Ireland V Australia - Wednesday, 12th August 2009 - Friendly - Thomond Park

[tricky_colour]

I thought we were much better second half, Hunt made an impact when he came on.
Keane cause a lot of trouble in the box, the Aussie presenters I was watching heaped praise on him.
But for a wonder strike the second half would have been 0:0.
Apart from that no one realy stood IMO, Given made a good save, Andews hit the post.
However you have to give credit to the Aussies, they did play well, I expect they will have a good world cup.
Andy Reid was out walking his dog, probably the fittest dog in Sunderland by now

I have a theory that teams usually 'bounce back' after a bad result, unfortunately for us
Cyprus lost 6-1

[DmanDmythDledge]

on topic,big deal it was a friendly!!! trap will get the results when they matter in qualifiers.

The management team didn't see it as just a friendly though which makes the performance a cause for concern as far as I'm concerned, especially as it was not dis-similar to the manner of some performances throughout the campaign which goes to show that mistakes and deficiencies are not been spotted or dealt with by Trap.

Get the results? Based on what, blind faith? As I've said Trap treated that game as it mattered. Difference between this game and most of our qualifying games is that a performance around that standard we got away with it. We will pick up 0 points in our remaining games if we play like that unless we get a huge slice of luck.

I have a theory that teams usually 'bounce back' after a bad result, unfortunately for us
Cyprus lost 6-1

That's the only positive I can take from the game, we usually respond well to abject performances like this, 1-1 at home to the Czechs and Italy this campaign (albeit against 10 ten men) in recent times come to mind.

[MeathDrog]

But for a wonder strike the second half would have been 0:0.

Result!

[Kevin77]

Don't think it's fair to blame Trap. He's the main reason we still have a chance of qualifying. In the first 11 that he's had to manage with for most of his competitive fixtures we only have 3 what any sane person could consider to be good quality Premiership players - Keane, Dunne and Given. Finnan and S Reid are always injured so they can't be counted. Duff can be quality but the days when he reaches those heights get rarer by the year.

The likes of Whelan, Kilbane, Andrews, McGeady, Hunt, Folan and McShane are very poor quality Premiership players. Gibson has potential but not much else at the moment. I can see him eventually winding up at a mid table Premiership team in the future but he certainly doesn't look like he has the quality to make a career at united at present. O'Shea is an average player who does a job as a utility man for united and little else. Doyle still has to show he has enough ability to suceed at the top level.

We are 3 players short of similar quality to Keane, Dunne and Given from being a good international team. Luckily for us we are in a p*ss poor group which we've bundled our way through thus far. A fit S Reid and Finnan and the emergence of a St Ledger, Foley or McCann could make a world of difference.

Even so Trap is doing a very good job imo. If Stan was still in charge we'd be nearer the botom of the group than the top.

Finally, some sanity in this thread.

The cold hard truth is that this current Irish XI (and squad) is the poorest that I can remember (I am 32). Trap is basically making a sow's ear out of a pigs behind. No chance of a silk purse here.

We could attempt to play attractive football with the players we have and give up on qualification. Or alternatively we can play to our (limited) strengths and hope to sneak into the play offs and get lucky.

Based on the current squad and our performances over the last 5 years we probably don't deserve to qualify. I just pray that if we do somehow may it (clearly because of Trap, not in spite of him as someone mentioned elsewhere) that a few of the younger players or fringe players have a great season.

One final point. All the posters saying that ALL Trap has to do is recall either Reid or Ireland, are oversimplifying the matter. I am confident that if Stephen Reid was available (read consistently fit and game hardened) then he would be picked. Andy Reid is only lionised because of his absence. It's arguable he should be in the squad, but in reality he is no Essien or Gerrard. He's not going to provide that box to box presence we so badly need. And saying that Trap should pick Stephen Ireland is beyond stupid. He's simply not available to us.

We need to live in the now. We need to realise that we have very little quality and class available to us. And we need to support the team with hope, not expectation. We do NOT deserve to be competing at the level some people are suggesting. We can only get close that by maximising our strengths and becoming more than the sum of our (limited) parts.

Sadly for a country with our resources this type of result should be the rule and Euro 88, Italia 90, USA 94 and Japan/Korea 2002 are the exception.

[shakermaker1982]

Poor performance and once again the game exposed our frailties in the middle of of the park. Whelan and Gibson were clueless when it came to moving the ball forward.

Steven Reid needs to get fit asap and stay fit for the remaining 3 games. The Trap won't consider Andy Reid so our only hope lies with Steven staying fit. International football requires a midfield pairing who can pass the ball more than 10 yards without it going to the opposition. If you keep giving the ball away your constantly on the back foot.

Kilbane has got to go at LB. He has been a loyal servant but is not a left back and never will be. Somebody will have to tell him your supposed to go and close the winger down in dangerous areas if we still persist with him. How many fouls did he give away in the first 20 minutes last night? Stupid niggly fouls that put the team under pressure.

Doyle looked injured and it was crazy to start with him. I bet Mick wishes he kept him wrapped up in cotton wool instead of letting him come over.

Positives?

Keane looked sharp. Shane Long's pace is an asset and Hunt upped the tempo.

Given - 6
O'Shea - 5
Dunne - 5
St Ledger - 5
Kilbane - 4
Duff - 6
McGeady - 6 (second half he was dreadful but a good first half)
Whelan - 5
Gibson - 4
Keane - 8
Doyle - 4

Subs:

Hunt - 7 (at least he looked like he wanted to be there)
Long - 7
Folan - 6
Nolan - 6
Andrews - 6

[ifk101]

Keane was the only player that offered an attacking threat. I thought he did well and created one or two good goal scoring chances through his own individual skill.

Hunt did well when he came on and added a bit of urgency to the team. However I think last night showed that his best position is on the bench - for use as an impact sub.

I thought Dunne did relatively well and saved St Ledger's blushes on a few occasions.

Josh had probably his weakest game under Trapattoni. I'd move him back into the centre and drop St Ledger.

Kilbane tried hard again but his limitations were exposed lack night.

I think Gibson played himself out of the Cyprus match. I would have liked him to show for the ball more - there were a number of instances in the first half when Australia were sitting on the half way line waiting for us to come forward but our defence had nobody to pass to. It was in situations like this that we needed somebody to show for the ball and to try draw the opposition out of their shape.

McGeady takes too much out of the ball for an international player.

Duff, Doyle and Whelan I thought were overall relatively absent from the game but Whelan did ok in the second half.

As for the subs, it was really just Hunt and possibly Andrews that had any sort of impact. I think Folan is a donkey - his height is his only asset.

[bennocelt]

thought hunt lifted team and supporters with his introduction and was more of a threat in 45 mins than duff had been in first 45 .. poor game to watch and ireland definatly gave the aussies to much time and space ... as for booing at ft agree with you .. but a lot of apes near me on west terrace had no more intrest in match were chatting away during game and had no idea on some of the players names , had the feeling alot of fans only went for the novelty of thomond park factor and were not genuine soccer fans

what country have you lived in before, are you Irish?
I'm sure in the dictionary under the word bandwagon there must also be a line somewhere about Irish fans and sport in general

[Row Z]

last night's game confirms for me that Gibson just cant cut the mustard(yet) at international level. between him and Whelan, gibson is the one who is supposed to get on the ball and keep it moving, however, i thought a lot of his play was rushed and lacked accuracy.
Even though we did look ragged at the back i am a fan of St Ledger. Also, folan might not have the most ability in the world but he does put himself about (evidenced in Italy) and works hard.
all in all, hopefully its a wake up call and we can push on through the Autumn.

[Duggie]

when i listened on radio i was very downbeat but when i saw the highlights not as much. i wouldnt read to much into the defeat. i mean we beat sweden 3-0 and denmark 4-0 so lets not get to carried away. robbie had a good chance in the first half to score to go 1 up. great feet but pity he didnt finish it. overall it was fairly dour, i think we will be better for cyprus. actually it might help us not to get to confident and back down to the hard work.

[Wolfie]

I wouldn't be too dispondent regarding our qualifying hopes based solely on last nights performance. Its there to be fought for, despite a dodgy friendly result.

That said, it was disappointing that we were so lethargic, disjointed and the ago old issues regarding midfield continue to haunt us.

We've talked it to death but circumstance has conspired to rob us of Stephen Reid and the Stephen Ireland issue is very frustrating.

Trapp has little time or alternatives to shore up midfield. Hopefully Reids recovery continues and he's just about ready for action in September.

You've got to remember though - When did any Irish team ever do it the easy way?

[as_i_say]

Bar 1 thing. I know Kilbane has been a great servant and is much loved by many fans but he should never start another game for us. Give him 3 sub appearances in friendlies to give him his 100 caps but let that be it. He is so far past it now that its becoming embarressing and he is destablising the whole defense

As one of the "I love Kev unconditionally" brigade, sadly I would have to agree with you at this stage. He has been a complete and total liability for us in the last few games and should be dropped. Nolan doesnt look like much at this stage but Stephen Kelly should be in there against Cyrpus.

