Andrews has just leapt over Gibson and Whelan in my mind - for the record I thought Gibson did much more than Whelan tonight but that's saying nothing. Poor.
And I'm disappointed Foley and Delaney didn't get a run, Kilbane and McShane were poor for the 2nd match running.
Ou-est le Centre George Pompidou?
Nearly nicked a draw at the death. Kilbane's shot looked like it was heading goalwards until it hit a Polish player.
comebak or no comeback, tonight was a sad indictment of the state of Irish football and the status it now "enjoys" in the national psyche.
That's the Derry in you.Originally Posted by SwanVsDalton
Thought Whelan was much better than Gibson. Gibson was a passenger.
Thought McShane did ok. Kilbane was a lot under pressure in the first half.
Damien Duff should of had a hat-trick. 3 good finishes by Poland and well done to their fans for getting behind their team.
I cant believe we start we some of the players we do truely truely shocking we had no midfield and kilbane and mc shane poor keogh not good enogh for wolves yet hunt sits on the bench whelen and gibson not good enough for stoke and utd and play andrews sits on the bench and reid sits at home ho ho ho ho
Hunt showed the type of guile we need. Look at his corner kicks. Duff had been aiming them right at the keeper. Hunt started hitting them beyond the keeper and it worked. Long played well when he came on. Andrews finish was top drawer. Would have liked to have seen him start. Trap has to start having a good look at club form (and go to more matches).
Well agree to disagreeThat's the Derry in you.
I'd just like to see them be more dynamic, more overlaps, more anything. And it would have been worthwhile to give our cover full-backs a taste.
Ou-est le Centre George Pompidou?
I am a blackburn season ticket holder and watch them home and away I thought buying Andrews was nuts but he has been top notch for rovers a real 100% player who can score a goal!! a super option for Ireland
Pity to lose the unbeaten record, but not too bad a night. More than the result, the big worry for me was that individual errors from certain players have crept back in.
Plus points: Folan looked good though far from the finished article another option to have, McShane didn't have one of his moments, Doyle showed he's developing in to real class act, Whelan had a good game though may not go noticed, Long looked good when coming on, Bruce showed he can be quite a good CB cover, Andrews confidence will be up after that.
Negative points: Errors from Dunne that havent been seen in a long time for Ireland. Andy Keogh was woeful. As was Duff's finishing. Too much of the game passed Gibson by. Folan didn't pick his man up for the first goal, though 3 minutes in to his full debut I suppose its not the end of the world. Kilbane struggled in the first half too.
Oh and for all those thinking they know more than Trap because they can read Teletext and team lineups and so think they know that Long should be ahead of Noel Hunt, Long is in the squad as a tricky wide player in the Duff mode, Noelio there to play the Robbie role. And Long played very well too.
Similarily for those saying Stephen Hunt should have started this game ahead of Keogh, what about those giving out that Trap is too settled with his lineup and should experiment more? And then there'll be those who will now say Stephen Hunt should start the next time, once he does people will be moaning that he fails to have the same impact over 90 minutes and that he's ****. Trap can't win with some of the "clued up" fans the Irish team has.
Overall a decent nights work, sad to lose but considering we ended with one of our most inexperienced front-6 of all time, and the host of chances we created that Duff fluffed, it wasn't too bad a night all things considered.
Whelan did play quite a few good balls forward. It's difficult to say watching the game on the telly but anytime Gibson came into the picture he seemed to be very static. He took the ball off Dunne's foot in the lead up to the second goal so ....Well agree to disagree
He did get forward a bit but with McShane on the pitch I happy if he just focuses on the defensive side of things.
Stephen Hunt changed the game for us. And I was one of the few on this board who thought he played well against Montenegro. Should he start over McGeady and Duff. No. Is he miles better than Keogh. Yes.
That was a really good goal from Andrews. Missed the game though, can't make any judgements on the performance, however we really shouldn't be losing to Poland at home in any case.
I reckon I'd rather not go into the Italy/Bulgaria games or even the away trip to Cyprus with an undefeated streak intact, I'm pessimistic so I'd rather lose it now than then. I think
Trapattoni's selection has been woeful in all honesty, but I reckon we're still poised to do alright under his management. Forza Irlanda
Edit: I reckon Hunt scoring the penalty could be huge for us. In international football, the first goal is often the hardest. Love him or hate him, Hunt gets on the scoresheet pretty frequently for reading, even in the PL - maybe we could see some goals coming out of the midfield ...
Last edited by danonion; 19/11/2008 at 9:20 PM.
"No regrets, none at all. My only regret is that we went out on penalties. That's my only regret. But no, no regrets." -Mick McCarthy
on 2 forums?? tut tut
I agree with you 100%. But you know exactly what you get with Hunt, and so no problem trying out Keogh (who has impressed in training since the start of the Trap reign). Turns out Keogh was ****, no harm done, take him off after 60 minutes and lets see Hunt do exactly what we all knew he would do. Hardly worth complaining that Hunt should have been in from the start.
on 2 forums?? tut tut
lazy
On the balance of play, I think it should have been a draw- we should have had at least one more from Long's near goal, Duff's 2 or 3 chances, and Kilbane's volley at the end.
Poor defensive performance, but at least our substitutes showed us that they could change a game if required.
My player ratings:
Given - 6: Not at fault for the goals, but didn't have much to do otherwise.
Kilbane - 6: Poor use on the ball, worse off it. Unlucky not to score right at the death however.
Dunne - 6: Poor giveaways, maybe his worst game for Ireland ever?
O'Shea - 6: Unconvincing, probably at fault for the first goal.
McShane - 6: An improvement over his last showing, but that's not saying much.
Duff- 7: Was our most creative player, and best outlet from the wing. Should have done better with his chances.
Gibson - 6: Some positive through balls, but couldn't control the game.
Whelan -6: Looked ordinary.
Keogh -5: Had flashbacks to the Staunton era- this guy is not a winger.
Folan -7: Perhaps he shared some fault in our first goal allowed, but overall I was very impressed with his holdup play. Some very intelligent passes during the game, including the assist on Andrews' goal. I'd love to see Keane and him play together sometime.
Doyle -6: Good effort but it wasn't his day. Seemed invisible.
Bruce -6: Turned easily for the third goal, but in his defence nearly scored one off a corner.
Long - 8: Won a penalty and nearly scored. Perhaps this will shut up some of those who were wanting Noel Hunt in ahead of him.
N. Hunt -5: Should have been sent off for a dangerous two footed tackle. Did nothing in his time on the field except show that idiocy runs in the family.
S. Hunt - 7: The energy level of the entire team was raised when he stepped on the pitch. He worked hard, won corners, and took his penalty very well.
Andrews -8: Took his goal well, I'd prefer him in over Gibson.
Not too worried about the loss and agree with alot of what Jicked says.
We humped Denmark 0-4 a year ago, these friendlies are a useful work out and nothing more.
That said would have liked to see more lads playing first team club football on the park - especially when those keeping them out aren't miles ahead of them in ability( or even ahead of them at all) ie Whelan/Andrews, Gibson/Garvan, Hunt/Keogh etc.
Folan was a plus.
Bottom line for me is the likes of Poland are way ahead of us in terms of ability, passing and so on but then again 'lesser nations' (not saying poland are one of these) have been better technically than us for years. When we are successful we find away past this handicap though....
The dude abides....
Not sure why people are focusing so much on our creativity, whilst we didn't play that well we created a few chances in the first half & Folan really held it up well.
But our defence was truly awful. Marking was loose, positioning poor & distribution thoughtless for all of them.
Also, the Polish fans showed the Irish barstool generation what supporting a team is all about.
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