Slovakia v Republic of Ireland - 8th October 2020 - Euro 2020 Playoff Semi Final

**paul_oshea** · 09/10/2020, 10:51 AM

I am pretty sure by June the fans will be back in, but i'm still sore this morning, and the irish in me doesnt want the neighbour to do well(im not on about Northern Ireland) so i hope I'm wrong and the games are played behind closed doors.

**Stuttgart88** · 09/10/2020, 11:03 AM

Originally Posted by Real ale Madrid

I'd fancy Kenny more in the long term than Barraclough. Maybe that's just me.

Good performance last night. In the context of what has gone before anyway. We had 3 chances form 6 yards or less and if you don't take them then you can't crib about the result. We still give the ball away too much and we need to improve a notch or two defensively but we are finally on the right road imo.

For what it's worth I saw nothing silly and certainly no silliness typical of foot.ie here. I'm sure that'll be of great comfort to you

**ArdeeBhoy** · 09/10/2020, 11:24 AM

Annoyed by an obvious lack of Irish preparation for a penalty shoot-out...

Otherwise, same old, same old.

**paul_oshea** · 09/10/2020, 11:28 AM

Ya the lads did only mention penalty practice this week, whereas our neighbours had said theyd been practicing penalties in September. It felt like with all the changes that it wasn't made with penalties in mind.

I wonder how the Slovakian media rated the game and performances?

**John83** · 09/10/2020, 11:36 AM

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

I am such a big fan of Doherty but if Christie had played like him last night he'd be hammered. Some of our errors and misplaced passes were maddening, some of our best play was great. If any or all of those 3 gilt-edged chances had gone in they'd have counted as among the best-worked golas we've scored in a long time.

I thought Doherty was absolutely awful last night. When he wasn't giving the ball away, he was getting caught out of position and conceding fouls. If he'd been booked early on - and the ref last night was fussy - he'd have been a massive liability for the rest of the match.

If any or all of those 3 gilt-edged chances had gone in they'd have counted as among the best-worked golas we've scored in a long time.

Yeah, there were positives in that regard. I'll be a lot happier when I finally see us start scoring again though.

**paul_oshea** · 09/10/2020, 11:45 AM

Another thing i was thinking last night when i should have been sleeping

The highline we play and the movement leaves us open to counter attacking football, as it did last night, and that general type of play especially from set pieces leaves us susceptible, as mentioned earlier Slovakia were fairly toothless up top, so never punished us. A better team would have, in the 4 on 3, 3 on 2s that we ended up having. Its all well and good saying that's par for the course if you want to play that way, but until we can score then its not an effective way of playing, as well end up conceding and then being frustrated up top. I think the kenny philosophy and style lives on finding a proper finisher, be that Idah or Parrott or someone we haven't thought of yet, and I think he'll live or die by the sword of that.

**seanfhear** · 09/10/2020, 12:28 PM

Its a Results Business and that was a Bad Result considering the Opportunity that Knocked !

**Stuttgart88** · 09/10/2020, 1:01 PM

Matt Doherty said he has been practising penalties for two weeks. That would have been in September.

**geysir** · 09/10/2020, 2:02 PM

Obviously that was a disappointing result, had we scored it would have put a different perspective on the performance, the clearest of the chances was Hourihane's, one that a striker or McClean would have relished and probably dispatched.
First prize flight of fancy on how it all could have been different, goes to the idea that had we used a different taller goalie in the shoot-out, he would've dived exactly like Randolph did and got his fingers to the ball.

**paul_oshea** · 09/10/2020, 2:03 PM

He was practicing in his back yard by the looks of things

**paul_oshea** · 09/10/2020, 2:05 PM

Originally Posted by geysir

Obviously that was a disappointing result, had we scored it would have put a different perspective on the performance, the clearest of the chances was Hourihane's, one that a striker or McClean would have relished and probably dispatched.
First prize flight of fancy on how it all could have been different, goes to the idea that had we used a different taller goalie in the shoot-out, he would dived exactly like Randolph did and got his fingers to the ball.

Would it though, I know kenny wants us to hold possession but i have a feeling we would have conceded. I dont buy into it had one of those gone in, yes hourihanes at the end when there was so little time but not the others. Had one of slovakias earlier chances gone in we could have committed more men forward and got picked off. Swings and roundabouts, speculation your honour.

**geysir** · 09/10/2020, 2:23 PM

But you have no issue buying into the bizzarre, the theory of the goalie with the longer arms saving a peenalty?

**paul_oshea** · 09/10/2020, 2:49 PM

I've gone through the penos, and screengrabbed the photos(for a discussion on another forum), their penalties were certainly not as good as I first thought they were. I feel their keeper was much more suited to save their penalties and our own. He covers much more ground, even randolph at full stretch for the second hes only getting haflway across from centre to right post, and yes hes at full stretch.

**seanfhear** · 09/10/2020, 2:49 PM

Funnily enough sometimes Goalkeepers with bigger bodies and longer arms sometime make saves that goalkeepers with smaller bodies and shorter arms don’t !

