Worth pointing out that we had a good goal ruled offside.
That's what talking complete Scientology does to you. See Tom Cruise.Originally Posted by Noelys Guitar
Worth pointing out that we had a good goal ruled offside.
Review of the game I wrote for another site:
http://www.thefreekick.com/blog/2011...ctical-review/
Kelly did well but he did have a brain fart, he got badly caught out of position in the 1st half when the ball found a player in an acre of space behind him in the box. Atm, I forget what happened afterwards.
Great win, delighted - held firm from 45 -65 mins when the back 4 were tight as a ducks .... , cruised the rest of the game - but not a game I would ever watch again.
Nope; just third. No joint about that.Joint 3rd <cough>
That's what I read and that confused me more. Gonna look at that properly later.
From that wiki article actually -
Quality!
Yeah. I watched that shootout and don't remember that at all. Fair dues to Lehmann the krafty Kraut.
Superb result. I've been walking on air since. Sore head this morning but still feeling on top of the world. Fair play to the lads and well done to Robbie and Trap.
Shocking game of football though but at the end of the day it's a results driven game. How Macedonia didn't score is beyond me though. Given was superb and made some crucial saves especially the one from Pandev in the first half. They had a legitimate penalty not given in 1st half (what the hell was O'Dea doing?), and missed a penalty to boot. Saying that our makeshift back 4 were ropey is an understatement. In the first half, Kelly played like a man whose last competitive start was Nov 2010, O'Shea was surprisingly unreliable and O'Dea was a liability. They improved a lot in the second half and ultimately did themselves proud. As I stated previous (and got slated) starting Kelly and O'Dea were poor decisions and almost cost us 2 goals.
Even though Cox had a quiet game, I was impressed with his link up play with Keane. They gave the impression that they had played together for years. In hindsight, it was a good decision by Trap to start him and I commend him on that. I hold my hands up and admit my hysteria at Long not starting was a bit OTT in retrospect.
Regardless of any gripes I had with team selection, all Trap has to do is point to the 2-0 scoreline to vindicate all his decisions. Can't argue with that. Kudos to the man. This result puts us in a great position in the group. Well done to the lads!
I don't think that was a penalty. There might have been a bit of a push initially, but it was outside the box. O'Dea (wasn't it O'Shea? Or am I remembering a different incident) didn't have his arm around the other lad or anything; looked like a bit of clumsy shoulder-to-shoulder.
Also, not sure how your pessimistic analysis can include the likes of the above, but not our goal ruled out. Granted, the four defenders had all stopped when they saw the flag, but it was still a great chance and doesn't deserve to be ignored in any balanced analysis.
Or would it be from where the offending player was positioned inside the box at the moment the penalty-taker struck the ball? All very technical, this.
O'Dea rushed in like a man possessed totally missing the ball and Pandev instead of standing his ground, wouldn't see it in street leagues. O'Shea let Pandev get on the wrong side of him and clearly hauled him down inside the penalty area. Stone wall penalty.
I wasn't giving a balanced analysis, just simply making a few points. To muse you I will balance it though:
Given was world class and confirmed his status as one of the world's best in my eyes while the man he plays understudy to had a horrific day in Wembley.
Makeshift back 4 did not concede a goal in Skopje. Any defence in the world would be proud of that. All the more remarkable considering we were missing so many 1st choice defenders.
Centre of midfield did well. Struggled to keep hold of the ball at times but they did their job well. Andrews was surprisingly effective considering the lack of football he's had all season.
Bar one or two times that McGeady took too much out of the ball, he was excellent. Almost supplied a superb assist for Keane in 2nd half.
Hunt worked tirelessly all game and is a great man to have for tricky away assignments like this. One point I'd make is that he almost fell over himself a couple of times when he tried to cross the ball with his right. It was obvious to me straight away that McGeady should have been on right and Hunt on left. However, as Popov's quality began to shine through as the match developed, it proved a shrewd move by Trap to persist with Hunt on the right to protect Kelly
Keane - brilliant
Cox - Quiet but can be pleased with debut. Took his "offside" goal brilliantly as well.
Long - did ok when he came on.
Personally I would have brought on Coleman too in last 20 to give us an extra bit of energy going in the closing stages.
That's as balanced as i can make my weighing scales. Hope that suffices
Last edited by tommy_c12000; 05/06/2011 at 1:25 PM.
It is the same incident so. Yeah, that's right alright. I think "missing the ball" is a bit kind; he was nowhere near. His tackle was like an irrelevant sideshow at the bottom of the screen.
While O'Shea did left Pandev get wrong side, I don't think he "clearly hauled him down". For a start, his arms weren't around Pandev, so it would have been hard for him to haul him down. Definitely not a stone-wall penalty.
Actually, I was happy to see Hunt finish out the game, he pushed Popov back and restricted his impact in the second half. The defensive side of Coleman's game has been noted as something he needs to improve on, and I wouldn't want to risk it in the last 15 minutes of a qualifier.
Agreed. But I was just a bit concerned whether Hunt would have kept the tempo up for 90 mins considering his recent spate of injuries. He surprised me though and certainly kept going like the proverbial duracell bunny up to the final whistle. At the 70min mark last nite I was badgering Trap to bring Seamus on though (he ignored me yet again though), but in hindsight it proved a good decision to keep Hunt on. Was impressed with Trap last night I have to admit, and I'm one of his fiercest critics. I'd have used the phrase of "wily old fox" to describe him last nite rather than my usual disrespectful phrase of "senile old man."
Before the group kicked off I considered the Russians practically invincible at home, didn't fancy our, or anyone else's chances there at all. But they've been beaten by the Slovaks, struggled at times against Armenia yesterday and still have Macedonia and us to come. I think we can get something there but still expecting the likes of Arshavin to wake up and start playing just in time for our arrival. What a shame we allowed them the win in Dublin, good as they were on the night. I'd be bitterly disappointed to finish below Slovakia in this group. Apart from the opening win against Russia, they haven't been at all impressive and I'd expect them to lose more points before all is said and done.
Did you just question the gaaaffer? the boss? You do know that what he says goes right?..
Player Ratings:
Kilbane 10
That is all.
On looking at the replay it was actually Ronnie who spotted it. George usually spots very little although I have a feeling that Ronnie may have called one of their players "Sh*tovski" at one stage but I can't be sure.
Every time I see Shay going the wrong way for a penalty it reminds me painfully of Koreabut great to see him back and at his best.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
Delighted with an away win at a tricky venue, but I genuinely don't feel that surprised. The whole performance was quite predictable really. The early goal(s), the sloppy passing, couple of nervy moments, defensive hour of scrappy closing down, but no real panic. Great credit to Trap, none of that last night was any fluke or coincidence. He (and we) know what we are doing at this stage. Its all very dull to watch and effective. I love it. Its not perfect by any means though. We should have won in Slovakia and I have a feeling that might end up costing us a table topping position and send us another fixed, unsporting 'play-off' spot.
Big hangover today! Had to go on the beer all day yesterday to kill time. And then celebrated long into the night. Class.
The dude abides....
Anyone else think the Macedonian supporters were a right quare shower. Passionate and noisy for sure but a bit muppetty with it?
I'm not talking about laser-pens either -there's always going to be one gowl who'll turn up with something like that but just booing kick offs and the like.
" I wish to God that someone would be able to block out the voices in my head for five minutes, the voices that scream, over and over again: "Why do they come to me to die?"
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