Republic of Ireland v Finland - Wednesday, 14th October 2020 - UEFA Nations League

[Bielsa´s irish]

I hope we dont end up playing England away next time. better off to Bosnia or a minnow at home

[Olé Olé]

I like the balanced posts. It's a new manager trying a new approach through formation, playing style and personnel. We have drawn 4 and lost 1(edit: drawn 3 and lost 2) and scored only a goal. That is not great. But we have outplayed most of the teams. That is great but there are still flaws to the performances and goals are obviously integral.

I am finding that social media and cousins thereof like this forum are mirroring Irish society and becoming quite extreme with contrasting views, like the States and the UK. Vote for Sinn Fein or Fine Gael. Open up or lock down. Hendrick is crap or Hendrick is great. Kenny is on a hiding to nothing or Kenny is the saviour.

There are a lot of balanced posts here with people accepting it isn't perfect but at least it gives hope for something better. The truth sits in the middle.

So I'm disappointed that he started Maguire and Horgan. They're not up to it and won't deliver goals. On the other hand, he put O'Shea in centre half when Long was apparently fit. I can't think of another manager we have had in a while that would have given a young centre half his first cap away to a decent side like Finland in a competitive match.

[pineapple stu]

We've drawn 3 and lost 2. Finland beat us twice

[ifk101]

I thought we were the better team - just didn't take our chances and make poor decisions in vital moments. O'Shea was excellent - looked like he has been in the team for years, and Stevens looks to have become a steady solution at a position that has been a problem area for us for years. Molumby and Connolly should be good senior players for years to come - helping to address the ageing profile of the team. Their RB was really struggling and that's something we could have exploited more but other than putting the ball in the net for us and possible selection choices, not sure what more Kenny could have done to win the game. Maybe we should play Duffy as striker and keep sending it long into the box to appease the TV commentators?

[Olé Olé]

We've drawn 3 and lost 2. Finland beat us twice

Cognitive dissonance.

[Olé Olé]

I thought we were the better team - just didn't take our chances and make poor decisions in vital moments. O'Shea was excellent - looked like he has been in the team for years, and Stevens looks to have become a steady solution at a position that has been a problem area for us for years. Molumby and Connolly should be good senior players for years to come - helping to address the ageing profile of the team. Their RB was really struggling and that's something we could have exploited more but other than putting the ball in the net for us and possible selection choices, not sure what more Kenny could have done to win the game. Maybe we should play Duffy as striker and keep sending it long into the box to appease the TV commentators?

There was one stage where Pukki was coming through in the second half, very close to the 6 yards box and O'Shea ran across him beautifully and put a toe to the ball. It was very easy in that case to foul him but he stood him up, anticipated well and the chance was over for Pukki.

O'Shea is very confident on the ball. You could tell Molumby and he had played together for the under 21 side. They were constantly looking to create angles to break the lines in their passing out from the back. Molumby would pull left or right of a Finn or two to take them out of the game and O'Shea was comfortable enough off either foot to give it to him. On the other hand, Hourihane was rarely and outlet for the defence and went missing a lot. He's disappointed me so much.

[pineapple stu]

One thing I will say is that I thought Finland created more chances against us than any of the other teams did. I don't know if that's a worry in terms of teams adapting to our new style of play - or maybe it was just a factor of them having a home crowd behind them.

But covid aside, there was a lot of new players involved over the past couple of games, which was essential of course as the team was getting quite old again. Connolly, Idah, Knight, O'Shea and Molumby are all 21 or younger. You simply can't put out half the 21s and expect them to step up immediately.

[ifk101]

There was one stage where Pukki was coming through in the second half, very close to the 6 yards box and O'Shea ran across him beautifully and put a toe to the ball. It was very easy in that case to foul him but he stood him up, anticipated well and the chance was over for Pukki.

O'Shea is very confident on the ball. You could tell Molumby and he had played together for the under 21 side. They were constantly looking to create angles to break the lines in their passing out from the back. Molumby would pull left or right of a Finn or two to take them out of the game and O'Shea was comfortable enough off either foot to give it to him. On the other hand, Hourihane was rarely and outlet for the defence and went missing a lot. He's disappointed me so much.

As mentioned elsewhere previously, there is no compelling justification to have Hourihane and Brady on the field at the same time. Brady seems to have seniority over Hourihane for set plays so Hourihane should have given way when Brady came on. Hourihane wasn't directly bad - just decidedly average, but reason enough to give Cullen a go in his position.

Agree with the O'Shea comments. Positively surprised with how comfortable he was on the ball and the speed at which he was moving the ball.

[backstothewall]

As mentioned elsewhere previously, there is no compelling justification to have Hourihane and Brady on the field at the same time. Brady seems to have seniority over Hourihane for set plays so Hourihane should have given way when Brady came on. Hourihane wasn't directly bad - just decidedly average, but reason enough to give Cullen a go in his position.

Agree there is no reason at all to have both on the field, but Hourihane offers more in all departments. Injuries have taken their toll on Brady. He isn't the same player he was, and whoever told him he is good at free kicks has a lot to answer for.

