Republic of Ireland V Portugal - Thurs, 11th November 2021 - 2022 World Cup Qualifier

[Neish]

Ah there was nothing in it though. He was a bit silly but really neither was a yellow. And Danilo's wasn't a yellow either. The ref was giving those soft fouls all match

Yes the ref was card happy and yet Pepe still knowing this and the fact he was on a yellow did what he did. Deserves to be sent off for being such a idiot

[SkStu]

I think we did well. You can say Portugal weren’t up for it etc, but they still have a lot of quality. It’s clear that some people are just unable to give Stephen Kenny any credit whatsoever. In my view we’re definitely improving. I don’t mind Brady too much saying he’d wait until next year to make a decision. In reality there is no rush. I definitely think we’re going in the right direction though.

What bothers me about Brady is he says “we must at all costs wait until the friendlies before making a decision on his suitability” while (during the exact same discussion) having said “we can’t read anything into positive performances in friendlies”. That’s absurdly twisted logic….

[pineapple stu]

That’s fine. Conversely, I wouldn’t have gone as diabolically negative as many others (not you) have in the recent past.

For clarity, I don't agree with BOOMSHAKALAKA's posts.

Cos I think there's been more than one reference to him lately

[TonyD]

What bothers me about Brady is he says “we must at all costs wait until the friendlies before making a decision on his suitability” while (during the exact same discussion) having said “we can’t read anything into positive performances in friendlies”. That’s absurdly twisted logic….

Well, yeah, that’s the kind of thing I’m talking about with people giving no credit for improvement at all. No doubt if we win in Luxembourg it will be “its only Luxembourg ffs”.

[SkStu]

For clarity, I don't agree with BOOMSHAKALAKA's posts.

Cos I think there's been more than one reference to him lately

I thought he was your other account! LOL!

Yeah, he’s one of the cranks!

[da bishop]

I don't think much can be taken from this match and it's still a long way off a performance like we seen against European championship semi finalists Denmark in McCarthy's last game. I think under McCarthy we would have won that game. But we already know we've gone far backwards under Kenny.

Won under Mccarthy??really?Under him we would probably have drawn the match as well with one difference,we would have hoofed the ball up the pitch the whole game and seen little willingness to pass the ball.Very disappointed with Bradys comments,to suggest and over emphasis the Portugal B team comment was disrespecting the result the Irish team achieved,that so called B team are full of quality and surely it was in Portugals best interest to get a result to put them in pole position in the group.Our squad did very well tonight and Brady should think about the fact most of these lads are in the Championship,Div 1, and are not regulars at their clubs in the premiership.

[brine3]

Brady is being put in his spot by Sadlier and DM. Being called out for the negativity he is spouting. The evolution of the team over the last year and a bit is something we should be quite positive about.

Portugal had more chances because they are a far superior team to us. We kept a clean sheet and could have won it. On top of a similar performance away to them where we had our hearts broken. If you cant be positive and proud of that then i am not sure what else to say.

I'm not seeing the evolution. I thought we played some proper football in the playoff against Slovakia, the likes we haven't seen in years. I think at that point the players were fully on board with Kenny. After that things went really poor, and recently we've pretty much reverted to our put 'em under pressure heroics. I think the players have taken things into their own hands.

Kenny had the right plan but I don't think he ever had the authority with the players to push it through.

[Fixer82]

Thought we did well tonight.
Defensively fairly solid. Ronaldo had a couple of great efforts that could’ve gone in but we’d a couple of chances too.
Thought we deserved that goal at the end but of course, if a player looks sideways at a keeper it’s a free out.
Encouraging!
Will Keane didn’t foul the keeper so we shouldve won.
However, Robinson dived for Pepe’s sending off. Which is just embarrassing really.
Thought Hendrick was good. Don’t know why he took him off.
Coleman excellent.
Ogbene good in second half.
Robinson good but selfish at times

[SkStu]

Brine3, the statistics over the last number of games don’t lie. We are playing a completely different game to what has gone before. We are mixing it up - a little bit - when we should but staying true to playing the game the right way. That’s evolution from previous managers and from early Kenny days.

The above is one example. I’ve shared others after other games. Passes and completed passes is night and day stuff.

[pineapple stu]

I'm not seeing the evolution. I thought we played some proper football in the playoff against Slovakia, the likes we haven't seen in years. I think at that point the players were fully on board with Kenny. After that things went really poor, and recently we've pretty much reverted to our put 'em under pressure heroics. I think the players have taken things into their own hands.

Kenny had the right plan but I don't think he ever had the authority with the players to push it through.

I think that's harsh. There was some nice play tonight to bring us up to, say, the final third. That's a big difference to Trap/MON/Mick II

It'd be more effective if we had any threat up front, but not much he can do about that

[mark12345]

Portugal weren’t upto much at all and we still lack up front (that ain’t changing anytime soon) but plenty of positives and all round happy. Improvement continues and the boss is rolling. Happy days.

Have to agree that we are improving. This may not have been a victory for Ireland but it was a big victory for Stephen Kenny. We played it out from the back (albeit a bit scary at times) which is something SK has espoused for a long time. And in so doing we held a good amount of possession. That is something we have failed to do under any recent manager. Against Portugal, that is pretty impressive. So Kenny's methods appear to be working. Only one minor criticism of the manager - he should have brought Will Keane on 20 - 25 minutes before he did. Portugal were struggling under the high ball.

