It isn't nonsense though.
Whether we drew with them 0-0 or they beat us 10-0 made no difference to them, so they went with the approach of resting players on yellow cards and playing quite conservatively and expending relatively little effort. In the case of Bruno Fernandes, he might as well not have even been on the pitch.
And for what, 80 minutes, it worked out fine for them. Only after Pepe's red card did we really put them under sustained pressure, and even then, that didn't lead to any real chances.
Now, even taking all that into account, we can still be positive about the performance and result, because even a weakened Portugal side trying to see out a game are a cut above us so we did well and can celebrate a solid team performance with some good individual showings, but it makes no sense to ignore how Portugal approached this game.
Yeah, the Faro game was weird too. I'm not sure how good their manager is - yet he won the Euros with them, so he can't be that bad. But there's still a sense he's not getting the best out of the squad, and I think it was mentioned before the away game that he was under pressure.
I don't fully agree with you on the defensive aspect though. We were assured - but I think we've always been fairly assured there under Kenny. It's where our best and most experienced players are - Coleman, Doherty, Egan, a revitalised Duffy. Even when we didn't score for seven games in a row at the start of the Kenny reign, we only conceded six goals, and three of those were in a friendly in England that we shouldn't have arranged. In fact, the only times we've conceded more than once under Kenny have been away to England, away to Serbia, and away to Portugal.
Up front continues to be our weakness though, and in that regard the main disappointment for me from the game was that after seven goals last month, we didn't really test the keeper once even with Portugal not really too bothered. A couple of goals on Sunday (probably from Idah now I've reverse jinxed him!) will end the campaign nicely though and give us something to look forward to for the Nations League.
But "Absolutely fine by me" is a nice way of describing the performance last night actually. It's certainly a point I wasn't expecting, I think it's clear the players will play for Kenny (which was maybe a concern when he was appointed) and it was a more entertaining 0-0 than some of the 0-0s I've seen under previous managers. Those are all good things.
Last edited by pineapple stu; 12/11/2021 at 10:02 AM.
No - even if they had won last night, they would still need NOT to lose to Serbia. A draw or a win put them in the same position for Sunday. So they were obviously settling for a draw.
RTE described it as en 'entertaining game'. What???
From what I've seen so far, would be very surprised if Idah or Ogbene score more than ten goals in their Ireland careers. We have huge problems up front.
If Kenny wins against Luxembourg, I expect it will save his job - if the FAI meets to decide his future before next year. I think there has been some progress - admittedly from a dismal start.
My key take away points from last night are
We were very good last night, they have world class lads we don't and we deserved to win
Kenny deserves a lot of credit for something we haven't discussed much recently and that's dismissing the myth that Matt and Seamus cant be on the pitch at the same time
The ref was correct in disallowing our goal, the footage from behind the goal shows Will Keane impede the keeper
If we play at this level over the next 2 years we are going to Germany ( thats a big if of course)
Really?
Ronaldo had the three best chances of the match. His header and his curler both inches wide, and his shot which was blocked by Coleman (I think). On the basis of chances created - and how else to decide who deserved to win a fairly dull 0-0 draw? - Portugal came out on top for me.
Last edited by pineapple stu; 12/11/2021 at 10:56 AM.
Not Enda Stevens? What about the Ogbene header in the first half? - which followed the blocked chance Hendrick had. If Stevens and Ogbene hit the target, which they should in those situations, their goalie needs a Buffon quality save to keep them out.
We didn't deserve to win, nor did Portugal - a draw was fair. I feel we lost forward momentum with the introduction of Hourihane and McClean which maybe explains our somewhat tepid finish to a game we were shading.
Not really for me. I guess part of it is who's on the end of the chance. Give Ronaldo chances like we gave him and you expect a goal. Give them to Stevens or Ogbene, then...
I agree with you that a draw was fair. But I think to go down the rabbit hole of "who deserved to win?" (neither did, because neither scored), then I don't agree with diggs that we deserved to win. I thought on overall play, we were the more composed side for a lot of it, but Portugal carried more threat, almost entirely because they had Ronaldo up front and we didn't.
I suppose what xG doesn't take into account is whether Ronaldo or Enda Stevens is the one having the shot
Also a bit unusual to exclude blocked shots? Ronaldo's effort in the first half would level things up; seems harsh to exclude it because it was stopped by Coleman rather than Bazunu/the post/the netting
Jeez, there’s some real negativity here. And it seems like it’s a results business until such time as we get a result and then it’s a performance business.
Anyway, my only ambition for last night was for Bazunu not to make a mistake
Overall anyone who can’t see the progress we’re making is just wilfully blind to it. That passage of play (referred to earlier by centre mid) on around 75 mins where we were hemmed in at our own corner flag, played a few brave but accurate passes and moments later used the full width of the pitch to fashion a great chance for Stevens was just incredible. Incredibly brave, incredibly accomplished.
The individual performances were mainly really good. Duffy is like a man possessed these days.
Sure there were some frustrating moments. Notably in the first half where despite having little of the ball we messed up some transitions that could have been very dangerous. I thought McGrath wasn’t used in a good position for a lot of the first half, he’d have been better used deeper. I was a bit nervous about the substitutions too.
A few candidates for MOTM but Cullen and Hendrick really stood out. Not so much for any specific passages of play or big moments but for how – and in a 2 man midfield – they showed “moral courage” to get on the ball all the time. Twice in a minute in the first half Cullen took short passes from Bazunu in very difficult positions and nonchalantly played it back or to a full back. This really set the tone in my opinion – it screamed “be brave” to everyone else.
I thought 6-12 months ago we were a side playing “modern” football by diktat. Now I think we’re doing it because we want to and because we believe we can. The players have obviously bought into it and I think it’s a huge leap forward for Irish football and we’ll benefit from it in years to come
I thought our “goal” was correctly disallowed btw. It wasn’t a particularly serious foul but it was just enough of an impediment to warrant a foul.
On to Luxembourg now. I’m really looking forward to it. I don’t have massive confidence we’ll win but I am now confident we’ll turn up with our A game and give it a right go. I just worry about whether we’ll get the goals.
Last edited by Stuttgart88; 12/11/2021 at 1:27 PM.
It'll always be scary to me! But I appreciate it. It feels a bit like Russian Roulette to me sometimes - 1 in 6 times it might kill you. But the upside is that it creates space up the pitch once you beat the first press. I'm not sure it's a tactic for a bobbly pitch. I think Kingdom was at that ground last month and said the pitch was terrible.
I think that's the thing, it's scary to the extent we're not used to it, we've had nearly two decades of "we don't have the players" so the nerves set in, you could sense it in a few of the panicky gasps from the crowd (probably doesn't help the players!) but there was very few genuinely dangerous moments, it felt very controlled and methodical for the most part. Hopefully the more we get used to it and the more the methodology sinks in with the players, the less scared we'll all be.
If it's the same pitch the 21s played on it's a cabbage patch and we might well have to do revert to a bit of old school lump it to the big man!
Tallaght Stadium Regular
Kingdom was in Dudelange. We won't be there on Sunday. Luxembourg have a new national stadium and I'm not sure if Sunday won't be its first game actually. But Dudelange isn't the national stadium anyway, no more than Belfield is the national stadium even though it's hosted 21s before
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