True. Is it a bigger ask for a left sided centre back to play left back or a right back to play left back! Irwin was exceptionally comfortable on his left side though, I wouldn't think Christie is at all from what I've seen. Even his smartly taken goal against Gibraltar was crying out for a left footed strike, not that I was complaining.
I play O'Shea there tomorrow night - left back - he play there before
I think in the history of foot.ie nothing has attracted more consistent criticism than O'Shea's performances at left back. Personally I don't think this criticism was fair mind you.
Jesus he was there often enough for Man Utd teams winning title after title and contending for the CL. I'd still put him in the middle though, older legs and wiser heads are more suited to centre back.
I'd say his RB and CB performances came close. Before Glenn Whelan came along, O'Shea was the foot.ie-appointed "worst player ever to play for Ireland".Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
I'd say he has to conserve his energy if he starts, you can't go full pelt for 90 minutes, indeed he might have been tiring for the equaliser?
Good result in hindsight considering the circumstances (injuries and suspensions) and also in light of getting an away goal, but disappointing to have conceded so soon after we scored. Makes the second leg a lot more nervy now, but 1-1 is a result I'd definitely have taken if I'd been offered it before hand.
Hard to judge the specific details of the game though really. Couldn't even see the second half so was just so difficult to follow. We seemed to nullify Bosnia and made them look fairly limited for most of the game. They seemed nervous, or just not as good as we had anticipated. Begovic is in poor form as well, or, again, perhaps just not actually the top keeper he's purported to be. His confidence seems low of late. That was a huge gap he left at the near post for Brady to beat him and he's very prone to dropping balls. Conceded a goal that way against Cyprus last month and if we, or Keogh even, had been more alert to the possibility of a fumble with Brady's first-half free-kick into the box, we might have been able to take advantage.
Great goal from Brady. Really was a case of taking what was our only significant chance. The rest of the Bosnian defence and midfield were lost in the fog - they appeared to have left gaping space at the back - and I'm not quite sure how Brady actually got the ball into (or received it in) such a position, but fair play for being clinical and taking advantage.
The goal we conceded was poor. Concentration probably drifted slightly after the goal and a few players could have done better. Randolph certainly not the primary culprit, but was he slow to react? If his anticipation had been better, maybe he could have spread himself across the goal in hope of pre-empting a highly likely shot on target? Maybe that's harsh in hindsight - there was no certainty a shot would come, nor was there any way of knowing where it would be directed - but just a consideration. Very pleased with Randolph though nevertheless. Composed, quick-footed and confident. Good kicking too. I feel much safer with him behind the defence than I would with, say, Given or Forde, neither of whom I think are as agile.
Ref did well I thought. Let play flow and wasn't blowing up for silly stuff over which other more whistle-happy refs seem to obsess.
0-0 will do tomorrow. Indeed, we beat them 1-0 last time we played them in Dublin. And let's not forget Walters is back. Ninety minutes of this should do the trick then!:
Don't get all the criticism of Josh, he's a good lad.
"From the Rocky Road to Dublin to Rocky Mountain high..."
You gonna bother answering my questions oh footie master?
Last edited by DeLorean; 16/11/2015 at 8:05 AM.
a quite harsh preview from ed leahy on rte:
http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2015/...a-herzegovina/
Unlikely - but any tickets floating around for tonights game?
one or two popped up on ticketmaster over the weekend I understand but mostly premium tickets.
I think you will probably pick up a ticket before the match if you are willing to head in early enough
my eyesight is failing me so I literally could not see anything in the second half, so no praise or criticism here.
First half I thought we did quite well, I'd have it as the best competitive away performance I've seen under O'Neill. Sure we surrendered possession easily at times but I felt there was a plan there to try and nullify Bosnia, and it worked largely.
They were disappointing, very disappointing. With hindsight, maybe that performance shouldn't have been a surprise: after all, considering where they were in the group, they needed to be relatively gung-ho against Wales et al, just to make the play-offs, and having got there, it would be stupid to undo all that work at home in the first leg. The pressure is off them now so to speak. They know they have to score, and I've felt they were going to score in both legs, so not a lot has changed. This is going to be interesting watching O'Neill. He has (in my opinion) coughed up one opportunity to qualify already by setting up the team incorrectly.
Does he play for the draw, does he try to kill the tie (are we good enough to kill the tie?)? With Walters to come straight back into the side at Murphy's expense, I;d nearly have a look at Walters and Robbie up top, particularly if Hoolahan can't start.
Finally, with Cunningham released - our only active left-back btw - I would still retain Ward at left back - despite the roasting he appeared to be getting. JOSH is not a full back, he's a centre back; Clark is not a full-back, he's a centre-back; Wilson is not a full-back, he's a c....ome back to me on that one. Brady does his best work for us midfield up. Could the Virus play left-back? Possibly. In that light, I'd stick with Ward. He was solid against Germany. If it's going pear-shaped then hook him at h/t. If Josh is fit then I'd start him with Clark.
Randolph
Coleman, Josh, Clark, Ward
McCarthy
Hendrick Arter Brady
Walters Keane
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
Keogh deserves to start ahead of clark. what does Keogh have to do to get his good form for us recognised?
Left-footed.
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
Is he injured :O ?
Brady needs to get his dead ball game back in to gear. He was terrible in Poland and not much better against the Benson and Hedges.
Starting to get nervous already.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
I thought it was a good article with some harsh truths but overall he's shading towards positivity about our chances.
Some points I perceive from it.
Under previous criteria we would be out of contention, let's not get carried away.
We are not as good defensively set up as we might think.
Also we need to shore up our whole approach to how we as a team defend our left flank, as merely changing Wilson for Ward did not plug the hole and added a different weakness to the situation.
Brady's day seen as a lb option are thankfully over.
We have the home crowd hopefully at full throttle.
He offers an attack centric formation
"Brady in behind Long and let McClean bomb forward on the left with Walters coming in from the right to support the striker and put real pressure on a suspect central defensive partnership."
I really don't know about Long's fitness, if he plays or if he doesn't play obviously affects how we are going to be set up, but if he doesn't then I'd have Walters up close and personal in that box.
Bosnia returned some tickets which will go on sale at 3pm (10 minutes time).
Overtaken by McCarthy at this stage, I'd say. Utterly useless.
I wasn't disappointed in the least.
Agree about Ward, he's our only proper left back and the same people who want Wilson in the team will be the same ones complaining we have no attacking threat down that side.
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