Who said that? I think the general consensus was that "it's a poor back four, hopefully we won't need them to get used to each other".Originally Posted by the doc
Norm Iron looked better organised with players of not much better standard, if at all.
Regardless of what Paul says, Italy was definitely positive. Costa Rica and Turkey were good in parts I suppose. The face-saving aspect of Portugal is that there is just no chance we'd have to field such a weak side in any competitive game. Even if we're unlucky with injuries we have better players to come back in.
Doc, apart from trying to kiss girls, will you be featuring in the transfer gossip sections anytime soon?
Surprised at some of the quasi-vitriol on here. Despite the score I thought we looked pretty handy in midfield without ever threatening. 5 in the middle gave us plenty of the ball but of course isolated Walters who, somewhat ironically (since I see him as a more of a target man), became sort've redundant. If only Wes had been playing the last five years, he's like having two players compared to whelan's .5
When it went 442 in the second half the writing was on the wall. Ostensibly more of an attacking threat from us (never materialised - Robbie dove looking for a push in the back free and it was 5-1) but huyuuuge spaces through a tiring midfield. Tough muggy conditions for paddies to boot. In short I'd rather watch ten of these friendly to kings than a string of trap nil alls
I thought it was about a 3-1 game but the chaotic substitutions effectively turned it into a drubbing for Ireland, especially the ones before Portugal's 4th, the subs made had transformed us into a shapeless mess. I would have expected better from O'Neill to have an idea how to make the changes and keep a reasonable effective shape, especially when he says he was keen to reduce the deficit.That for me was the most disappointing aspect and brought up an old failing from O'Neill to rear its ugly head.
When asked on 2 occasions what we should do, Curtis Fleming (co commentator) suggested 'we should get stuck in'. Thankfully we are still trying something different, playing football for an hour against a finely tuned classy team and persisted despite the string of poor mistakes. For an hour we didn't lump it, put up the barricades and depend upon heroic performances from the centre halves. Instead we matched Portugal for passes made, where Hoolahan was relentless, a dynamo, taking up good positions, making himself available. Other players will come in to the team and maybe Wes will last long enough for the qualifiers.
I heard that Ward was drafted in from his holidays to replace an injured Wilson.
The goals from last night are here.
Geysir, when was the awful trip to Trinidad and Brazil? Did it immediately precede the more than respectable WC82 campaign?
I agree. I don't think we should be getting hysterical. The team we had out last night for the last 15 minutes was quite literally nuts. I'm confident that if was anywhere near a competitive match we'd give a much better account. I actually think we were much worse against Costa Rica.
The only worrying thing is momentum and confidence. People can moan about Trap, but he used friendlies to drill 'the system' and was happy with 0-0 draws because the team were boosted by not losing and not conceding. It gave the defence confidence. We need that back asap.
Ou-est le Centre George Pompidou?
True, but lest we forget we had some pretty poor reverses in Trap's friendlies too. Australia stands out.
I expected us to at least compete with them, I'd have been more than happy with a draw and I wouldnt have been too upset if we'd lost by the odd goal - we lost 2-0 to Spain in America a few years ago. I really hoped we wouldnt crumble like that - we were made to look like rank amateurs against a team that didn't even top their qualification group.
They didn't beat Gabon they drew 2-2. That's the point Robbie, this Portugal team, while good, is on fairly indifferent form and hasn't steam-rolled teams like say Spain or Germany have, yet they steam-rolled us.Portugal playing their last warm up game with the World Cup one week away against an Irish team many whose better players are on holidays and those very average players that played last night thinking of their holidays. It's totally irrelevent that Portugal beat Ireland by more than they beat the likes of Gabon and Luxembourg.
I fear we won't be competitive and think we will be lucky to get third and then might need to get lucky in a play-off. There is a slight paradox in your post Robbie, you say we will "be competitive and in the mix", yet we also "may have to wait awhile before we qualify for another Euro". The thing is we are in a group of 6, if we finish 1st or 2nd we'll qualify, if we finish 3rd we may qualify directly (best 3rd place) or then we have a 50:50 play off against another 3rd placed team. 60% of the teams will make at least a playoff and 40% will make the actual tournament, there has never been an easier time to make a tournament, if were in any way "competitive and in the mix" we will make it, but on current form I cant see that happening.We'll be competitive in the qualifiers and in the mix but I think we may have to wait awhile before we qualify for another Euro or World Cup. No matter what way you look at it we have a very average squad and you hope O'Neill and Keane can work on other factors i.e. organisation/fight/spirit to give us a chance in the Euro qualifiers.
No historic straws to clutch, that tour happened around the Falklands war 1982 and just before the 1984 qual campaign which fizzled out early in Oslo.
Surely you are not comparing this summer tour to that one?
They wern't all consistent, granted, but Trap never ended a game with four strikers either. He treated friendlies fairly seriously but the scope for experimentation was limited.
That's something none of us liked about Trap, but here we are with a manager who is pretty much throwing a kitchen sink at friendlies. I know we'd all like to tow a line between experimentation and getting humped, but that's what going to happen sometimes. Clearly that's just MON's way. It remains to be seen whether it's a good idea or not but without it, there's no way Wes Hoolahan would have had the chance to play himself into our starting XI.
Last edited by SwanVsDalton; 11/06/2014 at 12:26 PM.
Ou-est le Centre George Pompidou?
Australia was pretty bad, 3-0 from what I remember, but to a degree (at the time) it was isolated - we didn't lose another match that year which included competitive games against Italy (a), Montenegro and Bulgaria (a). The worry is we haven't looked like winning a game since Serbia and we've looked a bit naive. It's worth pointing out we had some good friendly results under Trap too, beating Italy in Liege, beating Colombia (neutral) and then beating Paraguay just before they got the QFs of the World Cup (and gave Spain their biggest scare), beating Bosnia as well.
Me?? Probably not!
SSL? Done deal, very good club
Doc, do you think it is even ethical for fans to watch this world cup?
"If it's not the Saint, it's not morally reputable." - L Doc Hubbard.
Ou-est le Centre George Pompidou?
----------------Westwood-------------
Coleman-----O'Shea---Dunne-----Wilson
----------Gibson------McCarthy--------
---Hendrick----Hoolahan----McGeady---
------------------Long-----------------
Probably Keane instead of Long for the easier looking games but I'd say this would be our best side.
You would want cox in there next to long.
Was that the 7-0 against brazil trip?
If only long could finish consistently - decent looking side all the same
But I fear greatly our striking options without keano
At first, I wasn't sure about Hendrick in that position because he's not necessarily a winger but it makes sense from the perspective that Coleman would be directly behind him, providing plenty width and allowing Hendrick to tuck in and push Hoolahan further forward (Gibson too if he fancies it).
Few decent options off the bench in Meyler, Keane, Doyle, Delaney, McClean and Pilkington on the basis of that side.
Lest we forget about Robbie Brady too. He should be at full throttle come August and he showed glimpses of real quality in his first (half-) season in the Premiership. Still only 22.
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