Cyprus V Republic of Ireland - Saturday, 5th September 2009 - World Cup 2010 Q

[osarusan]

Delighted with three points. I didn't think we were "lucky". Cyprus are a poor side who were unable to exploit a mal-functioning Irish midfield and shaky defence.The fact that we were so poor, and still won, doesn't mean they were unlucky to lose. It just means they were a poor side.

Unfortunately, so were we. There are different ways to pick up three points, and we chose the least impressive route. I don't see the result as vindication of the manager's tactics. And I didn't see much that would give me a lot of confidence going into the Italy game.

[lankyboy26]

Delighted with three points. I didn't think we were "lucky". Cyprus are a poor side who were unable to exploit a mal-functioning Irish midfield and shaky defence.The fact that we were so poor, and still won, doesn't mean they were unlucky to lose. It just means they were a poor side.

Unfortunately, so were we. There are different ways to pick up three points, and we chose the least impressive route. I don't see the result as vindication of the manager's tactics. And I didn't see much that would give me a lot of confidence going into the Italy game.

i'd agree with you there, 1 poor side (ireland) vs an even poorer side in Cyprus. thank god for that one bit of quality from Duff, great cross and in fairness to Robbie Keane it was a good header although the keeper messed up. if we do qualify for the world cup we will have to improve immensely or we will be humiliated

[eirebhoy]

Geysir alluded to a Trapp quote suggesting that CM's poor showing was not down to tactics.

RTE at least asked the questins, Bill corretl;y asking was ita loack of confidence in the CM that caused the hoofing, Giles querying the moral couarge in showing for the ball etc.

I can't agree with that Stutts. Dunne doesn't lump the ball up the pitch at club level. He has something like a 80-90% pass success rate. There was definitely times last night the defenders could have passed to midfield but they lumped it. It's tactics. Dreadful tactics imo. If it isn't tactics then Trap must have done nothing on the training ground after the Australia match which he obviously has.

Thanfully our football was very good when Steven Reid was around so we're relying on him. Please stay fit.

Any win will do at the moment if it gets us to the world cup but the football must change after the Montenegro match or I couldn't bare it.

Doyle was brilliant btw. My motm.

[stiffler]

Great to see the lads sing the national anthem before the game with such passion!

hopefully Wednesday's game finishes all square, I really feel we have a chance of getting a win against Italy at this stage.

[MeathDrog]

Great to see the lads sing the national anthem before the game with such passion!

hopefully Wednesday's game finishes all square, I really feel we have a chance of getting a win against Italy at this stage.

Wouldn't be a disaster if Bulgaria won either.

[tetsujin1979]

has noone pointed out we won in the white jersey??

[SuperDave]

Wouldn't be a disaster if Bulgaria won either.

i've said it here and elsewhere.... it would be an absolute, unmitigated disaster.... do some maths, dammit!

[geysir]

Trap pretty much confirmed that the long ball out was tactics, dictated by the threat presented.
He also said that stuff done on training pitch wasn't done on the field of play though I can't think of one coach who doesn't moan about that one.

[Razors left peg]

3 points, job done, end of story. I dont think we were lucky at all, we played shocking stuff for the most part but I dont remember Shay having a save to make in the second half. The way some lads are going on ya would swear we were under pressure the whole game with them having chance after chance the 2nd half.
The long ball tactics were awful, they worked for Jack because he had runners coming from midfield too to get on to the breaking ball but if you are just hoofing it up to the 2 front men the whole time and expect them to do something its not gonna work. The winner came from the best bit of football we played in the 2nd half so I hope that will show thats the way forward for us... although listening to Trap saying afterwards that they were playing 2 touch football all week in training the tactics last night dont seem to make much sense.
I didnt think O Shea was exceptionally bad last night either as some are saying,his distribution was poor but he was far from the only one. I actually thought Kilbane was beyond horrendus, he looked like a guy that was taken from a GAA pitch and told to try play soccer.He really didnt look like any sort of a professional footballer at all, could pass, couldnt tackle, positional sense was terrible.I think he should have closed the man down quicker for their goal too, he seem to hesitate at the start of his run towards the ball.

But with 2 games to go and being in such a great position Im full of optimism.People are saying that we are gonna get found out, but people said we hadnt a hope of getting anything out of the games in Italy and Bulgaria and we came through those games ok.We gotten ourselfs into this positon on merit now, luck cannot account for every game we have played.Still unbeaten in qualifying....not bad for a team that are as bad as some people are making out!!

[Eirambler]

Listening to Trap saying afterwards that they were playing 2 touch football all week in training the tactics last night dont seem to make much sense.

I suppose it depends what the two touches were. One might have been to control it and the other to hoof it ninety yards up the pitch...

[Razors left peg]

I suppose it depends what the two touches were. One might have been to control it and the other to hoof it ninety yards up the pitch...

haha fair point

[lankyboy26]

I suppose it depends what the two touches were. One might have been to control it and the other to hoof it ninety yards up the pitch...

ha ha ha excellent!!!

[citizenerased]

great to get the 3 pts, but foockin hell we were awful...trapattoni me arse, he aint worth two million..long ball v cyprus!!,,,,shocking stuff...absolutely blessed to get 3pts

[Qwerty]

Shocking but we're always shocking away to Cyprus. Those pesky technically superior minnows. I guess you have to compare apples to apples so compared to previous performances away to Cyprus it wasn't the worst.

We created 2 chances in the second half and took one. Cyprus didn't have a clear cut chance but had a few half-chances.

