Ireland v Wales - Post Match Thread

**Mento** · 25/03/2007, 12:28 AM

Have to agree with many of Craig 7042 points.
Some of the abuse towards certain players here is obscene.

For me, Keane ran his ****** off playing on his OWN up front. His confidence with Ireland aint great at the moment, and it certainly doesn't help when ****** so called supporters are on his back before he gets a chance to control the ball.
Speaking of *******, to the eejits who booed Robbie when he was taken off, and to the those who sang 'Who Are ye' - do yis think this will help his current lack of international confidence?
He worked hard today, and he will come good again. IMO he needs backing and support and not boo boy *****s.
Although I agree Robbie aint captain material, Keane is such an easy target for people sitting behind keyboards.

- People thought Doyle should of started? In 2007, Doyle has made three appearances for reading - 70 mins v Man U in Cup; 14 minutes last week and another sub appearance. Hardly good preparation.

The atmosphere today, after all the hype � very poor. I dont remember paying nearly a euro a minute to do a Mexican Wave

Soko, go back and support the rugby

**Marked Man** · 25/03/2007, 2:31 AM

Lads, can youse all calm down. We're level on points now with the Czechs. OK, they have a game in hand. But they have to go to Germany, and we don't.
We are back in this, which, after the Cyprus game, no-one thought we would be. Do we have to improve? Of course, But our destiny is in our own hands again.

If we lose Wednesday, then by all means go through the doom and gloom; but for now, enjoy the fact that we won.

**Soko** · 25/03/2007, 3:24 AM

Originally Posted by Mento

Soko, go back and support the rugby

I will. At least they have some sort of method to their madness. My anger is directed at one man and one man only for the time being - Steve Staunton. If you can't see what he is doing to us then I really couldn't care less what you think. I'll continue to watch on the box and I might even venture in to the ground when we meet the Czechs and Slovaks away. I know the only way that I'll see a team without that idiot at the helm is with defeats so there's my catch 22. We need to see beyond the trees here. We are not qualifying for this tournament and the WC is our objective. That maniac is only going to reduce us to a 6 seed before he's done

**gilberto_eire** · 25/03/2007, 3:27 AM

Whoever brought the "Chelsea Irish" and the tri-colour with "Chelsea" painted on it should be banned from the ground.[/QUOTE]

ya saw that chelsea flag at the end of the match.... you might aswell put rangers on it or better still put it on an english flag same thing!!

**gilberto_eire** · 25/03/2007, 3:29 AM

Originally Posted by Soko

I will. At least they have some sort of method to their madness. My anger is directed at one man and one man only for the time being - Steve Staunton. If you can't see what he is doing to us then I really couldn't care less what you think. I'll continue to watch on the box and I might even venture in to the ground when we meet the Czechs and Slovaks away. I know the only way that I'll see a team without that idiot at the helm is with defeats so there's my catch 22. We need to see beyond the trees here. We are not qualifying for this tournament and the WC is our objective. That maniac is only going to reduce us to a 6 seed before he's done

by doing what playing with less then 11 men!!.... dont matter who's manager same pool of players this isnt club football you cant do as you please with your squad to change it!

**bellavistaman** · 25/03/2007, 4:52 AM

Stephen Ireland is sh!te. Fair dues to him, he's scored three in a row, but he's not international standard as yet,

what a load of ****e of a comment pineapple stu, the young lad was out of position and he was poor to be fair but when put into position he was one of 3 or 4 bright sparks on the ireland tem. i felt him duff keane and given were class today. saved us.thought keane did very well being a lone striker and duffs runs were very good today. how many times must stephen ireland save our country before getting a slight bit of credit. i fel if it was stokes who scored that goal but did nothing else all game it would be nothing but plaudits for him! seriously back our manager our captain and our country. oour players are ****ting themselves because they know every bad move they do will be scrutinised and they'll be hammered by supporters and jounalists like dunphy and co. if we beat czech were in a good posiition to qualify. back our country our, team doesn't matter whos in charge there still our country wearing our colours its about time people support everybody to to do with the team. for christs sake like

**OwlsFan** · 25/03/2007, 9:06 AM

Originally Posted by nismo

robbie keane is **** and no one will convice me otherwise!!i remember a time on this everyone was giving out about steve ireland.. ha saved us twice now!

