Ireland V Sweden(A) 22 March & Austria(H) - 26 March 2013 - World Cup 2014 Qualifiers

[ArdeeBhoy]

So Sammon is now ahead of Cox & Doyle??

[tricky_colour]

And when we're over run and the players are caught out of position and the team is humiliated again........

Steady on there! Ireland have never conceded a goal when Hoolahan has been on the pitch!!
McCarthy was on for all six v Germany though.

[Bungle]

I saw something there on the RTE website about Walters carrying a slight knock. If we are going for the target man, barring injury, Walters would have to be in ahead of Sammon in my opinion, as he has more to his game and has done well at a higher level for a mid-table team in the Premiership. Personally, I would prefer Hoolahan to play in the hole between midfield and Shane Long. I think that could work really well. Wes has the ability to play that defense splitting pass, but equally importantly he has the ability to keep possession.

I wasn't that impressesd with Conor Sammon against Poland. However, I'd love if this selection came good against the Austrians. Even if he became a very poor man's Niall Quinn, I'd be delighted.

[tricky_colour]

What about this Paddy Madden?
OK he plays in league one but he is put scoring Messi at the moment.
Something like 20 in 28 games, I'm surprised Braca have not came in for him.
Just stick him on and he is more than likely to get a goal.
I have not really seen much of him playing though seem to a bit of a poacher but it looks
like Trap is going for a battering ram up front.
But if we are struggling to get a goal at least he will remember what it feels like to score a goal

[paul_oshea]

Not read all the posts but the general feeling is the same. We can't knock traps away qualification form really, but I think on Friday he stumbled upon his best possible selection for the night. I thought his substitutions were very good, even bringing on Sammon made sense, but Sammon just isn't good enough. I can see what Trap is doing, but you cant make a silk purse out of a sows ear.

Green did well I thought. Justified his selection, and I had seen against Poland and Slovakia that he was capable of playing. I think Coleman is turning into a world class full back, but again Friday he had the jersey of Ibrahimovic like you would do in Gaelic to stop him making a run. It wasn't in view of the ref or linesman so he got away with it, fair play but it could have been a penalty. O'shea and clark were very good. Hopefully they can build up a level of consistency and be the first choice. O'shea even played the ball on the ground a few times out of defence. Keane's donkey work and roaming were very good. We do miss a proper striker now though, Long just isn't good enough at it, and Keane doesn't have the same impact he used to have. If long hadn't bottled it we could have come home with a 1-0 win. Walters put in a good shift, as did Mccarthy, Holohan offered some relief when he came on and McClean did ok too, his distribution and crossing was poor though.

I think we are reading a bit more into how good we were, as opposed to have exceedingly average Sweden were. Keane had a good game, but only because no one tracked him, they let him roam all night. And they never got tight on us, they were happy to sit back and let us play. It was like watching us at home. The one element of our game that was really impressive was our harrying and pressure applied off the ball, we were Barcelonaesque at times, even when they tried to play their triangle passes we put so much pressure on them a couple of times that they lost possession. I never saw Trap let us do that before. It was refreshing and brilliant. I think we might regret not picking up 3 points here though,even though we didn't actually have a shot on target.

Whats baffling is how Trap saw us play Friday, as a cohesive unit, a team with confidence in their own ability, even offering an attacking threat, yet we are reading he is bringing Whelan back in and Sammon up front?

[noddy102]

What's wrong with Trap picking Whelan ahead of Green exactly?

Whelan is playing at a higher standard than Green, and is a better player overall. If he's fit, he should be in the team ahead of Green, no question.

As for Sammon.... the mind boggles.

[Bungle]

Not read all the posts but the general feeling is the same. We can't knock traps away qualification form really, but I think on Friday he stumbled upon his best possible selection for the night. I thought his substitutions were very good, even bringing on Sammon made sense, but Sammon just isn't good enough. I can see what Trap is doing, but you cant make a silk purse out of a sows ear.

Green did well I thought. Justified his selection, and I had seen against Poland and Slovakia that he was capable of playing. I think Coleman is turning into a world class full back, but again Friday he had the jersey of Ibrahimovic like you would do in Gaelic to stop him making a run. It wasn't in view of the ref or linesman so he got away with it, fair play but it could have been a penalty. O'shea and clark were very good. Hopefully they can build up a level of consistency and be the first choice. O'shea even played the ball on the ground a few times out of defence. Keane's donkey work and roaming were very good. We do miss a proper striker now though, Long just isn't good enough at it, and Keane doesn't have the same impact he used to have. If long hadn't bottled it we could have come home with a 1-0 win. Walters put in a good shift, as did Mccarthy, Holohan offered some relief when he came on and McClean did ok too, his distribution and crossing was poor though.

I think we are reading a bit more into how good we were, as opposed to have exceedingly average Sweden were. Keane had a good game, but only because no one tracked him, they let him roam all night. And they never got tight on us, they were happy to sit back and let us play. It was like watching us at home. The one element of our game that was really impressive was our harrying and pressure applied off the ball, we were Barcelonaesque at times, even when they tried to play their triangle passes we put so much pressure on them a couple of times that they lost possession. I never saw Trap let us do that before. It was refreshing and brilliant. I think we might regret not picking up 3 points here though,even though we didn't actually have a shot on target.

