It is still all up in the air though but we are right in the race.
The second half was great never felt like we would concede and we were creating up from, making Georgia look poor, as we should.
Originally Posted by Colbert Report
If Scotland get a draw and we beat Poland we will finish 2nd?
Last edited by tricky_colour; 07/09/2015 at 9:11 PM.
It is still all up in the air though but we are right in the race.
The second half was great never felt like we would concede and we were creating up from, making Georgia look poor, as we should.
Nice win. Feel kind of stupid, I thought they were playing the State of Georgia until about 5 mins ago.
No Somos muchos pero estamos locos.
Don't worry we all know Americans don't do geography!!
Walters was so close to offside for the goal!!
The RTE lads reckon we won't miss Whelan against Germany... I dunno. He left a bit of a Gap when he went off injured over there. Not sure Quinn or Hoolahan dropping in, as they suggest, would be adequate either. Would entertain Wilson coming in to the middle against Germany, to occupy that space. I'd probably even bring Meyler in for Hendrick for the Germany game if I'm honest.
Last edited by dr_peepee; 07/09/2015 at 9:40 PM.
Whelan keeps things ticking over, reminds me of Lennon at Celtic in that you don't really know what he does until he's not in the side. Having said that, McCarthy could play that role, with Hendrick playing the box to box role
Could O'Kane come in and give the Germans a good caning?
Or is that poetic nonsense?
I thought they weren't as bad as Ronnie and George H made out TBH. Hendricks bit of Magic aside, I still thought he was lacking something on the night. A bit timid, and second to some balls... But always showed for it which is a plus.
Joking aside I think he is the natural replacement for Whelan who I thought was super in the second half, the only player who looked like a leader of any kind. Ok, the yellow was impetuous but he did his job brilliantly. If only others did the same.
Ugly win, job done, but another game gone by that fails to give much confidence for what comes next. I'm not complaining, but not doing cartwheels either. Next...
We look solid at the back. Clark was excellent. I think he's an ideal foil for O'Shea. The two full backs are immense. Constantly busy and are our most capable footballers, I think.
I thought Whelan was great again. He really pressed the Georgians. Did it in the first half and we should have reaped dividends in the second half but for Long's miss from a lovely McClean cross.
I thought the panel on RTE got a bit carried away with Long's contribution. His miss was poor and Walters finished a similar chance with more pressure from the defender. That miss summed up why he didn't start- goals win games (even if Robbie wasn't great in the first half).
Beautiful skill by Hendrick for Walters' goal. He looked more composed to me, even if he did drift in and out of the game. I think it was Liam Brady who stated it was his main contribution in an Irish jersey, forgetting he also assisted O'Shea's goal against Germany. He's got a bright future in the Ireland jersey and that he and Brady have become starters under MON is positive.
We needed that magic from Hendrick. We were very good in the second half and bright enough for the opening 30 minutes of the first half. There's just a lack of penetration in the final third on a consistent basis.
All I can do about the two yellows is laugh. Whelan got completely carried away with all the cursing and gesturing. McClean did what McClean does when he's dying to make an impact coming on. They'll miss the Germany game and both would have played a part but their misdemeanours were both moments of passion and it's tough for me to be disappointed in the face of that.
Him getting a yellow though could be a blessing. With him certainly out we have an opportunity to pick someone else in that role in a game (against Germany) that could make the campaign but will not break it. So Whelan can slot back in against Poland if AN Other fails to shine v Germany.
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
Remember the debate a few months back about whether or not we play with fear? Semantics aside, this team is lacking the belief to just go out and play. I'd call it fear myself, but even if it's something else the team lacks a collective drive to impose its will on a game. Ok, we forced a win through grit and resolve but I just can't help thinking that more confidence would yield better performances.
Thanks button not working. Well said Ole Ole though I think you saw more positives than I did.
It surely would. But we need to keep building on something. We consistently have one good result (draw v Germany) and then follow it up with a confidence draining one (v Scotland in Glasgow).
Avoiding defeat against Germany and who knows what team turns up against Poland.
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
Big time. Not to mention the rest he'll be afforded by missing the Germany game. He's not getting any younger and he'll see plenty minutes for Stoke between now and the Germany game. No harm to have him fresh as a daisy for the Poland match, given the short turnaround that weekend (Thurs-Sun).
That said, the short turnaround did him no harm this weekend.
Even if them beating Scotland rules us out of qualifying automatically?
Albeit we would have to win in Poland for that to happen, but the pro with scotland been out of contention if Poland were to beat them
I am sick to death about the negativity around this team. The RTE panel are a joke and over the top, writing the team off before the game and at half time. At full time, there is talk of beating Germany. It is full of contradictions and unfortunately your average joe public listens to these guys. Even the posts here around half time are way OTT.
Yes we are not brilliant, yes we don't play beautiful but we are doing alright in this group. We have an excellent chance to qualify now. We were never going to roll Georgia over, it wasn't that long ago that we scraped by them in Croker with a dodgey pen.
The one thing I do agree with the rte panel is that the team seem to lack belief. Despite playing well in the second half, we retreated into a shell thereafter instead of pushing on. But is it any wonder this team has no belief given public perception led by that rte panel.
I thought that Georgia were not anywhere near as good as the panel seemed to think. That scuffed shot in the 2nd half aside, Given's mis-control of a backpass was probably as good a chance as they had.
We just need to have a bit more belief in our own ability to impose our game on the opposition, rather than letting them impose their game on us.
Home to a team ranked so low - why are we giving them space? Why are we sitting back? We're at home, we need a win - have a go! In the 2nd half we did that, and they suddenly looked poor, but they'd only looked good because we'd let them.
I think McClean is fairly limited in some ways, but he has an attitude to go and attack them, and that's sometimes what we lack. And against a team like Germany, I think that to avoid an onslaught, we need to give them a reason to respect our attack and attacking intent.
I've only just noticed that we've got the meanest defence in the group by 2 goals- that is while both full backs can attack quite liberally and both have had spells of their careers as wingers. Plus, Clark is an improvement beside O'Shea, I think, so that's another positive from this weekend.
Our midfield isn't bad either, in spite of the negativity that would have been flung at McCarthy or Whelan by some corners of the media were our strikers to have missed a few sitters tonight and the game ended in a 0-0 draw.
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