Slovakia V Republic of Ireland - Tuesday, 12th October 2010 - Euro 2012 Qualifier

[Stuttgart88]

Paul, I might actually go there too, as I'll be near Euston beforehand. Let me know if you're definitely going there. I've still to decide.

[Duggie]

on Long id be quite happy to see him start, i think he quite good tecnically, and is a good finisher. decent in the air aswell. im recalling his 2 finishes in the denmark friendly away like 2 years ago. his 2nd goal esp was a great finish.

[paul_oshea]

is that the sheephaven ?

yep.

Stutts i worked out from door to door from canary wharf it will take me 35 mins so im definitely going there. I hope its not too busy as there are some lovely bar stools around the back side of the bar and a tele in the corner with the sound always up high. Will be aiming for 7.30 to be out of Citi by 7 at the latest.

[Stuttgart88]

OK, I'll let you know.

Last time I watched Slovakia v Ireland was in the Corrib. Half-decent result but it felt like a defeat. ENG game will be on in the main bar.

[paul_oshea]

Yes and the last time you watched a game with me we lost....

[Dodge]

Trap doing a Press conference now. Journo mate text to say he's indicating Fahey will play on the right with Long up front.

[paul_oshea]

is that cos lawrence is injured?

so he is going with green and whelan. Does anyone think that stinks of stubbornness and ignorance, that he knows he needs to make changes but wont replace green or whelan who he brought through as though its an indictment on his regime? Or is he afraid if he puts gibson or fahey in the centre from the start we could be overrun and go behind too quickly? I would love to know what he is thinking, I can only assume he doesn't want to throw someone like wilson into the deep end so soon and thats all i think i can figure from him for def.

[Metrostars]

I hope Gibson gets a crack in this game from the start. He can belt the ball well and the Slovakian keeper is not the greatest so hopefully he'll get a chance to take a few shots at him. 2 of the Russian goals on Friday (and 75% of Frank Lampard's) were off deflections, but you don't get those if you don't take a shot in the first place.

[Docboy]

Maybe play Lawrence in the middle if he gets over the injury? At least his distribution is good...

[Noelys Guitar]

is that cos lawrence is injured?

so he is going with green and whelan. Does anyone think that stinks of stubbornness and ignorance, that he knows he needs to make changes but wont replace green or whelan who he brought through as though its an indictment on his regime? Or is he afraid if he puts gibson or fahey in the centre from the start we could be overrun and go behind too quickly? I would love to know what he is thinking, I can only assume he doesn't want to throw someone like wilson into the deep end so soon and thats all i think i can figure from him for def.

Probably looking back at the Armenian game and thinking Whelan and Green did OK. Mkhitaryan destroyed Slovakia on Friday but we kept him reasonably quiet so W & G did their jobs in that game. The best think about Long and Fahey starting (if rumours true)is that both players have played well and scored in recent games.

[Jinxy]

Probably looking back at the Armenian game and thinking Whelan and Green did OK. Mkhitaryan destroyed Slovakia on Friday but we kept him reasonably quiet so W & G did their jobs in that game. The best think about Long and Fahey starting (if rumours true)is that both players have played well and scored in recent games.

That door swings both ways though.
I'm sure the Slovakian midfield did a lot better against the Russians than we did.

[TrapAPony]

Green playing again? Ludicrous. He offers nothing.

[shakermaker1982]

If he plays Green again and we get a pasting then the Trap will have to avoid foot.ie for a while!

[mark12345]

There is no big secret to how we played in Paris or in Bari. The other teams backs off - wants to hold their advantage and back off from closing us down in our half.
The problem we have when teams put us on under pressure, we get into a total flux.
When teams come to Dublin, close down our back 4, close down any attempt to bring the ball through midfield, we are chronically incapable of doing anything other than lump it long in response. This has been happening for years.
One midfielder who can play is not enough. We saw that with Andy Reid, when he was targeted, we were scuttled. There is an dearth of that required technical ability on the ball and the movement into positions to receive the ball.

