfunctional body unable or unwilling to take full strategic ownership of the sport it is supposed to be in charge of. There are a lot of reasons for this, but that's the point of the Governance and JD threads to discuss. Grassroots, the LOI and the senior team should all be part of the same thing.

Back to the game. The big issue for me was the omission of Long. I wasn't fussed about Murphy playing but thought Long should have started over one of the two that did start. To me it didn't matter which. Taking Hoolahan off made no sense. I think O'Neill did exactly what Strachan would have wanted him to do, both at the start and at the end.

That said, Scotland offered feck all and only a shot that was so bad it took a deflection off a guy who was barely even trying to block it got them back in. Strachan bringing on Anya is cited as a stroke of genius but he gave us some trouble but no more than you'd expect in an international game.

Cymru's automatic Welsh Reference Detector will pick this up and disagree, but I watched Wales on Friday and didn't see that much different to what we had, bar a world class pace merchant. As far as each game panned out, Belgium gifted Bale a chance (which he took expertly) and created maybe one more chance themselves. Belgium created half chances which may or may not have gone in. Result 1-0. We created a few decent chances, took one in debatable circumstances, ceded a few half chances and conceded one goal from a deflection. Other things remaining the same, we might well have won that game with a better bounce of the ball. Scotland got lucky. They were far more impressive in both Germany and Poland.

[Stuttgart88]

I hear you fella, should never of been given the job, common knowledge in the game he was a spent force.

No doubt people will be pointing to other reasons such as our lack of youth development.

But that's just a red herring, I know a few people who are involved in youth football academy set ups around Europe.

To be successful you need to invest both time and money, not as we have done previously embarked on a long term plan to develop players and football around the country only for the suits to pull the money out time and time again.

Theres so much I could say but not on here!!!!!!!

I'm confused Ted. Lack of youth development is a red herring, but an important one?

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/...ship-qualifier

Eleven years ago the notion of O’Neill coaching what is essentially a Championship team in international shirts was ludicrous. Not so on a June evening in Dublin where he was seeking to invigorate an Irish campaign and move the narrative away from one of disquiet towards the FAI’s chief executive, John Delaney.

Don't understand the analogy. As bad as we are, we always put out a team that has at least 9 Premier League players.

Why should anyone take anything Ewan Murray says at face value anyways? The man looks like he spends more time looking in the mirror putting on make up than he does watching football.

In direct opposition here, O’Neill not only faced the man who replaced him at Celtic – with budgetary constraints attached after years of lavish spending – but someone more obviously suited to international football. Gordon Strachan’s obsession with coaching detail contrasts markedly with O’Neill, who wouldn’t be a regular at taking club sessions. It is partly to O’Neill’s credit that he stepped into this environment, one that would not have seemed a logical one for his management style. His alliance with Roy Keane was even more tricky to fathom.

OK.... this is more agreeable.

O’Neill’s deployment of Daryl Murphy rather than Shane Long in attack may have raised eyebrows but the reality is the Southampton man has not performed to anywhere approaching his true capabilities, consistently, when on international duty. The identity of Ireland’s centre-forward was partly immaterial; it seemed the approach would always be to hit the front as quickly as possible.

Because he hasn't been given a chance! He has started about a third of the games he has played for Ireland and has never started consecutive competitive games. The majority of the time he does play, he impresses. Do your research.

And yet, during the opening stages, Ireland’s overall play was vastly superior to their opponents’. The hosts were sharper, slicker and more menacing. When the opening goal arrived it was on account of dreadful officiating but nobody could reasonably argue O’Neill’s men did not merit their advantage. They were, that said, lucky to have 11 men at their disposal after James McCarthy’s elbow to the face of Russell Martin.

Guess we can stop dining on the Hanley/Long incident now. McCarthy was lucky in hindsight and Walters goal was blatantly offside. We get the breaks and we still can't capitalise. They acknowledge their mistake in starting Ritchie and he makes way promptly at the break. We never acknowledge our selection errors until it is too late and the damage is irreversible.

[Closed Account]

Don't understand the analogy. As bad as we are, we always put out a team that has at least 9 Premier League players.

Having Premier League players doesn't necessarily equate to a Premier League team. The 11 we started yesterday, in my opinion would probably fall between top of Championship, bottom of Premier League.,

[the doc]

I'm confused Ted. Lack of youth development is a red herring, but an important one?

Come on now Dougal, next thing you will be asking Mrs Doyle to explain it to ya!

Drink! Drink!

You know what I meant Father Stutts

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

They're still playing in the Premier League - arguably the best league in the world - every week though. They are playing at the highest possible standard of club football.

We would be absolutely ****ing ourselves if we were drawn in a group with say Greece, Turkey or Portugal but the bare facts are that those teams struggle to dispatch teams like Faroe Islands & Liechtenstein and toil through qualification groups. Aside from Arda Turan & Ronaldo, they don't have a world class player between them. They fill out their teams with players playing in Russia, Turkey, Greece and Portugal. Most of the teams in these countries, aside from five or six teams in each country, would also be interchangeable with top level Championship teams. Portugal have just brought back a 37 year old Ricardo Carvalho from Intl. retirement and still start players like Postiga, Quaresma and Hugo Almeida who have all completely flopped at any meaningful level of club football over the last six or seven years.

I am rambling a bit here but the crux of my point is that you cannot read too much into whether our players are contending for European places or engaged in a relegation battle at domestic level. Long can't get in the team and he is our highest placed domestic player. Everton & Stoke have most of our established Intl. players and they are regulars in mid-table. Though they got relegated, McShane, Quinn & Meyler barely play for the national team. Brady was the one player yesterday who certainly didn't lack for confidence so you can't say relegation affected him.

International football - particularly in Europe - is a pretty poor standard across the board. We are not the team we were but look at Holland and where they draw their players from now. Look at France (lost to Albania yesterday). It's endemic.

We just have a ****poor attitude about approaching things and I don't know how we are going to get out of this cycle. We have beaten one half-decent team in a competitive game over 15 years. If we had to play Greece or Romania next week, we would be bricking it!

[Closed Account]

I am rambling a bit here but the crux of my point is that you cannot read too much into whether our players are contending for European places or engaged in a relegation battle at domestic level.

Exactly, the analogy made was that O'Neill is in charge of a group of players who wouldn't look out of place in the Championship. That is all.

[Stuttgart88]

I partially agree with TOWK. Not picking Long was bizarre. The players are at least as good as Scotland's and many other teams we fail to get the better of in qualifying. Strachan believes in his players. O'Neill not only doesn't trust his but he publicly says as much. There's nothing wrong with privately doubting your squad but telling them you don't have much confidence in them is unforgivable. Scotland, Wakes, Iceland and NI probably can't wait to play good opposition these days. We're afraid of modest opposition at home and have been since Mick left.

[SkStu]

What did O'Neill say about not trusting his players, Stutts? This was my biggest problem with Traps tenure.