Hungary v Republic of Ireland - Tuesday, 8th June 2021 - Friendly

[Nesta99]

Though if Bazunu is on such a dramatic trajectory of improvement why would you want to stop him?

Sure we all know that he is the (former) Shamrock Rovers/FAI insiders favourite poster boy, undroppable - except by Rochdale needing to boost their appeal to buyers

Seriously though he is obviously a huge talent, great lad, but not as far on in development as Kelleher both in age and experience of top class club games. I wouldnt see it as a slight on Bazunu to call Kelleher as the better keeper currently and showed more in his 45mins. Both will key players in the years to come. I do get the tendency to favour players we've watched turn out for our own clubs as in my Horgan defence

[ontheotherhand]

First priority had to be to stay in the division though. You can't plan for next season without knowing what division you're in. Lynch was there all season, so you can't work out after 30 games that his style suits Rochdale better. I think Occam's razor comes in here - if your keeper is conceding two goals a game and making a couple of big errors, you try the other keeper, and if he halves the goals against rate, he stays in.


It's a hard call as none of them are getting game time, so any selection has to be qualified. None is a great option at the moment.

O'Hara is bottom of the pile I think. Travers - I don't think he did as bad as was being made out in Serbia; in Tadic, he was facing someone of a quality none of the other teams have had, and he's definitely one to make a new keeper think twice. But he's also not done a huge amount at club level. Ordinarily he wouldn't even be on our radar b if we're honest

For me, it's Bazunu third choice. I'd still worry that Portugal would tease more errors out of him than Kelleher/Randolph.

Then based on this evening, I think Kelleher is putting it up to Randolph. Kelleher is better playing football than Randolph. Goalkeeper-wise, Randolph has never let us down (bar that hospital pass in Helsinki I think!) but Kelleher impressed me tonight. If he gets a loan deal next season and does well at Championship or higher, then that would put him ahead of Randolph for me.

Fair. I didn't watch Rochdale to see if they set up differently outside of the keeper change. The few match reports I've read seemed to say Lynch didn't have much to do so I assumed they'd shut up shop defensively and were playing more direct with maybe a preference for a keeper to suit.

I also thought Travers was unfairly blamed to be honest. Keepers have it the hardest - we always say that but in practice we still analyze every mistake to death. We also probably get too excited when they make decent saves...although looking back again at the various saves today - I'd still rate Bazunu's higher than Kelleher's! All good but Bazunu was at full stretch whereas Kelleher made two fine reaction saves to shots within a foot or so of him either side. Good but you'd be disappointed if he let the ball past.

I'd have it at Randolph, Bazunu/Kelleher right now but with the two lads not as far behind Randolph as they were.

Rewatching the game I also looked again at Doherty and Hourihane - they were as bad as I'd thought. I'd throw Parrot in there as well to be honest. He was very slow and made some bad decisions which slowed us down or broke up promising moves. Lot's of time for him to learn but you'd fear he was just that slightly more athletically advanced underage player who might never make the step up to the necessary level now.

[ontheotherhand]

Sure we all know that he is the (former) Shamrock Rovers/FAI insiders favourite poster boy, undroppable - except by Rochdale needing to boost their appeal to buyers

Seriously though he is obviously a huge talent, great lad, but not as far on in development as Kelleher both in age and experience of top class club games. I wouldnt see it as a slight on Bazunu to call Kelleher as the better keeper currently and showed more in his 45mins. Both will key players in the years to come. I do get the tendency to favour players we've watched turn out for our own clubs as in my Horgan defence

Completely fair but luckily you don't have to take my word for it. Aside from foot.ie most people have been pretty happy with Bazunu.
And you weren't wrong on Horgan - I said earlier I thought he offered the most going forward. That held up on second viewing although Knight did a lot more than I'd noticed first time around. He looks really promising.

Now if only Jack Byrne could come back we'd be in with a shout of a trophy or 2.........

[ifk101]

Good exercise for us and thought we were relatively comfortable throughout. We didn’t have clear cut chances but did have quite a few dangerous half chances – the defender got in ahead of Idah for a couple of chances (that take down on the chest and flick by Horgan for an Idah chance was an unreal piece of skill), and Ogbene’s shot at the end and run down the right and pull back to (Knight?). Good individual performances throughout the team with the exception of Hourihane. Maybe coincidence, but we did edge the game more when he left the field and Cullen came into the game more. If nothing else, the younger players that have come in have progressed and are strong additions to the squad. Idah looks much improved on where he was on his first senior cap, and Knight is an automatic starter for me going forward. And there is genuine competition now for the goalkeeper position. Kelleher, to be fair to him, looked completely unfazed by it all (senior debut) and oozed confidence.

[jbyrne]

i think duffy played himself back into the team last night. Those writing him off should think again. He has been excellent for us up until last september when he obviously suffered a crisis in confidence not helped by joining a celtic team in freefall and in a mess.
Would be very happy with a back 4 of coleman, egan, duffy and o shea.
horgan and knight have done very well under kenny. cullen does some good things but can be very sloppy in possession. if we can sort our centre mid it will make a massive difference.
up front i thought idah was quite good and will only get better. he is ahead of parrott in the pecking order for me.

love the way posters here are so quick to write off teams like hungary when we do quite well against them. 1 loss in 13 matches including wins over turkey (twice), serbia (away) and iceland. draws against russia (a), serbia and poland. oh.... and heading to the euros. would love that record for ourselves over the last 12 months. if last nights result and performance was a qualifier we would be quite happy irrespective of the manager.

have to add that its obvious to me that we need to be a little more direct. most of our very best moments last night came from a bit of directness. its been our strength for years and ditching it for tippy tappy football in our own 18 yard box would be a massive error. there is a happy medium

[Straightstory]

Keepers did well.
Don't think Parrot or Idah will ever score many goals at this level. [COLOR=#333333]Idah lacked aggression. Parrot invariably gave the ball away. [/COLOR]Ogbene looked good when he came on.[COLOR=#333333]
Another impressive performance from Horgan. He's really made his case to be a regular in the team.
Good to see Duffy put in a good shift.
It'll be interesting to see how good/bad Hungary will be in the Euros.
Optimism in the air - but still can't see us getting many points from the games September.[/COLOR]

[Snapshot]

i think duffy played himself back into the team last night. Those writing him off should think again. He has been excellent for us up until last september . . .

Club form should be the criteria. His form was atrocious and he paid the price. Now the ball is back in his court - good luck to him but he knows what he needs to do.

[jbyrne]

Club form should be the criteria. His form was atrocious and he paid the price. Now the ball is back in his court - good luck to him but he knows what he needs to do.

what matters is how players play for us. we don't have the luxury of selection based on club form.
there are lots of examples of players not getting a decent look in with their clubs playing well for us. McAteer circa 2001 is a prime example.
Duffys Celtic experience was a perfect storm of him hitting poor form while also being in a club that was in a complete meltdown.

[seanfhear]

what matters is how players play for us. we don't have the luxury of selection based on club form.
there are lots of examples of players not getting a decent look in with their clubs playing well for us. McAteer circa 2001 is a prime example.
Duffys Celtic experience was a perfect storm of him hitting poor form while also being in a club that was in a complete meltdown.

Has anyone really explained why Celtic were in complete meltdown and why was Duffy not able to help put a stop to it ?

A conspiracy theorist would say that Celtic and Rangers have a secret agreement to never do a 10 in a row ( either of them ). How could Celtic implode that badly in a Two Horse Race ?

[NeverFeltBetter]

Think that Celtic season's been coming for a while. It was the perfect storm of really poor management, high pressure from fans for the ten-in-a-row, complacency, COVID mess-ups and the first proper tilt Rangers have been able to put up in a long time.

[tetsujin1979]

The seeds were there in the 2019/20 season, Rangers had improved, and weren't that far behind Celtic. Players were sold and not replaced, Lennon regressed the team from Rogers' time in charge, and not having fans in the stadium had an impact on results.

[Nesta99]

Think that Celtic season's been coming for a while. It was the perfect storm of really poor management, high pressure from fans for the ten-in-a-row, complacency, COVID mess-ups and the first proper tilt Rangers have been able to put up in a long time.

Not to mention Rangers opening the purse strings and now seeking to raise €7m funds from share offers to fans (min of £500 to £100k worth I think), under the guise of giving fans some say in the club of course.... In a covid hit season, BCD, all clubs could do with cash injections so shall let them off the hook for this season but there is the sense that they were pushing the boat out to prevent a Celtic 10 in a row and spending to close the gap asap for a number of years . Gerard is turning out to be a good young manager too though. I have no liking for either side just in case it sounds like a Celtic fans excuse!

Duffy put a whole lot on the line last night has shown some serious character. He didnt hide and has restored some rep - it doesnt surprise me at all that his confidence is being rebuilt in a green shirt under Stephen Kenny!

[Snapshot]

Sorry jbyrne, cannot agree. Duffy arrived at Celtic because it was a pressure year. He didn't perform - indeed, some of his efforts were dismal. He spent much time on the bench. I'm a Duffy fan - and I'm taking into account his family bereavement - but he was simply not good enough in a league in which he should have been a standout. But you'd have him straight back in the Irish team to face elite Portugal on the basis of a friendly - I think that could be catastrophic.

[jbyrne]

Sorry jbyrne, cannot agree. Duffy arrived at Celtic because it was a pressure year. He didn't perform - indeed, some of his efforts were dismal. He spent much time on the bench. I'm a Duffy fan - and I'm taking into account his family bereavement - but he was simply not good enough in a league in which he should have been a standout. But you'd have him straight back in the Irish team to face elite Portugal on the basis of a friendly - I think that could be catastrophic.

absolutely i would have him in the team against portugal. willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on this seasons form..... i think he has earned it.
i said above his form was poor but, in my opinion, it was greatly exacerbated by celtics mess.
if its being suggested that he wasn't EPL standard then that's well wide of the mark.

[lofty9]

I'd have Duffy in any game in which we will be backs to the wall, that's his game. Celtic are not a back to the wall team.

[zero]

I think if it's 3 centre halves - which you'd expect it will be in Portugal - then Duffy would be one of them, fitness permitting.

A lot can happen between now and then however, e.g. if Collins gets a big move and features immediately in the top flight then it would be difficult to leave him out.

[seanfhear]

Duffy had one dodgy moment that he got away with courtesy of Doherty who passed a ball directly to the centre of the Irish goal with a very risky pass. Duffy tried to control it ( off , I have forgotten who ) and just about got away with it He would be getting a lot of stick if that had ended up as goal when he should have just cleared it. It didn’t make Doherty look good either.

[paul_oshea]

The fact we had some youngsters playing was the only encouragement for me. Hungary are a poor side and we should have shown more attacking intent. I keep hearing we are moving towards a more attractive style of football but I will never understand why people like the idea of passing for passing sake apart from the chance to sing ole a few times. Put em under pressure!

We definitely played a more intelligent game last night than any other under Kenny. It left me wondering were fellas told to make their own mind up or were the first games a case of just trying to please him and not using their own football brains to decide whether to go long or over the top. Most of our best chances came from over the top or long balls to start off the move. Idah had a lovely one in the second half but turned back, I was really hoping he would just go at goal - perhaps obafemi would be suited to that role, but not sure we'll find out in the short term.

We appear to have passed that passing for passing sake to appears certain elements, that can only be a good thing. We looked far more inventive even if we didnt have many clear cut chances. Our players thus far are not comfortable with a passing game and nothing else, they're much more fruitful when going high or long when the opportunity presents itself. Until we have a midfielder or two who can take the ball with back to goal and from the narrow angle turn and open the space we will need to focus more on the ott balls and long passes like Duffy was doing with finesse last night.

Perhaps the positivity here is because we've been close to the bottom of the barrel and our expectations have been managed, managed to the pit, whatever it is we looked more solid and organised than any other game under Kenny.

[paul_oshea]

We have a ways to go but I genuinely think we will be a very good side in the next few years.

Define a very good side?

[paul_oshea]

Sure we all know that he is the (former) Shamrock Rovers/FAI insiders favourite poster boy, undroppable - except by Rochdale needing to boost their appeal to buyers

Seriously though he is obviously a huge talent, great lad, but not as far on in development as Kelleher both in age and experience of top class club games. I wouldnt see it as a slight on Bazunu to call Kelleher as the better keeper currently and showed more in his 45mins. Both will key players in the years to come. I do get the tendency to favour players we've watched turn out for our own clubs as in my Horgan defence

That full stretch save he made he looked like a boy in mens goals there.