QuoteSerious question, but what are Luxembourg like? (NI are in the same qualifying group as them.)
Fair. If that's his only ever cap (and it probably will be with Kelleher, Bazunu and Travers on the scene and all younger than him and Keeley coming through as well) then it's a well deserved one.Originally Posted by CraftyToePoke
Serious question, but what are Luxembourg like? (NI are in the same qualifying group as them.)
Is it time to try Ferguson and Phillips at centre-back yet ?
not a bad side. a bit like andorra with better players. they try to play decent football and have one or two good players but are weak up top. keep an ok shape but are vulnerable to counter attacks and quick passes behind.
ni would be disappointed not to take full points but they won't be cheap points, keep pressing and high energy levels - should just about be enough.
Surely Luxembourg would be similar to the Luxembourg side the North drew with in November and beat in September?
Down to the socks.
I don't think he sees it that way. Bazunu has a serious injury on his record now & potential unfulfilled doesn't amount to anything. Travers, he'll see himself as better than & could have a point there. Keeley has had one good loan a division down. He's in his prime, undisputed number one at a play offs club in the same division as two, (maybe three of the others for the coming season more than likely) with a finals we can't but qualify for coming soon & I think that's his long game, being in that squad if the chips fall his way & tonight he gave a fine first impression.
He won't win many caps but he might go to a finals these squad turn ups are the groundwork & fair play to him. He's a decent keeper.
Last edited by CraftyToePoke; 10/06/2025 at 11:58 PM.
Ref was really ****. Allowed them to foul and bully and leave bad late tackles without ever pulling them up for it - from the first minute to the last.
O’Leary did well when called upon. Very happy for him.
Thought we were really poor. Probably should have scored 5 though anyway. The two that hit the woodwork, Parrott’s close range miss and offside goal, the McAteer dragged shot where he could have passed instead, Taylor’s other shot from distance, Idah’s acrobatic effort from close range
Positives: defenders did fine at least defensively, Taylor and Ebosele and Finn’s cameos were really positives, kept a clean sheet.
Negatives: shame about Brady’s injury, Ferguson gave us absolutely nothing, Luxembourg a country with 600k population were able to dominate possession against us
When’s the last time a senior international match didn’t have a studio analysis panel? Must be fairly rare ….
Irish by birth ,Harps by the grace of god.
Good to see the manager giving a pretty honest evaluation of the performance, describing it as 'a negative answer to a question', instead of dressing it up as some kind of work in progress.
In fairness, if we should have scored 5 by that metric (including an offside goal and an acrobatic effort that still went about five yards over), we should still have lost when you count O'Leary's two good saves (the only saves of note in the game), Luxembourg hitting the woodwork, etc.
It was a dreadful performance which I do think doesn't bode well for September at all, but in the end of the day it was also a June friendly where we'd left out a few players who would otherwise have started, albeit none of them are exactly world beaters either.
That's four unbeaten for HH, but we are back to not winning matches. I thought the tactical approach was all wrong and it was summed up by our midfield, which was slack, particularly in the first half. The stats tell the story. Luxembourg dominated the ball (58% to 42% possession, 501 passes to our 362). They also had nearly twice as many shots as us.
I get the logic of leaving the majority of the Championship players out, but at the same time I think we needed to use this window to get the best team settled.
End Apartheid Now! One Team in Ireland!
Evan Ferguson, with the absolute greatest of respects, needs a kick up the hole.
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
And we more or less allowed them to bully us. Yet again Parrot stands up for himself (NZ Lansdowne springs to mind) and there's no backup. Taylor a couple of times got stuck right in to be fair too.
the only time this squad of players ever looks ready to stand up for itself is when Molumby is playing centre midfield and with all due consideration given to our other options in there, none of them impact a game to that much of an extent that they are head and shoulders above him.
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
The Evan Ferguson enigma is another job for Sam Spade, either he is carrying an injury, or something else has gone on that we don't know about ?
Did Luxembourg hit the woodwork? Maybe I've already begun to wipe the match from my memory but all I can remember of note is the two O'Leary saves and the shot that deflected over the bar.
I think it's fair enough looking at the offside goal, from the perspective that the run just needed to be timed a little better and he's still in. It wasn't the fact he was offside that made the chance. If you ran that as a drill in training, he beats the offside trap and is one on one with the keeper more than 50% of the time. The other Parrott chance is also a real sitter, he just can't get it out of his feet. Idah's chance, difficult but from that range if he hits the target, it should be a goal.
Who are the midfielders to choose from? Cullen, Knight, Taylor, Smallbone, Molumby, Azaz, McGrath in the first group - and Finn, Moran, Phillips, Lawal, Browne in the group below, where we've tended to select 5 players in total. It's a real group of decent players with absolutely no one bringing the level up. All basically borderline top tier championship players but that's about it.
Looking back, I really think giving Finn just 5 minutes across the 2 games was a total waste. If you'd have seen him for 45 minutes, you'd have a real sense if he's up to the level - instead we have a 5 minute cameo where he looked really good but you'd be afraid to call him up and expose him in a competitive fixture
Last edited by elatedscum; 11/06/2025 at 1:55 PM.
I thought they had one onto the top of the bar, though the BBC match stats disagrees. (I will acknowledge my eyes glazing over at regular intervals during the 90...) But swap in that deflected shot instead and it's the same point. You can't accumulate all our chances and half chances and offside chances into a biased conclusion (like "Probably should have scored 5") without doing the same for Luxembourg. And they definitely had chances of their own.
Bottom line is "If Idah hits the target, it should be a goal" is just "If my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle". If Idah was a better striker, it might have been a goal. But he's not a better striker, so it wasn't probably a goal.
Totally agree. I wasnt bothered that he didnt start or didnt come on sooner as i just interpreted it to mean that Phillips > Finn > Honohan but once he had his cameo i was left thinking there is definitely a player there that might improve us - but that you just could not justify him replacing any of the current crop of squad midfielders based on that sample. That feels like a missed opportunity (or poor judgement) from HH.
I like high energy football. A little bit rock and roll. Many finishes instead of waiting for the perfect one.
Where does he go from here?
He's not getting in the Brighton team anytime soon. I get the feeling Hurlezer doesn't rate him. I can't see many EPL clubs lining up to take him, even on a loan. Too much of a risk for the promoted clubs.
Championship?
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