Come out lads - our resident 'expert' says its ok!Originally Posted by paul_oshea
Arrrgh went to edit and I deleted my reply here. Can't be bothered again. Their model is not so one dimensional.
Come out lads - our resident 'expert' says its ok!
Not that it is much of an excuse but didn’t the Luxembourg manager rotate most of his team from the friendly against Qatar !
Two competitive games so close together was beyond us. I suppose this should not be a factor against Luxembourg but that is where we are now ! !
Last edited by seanfhear; 28/03/2021 at 1:08 PM.
I think last night was worse. Liechtenstein was a freak result in a way - 40 shots and 20 corners or something like that. An inspired keeper and a ball that just wouldn't go in.
It was bad - the infamous lack of a Plan B of course - but last night was worse in my view because we were so flat and forced what - one save out of the keeper? Luxembourg aren't Liechtenstein - though they did lose to them in a friendly last year - but the performance was worse for me
It is though. They've made bugger all money out of transfer fees and shot themselves in the foot by resigning those players for free, a sure-fire way to devalue your current squad.
The Dundalk model is the quick-fix solution Irish football has been fixated on for decades (see Shels, Bohs and Drogs before them) It's bust.
I've read that a few times since last night. I'm a little surprised. I thought he did fine, and wasn't at fault for the goal, but he dropped the ball twice. I'd be very nervous playing him against Portugal, for example.
You can't spell failure without FAI
Bad results happen in football.
McCarthy lost in Macedonia and was generally awful for a year or so but we stuck with him and reaped some bit of a reward. I hope we do the same with SK. I still think there is something there with this team and I think he can be a success. I thought we played well in Serbia and were unlucky in Slovakia. I think you can disregard the Nations League this time around. Managers need time. I hope he gets it anyway. Last night was a disaster but I think there is a little underestimating of the Luxemburg outfit everywhere. Its a bit disrespectful to them. I reckon there is another big result in them and lets see how Serbia fare in Azerbaijan after 2 big games in 3 days.
On the game I just think the injuries told on the team much more than the Serbian game. Lads like Cullen, Robinson and Browne are decent players but are just not consistent enough for international football. Went completely missing in the second half. others tried but there were too many gaps trying to piece together attacks and even defend cohesively. On the plus ledger O'Shea and Knight look like they are going to backbone the team into the future. I'm just not going to judge eras based on one bad night. I like the way SK has us playing and I think its more sustainable long term than the boot bollock and bite that sometimes gets us over the line on the international stage.
I find it gas people on social media taking such a keen interest in the FAI and the workings of underage footballing structures with "Diehard Liverpool fan" in their bio. We are all entitled to an opinion of course but its just grating on the back of a devastating night.
Last edited by Real ale Madrid; 28/03/2021 at 12:59 PM.
Yawn!
Players have to take criticism for the play.
Kenny has to take criticism for the tactics and formation.
As the game continued at 0-0 it was getting worse.
If Collins’ effort had gone in I think we’d have settled and been ok.
But the players probably got more nervy as it went on.
It’s dismal no matter which way you look a at it
I thought coleman saved his neck once as well. Like Kelleher though his feet are very good and good with keeping the ball moving. That seems to be the shift of focus for keepers nowadays, which to me is just an attribute, an important one, but the core fundamentals are shot stopping, good in the air etc. You don't see that in a game like last night, and you certainly don't recognise it after one game.
Last edited by paul_oshea; 28/03/2021 at 1:04 PM.
I'm a bloke,I'm an ocker
And I really love your knockers,I'm a labourer by day,
I **** up all me pay,Watching footy on TV,
Just feed me more VB,Just pour my beer,And get my smokes, And go away
When Coleman was fouled on the corner of the box in the second half, and Bazunu had come charging out? Definitely. If the forward had had a small bit more pace, he'd have beaten Coleman to the ball and then Bazunu was in no-man's-land.
He had a solid game, but then Luxembourg weren't putting us under the pressure Serbia were. I think it was Stutts who said if we were losing to Luxembourg, we had more to worry about than our keeper, and he's right. The big problems were at the other end of the pitch.
