Worth noting the Netherlands beat England in a friendly in March. 2-1 Vardy scored.
St Arter.
Worth noting the Netherlands beat England in a friendly in March. 2-1 Vardy scored.
It was an excellent friendly to have before the Euros and fair play to the Dutch who put out a decent enough team who tested and exposed weaknesses in our game.
In most every game in the qualifiers the Dutch had a very good first quarter pinning teams back and after that the game evened out.
Even so, Ireland should have done much better offensively in the first half.
I was most pleased with O'Shea and Brady, in that O'Shea being the captain and Brady being the left back.
As TOWK said Long was probably the best player on the pitch. Was impressed by Coleman, O'Shea, and Duffy up until the goal. I'm not having a go at Arter, he did alright, but nowhere near MOTM.Originally Posted by joe_denilson
Walters is lucky he wasn't auditioning, don't think I've ever seen him as poor.
Arter was good once he grew into it after a half hour or so, I think he was as deserving a man of the match as anybody would have been. Kevin Kilbane reckons he's in pole position to start ahead of Hendrick, nevermind make the 23. I wouldn't go that far myself but he has a serious chance of making the squad now anyway.
The presenter suggested that Quinn is an O'Neill favourite too and if himself and Arter make it, surely it means Murphy and Doyle will lose out. Personally I'd fear for McGeady a bit as well, think he might be in trouble.
Did you watch the England game instead? If there was nobody in green your probably did watch the wrong game.
Amazed to see Walters get 7 in the Times. He was very poor tonight. I'm assuming that's a good faith rating based on what he did against Bosnia.
Quinn got 5 though which is more in line with reality.
Arter and McGoldrick probably in the squad which would be hard on the likes of Meyler, Murphy and Doyle, but I haven't seen anything to warrant dropping Hendrick from the starting 11.
Haven't seen McGoldrick in a competitive game and may he be too much of a luxury that we can't afford in a competitive situation? I'd certainly be wary of starting McGoldrick and Walters in the same match because you're losing a lot of pace.
On that note McClean added so much impetus when he came on. I think he's hard done by not starting more games.
Arter a more refined version of the tenacious bulldog seen against England tonight. He still looks like a yellow card waiting to happen though.
I thought Duffy did very well despite the **** up. It's still his **** up but it was the result of a momentary lapse of concentration after all intensity had gone out of it. Did enough to secure his place on the plane for me
We were wearing white!
I can't say I go along with the idea that McGoldrick is ahead of Murphy. For me Murphy is securely in the squad. I see McGoldrick being in the team tonight as O'Neill not wanting to risk Hoolahan. Nothing more than that. Murphy goes as the backup to Walters imho
The Dutch equaliser might have been a blessing in disguise. So long as we learn from the errors made. It keeps us on our toes. Over-confidence can breed carelessness and sloppiness. You could also argue the draw, as opposed to a win, lowers expectations; heightened expectations can create nerves through pressure. (In case you haven't noticed, I'm trying to put a positive spin on our failings, OK?!)
I was generally impressed though. A decent showing. Arter and McGoldrick did well. Especially Arter. I'd have both in the squad. The possible loss of Murphy and Doyle wouldn't concern me a huge deal. Duffy did well too, bar the slip-up for the Dutch goal, but he'll hopefully learn from that. I'd rather he made that mistake tonight than in a game at the finals. He's close to a starting spot, I would say. I said it after the Swiss game too, but the threat he offers for set-pieces is unparalleled. That could be the difference of a goal or two at the finals. Is the added threat he offers at set-pieces enough to push him in there?
It's very noticeable, but Brady has absolutely no right foot whatsoever (or he has no faith in it at least), which leaves him vulnerable and predictable when he's cornered with his front to our goal. He'll always try to turn back onto his left foot rather than trust his right to put it back to the keeper. On one occasion in the second half, it meant he knocked it out of play in rather resigned fashion. In the opening few minutes, he just handed it to the opposition. When we conceded against Poland in the qualifiers during the 1-1 home draw, he'd tried to turn on to his right but was caught out and they scored so perhaps that plays on his mind and he's been trying to keep it safe since. I'm not sure I have a "solution" or anything more constructive to add than that as I still think I'd stick with him in that position over Ward (Brady's the best option we have when taking the attacking threat he also offers into account) but just thought I'd mention it to get it off my mind. Don't want to seem like I'm picking on him either as I really like him as a player - great attitude and skilful - but he just seems unsure when cornered.
