I thought that was an absolutely pitiful performance. Only Kelleher stood in the way of it being like the time Germany walked 6 past us at home under Trap. England didn’t even break sweat.
I’m struggling to see us sticking with 3 CBs and 2 wing backs. Doherty was ineffective but Brady was worse. Absolutely terrible performance from a guy who just shouldn’t have been picked. His passing was dreadful and his set piece delivery (when he wasn’t messing things up with Smallbone) was rubbish too. He even botched up a routine back pass. I feel for him, he has brought us great moments but 2016 was his high water mark, a whole 8 years ago. Great lad, terrible terrible selection. JOS culpable you have to think.
Idah was atrocious. Guehi might as well have been marking me. Idah just couldn’t read the flight of the high balls at all and Guehi saw everything way earlier than Idah did. On the rare occasion Idah managed to edge ahead of him his touch was terrible.
Brady and Idah both lucky to get 2/10 from me.
Doherty left Coleman and the inside channel exposed to Gordon on numerous occasions. As Malachy Clerkin said, you might just forgive that if he was causing trouble going forward. He didn’t.
Everyone else gets a pass from me. Most others tried hard but without any cohesion at all. I’ve heard some criticise Ogbene but at least he was game and managed to find the ball. Never our MOTM (Kelleher by a distance imho) but a useful asset if used well.
It’s hard to see what the new set up brought. No attempt to keep the better bits of Kenny (passing, being generally competitive against good teams) and no signs of the best bits of the Jack/Mick/MON eras - being in the opponent’s faces and being good without the ball. It was closer to Trap, trying to be well positioned without the ball but without putting any pressure on it.
Second half was better when we actually tried to put pressure on the ball and it yielded 2 early chances. Maybe if one had gone in it’d have been different.
HH needs to grow a pair and stamp his ideas on the team for the Greek game. I’d revert to a back 4 - I’d be happy with the 4 CBs as one defensive unit - and drop Doc, Brady, Idah and replace the injured Coleman.
I’m not sure about Smallbone but I think Parrott might deserve a spot instead. Smallbone is starting to look like a luxury player in a team that is unlikely to ever have any luxury. But he gets a pass due to being up against much better players.
Be in Greece’s faces and win the ball back early. Use it however HH wants to use it but tell the players to trust themselves and support each other first and foremost.
We were way too timid. Feeble is how I’d describe that.
What a waste of 8 months or whatever it was.
Originally Posted by texidub
I wouldn't have him right back anyway. Right wing back might kind of make sense, but I've already posted my views of the issues of us playing wing backs in general.
The thing is Ogbene himself will want to be playing further forward. His ex Luton teammate Andros Townsend made a comment on the ITV coverage last night that Ogbene himself wouldn't have been too happy with being shoved to wing back because he sees himself as a forward.
Personally I would see his best position as being competing for a second forward position supporting a main striker, say a fully fit Ferguson or Szmodics.
Lot of what you say is spot on. Opting for Coleman at right back was a very conservative choice. It might have smacked of John O'Shea opting for his old mate and convincing HH to implement that. The better option for me would have been Dara O'Shea (much stronger and harder to get around and would have added a bit more steel to the defence). Doherty hasn't done anything in years for us and Brady too is past his best. Scales at left back might have been a better option. In reality though we are (yet again, campaign after failed campaign) a million miles away from where we need to be. And that starts with finding a creative midfielder or two and coaching our lads to play the game like England currently do.
I'd agree with almost all of that. Only thing is I wouldn't be too hard on Smallbone just based on last night, he was given no chance at all with the way the team was set up. He was chasing shadows from the off because there was nothing else he could do in a 2 in midfield with just him and Molumby. It's the same reason why I think a lot of Irish supporters massively underrate Cullen right now, they're judging him on games where he has been asked to do the work of two players in the middle of the park which he can't do and it's just straight up unfair to judge him in those circumstances.
You talk about people perhaps not showing up on Tuesday. You know the best thing that could happen to this team/Irish fans/FAI set up is for no one to show up. It would never happen but if the stadium only had four or five thousand people in it on Tuesday, that would be some statement from the fans. A statement which says, give us something that is watchable, something to get excited about, something we can feel national pride in again, and we'll come back. Otherwise keep on going with your tried and miserably failed methods.
Formations are above my pay grade, TBH. I only know the very basics. He looked like a world beater at times against France. Ultimately though, I'd hope Ogbene would play wherever he's told to play and regardless of his feelings or he should be out of the squad - that's just basic discipline on the maagerial side and professionialism on the player's part.
Last edited by texidub; 08/09/2024 at 1:29 PM.
For as long as ogbene has been involved for us I've been saying on here that he does not have the skill set to be in a front 3 or God forbid front 2 in international football and his position is as a fullback/wingback. That's where he played for Rotherham at his best and for luton this season
I wouldn't agree with that, think it's harsh on him. I think he can do a job further forward as well. He's had good moments playing for an Ireland team that hasn't had many overall.
What a waste of 8 months. It has been a lot longer if truth be told. We are a million miles away from where we need to be, no movement of the ball between the lines, no creative player in midfield, and even with a decent goal scorer on board (Szmodics) we find him playing at left back due to the lack of service. It is pretty obvious to me at this point that we (yes, we the fans) are the reason for all of this despair around the Irish team. Why? Because the expectations of us fans of this team are completely unrealistic. We have seen them underperform game after game, yet like crazy people expecting a different outcome, we think the next game will be the one, the one where we will magically turn into a great team. It is not going to happen. The system of football in Ireland (more precisely the system of coaching) is broken. We don't produce creative players, and we don't (apparently) place an emphasis on instilling the finer skills of scoring goals in our youngsters. Until that changes, nothing will change.
I'm not having that. We'd all love to see hundreds of millions put into coaching, but it's almost a separate issue to the here and now. When the team is set up as poorly as it was last night we can absolutely ask for better in the short term as well. We have players who are the match of plenty of European teams who are currently ranked higher than us.
Presumably we will see callups ahead of Tuesday. At least one anyway with Coleman's injury. That should give us a clue of the direction of travel. Azaz, McGrath and Taylor would be the ones I'd be looking at - all centre midfielders.
Ogbene is the least of our problems. The midfield was completely overwhelmed (not their fault, I thought both played OK inthe circumstances). That was the crux of it.
Maybe it's just disappointment but I have a sense the FAI see the international team as a bit of a jolly. Sure, there'll always be internationals regardless of whether we win or lose - type of thinking. Where is the hunger?
Idah dawdling around like he hit the bong before he got on the team bus. Doherty thinking too much of himself. Brady and Coleman knackered. I thought Jake O'Brien had a bit of bite about him, FWIW. But this is about as hopeless as I've ever felt as an Ireland supporter. I started following during Eoin Hand's reign when qualification for a finals was but a distant dream. Plus ca bleeding change...
You believe McGrath, Aziz or Taylor would have made a difference last night? And could sort out the Greeks on Tuesday? No set-up exists that would have changed anything against England such was the vast gulf in class.
Go Coillte Mach rachad / ní stopfaidh me choíche /
Go seasfaidh mé síos / i lár Chondae Mhaigh Eo.
Mainly on social media. And to be fair, as you say, a definite minority.
I'd be looking to make immediate changes if I were HH.
A reversion to a back four in a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 would be a good start, even if it meant putting four centre-halves along the backline. At least it offers a solid defensive base and gets more height and physicality into the team.
Brady's legs went maybe four or five years ago and I would assume the unimaginative O'Shea has him in the team purely because of his alleged dead ball abilities. I would be quickly moving on from him now. He offers virtually nothing, especially at LWB. Coleman and Doherty are still useful squad options, but they should be phased out from the starting xi.
Collins played as a fullback and wingback at Stoke. O'Shea played at left and right back for WBA. Scales played as a LWB at Rovers. Further down the line, Josh Key is a regular at Swansea, Garcia-McNulty played regularly as a LB at Zwolle last season, Gallagher is playing well in MLS. It's time to look at other options.
I would then play two sixes who are tasked with simply sitting in front of the back four Whelan/Andrews style; probably Molumby and Knight, who's playing there for Bristol City. I'm astounded we didn't use the energy of Knight (and/or Browne) from the start against England. Going forward, Lawal should probably be fast-tracked into the seniors asap and Ronan should be properly assessed as a possible option.