Truth is, that Luxembourg game could have gone either way. It's a fine margin a lot of the time, and Kenny has been very unlucky. However, his record is atrocious. Cannot see any other options for manager at the moment. Stick with Kenny and, who knows, we may be more hopeful by this time next year. This has to be the lowest point, surely.
i didn't really notice that. If that's what it was its criminal. Knight likes to attack space going forward, Cullen does the neat and tidy stuff from deep. I thought each was really off colour. That'd explain why.
It's a bit of both in my opinion. His body language and general demeanour was very positive and confident. And some of what he did he did very well. But I think he got lucky with the save with his foot. It was hit straight at where his foot was already planted having left a big gap between his legs. He came for a ball that was never his to come for (Coleman bailed him out) and he nearly got done like a kipper from that direct free kick in the second half where he had positioned himself for a cross. Better execution and he'd have had as much egg on his face as Travers had on Wednesday. It was still a promising debut though. He looks like he thinks he belongs out there. I don't think Travers did.
In fairness we have three great possibilities on the goalkeeping front. We would want to be very unlucky for one of them Not to become a Good Class of a Goal-Keeper.
Who cares about losing folks? We aren’t going to Qat_ar anyway let us embrace defeat and get our quote of suffering out of the way now.
Glad to see names from the past being mentioned by someone earlier - Lawrenson, Beglin, Whelan. Because we really need to go back in history to try to solve the current problems. Hopefully, a few on here can remember back to the Johnny Giles era. I remember standing on the terraces at Lansdowne and cursing Giles. My angst was due to Giles's penchant for playing possession football or trying to at least. We were slow and deliberate and other continental sides were years ahead of us in their development. Giles knew what he wanted to do, but could not implement his plan and no manager since has tried to get an Irish team to play proper football. That is until Stephen Kenny, 45 years later. Looks like Kenny will fail just like Giles. In my opinion, the reason neither man can implement possession football in their teams is that our players have never been taught technique and close control in crowded areas of the pitch, because there was no Irish coach ever taught that himself and consequently he could not teach that to his players. And the 64K question is, what Irish coach today is versed in those methods? Answer there isn't anybody. I have offered a solution on here for many years, and that is for the FAI to employ several developmental coaches for our kids, from areas that have historically played proper constructive football (South America for example). Stephen Kenny may not be long more in the job, but ultimately he is a lot smarter than most fans who keep calling for a change of manager and totally ignore the problems which beset Irish football.
The thing I don't understand though is how did Kenny manage it with Dundalk against better sides in Europe? Or how did UCD manage it against better sides in Europe? There's a clip from our game in Bratislava where we put together 23 successive passes over two minutes and very nearly scored at the end of it. That's a part-time team against a team of internationals (albeit down to ten men) Why can't the full-time national team manage it against what should, on paper anyway, be slightly weaker opposition?
Are our players too pigeon-holed in England as strong defender, midfield enforcer, etc?
7 and ½ years ago Norn Iron lost 3 2 to Luxembourg. 2 years later they qualified for the Euros. Did he go 18 games without a win or something after he took over?
My immediate thoughts on waking up this morning is I don't see that changing the manager will help this time. I think this result has been coming for a while. McCarthy got out of jail away to Gibraltar in a terrible performance against a much worse team. Not to excuse it, but this is a Luxembourg team that drew with France in Paris and have players playing at decent clubs around Europe. They are not the butcher, baker and candlestick maker players that they used to be.
That being said I can't get over the substitutions last night. This is where Kenny lost me. But it also shows that we absolutely 100% have to move on from the more "experienced" players. McClean, Brady and Long were all disgraceful when they came on, as was Hendrick against Serbia. We need to cut bait with these players now. This means we are going to have to go with players who are not ready and some who might never be. Wales did this with players pulled from youth and reserve teams in the hope that the international experience will help them at club level. We have a bumpy road ahead but we have no choice now. These so called experienced players have failed under multiple managers.
I
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