Post Match and looking ahead

First of all the atmosphere seemed wonderful and it is a credit to all of you who were at the game...

I was proud to be Irish today.

1-0 is not the end of the world....
I am not going to be negative and hope for the best but if I am being honest, I mean it just seems the way it looks on paper. France is nothing special and we are average at best.
Any idiot could tell they were going to score.
To me this was anti-climactic.

I hope for the best but really the chances have to be slim we advance obviously.

Moving on: Will it be the same lineup for Wednesday?

If we score one in Paris then everything is up for grabs again.

It ain't over until its over.

It was only a bit of luck which gave them the goal, I think we had more chances overall.
We know what we have to do now, go there and score, we would have to do that anyway.
I'd say we were the beter side first half.

I think we'll lose 2 or 3 nil in France, we're not good enough to go and win there.

Yes Tricky but what does that matter? First half and a dollar will get you on the subway, no?

Sean, France score every game. Logically they will score in Paris. So we are really looking at having to win 2-1. Yikes.

Originally Posted by Crosby87

Yes Tricky but what does that matter? First half and a dollar will get you on the subway, no?

Sean, France score every game. Logically they will score in Paris. So we are really looking at having to win 2-1. Yikes.

It's possible man. We could have got one towards the end. French keeper pulled off an unreal save against Whelan.
Another point is we didnt have many free kick opportunities. French are dodgy under set pieces so hopefully we'll get a few chances on Wednesday.

Problem is we didn't really get any set pieces.
Having said that it was a bit daunting looking at the names on the French team.
Were we too tired second half? Or did we just sit back too much?

This battle is not lost yet.

We had chances today and the French did not have that many and got a lucky goal.

The manager, fans and players have to believe that we have a chance or should we just say we won't bother playing the second leg and say there you go France off to south Africa.

I would never go into battle saying I am beaten until I actually am beaten.

Fight to the last breath and then Fall on Your Enemy !

Am proud of the lads tonight! Doyle outshone himself as usual...
One goal in the first ten minutes in Paris to frighten the ****** outa them & then it's up for grabs.
Fair fux to the crowd! All u lucky feckers goin' to Paris, make sure to scream extra for us less fortunate!

Originally Posted by seanfhear

This battle is not lost yet.

We had chances today and the French did not have that many and got a lucky goal.

The manager, fans and players have to believe that we have a chance or should we just say we won't bother playing the second leg and say there you go France off to south Africa.

I would never go into battle saying I am beaten until I actually am beaten.

Fight to the last breath and then Fall on Your Enemy !

Dunne showed that after the whistle during the scuffle. Those boys will never take a backwards step. I'd honestly find it hard to fault any Irish player tonight

The scuffle at the final whistle may do us the world of good.

Realistically we're probably toast but as the Slovenian(?) coach said today: better to be wounded than dead.

If we score first in Paris then game on.

As underdog you've got to take your chances. We had 3 clear cut chances (Lawrence, Andrews from 18 yards and Whelan at the end) and took none. I think it's that simple. The better team won but their goal was lucky. C'est la vie.

Trap had better have something special up his sleeve for Weds. I think we need more aggression & bite than finesse - that means Hunt starting I think, with Duff on the right.
Did we beat ourselves by retreating though, or did they genuinely find another gear? They dominated the first 8 minutes but then Andrews won a crunching tackle and from then on we were in the game. There was no such moment in the second half.

History may be on our side: Bulgaria & Israel in Paris in 93?

We don't have enough fight and heart to make up for the inferior style of play.

Sure they play with heart but not enough to compensate.

Giles has it right, these are pro footballers, it doesn't take 'technique' to be able to get on the ball and pass it, what it takes is personality something we don't have.

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

The scuffle at the final whistle may do us the world of good.

Realistically we're probably toast but as the Slovenian(?) coach said today: better to be wounded than dead.

If we score first in Paris then game on.

As underdog you've got to take your chances. We had 3 clear cut chances (Lawrence, Andrews from 18 yards and Whelan at the end) and took none. I think it's that simple. The better team won but their goal was lucky. C'est la vie.

Trap had better have something special up his sleeve for Weds. I think we need more aggression & bite than finesse - that means Hunt starting I think, with Duff on the right.
Did we beat ourselves by retreating though, or did they genuinely find another gear? They dominated the first 8 minutes but then Andrews won a crunching tackle and from then on we were in the game. There was no such moment in the second half.

History may be on our side: Bulgaria & Israel in Paris in 93?

We were no worse in the second half, but they were much better. We need agression, and a minor miricle. I would play Hunt and Lawrence. Its a cliche, but its all we have. Get stuck in.

Edit: Lets hope Andy Lee knocks the f*ck out of this French B*stard

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There were four key moments in the game. France had amzing luck in three and showed poor skills in the other.

Lawrence chance. He actually it it well. Evra's deflection is not something you often see, in fact it was so surprising we all assumed it was a poor miss

Goal. Shay would almost certainly have saved the shot but for the deflection. to get a deflection wide enough to get past Shay but just tight enought to go in off the post is a one in a hundred thing.

Gignac chance (awful KK defending). This guy is the new Zidane. His miss makes him the next Carlton palmer.

Whelan chance. He actually took it well and cleared Lloris' body but just clipped his elbow. Again very unlucky.

So we were greatly unlucky. Of course france had more of the ball but our defence is better than theirs.

On the other pessimistic hand we now need to win a competitive qualifier against a top 20 team away from home for the first time since.........????

...Football began?

oh and we NEED to change the Irish jersey and make it look like the french one. they looked so much more imposing, they looked like animals. they looked atlethic our players looked like skinny pub players.

What like Geroge Best?

We don't have a plan B so we're probably ******. We have to chase the game and throw caution to the wind. Start Best and Doyle and just bombard the French back 4 with long balls?

0-0 would have been a brilliant result but we all knew deep down we'd concede tonight. Flukey deflection or not the French deserved the win after going up the gears in the second half. It could have been a lot worse after Kilbane's suicidal back pass. WTF was he thinking?!

First half we did ok. I thought Andrews and Whelan were solid and we could have easily gone in 1 nil at half time. However energy levels dropped after the restart, the French started finding space and it was only a matter of time before they scored.

Haha, yeah they won the battle of the nipples tonight..

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

The scuffle at the final whistle may do us the world of good.

Realistically we're probably toast but as the Slovenian(?) coach said today: better to be wounded than dead.

If we score first in Paris then game on.

As underdog you've got to take your chances. We had 3 clear cut chances (Lawrence, Andrews from 18 yards and Whelan at the end) and took none. I think it's that simple. The better team won but their goal was lucky. C'est la vie.

Trap had better have something special up his sleeve for Weds. I think we need more aggression & bite than finesse - that means Hunt starting I think, with Duff on the right.
Did we beat ourselves by retreating though, or did they genuinely find another gear? They dominated the first 8 minutes but then Andrews won a crunching tackle and from then on we were in the game. There was no such moment in the second half.

History may be on our side: Bulgaria & Israel in Paris in 93?

Totally agree Stutts. It aint over till the fat lady sings. 3 chances were an awful lot to give up. They are nothing to fear and that 8-15 mins they had possession we feared them we cannot do that in Paris. A fluke goal in the first 20 mins then its game ball. Its only half time. I'm proud to support.