QuoteSo far so good, been all Ireland so far!!
To take the match discussion out of the squad thread, I give you...
Anyway, I'm gonna go for Ireland 2-1 win.
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So far so good, been all Ireland so far!!
Been all Ireland the first 10 minutes but two good chances missed.
Just about to say Mccarthy is making a difference and then he did that.
Still though. So far so good.
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
It has a nil all draw written all over it.
I did not expect things to go down like that.
My pre-match expectation, going on the news that Green was to man-mark Zlatan, was that Sweden would exploit us in the middle through either Kallstrom or Elm being left free. In actual fact, Green did not do a pure man-marking job on Zlatan. He followed him out of his zone when he was on his side (the right side) of the pitch, but did not follow him when he drifted to the other side (or when he swapped with Hysen and went upfront obviously). When this happened, Green moved up to pressure Kallstrom, with McCarthy permanently occupying Elm (who was poor on the night).
On the other hand, if Green was marking Zlatan, Keane shocked the world by dropping back and occupying Kallstrom quite effectively. No-one was more surprised than me at Keane's performance. He also did well drifting to the flanks to create overloads, with one such occasion almost producing a headed opportunity for Walters.
This was far more of a 4-4-1-1/4-2-3-1 than we're used to from Ireland, and it wasn't the only surprise. The positioning of the full backs was also a huge shock - with both men getting licence to not only support, but to overlap. A completely new departure. Unfortunately the final ball from wide areas was poor. McClean, for example, worked hard (and had a couple of dribbles) but showed why his cross completion ratio is one of the worst in the Premier League this season.
It's a testament to how well we matched up in the middle that Sweden were forced to hit it long so often, eventually swapping Zlatan with Hysen in order to compete aerially. In the second half, we dropped off and allowed them possession in the middle, so Zlatan came back into the number 10 role. I think Trap wanted to hit them by surprise in the first half and nick one. He was not prepared to play an aggressive, pressing game away from home for 90 minutes.
Roll on Tuesday.
Very happy with that. Less of the long/hoof ball dross, more pressing, more involvement of the central midfield, more possession. Seemed like a completely different side to the one that played Germany.
Forde, kicking needs a bit of work, but aside from that a good performance, some great saves, some great ball handling. Defence, O'Shea had his best game in ages, did more to shut Zlatan down than anyone. The rest all did sterling work too, especially Wilson moving up the field when required.
Midfield, Mccarthy showed just what he can bring to the side, and I really hope he doesn't get left behind Whelan anymore. Green had a good game, not spectacular but solid. Between the two of them they bossed the centr for long stretches, really made a difference to the impact Ireland can make. When the ball was kept low and worked through them, Ireland were able to create stuff. Walters, out of position., but ran well and did his bit. McClean was the best I've seen him in ages, but I wish his dead ball delivery was better.
Upfront, it was somewhat disappointing Keane, aside from that early cross, didn't seem to add much, and was late to several crosses that could have been attacked. Long ran, made space for himself and got in a few decent crosses, but his early miss was a howler and it just seemed like he was hesitant to pull the trigger. Would have swapped Keane out earlier, but I understand that Trap was hesitant about going for it.
I think the win was there to be taken if Ireland had just risked a little bit more going forward. Sweden seemed so impotent (Zlatan looked exhausted from the start) that I just thought they could have pressed on a bit. A lack of pace on the counter-attack, more than once I saw Walters calling for players to play the ball to when he was moving forward.
I really hope we can move on and beat Austria now, and really get the quest for second on a solid footing. Trap's changed his team and his tactics, now he has to stick with it.
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
Also, I should have mentioned, a certain intangible thing: more heart, more commitment, more grift. Maybe its a bit of a blowback from the Germany disaster.
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
For all Walter's honest effort, I would prefer a bit of 'creativity' out there. I hope Brady will pass Trap's psyche test on Monday.
Agree entirely. I like John but he just wasn't in it today. But don't ever rely on Trap to do what you want him to. Green in instead of Hoolahan today? And Brady kept on the bench for so long when Walters was tiring and out of it? The worst thing about this game is that it will go down as a success. We could and should have won it. We were the better team. Suppose fair dos to Trap for that aspect of things, but it is so annoying that he won't go for the jugular when the game is there for the winning. This team is crying out for a creative force like Hoolahan.Originally Posted by geysir
That game was reminiscent of a match between two Championship sides or lower-EPL sides. I'd say Wes was sitting on the bench thinking "jaysus just let me on and do my stuff and we'll win this one".
'Upfront' perhaps disappointing, but Robbie put in some shift, particularly in the first half. His deep pressuring of Sweden's midfield allowed Green and McCarthy to step up and dominate that area. As a defensive performance it was crucial.
It did mean he was a bit behind with attacks but I thought he played very well but understandably tired. Also him and Long don't seem a natural partnership, don't have the telepathy yet.
Would you have made that swap? They're in no way like for like. I accept your overall point about creativity, but that wouldn't swap wouldn't work for me.
