Italy V Republic of Ireland - Wednesday, 1st April 2009 - World Cup 2010 Q

[geysir]

I don't see McShane or even KK as anywhere near a key weakness.
They would be adequate enough if you had a CM who resembled a driving pulse in the team.

[shakermaker1982]

Dunphy on RTE this morning:

Italy aren't great - missing better players; they didn't impress on Saturday
Grosso a threat
Pirlo biggest threat

McShane a weakness; Keogh not the right guy to replace McGeady
Keane & Doyle will provide a chance of scoring
We have "great players who love playing for their country"

He & many in the game are disillusioned with Trap, despite his initial excitement at the appointment. Feeling is he's not working hard enough and is becoming eccentric. Says Thursday morning is the time to comment further though.

Dunphy concedes that many of the selections are marginal, including Reid & Carsley, but that if they played we'd have a better chance.

Hopeful we can get a draw.

Dunphy is covering all bases there. If we win/draw then Italy weren't that good anyway. Lose? The Trap isn't pulling his weight and should be picking Reid/Carsley.

[dr_peepee]

It's in situations like this that we're paying for Trapp not making full use of the Friendlies and actual face time at matches.

I don't buy into the "Marginal" thing either when it comes to players selection. At the top level, arguably in any sport, the marginal can decide an awful lot. It's just when you've to pick the best of an average bunch you have to look harder, and Trapp's just bone lazy.

I see a hard fought draw tonight though...

[DotTV]

Bone lazy? He's brought Whelan,Andrews and Gibson into the fray. We're missing Finnan, S Reid, Duff, mcGeady and Irelad....there is not much else out there.

[Scram]

Bone lazy? He's brought Whelan,Andrews and Gibson into the fray. We're missing Finnan, S Reid, Duff, mcGeady and Irelad....there is not much else out there.

A. Reid, Carlsley..........

[DotTV]

I'd like to see both in there myself but would they be much better than whats in there?

[dr_peepee]

I'd like to see both in there myself but would they be much better than whats in there?

Exactly, man... Would they? Is Liam Lawrence better than Andy Keogh? I dunno but I'd be doing more to find out than a B match against forrest is all I'm saying.

[shakermaker1982]

I'm still going with a draw. The team cannot play as badly as it did Saturday night. Surely? I just hope they get stuck in and press properly. The Trap then replaces the tired players with Gibson, Delaney and Long (pace) and we hold on for a point. Whelan and Gibson need big games.

[DotTV]

Exactly, man... Would they? Is Liam Lawrence better than Andy Keogh? I dunno but I'd be doing more to find out than a B match against forrest is all I'm saying.

Hard to risk in a qualifier though. he's tried gibson, andrews and kelly. I know others should be given a chance but I think half of Kerr and Stans problem was they were chopping and changing and never knew exactly what system they were going to play. Now we have a system, we're organised and we're good at the back.

[Reality Bites]

It's in situations like this that we're paying for Trapp not making full use of the Friendlies and actual face time at matches.

I don't buy into the "Marginal" thing either when it comes to players selection. At the top level, arguably in any sport, the marginal can decide an awful lot. It's just when you've to pick the best of an average bunch you have to look harder, and Trapp's just bone lazy.

I see a hard fought draw tonight though...

Get Real - after years of steady decline this is the worst bunch of Irish Players ever to represent the country, people here are still harking back to the glory days of the late 80's and 90's when we had a great team, those days are gone and in the past.. all we have now is a set of very average players - midfield is terrible and will be shown up again tonite.. our manager is a pragmatist he knows this - we can only be fully effective if we have our best players all fit and available and wanting to play(Stephen Ireland) - faith has not dealt us this hand. if we has our full team including the aforementioned recalcitrant one then yes a draw would indeed be very possible but not tonite I am afraid.

[Lionel Ritchie]

the reason this is the greatest game on earth is that a weaker team, on their day, can defeat a stronger opponent.

C'mon Ireland!

