Originally Posted by Torn-Ado
I'd rather walk barefoot to South Africa before I'd send you the highlights.
How should we be?? Barce bleedin-lona??
It was tight, it was scrappy, it wasn't pretty, but we won. Italy needed a last minute goal to beat Cyprus, and didn't play well when they beat Georgia. They won the game. That's what counts ultimately.
2 years ago, we needed a last minute winner in San Marino, and couldn't beat Cyprus and Slovakia. Finally we are getting the results we need, that's what the coach is getting paid €2 million a year to do. How we get them is immaterial, tbh.
I'd rather walk barefoot to South Africa before I'd send you the highlights.
I'm with mypost on this one.
We have an average group of players and we have managed to amass ten points. We haven't got a string of world/top european players out there. The coach is helping us to get points on the board, something the last incumbent was unable to do.
at last at least we dominated possession in a match.
Crap view of the match from the singing section so couldn't really give anywhere close to an accurate judgement other than us being very poor for the first hour. What I will say though is the Irish really have a dislike for McGeady. Stephen Hunt runs out of play - clap, clap, head up. Stephen Hunt balloons a cross - clap, clap, head up. McGeady overhits a corner and half the bloody crowd are on his back. Get a grip lads for gods sake! I thought McGeady was quite poor for the best part of an hour but I thought he's done enough overall since the Denmark away game that he wouldn't be treated as a Kevin Kilbane of the McCarthy days.
I try to make a point when I'm at games to say that we shouldn't be criticising our own players. It tends to make everyone around me clap instead of groaning. If all fans only knew what a positive difference that makes to a player. A division 4 player makes a mistake in a cup game against a division 1 player. His fans will usually give him encouragement. He'll leave that incident with his head up and even more determination.
Last edited by eirebhoy; 12/02/2009 at 12:23 AM.
there was a mcgeady chant going for a bit, i am 100% positive if mcgeady had been subbed, a standing ovation would have been received.
Not long back from the game, still defrosting.
Given was his usual self, outstanding, alert and composed. Let down badly by Kelly for their goal. I really do hope he can do what Hughes says, and plays until he's 40.
Kelly started badly and took a long time to recover. Obviously short of match sharpness, we can only hope he's back to his ever-present best in 6 weeks
Dunne and O'Shea continued their strong partnership, and I still stand by the statement that it will take injury or suspension to either player to break it up. O'Shea was harshly penalised late on for what I felt was a legitimate challenge. Dunne was obviously fresh after his recent suspension, and played as well as I have seen him this season.
As you were for Kilbane, but I felt his positioning sense has improved. Never faulted for effort, I thought he'd been knocked unconscious when he took a boot to the head.
Hard to rate Duff's performance. He's not back to his best, but he's far from his worst. Although McGeady provides a better balance to midfield, he spent a large part of the game on the left, where Duff excels compared to the right wing. Their link up play from throw ins was impressive, but lacked end product.
Andrews was the better of the two central midfielders. Linked up well between defence and attack, specifically the wingers. Tracked back, harried, and played the simple ball. I don't think he's the solution, but he's not the problem either.
Whelan tried hard but a lot of it didn't come off. Wasted a free kick late on and put a shot into orbit. Having said all that, central midfield was identified early on by Trapattoni as a weak point, and you have to say introducing Whelan has gone a long way to solidifying it.
McGeady was my MOTM before any of Ireland's goals. With the comments the manager made in the build up about him needing to contribute more, I was half tempted to have a punt on him scoring. His run and shot in the first half deserved a goal, and he had 2 crosses in the game hit the netting. The defence backed away from him when he was in possession, and he is clearly improving under the new management
Doyle ran himself into the ground, their entire defence must have been sick of the sight of him when they were in possession. Despite not scoring, I still think he contributed more than Robbie Keane did to overall play and to the team in general.
