Post Match and looking ahead

[Guidedbyvoices]

I didn't say I would leave out Keane. I said I would leave out Doyle. He's not a world class finisher and he doesn't close down enough which is very important. In the 3 big games against the Italians and French he never looked like scoring or even dangerous in the box. I'm all for putting in shifts but putting in shifts in non threathening areas is not going to win us matches. We need goals, simple as that.

And Best is?

[Closed Account 2]

I think we can still do it, we created 3 clear cut chances, had these fallen to Keane or Duff we would have gone away with 2 goals. France might now try and sit on the 1-0 which could invite us to attack them. The had lots of the ball and were dangerous running down the flanks but they didnt have a HUGE number of clear cut chances. Given had little to do except for their goal and KK's howler, they had shots but most were central right at him or wide.

We have to test Lloris from long range, while he is good at claiming crosses, he stands very far up the field when they have the ball and he's very slack at retreating to his line position. We need to get the likes of Duff, Keane and Whelan to shoot if they have space around 35m out - Ian Harte would have had a field day against Lloris. If we score first, any time before 70 mins, we could do it. I wonder how Trap will approach the game, he's got to be tempted to start with McGeady. I would be tempted to go 4-3-3 we need to go for the jugular.

[Guidedbyvoices]

What do you think Andy would have contributed going forward? Would he have got enough time on the ball against their big two central midfielders? Would he have been as able to get back and deny space to French attackers? When we were forced to have so many players back defending, what would Andy have done exactly apart from, y'know, hoof it up the pitch?

He has a footballing brain something half the others are missing. That enough for me.

[jo84]

Its not over yet. France definitely bossed the game in the second half particularly, and although the goal was a fluke, their performance merited a winner.
That said, we came so close a couple of times to nabbing a goal. We're still in this tie, regardless of the gulf in class between the sides. Its only 1-0. Anything can happen.

I thought Hunt actually gave a couple of sloppy passes tonight, but I think he shud be on the pitch on Wed at some stage.
Fair play to Lawrence, great game.
Kilbane nearly messed it up, but he'l surely keep his place anyway.
Best didnt do great, but if he wasnt wrongly-adjudged to have fouled Evra, he was in on goal for a chance at the end.

Anyway, I head for Paris more in hope than anything else, but there could be a twist yet.

Its not over till its over.

[Closed Account 2]

Maybe there would have been a case for throwing Reid on late in the game, but the fulll pace for 90 mins would have meant he would have been running on fumes after about 60 mins

[Guidedbyvoices]

- Ian Harte would have had a field day against Lloris.

Bring him back. In fact bring Stan back. Anyone but Kilbane.

[Alf Honn]

Class won out tonight. Results have shielded Trap til now. He set out for a nil-all draw and had no Plan B, a la Folan in Bari.

No excuse that we don't have the players either - Andy Reid a case in point.

Romania, Austria and Serbia gave the French better tests than we did.

Game over. World Cup on the telly for us again.

[Metrostars]

The team put in an admiral performance but over all France turned it up after half time and when you keep pressing like they did, something will come and they got a bit of luck with the deflection.

Best hope for Wednesday is to keep it at 1-0 for the first hour starting Hunt and Lawrence and then throw all caution to the wind bringing on Duff and McGeady for the last half hour.

[Emmet7]

And Best is?

It's not that simple tbh.

Look at Bari. We had Doyle and Keane up front and we didn't look like scoring. I know Folan came on earlier but we only scored after Doyle came off.

Keane and Doyle are too similar. Doyle is not a target man even though he is being asked to pretty much play that role. Keane is and always will be the more lethal finisher at international level. The Keane-Doyle combination isn't delivering goals. Stick in Best as the target man and Keane will probably get more chances to score as will some of the other players.

Our forwards setup is the least effective in Europe I would say and we are heavily dependent on set pieces, midfielders and defenders to score us goals.

