1-1 final result

**tonycuna** · 08/09/2004, 8:24 PM

1-1 a good point I think
Now let's go for another point in France, and then kill the other teams chances with the home games.

Bye!

**Metrostars** · 08/09/2004, 8:40 PM

Poor performance again in a big game by Kerr's men. The 3 big games we've have under Kerr have been poor.

**Fergie's Son** · 08/09/2004, 8:42 PM

A good point because we were desperately poor. How Kilbane gets his game is far beyond me. Kerr removes Reid and then puts Duff on the right and Kilbane on the left! That's $(*@#$ criminal.

Roy Keane had a great game as did Duff and Given.

**dynamo kerry** · 08/09/2004, 8:45 PM

based purely on rte radio

given - great
carr - ok
finnan - ok
kenny - improved over the game
o'brien - solid
duff - fits and starts
reid - less than fits and starts
RMK - crap first half - improved
Skilbane - anonymous
Clint - anonymous after the goal
Robbie - never got going?

where am I going wrong?

**beautifulrock** · 08/09/2004, 8:55 PM

Dyanmo

Get yourself a video of the game and watch it again in the cold light of day. Roy was outstanding as was Kenny and Andy.

**thejollyrodger** · 08/09/2004, 8:56 PM

what a dreadfull performance !! bad tatics, bad performance, Shockingly bad.

**Fergie's Son** · 08/09/2004, 8:58 PM

Keane (Roy) had a great game. Carr was very, very poor. Kilbane should never play for Ireland again. He was that shocking.

**brendy_�ire** · 08/09/2004, 9:05 PM

Crap performance, but it'll do the job. 4 points out of 6 is grand.
Switzerland didn't look great at all, we can beat them at Lansdowne.
Given was our only decent player. Kilbane had a shocker, did nothing. Can't share the praise for RMK. Put in a few good tackles alright, but didn't look anything special. Dare I say, he's past it. Absolutely nothing compared to what he was a few years ago. Wasn't impressed with our defence in the first half at all, they were easily being carved open. Nobody performed, improvement will be needed for the French next.
But ah well, happy enough overall, I suppose.

**Slash/ED** · 08/09/2004, 9:05 PM

given - our best player on the night
carr - decent
finnan - decent
Cunningham - at fault for our goal otherwise good
o'brien - the best of the back four
duff - had his moments, set up our goal but still not at his best, than some eejit decides playing him out of position and ending our chance of getting a goal is a good idea.
reid - poor
Roy Keane - woeful at times at the start but came into it more as the match came on, wasn't fit i'd imagine so wasn't the influence he could be but was still decent.
Kilbane - how the hell is this guy an international footballer? how difficult is it to pass to an irish player? i'll wait for only1kilbane to give him man of the match for another storming performance mind you

the sooner miller/delap/healy/holland/anyone becaomes available he's hopefully out.
Morrison - took his goal well and worked hard, nearly got a second. our best striker on the night yet kerr takes him off. have some balls and sub off robbie, i know he's class but if he's not fit and not playing well take him off.
Robbie Keane - still lacking sharpness though did have a goal disallowed. should have been taken off instead of morrison but kerr went by the reputation and left him on when he wasn't at the races tonight, though he did have his moments espically that turn in the first half overall he was poor.

Switzerland are horrible, our performance was very poor and that can probably be put down to our three big players all lacking fitness. I suppose given how bad we were 1-1 isn't a bad result but we should be beating teams like Switzerland, no doubt about it. With Keane, Duff and Keane eile hopefully at their best and our central mid fielders fit we should have no bother beating these at home if tonight was an indication about how good they are.

**eirebhoy** · 08/09/2004, 9:23 PM

I can't believe Keane scored a perfectly legit volley and it was ruled out for offside. He was also called offside when one on one with the keeper when he was again onside. Its not his fault he has pace while the Swiss defender were as slow as hell.

Good result and it leaves us ahead of the rest. Any home points dropped by the Swiss and French is only good for us and they both dropped points. We should win all matches with the exception of France x2 and Israel away. A draw away to France and Israel would be great and a win at home to France is what we should be playing for.

Hopefully Kerr goes with Kav to partner Keane against the French but I can't see him dropping Holland to the bench.

**tiktok** · 08/09/2004, 9:45 PM

The Swiss were awful, we were worse.
That should have been three points, for the record, I think Kerr's substitutions were right (although Kilbane should have gone right)but should have been made sooner.

Ratings:

Given: 8, MOTM, three brilliant saves, unlucky for the goal.

Carr: 6, got booked early, ended up standing off, but did ok
Finnan: 5, ok defending, but did nothing else, distribution woeful
Kenny: 5, looked slow, got dragged all over, bad for the goal but good in the air
O'Brien: 6, won a lot, a couple of important blocks, best of back four

Reid: 5, poor, had an off night, didn't look strong
Keane: 7, started very bad, didn't look fit, but was the most composed outfield player when the Swiss stepped it up
Kilbane: 4, I'm a fan, but his worst game in a while, Kav should have started, did better when pushed out wide
Duff: 7, still not fully fit, showed flashes, great cross for goal, but didn't get great service

Morrison: 7, worked so hard, took the goal well
Keane: 7, don;'t understand the critiscism tonight, worked really hard, was robbed by the linesman twice, with better service he would have scored

Kav and Doc not really on long enough, but Kav had a bit of fire in his belly, if proof was needed that he should have started

Kerr: 5, defence was poor, but first half we went for it and looked good, don't know why he reined them in second half. felt like he went out for the draw in a game we should have won.

**Plastic Paddy** · 08/09/2004, 9:51 PM

I'm not knocking ye, lads, but how can you focus on individual performances to a great enough degree to award individual marks? I watch Ireland games through my fingers. IMHO we got a result that beforehand we'd have all been happy with, from a game that in hindsight we should have won. Is that not enough analysis?

PP

**eirebhoy** · 08/09/2004, 9:53 PM

Originally Posted by tiktok

Kerr: 5, defence was poor, but first half we went for it and looked good, don't know why he reined them in second half. felt like he went out for the draw in a game we should have won.

I don't think we can blame Kerr for the players defending. Its all down to psychology, not conceding was the main priority for Ireland and the Swiss were going all out to score. It happens in a lot of matches and has nothing to do with tactics. If it had to do with tactics he wouldn't have put Doc up front.

Anyway, I wouldn't worry about the performance as we know we can do better. The result is all that matters. I'm delighted TBH. The Swiss will be lucky to get a point from their next two games (Israel and France away) while we will get at least 3 and hopefully something in Paris. We held a better Dutch and Portuguese team with a weaker Irish team.

A bit of psychology would actually do the players good. They have to try and get the Irish fans into their heads when they start singing "The fields of Athenry" blank out everything else and pretend they are playing at home.

**brine3** · 08/09/2004, 10:04 PM

The same old sh|te as usual, defending too deep, inability to pass the ball, trying to score every time we get the ball. It's been like this for 20 years, we now have skillful players but yet it's still the same.

Given - 8

Carr - 5 Got himself into trouble when he had acres of space and nobody around him.
Cunningham 5 Really got shown up for lack of pace tonight.
O'Brien 7 Had a decent game, marked his man, ghosted into the right places at the right time.
Finnan 6 - Decent performance playing out of position.

Duff 7.5 - Managed to constantly threat the Swiss, even with three players marking him all the time.
Keane 7 - Looked a bit unfit but upped his game and tried to pass the ball around a bit and compose things when the **** was hitting the fan.
Kilbane 5.5 - Great heart, ran his arse off, can't criticise his enthusiasm. But got shown up technically and tactically once again.
Reid 6 - Looked lost out on the wing, I thought he'd have been better in the hole behind the strikers. Still showed some flashes of skill though.

Clinton 7 - A constant thorn in the Swiss side, lovely header for the goal and some good defensive work too. Some great work on the right wing just before he came off to produce a chance out of nothing.
Keane 7 - Could have had two goals tonight but came away with nothing. Robbed.

**tricky_colour** · 08/09/2004, 10:05 PM

Well 1 point not 3, however it's still a decent result, remember
we lost 2:0 last time so we are 2 goals better now, which
turns our 1:2 home defeat into a 3:2 win.

"We would have liked to have won, but we have shown in the past that we can beat them away," said Swiss defender Ludovic Magnin of Fox news.
However McCarthy pushed for a win and ended up losing, and I believe
they were lucky that night and he is just trying to put make a bad
result (for the Swiss) sound better.

France next, I hope everyone is full fit for that one!!!

**ger121** · 08/09/2004, 10:16 PM

Well I suppose 1-1 away from home against one of our group rivals is not bad. Only towards the end of the qualifiiers will will know if it was 2 ponts dropped or one gained. They were poor and so where we, yet we still came outa the game with something. A lot of our players are just getting over injuries or haven't played much ball so far this season. Thought Duff, Morrison and Given were the only 3 to have decent performances. Our back four was poor and our midfield found it hard to retain possession. I did win a few bob on the 1-1 at 11-2 so a good result for me

**Slash/ED** · 08/09/2004, 10:20 PM

Originally Posted by tricky_colour

"We would have liked to have won, but we have shown in the past that we can beat them away,"

If we don't beat these at home we're simply not worthy of qualifying for a major tournament.

**tricky_colour** · 08/09/2004, 10:29 PM

Originally Posted by ger121

Well I suppose 1-1 away from home against one of our group rivals is not bad. Only towards the end of the qualifiiers will will know if it was 2 ponts dropped or one gained. They were poor and so where we, yet we still came outa the game with something. A lot of our players are just getting over injuries or haven't played much ball so far this season. Thought Duff, Morrison and Given were the only 3 to have decent performances. Our back four was poor and our midfield found it hard to retain possession. I did win a few bob on the 1-1 at 11-2 so a good result for me

Congrats on the bet, and good if you got 11-2, as when I looked there
were a lot of 9-2's about, I didn't have a bet my self because I find
it hard to be objective with Ireland and would have ended up going
for a 3-0 win or something daft like that, with a few side bets on
4-0 and 5-0 "just in case"

**Gary** · 08/09/2004, 10:38 PM

I felt only Given, Duff, O Brien and Morrison did well.

Robbie K was awful. Worst ive ever seen him play for Ireland.

Roy K, as above, but clearly unfit

Carr. as above. Didnt seem interested, and couldnt find a player or any space. unusual for him

Kilbane. I am a fan, but tonight he was dire. he will know that himself, but he will bounce back.

Reid. Was due a bad game

Cunningham. Spose he didnt do much wrong, but was found wanting for the Swiss goal.

Overall, a crap performance, and on that performance, Germany is not a reality.