Keane is clearly not match fit, and I would not have been surprised to see him substituted before scoring. Must have ice in his veins to score that penalty, I was nearly getting sick in the stands!! The second goal was the icing on the cake, but he was still anonymous in the last minutes of the game. A subsitution would have lifted the crowd to applaud him, but there was precious little on the bench.
Stephen Hunt came on and was...well, Stephen Hunt. Never stopped moving, tried hard, took a shot when it was on, and could have had his second international goal. It's unfortunate but he'll never be a starter when he can be an impact sub
Overall, Ireland were the better side, and had some good passages of play. Georgia went out to foul their way to a win. Having said that, I really didn't think either team deserved to lose (not that I'm complaining!!). IT's hard to criticise a win, but the lack of substitutions is still baffling.
Just as a general comment, while behind, we seemed to be inches away from a goal. From McGeady's shot, to Andews' ball behind Keane instead of in front of him, there just seemed to be a lack of...accuracy I guess. These are the things that cost goals, especially at this level, and still need to be worked on.
i agree. I dunno maybe its the irrational dislike of celtic on these boards and the fact that he is a celtic player justifys more criticism. anyway as far as hunt goes he is an at best an average player but dont get me wrong cause for as limited a player as he is, his fantastic attitude has carved a really great career for himself and for that i cant praise him enough. he is an example to any youngster out there that hard work and the right attitude goes so far in the game. But while duff and mcgeady are no world beaters they are still by far better players than hunt anyone who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves.
I'm actually talking about the people at the games rather than these forums. There's no doubt McGeady gets a lot more abuse than the other Irish players. Even stuff that's completely unjustified like pulling out of a challenge that he's never going to win. When McGeady holds onto the ball for 5 seconds a lot of the crowd shout at him. They think he's brainless and they know better. When most other players do it they obviously feel the player knows what he's doing. It just really got to me tonight more than any time. He's been doing pretty well for us for a while now.
Last edited by eirebhoy; 12/02/2009 at 12:54 AM.
Just back from the game,brutal first half,decent second half but my qs is this.WHATS THE GAME PLAN???????i was in the singing section tonight and had a decent view as we were up towards the back of it but i didnt see any pattern to our play at all.Only in the last 20mins did the game plan seem to be "get the ball out wide to our wingers as quick as possible".Before that howver we were clueless.CANT believe we are joint top playing how we are but ill take it.
McGeady was magic tonight, best performance in an Ireland shirt by a mile
Its really not that complicated!!!
Just home in Belfast with the supporters club, after a strange night in Croker.
Where do i start? We did win, We are joint top of the group.
I suppose its 3 points and the table is what matters.
too tired to get into the whole analysis of the game, but Jesus, it was not pretty.
But if we do the Bulgarians next month, we are in a great position.
FIFA World Cup European Qualifying : Group Eight Table
P W D L F A GD PTS
1 Italy 4 3 1 0 6 2 4 10
2 Ireland 4 3 1 0 5 2 3 10
3 Bulgaria 3 0 3 0 2 2 0 3
4 Montenegro 3 0 2 1 3 4 -1 2
5 Georgia 5 0 2 3 3 7 -4 2
6 Cyprus 3 0 1 2 2 4 -2 1
All I have to say about that game is,
PHEW....
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.
What makes you think I am crying about it? I am over the moon that we have a chance to qualify. I am just pointing out that we were lucky to beat Georgia twice.Ok you make your own luck but do you think we deserved to win both games on merit? I dont think so!
Anyway I still think we don’t have a good team but a good bunch of lads who play with their heart on their sleeves.
Ah Jesus lads - we really need to get the team sorted out for the next games against Bulgaria and Italy. The biggest problem we have is the centre of midfield.We've been getting murdered in that area against average teams in every game so far.
Trap needs to bite the bullet, swallow some pride and get Stephen Ireland back.It's really unfortunate that Stephen Reid is out at the moment because a midfield of himself and Ireland would be a major improvement.