The presenter on Setanta made a comment before the game that suggested rather presumptuously that we'd be in the second round if we beat Sweden. He said it so casually, it was almost as if he was already taking it for granted that we would be beating Sweden. I'm not saying that attitude is something that will be prevalent amongst the squad, but it'd be a silly attitude for anyone following or involved with the team to have.
We've only ever won three games (out of nineteen attempts) at major finals over the course of play (England, Italy and Saudi Arabia) so we absolutely shouldn't be getting ahead of ourselves and assuming victory against the Swedes is a cert. Winning games at tournaments is a very precious rarity for us. A win against Sweden would be a massive achievement; an historical event in national sporting terms. And even if it does happen, it won't secure us a place in the second round either anyway.
We kind of built up the Croatia game similarly in 2012 - "we'll beat Croatia and then grab a draw or two in the next two games and that'll do us" - and, when we lost, it was such a blow to our morale and hopes that it seemed we never really recovered. There was a sense that everything was over before it had even begun. I wouldn't want that to happen again if we weren't to beat Sweden.
Last edited by DannyInvincible; 27/05/2016 at 11:05 PM.
Wonder what game I was watching then.
The players were playing for the shorts last nightWonder what game I was watching then.
It's ridiculous that we don't play in the green shirt at home.
Last edited by geysir; 28/05/2016 at 12:31 AM.
Arter, Quinn, McGoldrick and Gibson are not first 11 material, whichever of them is selected to the squad is not of any great relevance.
Our first half performance was desperately poor re ball retention, we can survive a friendly playing like that but not at the Euros.
I'd have a hope that O'Neill just wanted to see various individuals in a competitive game, rather than offer a coherent opposition to the Dutch.
I'd just play Wes until he drops, without him we are just vanilla.
Ball retention is not the be all and end all, Leicester prove that.
They had one shot on target, this header! ( we had 6)
That was way to easy free header unchallenged form 6 yards out.
The more I look at it I think Randolph could have been braver. He seemed to spot that Duffy was in trouble early enough to cover for him, but instead of coming like a wrecking ball he seemed to freeze.
Geysir - I think it's too early to decide if Arter is first XI material or not, he did enough last night to indicate he just might be. And in terms of ball retention, he kind of had the monopoly on that, would you not think? Especially that spell of possession near the first half which he orchestrated, although I'd accept that wasn't representative of the ninety minutes. I'd agree he doesn't deserve to start against Sweden, if that's what you mean, but in general terms I think he could very easily be a starter in time.
Last edited by DeLorean; 28/05/2016 at 8:30 AM.
I thought Arter without being particularly accretive did well enough, doing what a midfielder should do, getting on the ball and using it. I was less impressed by McGoldrick. A good defensive midfielder will nullify him easily enough, whereas Wes was a different class altogether. I thought we defended well. Whatever about Duffy's lapse, let's acknowledge that it was a sumptuous cross. In hindsight Randolph should have stayed back but it sucked him out of position into no man's land. I think Randolph was trying to bail out Duffy but realised too late that he had no chance. Good goal though, let's face it.
I don't think any team will look forward to playing Long.
For what it's worth, I thought Whelan looked excellent. If that was a new player we'd be saying his cool he was and how accurate he was.
Yeah somebody questioned whether we can afford a luxury like McGoldrick, I think the answer is a straightforward no. Not to be harping on about McGeady, but I think that McGoldrick offers considerably less than him.
Whelan was good alright, a 7/10 along with some others, not stand out good but very controlled and effective. Overall I think this had been his best campaign/spell for us, but there are still some frighteningly poor games mixed in with the better ones.
No man's land is a dangerous place for a goalkeeper, I fear the evidence is starting to stack up. And he kicked another ball straight to the striker also, who thankfully miscontrolled
Netherlands had the ball in the first half, we defended well but and we were struggling to do anything with the ball, mostly half hoofs for a forward to run onto, our back 4 and midfield were easily pressed to lump it forward or cough up the ball. We defended well but crucially struggled to find patterns to move the ball through and around midfield.
I think Arter will be a good player for us, probably in the next campaign.
The most important players in this squad are the first 11 and 3 or 4 others but often we spend too much time figuring out the nr 15 to nr 23 squad positions.
Yeah, agreed. I think quite a few new players are on the verge of WC18 squad places. Numbers 15-23 could be quite different in 3 months' time.
That said, I think Arter has a real chance of making the Euros, but Hendrick is still ahead of him as a starter. (Resist, tricky, resist...)
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