France V Republic of Ireland - Sunday, 26 June 2016 - Euro 2016 Round of 16

[SkStu]

That corner we never go - criminal.

Oh yeah man. That was just terrible. Fair enough if the ref missed it (how though - it was a massive deflection) but what about that idiot behind the net? That was a huge turning point given they scored during the next passage of play. He made a huge - albeit easy - call giving us the penalty but he gave us little else. He missed three or four calls that should have gone our way that led to deciding moments. Standard of refereeing has been generally very poor all tournament actually.

[Stuttgart88]

Not a time for post-mortems, but some feelings bubble up to the surface…

Proud. Of each and every man in the squad. I was a s**t footballer, but I lived out my childhood dreams alongside players like these.

Disappointed. It feels weird to be disappointed over what might have been instead of what was. Especially against a team with the talent France has.

Thrilled. Some of our play was a joy. We can play long if we need to, but we’ve learned we don’t always need to. If you were a neutral, today was a good game of football. How often do you get to say that about us?

Hopeful. Randolph, Brady, Hendrick, McCarthy, Coleman, Westwood, Clarke, Duffy. OK, so the last two had poor moments, but there are three more campaigns at least in each of those players – and they’ll learn from this big game experience.

Relief. Knowing we can go head to toe with the big boys. Not giving a toss about reputations. Playing our way because other teams don’t like it. Welcome back that old ‘eff-you, but we can play too’ attitude – we’ve missed you. The players missed you.

Roll on Russia. Our campaign has started.

this is pretty much how I feel too. I'm chuffed too that the whole country is proud. Seamus Coleman said there's a great bond between the team and fans. He's right and it really helps that the core of the team speak with Irish accents. I don't want an outraged Danny coming straight back but I think it's something that resonated among rugby supporters. The bond was broken during the Kerr / Trap years but it's back now. Nobody gives a hoot that Coleman and Brady earn bucket loads of money.

We have some good guys coming through and I think management and players learnt a lot.

Just on other stuff:

I was really pleased with Randolph. His positioning and handling was good in the first half. He was beaten by two good finishes and the header was superb. Peoples worst predictions didn't come through.

As for predicting Duffy's culpability, he's a Championship defender on his 3rd or 4th cap up against Champions League strikers. Some context needed.

I predicted we wouldn't win Euro 2016.

[NeverFeltBetter]

The difference between how the country viewed the team after their exit in 2012 to now is absolutely gigantic, and thank God for that. Obviously the bandwagon will tail off and the LOI won't see much benefit, but it's been nice to see Ireland get behind their team and believe again.

[Stuttgart88]

I loved the Patrice Evra interview on ITV. Irish great team, great players, great fans. Full of respect. Then asked about playing England and he said who says it'll be England.

Something like that anyway!

[Jovial Rambler]

Crapattoni almost set Irish football back 30years. The two things us fans have, are hope and belief. Crap took away the belief, not just from the fans but from the players also. He almost destroyed our hope. But, we're Irish. Our hope can never be destroyed, even by such an imposter. When u see our team beat Germany and Bosnia and Italy, and give a PROUD passionate performance against the tournament favourites on their own patch, it makes u feel that this manager is doing things right, he is inspiring the players, he is asking them to take the game to the opponent, he is giving the correct tactical advice, he is trusting in youth!
It looks good for the future, it gives us HOPE & BELIEF! Gone is the straight jacket, gone is the impotence, gone is the inferiority complex! You may be a troll, and I may have bitten. But there isn't one genuine poster on here who can argue that we have not progressed immensely, that we have not performed unrecognisably from Crap.
We have good players, we have a manager who will give our good young players a chance, who will allow them to play and compete. And as seen today and in the tournament, and in the qualifying campaign, we can play, we can compete, WE CAN WIN!!!!!
2012 was a disaster because of one man.....2016 has made me proud again because of every man...

