Ireland V South Africa - Tuesday, 8th September 2009 - Friendly - Thomond Park

[centre mid]

11,300

[drummerboy]

I thought that Kelly, SSL and McShane done well at the back, Lawrence in midfield and Doyle was his usual self. Folan battled well: the others all worked tirelessly. O'Dea looked composed when he came on, old head on young shoulders. But the two players I feel really sorry for are Nolan and Keogh.

Nolan is a young player, whose best position is right full. To allow him grow into international football he should be only used at right full.

Keogh has had a few really good games for Wolves in the premiership against teams such as Man city. It is totally unfair to continuously ask him to play out of position all the time, while lesser players such as Best are given more time up front.

Overall a worthwhile exercise which will do a lot to boost the morale of this upcoming squald.

[Wexford Delboy]

nolan looked better than kilbane positionally but terrible at passing, always gave it away

[Murfinator]

From the highlights it seemed like a typical Trap performance. Solid and organised at the back, efficient taking their chances at the front and unimposing in the middle.

This style is getting results but I really fear that some day we'll face a top side who are really up to it, back off them like we did today and get put to the sword by them. Could you imagine backing off Spain like that and letting Xavi and Iniesta do what they please with the ball?

I'm happy though that we're building depth nicely, we have real talented options in the squad like Lawrence, Folan, Keogh, Hunt who are all premiership starters at the moment.

[strangeirish]

Here's the goal. Don't know how long it'll be up for.

[Crosby87]

The attendance was 11,000? Wow those are Red Bulls numbers. Eww.

[Guidedbyvoices]

The attendance was 11,000? Wow those are Red Bulls numbers. Eww.

What has red bull gotado with football dude?

[eirebhoy]

Andrews and Gibson anonymous though. Is it always our CM players who are that bad or is it Traps tactics at this stage?

Trap said after the game he was very happy with Gibson so unfortunately Gibson is just doing his job.

It is starting to frustrate me now that our midfielders, particularly, are getting the blame for what is essentially Trap's tactics.

Before the Australia game I was always saying that Gibson needs to go out and do more than his 'job'. But now I just don't blame him. I think when S.Reid is back in the team the tactics will change to keep the ball down on the ground much more. I keep looking back on the performance in Italy, without Reid, to show how much the tactics are playing a part. Because we didn't hit a long ball for 70 minutes that night and our midfield was excellent.

[geysir]

Gibson was tentative but he did peek out a bit in the second half.
It would be grand if he had some of Best's confidence to shoot at will and ask questions later.

We need another name for our version of the staring game catanaccio.

[tetsujin1979]

Westwood: Had nothing to do. Kept a clean sheet. Think he had one shot, and that was straight down his throat.

Kelly: Very disappointing. Never looked comfortable on the ball, rarely found a teammate with a pass (more below)
St Ledger: Sold in defence. Lost the head a few times and charged out at players in possession. Thought he disimproved with O'Dea as a partner
McShane: Far more solid as a centre half than I've ever seen him as a full back
Nolan: Irvine has stated that long term he sees Nolan as a centre half, but he'll learn his trade as a full back. Kilbane has experience on him, but it's a judgement call between them TBH

Lawrence: Fantastic free kick, but he's still fourth choice winger behind Duff, McGeady, and Stephen Hunt
Andrews: Suffered without Whelan, still think A+W is the strongest midfield pairing in the squad we have at the moment
Gibson: The talent is there, but not the desire. Going to be a big season for him if he can't deliver at club level for Fergie
Keogh: Probably the worst player on the pitch, but I forgave him because he's not a winger, and he's certainly not a right winger. He's scored twice under Trapattoni (against Serbia and Nottingham Forest) both times coming through the middle,so why has Trapattoni only started him on the wing??

Folan: Was booed when he went down, and applauded when we all realised it was a genuine serious injury. When Ireland were down to 10 men, we barely made it out of our half. When Folan came back we could have had 3 goals in 10 minutes. Excellent in the air, but ineffective on the deck
Doyle: Worked his socks off. Never stopped running, making himself available for a pass. Genuinely thought he was going to win MOTM, despite Lawrence's goal

Subs:
O'Dea: When he came on, St Ledger moved to the right side and this reduced St Ledger's effectiveness (at least to me). Not a bad game, but nothing to suggest he may become a regular starter, or even substitute
Duff: Replaced the woefully ineffective Keogh. Added some intelligence to the left side, but it seemed like the rest of the team hadn't registered his presence and rarely passed out that direction. When was the last time he came on as a sub??
Best: Excellent cameo, worked hard, made chances, and tried to score at least once. Cemented his place in the squad for me

I genuinely believed that Kelly was the biggest disappointment on the night, until watching the review on RTE 2, when Giles and Dunphy pointed out that Andrews and Gibson didn't give him an out ball. Having realised that, he actually did ok, but still going to be 3rd choice full back behind Finnan (when/if fit) and O'Shea. The lack of match practise definitely showed, I struggled to remember one time in the first half when he looked comfortable in possession. Was much more relaxed in the second half, and tried to make some runs and crosses
Gibson needs to make more of an impact in a game. He's comfortable in possession, and has a hell of a shot, but he never showed for a pass, and didn't make many tackles. Still very much a work in progress, and the completed article may need a move from Old Trafford before it happens
Keogh was atrocious, but I don't blame him for it. He's not a winger, by any stretch of the imagination. He's certainly not a left winger, and he stands on his left foot. Every time the ball came to his left foot, he had to stop to transfer it to his right, and the second or so that this took resulted in lost possession or lost impetus for the team
With Best's cameo, I really do believe he's pushed his way in to the manager's thinking. Loads of movement and positive play. On another night he would have had a hat trick. by far the greatest positive of the night's game

[Scrufil]

I liked the fact that the South Africans played in shirts straight from the design on the Crayola Chalk box. Back to the drawing boards lads and take yer hooters with ye!

