Republic of Ireland V Georgia - Wednesday, 11th February 2009 - World Cup 2010 Q

[paul_oshea]

ya can someone post that celebration for me?!

great to see how much it meant to him. 2 goals brilliant.

the atmosphere was very poor from singing section, when they zoomed in on them none of them were singing!!

[FarBeag]

Georgia will never want to see us in their group again that’s for sure. We were lucky to beat them both times. Whelan’s goal in the first leg should not have gone in, game played in a neutral venue and a penalty tonight that should never have been.

We are not a good team but if we continue to have the luck we are having we just might get a play off place. There is no way we will beat Italy away or at home. We will struggle against Bulgaria in both legs and there is a good chance Cyprus will beat us.

[Paddy Garcia]

Doyle played very well indeed as did McGeady. Andrews had a very strong game.

But Whelan was awful - needs to be replaced before the next game.

Also .....I do wonder what Trapp learnt from the Polish game!

[tricky_colour]

Georgia will never want to see us in their group again that’s for sure. We were lucky to beat them both times. Whelan’s goal in the first leg should not have gone in, game played in a neutral venue and a penalty tonight that should never have been.

We are not a good team but if we continue to have the luck we are having we just might get a play off place. There is no way we will beat Italy away or at home. We will struggle against Bulgaria in both legs and there is a good chance Cyprus will beat us.

I think you make your own luck though, especially if you are in the opposition penalty area.

[irishfan86]

We are not a good team but if we continue to have the luck we are having we just might get a play off place. There is no way we will beat Italy away or at home. We will struggle against Bulgaria in both legs and there is a good chance Cyprus will beat us.

We always seem to up our game against the big sides, and I don't doubt we'll do that against Italy, especially at home.

Even if we split the points with Bulgaria we'll be in good stead.

In addition, every team has its slip ups. Italy nearly drew with Cyprus, so Bulgaria could give them problems as well.

[richieos]

the term ''you'll never beat the irish'' is back with a vengeance, amazing spirit tonight that i havent seen since 2002

[Colbert Report]

The referee definitely had a shocker tonight but I think we were full value for the win. The Georgians probably feel pretty hard done by though...

[Jicked]

Also, a result and comeback like that may be the making of this team as a squad. I have never felt a "togetherness" about the Irish set up since the working together after the Saipan bombshell, after McCarthy lost the job there seemed to be factions in the dressing room, and never a great sense of team spirit.
You could see after Robbie's second that that was back, just imagine what it was like after the game in the dressing room, they're bound to be a much closer knit unit after that, and with the experience of coming from behind and digging out a difficult result their confidence will be much higher in upcoming games.

[Adrianovic]

Lads, you all watched the game, so you'll believe me when I say that was the worst referee that's been around for a long time. Whenever there was a serious decision to make, he got it badly wrong. It was never a penalty. But, we should have been allowed Andrews' goal and Doyler probably did get taken down, even if he may never have seen the ball again.

The big decisions aside, he got everything else wrong, too. Georgia spent the entire game committing cynical fouls and after the first few, I think the ref needed to issue stern warnings and yellow cards after each one. Nobody minds a player trying to win the ball and failing, but when you're three and four yards off it, and clipping ankles - the referee has to step in. He was reluctant to, and but for his other hilarious ****-ups evening it all out, we could have been talking about what might have been.

UEFA have to look at the standard of the referees they send out. The lad tonight was from Finland. I genuinely would like to know the biggest game he's reffed domestically, and then what qualifies him to be in charge of our game tonight, and no doubt other important qualifiers before them. The stakes are quite simply too high to be putting out referees in the name of equality. I realise this would result in a load of refs from Spain, England, Germany, Italy, etc. running out, but you take your choice, and mine is get the best man for the job.

On to the match. Actually, I'm going to keep this brief as I want to go to bed.

I think it's time to call an end to wingers swapping to the opposite side. McGeady's crossing off his left foot was poor tonight, and he looked so much more effective coming from the right hand side. By the same token, I can barely remember Duff touching the ball on his opposite wing. Other than that, I thought McGeady stuck to his task and caused problems. Even more notably, he closed down a couple of players in second half stoppage time - this boy isn't a passenger.

Andrews is the sort of player we need. Bliocked nicely in the midfield and also showed a bit of bite going forward. Should have been talking about two goals in two games tonight, even though his initial shot was weak and at the keeper. I just wonder if he'll be a player with an Indian summer to his career, and could feature for us for another 4 or 5 years.

It was lovely to see Keane so fired up for Ireland and getting amongst the goals. It ****ed me off when people said he didn't try/care/etc. Akin to the stick that Brian O'Driscoll gets, just because he's a big name and he's up there for people to shoot at.

Tonight could have gone severly wrong, but as it is, a win at home to Bulgaria would go a long way to cementing our position in at least second in the group. Whether we can get the better of Italy, well, we'll see.

[Dr. Ogba]

just back from the game now and agree with most of the points made in this thread...mainly going back to what i said before the game Kelly should never have been on the pitch, Kevin Foley should be first choice FB never mind third choice behind McShane and Kelly (neither of whom can actually even play football it seems...)
Delighted for Keane tonight, he's tried his heart out and reaped the rewards (despite the most bizarre decision i've seen in my life)
Thought McGeady was head and shoulders above the rest, his close control was staggering and he can pick a pass too...he's starting to look like the player that we all hoped he would become
Special mention to O'Shea and Dunne - barring the disaster of a goal i thought they were very solid given that they were playing behind effectively a one-man midfield as Whelan was absolutely awful!

[OneRedArmy]

Triumph of effort over skill.

Our defence is as shaky as hell, midfield is purposeless, but the two wide lads and Robbie and Doyler always give us a chance.