[SkStu]

Thought we did well tonight.
Defensively fairly solid. Ronaldo had a couple of great efforts that could’ve gone in but we’d a couple of chances too.
Thought we deserved that goal at the end but of course, if a player looks sideways at a keeper it’s a free out.
Encouraging!
Will Keane didn’t foul the keeper so we shouldve won.
However, Robinson dived for Pepe’s sending off. Which is just embarrassing really.
Thought Hendrick was good. Don’t know why he took him off.
Coleman excellent.
Ogbene good in second half.
Robinson good but selfish at times

Agree with most of that but re Pepe's sending off - if Ogbene got a yellow for his "elbow", then so did Pepe. Dive or not. To be honest, a bit of smarts on the pitch and playing for the edge is something I am fine with.

[EAFC_rdfl]

Won under Mccarthy??really?Under him we would probably have drawn the match as well with one difference,we would have hoofed the ball up the pitch the whole game and seen little willingness to pass the ball.Very disappointed with Bradys comments,to suggest and over emphasis the Portugal B team comment was disrespecting the result the Irish team achieved,that so called B team are full of quality and surely it was in Portugals best interest to get a result to put them in pole position in the group.Our squad did very well tonight and Brady should think about the fact most of these lads are in the Championship,Div 1, and are not regulars at their clubs in the premiership.

...as they were when he was on the coaching ticket with Trap.
Just extended your last sentence there! That's what I started thinking while watching Brady post match - is he unwilling to praise the way Kenny and his staff have encouraged the team to play, out of fear of criticism being raised about why we played like we did under Trap (with players playing at a higher level).
He was talking nonsense about waiting to see how the nations league goes, that's completely not the time to change manager.
Ogbene gave Danilo a right chasing in the 2nd half, Egan was very composed.
Agree with Stuttgart's comments on McClean, he would drive you mad!

[Fixer82]

Agree with most of that but re Pepe's sending off - if Ogbene got a yellow for his "elbow", then so did Pepe. Dive or not. To be honest, a bit of smarts on the pitch and playing for the edge is something I am fine with.

Thought Ogbene’s yellow was harsh too.
Thought he was being fouled at the time.

Pepe ran himself into trouble. Blocked Robinson with his arm and Robinson threw himself to the ground.

Played it cute but kind of embarrassing to watch back nonetheless

[Calcio Jack]

What bothers me about Brady is he says “we must at all costs wait until the friendlies before making a decision on his suitability” while (during the exact same discussion) having said “we can’t read anything into positive performances in friendlies”. That’s absurdly twisted logic….

That’s incorrect : he said we’ve approx 3 friendlies in March and 4 Nations cup games in June - and after that a decision should be made i.e. allows FAI more time/facts to help formulate a decision - made complete sense to me.

Personally just the fact alone that Kenny persists with giving McClean game time is enough to question whether he should get a new contract

[backstothewall]

I've been very sceptical of Kenny, but that was another good performance.

It will all be wasted if we don't beat Luxembourg though.

[samhaydenjr]

Agree with most of that but re Pepe's sending off - if Ogbene got a yellow for his "elbow", then so did Pepe. Dive or not. To be honest, a bit of smarts on the pitch and playing for the edge is something I am fine with.

Yeah, at least the ref was consistent in dealing with players who flail their arms around while "shielding the ball". Overall, thought it was a decent performance - it's probably true that Portugal weren't at their best, but in comparison to the Serbia game, we didn't have to rely on a string of saves by Bazunu to stay in it. Backline was solid with Coleman in particular doing very well to limit Ronaldo's opportunities. Cullen again showed his importance with some smart forward balls to start attacks. Hendrick OK but not influential enough. Ogbene should be kept on the wing, it seems to be where he's most at home - he's not the complete player that top clubs will want for a full season, but he brings qualities to the flanks that we can make use of, as a middling international team - I thought Idah still looked a more complete package when he came out (layoff to Robinson was sharp) and think he just needs a few breakthrough goals for club and country to really kick on. Our CR7 was lively again and should be first choice up front for now, anyway. We were a little disjointed at times and some of the playing out had me hyperventilating, but we seemed to have more purpose in our play in the second half, Encouragingly, when Pepe was sent off, we immediately managed to take control of the game, even if we didn't manage to create that one, clearcut chance we craved.

On the Stephen Kenny matter, I have been a sceptic but I think this result, if combined with a victory over Luxembourg, would be enough for me to be happy with keeping him on. Basically we have to be confident, going into the next qualifiers, that we can compete with the big boys and be clearly better than lesser and even middling teams and if we do achieve a clear victory on Sunday, he will have shown this autumn that we can achieve this under his management

[SkStu]

That’s incorrect : he said we’ve approx 3 friendlies in March and 4 Nations cup games in June - and after that a decision should be made i.e. allows FAI more time/facts to help formulate a decision - made complete sense to me.

Possibly. Though, I am pretty sure i heard him only specifically mention the friendlies and make your decision then. Sadlier jumped in and mentioned the Nations Cup and knowing who you want to take the reins for the full Nations League.

[pineapple stu]

I thought Idah still looked a more complete package when he came out (layoff to Robinson was sharp) and think he just needs a few breakthrough goals for club and country to really kick on

Here's a hand grenade into the discussion for fun. Idah reminds me of Sammon. Holds the ball up well, doesn't know where the goal is, surprisingly poor in the air.

12 caps now, not a hint of a goal, and not getting into a poor Norwich side. I think he needs a loan move fairly soon.

Discuss.

[Real ale Madrid]

Here's a hand grenade into the discussion for fun. Idah reminds me of Sammon. Holds the ball up well, doesn't know where the goal is, surprisingly poor in the air.

12 caps now, not a hint of a goal, and not getting into a poor Norwich side. I think he needs a loan move fairly soon.

Discuss.

Hasn't pushed on but only 20. Plenty time for him.