Who played the pass through to Ireland? Let me think. Oh, yeh Robbie Keane. Keane cannot play on his own up front and to expect otherwise shows a huge lack of any football knowledge. Keane never had a chance in a 4-5-1 formation and he needs a strong centre-forward along side him. Until then we'll never see the best of Robbie again.

Were you one of the 4 middle aged men sitting behind me wearing no colours who spent the whole game jeering and moaning about Keane?

**Hobbes** · 25/03/2007, 9:16 AM

I hate this ****e "Whoever brought the "Chelsea Irish" and the tri-colour with "Chelsea" painted on it should be banned from the ground.[/quote]

ya saw that chelsea flag at the end of the match.... you might aswell put rangers on it or better still put it on an english flag same thing!!"

Why, surely, Irish chelsea is not all that different from Irish Kilburn...and if we allow celtic supporters, why should we not allow rangers fans

**livehead1** · 25/03/2007, 9:24 AM

Some of the vitriolic abuse placed in this thread is highly embarressing and makes me question whether some of you people actually know anything about football. I have just had the chance to watch the full game as I had a match myself on Saturday at 3pm so missed the live game. I noticed a couple of things that I will point out.

Stephen Ireland's range of passing is outstanding for a young player. He is a very gifted young man, an example would be the cross-field raking ball which set Keane through in the first half. He also showed a confidence that has been lacking in the side for a while with his cool finish, a finish any striker would be proud of.

Robbie Keane was unbelievable against Wales. Playing effectively as a lone striker for long periods of the game he managed at times to occupy all of the three welsh central defenders. His success in this role can be evidenced by Wales inability to cope with Damian Duff who was allowed time and space on the ball due to Keanes hard work. Then there is Keane's through ball, with barely even a look up Keane played the ball round the corner and Ireland finished cooly, giving Ireland the three points. That is the difference at international level and Keane provided that yesterday.

Jonathon Douglas & Lee Carsley, whilst not being the most creative of players, carried out a key role in Ireland's midfield, to great affect. They consistantly disrupted the play, not allowing Wales any time on the ball, it was due to this that the threat of Giggs was nullified in many ways, as he did not receive any service from his midfield.

I could go into greater detail on all of the above subjects, but I think you get the jist of it.

One final point:
Ireland have 10 points from 6 games.
England have 8 points from 5 games.

I here very few people in the English media calling for Steven MacClaren's head...

**green army** · 25/03/2007, 9:45 AM

awful game with two awful teams. finnan starting at left back is disgraceful. thought duff did very well.skined bale a good few times.doyle won his fair share of headers when he came on. ireland (apart from his well taken goal was poor).but we let wales have too much of the ball in the second half and sat back too deep. mc shane had decent game....we need to improved 100% for wednesday night. to qualtify we were always going to have to take something out of the double header in september and that is still the case.

**youngirish** · 25/03/2007, 9:48 AM

Just back from the game and the associated drinking that went on afterwards. Have to say Ireland were overall very poor. Luckily Wales were even worse. Robbie Keane was wa*k again and the fact sky sports gives him an 8 out of ten proves to me what I've always known. They don't watch the matches.

He spent most of the game on his ar*e, moaning. He has no pace. He also nearly cost us the result by being stupid and losing possesion by trying silly tricks just outside our 18 yard box which led to Ryan Giggs freekick. Luckily Bale had been taken off by then. He should never have been chosen as captain.

Kilbane was also terrible. He gave possesion away constantly. Why he was left on the pitch all match I'll never know.

On the plus side our defence was solid enough though McShane made a couple of mistakes. Dunne was outstanding. Finnan was very solid. Even O'Shea was ok for once.

Duff was our best player I thought. He used the ball well and always looked dangerous. Hunt was also excellent when he came on but should have got more than 15 minutes.

Overall an improvement but Slovakia won't be too worried. Note to Stan stop punting long balls up to our 5 ft 8 inch striker. We just end up giving away possesion.

