Georgia V Republic of Ireland - Tbilisi - 12th October 2019 - Euro 2020 Qualifier

[tricky_colour]

What a start it would have been for Connolly if he took that first difficult chance, in my mind he has scored, sadly the TV said otherwise.
The game came alive when he was on, I am not sure my heart was actually beating prior to that but his chance certainly woke it up, it was dreadful
game before that.

[Fizzer]

Surely he could have given the young fella 20 minutes,that’s all it would have taken, it wasn’t just that he was an immediate goal threat when he came on, he also started linking play for the first time in the match.Georgia were there for the taking and McCarthy bottled it.Settled for a draw as soon as Browne came on. Hendricks worst game for us by miles, another shocker for Hourihane, McLean was McLean, Coleman was terrible. Felt for Doherty played out of position and for Whelan, James McCarthy needs to be parachuted in immediately. Randolph inexplicably lost the ability to kick the ball out. Duffy was exceptional, we would have lost that game only for the efforts he’s made to get fit. Connolly must start on Tuesday

[liamoo11]

That was shocking!
Hendrick and McClean were very poor on the ball.
I’d have brought on Connolly and half time and replaced Hendrick with Byrne on the hour.
What was the logic in Williams replacing Hourihane when we were chasing a goal?

In fairness to William's he showed a few nice touches and lovely composure to lass forward to help create the corner at the end. But totally agree it shouldn't have been hourihane your set piece taker you take off

[liamoo11]

Yeah agree on Duffy he really tried to pass it into midfield and burst into space to open them up and cut down on the aimless long balls. He was our bravest player in getting on the ball which is shocking for the others

[The Fly]

But in the wider sense, considering the top tier sides etc; surely they are below average? I certainly wouldn’t call them average. Nice midfielders, no penetration up front and leaky defense who were there for the taking, with a dodgy keeper. That’s them at more or less full strength apart from one player

Well many teams can be considered average in the wider sense. I'm thinking about them relative to their population size/player pool, in which case they're quite decent. They've been far more comfortable in possession than us in the games I've seen.

It must be a frustrating experience for their fans...a good forward or two and they'd be much more competitive than they are.

[The Fly]

^ But then...look at Croatia relative to their population size/player pool.

[Comic Book Guy]

Overiding emotion from me is anger, I hope we haven't thrown away a great chance of automatic qualification. Macedonia in 99 is what popped into my head. Connolly should have been in sooner, Hendrick was terrible. Whelan did alright. Coleman was poor. Collins had the touch of a trampoline. Some of Randolph's clearances were brutal.

[centre mid]

Midfield continues to be a massive headache, such is k of quality. Hopefully in 2 or 3 years some of the 19's and 21's can fulfil their potential

[shakermaker1982]

Look how gentle O’Donoghue was with McCarthy in that post match interview. If MO’N was still in charge he’d have gone right after him.

Georgia are not a good side so it wasn’t a good result. We need 6 points from Georgia from the two games, anything less means we have no margin of error when up against the top 2 seeds.

Did anybody spot the Georgia player handle the ball near the line in the 2nd half? Was that going in if he got out of the way? What was he thinking?!

[SkStu]

That was really abysmal. I know Georgia are a tough side to play against but the little bit of hope i had after that last three games that, even if we were limited at least there was a plan, has pretty much evaporated. Keeping Collins and Robinson on the pitch as long as he did was unforgivable. It was clear after 20 minutes that Collins had nothing to offer and, while Robinson improved in the last 10 of the first half, it just wasnt happening for him today in that role.

Randolph - Untested. Slows the game down so much and as someone mentioned a few wayward clearances.
Coleman - Crap. He always needs that extra touch before crossing. Always. Like, ALWAYS. So infuriating.
Egan - Decent. Apart from one mix up with Coleman in the 2nd half, did well. A good option for us now that Keogh is gone.
Duffy - Decent. Clearly not 100% fit but did well for us defensively and for two games in a row actually didnt hoof unless he had to. Pleasant surprise under McCarthy as i just didnt/dont rate him.
Doherty - Crap. A couple of glimpses into his club form but he just doesnt seem to care very much in green. Ill give him a pass as he was playing on his "wrong" side.
Whelan. Finished. Go, please. McCarthy's fault youre still here. Legs are even more gone than they were 10 years ago, cant pass.
Hourihane - Pu**y. Gave the ball away time after time alongside his partner in crime. Cant get the ball down. As someone on whatsapp said, "he plays like he expects nobody to tackle him".
Hendrick - Malojan. As i mentioned above, just continuously gave the ball away in decent positions. And shirked the 50/50 balls. We lost so many second balls it was ridiculous.
Robinson - Poor. I like him a lot and hes been great for SU. It just wasnt happening for him today. Seemed a few steps off the pace required.
McClean - Rubbish (as per). My take on this clown is long known on here. Couldnt agree more with other comments above. He panics us as a team. This harem scarem act does us no favours and gets everyone else jumpy. And his castigating of his teammates at times was diabolical. Please go.
Collins - Cack. Not his fault but, despite his good performance in the Bulgaria friendly, clearly not up to it at this level. He also appears to have shrunk about a foot as he was no target man out there. As someone else said, 78 minutes wasted.