[geysir]

Tough to come out being a goal down, chances for both teams were just about even.
Anyone who thinks the French were strolling around in the low gears just have not got the foggiest about how international football is played.
We played better than I expected, the players did their best against a very good team.
Considering the opposition, I'd say it's the best performance we have managed at home since beating Holland in 2001.

Fortunately we have another game, I'd expect the French to be strong enough but who knows.

[Guidedbyvoices]

It's not that simple tbh.

Look at Bari. We had Doyle and Keane up front and we didn't look like scoring. I know Folan came on earlier but we only scored after Doyle came off.

Keane and Doyle are too similar. Doyle is not a target man even though he is being asked to pretty much play that role. Keane is and always will be the more lethal finisher at international level. The Keane-Doyle combination isn't delivering goals. Stick in Best as the target man and Keane will probably get more chances to score as will some of the other players.

Our forwards setup is the least effective in Europe I would say and we are heavily dependent on set pieces, midfielders and defenders to score us goals.

If we had Keane, Doyle, Stokes, Folan, Hunt, Best and Long there tonight we still would not have scored.

[mypost]

Class won out tonight. Results have shielded Trap til now. He set out for a nil-all draw and had no Plan B, a la Folan in Bari.

No excuse that we don't have the players either - Andy Reid a case in point.

Game over. World Cup on the telly for us again.

Having Andy Reid playing against France in Dublin last time, made little difference. And it wouldn't tonight either.

France just used the ball better all night, we just gave it away all the time. France's goal came from an aimless clearance at the corner flag.

We saw after the goal, what's in store on Wednesday night. Us throwing caution to the wind, France creating more chances. On Wednesday night they'll take them.

[RoversInn]

I fancy France to win in Paris, We tried to close them down, We defended brilliantly, But they just have that extra bit of class.

[Emmet7]

If we had Keane, Doyle, Stokes, Folan, Hunt, Best and Long there tonight we still would not have scored.

Our forwards are limited agreed. Folan was dangerous in Bari no question but he was injured tonight. Doyle wasn't dangerous tonight.

I don't want to get on Doyle's back, he's a good player. But look at the difference between the Drogba's, Anelka's and Torres of this world and the Irish forwards. Drogba and co are in the team for one single reason and no other reason than to score goals. Keane and Doyle just aren't scoring enough. I've gone into this before and it's a technical thing which you probably aren't interested in, but they are too similar and both of them are too small and easily pushed off the ball. Contrast that with Drogba and Torres who are able to push big defenders like Ferdinand and Vidic off the ball.

Doyle and Keane's job is not to put in a shift, it's to score goals or else knock the ball down for someone else to score goals.

[galwayjames]

Having Andy Reid playing against France in Dublin last time, made little difference. And it wouldn't tonight either.

He's much better now and we'll never know how effective he could be until we use him. We had the oppurtonity tonight to win the game and a bit of skill and composure from someone like Reid might've gone a long way towards the result.

[MeathDrog]

Tough to come out being a goal down, chances for both teams were just about even.
Anyone who thinks the French were strolling around in the low gears just have not got the foggiest about how international football is played.
We played better than I expected, the players did their best against a very good team.
Considering the opposition, I'd say it's the best performance we have managed at home since beating Holland in 2001.

Fortunately we have another game, I'd expect the French to be strong enough but who knows.

Cop on will ya. France weren't that good. Deserved to win, but were not outstanding.

[geysir]

Who said they were outstanding.
I said they were a very good team

[MeathDrog]

Who said they were outstanding.
I said they were a very good team

It's what you implied by saying that was our best performance at home since Holland 2001.

[Ciaran W]

Unbelievable first half,great atmosphere and the team tackled and played brilliant from the very start,but we just parked the bus in the second half and they were always going to score

[Greenbod]

Sorry for the long post!

Wish you really meant that! Congratulations on mentioning Andy Reid 3 times in a post about a match he wasn't involved in. He should have been though..........anyone can see our non-existent mid-field is the problem....Maybe if Doyle our Keane got a pass they might score.