**Colbert Report** · 25/03/2007, 10:14 AM

Originally Posted by livehead1

One final point:
Ireland have 10 points from 6 games.
England have 8 points from 5 games.

I here very few people in the English media calling for Steven MacClaren's head...

If England lost 5-2 to ANYONE, never mind CYPRUS, and scrape a 2-1 win deep in injury time away to Andorra on Wednesday, then we'll talk.

**Raheny Red** · 25/03/2007, 10:43 AM

I reckon this thread will be in the bin by tomorrow afternoon

**livehead1** · 25/03/2007, 10:43 AM

Originally Posted by Colbert Report

If England lost 5-2 to ANYONE, never mind CYPRUS, and scrape a 2-1 win deep in injury time away to Andorra on Wednesday, then we'll talk.

Why? Football is a results driven business, if we continue to win from here on in I for one will not have a problem.

**zenokelly** · 25/03/2007, 11:09 AM

What was the story with the pockets of free seats. Front of the Cusack upper centre was abandoned, another few pockets in the Cusack lower and there was 3 seats free behind right behind me, and the Nally was only really half full. Did the FAI forget to sell these cos as it showed on the Welsh ticket thread here that there were plenty of people still looking for tickets?????

And was really p!ssed off with the lack of atmosphere, thought it would have been netter than the rugby.

**Gaillimh Al** · 25/03/2007, 11:29 AM

A terrible performance by 2 poor sides. The pitch didn't help and was it just me or was it very big. Lots of open spaces. Lee Carsley's post match quote reveals all about the shambles that is Steve Staunton's management.

"He just named the team but didn't go through any roles to be honest"

**OwlsFan** · 25/03/2007, 11:38 AM

Originally Posted by youngirish

Just back from the game and the associated drinking that went on afterwards. Have to say Ireland were overall very poor. Luckily Wales were even worse. Robbie Keane was wa*k again and the fact sky sports gives him an 8 out of ten proves to me what I've always known. They don't watch the matches..

Strangely enough a lot of people also thought Keane had a reasonable game so perhaps it's you who doesn't watch the game. I am not sure what you expect from someone who is left on his own up front when that is patently not his game. I suppose you didn't see his through ball to Ireland either for the goal ? No? The only time I saw him on the floor moaning was when he was through on the keeper and claimed a peno for a tackle from behind. Haven't seen the replay so I don't know whether the claim was justified. He worked hard on his own up front chasing down the Welsh back 4 with little support.

See also the comment at the start of his thread by the Welsh fan on Robbie.

"Robbie Keane looked good though. I don't know why he gets slagged off on here. Him and Duff basically provided the difference between two very bad sides."

**Don Vito** · 25/03/2007, 11:49 AM

Anyone know if the rte analysis is online anywhere?

**Dan K** · 25/03/2007, 11:53 AM

Originally Posted by craig7042

I dont know what world you're all living in. The level of arrogance in these comments is shocking. I sat there today and saw a team win a game of international football. (what about Scotland? What about England? Everyone struggles to find form. Its normal. The win is the win is the win.) They didnt play as well as they can, but in moments there were clear positives. McShane was immense. Hunt and Doyle changed things with great determination when he came on. Given obviously saved us again. Dunne did well. Duff was far more creative especially in the first half. Kilbane, Carsley and douglas did okay. Ireland didnt do well, but you'll struggle to get a better international goal. Keane ran himself into the ground, but struggled. He's honest...lay off him ya gits. O'Shea was okay...frustrating...but ok. The fans cheered everything positive and where I was sitting there was almost no abuse thrown at the players from start to finish. Moments of frustration...no abuse though. The atmosphere at the start was good..there was a lull in the first half until the goal. (As a Liverpool fan having a lull in a game is not unusual. Liverpool regularly have lulls that last 80 minutes. ditto Chelsea)
After everything...a win is a win is a win.

They did well as a team and it sets things up for Wednesday to start to build again.

I just dont understand you people with your comments..............It wasnt a good game??? Really??
Since then did that ever matter????

Can't argue with any of that.