We don't have the techical ability to do much of anything with the ball and that's down to English football and the Irish players that play there - Germany exposed all the limitations of the technically bankrupt English game just a few months ago, didn't they?

So that leaves us with one way to play - Route One. And as much as I hate it we have to go with it (until we teach our kids from Dingle to Donegal to play proper football, and begin sending them to places like Portugal, Holland, France etc instead of England where they are drifting further and further down the food chain).

As for Friday's defeat I lay a huge portion of the blame on Trapattoni. He needed to employ a big man up front with Keane and Doyle (be it Murphy, Sheridan, Alan Lee of Palace or even John "Utility Man" O'Shea) and then our lumping of the ball forward at every occassion might have seemed just slightly logical.

Prehistoric I know, but if we're unwilling or unable to play football then we can't really call ourselves a football team can we?

[SwanVsDalton]

As for Friday's defeat I lay a huge portion of the blame on Trapattoni. He needed to employ a big man up front with Keane and Doyle (be it Murphy, Sheridan, Alan Lee of Palace or even John "Utility Man" O'Shea) and then our lumping of the ball forward at every occassion might have seemed just slightly logical.

Doyle is a better long ball target man than those you've mentioned. His leap, close control and strength means going long isn't usually an issue (and hasn't been for about a year and half). His poor performance, coupled with Russia's midfield preventing our middle four from adequately supporting him and Robbie, was the main problem on Friday.

Prehistoric I know, but if we're unwilling or unable to play football then we can't really call ourselves a football team can we?

Course we can. Charlton's team was a decent side who played non-stop hoofball and gave us our finest memories as Irish fans. But I bet you wouldn't interrupt Jack fishing to say his wasn't a football team...

[Charlie Darwin]

I hope Gibson gets a crack in this game from the start. He can belt the ball well and the Slovakian keeper is not the greatest so hopefully he'll get a chance to take a few shots at him. 2 of the Russian goals on Friday (and 75% of Frank Lampard's) were off deflections, but you don't get those if you don't take a shot in the first place.

Slovakian goalkeeper was magnificent against Armenia.

[mark12345]

Charlton's team was a decent side who played non-stop hoofball and gave us our finest memories as Irish fans. But I bet you wouldn't interrupt Jack fishing to say his wasn't a football team...

Couldn't agree more. I wouldn't stop Jack fishing to say his wasn't a football team. They were the best team we ever had in my opinion. They knew their limitations, the opposition's strengths and played accordingly. And what's more Jack made people fit into positions if he was short a player or two. Trap could take a leaf out of his book. Almost 16 years after Jack we're still happy in the knowledge that Route One is our best road to success, but I'm ok with that if we play accordingly.

[Kingdom]

Slovakia's result in russia was a travesty. The Slovak goal was dumbfounding brilliant. Shocking mistake by the keeper but a fine shot. How Russia didn't score I dunno,

[TrapAPony]

Weiss not considering defeat

http://www.irishtimes.com/sports/soc...280867036.html

[tetsujin1979]

some comments from Ken Early's twitter account:
http://twitter.com/#!/kenearlys/status/27051470542

trap says he told irish players to ignore the papers over the weekend to preserve their psychological condition.

http://twitter.com/#!/kenearlys/status/27051536735

robbie keane says sunday reports of bust-up with harry redknapp are "100% bull****"

http://twitter.com/#!/kenearlys/status/27051644801

ireland team unchanged except long/keogh for doyle, & fahey for lawrence who has a muscle problem - seems 90% likely long will start

http://twitter.com/#!/kenearlys/status/27052305712

trap waves away questions about performance v russia - "your jobs is analyse, critica, my jobs to predict, to decide before the game"

Hadn't seen any reports of a bust up between Keane and Redknapp myself, anyone know what that's about?