Republic of Ireland V Gibraltar(A) 4th Sept & Georgia(H) 7th Sept 2015 - Euro 2016 Q

[pineapple stu]

Ok, maybe it wasn't that easy (the ball was coming at pace etc.) but he should have got something on it.

Agree he should have got something on it. Did he even get any nick? It seemed to at best glance off him leg, hit the guy behind him, bounce back off Long and then out of play.

[brine3]

And some of the stuff that has been said by you about Keane hasn't been unfair on him? Come off it.

How have I been unfair on him? It's a fact that he is 35 years old. It's a fact that his pace is completely gone and his fitness diminished. It's a fact that he has no aerial or physical presence. If he was banging in the goals then none of that would matter. But he has only been getting the goals against the minnows. Long at least gives you pace, fitness and aerial presence.

I get the feeling that people here have the 20-30 year old Keane in their minds. I'd pick him too! Any day of the week! But that Keane no longer exists.

[elroy]

I would imagine the Scots mentality will be that they need to beat the Poles. That would be worst result for us. Not sure I see Scotland winning it but a big Hampden night etc, could happen. Equally the poles could play counter attack football and pick them off.

I think we should focus on getting a point against Germany first and foremost. Similar to the nil nil in Croke Park would be lovely.

[OwlsFan]

That Georgian team probably would have beaten us in the 2012 campaign, they were better that any other incarnation we have played against.

Disagree. They were no better than Macedonia or Armenia, whom we beat both home and away in that campaign. None of these teams is a walk-over.

I honestly don't see any great improvement since the Trap era except we now play without wingers and create even less. However, we do put the opposition under a bit more pressure and if we can be kept up for 90 minutes, there is a hope they'll crack. It took a bit of magic from Hendrick otherwise we were staring down the barrel of a 0-0. The advent of Long over Keane at least gave us the second option for the long ball (no pun intended) as otherwise we only had Walters to aim for. They both won some better ball in the second half which raised the spirits of everyone. There was more tempo in that half but still not a huge amount of creativity. We tried to play the ball out on occasions which usually ended up on the ball going back to Shay who would nervously kick the ball or we would lose it up front.

Positives:

(a) We won.
(b) Great goal.
(c) Game time for Ciaran Clarke and Robbie Brady (at full back)
(d) Generally defended well.
(e) We were able to up our game.

Negatives

(a) Lapses by Robbie Brady early on might have cost us.
(b) Terrible first half
(c) Robbie K without support is not an option.
(d) Relatively poor attendance but a game on a Monday evening for fans from the country is unfair.
(e) Shay's kicking/clearances - don't remember that being an issue before - absence of game time affecting him?

However, as my signature says, I don't worry too much about performances. It's a result driven game and now the Germans come to town and all the empty seats around me will be filled again and we will set up to contain them with a similar formation. Their defence is not that solid and who knows. Either way, the game against Poland will now have something riding on it which wasn't looking likely a few months ago.

[Stuttgart88]

Walters was so close to offside for the goal!!

I bought The Indo this morning and there's a great aerial photo of Hendrick squaring the ball for Walters. Walters was well behind the ball at the moment it was struck. He did very well to get the touch under close attention from two defenders.

[tetsujin1979]

Another point on the attendance, the weekend also included the Gaelic football semi final replay, the hurling final, and electric picnic, with north of 150,000 total attendance. You'd have to imagine after attending at least one of those that a Monday night qualifier against one of the groups weaker sides is not an attractive proposition

[Stuttgart88]

Steven Reid, as usual, gives a good account of the action. Complimentary about Whelan (though on seeing replays I think the ref was arguably within his rights to penalise that header - a forearm into the guy's back despite an otherwise clean header) and explains what Long brought that Keane lacked, the ability to spread out a defence that had formed a solid block that Keane was unable to trouble.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-31509102.html

Elsewhere in The Indo John Fallon talks about Carsley taking up a coaching role at the FA and bemoans how ex-internationals aren't used. Cunningham, Kinsella and Kilbane were overlooked by Dokter despite offering their services, although they have done some ad hoc roles.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-31509108.html

[jbyrne]

Another point on the attendance, the weekend also included a Gaelic football replay, the hurling final, and electric picnic, with north of 150,000 total attendance. You'd have to imagine after attending at least one of those that a Monday night qualifier against one of the groups weaker sides is not an attractive proposition

people forget that when we were in the old Lansdowne it held only 33,000 seats and tickets were available for most matches.

[Olé Olé]

Agree he should have got something on it. Did he even get any nick? It seemed to at best glance off him leg, hit the guy behind him, bounce back off Long and then out of play.

I might need another look but I thought he only got fresh air.

McClean's thinking was clearly to put enough power on it so that it would beat the defence and Long could steer it into the net. Maybe he did get too much on it though but he did excellent work in beating the man and getting the ball in.

[Olé Olé]

Another point on the attendance, the weekend also included a Gaelic football replay, the hurling final, and electric picnic, with north of 150,000 total attendance. You'd have to imagine after attending at least one of those that a Monday night qualifier against one of the groups weaker sides is not an attractive proposition

Aye, and a Monday night game, as Owlsfan stated, isn't great for those coming from the country.

