He's not bad in the air but he's not exceptionally good either which you need to be against Germany.Originally Posted by jbyrne
Anytime I see two smaller strikers against 2 larger centre halves, I'm reminded of England - Sweden from 2002, Owen and Vassell VS Mellberg and Mjallby. England spent the entire game lobbing high balls into the front 2 and wondering why the 6"4 centre half pairing were winning more possession than their 5"6 strikers. It'll be the same for us against Germany, long balls will not win the game, unless they are delivered perfectly.
I'd be amazed if we play any form of long ball game against Germany. We haven't done for years.
In terms of aerial strength young Doyle is actually very good, despite not being overly tall. He reminds me of Henrik Larsson in this sense: the timing of his jump is impeccable which makes up for the lacking inches.
Please tell me that was said with tongue firmly in cheek!!!
There's a difference between an aimless, inaccurate & generally inept passing game and a carefully thought out long ball game!
Please tell me that was said with tongue firmly in cheek!!!
Seriously though, neither Kerr nor McCarthy relied on a long ball game. Sure, under Mick we had Cascariono and Quinn and yes, late on in games there was a clear Plan B, but the general style of play hasn't been long ball for quite some time. Certainly not long, high balls anyway. We do play long balls up the touchline from full back but that's not what you're talking about.
I understand that McCarthy/Kerr always intended to play the neat, passing game but I wouldn't call passing the ball between defenders and hoofing forward hopefully "carefully thought out"!! We had our moments under McCarthy yes (most notably Holland away) but apart from that we were fairly aimless, especially under Kerr...
That's what I was trying to say!
i think the italians showed that the way to beat the germans is to crowd the midfield with skilled players and bring your full backs into the game
finnan is our grosso and stephen ireland could be our pirlo
Isn't Ireland more of an attacking midfielder than one like Pirlo who sits in front of the defence?
pirlo gets forward a lot, it's gatusso who did most of the sitting in front of defence. when totti went off pirlo had more of a license to go forward and it was pirlo who gave the defence splitting ball to grosso for the goal
Pirlo sits in front of the back 4 and Gatusso runs all over the pitch like a maniac for the 90 minutes. Pirlo is exactly like Alonso (I think they call them playmakers?) and we don't have any of those atm. We're stuck with the basic holding midfielder. Gatusso is more of a Sissoko type if comparing with Liverpool again.
Last edited by eirebhoy; 02/08/2006 at 1:22 PM.
Except Gattuso's goodPirlo sits in front of the back 4 and Gatusso runs all over the pitch like a maniac for the 90 minutes. Pirlo is exactly like Alonso (I think they call them playmakers?) and we don't have any of those atm. We're stuck with the basic holding midfielder. Gatusso is more of a Sissoko type if comparing with Liverpool again.
Does anybody know when the Ireland squad is going to be announced.
In Trap we trust
Next Tuesday (8th) according to this http://www.irishfootballonline.com/n...hp?newsid=5093
I'd say Kavanagh is far more of a playmaker than a holder. It's just, as kenforee pointed out recently in the Frank Lampard thread in World Football, that he makes play from deeplying positions. Playing deep doesn't by itself make you a holder. I actually think Kavanagh is equally comfortable in deep and advanced positions.
Last edited by Stuttgart88; 02/08/2006 at 3:18 PM.
Gattuso is a steam engine, he just runs over anything in his path, at least in the few games I watched of himExcept Gattuso's good
Agreed. At almost 33 now though I'd say his role is now primarily the holding role. I'd prefer it that way with him taking the short option and Reid being the more creative force.
Well long high balls won't, but in any game, you have to show your opponents more than one "trick" or they will be as the Swiss coach said about Kerr's Ireland..very predictable.
4-4-2 may work as Stutt says, but a 4-3-2-1 can be just as effective against big strikers if played properly finding the wide men on the sideline, drawing the defence out, with guys like Duff and Ireland, McGeady playing wide and well capable of taking defenders on, this system could well open up the German defence.
Our game should be ground football, we played it in Stade France to good effect in a game we should have won, but lost our way after that, culminating in appalling displays in Cyprus and v The Swiss at Lansdowne with long balls up to 2 forwrds with 10 minutes left in the game.
The odd high ball into Morrison/Doyle will at least put the Germans on notice that we may use that option, and Morrison can jump.
Damn sure that Stan will go 4-5-1 against Germany, I would but then what do I know? If we play 4 in midfield we will be over-run.
If he does he should give it a full dry run against the Dutch. Whereas in a 4-4-2 I'd pick Morrisson ahead of Doyle, in a 4-5-1 I'd go with Doyle RHM and Duff LHM.
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