[shakermaker1982]

Echo the sentiments from all above. Immensely proud of the team today. I thought we were magnificent in the first half. We've got a formation that suits us and we also play football.

I thought the ref was very hard on us today. Not giving us a corner when Ward hit that shot....criminal.

Defensive mistakes cost us in the end but the players were shattered. I'm amazed they started the game the way they did.

Did Keogh get pushed by that overrated Arsenal striker for the 2nd?

Agree with PO'S about Ward tucking in too much. He has come on leaps and bounds in the last 24 months at LB but he needs to work on that.

[Olé Olé]

Very hard to sum up how I feel about the match until I digest it properly. But I can definitely say I'm really proud to say I support that team.

But, so many positives coming from the tournament that were on show today. If we can get a settled back four and find a young forward then we'll have a great chance in the qualifiers. It's so brilliant to watch Robbie Brady drive forward with purpose and aggression in the middle of the park. Hendrick was on the back foot today somewhat but I thought he still did well and offers so much going forward in the future. That pair are hugely positive for us. Alan Browne, Callum O'Dowda and Jack Byrne will hopefully press for inclusion in the squad immediately and maybe Darragh Lenihan, Conor Hourihane, Josh Cullen and Brandon Miele can push on with them.

At the back, John Egan, Greg Cunningham and Tommie Hoban seem to have the best chance of making an impression. Duffy will learn from his mistake coming across to Giroud that time. That might have gone unpunished at Championship level but Giroud's nod was beautiful and Griezmann saw the space coming a mile away. Two CL level players will punish that. Can't criticize him too much.

Randolph was immense today. He made some great saves and made some more look easy. I really hope he's not warming the bench for West Ham this season. Not from an international perspective, because he's done well for us as their number 2, but from his own perspective.

[shakermaker1982]

Michael Cox of Zonal Marking tweeting after the game.

Ireland were poor at this tournament. Technically and physically inadequate, very fortunate to face half-arsed Italy in final group game.

What did he tweet after 2012??

[Comic Book Guy]

Proud of the teams efforts today but gutted to lose as I felt there was at least another goal in the game for us against a porous French defence, that said they upped the tempo big time in the 2nd half but if they win the tournament with that defence I'll be very surprised.
Pleased to see that the likes of Jeff Hendrick has come of age. Shocking call to give a goal kick for Ward's effort second half, wtf are those fools doing behind the goal?
Much more optimistic going into the WC qualifiers.

[Stuttgart88]

Is Brandon Miele the pick of the bunch at home?

[tetsujin1979]

Michael Cox of Zonal Marking tweeting after the game.

Ireland were poor at this tournament. Technically and physically inadequate, very fortunate to face half-arsed Italy in final group game.

What did he tweet after 2012??

He's getting slaughtered for those comments

[Stuttgart88]

I was expecting Tets to come on and say his bus to the pub was an hour late.

[tetsujin1979]

I was expecting Tets to come on and say his bus to the pub was an hour late.

Local pub is a two minute walk away. With my recent luck, I'm surprised I didn't fracture an ankle on the way.

[osarusan]

Disappointed to lose any game, but not overly disappointed with the tournament in general - we got out of our group and gave the hosts a battle and a scare. With our limited resources, it's nothing to be ashamed of.

We had a poor performance against Belgium, which would otherwise been the abiding memory of the tournament, but we followed it up with a performance against Italy that was full of pride, heart, and no little ability, and then had nothing to be ashamed of against France, who eventually made their quality count.

We could look at individual errors and performances, but I don't think it's always necessary when you go out to a team that is just better than you.

[ger121]

Michael Cox of Zonal Marking tweeting after the game.

Ireland were poor at this tournament. Technically and physically inadequate, very fortunate to face half-arsed Italy in final group game.

What did he tweet after 2012??

Saw that on Twitter. Just as well Football isn't played on spreadsheets, we'd never even get on the plane to France.

[pineapple stu]

I dunno. I think he has a point.