[mjpcc]

I've got some impossible Italian friends here - they no feck all about football but are sure Italy are going to win every game.

I'm going to take a lot of crap if we loose today so the team better play up or else.....................

Come on you boys in Green................................

The Perpetual optimist

[Stuttgart88]

Exactly, man... Would they? Is Liam Lawrence better than Andy Keogh? I dunno but I'd be doing more to find out than a B match against forrest is all I'm saying.

I see where you're coming from but has Lawrence been fit for any of our games or friendlies? He's only back in Stoke's team a little while isn't he?

Any blame to be attributed here has got to be attributed to Trap's advisors too.

[paul_oshea]

bulgaria winning, if we lose tonight they will be just 4 points behind us and a game in hand, that they should win. IF they win that thats 1 point, even if we draw thats 2 points and us needing to go there, with a tougher run in. We, as I predicted 2 matches ago could be in serious trouble and beating these below average teams 1-0 or drawing away from home with them meant nothing and people got carried away as usual.

[Stuttgart88]

Who got carried away? It was well documented here that the only result where we've bettered Bulgaria in is Georgia away. We knew the table was deceptive. Momentum is important though and our hiccup on Saturday gave us little margin for error in next 2 games.

[Scram]

bulgaria winning, if we lose tonight they will be just 4 points behind us and a game in hand, that they should win. IF they win that thats 1 point, even if we draw thats 2 points and us needing to go there, with a tougher run in. We, as I predicted 2 matches ago could be in serious trouble and beating these below average teams 1-0 or drawing away from home with them meant nothing and people got carried away as usual.

And some are still looking at the table and gloating! Remarkable considering all we have done is beaten Georgia twice, drawn with Montenegro and beaten Cyprus.

I said before that Trappatoni's honeymoon will be over when we are beaten by a poor side with Andy Reid exiled, that happened v Poland. 3 wins out of 10 games.

Only a win tonight will quieten the multitudes who want Reid in the side.

[tetsujin1979]

3 wins out of 10 games

Must have imagined the win VS Colombia so
And where are you getting 10 games?
Trapattoni's record so far:
Serbia 1-1
Colombia 1-0
Norway 1-1
Georgia 2-1
Montenegro 0-0
Cyprus 1-0
Poland 2-3
Georgia 2-1
Bulgaria 1-1

[Jicked]

I wonder how people would react if Trap spent every friendly/qualifier constantly rotating the team/squad giving caps to absolutely every Irish player who's been within touching distance of a Championship side.
"Why is Garvan getting a game, he can't even play for Ipswich"
"Alan Lee is a rubbish journeyman why has he been capped"
"Carsley should have retired years ago, time to establish a new midfield"

Yet apparently these are the answer because we didn't beat a side seeded above us. Crazy crazy stuff.

Thank heavens we're at least in the position where tonight even with the players unavailable that we have, at least this midfield has played together quite a bit. I cant see it proving much good tonight against the stiff opposition, but well its something to cling on to.

[Colbert Report]

I wonder how people would react if Trap spent every friendly/qualifier constantly rotating the team/squad giving caps to absolutely every Irish player who's been within touching distance of a Championship side.
"Why is Garvan getting a game, he can't even play for Ipswich"
"Alan Lee is a rubbish journeyman why has he been capped"
"Carsley should have retired years ago, time to establish a new midfield"

Yet apparently these are the answer because we didn't beat a side seeded above us. Crazy crazy stuff.

Thank heavens we're at least in the position where tonight even with the players unavailable that we have, at least this midfield has played together quite a bit. I cant see it proving much good tonight against the stiff opposition, but well its something to cling on to.

What's the deal with Garvan? I thought he was doing well and pushing for a transfer to the Premiership this summer. What happened?

[Jicked]

I'm not fully sure, as like most of the people who have advocated him playing in our first team, I haven't seen a lot of them. He's only 21 so it's hardly surprising that he's in and out of the first team and not an option for us yet. He has time on his side, but certainly doesn't seem the answer for now.