That Eustace fella must be good
I thought Ralston dominated him in the first half. Two dreadful crosses as you say and some very good ones, and corners. I think he was just what we needed yesterday though. He just brings a sense of purpose to the team, like Doherty and Coleman do from wing back.
Edit: it was McClean's brilliant right-footed cross just taken off Obafemi's head that led to the corner, taken my McClean with his left, that led to Browne's goal. Then his corner that was met by Duffy that drew a decent save by Gordon. Then he skinned Ralston and put in a beautiful cross for Hogan's non-goal goal. That's a pretty impressive montage of key moments just by itself.
Last edited by Stuttgart88; 12/06/2022 at 10:04 AM.
Kelleher hadn’t much to do but was very composed, was good with his feet and took one dangerous cross really well. He avoided being tempted to come for some others. Sometimes deciding not to come is as important as deciding to come. He did well. I think he trusts Duffy’s passing ability a bit much though!
Browne was very professional. CBs defended well but Duffy’s passing was brutal. Collins is a superb talent.
Midfield functioned beautifully. I loved what Cullen did, a few times realising he had time to turn and look up. Molumby snapped at ankles and covered every inch of the pitch. Knight’s a very intelligent player and some athlete too.
Parrott and Obafemi were superb. I love how Obafemi is always looking to do something accretive, even if it’s a clever flick that doesn’t come off. He’s a much better player than I saw in his early career club games. Very deserving motm. I hope he’s fit for Tuesday.
Last edited by Stuttgart88; 12/06/2022 at 9:23 AM.
you are bang on there anyway. far too much trust in duffys ability with the ball. i reckon SK will be kicking himself he didnt go with molumby+ 3 in midfield v UKR. I dont think molumby is a player you play in games v the likes of armenia etc but in games where you arent really going to be controlling things for 70-80% of the game hes of more use. we just function so much better when theres an extra body in midfield. Lets hope this is the wake up call for SK.
On McClean, I think it's a case of horses for courses. We all know James' limitations, but we also his strengths, and we needed his tenacity, aggression and drive yesterday. Molumby and, to a lesser extent, Browne also provided this. McClean's corners caused the Scots a lot of problems too.
I just added an edit to my post above having seen the highlights again on telly this morning. Key contributions at key moments. That's what wins footy matches.
Molumby's industriousness in hunting for a tackle is rightly lauded and he brought an extra dynamic to our play through that alone, but his passing was also excellent. He had the best accuracy of anyone on the team and opened up the game a few times. Kenny once described him as being a "chaotic" player and it's easy to see why he made him his U21 captain.
End Apartheid Now! One Team in Ireland!
i have seen enough of parrott since christmas to be confident to say he is going to be a big player for us. would like to see him more through the middle though.
browne got stick on here last week by one or two but i thought he was great yesterday. rarely lets us dont if people are honest
The North could still be waiting as they're currently 2-0 down at home to Cyrus who are playing some decent stuff. There's relegation play offs now in League C but could very well be back to back relegations for them as they currently sit bottom of their group, 3pts behind Cyprus on 1pt as things stand.
Browne must have balls of steel not to have flinched scoring yesterday. Talk about taking one for the team...
Parrott's goal was a carbon copy of Brady's in Lille. And Obafemi's strike reminded me of Kennedy's v Yugoslavia back in 99 (Kennedy's had more swerve and went in off the bar, but the same idea)
We've been bemoaning the loss of a Hoolahan-type creative player and a goalscorer since 2016. It's probably expecting a bit much for Obafemi to be both of them, but I think we're allowed positive thoughts until Tuesday!
https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2022...tching-return/
I love reading this. Just that he has it in his head that he wants to be world class is something we haven't had in a striker in a while. It's a different mindset.
Whether he gets to that level is a different thing, but that he's willing to put in the work to try is a start
Well that was a pleasant surprise. I was delighted when I learned DAZN had the rights in Canada and that I'd get to see Ireland playing, particularly when it seemed this team had turned to corner, only to go 180 minutes of torture - I had girded my loins for another 90 minutes of this, then got a glimmer of hope when Browne forced the first home. And then the Michael Obafemi show started... that pass to Parrott - I saw the flight and realized it was going to land in a great spot and hoped that somebody would get on the end of it. But of course what makes it even better is that it wasn't just put into a good area - it was put there beautifully to match Parrott's run. And then when he picked it up in the second half I knew he was capable of something special (see his goal against Chelsea) and urged him to strike it and... wow, just wow!
I've felt he was a real, genuine talent since he broke through at Southampton and really felt Hassenhutl should have given him more of an opportunity (I've noted before his strike rate relative to minutes played) but then he had a few injuries and the Saints had spent 15 million pounds on Che Adams so he was left lower in the pecking order with limited opportunities. Now it seems that Swansea got a bargain when they paid 2 million for him. His pressing work was to the fore again yesterday, as it was against Ukraine when it led to our best chances; we saw his ability to pick key passes and his tendency to score worldies. And we didn't even get the chance to put him in a foot race against a defender!
And Parrott is really starting to fulfil his early promise - four international goals at the age of twenty is really impressive. Sure, Robbie Keane had seven by this age but look at our other great modern strikers and when they scored their fourth international goals:
Niall Quinn: 24
Frank Stapleton: 24
John Aldridge: 30
Tony Cascarino: 26
John Walters: 29
Kevin Doyle: just short of 24
I think this game was a big transition for us in terms of goalscorers - I said before that I believe that we are close to producing multiple forwards capable of scoring 30-40 international goals and I think we just saw two of them play together yesterday. I think Idah will come through if given a proper chance at Norwich this year and I believe Odubeko, OkoFlex and Ferguson will break through over the next couple of seasons. Tom Cannon and Sinclair Armstrong might also do so. Jury is out a little on Connolly, Scully and Kayode for now, but there's still an opportunity for all of them
Connolly is wrecking my head.. because I really genuinely want him to succeed
I hate reading here or elsewhere that he's acting the maggot, more interested in drinking and women, blah blah whatever.. he's a kid. That's what all of us wanted at 19/20/21.. but we expect every youngster who plays ball to be perfectly mature at 19, just to keep all of us happy
Maybe he'll look at Parrott.. Obafemi.. even Odubeko.. and think, maybe I have something here that can make me a mega multi millionaire, and from 31/32 on have the time of my life.
Maybe he won't.
But somewhere in there, from what I have seen so far, there is potentially a serious baller who could do a serious job for us for a decade.
We only know and care about Connolly as a footballer therefore anything that hinders that will be criticised. All of us wanted that and we didn't become professional footballers. There's a paradox that comes with the fame and acclaim and status of being a young footballer, you're given such perks but in a way you have to deny them if you want to continue. He basically wants to have his cake and eat it too(inever got this saying, ofc you're gonna want to eat the cake unless you're like a baker or something then it would just impoverish you) but suits this scenario.
Last edited by irishultra; 12/06/2022 at 6:43 PM.
People are way over the top on the criticism of connolly. Wilder consistently praised his work ethic and there was absolutely no shortage of effort and running in the games i saw him in or any of the reports coming out of his games.
There was some very poor finishing and lots of snatching at things where you would have thought a more relaxed and confident even cocky connolly of his underage performance s would have taken. Living the life of a hermit does nothing for your confidence and composure especially if its contrary to your natural personality traits when it likely just makes you much more anxious and hyperfocused on errors/ misses which then affects your performance.
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