QuoteOKOriginally Posted by bennocelt
yeah thats why i mentioned gaaI'm not sure if darts has robbed Holland of any potential soccer superstars
OK
Seems somebody doesn't have much time for his former country
FORMER REPUBLIC of Ireland international Michael Robinson, who is now a television presenter and leading football pundit in Spain, has compared this evening’s game in Gdansk to “Muhammad Ali fighting a dwarf”, and insisted Giovanni Trapattoni’s side “cannot win this match”.
In an interview with the Spanish newsagency EFE which Trapattoni might well stick up on the dressingroom wall prior to kick-off, Robinson, who has lived in Spain for a 25 years now, says he will be supporting Spain for football reasons and because of all that the country has given him since he moved there.
His assessment of Trapattoni and the Ireland team, though, is completely damning with the former Preston, Brighton and Liverpool striker describing their game plan as outdated and the players as essentially second rate. He predicts if the defending champions produce anything like their best form then they will run out very comfortable winners.
“There’s no threat from Ireland; Ireland cannot win this match,” he says. “It’s like Muhammad Ali fighting a dwarf. Ireland are going to try to be an irritating obstacle, but if Spain play at 80 per cent of their ability, they’ll thrash them.
“I’m supporting Spain,” he continued. “I hope Ireland go out of the tournament unscathed, that they play like gladiators. I hope Ireland finish the game with dignity, with the glory of competing with this great Spain side.
“But I’ve lived in Spain longer than I’ve lived in England. Spain has given me so much. And if I think about what’s best for football, I want beautiful football to prosper and be imitated. I really hope Spain win this tournament because children need to watch Spain and focus on them. Spain have returned the emphasis on playing with the ball, it’s brilliant.”
Asked if he feels the Irish game has moved on since his time in the side, primarily the early ’80s when he contributed, from the margins, to a Liverpool side that won the league, League Cup and European cup, Robinson is scathing.
“No, not at all. Perhaps that’s the problem. If I spoke to you about England, I’d say the same thing. On the British Isles football is going through a Darwin-style evolution; a slow one. I don’t think football over there has changed much despite the influx of so many foreign players to the Premier League. The league has involved, but the England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland and Northern Ireland teams have not. I read that Ireland was going to adopt catenaccio because Giovanni Trapattoni is their manager; what a load of nonsense! Ireland’s players don’t know how to play that way.”
His interviewer then suggests that under Trapattoni Ireland in fact play “super catenaccio” prompting further derision. “That’s wrong. Doyle, their number nine, tries to play off the back of the full back. He’s been doing this all his career . . . It’s the same with Keane, he couldn’t adapt to playing at Liverpool. Ireland could be playing against Spain, Iceland or Mars, it’s the same, they wouldn’t have much of the ball. People associate them with catenaccio because they don’t know how to use the ball, but it’s not catenaccio.”
He is, meanwhile, indifferent to the effect Trapattoni has had on the team, suggesting the veteran coach neither brings anything new to, nor gets anything extra out of, his players. “I don’t think he’s been particularly good or particularly bad,” he says. “Has he taken something from Ireland? No. Has he brought anything new to Ireland? No. You’re a man who likes to watch good football, do Ireland play good football? Ireland do what they can, I respect that. I think that football in Ireland is respectable because it’s honest.
“But football on the British Isles is a bit old-fashioned . . .They try and give their best, but it’s possible trying their best isn’t enough to call it good football. It’s because they don’t wish to play good football, it’s because they don’t have the technical ability to do anything else.”
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...317877192.html
The Dutch TV constantly refers to us as British.
well if we stopped capping the odd brit it might make a difference!
Not the smartest tool in the drawer, is he?“I’m supporting Spain,” he continued. “I hope Ireland go out of the tournament unscathed, that they play like gladiators. I hope Ireland finish the game with dignity, with the glory of competing with this great Spain side.
“But I’ve lived in Spain longer than I’ve lived in England.
We didn't hack it away in the 2nd minute of the game. Nice triangle amond the back 4 and, oh yeah, the ball was given away in our own half and Croatia scored. There's a lot to be said for hacking when you have players when they try to pass give it to the opposition.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
He hasn't heard the legend of Fionn MacCumhail then?
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
I've seen a few power rankings rate us as the weakest team in the competition, the EPL followers who've never seen Ireland play before seem to think we're little better than a championship based on the individuals and the clubs they play for (this unfortunately include a large section of the Irish supporters), the others don't know a lot of our players bar Robbie Keane.
Nobody stood out for us the last day and while there was some who gave us a shot against Croatia believe we're now a fodder team. We'll need to do something tonight or we'll have exited without even making a ripple.
The panel on RTE commented on Michael Robinson, and put him firmly back in his box.
what did they say? Found his article very disappointing in tone...(correct but just been a (insert swear word) about it.)
Not word for word but:
Giles: The comments were disrespectful.
Dunphy: Dunphy himself disagrees with some of the decisions Trap makes, but the man deserves respect and what Robinson said was disrespectful.
On the players being second rate:
Dunphy said: Robinson was no Pele himself.
Brady: Robinson is a bit of a mouthpiece for the Madrid media, and is a big football pundit on Spanish Tv. Said he wouldn't expect anything less as Robinson plays up big time to the Madrid media as they are his employers.
To which Dunphy replied:
Don't you hate those second rate Ireland players who are pundits now and talk a load of rubbish.
Cue much laughter as Eamon was obviously extracting the urine out of himself as well.
As I said, not word for word, but that was the gist of it.
Last edited by sullanefc; 14/06/2012 at 4:26 PM.
Gutted to have witnessed and say it, but the rest of the world was right.
All the haters were correct, we were absolutely abysmal. Look at Spains WC 2010 results, you won't see any hammerings in there, but little old Ireland lay down for them.
Scotland did better against them in qualifying - twice. Lost 3-1 and 3-2.
Liechtenstein held them to 4-0 at home!!
Shocking stuff!!
Apart from a certain tone of snideness - which may or may or not have been Robinson's intention (are these his actual words, or as translated and then culled for quotes?) - there's not much to disagree with what he said. Our style of football hasn't progressed at national level; I've seen LoI teams show greater tactical nous against continental teams in recent years. When honest endeavour, or a gladiatorial conflict with an expected honourable defeat, is the limit of your expectations, it's time to take stock.
Hello, hello? What's going on? What's all this shouting, we'll have no trouble here!
- E Tattsyrup.
Judging from his article (and what charlie quoted) I'd say Ireland was never his country to begin and he's a fine example of the people we shouldn't be handing out caps to.
Some comments (on the negative spectrum of things) from 4chan. Mostly Americans and western europeans. Thoughts on people who view our supporters like this?
The Irish are fake supporters. For them it's just a trip to Poland and yet another reason to get drunk all day every day. They don't give a **** about the football itself, just about playing dress-up and being blindly nationalistic.
Sing when they're losing? Thats implying they cared about winning to begin with.Implying the Irish actually support their local teams. That's how good a bunch of supporters they are, their league's dead and they rarely push attendances beyond the 10k mark. ****ing pathetic.The reason why Irish and Scottish are so good is because they know they're ****. You won't see English/German/Spanish fans act like that when they're being thrashed because they feel ashamed, the Irish expect to be thrashed.>Come to support their country
>Wearing Scottish club shirts
You ****ing idiots>not being passionate about sports and just wanting to get drunk
>best supportersThank god they're gone by next week. They're only in it for the drinking anyways.
"Rarely"?Implying the Irish actually support their local teams. That's how good a bunch of supporters they are, their league's dead and they rarely push attendances beyond the 10k mark. ****ing pathetic.
Hard to disagree with a lot of what's being said there though.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
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