Browne - i am a fan. Gave the ball away cheaply once but overall improved us.
Connolly - should really have started or come on at half time. 78 minutes wasted. Thought he might have gone across the keeper with his bobbled volley at the end. Lovely little player though, a dynamo. Needs to start from here on out.
Williams - was only on for a couple of minutes but impressed more in that time than the man he replaced.

[Closed Account]

There's a malaise around the whole thing. It's almost inevitable, our performances, just dour. I'd call up Molumby and Parrott to train with them, put the cat amongst the pigeons. I know it won't happen and they're already in Iceland but Molumby could like a fire under someone like Hendricks hole. Does Parrotts suspension affect Senior games? I assume it does but worth checking out.

It must be like a morgue in that dressing room. It's not like anyone can point fingers or hold there hand up and take blame, it's a group thing. Something has to click/change. Root and branch. (Cue massive performance Tuesday......)

[pineapple stu]

Immediate issue here is Denmark v Switzerland. We need to match Denmark's result and either draw 0-0 with them at home or beat them to qualify. Better is welcome; worse and we're not finishing ahead of them. But as Switzerland host Georgia and should win, we would favour a Switzerland win here.

And they're on top early doors

[Insidetherock]

What I cannot understand, is the Premier League really that poor a football league.. because Hourihane and Hendricks are making a living weekly in the EPL, yet often look like they don't know what they are doing

I've coached u14 girls with a better first touch than some of them at times.. today was absolutely terrible. If there weren't some games in Dublin next season, I'd say throw our hat at it, and start bringing up 4/5 youngsters

[shakermaker1982]

On the plus side I watched a bit of the England game last night and they were terrible. 1 player in particular looked lost.

Rice was woeful. Grass isn’t always greener....maybe he looked like a Rolls Royce when he played with our Reliant Robins. He was getting a mauling on twitter as well.

[mark12345]

Would love to see Byrne on the pitch.

Honestly, it seems like there is little in the way of an actual plan. Just 11 players trying to muddle through.

No plan at all other than play it long and hope for the best. Plenty of blame to go around for the players but it starts at the top. And this display shows that nothing intricate in terms of midfield play was worked on on the training ground

[Diggs246]

Mick was poor today.
Collins nowhere near good enough for international football. Should have been replaced by Aaron on 50 mins at the latest.
Jeff hopless should been replaced by Cullen or Bryne at half time.

[osarusan]

Atrocious from start to finish.

Randolph didn't have much to do, Egan and Duffy were solid, Connolly showed some life about him.

The rest were somewhere between plain poor and a load of rubbish. McLean and Hendrick in particular were sickeningly bad.

Horrible negative tactics and in-game decisions by McCarthy too.

[Razors left peg]

Anyone saying Georgia is a tough place to go is talking nonsense. They are a poor team,its a half empty stadium so it's not even an intimidating atmosphere.

Tonight was a disgraceful performance by a manager who was too cowardly to have a go. Settling for a journeyman striker when you have one of hottest prospects in premiership on bench and then to only give him 13 minutes. Instantly you could see the difference a good player makes to the team when he came on.
I jokingly said last week that McCarthys reaction last week when Connolly got the 2 goals was probably ah sh!t, I'll be forced to bring him in now. But with him stubbornly leaving Connolly on bench until too late that might not have been far from truth.

That game infuriated me watching, and an hour later I'm just getting angrier at the acceptance of mediocrity

[centre mid]

Suppose a draw Den v Swi suits us best, can see us struggling to get a point out of the last two games.

[mark12345]

Anyone saying Georgia is a tough place to go is talking nonsense. They are a poor team,its a half empty stadium so it's not even an intimidating atmosphere.

Tonight was a disgraceful performance by a manager who was too cowardly to have a go. Settling for a journeyman striker when you have one of hottest prospects in premiership on bench and then to only give him 13 minutes. Instantly you could see the difference a good player makes to the team when he came on.
I jokingly said last week that McCarthys reaction last week when Connolly got the 2 goals was probably ah sh!t, I'll be forced to bring him in now. But with him stubbornly leaving Connolly on bench until too late that might not have been far from truth.

That game infuriated me watching, and an hour later I'm just getting angrier at the acceptance of mediocrity

A manager who is too cowardly to have a go. Very well put. As someone said the other day, in reference to the U-21'S, they had the audacity not to accept the holy Grail of Irish international teams which is an away draw, and took the game to Sweden in Stockholm and beat them 3-1. All about the mindset, and Mick is not predisposed to going for the 3 points as a first priority