McClean was a bit of a curate's egg. Brings a lot of energy and directness but his touch at times is woeful.
Not a great game from our point of view, especially the second half. We didn't really seem to have any outball (for want of a better word) and the Serbs could put our defenders under pressure, pressing them, knowing we would give the ball away in our own half. It's a tactic that saw us exposed (especially by Croatia) in Euro 2012 and we need to work on this in a major way before the qualifiers.
Typical. Murphy comes on for 18 minutes when the life had completely been sucked out of the game and set one up on a plate for Jon Walters, who was too slow to get to it.
Yet it is Murphy who gets the same tripe thrown at him as Sammon when he played. Yet the guy who misses the sitter gets off scot free. Peculiar.....
People tend to blame the maligned players for things that go wrong and not give them credit for what they do right. Ward played well tonight apart from a couple of mistakes he made trying to pass the ball short instead of play hoofball, yet nevertheless if you ask people about who played badly there'll always be a few who tell you all about how Ward was hoofing it all night long. Coleman had a horrible game tonight, as bad as any game Ward has ever had for Ireland, but he'll be excused because of his past record yet Ward will be judged extra harshly.Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
We are going to be very reliant on Hoolihan, Robbie and O'Shea for the qualifiers. Hopefully in 2 years we might have others pushing for their places but to me those 3 are irreplaceable at the moment.
Wes tonight was head and shoulders our best player and its a sin that he hasn't been in the team for years. We created absolutely nothing when he went off the pitch, and could hardly hold onto the ball.
Coleman had his worst performance in a green shirt, but hes a class act and wouldnt expect that again from him.
Long is so frustrating, I have zero confidence in him in front of goal but he does so many other things right. Id have Robbie up top with Hoolihan playing behind as the starters for the campaign.
Ward and Keogh nowhere near good enough.
We have a decent batch of midfielders and wingers that will blow hot and cold.
Overall tonight was disappointing, I hope we dont ever see Murphy and Walters being paired up front ever again, my grandmother can run quicker than the pair of them and shes dead 10 years
Its really not that complicated!!!
Pretty inexcusable leaving Stokes on the bench and bringing on Walters and Murphy imo.
Long's profligacy really highlighted the need again to give him a concerted chance up front. The lad is almost 26 and I don't think he's started a game up front for Ireland yet.
Wasted opportunity. Hopefully he'll get a start in the Summer, but I doubt it.
Long hasn't got off scot free. As you pointed out, Walters didn't miss any sitters not least since he didn't get on the end of the flick on...
I get it - Murphy's in your good books, which means he's tops. But not even Alistair Campbell could spin that minor flick-on the way you have. And for the duration they were on Murphy barely got on the ball, whereas Walters at least showed for it at least seven or eight times.
I'm not making a point particularly in favour of Walters, or against Murphy here, but just saying it's preposterous to launch any opinion on either of them based on it.
Ou-est le Centre George Pompidou?
I think McCarthy was by far our best player but Wes was second, but still you saw his limitations when he chopped down Matic in the first half and got a yellow card and created a very real scoring opportunity for Serbia, who dominated us from set pieces in the first half. I just imagine how good he would be if he was getting regular football at Aston Villa rather than coming into this match on the back of one appearance for Norwich.
O'Neill actually telegraphed this one in his press conference on Monday. He basically said if the system isn't working, he'd bring on Murphy and try to play route one. To be fair, if it had been Long instead of Walters, he probably would have been through on goal for the fourth time, and surely he would have learned his lesson by then.
What does Walters offer apart from work rate? He does not hold the ball up well enough. He doesn't score goals. He doesn't have the pace or crossing ability to play on the wing. Counter attacks are pointless because of his lack of pace or vision (as seen by his reaction to the excellent knock on by Murphy), his link-up play is average... I just don't get it.
I'm not a fan of Murphy any more than Walters. I could just see the opprobrium directed at Murphy coming a mile off, just like with Sammon. I don't think Sammon covered himself in glory but he clearly wasn't that bad. I do remember him creating several goalscoring opportunities, linking up with Keane, physically matching any defender and even having a couple of goal shouts himself (similar to Long tonight though not as bad).
I remember Folan too being quite useless but himself and Walters seem to be largely free of any criticism but it's open season on people like Sammon and Murphy for some reason. It's cynical.
Just scrolled back to read all that, as I didnt see the match. Headache.
Someone needs to give grades? Please?
No Somos muchos pero estamos locos.
I'd give Stephen "Wes Hoolahan on steroids" Ward a 10 for his 50 yard assist
Basically Crosby, think of it as the footballing equivalent of Mad Max - Beyond Thunderdome, as it was very much a metaphorical case of 'two men enter, one man leaves, two men enter, one man leaves'.
With Serbia leaving.
Or two men and a bent ref enter.
It's worth remembering we had a legitimate goal disallowed.
And that Shane Long had time for a nice cup of tea, twice, before choosing down which side of the keeper to hit it.
I barely noticed McCarthy! I wanted to see more from him.
Our midfield is crying out for someone with "personalitee" who demands the ball and can carry it ten yards on receiving it. There was a passage in the first half where McCarthy played a 6 shot wall tennis rally with a CB as he seemed afraid to receive the ball under pressure. On the same basis, I thought Wilson showed personalitee in the second half. He seemed to really appreciate the need for some composure on the ball from that position. He looked like a midfielder playing CB.
SVD how did you read from towks posts that he wanted murphy?similar to your analysis that's not what he was saying at all...he just really wanted stokes!
And cd seriously what game or delusion are you going through now?Mccatrhy was nowhere to be seen we had no outlet thats why we were so bad in the 2nd half when whelan and hoolohan came off we were completely outnumbered and out gunned in midfield there was no oil in the cog to keep it turning,no cohesion and any bit of a game plan went out the window. At least meyler got on the ball a few times and made tackles granted his performance wasnt anything special.
I think our changes were too drastic and we really missed Wes. I wonder why Wes never bulked up, one thing I wish he has in his game was duffs ability to fall over and win frees to relieve pressure or when in trouble le and nowhere to go.
Geysir you seem to be setting up O'Neill and keane for a fall, were you not happy with O'Neill at Celtic?
Towk I dont think stokes would have had the speed to get onto those passes ahead of the defenders like long did.
These central/eastern European teams breed athletes first and foremost, with superior core strength, 2nd they have an intelligence and technical proficiency we lack and finally they have ability to match the first two. We dont seem to have any of the three.
Anyone notice McClean giving Coleman an earful when he failed to play a ball over the top opting instead to play a martinez style short pass. McClean's touch may be poor but not as bad as his shooting. One thing you can't fault the guy for though is effort.
I noticed that 'tennis rally' and still can't get my ahead around it. If your main midfielder receives the ball in acres of space and with loads of options to begin a move why keep giving it back to your centre half??
I had decided to ignore your agendas but it's difficult when every second post is yours. You must have spent half the match typing! You ridicule Keogh in a pathetic attempt to gain some sort of self vindication. At worst his positioning may have been questionable, something that wouldn't have even been noticed had Coleman not carelessly lost possession. Maybe he sold himself in the build up to the first goal also, which he would have got away with if Coleman hadn't tried to play the runner offside. You haven't even mentioned Coleman in your 'analysis', even though he was the main culprit for both goals and had a nightmare generally. Do you not think it's a tad contradictory to then come along and say that Long gets a free ride while Murphy takes the rap?... which was complete sh!te anyway as Long's misses were covered in length.
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