Well put.Originally Posted by paul_oshea
Ward at LB allows Brady to be played where he is much more effective.
Brady starting in midfield over LB is a no brainer imo as long as there is a full back available - Ward or Wilson.
Hoolahan did look out of sorts when he came on.
It's an old adage by this stage going back to the away game against Sweden that McCarthy performs better without Whelan and we play better attacking football with McCarthy and A.N.other. We improved once Whelan was subbed by McGeady and Hendrick moved in closer.
It was always going to be a hectic, frantic, tough, play off game and we had to be up for that part of it but we didn't add much on top of that apart from McGeady's sublime cross into the box. Poland have improved immeasurably since their 2014 WC qual campaign and have played a far better class of football than we could manage throughout this qual campaign, they have Lewandowski but they also have Krychowiak who bossed the midfield last night.
We are worth out play off spot though.
Cunningham is another option but he is playing for a team at the bottom of the Championship but at least he's playing regularly.
In fairness to Ward he played LB in the two games against Germany and played very well in both games. I can't remember his performance in Glasgow...
Westwood
Coleman - Clarke - O'Shea - Wilson
McCarthy
Walters - Hendrick - Brady
Hoolahan
Long
That'd be the team I'd pick in a perfect world, Randolph could have saved that 2nd goal last night I think, and a top class keeper certainly would, but otherwise he looks pretty solid and confident. You'd worry he'll play very little football in between now and the playoffs thou, so I'd go for Westwood, but MON doesn't seem all that keen.
Edit: Was just thinking re other formations, could we ever make a 3-5-2 work? Brady and Coleman as wingbacks and McCarthy Shielding. Wes and Walters can drift around a bit, with Brady and Coleman overlapping.
Westwood
Clarke - O' Shea - Wilson
Coleman - McCarthy - Brady
Hendrick - Hoolahan
Walters - Long
I'd like to see it at some stage.
Last edited by Acornvilla; 12/10/2015 at 2:35 PM.
Interesting marking (ie none!!) for for the best striker in the world
Unbelievable!!
Just shocking!!
I just find that unbelievable.
Walters should have gone across there, stood on him and helped out. He was originally Keogh's man but I can see why he had to leave him.
Switch off for one second against a world class striker and you will get punished.
The other thing that frustrated me last night was that we are chasing a goal, we bring Robbie on but then hit long balls up to him. It's not his game, either give him the ball the way he likes it or throw on McGoldrick or Murphy. How can you expect Robbie to win headers and flick ons when he's a foot smaller than the defenders?
In fairness, within minutes of Robbie's introduction, they brought on McGeady and moved Walters in beside him in a 4-4-2.
Robbie feeding off a knock down from a big lad worked pretty well for us once!
Not defending the long ball approach, but at least it was quickly recognised that a straight swap of Keane for Long in a 4-1-4-1 would have been ridiculous under any circumstances.
Yes I am not at all sure what the idea was there, it was hard to see how we were every going to get the ball to him.
Yes but that was Niall Quinn, he is 6'4 (1/4 inch shorter than Lewandowsk) Walters is only 6'0, you could see for Lewandowsk's goal the height difference there.
Probably would have been better to have started Murphy same as v Germany and brought on a fresh Long to use his pace
against tired legs, worked pretty well that way.
Last edited by tricky_colour; 12/10/2015 at 7:52 PM.
Listening to various media outlets in the last 24 hours, one thing caught my attention. The midfield axis of Hendrick, McCarthy, Houlihan and Brady were all very good against Germany. All very talented players and I wonder should we build our team around that axis.
Been a defender of Whelan in the past but I think the reality may be that he and McCarthy play too similar a role. Is it a coincidence that mccarthy's best game for Ireland came in a game where he was the defensive midfielder. Maybe that's too simple an analysis.
Had cause to compare the 2009 playoff team versus what we have now. Arguably the team now is marginally stronger, though we don't have a player like duffer now. Net point is though that this team should expect to be in the second tier in Europe.
I accept that Walters is not the ideal target man (although he did win a lot of aerial ball in both Germany games).
I was simply arguing against the contention that we hit long balls to Keane. We didn't.
Yea it is rather one dimensional, ie defensive, there is little attacking threat through the middle, it is mainly out to the wing for a run down the line and it all becomes
rather predictable, we need more variety to keep the opposition guessing. ie out to the wing and then back to the centre and then across the other side
maybe, make the opposition do a bit of chasing and try and create gaps for the full back to run into.
Also I could often seen two straight lines v Germany, v Poland we were all over the place. I felt quite comfortable when Germany had the ball for some reason,
they seemed to find it difficult to create good chances. Poland seemed to drag us all over place with holes appearing everywhere.
Mind you we didn't have to score v Germany.
Have only been able to bring myself to post now after that disappointment.
Brady's delivery as shocking. McClean should only be an impact sub against a tiring defence. Long was a loss when he came off.
O'Shea and Hendrick looked nervy. Keogh did well.
Overall it seemed the occasion got to them and we really missed Wes. Have to accept O'Neill's version of events that Wes wasn't able for 90 minutes. We really need everyone firing on all cylinders for the play-offs
Folding my way into the big money!!!