Still feels like we're papering over the cracks tbh.

[Dr. Ogba]

jaysus just thinking now, if we beat Bulgaria in March we'll be 10 points ahead of them!!

[mypost]

Georgia will never want to see us in their group again that’s for sure. We were lucky to beat them both times. Whelan’s goal in the first leg should not have gone in, game played in a neutral venue and a penalty tonight that should never have been.

We are not a good team but if we continue to have the luck we are having we just might get a play off place. There is no way we will beat Italy away or at home. We will struggle against Bulgaria in both legs and there is a good chance Cyprus will beat us.

You can't win with some people. There we are: Second in the group, 10 points from 4 games, best start to a campaign since the 96 qualifiers, and all you get is whinging.

By all accounts, Italy aren't exactly firing on all cylinders atm, and as for Bulgaria, they're 7 points behind having sacked their coach last game. I fancy Montenegro to get a result at home to Italy next month, and if we win, we're clear of the lot heading off to Bari.

And there'll still be cry-babies on here.

[danonion]

I'll take a crappy Finnish referee over Spanish or Italian referees thank you. There were bad calls i nthis game, but Spanish and Italians will make calls that go against us deliberately, we've seen it before. They do not rate as a footballing nation, and would preserve the status quo by making bad decisions against us if it favored one of the big footballing nations.

Haven't we been robbed enough times to see this?

[TheBoss]

The game was there to be won in the first half but the team was too slow in its attacks and passing, they needed to press higher up the pitch and get in their faces cause we could have easily won 3/4-0. The second was much more like it, I think the players forgot a bit about the tactics and decided to play 100% to get the win and it worked to an extent despite the lucky penalty and the corner.

[elroy]

The key tonight was the result, one nil down with twenty mins to go I wouldve been delighted with a win. It looked like one of those nights. Never was a penalty but then again I think Andrews goal should have stood. To summarise:

- We really miss Steven Reid, heres hoping he gets back to fitness by the summer and is available for our final three games.

- Andrews did ok for his first full cap, more effective than Gibson was and offers a goal threat. Whelan good in places but gave away the ball alot. Cant fault their effort. However, neither is capable of a killer pass or really using the ball effectively to release the wingers or the strikers. The best pass of the night was by JOSH when he played a long through ball for McGeady.

- Keane was poor tonight but he kept at it for a guy who's confidence must be quite low. Doyle played well, however I dont think we use his aerial prowess near enough, he is far better in the air than Keane imo. His header late on was a great effort.

- This is as good as it gets, other than Finnan in for Kelly that was our best XI tonight. Dont mention SI, he is not available - end of. Andy Reid should be in the squad but not in the XI in my opinion, doesnt fit in the system unless you drop Keane or Doyle.

- Dont think we utilise Duff enough, the guy still has amazing footwork and any time he cuts in and takes defenders on ie for the Andrews goal he causes havoc.

- McGeadys delivery although better in the first half is still not good enough. In fact you could lay that accusation at most of the team. Most of Duffs deliveries were poor. Too many balls looped into the box with zero pace - too easy for the defenders. The GK didnt catch the ball once all night but we didnt take advantage of this. Best cross of the night was probably Hunts for Doyle near the end.

- I think if we hadnt conceded so early and settled in to the game at nil-nil we wouldve won and well. The Georgians werent great but we gave them a hell of a start and they were full of confidence as a result. It was always going to be difficult to break down the two banks of five and four.

- The bench looked quite poor tonight, we may have some up and coming players but other than Hunt, there really wasnt a whole lot on the bench that you wouldve considered bringing on. Unfortunately just further illustrates the lack of quality in the team at the moment.

- The team is very ordinary, but its real strength is the back five. Take Kelly out of the equation and you have a world class GK, very solid pairing of experienced centre halves and a good left back and right back in Kilbane and Finnan respectively. The defence may well get us to South Africa as I believe that Traps system will yield the greatest dividends in the upcoming games away from home when other teams have to come at us. As could be seen tonight, it is not a strength of this system for the team to chase a game.

- We now have a fantastic chance to qualify with a very ordinary set of players. If we manage a win against Bulgaria at home [do remember we have not won a game against a "big" team at home since arguably the Dutch in 2001] we are pretty much guaranteed second. All going well we may well set ourselves up for a winner takes all game against Italy in Croker to decide who tops the group - heres hoping!!

[Torn-Ado]

You can't win with some people. There we are: Second in the group, 10 points from 4 games, best start to a campaign since the 96 qualifiers, and all you get is whinging.

By all accounts, Italy aren't exactly firing on all cylinders atm, and as for Bulgaria, they're 7 points behind having sacked their coach last game. I fancy Montenegro to get a result at home to Italy next month, and if we win, we're clear of the lot heading off to Bari.

And there'll still be cry-babies on here.

And how did that fair out? There is still a massive amount of work to be done with team if we have any hope of qualifying.

[Uncle_Joe]

What comes around goes around!
Im tired of seeing Ireland go unlucky in games. We deserved to win tonight.
I've seen goals like Andrew rules offside aplenty so know no problems there. THe penalty was a disgrace, the referee f**ked up and was afraid to go back on his own decision. DISGRACE!!!
However we played them off the park an deserved to win.
THe incident with Doyle WAS a stonewall penalty, the replay the player clearly stood on his foot, had no contact with the ball at had contact with Doyle after the initial contact. Penalty!
We deserved to win and we did, no matter if it included a lot of luck.
Finally a little bit of credit to Robbie, who "never scores against big teams" according to so many. Who cares? he saved us tonight.
RANT OVER.

[Torn-Ado]

Anyone got highlights, I left the pub in disgust after 65 minutes only to return after a few texts, with 6 minutes to go.

[kingdomkerry]

here we go!!