What a run by O'Dowda!
That would've been some goal.
World of difference since O'Kane, Gleeson, Browne and Hoolahan came on. We are affording them less space and getting closer to every ball.
I think Hoolahan's confidence rubs off on everyone around him. He is at the center of all our good passages of play.
All things considered it's an improvement on the Iceland performance.
We have actually managed to string three or four passes together which we couldn't do then.
Murphy and O'Dowda came close to scoring but for lack of placement, Christie had a decent effort and McGoldrick could have had an assist if Murphy had greater anticipation.
Keogh has done well at right back since the subs, especially since neither Browne or Gleeson have been playing in front of him.
The goal says it all, the Mexican defender backheeled it to Glesson!
I guess he thought we needed a bit of help!
one last chance?
no
Worth staying up for. Strangely enjoyable in a car crash kind of way.
Nice back heel across the penalty area, textbook defending.
Badly need John O'Shea to start against Austria after that shocking performance from our defenders!
Was entertaining, albeit not quite as good as that bizarre friendly against Uruguay a few years back (3-2 to Uruguay I think it was).Originally Posted by joe_denilson
Didn't really take anything from that game, since the formation will now go in the bin.
The centre halves were brock, but they're all far better in a back four so harsh to draw any conclusions. Ditto for Hourihane, O'Dowda, Horgan all being played out of position.
Christie looked decent on the ball and Randolph delivered a couple of decent stops along with a tremendous, and tremendously risky, Cryff turn. That's about it for me.
Ou-est le Centre George Pompidou?
Could and should have been a lot worse but it doesn't have much relevance in the greater scheme of things. Duffy is a bit of a worry though, seems to have these nightmare games in him that Keogh at least has the decency to save for club level for the most part.
It is his first proper match in ages though to be fair and of course a lot of it has to be put down to lack of protection in front of him. On reflection, maybe Keogh would be the safer bet for Austria all things considered. Tough call I think now, could do with Duffy for set pieces.
We didn't start off too badly and I liked the look of Christie in particular early on. He seemed quicker and stronger than usual. According to RTÉ, he travelled to the US early to work on his fitness, so maybe that benefited him.
The second half was dire from the outset. Our defence was exposed and all over the place. The changes were badly needed and at least brought some positivity. The difference Hoolahan makes is monumental.
At least it wasn't a dull game though. Ignoring the fact we were well-beaten, it was quite frenetic/exciting and Mexico do play some lovely football.
They were easy to watch definitely, the movement in front of our defenders when in midfield possession posed problems we had no answers for. But given it was a back three / five trial run and a midfield trio that may well never line out for us at the same time again, its maybe best not to read too much into it. When we reshaped to something approaching our usual way it did improve things. We at least traded punches with them then. That's what I'm telling myself anyhow. But they gave us a real lesson in middle third possession and movement for much of it, yes.
Richard Dunne talks about the merits (or lack thereof) of a three man defence.
http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-35780533.html
Who does Ciaran Clarke play for?
Wildly optimistic starting line up, too attacking and of course that meant an inadequate defence, however once O'Kane was one
we has a proper defensive midfield and they never scored after that (and we did). There were other changes too and of course
maybe Mexico went easy on us after they went 3 up so I would not read anything into that.
Quite an entertaining match from a spectator point of view and no doubt our players enjoyed watching the Mexicans run rings around us (lol).
We were never going to get anywhere with that starting line up, our midfield needs to be anchored down otherwise it just drifts off into the sunset and ends up on the rocks, we tried something like that v Cyprus once, looks good on paper but a disaster in reality, although not quite as big a disaster on this occasion and against better side, but at the end of the day it was a friendly so at least we were entertained.
A 3 minutes Irish highlights package would make us look good. Murphy's header, Christie's runs, Gleeson's finish, O'Dowda's run, McGoldrick's late chance and Duffy's Zidane-turn and pass to Keogh who galloped up the pitch with the ball at his feet.
A pity about the rest.
Positive is that some players looked decent individually.
Ugh. Fell asleep at about 1 on the couch and woke up when the match was over. Sounds like it was a very entertaining match.
Anybody put their hand up, in particular? I'm gleaning Egan and maybe McGoldrick from looking over the thread?
From a commercial point of view, which is what it was primarily about, it seems to have been a success with +40k in attendance.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
of far more importance is that possibly 5 or 6 of that starting team will start against austria and will have tasted action for the first time in a few weeks
Last edited by jbyrne; 02/06/2017 at 10:28 AM.
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