Even if Stephen Ireland were to come back though, I'm not sure Trap would play him in the centre as he favours 2 defensive players here and Ireland certainly is not that.
Whelan was terrible last night.Gave the ball away time and time again and looked unbelievably slow getting around the pitch.
We also need to get some quality cover for Finnan at right back.Kelly is a rubbish player - and I'm not saying that because of last nights game.I have watched him at least 20 times between club and country and he has been very poor the majority of times I have seen him. He is terrible on the ball. You can't get away with a full back who is crap on the ball at club level never mind international level these days.
Thank God for the referee and his joke of a penalty decision.
We really did get out of jail last night. Now we have to take advantage of that by sorting the proiblem areas in the team out before the next games.
I think you are too sensitive. I was in the lower Hogan and didn't think McGeady or indeed anyone else got much abuse. There were groans and frustration in the first half when his final ball was poor after excellent approach work. He had a great second half. There were a few comments re Robbie Keane which I didn't like (before the goals) although Robbie had one of his worst games in a green shirt (apart from the goals).
As for the game I thought we deserved to win but were very lucky with the penalty. I thought Andrews goal should have stood so maybe it balances out but had we lost like that in Sofia or Bari I'd be gutted. We've had our share of bad decisions in the past against us albeit most now a long time ago.
Nice to see Khizanishvili wasn't booed. Hopefully the minority of bigots have moved on from that now although they probably weren't even there last night.
We still haven't played the 2 group heavyweights. However we are in great shape for the runners up spot. Splitting the points with Bulgaria would probably be enough although a home win is our best chance of that. The squad are talking about winning the group and that is as it should be. However I can't see that happening.
We played with 2 wide men yet there were plenty of times it looked like a football match in primary school, 20 players in or near the centre circle, even if we did win it there was no pass to get things going as nobody was available. Duff and/or Mageady should of been told to hug the wings at least it would of dragged a couple of Georgians out of the centre and offered an outlet ball.
good to comeback from a goal down - how long has that been ?, atsmosphere considerably better than before with the Singing Section, 3 points in the bag and we are still in with a shout of qualification although Italy wont exactly be quaking in their boots.
Roll on Bulgaria at home but a better performance required
gspain/eirebhoy - i think you'll find idiots wherever you go. I was sitting in the cusack upper and this fool behind me kept on giving out about McGeady even when he was beating players or playing decent through-balls....i sometimes wonder why these fools even go to games.
Go to support your team, if people are going to matches just to whinge and moan no matter what then we don't want them there - hopefully we'll get rid of that element when we go back to Lansdowne...
"Well I think they'll be a little disappointed with that" - Matt Holland on TV3 after 5-2 drubbing by Cyprus
I pity those fools...
No offence mate but I was in the singing section, my view was fine and I think you're talking through your hoop. McGeady was well supported by the fans where I was and the general concensous was that it was his best match for Ireland so far and he deserved the MOM award. However, he hasn't been doing pretty well for us for a while and I think you've got green and white hooped tinted galsses on if you think that. He's been average at best so far but stepped up last night and long may it continue.
As for the game I thought we showed great character and well deserved the win. The penalty wqas a joke but no way Andrews goal should have been disallowed and we didn't get a stonewall handball in Montenegro so swings and roundabouts. We looked poor in central midfield with Whelan in particular having a poor game. Andrews deserves his place, workmanlike though he is.
And some of the negativity in the media disgusts me, David Kelly's report in the Indo is a joke. 5 for McGeady in his ratings? Laughable, what match was he watching? We've often flattered to decieve against 'lower ranked' teams in qualifying, I remember being at Lansdowne in the Euro 88 qualifiers against Luxembourg when we went one down and came back to win 2-1 and hearing similar nonsense. All forgotten about once Gary Mackay scored. Results are the important thing in qualifying campaigns and we're unbeaten in 4 and would have a 100% record had we got that stonewall pen against Montenegro. I'll take that thanks very much. Roll on Bulgaria.
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