I was able to make the Scotland games (Friday and Saturday) but I don't think I'll manage to get to the Germany game due to work commitments (getting a half day on a Thursday and getting home very, very late might not be feasible).

[brine3]

Just watching the replay of the goal and the movement of Long and Walters was very clever. The Georgian number 5 would have been in a great position in the six yard box to intercept the cross from Hendrick, but Long ran backwards as soon as he saw Hendrick was coming through, and the Georgian number 5 followed Long out of the six yard box and space was opened up. Walters also brilliantly anticipates and runs over the the front post.

[OwlsFan]

people forget that when we were in the old Lansdowne it held only 33,000 seats and tickets were available for most matches.

Are you sure about tickets being available because I remember post-Jack there was a large waiting list to join the block-bookers ?

What annoyed me was when I went to re-order my season ticket and to choose a seat, most of the seats around me were allegedly gone and yet last night I could have swung a pole-vaulter's pole around me and perhaps hit 4 people. Have they all bought tickets and not turned up?

[bennocelt]

people forget that when we were in the old Lansdowne it held only 33,000 seats and tickets were available for most matches.

Not in the good old days of Italia 1990 and the rest

[geysir]

Disagree. They were no better than Macedonia or Armenia, whom we beat both home and away in that campaign. None of these teams is a walk-over.

Afair we struggled to beat Georgia in Dublin in the 2010 campaign against a team which faded, fitness wise. How we performed against Macedonia and Armenia who we beat in different ways in the 2012 campaign is largely irrelevant.
Probably an irrelevant discussion
I thought we were average enough last night and at the same time I don't think Georgia were rubbish.
In this campaign, the Georgian performance that beat Scotland looked handy enough to me. Where was Giles' then with the withering criticism that they didn't look like a team that wanted to win? Each team have their own targets and Georgia, coming off a long spell of poor results have a new coach and look an improved outfit, now playing for a draw, defensive/counter attack, in a tough away fixture against a team which is stronger than them.
Of course we would never adopt such a strategy

[Spudulika]

Afair we struggled to beat Georgia in Dublin in the 2010 campaign against a team which faded, fitness wise. How we performed against Macedonia and Armenia who we beat in different ways in the 2012 campaign is largely irrelevant.
Probably an irrelevant discussion
I thought we were average enough last night and at the same time I don't think Georgia were rubbish.
In this campaign, the Georgian performance that beat Scotland looked handy enough to me. Where was Giles' then with the withering criticism that they didn't look like a team that wanted to win? Each team have their own targets and Georgia, coming off a long spell of poor results have a new coach and look an improved outfit, now playing for a draw, defensive/counter attack, in a tough away fixture against a team which is stronger than them.
Of course we would never adopt such a strategy

We robbed Georgia that night in a poor reffing display, though we played well. Against Armenia in Dublin we got some help from the ref to beat a decent Armenian team.

Georgia are no mugs and they came to play, 60 minutes and then that's it. Armenia do the same. Georgian football should be far further on, yet the domestic league and club system makes ours look like a Bundesliga, and the mentality of the players is terrible. And when it's the 3rd sport in the country.....it's always difficult.

[Torn-Ado]

Good result albeit quite frustrating first half. It'll be interesting to see how Ireland do against Germany without Whelan and McLean. Will O Neill put in a more attack minded player like McGeady?

[jbyrne]

Not in the good old days of Italia 1990 and the rest

ok. I should have stipulated once it became all seater.
in my experience only the bigger matches were hard to get tickets for once it became all-seater. I even got a couple of spares for some friends for the 2001 Holland match without too much effort.

[pineapple stu]

Irish international match crowds compare very favourably to most other countries (certainly on a pro-rata basis)

Shouldn't be overlooked when whining about crowds in Lansdowne.

[OwlsFan]

Irish international match crowds compare very favourably to most other countries (certainly on a pro-rata basis)

Shouldn't be overlooked when whining about crowds in Lansdowne.

Is that the correct use of the term pro-rata ? Just doesn't seem right to me but I know where you're coming from.

Whining ? Possibly but can one not adversely comment on something without the use of the pejorative term "whining"? It's just frustrating to be sitting among empty seats for a win or bust qualifier and know that those seats will be full for the German game and, if we qualify, more people will go to France for the games than were at this game. But as I said, a Monday night is Dublin is probably just as unappealing as a rainy night in Georgia.

[DeLorean]

In this campaign, the Georgian performance that beat Scotland looked handy enough to me. Where was Giles' then with the withering criticism that they didn't look like a team that wanted to win?

I just watched the analysis there and I thought Giles was quite complimentary towards Georgia, but he said they looked like a side that didn't believe they could win, as opposed to actually not wanting to win. They were obviously content with a draw but he felt as half time that they played some of the better football, but just lacked that real belief that they could beat us. I suppose the mindset for a team like that is usually completely different away from home. They had history of beating Scotland and know that they can make Tbilisi uncomfortable for the best of them. Giles singled out 'No.8' and 'No.10' for special praise in the first half.