We were lucky to face Italy when we did. To be honest, I was surprised how poor Italy were - had expected the reserves to be well up for the match, but they weren't really.

When Belgium and France upped their game, we really had no answers.

I think the point about the excision of the Trap era is entirely valid. There was more spirit and belief in the Italy and France games than I've seen in years. That's hugely positive from our point of view. But it won't factor into yer man's view.

But it's been a poor tournament overall, and I don't think we've particularly lit it up. It can be argued that, objectively, we've got room for improvement.

[NeverFeltBetter]

No doubt there's room for improvement, especially in longevity during a match, central defence and getting more striking options. But single tweet a poor medium for critique though, and not surprising to see hackles raised by "poor" and "inadequate" comments. Russia were poor. Ukraine were poor. Ireland did fine.

[the doc]

Crapattoni almost set Irish football back 30years. The two things us fans have, are hope and belief. Crap took away the belief, not just from the fans but from the players also. He almost destroyed our hope. But, we're Irish. Our hope can never be destroyed, even by such an imposter. When u see our team beat Germany and Bosnia and Italy, and give a PROUD passionate performance against the tournament favourites on their own patch, it makes u feel that this manager is doing things right, he is inspiring the players, he is asking them to take the game to the opponent, he is giving the correct tactical advice, he is trusting in youth!
It looks good for the future, it gives us HOPE & BELIEF! Gone is the straight jacket, gone is the impotence, gone is the inferiority complex! You may be a troll, and I may have bitten. But there isn't one genuine poster on here who can argue that we have not progressed immensely, that we have not performed unrecognisably from Crap.
We have good players, we have a manager who will give our good young players a chance, who will allow them to play and compete. And as seen today and in the tournament, and in the qualifying campaign, we can play, we can compete, WE CAN WIN!!!!!
2012 was a disaster because of one man.....2016 has made me proud again because of every man...

Mr Trapattoni deserves more respect than that.

He took over an Irish squad that was in disarray and turned them into an organised and efficient team.

We were just a hand away from the WC, we battered them in Paris with Robbie and Damo going close.
Sadly we were also playing against Platinni, Blatter and Steve Wonder as Ref.

We then qualified for the Euros, how many games did we go prior to that without defeat?

We then ended up losing to both the finalists and a good Croatia side.

We were also carrying injuries to Shay, Josh and Richie to name but a few.

Gio and Marcos preparations and Anslysis were top class.

The 2016 team and squad are inferior to the 2012 team.

But because they got a win against an Italian reserve side, you all think we did well.

The 2016, squad can't play 90 mins and they tire after an hour.

They are also poor defensively Clark, Keogh and Duffa are all over the place, and are poor footballers.

As a team we are poor defensively and in attack.

We are also tactically inferior as MoN isn't in the same class as Gio in that department

Let's not forget we wouldn't of qualified had the tournament not been increased to allow more sides in it.

Fact!

[pineapple stu]

I think he acknowledged Ireland did as well as the group of players would have suggested.

Agree you can't condense a whole tournament analysis into 140 characters, so no point getting het up about the tweet. I think that site does decent-length analyses which might flesh out the views and be more worth reading.

But it was a big improvement on recent years. And the challenge now is to keep improving.

[elroy]

Can't help but think this was an opportunity missed. We were so good in the first half and I've never heard the rte panel so positive. A mixture of French changes, tiredness and errors did for us.

I would've loved us to get to 0-1 at 65/70 mins. Bring on likes of Wes and mcgeady to assist us counteract. Even if we managed to settle at 1-1.

Plenty to digest from the tournament. So proud of the players, no doubt the team have grown with huge positives from likes of Hendrick and Brady. Changing of the guard now and we will lose some incredible servants but there is a reasonably good base to build on.

I am also delighted to see the Irish team again capture the nation like nothing else can. It's great for the kids who would not remember the likes of 88/90/94/02. This tournament gave them moments of inspiration.