How many Five Feet Goalkeepers do you see ? ?

Some Goalkeepers are much better at saving penalties. The Nottingham Forest goalkeeper ( can’t think of his name ) saved the One Penalty that Matt Le Tissier did not score ( 48 from 49 scored by Le Tissier, Incredible really ). He was known to be be very good at saving penalties.

The Wimbledon Goalkeeper that saved the John Aldridge ( for Liverpool ) Penalty in the FA Cup Final was also known as very good at saving penalties. For what its worth England should have subbed him for Peter Shilton in that semifinal shootout with Germany. Shilton while past his best by then was not a particularly good goalkeeper at saving penalties even at his best. Our own Shay Given was no great shakes as a penalty saver.

I suppose the main Goalkeeper might not take too kindly to being subbed off and ya could lose another wise very good goalkeeper for the chancy experiment. it certainly would not be worth it for all that Travers has shown yet.

Van Gaul did it in a championship with Holland and it worked but in a following game he did not substitute the goalkeeper and if I recall correctly lost that time.

Maybe FIFA should allow the Sub Goalkeepers to be used for shoot outs if desired ~ ~ It would be a very interesting talking point if nothing else !

**Razors left peg** · 09/10/2020, 3:03 PM

Everyone on here is disappointed so we are all looking for someone to blame for yesterday. If we weren't gutted then you're not a fan and wouldn't be on here in the 1st place. That being said getting into the penalties analysis is a bit pointless. Yes I think Randolph was bit slow to get down to a couple but there's no way Travers was ever gonna be subbed in for him.
We lost that game because we didn't take great chances, penalties can go either way on the night

**NeverFeltBetter** · 09/10/2020, 3:07 PM

I wouldn't dismiss the shoot out as just a case of "can go either way". There's a skill to them, taking and saving, and Ireland were weaker on both points, disappointingly so. Not that I think Randolph should have been subbed before hand, definitely.

**John83** · 09/10/2020, 3:22 PM

Both our missed penos were on our takers, not their keeper.

**Bielsa´s irish** · 09/10/2020, 3:28 PM

well id watched the whole game yesterday for 2 hours on espn Argentina. I am gonna start a thread about since no one else did it.

It was an even match, Eire was the better side had 8 or 10 clear chances to score. They had 2 very clear. Saved by randy and the one off the line in a mix up, i think it was egan or duffy again who allowed the ball in or randy didnt go in a shout.

We didnt take our chances, we played better grass footie. Ireland was better when McCarthy was on the pitch, i thought his replacement was really really bad, even though he had two big chances and screwed them .

Randolph 8 excellent once again can play 5 more years with his level.

Doherty 6 looked frustrated and angry. Had problem with his man in 1st half, Was tidy.

Egan 7 was ok, good on the ball.

Duffy 7 was ok, not as good as egan on the ball but a strong defender, this guy is still in the learning curve can be better

stevens 8 for me very good game . Awesome guy , just couldnt go forward a bit more but he made a hoolahan assist yesterday in a one on one

Hendrick, McCarthy and Hourihane all 7, they arer still learning the system, they are a unit,

Robinson started strongly but faded after an hour of game 5

McGoldrick dont see the great views, he plays as a false 9, we did his job, not spectacular 6

McClean was ok, but looked rusty , and with a few pounds extra, not as fast, 5

browne 4 he did a back pass that started a counter missed passes, misses two golden chances and a penalty kicked it like my aunt Grace.

odowda did a few runs, got hamsik booked, better than Robinson in that position

Long wasnt given good enough time

Kenny 5 made mistakes with the subsitutions, S Long the 1st change... up front we were light with a few runs he created more havoc than McGoldrick in 110 minutes,
And naive Kenny, the Connolly Idah situation just two strikers strange..... couldnt happen to an experienced manager....you just cover that up. Imagine that for Italy or Germany ...they cover that up in a decisive match. All on the bench

Dont see that in other national teams, we had Dybala who had covid 3 times and was on the bench

**geysir** · 09/10/2020, 3:34 PM

I do remember some game in the past, it happened that the manager put on a late sub, a penalty scoring sub and then the opposition grabbed a late winner.

And was there not a time when no matter what Dutch goalie was in goals they couldn't even save the so called 'perfect height' struck penalty, not even when their special penalty saving goalie sub was brought on in the 119th minute.

**Stuttgart88** · 09/10/2020, 3:53 PM

I agree (@John83). I think their keeper committed fully and early to the Browne pen because Browne's run up basically told him that he was going to hit it firmly, waist high. Randolph didn't have the benefit of any such telegraphed intentions. Did anyone see Marshall's save? Almost identical. I froze the TV picture at the point of impact of all of their pens. Randolph had put his weight to one side clearly for each but hadn't really started his dive. For both Browne's miss and Israel's miss, the keeper had read the intention and was already well across at the point of impact.

I'm not sure of this but across all 3 games last night (25+ pens?) all of the measured, low, calm penalties went in. Only the ones 2-4 feet off the ground were saved. Some were missed outright. It happens.