McGeady's Free kick was criminal.

[Leeside Swagger]

He has potential but is highly overrated, he really needs to move to one of the top leagues to help him develop. At one stage last night he broke down the wing, beat the first man, had an opportunity to cross but he decided to try and beat another and lost it. He seems to make the wrong decision more often than not imo.

[Fixer82]

We missed 4 clear cut chances long before McGeady came on (Doyle's header in the 1st half, O'Shea's chance from the corner, and both Duff and Keane when clean through on the keeper in the 2nd half). If just one of those chances had been converted we'd be through

well said. I especially think O'Shea shouldve gotten his on target. I thought Robbie did the right thing taking it around the keeper, touch was just a tiny bit too heavy. Duff's was a great chance but straight at the keeper. He can't score outside the box. If it was two more inches forward he might've got it in

[Den Perry]

He has potential but is highly overrated, he really needs to move to one of the top leagues to help him develop. At one stage last night he broke down the wing, beat the first man, had an opportunity to cross but he decided to try and beat another and lost it. He seems to make the wrong decision more often than not imo.

A thread on this may be a bit harsh, but that free kick was going to be our last chance and it was scandalous. How any professional footballer could make a mess of such a free at such a time is just down to lack of concentration...and there is no excuse for lack of concentration.

However to call for him never to play for us again is way over the top.As well as having ability, the abuse that lad took for choosing us entitles him to his place in the squad

[Ozymandias]

can't believe there is a thread on this..we played excellent ..should have won the tie..robbed/cheated by henry...but to blame one free kick..the free kick was poor...but Duff missed a one on one..so did Robbie...Doyle should have stuck his head on a lawrence cross ,O Shea should have scored

start threads on those as well while your at it

our team deserve nothing but praise not vitriol on one incident to single out one player

[disabledrog]

hes an average player in a **** league,he cant pass cross shooy r take pens,he muck and the most overhyped over rated in the irish squad.
i said it years ago when the blog here was"mcgeady the next ronaldo"wat a joke and people actually commented on how good he is!!the bigger people hype him up the bigger the fall is

[Leeside Swagger]

However to call for him never to play for us again is way over the top.As well as having ability, the abuse that lad took for choosing us entitles him to his place in the squad

I think he should and will play for us in the future but for now Lawerence is the better option by far. The abuse he gets is unfair but it doesnt entitle him to anything. If he thought it was that bad he would have left Scotland by now.

[noisecontrol]

Just something I thought when it happened...but could Shay have come for the free kick???

It travelled a hell of a long way and was in the air for a good while...also note how close to the goal it dropped...

[tricky_colour]

Is the kick available online anywhere?
I missed it cos of trouble with streams.

[Den Perry]

I think he should and will play for us in the future but for now Lawerence is the better option by far. The abuse he gets is unfair but it doesnt entitle him to anything. If he thought it was that bad he would have left Scotland by now.

Sorry, probablt put that acroos the wrong way. of course that doesn't entitle him to a place in the squad. Just felt a bit guilty for being so harsh on him I suppose...but that free kick was infuriating. He had to get it right and made acomplete balls of it

[rambler14]

He plays on the left, he plays on the riiiiiiiight, that boy McGeady he's a big pile of sh!te!

[Murfinator]

No surprise McGeady being the best player in Scotland is a testament to how bad their leagues are. He's never done it at international level or against any halfway decent champions league side.

He's still young and he can make it but right now he's a headless chicken who run, dribble and that's about it. He has zero match intelligence.

Hunt would have been a better option to bring on. imo Duff > Lawrence > Hunt > McGeady at the moment.

[Dodge]

can't believe there is a thread on this..we played excellent ..should have won the tie..robbed/cheated by henry...but to blame one free kick..the free kick was poor...but Duff missed a one on one..so did Robbie...Doyle should have stuck his head on a lawrence cross ,O Shea should have scored

start threads on those as well while your at it

our team deserve nothing but praise not vitriol on one incident to single out one player

Agree with everything but the bit in bold. Not sure we should unconditionally praise those who missed sitters (or McShane who let Henry walk past him for that handball incident).

Some excellent performances, and a great team effort but players made costly mistakes. MCGeady's awful free wasn't one of the top 4/5 errors though

For the record I think McGeady's a good player. Still has time to develop. He was in competition with lawrence for that final spot, and Lawrence was the best player on the park last night IMO

[Guts&Glory]

Agree with everything but the bit in bold. Not sure we should unconditionally praise those who missed sitters (or McShane who let Henry walk past him for that handball incident).

Some excellent performances, and a great team effort but players made costly mistakes. MCGeady's awful free wasn't one of the top 4/5 errors though

For the record I think McGeady's a good player. Still has time to develop. He was in competition with lawrence for that final spot, and Lawrence was the best player on the park last night IMO

Henry getting passed McShane only mattered because Henry handled the ball twice to keep the ball in play rather than the ball going over the endline had he not handled it.

[Acornvilla]

Henry getting passed McShane only mattered because Henry handled the ball twice to keep the ball in play rather than the ball going over the endline had he not handled it.

mcshane should have cleared it end of story..........
i actually doyler should have been replced not lawerence!
dolye was playing out of his skin but was wreckes all he could do was loose the ball or fall over for the final twenty odd mintes i think best or stokes could have made a big diffrence against their backline

[thepiedpiper]

How about the coaching staff at their clubs? It's not up to the management of an international team to coach basic skills of the game. They don't spend enough time with them apart from anything else.

On McGeady - it shows just how much some people have it in for him when someone thinks his poor free kick was one of the most noteworthy aspects of last night. We missed 4 clear cut chances long before McGeady came on (Doyle's header in the 1st half, O'Shea's chance from the corner, and both Duff and Keane when clean through on the keeper in the 2nd half). If just one of those chances had been converted we'd be through, and McGeady would never have made it onto the pitch. France didn't have a single chance that good over the whole 210 mins of the tie, yet scored twice (ok only once legitimately, but still).

I agree McGeady hasn't done much for Ireland yet, but you can't blame him for last night's outcome.

Excellent post. McGeady was superb in both games against Georgia and did very well when he came on against Bulgaria away and had good game against France home so some of blame being given to him is just unfair in scheme of things