I thought Folan was very good tonight, but I wouldn't sacrifice Doyle to put him in. Try Folan in the friendly against Nigeria on 29 May (a week before we play Bulgaria) and see how he does.
Very surprised Pirlo went off at HT. I wonder were Trap & Lippi playing a game with each other.
I thought Folan was very good tonight, but I wouldn't sacrifice Doyle to put him in. Try Folan in the friendly against Nigeria on 29 May (a week before we play Bulgaria) and see how he does.
I'm a 23yr old right-handed heterosexual who drinks milk and likes democracy. - dcfcsteve knows me well
you mean a bit of denmark/sweden euro 2004 style shenanigans?
Absolutely fantastic performance. I was never less confident in us getting as result as I was after the Bulgaria performance but fair play to the manager and the players. They showed no fear of Italy at all and took the game to them from the start.Didnt let the heads drop after conceeding the stupid goal either. It can be hard to play against a blanket defense but we kept possesion brilliantly all night and got our rewards in the end. I just hope now that the manager gets confidence in his players after that and sends them out to play like that from now on.
On a side note I thought that a lad who has gotten alot of critisism from me and others,Glenn Whelan, was very good tonight
Its really not that complicated!!!
Pirlo was standing off the Irish midfield. Who ever Lippi brought on, he hunted and harried the irish midfield.Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
But Trap sent both Kilbane and o´Shea to go forward.
Trap won hands down.
I wouldn't either but it certainly poses the question of Doyle & Folan, with Keane withdrawn and only one of our traditional wide two backed by a narrower midfield.
2 v 1 is just unfair
some boards.ie goon seems to believe that our team suits a long ball game despite having a team of midgets. are people gone crazy or what? we had 65% of possession in ****ing bari, the ball was constantly with us, some of whelans passes were quite good. im honestly shocked at the reaction.
+1, he dominated aginst de rossi....
Given: 6 - He kicked well under pressure at times. Nothing else really to do.
Kilbane: 8 - Very good game. The ball was all over the other side of the pitch in the first half so he never got the chance to look like Maldini against Pepe but he god forward a lot in the 2nd half and created some really good chances.
McShane: 6.5 - One of our most heavily involved players overall. Grosso got forward twice into McShane's position, 1 with crucial consequences so he's dropped down a notch or 2 for that reason. Much better passing than usual and typically dominant in the air.
Dunne: 8.5 - He pretty much played the playmaker role of defence today and was his usual dominant self defensively.
O'Shea: 7 - Did nothing wrong really.
Whelan: 9 - This fella was brilliant. Long passing, short passing, constantly showing for the ball. He dominated the game for us. Italy going down to 10 men changed them psychologically. It didn't change their ability to defend and Whelan ran the show. He looks really suited to the Italian game.
Andrews: 7 - I thought he was playing well before he went off. Showed for the ball much more than previous games. Running towards the ball when he'd previously have waited for it to arrive to him.
Hunt: 9 - He was brilliant. Everything just went right for him. Constantly beat players to win fouls or set pieces. Fantastic volley. I think every one of the Italian defence was fooled by him tonight. The best I've seen him play.
Keane: 8 - Intelligent performance from Keane in the playmakers role. And he gets a goal against the world champs.
Doyle: 6 - Cannavaro was unfortunately on the form that made him the best centre half in the world for the first hour or so and that's just too good for most strikers. Even in games like this though Doyle still just has something about him that makes him look classy.
Folan: 7.5 - He likes the direct game and he looked a very good player. Even his run against Grosso in the first half he had a nice glide about him. Helped create 3 or 4 great chances.
Overall I'm just delighted we did ourselves justice. That's all I ever ask. If our players only of the standard to play long ball at this level then I'll be happy to play that way but I'm glad the Italians saw we can actually play football.
I'd critisise Trap for the way the players sit back when we're leading if it wasn't for the fact Steven Reid doesn't sit back. It's up to the players to use their heads!
Last edited by eirebhoy; 01/04/2009 at 10:20 PM.
I thought we deserved to win. Would of taken a draw before though. Fair play to Trap for taking Keogh off so early. Himself and McShane were liabilities.
OK, so they only had 10, but yesterday a few of us reminisced about the first half in Norway. Tonight'ss game was like that. If we had been Italy we'd have been asking why the ball kept coming back at us and how we struggled to keep it.
Credit where it's due.
Second place is in sight, even first (or third), so hopefully we can play it right from here on in.
I was also impressed by Traps subs and think he won the game of chess against Lippi.
Very happy with a point, would have gladly taken it before the game.
Roddy Collins, the biggest <insert as appropiate> in Irish Football.
Yep. Hands down.
I wonder how tomorrow's Indo will call it.
I'm sure the giants of the game like Spain, Germany, Brazil & Holland etc. would expect to break down a 10 man Italy but this was a very understrength Ireland and despite criticisms of squad & starting XI I thinbk nobody can deny that Trap won the tactical battle tonight.
Anyone know of any clips of the goals/highlights?
Neither the BBC no Sky seem willing to show a clip, they usually do when it's a bad result for Ireland though!!
[Edit] I caught the highlights here on RTE news which is not blocked, I think it's closed down now though.
http://www.rte.ie/live/
Last edited by tricky_colour; 01/04/2009 at 10:49 PM.
"Rattled" was the word I used about Pirlo in texts at half time. Our midfield bossed him about and he's very much a luxury player. As much as I think he's one of the most influential players in the world on his day.
btw - anyone know what the possession stat was? I think I heard it was 33 - 67. 10 men or not. If our players misplaced a few passes and lost confidence Italy would have been well back in the game but we never allowed them.
Just working through Gazzetta dello Sport with the aid of an online translator, from what I can make of it they're giving the credit to Trap. Saying Keane's goal was coming and singling Hunt out for praise. Lippi and Pazzini both unhappy with the red card that changed it, but according to the dodgy translator Pazzini refers to the ref as "the beautiful arbitrator"Can't see Wayne Rooney coming out with that phrase! Pazzini and the Italians saying that the ref didn't see the elbow too...which I thought aslo, and that the red card was a result of O'Shea's bleeding and the ref being 'forced' in to the decision.
good result tonight but lets not get carried away
1) mcshane is not a right back there must be a better one out there ,even in the league of ireland ,he was brutal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2) Keogh was totally out of his depth ,must be the worst 20min performance by a irish player that i can recall in the last 30years
I'll be fluent by the end of this! A poll is up now, only 54% of 5000 voters agree with Lippi that the ref was the cause of Italy's problems.Just working through Gazzetta dello Sport with the aid of an online translator, from what I can make of it they're giving the credit to Trap. Saying Keane's goal was coming and singling Hunt out for praise. Lippi and Pazzini both unhappy with the red card that changed it, but according to the dodgy translator Pazzini refers to the ref as "the beautiful arbitrator"
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