Only place for Wes is in Robbie's position. Drop Long or Keane. Tough call either way. Wouldn't be against it but that's the only way I could see it working.
Also thought Walters played well. He wasn't exactly anonymous (of the four attackers I reckon he was probably on the ball the most, ahead of Long). Linked excellently with Coleman and intelligently popped up in the middle or left occasionally to keep the Swedes guessing.
I would agree that the three main attackers (Keane, Long and Walters) wern't really on the same wave length. But that can improve.
Ou-est le Centre George Pompidou?
I wonder in hindsight is the a mild opportunity lost (Us Irish are never happy). We couldve won that game, but given by the reaction of the players at the end, their goal was a draw.
The positives far outweigh the negatives. For us Trap supporters, these are the types of performances we know he can get the team to produce. Very hard to beat, can play nice football and create decent chances. A huge plus is the willingness of our full backs in particular and McCarthy to carry the ball rather than hoofing it. There were numerous instances tonight where the full backs or our wingers took on the ball and used the ball well as opposed to hit and hope.
Hard to fault anyone really. Perhaps we couldve expected a little more end product up front and from our set pieces. No shot on target. Very happy for Forde who put in a very solid performance.
Need to win Tuesday night now to back this up. Ireland under Trap have proven to be more successful away from home than at home. The home games against Austria and Sweden are now two massive opportunities to reverse that.
It was always said that take Ibra out of the equation and Sweden are a very average side. Trap and Green did just that and did it fantastically, their attacks broke down and he could never get into the game. Suddenly we faced very mediocre opposition but it shouldn't be taken away from the setup, we made them look ordinary.
In attack we had a strong 20 minutes with well worked chances for Long and Walters who both scuffed them poorly. We didn't see any other chances.
Despite RTE's best efforts to big up McCarthy I didn't think he was contributing amount in the final third, a tidy link player in the centre but 2 wayward passes in the final third attempting to play an attacker into space were overhit out of play. In a game with few attacking chances that's quite poor.
Forde's save at the free kick was quality, we see those creep in very often. Centre backs never really exposed which was good since I'm not sure how Clark would have coped.
McClean has no end product and constantly did something good followed by something stupid all night. Given Walters industry down the other side I'm not sure he'll have any business in the matchday side when McGeady is back.
Keane was excellent throughout, in the early stages he was integral in attack with his cross to Walters being judged to perfection. For the rest of the game he hassled and harried Elm and Kallstrom especially preventing them playing their game.
Long was poor, great work ethic and some good effort but faltered at crucial moments.
Biggest difference between today and the Euros is the full backs, all our moves used to break down there but now we're getting plays going with them connecting with our teammates. Players like Green who aren't there to be on the ball get bypassed as they should and everything is a lot less frustrating.
Forde - 7
Wilson - 8
JOS - 7
Clark - 6
Coleman - 8
Green - 8
McCarthy - 6
McClean - 4
Walters - 7
Long - 4
Keane - 7
Overall a lot of good things but no cutting edge, we've always been good at playing that kind of game away from home but we'll need to see something we haven't shown before and beat a team of some worth on Tuesday.
Positive things and the point is good but I think the real battle in this double header is Austria who a lot of people don't seem to appreciate just how good they are. I'd take a draw at this stage but at some point in the group we'll need to show we can convert dominance to goals and actually win games.
We cannot accept a draw at home to 4th seeds. That cannot be seen as an acceptable result.
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
I suspect Tuesday will be the same 10 with Brady replacing Walters. Playing at home creates a certain expectation and Trapattoni will want a player who can do more on the ball than Walters.
I don't know why people expect more from McCarthy. He is exactly as you described him - a tidy link player and a vital player in our team. I would have him in the team for every game but I wouldn't expect him to be creating scoring opportunities because it is not his game.
Forde was super. Clark is our new centre half. Even if Dunne regains fitness - which I don't think he will, and I don't think he will ever play competitively for Ireland again - I think O'Shea and Clark is our best central defensive partnership and I look forward to 2-3 years of that before O'Shea retires, hopefully to be replaced by Mark O'Brien.Forde's save at the free kick was quality, we see those creep in very often. Centre backs never really exposed which was good since I'm not sure how Clark would have coped.
I think, certainly, players like Dunne and Whelan will have looked on the performances of Clark and McCarthy with a sense of dread for their future international prospects.
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
In fairness to Trap, he more or less said in post match interview that we need to beat Austria at home.
I wonder if Long had scored that early chance would we have put in such a solid performance? Or would we have reverted to our type that has happened so often when we lead away from home (e.g. Bulgaria, Slovakia, Macedonia), where we try to defend the lead while offering little attacking. I think we might have done so.
Having said that, the second half against Poland and the match tonight have been encouraging.
I don't think so. In those games, we didn't "revert to type", we just stuck to the gameplan and allowed the opposition to play their game. We let Sweden play their game tonight, but their game was very limited. That wouldn't have changed much if we were 1-0 up.
Some highlights here.
http://eurorivals.net/sweden~republi...deo-22-03-2013
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