[Stuttgart88]

What to say? We can't buy a break. I thought that was our best showing yet. I was watching that game and thinking it was shaping up as a game where we'd score, I just couldn't see it any other way at one point. We were brave on the ball for the most part and our play between the thirds was quite accomplished. Wales' goal last night was both lovely and, more importantly, an example of what can happen when you trust yourselves to build from the back. Did anyone see it?

Of course we can’t deny that apart from the brainfart goal we did get opened up twice and could have been behind in more normal circumstances but then again I’ve rarely seen a game of football where you don’t give up a chance or two away from home.

I can’t believe some in the media are saying O’Shea’s header was a mistake. I had some reservations about starting him over Long because I thought he had looked shaky for (a generally shaky) WBA so far this season but he looked a seasoned pro last night.

I actually think Horgan did OK in the first half. He’s far less predictable than others and showed nice touches. I also thought Hendrick had a good game yet he is getting hammered on social media and the Irish Times gave him 4/10 and called him “Mr. Anonymous”. Hendrick was very far forward at times and I think as an attacking unit we offered more last night than at any time in the first 5 SK games. Direct running by Connolly and less so Horgan contributed to that.

It does seem really clear that the team is playing very differently already and Kenny’s ideas are getting across. I personally think it’s a good thing. With a bit of luck we’d have had better results and the heat would be off. Of course we played quite good football under Eoin Hand and got nowhere, but I think we owe it to the exciting crop of kids coming through to stick with it and who knows, in 1-2 years’ time we could be in a very good place. Anyone who thinks otherwise should go back to the MON NL campaign and friendlies that were as grim a period in our history as I can remember.

[Stuttgart88]

Ah, the old "people only remember the score" argument.

I'll tell you what though, people remember more than that. I remember John Sheridan hitting the crossbar, and that didn't get recorded on the match report. That was a brilliant pass and move play involving Townsend, Keane and Sheridan.

Some class players in that team. Kenny would kiil for them.

ah yeah but how many remember Ronnie hitting the bar in Stuttgart or Quinn failing to score when an inswinging cross missed his head by a gnat's whisker?

[Stuttgart88]

Yes but how many of them are vital to their teams in Premiership?

Exactly this imho.

[paul_oshea]

ah yeah but how many remember Ronnie hitting the bar in Stuttgart or Quinn failing to score when an inswinging cross missed his head by a gnat's whisker?

i till remember quiinns miss on a 1v1 against Spains zubizarreta, as i remember thinking that was our goal to ensure qualification or at least thats what i thought at the time!


http://soccernostalgia.blogspot.com/...ireland-1.html think this was it but cant open at work

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

Hi everyone! I've just been authorised to post. I've read these forums for a long time, now I get to add my wisdom. You'll soon realise that I ain't got none.

Just a quick summary of my views. I really want Kenny to do well. There have been encouraging signs such as last night. I'm all for giving him time but also, the excuses need to be calmed a bit. This is not some big rebuilding job like after the Charlton era. He has a squad full of premier league players and the most exciting set of youngsters we've had in a long time. I really thought the fixtures were set up perfectly for him to make a barnstorming start. We've have had chances but we've given away chances too. It hasn't been a good start but there's time to turn things around.

I really think we need 2 up front. Sticking with 4-3-3 seems to be the way we will go but hopefully some flexibility can be shown. I have more details on my thinking but I got to go. Chat later foot.ie.

BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!

[Stuttgart88]

I think people really need to relax. Yes, we were poor in the second half, but we had a depleted squad. Horgan started out of a lack of options. He was not even in the original squad so it's hardly favoritism. Same with Curtis. It has been a deflating few games but a lot of the indicators have been positive. We still can't score however, and until we fix that Guardiola could be in charge and we'd struggle.

...yet a highlights reel of the second half would show we had our best chances then and gave up no chances other than the self-inflicted wound.

[Trequartista20]

Only Latvia, Andorra, San Marino and Ireland are yet to win a single Nations League match in their history.

Of the 55 UEFA nations, 53 have scored more goals than Ireland across the two iterations of the competition. Only San Marino, who are still waiting for their first-ever goal in this competition are beneath the Irish.

From Opta: Of the Republic of Ireland's last 20 matches, 16 have been goalless at half-time, including each of their last six. Indeed, Ireland themselves have scored just three first half goals over their last 24 internationals.

[backstothewall]

What to say? We can't buy a break. I thought that was our best showing yet. I was watching that game and thinking it was shaping up as a game where we'd score, I just couldn't see it any other way at one point. We were brave on the ball for the most part and our play between the thirds was quite accomplished. Wales' goal last night was both lovely and, more importantly, an example of what can happen when you trust yourselves to build from the back. Did anyone see it?

Of course we can’t deny that apart from the brainfart goal we did get opened up twice and could have been behind in more normal circumstances but then again I’ve rarely seen a game of football where you don’t give up a chance or two away from home.

