Republic of Ireland V Oman 3rd September 2014 & Georgia 7th September 2014

[Razors left peg]

I believe the thinking behind Walters is to get some height and ballast in the team somewhere. He also was under instructions to hare into the box for crosses, which were largely rubbish. It isn't totally illogical.

But I agree, I'd put the Walters-on-the-wing craic in the bin and try something else.

If we dont have natural height and strength in the team naturally we shouldnt be trying to falsely force it. Just because we have a history of long ball to the big man since Jack doesnt mean that we have to constantly try it now.

We have players who are decent on the ball and should be trying to get the most out of Robbie, McCarthy, Coleman, Long, McGeady etc

[da bishop]

great three points away from home,had plenty possession but did not create anything,the fact remains we just do not have the players.hopefully MON will get the best out of this group of players,tbf we actually passed quite well early on ,lost our way at different stages,but kept plugging away to get the points.delighted MON had a go at TOD,sick of the constant negative angle to his interviews ,the big shock is he never asked MON about ...our national saviour...wes...after the game,..oh hold on we won.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Pfft, close enough.

[tricky_colour]

who's that mcgeady fella? he looks like some kind of sh!te genius.

He scored almost as many goals to day as in the rest of his international football career!!!

He seems to finally found end product, long may it continue!

[tricky_colour]

France could only manage a draw in Georgia last year, Spain only beat them 1-0
maybe they could even give Germany a spot of bother when they go there?

[DannyInvincible]

France could only manage a draw in Georgia last year, Spain only beat them 1-0
maybe they could even give Germany a spot of bother when they go there?

They're a competent defensive outfit. One or both of Scotland and Poland will drop points when they travel to Tbilisi. Georgia's goalscorer tonight, Okriashvili, also looked a dangerous player if given enough space.

[SwanVsDalton]

If we dont have natural height and strength in the team naturally we shouldnt be trying to falsely force it. Just because we have a history of long ball to the big man since Jack doesnt mean that we have to constantly try it now.

We have players who are decent on the ball and should be trying to get the most out of Robbie, McCarthy, Coleman, Long, McGeady etc

I agree. In fairness, though we didn't hoof it that much until we started to get tired and desperate. Unfortunately all those players you mentioned, except McGeady, underperformed. Long gets a pass since he was off the bench, and Coleman did ok in the first period but Robbie was too isolated and McCarthy did very little except the very composed assist for the goal.

[Paddy Garcia]

They're a competent defensive outfit. One or both of Scotland and Poland will drop points when they travel to Tbilisi. Georgia's goalscorer tonight, Okriashvili, also looked a dangerous player if given enough space.

Not sure about that - Scotland holding Germany 1-1

[SwanVsDalton]

Not sure about that - Scotland holding Germany 1-1

It's 2-1 but, regardless, Northern Ireland have made a great habit of beating higher seeds and falling over to supposed minnows. Scotland or Poland or us or anyone can easily put it up to a Germany or Spain and then get sucker punched by a Georgia or Estonia.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Yeah and for all our ability to beat minnows more than them the difference is a sum total of one more tournament than Scotland since we were last able to get credible results; and that was an Armenian favor more than our ingenuity.

[AlanOB]

Totally pointless using a 4-5-1 with Whelan as an anchorman against a side that were 5-4-1 in the defensive phase, making us unnecessarily a man light in the attacking phase.

Also meant that Keane was a lone striker with no ten in behind, a role that he is patently unsuited to.

Worse still, O'Neill showed no intention of changing it, instead using his subs to make straight swaps and freshen things up. And as someone else pointed out, his final sub, planned before the equaliser, could be interpreted as a "we have what we hold" move.

In short, we got out of jail in a big way. After going 4-2-3-1 for the majority of the friendly games, he bottled it today against a side with negligible attacking intent.

http://tacticstruck2.wordpress.com/2...ve-management/

[the doc]

On tonight's performances and ours, I'd say we could be struggling to finish 3rd in the group.

Serious doubts about our management and team tactics!

Come back Mr Trapattoni all is forgiven!

[DannyInvincible]

Serious doubts about our management and team tactics!

Come back Mr Trapattoni all is forgiven!

What more would Trap's tactics have achieved? This evening's tactics (away from home) weren't all that dissimilar to the type Trap would employ, other than us holding on to the ball a lot better tonight.

[tricky_colour]

It''s the McGeady spin!!!

[Stuttgart88]

I can't deny that I'm critical of and disappointed in many parts of tonight but we also must be the only country in the world who beat ourselves up over having a gifted talent win a match for us.

The only difference between Trap and O'Neill tonight is that Trap would be delighted and change nothing, whereas we don't know yet whether O'Neill will think the same or whether he copped on to what could be done better and will modify things. Only time will tell and whereas my suspicion is that not much will change there's more than a decent chance O'Neill will take stock of the competitive games to make revisions. He deserves the benefit of the doubt after one game.

[backstothewall]

People being unnecessarily hard on MON for me. I'd imagine the thinking behind Walters on the right was either to do something the Georgians wouldn't be used to dealing with, or to target a weakness they had identified in their left back. And low and behold there was a flick on from Walters on the right in the build up to the 1st goal.

Via Robbie, the final ball that slipped McGready in to finish was played by McCarthy. I do tend to agree with the point Giles made about all our creativity being ahead of the ball, but to play devils advocate for a second, if he had been sitting deep he wouldn't have been in position to play that ball. Sadly we only have one James McCarthy.

The constant harking back to Hoolahan also frustrates me. He is 32 now, will be 34 by the time of the Euros, and it's not as if the great clubs of Europe were beating their way to East Anglia to secure his signature when Norwich were relegated. Robbie Brady is younger, playing at a higher level, offers a threat at set pieces, and is a better option for me. It would seem Martin O'Neill agrees.

I did agree with Giles though. What went on ahead of the ball was an aside compared to the problems we had in midfield. I thought Glenn Whelan should have been hooked shortly after half time. With the possession we enjoyed, IMHO it was crying out for Gibson to come on and pick up pinging passes around the park where he left of against Oman.

[Charlie Darwin]

To be fair, I think the hankering for Hoolahan is not so much because he's a great player but because he's a different sort of player who has gifts we are in short supply of. I don't think anybody would claim he's on the same level of Nasri or whoever.

[Charlie Darwin]

Highlights starting on RTE for anyone who hasn't had enough excitement after the live game. Think they'll be showing highlights of the other two games as well.

[bennocelt]

I will add the hurling's quite good in fairness

Ha, it took me a good half hour to get used to the slow pace of the "saccar"

[backstothewall]

To be fair, I think the hankering for Hoolahan is not so much because he's a great player but because he's a different sort of player who has gifts we are in short supply of. I don't think anybody would claim he's on the same level of Nasri or whoever.

I appreciate that, and it's not like I'm claiming Brady is on the same level as Neymar, or that Gibsons passing ability would have him mistaken for Pirlo in midfield. But Brady is as capable as producing a bit of magic as Hoolahan, and he was the 1st man O'Neill put onto the park. Maybe a bit later than some, myself included, would have liked, but if we're down to debating if the sub came 10 mins later than some would have liked, and we won the game anyway, it's not much to be getting our knickers is a twist about.

It was a great win. Either Scotland or Poland will drop points there. Georgia away is the fixture that will cost someone of them dearly.

It won't be us!