I thought he looked jaded, both mentally and physically, and just couldn't get into it. Fair enough, he was under pressure, but there were two occasions in the second half when he seemed to just lose his balance and fall over as the ball was passed to him.
Edit: Not that I wish to single him out for blame or give the impression I'm finger-pointing, but the tiredness was noticeable. It should be noted he's been brilliant throughout the whole campaign and was pivotal in creating some exceptionally important goals.
Last edited by DannyInvincible; 13/10/2015 at 2:46 PM.
Back from the front:
Warsaw:
The old town was a disappointment from a "craic" point of view and the "Irish pubs" somewhere you'd do well to avoid picking up a contagious disease in. Saw few enough Irish fans around there so they must have found another place of entertainment. The Uprising Museum was great, even if we had to queue for an hour to get in. Puts the 1916 Rising in the halfpenny place but perhaps we should have something similar.
Fans:
Poorest showing at a game for a long time. There was one large swathe who singularly failed to get off their collective backsides for the whole game. Spectators not supporters. One contingent even started signing "We all dream of a team of Gary Breens" as Ireland were pressing for the equaliser. Hardly the greatest rallying cry even known.
The Game
1987 still remains the last competitive victory away from home against a higher ranked side so I didn't travel with any huge ambition despite the win over Germany - what was the likelihood of two such victories in a row? What I saw (and it was difficult high in the Gods in a great stadium) was not unexpected although I didn't expect Robbie Brady to give the ball away with such regularity and thus render impotent one of our most potent weapons. People say we were tired but how did we finish the stronger? We were offered the chance (Keogh) of the miraculous result. The Gods (and I know, I was up there with them) who had looked benignly on us on Thursday, were otherwise engaged and saw fit to deny us the draw which on the whole would not have been a highway robbery based upon the second half. Hard to comment on the other players as I did not bring my binoculars with me. A fine line between defeat and a 2-2. First time Poland has qualified for the Euros under their own steam and the local fans were very happy (and friendly it must be said before and after).
The Play Offs
If we get Ukraine, we're doomed (I know it in my soul). The rest I'd say we have a reasonable chance but no more than that.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
Back last night myself, old town was empty, we nipped in there and within 20 mins had been nabbed by the indo, a couple of Polski tv stations and helped break a Polish line dancing world record ffs. The YBIG lads had the Tortilla factory booked out, the west Belfast lads were in City 24 closer to the ground and nowhere was showing the Rugby so most of our lot were spread about all over the place, we ended up just doing a pub crawl to the ground, good craic with pockets of our lot in different spots going on but everyone wasn't congregated together in the one area. Post game we ended up in a boozer that was literally built into the supports of the bridge you go over right before the stadium, about 30 Irish and a fair Polski crowd in there, knocked into town then but not much doing with everyone so spread out.
Regarding those who got Gary Breen going, I'd rather hear that and our other older songs get back in circulation instead of the 2 poxy Celtic songs on repeat and an odd chorus of Fields of Athenry that comprises our desperately poor songbook these days.
Match wise for me we were dead on our feet after Thursday which is fair enough given the effort that was put in. Whelan and McClean were extremely poor for the fresh men. O'Shea was bloody stupid for getting himself a second yellow that he knew would put him out of the first leg. As was mentioned Brady had an off night with his delivery so we got no joy from arguably the one area we could have got a smash and grab from. Lewandowski is unplayable on current form, despite his theatrics at times. Thought the ref was a strange fella, very stop start, cards for nothing really and then the pen sure. He has previous for being a gob****e though.
This time a few years ago all of us would have snapped the hand off everyone for the playoffs, we're still in with a shout and bar one or two we can at least put it up to we have the beating of the rest of the potential play off opponents. If we get through fantastic but a good campaign given the cards we were dealt and how it went, a good base to push on from for the WC group either way which is a hell of a lot more open.
i don't think Coleman helped him but I largely agree. I've been called up here for being critical of Randolph in the past. It's not even that I'm critical. I'll forgive any keeper an error, it's just that I frequently feel a keeper of his ability could have done better for goals I've seen him concede. I felt that way about both goals on Sunday. That said, he made a very good save and looks like a confident keeper. I loved the swagger he showed when he came on against Germany.
Speaking of which, did anyone notice him coming out early before the second half to do a warm up, and then Manuel Neuer went out of his way to go over to him, put his arm around him and - presumably! - wished him luck. Class. I love Neuer, genius of a player. That pass last week...
I think it's becoming clear that Whelan cramps McCarthy's style somehow and there's room for only one. I thought McClean was shocking on Sunday.
Last edited by Stuttgart88; 14/10/2015 at 7:36 PM.
Very harsh on Randolph. Nobody would have stopped the 2nd goal. 1st goal wasn't really his fault either. Went through bodies and was very well struck.
You've got no fans.
I also thought he was fairly unsighted for the second. **** poor marking for both goals to be honest. Slow getting out to the first goal scorer and leaving the highly unlikeable but extremely excellent Lewandowski with so much room is unforgivable.
I like high energy football. A little bit rock and roll. Many finishes instead of waiting for the perfect one.
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks