QuoteI personally thought that was the best the defence could do. Can you think of a worse central defensive partnership to line out for Ireland in the last couple of decades?Originally Posted by DotTV
C'mon joema! Think about it. How many times did you see a Dutch player in acres of space.Our defenders looked like traffic cones for the goals we conceded.
If that is the best Ireland can do then we are goosed, bigtime!
I personally thought that was the best the defence could do. Can you think of a worse central defensive partnership to line out for Ireland in the last couple of decades?
Babb and Breen VS Scotland in 2000?
http://www.soccerbase.com/results3.sd?gameid=284313
I'd still have O'Shea-O'Brien as the weaker pair. They both may be a bit stable when partnering someone like Cunningham but as a partnership they're like headless chickens. Breen, for all his faults, can still lead the line.
Think about it - just because the Dutch players had space does not mean that the players didnt care!!!
Maybe its because our two centre halfes (in particular) played sh!t as they are both extremley limited players and the technically superior Dutch were simply too good - we were outclassed - a blind man could see that - if you play a poor team including the likes of O'Brien, O'Shea, Morrisson etc. against one of the best teams in the world
We didnt lose because of a lack of effort, we lost because we had a poor team out and were playing against some of the best players in Europe
Seriously, do you think you can judge how hard a player is tryng just by looking at him???
Once again each player is different and plays in their own way - just because some players e.g O'Shea and Carr are not aggresive does it mean they dont care???
Do you really think the players didnt care enough? We were outclassed, simple as that. Get over it
I'm going to disagree with you here Joema, I don't think it's that simple. The Dutch have a great young team but they're not so much better than us to easily beat us 4-0. We had a weak team out, sure, but not that weak.
I watched plenty of Irish players stand by while Dutch players ran past them. The Dutch player didn't outwit them with some funky trick - they simply didn't bother to tackle him. Clinton Morrison was probably the worst offender for this but there were plenty of contenders for that title.
Again, it was a friendly, we should try and forget about it and make better judgements based on games that matter. But I don't think we were simply outclassed.
Likewise, how can you be so convinced they were giving 110% effort? do you have inside information or something? Im guessing that those who think players were not trying hard enough had the same basis for their opinion as you do. i.e. watching the performance.
joema, you've made your point, the same point, on quite a few posts. Perhaps you should get over it??
"Outclassed, with not enough effort or organisation" as far as I am concerned!
I thought you were off the drink Ronnie?
"No, I drink to help me mind my own business....can I get you one? (c) Ronnie Drew
I know we didnt have a good team out and it was one of the worst central defensive pairings in years but a lot of the lads didnt look like they were giving it their all.
You don't have to be a brilliant player to close down space and pick up your man.Mainly, you need to be fit and have a decent level of awareness.Considering all players would have just come through pre season training they should be as fit as fiddles so then it comes down to bad awareness on the pitch.Another way of saying that is lack of concentration.
It was a crap team and they were outclassed, O'Brien & O'Shea is a terrible option at centre back (I still have nightmares about Ian Hartes tenure in that position under McCarthy).
The truth is a week before the premiership season starts how many players are going to risk injury?
The dutch didn't hold back
I'd say we were outclassed and outfought the other night - let's face it we have three excellent players in the form of Robbie, Given and Duff..... The rest (excluding Dunne and Finnan) are on the whole an above average bunch at best. Ireland have never compared well in terms of world class players when up against the big guns but our work ethic and teamwork have pulled off famous victories over England, Italy and the Dutch etc etc. This was lacking last Wednesday - no fire and very little committment. I just pray the German game will be totally different and somebody needs to have a word with O'Shea and O'Brien and tell em to get stuck in.
If I got paid ridiculous amounts of money @ work, and had to go do an unpaid, pointless foxer for some one, and get criticised no matter what I did, I couldn't be arsed either :/
j'accuse!
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks