U21 Vs Armenia

[theworm2345]

Lets try reverse psychology

GIVENS IN

[TheBoss]

It has certainly taken off
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=...d=178956858654

[drummerboy]

Just listened to an interview with Givens after the game last night on RTE radio. When the interviewer asked him “Was he considering his position?” Given became extremely tetchy and was adamant that he wouldn't be moved by journos with agendas. He also trotted out his usual mantra “He was there, not to win games, but to develop players”. He also blamed the players as par for course. Somethings never change. The seeds of doubt must surely have been sown in the mind of that moran, Delaney. Surely … well … surely

[Mayo Red]

Give Heighway the job!!!!!!

That's not actually a bad idea at all given his experience as Liverpool Academy Director in the past. A change is definitely required though.

[Deckydee]

Its so sad. How is he sill in the job?

[bennocelt]

As I've said before coaching in all levels of Irish fooball must be put in foreign hands. Like the first team it takes a foreign coach like Charlton & McCarthy to get some degree of success abeit it just means qualifing for touraments, Trap was unlucky at the last hurdle this time but he will come up with the goods in this campaign I think. There is plenty young talent in Ireland but it's not being nurtured or coached properly sadly.

As far as I remember McCarthy did play for this country

[ifk101]

Very disappointing result but expected eventhough Armenia were missing the guy that scored a hat-trick in the away game.

Givens states player development is his job brief - the only development he is instilling in our players is a losing mentality. If he is all about player development, why are the U21 not playing with the same formation and tactics as the seniors? There has to be a consistency between the seniors and U21s if the U21 manager's job brief is player development. As it is, Givens works independently. Player development is what he says it is.

The job needs to be given to somebody that has ambition to become our senior manager. The job brief has to become clearly defined. As it, fielding an U21 team under Don Givens is doing more harm than good, to the extent that if he is going to continue in charge, we'd be better off not fielding a team.

[tetsujin1979]

had time to think a bit more about the game.

Sheridan had the bulk of the Irish chances, but most were headers. I'd guess the plan was "he's taller than their defence, lump the ball in his general direction". Unfortunately, while taller than the players around him, he still doesn't have the strength to play as a solitary striker and lost out because of the numbers around him. A few times he chased balls out to the corners, but since he was the only striker, there was noone to play the ball to in the middle. Late in the second half he could have won a penalty when sandwiched by two defenders, but the ref indicated a corner.
The biggest problem, as it appeared to me anyway, was the shape of the side was completely wrong. We were playing a 4-5-1 moving to 4-3-3 when attacking. However, none of the midfield 3 were linking up with the defence (think Essien or Makelele) so the back 4 was being left completely isolated time and again. The two wingers, Scannell and Judge, were leaving their full backs with no option to pass to. A few times, Cian Hughton and Scannell did link up well, but Hughton had to come to the half way line with the ball to come within passing distance of Scannell, and this meant the space in the now empty full back slot was prime for exploiting by the opposition.
Armenia seemed to be playing 3-4-1-2 (again this is how it looked to me, I could be wrong) with the "1" floating back to midfield when defending, and linking up with the strikers when attacking. So our central midfield 3 were being crowded out when we were in possession, and the 4 man defence was facing three attacking players when defending. When we did make it to the final third of the pitch, their 4 midfielders were dropping back to help out defensively, limiting the passing options for the Irish players.
Ireland's best chance came from a snap shot from Garvan (captain on the night) after their keeper cleared a shot to the Ipswich midfielder. Shortly afterwards, Armenia took the lead. The goal came about with three of their players around our box. The centre half (think it was Newcastle's Callum Morris) didn't know whether to close down the player in possession, or block a pass to his teammates, so he kept backing off, allowing him more time and space to pick his shot. Redmond in goals was possibly unsighted for the shot, it was at the other end of the ground to me so I couldn't really tell. The second goal came from a direct free kick, despite having 4 players in the wall, the ball still found its way into the far corner of the net.
Ian Daly came on at half time, and this seemed to settle the side as the Irish did play some good football, but this had no end product. Terry Dixon made a welcome return to Irish football with about a half hour to go, according to a report on NewsTalk, West Ham ordered that he only play 30 minutes. While he did have some good touches with the ball at his feet, it's clear he still has some way to go to return to full fitness. He really did play at a walking pace and looks to be carrying some extra weight. There are reports that he will be moving to Colorado Rapids for a summer loan, and I really do hope he does well in the MLS. Armenia were reduced to 10 men with 15 minutes remaining, the referee showed a yellow for time wasting with a corner, and when he protested about the booking, the referee booked him again and sent him off. Even with 10 men, the Armenians still possessed a threat, and credit has to go to Redmond for keeping the scoreline at 2-0. The Irish goal came following a goal mouth scramble. Moving into the Armenian half, Dixon moved the ball in the corner, and crossed into the box. Substitute Daly finally shot home with the Armenian keeper on the deck following an earlier save.
Everton's Coleman had possibly the best chance to equalise when a loose ball in the box fell to him, however his shot cleared the far post. To be honest, it was the only decent play of the game by the full back, he looked off the pace most of the time, and his first touch deserted him. At one point he tried to kill the ball with his instep, only for it to rebound off his standing leg and out for a throw.
The one positive was the performance of Chelsea's Conor Clifford in midfield. Full of energy, running and tackling, he looks a definite talent.
Armenia weren't faster, more talented, or better disciplined than the Irish, they were just better organised to take advantage of their talents. Givens out.

[Predator]

Thanks for the report tets. Surprised to hear that Coleman had a bad game. Hopefully it's a one off, because we'd like to see him stepping up soon.

[elroy]

Any person who has followed Ireland over the last few years will be able to point out how a decent manager can make a huge difference even with a limited bunch of players (Stan V Trap). I think the same applies here, the U21s are by no means a poor squad, the formation, tactics and coaching of them seems to be well short of the mark. Change is needed and now. We need these young lads developing, but developing confidence as well, with the record they have their confidence playing for Ireland must be rock bottom.

[Dodge]

As I've said before coaching in all levels of Irish fooball must be put in foreign hands. Like the first team it takes a foreign coach like Charlton & McCarthy to get some degree of success abeit it just means qualifing for touraments, Trap was unlucky at the last hurdle this time but he will come up with the goods in this campaign I think. There is plenty young talent in Ireland but it's not being nurtured or coached properly sadly.

Agreed, people like Tuohy and Kerr did nothing at underage level while managers like Ian Evans have been runaway successes

[Jacky08]

Get him OUT

[Top Drawer]

Have to agree look at his record
Competitive Games
2000
P W D L
3 0 0 3
2001
5 2 1 2
2002
3 1 0 2
2003
6 2 2 2
2004
3 1 2
2005
5 0 2 3
2006
4 3 1
2007
4 2 2
2008
4 0 2 2
2009
6 0 4 2
2010
1 0 0 1
*****___________________
Total p 44 w11 d11 L22

Before anybody complains two defeats were under the managership of Sean Mc Caffrey and one of those results was changed I think to a defeat because we played a player who was suspended - or am I dreaming

Winning only 11 games is not good enough when you also take into consideration that two of those wins were against Azerbaijan, 1 against Estonia and 2 against Cyprus

Consider that he has had two teams Under 16 and Under 18 that won European Championships

[kennedmc]

I want to dispel this myth of Givens and how he claims "develops players".

These players spend the majority of their footballing time with their clubs - maybe 95%.
they go into proper coaching at 14-15.
Givens would have most of them for 1 or 2 seasons maybe 3.
A poor player is a poor player and a good one is a good one! Spending a couple of days a year with the U21 isn't going to change that.

So how exactly does he develop a player when up to the age of 21 they have spent 7 years with club(s) who do the vast majority of the coaching?

I believe that on average our U21 teams should be able to compeete with maybe all bar (maybe) 12 top U21 teams in Europe
The man is clueless - get rid please!!

[yapster]

As far as I remember McCarthy did play for this country

who? England?? All jokes aside guys Givens saying he's not there to win games is laughable and the sooner he's gone the better. Bring in foreign coaches, it works for the first team so why not the under-age sides. Somebody mentioned Liam Tuohy ffs, ok he was passionate about the game in Ireland but sadly he didn't have it upstairs where it counts neither does Givens.

[mypost]

Just listened to an interview with Givens after the game last night on RTE radio.

He also trotted out his usual mantra, He was there, not to win games, but to develop players

Because it's the truth. The purpose is get players ready for the senior team, and less on winning games. The best ones will always go into the senior squad, so that weakens the U-21 one.

Let's be honest, the youth teams are treated with ignorance and indifference by the majority of fans and the media, for them only the senior team counts. It's not unusual, as it generally is around Europe. It's the South Americans who seem to care most about it.

Last night, we were brutal in the first half. Very unlucky to not have a player off after a quarter of an hour, for an off the ball incident outside the box. Technically outclassed as well. Second half was poor until they went down to 10 men for a second bookable. Played well enough after that, but too late to rescue a point.

We lost 2-6 over the two games, so it's clear who is the better team. And one other thing, if some of them Armenians play against the senior side in the qualifiers, we could have a harder task than expected.

[jw_tfc]

Just listened to an interview with Givens after the game last night on RTE radio. When the interviewer asked him “Was he considering his position?” Given became extremely tetchy and was adamant that he wouldn't be moved by journos with agendas. He also trotted out his usual mantra “He was there, not to win games, but to develop players”. He also blamed the players as par for course. Somethings never change. The seeds of doubt must surely have been sown in the mind of that moran, Delaney. Surely … well … surely

However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.... A quote from the Great Winston Churchill

[Dodge]

Somebody mentioned Liam Tuohy ffs, ok he was passionate about the game in Ireland but sadly he didn't have it upstairs where it counts neither does Givens.

First Irish manager to reach a world cup finals at any level. Success with every Irish team he was inviolved with. Can't see how you think he was otherwise

As I posted, we had a foreign coach in Ian Evans. He was awful

Being foreign does not automatically make you better than an Irishman

[geysir]

Liam is the Don of Irish football.
Good article here

"I was trying to keep too many balls in the air at one time. I was being paid £500 a year for the international job and they stopped tax on that. I was managing Shamrock Rovers and that was also part-time. And I was an area sales manager at HB Ice Cream. I was also married with five children actually Sheila had our sixth when I was at a game in Poland which didn't make me husband of the year."

[bennocelt]

Liam is the Don of Irish football.
Good article here

"I was trying to keep too many balls in the air at one time. I was being paid £500 a year for the international job and they stopped tax on that. I was managing Shamrock Rovers and that was also part-time. And I was an area sales manager at HB Ice Cream. I was also married with five children actually Sheila had our sixth when I was at a game in Poland which didn't make me husband of the year."

Yeah he was a good football man, and was there before all the ole ole brigade
Wonder did he make much money with his football skools he did? I went to it and it was popular at the time, but expensive!!!!50 quid was a lot of dosh back in the day!