But what I cannot understand is why Irish teams going back as far as I cna remember seem to play to the level of the opposition. If we had to play away to the top teams in Europe I would be confident of a spirited performance and getting a draw. But for the life of me I know that if we play away to no hopers we will struggle.

Anyhow we got our revenge I suppose.

[citizenerased]

Shocking but we're always shocking away to Cyprus. Those pesky technically superior minnows. I guess you have to compare apples to apples so compared to previous performances away to Cyprus it wasn't the worst.

We created 2 chances in the second half and took one. Cyprus didn't have a clear cut chance but had a few half-chances.

But what I cannot understand is why Irish teams going back as far as I cna remember seem to play to the level of the opposition. If we had to play away to the top teams in Europe I would be confident of a spirited performance and getting a draw. But for the life of me I know that if we play away to no hopers we will struggle.

Anyhow we got our revenge I suppose.

so true, is absurd when you think about it

[KR's Post]

I can't believe the people on here saying as Bulgaria win on wednesday would be good.... If Bulgaria win on wednesday, we'd be snookered. Italy win in Dublin and a Bulgaria win away to Cyprus and they leap us. Personally a draw on wednesday is what i'd love to see. If we then beat Italy we go top. But also a draw on wednesday means we can afford to lose to Italy, and beat Montenegro and still be guaranteed 2nd!

[Manblue]

Have to say I'm a happy man now, but I never cursed at an Irish team so much in my life before. They were very poor tonight.

O’Shea had a dreadful first half, settled a bit in second.
Dunne could have given away 3 penos with a different ref, looked clumbsy.
SSL struggled in my opinion, even under the high ball never looked assured.
Kilbane didn't do much wrong, they never managed to expose him and he could have scored a goal from the header in first half.

Duff done ok, won a lot of free kicks, some obvious dives
Whelan anonymous for a lot of the game, although in his defence he worked hard defensively
Andrews read Whelan
Hunt: what ever chance he has of making an impact was negated when he was placed on the right wing (in his case the wrong wing)

Keane was dreadful in first half improved in second. Wonderful finish, brave not his usual type of goal.
Doyle was one of the few who had a good first half, faded in second. Good finish for goal.

McGeady didn't really do much, I thought he could have done better when he made that run from his own half.
Folan made a nuicence of himself without doing much.


All in all a great result. Hard to watch. The big test comes next month. How good are Italy? Are they worthy world champions or are they finished like they showed in the confederate cup. Time will tell. I will kneel down and pray that Stephen Reid is fully fit for the game in October. I think he will improve our chances of beating them by 25% if he plays.

I really cant understand how it was 4 pages before anyone questioned St Ledger, Injury aside he was awful, his positional sense is horrible. He was constantly forcing dunne into terrible postions to cover for him. He doesnt attack the ball in the air with any aggression whatsoever and never looked to find one of our own men with a clearance.

O Shea had a stinker also, him and dunne is a far better partnership and leave someone else play right back.

People saying earlier in thread that Hughes didnt show confidence in Dunne,
I watched dunne weekly last year and he had all the confidence/opportunities to cement his place but last night was his typical performance for city for 90% of last year. I still think he is a very good defender but do question his attitude and hope he regains old form For Ireland, Villa and himself.

[SuperDave]

I can't believe the people on here saying as Bulgaria win on wednesday would be good.... If Bulgaria win on wednesday, we'd be snookered. Italy win in Dublin and a Bulgaria win away to Cyprus and they leap us. Personally a draw on wednesday is what i'd love to see. If we then beat Italy we go top. But also a draw on wednesday means we can afford to lose to Italy, and beat Montenegro and still be guaranteed 2nd!

at last people are seeing sense! now go forward and dispel the misapprehension that a bulgarian win is good. even the times are at it:

Irish eyes will be fully focused on Turin on Wednesday evening - Trapattoni’s men play a friendly against South Africa in Limerick 24 hours earlier – and opinion may be divided on the best result.

Victory for Italy would make winning the group intensely difficult for Ireland, but would virtually guarantee them the runners-up spot.

A Bulgaria win would blow the race wide open, although that would drag Dimitar Berbatov and company back into striking distance.

Keane said: “It will be a tough game on Wednesday now, Bulgaria against Italy, and that will hopefully open up the group a little bit, you never know.

Link

No you fools! Opinion is not divided! A draw is the best result and a Bulgarian win is the worst, with an Italian win significantly better. Grrr. Learn maths, people!

[tetsujin1979]

Anyone care about the Australia result now?
thought not

[kingdom hoop]

But what I cannot understand is why Irish teams going back as far as I cna remember seem to play to the level of the opposition.

As far as I can tell, this is a general human conundrum, one that confounds many a great intellect - "Why do We tend to only exert so much effort as seems strictly necessary?"
It really is pervasive across society, not just peculiar to the Irish football team. If you've a handy exam coming up, you're not going to break your balls studying for it. If you've a bird slobbering all over you, clearly gagging for you, you're not going to bother pulling out some magical lines. If you're playing a mediocre team, chances are you won't be as fired up and determined as you would against a great team. I think that's natural enough.

Obviously it'd be better if we could always operate at optimum and I'm not trying to defend the performance - just saying that in the absence of a challenge that seems (whether subconscious or otherwise) worthy of our utmost efforts and highest level of performance, it is quite natural not to play fantastic.
I think it was noteworthy that as we entered the closing stages, the team did begin to play a bit better. As the challenge increased, so too did our performance. There was a bit more urgency, and in the minutes before the goal, it felt like a goal was coming.

Yeah it'd be great to hammer these teams into submission, but thanks to the evident strength of character the team has, it's not a great surprise that we 'luckily' start to play when we really have to.