Whats baffling is how Trap saw us play Friday, as a cohesive unit, a team with confidence in their own ability, even offering an attacking threat, yet we are reading he is bringing Whelan back in and Sammon up front?

On the money with all of that. I think Long is a good player and I rate him, but in the coming years we are going to miss having a player of Robbie's class up front for us. Having said that, Keano missed a few sitters in his time for us so don't want to be too harsh on Shane.

[zero]

On the money with all of that. I think Long is a good player and I rate him, but in the coming years we are going to miss having a player of Robbie's class up front for us. Having said that, Keano missed a few sitters in his time for us so don't want to be too harsh on Shane.

yeah i basically agree with this; long isn't really the kind of player who will nick you a goal when he's not playing particularly well. he seems to go through patches of very good form - when he's on he's hard to deal with.

robbie though always has a goal in him.

[Crosby87]

Who is the most famous Austrian of all time?

[paul_oshea]

One other thing, I mentioned the last day that on paper we were easily as good as they were, and it was pointed out they were serial qualifiers, and the experience they had in the current side. We were as good as they were on paper, because we are as good as them and the level they play at. Skstu mentioned that both teams are pretty average, I think we were slightly better than that on Friday, but I think that Sweden were average. So whoever comes on here and says that we have a poor group of players, worst available since we started and Trap is getting miracles out of us, down through the years we never had that many top top players and even those playing at a higher level in England, the league wasn't as strong. We have a decent first 11 at the moment, and easily or should be capable of getting 2nd in groups. We had 8 premiership players the last day and we showed against a decent European side in terms of seedings that we can match them. So there should be no more talk of how poor we are in terms of player talent, which is so often used as a defensive line for supporting Trap, and his magic wand.

a team with players like coleman, mccarthy, o'shea, long, wilson and keane is more than capable.

[Charlie Darwin]

Now that he's off the radio, we can look forward to more reams of self-indulgent nonsense like this from Ken Early in the Times.

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/socc...-yet-1.1337844

[Noelys Guitar]

For once I agree with Dunphy's assessment that Whelan does not have the legs to properly break up the opposition play and that Whelan loses concentration during games at crucial times. Walters is fit going by todays reports so why is Sammon starting? He is not a conventional target man. Nor a prolific goalscorer and his ball control is not great. There is the possibility that Trapatonni does not believe we have the players who can get good diagonal crosses into the box so revert to route one and possibly get a few knock downs for Long to run onto. But that means giving up control of the ball and another at best home draw. Backwards step. Play Hoolihan in the position Keane played on Friday. Hoolihan can get that crucial goal as well as being an excellent outlet for other players. Plus our free kicks and corners would improve. Play Walters in the same position he played on Friday as well.

[Bungle]

For once I agree with Dunphy's assessment that Whelan does not have the legs to properly break up the opposition play and that Whelan loses concentration during games at crucial times. Walters is fit going by todays reports so why is Sammon starting? He is not a conventional target man. Nor a prolific goalscorer and his ball control is not great. There is the possibility that Trapatonni does not believe we have the players who can get good diagonal crosses into the box so revert to route one and possibly get a few knock downs for Long to run onto. But that means giving up control of the ball and another at best home draw. Backwards step. Play Hoolihan in the position Keane played on Friday. Hoolihan can get that crucial goal as well as being an excellent outlet for other players. Plus our free kicks and corners would improve. Play Walters in the same position he played on Friday as well.

Agree with that. I would love Wes to start. He could be a game changer for us.

[ifk101]

Relatively happy to get the draw against Sweden. I think they were expecting our usual predictability and that caught them unaware. But I feel we could have been more positive in the second half and I would have brought on Brady for Walters with 15/ 20 minutes to go. Their left full is quite suspect, and although Walters did that which was asked of him, I feel Brady's trickery would have exposed Sweden's weakness in that position.

What good work we did in Stockholm counts for nothing though if we don't follow it up with a win against the Austrians.

[tricky_colour]

What's wrong with Trap picking Whelan ahead of Green exactly?

Whelan is playing at a higher standard than Green, and is a better player overall. If he's fit, he should be in the team ahead of Green, no question.

As for Sammon.... the mind boggles.

I think the issue is we need a Green to do the harrying in midfield we don't seem to be able to get the ball back
with out him, at least not until it is in the back of our net or goes out for a goal kick or is cleared by the
defence.

[tricky_colour]

Who is the most famous Austrian of all time?

Franz Klammer.

[Noelys Guitar]

Team to be announced at 2.30pm or thereabouts.

[Murfinator]

Austria are better ball players than us, we take them on at a game of football and they'll murder us. That's the reality. People might like Hoolahan but I'm sorry, a midfield from Norwich, Stoke and Wigan against Stuttgart, Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich is like backing a snake against a mongoose. Trap is right to not try and compete and go for a route one plan.

Their defence is susceptible in the air and keeper inexperienced and that's why Sammon is starting, I said from the squad announcement that it was this game that he was selected for. Had Keane been injured ahead of Sweden I think Cox would have started, it's tactical.

[tricky_colour]

             Madden

            Hoolahan

McClean mccarthy   green    hitler

WIlson  o shea     clarke    coleman

             Forde

[pineapple stu]

Their defence is susceptible in the air and keeper inexperienced and that's why Sammon is starting

Wouldn't it be an idea to start someone who's strong in the air then?