does anybody know how irealnd always manage to lose a lead in crucial games?
GRAHAM KAVANAGH. He shouldn't be playin for Ireland. He's old and slow. What is Brian Kerr playin at puttin him starting. Congrats to Ian Harte on scoring on his return to playin for Ireland after been out for such a while. Why was Andy O Brien sent off? It should have been the Israeli keeper who was sent off.Disgrace.
We dint have a goal poacher Stephen Elliot should have come in for Robbie how many chances did we have in the six yard box.Come on Brian take a chance for once in your life.
Jorge, for the first time we are in total agreement. I shuddered when I saw Kavanagh coming on for Keane. I knew then it was going to be a tough night, and that's no disrespect to Kav, who I thought actually played quite well. It's down to Kerr. He just doesn't seem to have the bottle to ratchet things up when he has the chance. He missed a golden opportunity by leaving Elliot on the bench. He'd have lapped up the chances supplied by Morrison and later on by Doherty. Instead, we're left to rue what might have been.
PP
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I think we are too afraid of losing to go on and win a game, we were
2:0 up and we take of Robbie Keane who was playing well (took both his
chances), was he injured? OK they were getting into the game more
but no doubt because we were content to defend a 2:0 lead.
I can't believe it.
Did Duff miss a header from about 2 inchs out?
The ref did us no favours either.
I think Kavanagh played well, i feel our play was one dimensional though.We put too much emphasis on playing down the wings, our tactics have been sussed out.When Keane was subbed, Kavanagh should never have been put on - if anything he should have started.Stephen Elliot would have been in his element playing what with all the chances we had.
Goalkeeper(Awate?)is a disgrace.
I'll give you a starter for 10 - David O'Leary. He might be a gob****e but he's used to managing the coterie of misfits and prima-donnas that pass for modern-day footballers. And at least his football teams understand the nature of attacking play.
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Toshack wouldnt have been that bad either.
And before you mention Wales not winning, they've been playing great.
We definately needed a poacher in the final minutes ... several times the ball bounced right across the box and noone was there to attack it.
With Kerr's decision to bring on Kav for Keane though ... at the time it was the right thing to do. We were 2-0 up at home against Israel. If he had brought on a more attacking player we'd all now be saying how he should have consolidated what we had instead! Personally, I think it was tactically the right thing to do. The fact that Kav didn't play that well when he came on is another matter - but then he was in good company in that respect really!
Kerr did say after that Keane is doubtful for Wednesday so I think the injury is genuine.
Kav had a good game but to say it could have been worse is just bonkers it could have not got any worse.Originally Posted by Emmet
I didn't say it could have been worse ...
But then again if Israel had won it then it would have been!!
I think we have to expect that we won't concede leads! The fact that we have done in the last few matches is worrying alright but at 2-0 at home against Israel ... Kerr cannot seriously have thought to himself that they were going to pull us back to 2-2 so an attacking player was needed to replace Robbie!
[QUOTE=totalfootball. He was also very unlucky to lose Robbie so early on.[/QUOTE]
but when he did he went and did exactly the wrong thing - our midfield was bossing it up 'til then, so he moves Duff up, puts Kilbane out left and slots Kavanagh in the middle and almost immediately we're chasing them and exposing John O'Shea and his many failings to a too severe testing. Kerr got it wrong; simple as that
tonite was a huge disapointment, but in fairness, did we expect anything else? we can't win games against half decent teams. the last time we won a competitive match against a good team was Holland 4 years ago! 4 flippin years! and we still get people sayin were one of the best teams in Europe?!
Dunno if im over reactin but im pretty fed up at the moment. 3 leads against decent teams in this group and 3 draws. wen we went 2 nil up, somethin inside me just knew we wer gona make things difficult for ourselves. I think wel struggle to even get a play off spot 2 be honest. can see either one of the swiss or the french gettin a win at landsdowne.
4give me for lettin off steam
Yeah - you are right, I agree with you - with hindsight he did get that one wrong. I just don't think at the time he could have expected Israel to pull it back to 2-2 ... don't forget also that O'Shea was played out of position. I'll accept that Kerr should have done better there - an iffy defender being played out of position
even still, o shea has frustrated me no end evry time ive seen him play 4 ireland lately. hes so technically gifted, but is guaranteed to make at least 6 or 7 awful passes per game, even if hes playin wher hes comfortable
Overall, I actually thought the game was one of the best performances under Kerr - we were camped in their half, they put ten men behind the ball and cheated (though no more about that, as there's plenty of other threads) and in the end, we were just unlucky. I lost count of the number of penalties we had turned down (starting from the first minute, which should have brought a red card too) and the number of times the ball was cleared off the line. If that's your luck, what can you do?! Some may say there was too much route one, but then it is very hard to pass your way through a packed defence. At this stage - and I'm usually optimistic (I usually start the season thinking UCD have a chance of getting into Europe!) - I honestly don't see us qualifying for the World Cup.
But good God, what is O'Shea doing in the squad, let alone the team?! He had two hands in the penalty - one an appalling first touch under little pressure which gave Israel the possession which led to the corner which led to the penalty, and one to concede a stupid and needless penalty TWO MINUTES INTO TWO MINUTES OF INJURY TIME!!! What was he thinking?!
Harte wasn't much better - though he brought up the old issue of whether he's worth his place in the team through his set-pieces. I think Stephen Kelly should be at least blooded in the Italy friendly in August - we badly need depth at full-back.
I agree, and whilst you're talking of full-backs, won't somebody please explain to me why Derek Geary of Sheffield United has never had a sniff of a senior appearance when Alan Maybury is capped into double figures and JOS is used as an emergency right-back? We accused Mick Mac of playing his favourites, but Kerr is taking that one to new territory, and we all saw the result last night.
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Agree with you regarding O'Shea, has never impressed me in green. Big lazy kick on him, soft tackler. How many time did he go to clear a ball and kick it right at an Israeli? Seems to gone right sh!t ever since he got the big pay rise at United. As me auld fella says wouldnt you just love to give him a good kick up the arse! Chap has bags of talent and it would be a shame to see it wasted.
"In life, it aint about how hard you can hit, it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep on moving forward"
Rocky Balboa
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