[Junior]

I know we arent spoiled for choice but wouldnt we be better off bringing in the likes of Foley or Nolan and letting them develope into the team in the knowledge that they are improving all the time. Kilbane is going the other way and the younger lads couldnt be any more of a liability

Perhaps in pure footballing ability terms you are right but I think you are under estimating the experience 97 caps brings with it, I dread to think what could happy to a Foley / Nolan should they freeze in the headlights for 3 massive massive games for us. Agreed Kilbane is not ideal at LB for us and his time is probably nearly up but I think he'll stay in for the rest of this campaign and I for one didnt think he did anything outrageous last night. There were plenty ahead of him for the wooden spoon, including Gibson and St-Ledger, two of our young and up and coming stars - no?

[as_i_say]

If it was a competitive game, Killer could well have been sent off before half time.

[Tipp Townie]

A very lethargic display from most players bar Hunt and Mc Geady...Tipp must not have suited them!

Don't you go blaming Tipp!!!

(must admit the same thought crossed my mind..)

[Junior]

blamed kilbane for the 1st goal. be honest he's been a good servant but he is a liability. cost us 4 points against bulgaria.

Are you on some sort of commission to keep posting that point? I swear Ive read that 3 or 4 times from you in different threads, there is definitely some deja-vu going on.

For the record, I dont agree. The 'team' put in a shocker at home to Bulgaria, the fact that Kilbane had the touch for the og was academic. He was certainly more at fault in the away game for their goal but to say we would have won both games without Kilbane is way off the mark IMO.

[gspain]

It was a poor performance however it was still a friendly. Now the Holland 2006 friendly was a portent of things to come but hopefully not this one.

There were a lot of distractions leading up to this with civic receptions, PR jobs etc.

Beat Cyprus and it won't matter however anything else will have reprecussions.

I still think we have a great chance of reaching a playoff. Wins over Cyprus and Montenegro almost certainly will do. Winning the group is a faint hope as we need Italy to drop other points apart from losing in Dublin.

We can get our revenge for last night next June.

[Drumcondra 69er]

shocking performance, but we have said that before after the friendly against Poland and we have stepped it up in the compeditive games so as annoyed and disgusted I am with tonight Im not gonna go on a rant and Im gonna keep the faith...

Bar 1 thing. I know Kilbane has been a great servant and is much loved by many fans but he should never start another game for us. Give him 3 sub appearances in friendlies to give him his 100 caps but let that be it. He is so far past it now that its becoming embarressing and he is destablising the whole defense

Exactly what I said last night, I've all the time in the world for him due to his attitude but time to go. Only problem is would you trsut a rookie left back in such a vital game as the Cyprus match?

[Tipp Townie]

For what its worth here are my random thoughts on last night..

Friendlies are always difficult to judge. As a number of people on here have said, in the past our wins v Sweden and Denmark meant virtually nothing in the grand scheme of things. Sometimes they do matter though - see the battering by Holland a couple of years ago as an example.. not long before we travelled to Cyprus..

However it is of course the performance that we're mainly worried about, and there's no doubt that it was very poor last night. I think there was a fair bit of rustiness around, although it didnt seem to affect the Aussies, who are mostly (all?) European based aswell. Plus they had maybe 5 or 6 of their first team missing last night, apparently.

I thought Whelan had a decent 2nd half, and Folan's aerial prowess continues to impress me. Hunt made a good impact when he came on, althought the crossing was still not quite up to it. And although Long was on only briefly i thought he did well in a very short space of time - but i am probably biased!

Finally - the thing that bothers me most about Trap's reign is the home form. It'll be an issue when we come to the Montenegro and Italy games.
However away from home his tactics seem to work well, and its that which i cling onto in preparation for the Cyprus game.

[Drumcondra 69er]

I said it at the start and i'll still say it now. Friendly or not Trap is being shown up for being the clueless mercenary buffon he is. Ireland are where they are in the group, despite him and not because of him.

Hi Eamon! Nice column in The Star today.

[Junior]

Hunt had the desired impact when he came on in lifting the pace of the game.

Sorry but Hunt was woeful, ok he controled the ball well most of the time, only to subsequently lose the ball with a poor pass or cross straight into Schwartzer's hands.

We need to nip this Stephen Hunt buzz in the bud now, everyone said look at the commitment from Kilbane and the the chap won't go away (sorry Kev love ye really) and Kilbane has much more talent than Hunt.

Where did I say Hunt was magnificent? Im not a big fan of his at all but he did raise the tempo when he came on (as he has done many times for us in the past). He also attempted a few low crosses whipped in with pace, some failed, some didnt but it was something we hadnt really seen in the 1st half.

After the 1st half performance, we needed something like Hunt, ultimately it didnt bring about the vastly needed improvement in performance but it certainly didn't make things any worse!