Scoreline papering over huge cracks that are there for all to see,Andorra running out of petrol a huge help this evening.
Kenny's post match interview
https://twitter.com/RTEsoccer/status...722083328?s=19
Staunton wasn't in charge for the 2-2 draw in Wales, it was GivensOriginally Posted by pineapple stu
That often happens with smaller nations. When have we ever gone in and given someone a thumping. Most times these countries are well organized and set up to defend. Usually they run out of steam in 2nd half once a couple of goals go in.
I'm happy for the win, and that Kenny finally has a win, but I can't shake the feeling that the biggest influence on the result wasn't the players he selected, or the formation, or tactics, it was the fitness levels of the Andorrans.
Hungary will give us a better idea on if we are improving at all. Tonight all just about getting the monkey off the back and 4 second half goals should give them confidence not matter why they came.
Yeah. We ran them ragged with our energy.
7-0 V Gibraltar under O’Neill
I got the impression it was more that Sadlier didn't get Collins' point and Collins tried repeating it until it got through. I'd argue it was poor presenting, but that Collins is the least of our worries.
So, that was a heap of ****e. Positives in the goals at least, but I'm with Sadlier on this: you learn nearly nothing from a win against Andorra.
As others have noted, the defending at set pieces is ... I'm going to go with "terrifying". Someone's going to put 4 or 5 past us some day soon at this rate.
You can't spell failure without FAI
We also only beat Gibraltar 1-0 under McCarthy, yet some people would rather we get him back.
Their goal was as bad as we've conceded over the years, I'm glad for SK that they got the win. Curtis, Collins and Hourihane were poor though. I thought that when we crossed it first time rather than checking back we were a little more threatening.
It might suit us to be playing a team that will have more of the ball than us; playing a team just before the Euros might be no bad thing, trying to avoid injuries etc?
''and I for one welcome our new insect overlords''
Yes, pretty much. Scoring the equaliser quickly after going behind was the difference, if we hadn't done that they might have dug in. Once we got the equaliser it nullified the lift they got from the goal and after that the fatigue set in.
Scoring four massively flattered us if we're being honest. We were just so poor for that first 55 minutes despite the hopeless standard of the opposition, it's hard to take any positives in terms of the overall team performance really.
Individually the performances of Parrott and Knight were the big takeaways, having two young players who aren't defenders make a statement was something to be really encouraged about, regardless of the standard of opposition.
In terms of the Kenny era though that first 55 minutes was another nail in the coffin for me. For now he struggles on though, let's see what the Hungary game brings.
Any highlights of the game anywhere?
A goal and an assist for Daryl Horgan in his 20-odd minutes on the pitch. Just imagine how many he could have got if he wasn't rubbish
It was a late McCarthy era performance in some ways. Not great and painful to watch at times but we got an acceptable result with a bit of a late rally.
Really disappointed in Egan, Doherty and Hourihane. Very disinterested performance from 3 senior players. I don't care who your manager is, you go out and play well for your country. That might be harsh on Egan but it was his man for the goal. We were disjointed in the middle of the park and I was expecting Hourihane to shine against such weak opponents. I'd be fairly confident the likes of Jack Byrne would have loved taking on that sort of team but Hourihane wasn't showing for the ball which is a basic requirement for an attacking midfielder you'd think. He wasn't the only player guilty of it either though so you'd wonder what they have been working on in training.
I'd be happy enough if Doherty never got another cap. He is so slow and cumbersome. Or just doesn't care. Or a bit of both. The ball went out his way in the final third about 4 times in the first half and he just cut back and slowed us down every time.
Delighted for Troy, Knight and Horgan.
To be fair to Egan it was actually McClean's man who scored the goal. You wouldn't know it given how far away he was from him by the time he headed it though. Hard to know what McClean was thinking, he seemed to play for offside or something, just got it all wrong.
Was it? Fair enough. Haven't seen a replay yet. Can we still blame basically any of the 11 as well as the coaching staff for it though?
Yeah, there's letting your man go at a set piece, and there's the entire team standing still while the keeper obligingly wanders into no-man's-land alright. It was a nice header, but it must be so much easier when under no pressure at all. That one was a team effort.
Interesting stat at the end actually - Andorra had one shot on target and we had four. So none of the three keepers made a save between them apparently.
The Andorra keeper saved one didn't he? It was straight at him though and he still made a bit of a meal of it.
Bazunu looked out of position for me for their goal - not sure if he'd have gotten there anyway as the scorer had all day to pick his spot in the corner, but Bazunu seemed to be much too far over to one side as the free kick came in.
It's always hard to tell how those stats are worked out. It was on the RTÉ stats stream at the bottom. Sometimes yeah, you can remember a shot saved and you're wondering was it so weak it didn't count or something. Not sure tbh
Agree on Bazunu. It was a good free in fairness - an inswinging teaser which was ultimately too far out to be the keeper's - but Bazunu left an awfully big target by coming off his line and then retreating a bit again. I'd blame others more than I'd blame him, but still, it's another example of the dodgy decision-making we saw three or four times in March.
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