[jebus]

First time in about a year I've seen Ireland live, a few thoughts

- We play far too narrow, the amount of times the SA wingers were on their own just screaming for the ball to be played to them was shocking, we need to watch this against better sides

- The full backs were dire. They looked terrified when the ball came to them, even though they were obviously just told to hoof it away.

- I like Folan, I think he gives us an extra option

- Good goal and performance from Lawerence

- The centre midfield was garbage as ever

- Doyle shouldn't have been played, he looked knackered

- We can't string more than three passes together without given the ball away. Our players seem to think their job is done as soon as the ball has left their foot, they don't seem to realise they need to show for it and get the ball back if needs be.

- I don't think we'll qualify for the World Cup unless we get an easy playoff fixture. A decent team will pick that formation apart regardless of the players we put out

[endabob1]

First time in about a year I've seen Ireland live, a few thoughts

- We play far too narrow, the amount of times the SA wingers were on their own just screaming for the ball to be played to them was shocking, we need to watch this against better sides

- The full backs were dire. They looked terrified when the ball came to them, even though they were obviously just told to hoof it away.

- I like Folan, I think he gives us an extra option

- Good goal and performance from Lawerence

- The centre midfield was garbage as ever

- Doyle shouldn't have been played, he looked knackered

- We can't string more than three passes together without given the ball away. Our players seem to think their job is done as soon as the ball has left their foot, they don't seem to realise they need to show for it and get the ball back if needs be.

- I don't think we'll qualify for the World Cup unless we get an easy playoff fixture. A decent team will pick that formation apart regardless of the players we put out

I agree with most of that, but I disagree with the last point, I would count Bulgaria & Italy as decent teams who have failed to pick us apart in competitve games. My concern is that it's a formation designed to protect what you have so we will always struggle for goals.

On a seperate point, it's worth noting that Bafana were also quite under-strength last night, 3/4 players missing from what would be their first choice.

[Pauro 76]

So was yer man that ran on when we scored wearing a Celtic or Shamrock Rovers jersey?

Sellthick shirt he was wearing....Nice goal though.

[jbyrne]

This style is getting results but I really fear that some day we'll face a top side who are really up to it, back off them like we did today and get put to the sword by them. Could you imagine backing off Spain like that and letting Xavi and Iniesta do what they please with the ball?

under previous managers it didnt take top sides to take us apart. i'm sure that trapp would have a plan for the likes of spain. one game at a time and we are light years ahead of where we were two years ago. there is just far too much negativity around the team at the moment. we are second in a decent group (no matter what dunphy said on tv last night about our group) and have a decent chance of reaching the wc...... we need a reality check!

[an_ceannaire]

11,300 tells it own story..... there will be 20,000 + there on Friday night for a Magners League game, not a henieken cup game, a magners league game........

[Mayo Red]

- We play far too narrow, the amount of times the SA wingers were on their own just screaming for the ball to be played to them was shocking, we need to watch this against better sides

- We can't string more than three passes together without given the ball away. Our players seem to think their job is done as soon as the ball has left their foot, they don't seem to realise they need to show for it and get the ball back if needs be.

I'd have to agree with you there, we gave their wingers acres of space. South Africa play a neat enough passing game but if they were more willing to give quicker ball, even the odd longer ball into space out to the wingers we could have been in bother. Some of their efforts on goal were terrible aswell, the amount of times they fluffed shots was unbelieveable.

Our own passing game was terrible, ball retention was shocking, I thought Keogh and Nolan were particularly bad with under cooked passes and giving the ball away.

That being said it was a useful workout for more or less our second string with Leon Best looking impressive when he came on. Folan too gives us a different kind of option up front although he won't score many goals.

[elroy]

I am now starting to genuinely believe that the lack of midfield possession is most of our games is as much to do with Traps tactics as it is with the ability of the players. They do not seem to be instructed to play the ball around. It seems to be a case of solid defence of two banks of four, let them play it all around in front of us, then when they lose the ball, we attack quickly usually via a long ball. There were numerous times last night when we won the ball back when the long ball to a sole striker was the only option and a poor one at that, yet we still went for it. Very rarely the midfielders take the ball off the defenders and look to bring in a wide man or the full backs, it is very much a case of long ball and quick.

Call it catenaccio if you like, yes it has worked thus far and i dont think we'll ever concede many with this system. But it can be very frustrating to watch, maybe that why the Italians have won a few WCs and we havent.

[paul_oshea]

has anyone got the game recorded on hard drive and uploaded?!

[centre mid]

Yes but the Italian sides always had great individuals who could make a goal from nothing. We rely very heaviley on the front two to create something at the moment, you need a bit of imagination from midfield also. Hopefully SR will provide a cutting edge when he is fit.