I would play a hardworking midfield three in front of them, including obviously Ogbene, Knight/Browne and maybe McAteer. Azaz, Sykes, Johnston McGrath and Moran are all options for future international windows. And assuming Evan isn't fit, I'd have Szmodics or Parrott up front.
I'd like to see us at least more compact, solid and harder to break down against Greece, and to play with more a sight more energy and aggression.
That argument doesn't hold water. There's a multitude of other countries, much poorer countries than Ireland, that would not have hundreds of millions to put into coaching but that does not stop them from teaching their kids proper skills, techniques and tactics. Point in case - how long did it take the English players last night to figure out that we could not play proper football? How long- 30 seconds?
When you keep bashing the ball long and back to your opponents it means you have no confidence in your abilities. And by default it increases the confidence of your opponents exponentially.
You want a guy who was relegated from the third tier last year and who hasn't featured yet for Stoke (through injury, granted) to be fast-tracked into the squad, and to assess a guy who's about Jamie McGrath sort of level - decent mid-table SPL, but never shown a sniff of anything better really?
I mean, we can do those things, but I think people need to stop putting them across as actual solutions to our problems at the moment, or even material improvements. There's nobody who's not currently getting in the squad who can really feel aggrieved about it. Certainly nobody who's going to magically make a huge difference.
And I don't mind the Doherty/Coleman/Brady/Stevens quartet being phased out - but I do worry that what comes in instead is going to be worse. Otherwise they'd be in the squad at the moment, and they're not.
Actually it was identified for them before the game. Carsley correctly predicted that we would be set up poorly in a 3-4-3/5-2-3 so the English players had clear instructions of what to do before they went on the field. He said as much afterwards.
It's not that we can't play, a lot of our players play or have played in the Premier League so clearly we can play. It's that we're being set up to fail game after game. You either get that or you don't. But I suspect you are one of those burn the house down types that would actually like to see us fail. As I said earlier, the type that are best ignored.
The same England that nearly lost to Slovakia at the Euros? Yes, we should be able to at least make them work a bit for a win when we're playing them at home. That should apply to any team we play.
The point about Azaz, McGrath and/or Taylor coming in isn't that they'd start, or necessarily even play. But it would be an acknowledgement that we've once again neglected the centre of the park and are now taking steps to rectify things. That we'd be likely to see at least three of Smallbone, Knight, Molumby and Browne start and therefore will need additional backup on the bench, hence those lads being drafted in as cover.
The Georgian national team is worth €177 million and they showed up to the euros and were very impressive. Take out their keeper and they're worth 132.
The Irish team is worth 180. I know there's caveats here but we are much more capable than last night.
The sorry fact is that this team is used to failure and they've been getting passes for years now. They make stupid mistakes and miss gilt edged opportunities that isn't consistent with their club appearances. More than anything else, they don't trust each other and they are scared sh1tless about making mistakes.
If HH can actually get them functioning as a unit and drop some of bygones like Brady, we should be able to compete a lot better than we have been. We have at least one proven goalscorer, a world class keeper, decent center backs, a few honest journeymen and some promising starlets.
Are we competitive with England? No.
Should we be capable of parking the bus and eeking out a 0-0 against vastly superior opposition? Yes, with the required luck.
Simple fact is that we can be a lot better than this and a lot better than the Kenny era. There is a lot of truth that management has been a major part of the problem now for almost 8 years.
All the above is underscored by the woeful lack of investment in the domestic game.
That's not how I read it. Somehow DanMc D has managed to botch Heimir's words for crude effect.
On Heimir's use of the word authority, he's not talking about more authority as in having more power, but an authority that comes with e.g. more knowledge/observation of the players. Afaia, he was the one who asked for Josh, he felt he needed someone who knows the players etc, Josh was an obvious candidate. Heimir has his confidante/assistant, his Icelandic buddy Gudmundur (Gummi).
The main task for Heimir is to decide on his first 11 and get to the 'team that picks itself', something we haven't had for donkeys years.
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