The Damage that Stan us doing to us

[billybunter]

If you offered me Ireland to score 13 goals over the entire campaign (much less in 1-2 games), I think I would take it at this stage!!!

think about it. (11 games left)

[thelimerick]

I don't understand how people can keep saying it's not that bad, lay off Staunton, give him a chance.
Had Given not played the game of his life we could, nay SHOULD have lost that game 4-0 ...at least. in the end we actually got a decent result. Lost the most difficult match, away to Germany, and only conceeded one goal against the best team in the group, argueably.
This was achieved completely in spite of Staunton, his inexperience made all the more obvious by his sending off. His substitions were ridiculous both in timing and the players being substituted. His selected was wrong from the start by playing good players out of position to accomadate the sh*te and allowing Kilbane to make the journey at all.
Really, if you look at it, we're not argueing whether he should go but when.
I'd say sooner rather than later for everyones sake, before we remove ourselves from contention before we complete full fixture list and we slide down the rankings and end up in Groups of Death for the next decade.

[eirebhoy]

I don't understand how people can keep saying it's not that bad, lay off Staunton, give him a chance.
Had Given not played the game of his life we could, nay SHOULD have lost that game 4-0 ...at least.

Don't be ridiculous. He made one fantastic save (Klose header), he had one hit right at him (Podolski) and made one good save that would have been soft if he let it in (Klose?). 3 shots on target from Germany, 1 which any keeper on the planet would save. Hardly the game of his life.

[bennocelt]

Our near term hopes are tied in with Bobby Robson's health, no question.

I'm fighting the inclination to tear things up & start again, but we've simply got to accept that we can't afford a good manager. If the Drumavilles of this world cared enough they could stump together EUR 1m a year for an experienced manager's salary, with the FAI guaranteeing a further EUR 1m-2m upon qualification. Too many people get something for nothing these days, but rewarding results is fair.

Just out of interest, let's say we win in Cyprus, who'd people like to be in charge for the Czech game?

Mick
Staunton
Aldridge
Kerr
Bobby Robson

We asked the same question among ourselves on Saturday- who'd we like to be managing us for a one off in Stuttgart - omitting Robson & Aldridge, and not one of us said Staunton!

yeah but when little T and T could leo benhaker, and russia get Gus Hiddinck, we get stan the man,
and rangers get that french fella,
there are always good managers knocking around, but if the FAI cant be arse to get serious about it...............

[superfrank]

1) Alienating a lot of eircom league fans and the general public who were in many cases already disullusioned with the National team by pretending to give the el players a fair crack of the whip when he has no intention of doing so and attempting to recruit the likes of Kevin Nolan and Aaron Lennon and making it publicaly known that if you can qualify for Ireland even if you are not 1% Irish he will give you a chance

Here's one eL fan who is disillussioned by the FAI and the national team before Stan came in but the situation hasnt changed, esp. after playing Byrne against Chile, him doing well and then leaving him out of the next game when he was scoring goals for fun with Shels.

[backstothewall]

The last to posts are interlinked. The EL is improving, but only slowly. Without a strong league generating income and talent, the finance required for a top class manager and talent for a top class team won't be there. The teams we should be aiming ourselves at, like Portugal, Serbia, Sweden, even Holland have a competative league with teams capable of qualifying for the champions league. We don't.

That sort of experience is invaluable. The money it brings into the game is obscene. not only from TV, also from transfers of players who are put into the shop window. Despite the exploits of Derry the EL can't offer this

Whilst the move to summer football has been beneficial, the eircom league is currently missing 4 of Irelands biggest sides, in the forms of Shamrock Rovers, Glentoran, Linfield and Belfast Celtic.

A competative league with those 4 added to Cork, Shels, St. Pats, Bohs, Derry and a few others with promotion and relegation to 4 provicial leagues would provide a competative league of big sides. With the right promotion, being played in the summer it would be a unique product, in the british isles at least. With money spent on stadiums, and a few big name signings and managers, people might actually want to watch it as opposed to having nothing better to do or going out of wanting to support the local lads. Lets face it, no one watches Irish football outside Ireland.

With a decent league, the possibiity of getting a team into the group phases of the champion league or UEFA cup comes into sight, with the development in terms of talent and income that brings, which brings it right back round and benefits the national team no end

[mypost]

Lost the most difficult match, away to Germany, and only conceeded one goal against the best team in the group, argueably.

The most difficullt match is yet to come, away to the Czechs next year.

I think we will have to review our official fixture policy of playing one of the big guns away first. In hindsight, it was madness to play the Germans away first, with a weak boss "in charge", and no morale in the squad. It worked well against the Dutch and the Croats, but has failed since then. From now on, it would make more sense to play one of the minnows first as a warm-up game for facing the big guns soon afterwards.

[geysir]

Facts, we played the Croats at home first. France & Portugal away would hardly be regarded as failures.

[TonyD]

Thanks for being happy for me. We were going nowhere except backwards with Kerr. He had his chance and he was found to be desperately short of what was needed. His time in charge was a disaster for the team. I like your selective picking of the stats leaving out the really important ones like we didn't beat anyone in over 3 years in a competitive match that was higher ranked than Albania (????) and we had our worst placed finish in a qualifying group in over 20 years. I don't give a sh**e that we beat Portugal and Holland in friendlies under him. Who cares?

Staunton wouldn't have been my choice but something had to be tried and there wasn't exactly a queue of top class international managers looking for the job (in large part due to a lack of interest because Kerr ran us into the ground). If he turns out to be a failure I wouldn't be surprised but at least we tried for something better than the previous sh**e. I'd be amazed if his time in charge proves to be any worse than Kerr's though to be honest.

So my quoting of stats was selective, but yours isn't ? What makes the stats you picked the "really important ones" ? As for "running us into the ground", rubbish. Ireland were always competitive under Brian Kerr. Yes, we finished fourth, by one point in a very, very tight group where one extra goal in any of a number of games would have made the difference. It's a thin line sometimes for managers, and sometimes good managers have a poor run of results. Brian Kerr is a bloody good manager, his previous record more than proves that. Here's another stat for you - how many previous Irish managers have ever won a trophy, of any description ? However, as I've said already, if you're happy with Staunton then good luck to you. Time will tell I suppose if his record turns out to be worse than Brian Kerrs, you might be amazed if it does, I certainly won't be.

[pineapple stu]

This was achieved completely in spite of Staunton...His substitions were ridiculous both in timing and the players being substituted.

Small point, but the subs were Pat Devlin's not Stan's.

Both were made after Stan was sent off and, presumably, he had no further contact with the bench after that. Maybe they were already planned (they did arrive very soon after the sending-off), but technically at least, they were Devlin's switches, not Stan's. If you want to be conspiratorial, Devlin brought off his client who doesn't need to go into the shop window (possibly to avoid injury), while he brought on another client who hasn't had any Premiership football and for whom the exposure would be good.

[NeilMcD]

The duff sub Staunton told Devlin to do as he was been sent off.

[geysir]

Mick Byrne was the runner between the dugout and Stan.
He communicated with Stan and then came back to the dugout with the instructions for the substitutions before they were made.
Duff looked sore, in obvious pain as he came off but hard to tell really because he often has that look on his face.

[DeNiro]

Listen lads the players have lost faith in Staunton already! It doesn't matter what he does or doesn't do, this idea that they all love him is wrong. It's was obvious from Duff's face what he thought of it. What's the bets that Duff will out of next squad with injury?

[OwlsFan]

Listen lads the players have lost faith in Staunton already! It doesn't matter what he does or doesn't do, this idea that they all love him is wrong. It's was obvious from Duff's face what he thought of it. What's the bets that Duff will out of next squad with injury?

What are you saying ? A manager can't sub one of his players, who had been inffective throughout the game and who had shipped a knock (which I saw) without losing the dressing room ?

Slight overreaction there I think.

[Den Perry]

Give him a chance. We put in a decent performance in Germany IMO and that marked a significant improvement over the previous 2 games. I'd be lying if I said he doesn't worry me but if we improve half as much from now until the next game then things will be looking good. If one thing is certain I'm at least happy Kerr is gone as he definitely hadn't a clue.

Worryingly on Saturday however I couldn't see were the goals were going to come from, goals that we will undoubtedly need to have any chance of qualification. In fairness though it was a fairly defensive, uncreative midfield he selected so kick O'Shea and Kilbane out and replace them with McGeady and A Reid against Cyprus (with A Reid and S Reid in the centre) and I reckon we can do a job on them.

However, if he plays Kilbane and O'Shea against Cyprus where we need to win then there will be no doubt in my mind that he doesn't know what he's doing and all qualification hopes are gone and I would be happy to see him go.

if you think tht was a decent performance in Germany i'm afraid you are not a good judge of football

[Den Perry]

For gods sake guys give the man a break. He's had one competitive game which we didnt expect to get anything out of and was by no means a disaster. The guy deserves at least a campaign before judgement.
If he doesnt get three points in cyprus and follow that with a win at home to the czechs, then start analysing things.
But after two meaningless friendlies and a 1-0 away defeat to one of the top three best teams in the world, come on get a grip, reserve judgement for a while and get behind the team.
Plus i think its unfair for anyone to say the team didnt play with any passion on sat night.

no way is he getting a break...he wanted the job so he has to take the s hit as well...he also prob came out with the most stupid statement ive heard in football when he said that at the end of the campaign the result in germany would be of no significance....and he DID say that

He is a FOOL

[Billsthoughts]

Agree with all four of the above posts....

[Emmet]

Listen lads the players have lost faith in Staunton already! It doesn't matter what he does or doesn't do, this idea that they all love him is wrong. It's was obvious from Duff's face what he thought of it. What's the bets that Duff will out of next squad with injury?

He isn't there to win a popularity contest ... subbing Duff was a very good move imo because ALL of the team will see that no one player is above being dropped / subbed. It is when they see a manager who clearly has favourites that players react badly. Charlton did it with Brady and O'Leary to a lesser extent ... fair play to Staunton I say.

[OwlsFan]

if you think tht was a decent performance in Germany i'm afraid you are not a good judge of football

I thought it was a decent performance and I believe I am a good judge of football and that was the feeling of all my friends who were at the game with me. To go to the home of the 3rd best team in the world and to lose to a flukey OG and to make them fight all the way was a decent performance. I don't know what you expect from a team made up of some pretty average players - take the game to Germany, cut them apart, play nice one touch football and dominate them ? If so, you're not a good judge of football or footballers' abilities. We competed well. The players gave 100% and if Dunne had got that header on goal in the last few seconds we would be celebrating a 1-1 draw. The Germans created more chances than us but I'd expect that but it was a vast improvement from the Dutch game. When you think our central midfield consisted of Kilbane and O'Shea, I think we did well.

[londonirish17]

Whether we like it not, he is Ireland's Manager at least for this campaign.
Having no experience (at this level) clearly isn't in his favour.
Was it a financial matter? We'll never know anyway. Personally I've always been in favour for Martin O'Neill but that's not the point. We should give Stan a chance and who knows how things will turn out... Unfortunately though, time is running and what we need are positive results.
I also find it totally unacceptable to attract British players having no ties at all with Ireland.