I can’t believe some in the media are saying O’Shea’s header was a mistake. I had some reservations about starting him over Long because I thought he had looked shaky for (a generally shaky) WBA so far this season but he looked a seasoned pro last night.

I actually think Horgan did OK in the first half. He’s far less predictable than others and showed nice touches. I also thought Hendrick had a good game yet he is getting hammered on social media and the Irish Times gave him 4/10 and called him “Mr. Anonymous”. Hendrick was very far forward at times and I think as an attacking unit we offered more last night than at any time in the first 5 SK games. Direct running by Connolly and less so Horgan contributed to that.

It does seem really clear that the team is playing very differently already and Kenny’s ideas are getting across. I personally think it’s a good thing. With a bit of luck we’d have had better results and the heat would be off. Of course we played quite good football under Eoin Hand and got nowhere, but I think we owe it to the exciting crop of kids coming through to stick with it and who knows, in 1-2 years’ time we could be in a very good place. Anyone who thinks otherwise should go back to the MON NL campaign and friendlies that were as grim a period in our history as I can remember.

I agree with most of this. Apart from the Horgan bit. He offered nothing.

I fear for Kenny that he will end up bringing a load of young players through to the u21s, become MNT manager before getting the credit for u21 success next summer, then bring a lot of the same players through to the senior side and end up out of the job because of results during the inevitable transition period over the next few years.

The advantage of trying to play a bit of football over the next while is that we have the traditional way in our footballing DNA. We showed towards the end last night that it can be turned back on again as required. If we try to play the way we've done recently against Germany or Spain we would be beat by 5 or 6, but our trouble over the last few years has been our inability to do both depending on the demands of the situation. Thinking back to the game against Gibraltar with Easyjet landing in the background, the way we played last night would have been a much better way to go about things against those lads, but it goes back years through games we have struggled in against micro-nations and tiny former soviet republics.

[paul_oshea]

The advantage of trying to play a bit of football over the next while is that we have the traditional way in our footballing DNA. We showed towards the end last night that it can be turned back on again as required. If we try to play the way we've done recently against Germany or Spain we would be beat by 5 or 6, but our trouble over the last few years has been our inability to do both depending on the demands of the situation. Thinking back to the game against Gibraltar with Easyjet landing in the background, the way we played last night would have been a much better way to go about things against those lads, but it goes back years through games we have struggled in against micro-nations and tiny former soviet republics.

100% percent agree with this, versatility and adaptability are they key for me, we go out with a variable set of requirements depending on the opposition and the game itself. We showed yesterday that we can play more direct, down the channels like in the first half, and also mix it up with the old lob it in there boss towards the end of the second half. The only sad bit with that is we seemed to create our best chances with the old long range missiles as opposed to the other ways of playing.

[Trequartista20]

You see, I think if Kenny really does go for a more revolutionary approach and bring in the younger lads like Kelleher, Dunne, O'Shea, McGuinness, Collins, Manning (when he's back playing), Knight, Cullen, Byrne, Gallagher, Coventry, Smallbone, Harness, Ogbene, Obafemi, Parrott etc, a chance, then people will be more patient and inclined to give him the time to turn things around. And, yes, I appreciate the process has already begun with the introduction of Molumby, Connolly and Idah.

I understand he took over at a difficult time, coming towards the end of another manager's qualification campaign, and needed to give the older players a chance as well as lean on their experience for these crucial games. But it's time to put his own stamp on things now. Bringing back Williams, a bit-part player at a midtable Championship club, and Horgan, who proved himself not even up to Scottish Premiership standard, really doesn't help his cause.

For example, O'Shea looked very accomplished last night for a debutante. He's playing every week in the Premier League as he was in the Championship last season. Why wasn't he in the squad from the start? And Knight looks good enough already to me.

I think it's time to be bold.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

Hi, first post.

I want Kenny to do well and I've been encouraged by some stuff that we have played in his first few games but I think the excuses being used will wear thin soon. He has inherited a squad with numerous premier league players and has some of the most exciting young players coming through than we've had in a long time. Also, McCarthy's recent reign was very disappointing but we were still very close to qualifying automatically, beating Denmark instead of drawing was all we needed and the performance against Denmark that night was better than anything so far under Kenny.

It's early days through and Kenny should be given a chance. I do feel that he needs to have more flexibility with his system.I know it's been said numerous times but we need to change our formation I think. 3-5-2. Kenny is a 433 man and I think he'll stick with it but 352 looks ready made. We have a number of options for the 3 centre backs. Duffy with Egan and Clark, maybe O'Shea who looked very good last night. Then Coleman on the right, Doherty has been a let down. Stevens left. Molumby has looked decent, can have him with McCarthy, Cullen or maybe Hendrick in the middle. McGoldrick just in front and then 2 up top. I think we need that, 1 alone is not working for us as we don't really have goalscoring midfielders. You could go with Connolly and Idah, Parrott maybe or Robinson/Long.

_______________Randolf_________________
_________Egan___Duffy___O'Shea__________
Coleman_________________________Stevens
_________McCarthy_______Molumby________
_______________McGoldrick_______________
_________Robinson________Connolly_______