Ireland-Bolivia Match Thread

[Soper]

Man, that piercing had to hurt

[geysir]

Henderson came out with the goalkeeping honours, one superb save. If only he was in that form against the Czechs.
Can't make much of that game, it looked hot out there.
O'Brien wasn't any worse than many of the others, it's just you know he hasn't much more to offer, no way should he be in the next squad.
I was actually dissapointed with KK, I would have expected much more from him in midfield. You notice O'Halloran and Murphy easy enough.
Murphy has the gait of Cascarino in the way he puts himself but without the heading ability at present.

[tetsujin1979]

Watched the delayed coverage on RTE 2.

I felt that this was a little disappointing after the result on wednesday, where the team, especially the midfield showed much more willingness to work together. The performance tonight was disjointed, although this can be down to the number of changes in the side.
I had hoped that the early goal would settle the side a bit, Bolivia had already showed some nice touches on the ball and appeared a bit naive in defence. Long had already shown a willingness to shoot on sight, and took his goal well. An excellent cross from Alan O'Brien despatched off the keeper's hand. You could argue the goalie should have done better, but they all count.
Unfortunately the lead lasted less than 90 seconds, some sharp Bolivia play led to a shot that was not well cleared, and the ball fell luckily for the full back to ghost past Potter, make space in the area and shoot past Colgan.
The first half was a mix of long shots from Bolivia and attempt from Ireland to release Long with long passes, bypassing midfield completely. What was needed here was leadership from the senior players, especially the captain Kilbane. In goals, Nicky Colgan could be heard barking orders to the inexperienced defence. The Bolivian defence had already been shown to buckle under pressure, but the team was having problems keeping possession and were unable to work the ball up the pitch. In contrast, the Bolivians were smart in possession, similar to Chile at Lansdowne last year.
Kelly was having a nightmare in the unfamiliar left full berth, Bennett and Murphy were repeatedly making saving tackles, and O'Cearuill looked the most comfortable, despite also being played out of position at right full. Bolivia's attacks seemed to come from the right and through the middle, with O'Cearuill ably dealing with anything coming down their left.
With the introduction of the naturally left footed O'Halloran at half time, the defending improved. O'Halloran also pushed forward, and made several telling crosses. Also introduced were Doyle and Murphy, for Long and Gamble, adding a physical presence to the 11 that was missing.
Murphy in particular played the target man well and could be another option up front in future.
Stokes started up front and had arguably the best chance of the first half, neatly chipping the keeper when played through and just clearing the crossbar. Following Murphy's introduction, he was moved to the right wing. He definitely has skill and is well able to run, dribble with the ball and shoot, bringing the best out of the Bolivian keeper with a series of long range attempts, but needs to learn when to distribute the ball better.
As more players were introduced on both sides the game inevitably petered out and finished a draw, although it could easily have finished 5 apiece, both goals leading a charmed life at times.

With the tour finishing unbeaten, there are several positives to be taken from it

• Potter as a central midfielder

• O'Halloran at left full

• O'Cearuill in defence

• Colin Doyle getting his first cap and performing well

• Long getting his first goal

• Hunt as an able deputy on the left

• Bennett could be an option at centre half in the coming season

And Staunton has surely learned a few things:

• Stephen Kelly unfortunately cannot play left full

• Alan O'Brien has pace and some control, but cannot cross at pace, he needs time and space to do it. I'd actually like to see him tried out as a Connolly-style striker (at club level obviously)

• The team is still short of leaders

Overall, I feel it was a worthwhile exercise, and doubtless there are some players in the senior side who will feel their squad position may be under threat (Douglas, for example)

[BobbySands]

Living in Boston I can attest to the fact that temperature wise today was a scorcher (90's) so it may have had an effect.

[timmy mallet]

• O'Halloran at left full

• O'Cearuill in defence

• Bennett could be an option at centre half in the coming season

None of these lads are going to be anywhere near first team football next season - and even if Bennet is, it won't be in the Prem. They are good young footballers (-Bennet) but it will be a long time before they are decent internationals.

• Long getting his first goal

Terrible defending and even worse goalkeeping, he will get eaten up in the premiership and international level.

• Hunt as an able deputy on the left

'Able' is about all he is, w/o Duff we are fu**ed.

• Alan O'Brien ... I'd actually like to see him tried out as a Connolly-style striker (at club level obviously)

Too many WKD's tonight, lad.

While I think it's been a worthwhile trip, I don't think it tells us a whole lot we didn't already know. Kevin Doyle is quality, Stokes will be very good and Potter and O'Halloran did well, but I don't think will cut it at this level.

[kingdom hoop]

None of these lads are going to be anywhere near first team football next season - and even if Bennet is, it won't be in the Prem.

Why did Martin O'Neill not allow O'Halloran to stay out on loan at Wycombe? Why did Steve Coppell buy Alan Bennet? Why did Arsene Wenger have Joe O'Cearuill on the bench against Portsmouth a few weeks ago? No need for being both unrealistic and negative in the same sentence. At least if one is unrealistic let the proclomation be hopeful, especially in this silly season.

[onceahoop]

Tought O'Halloran looked the business. In the Ecuador matc.h in the first 20 minutes Kelly gave it the hoof about 6 times and didn't come near finding a team mate. The team last night looked tired near the end. Even Hunt wasn't his usual self when he came on. BTW Kilbane gave Hunt the Captains armband when coming off and he gave it to Potter.

[bennocelt]

doubtcha joey gamble boy!

wheres that clown gone that thought he was there to make up numbers?

sorry but he is
Gamble will never make it, as far as doing it in England goes, he is useless

[bennocelt]

Overall a poor performance.

Colgan: Did not command his area
Henderson: Quite a few excellent saves
O‘Halloran: Looks to have great potential
The defense: Very Poor
Potter: Good first half, weak second. Some way to go to challenge for a starting place. One of the best on the night though.
O'Brien: A few useful crosses, but given the space he was allowed should have done better. Way off international class.
Stokes: Again great potential
Murphy: Very strong performace when he came on, one of the few positives.
Gamble: Hopeless, let the home based fans on this site down. A lesson to lay off the college kid.
Hunt: Confirmed his place as an impact player late (very) on in the game. Just realised how much we will miss Duff.

pretty much how i called it as well
except, i though colgan did command his area very well, constantly shouting and roaring at his backline, who were pi ss poor
i thought bennett did alright, potter was good in the first half, o brien is useless and cant cross a simple ball, i already know how bad gamble is, murphy was good whenhe came on, and stokes did alright and was unlucky not to score
kelly was no good at the back, kept getting skinned, and kilbane had his usual poor match performance
a good match to watch but both defences were very bad, but the pitch looked dire and it was a friendly

[shakermaker1982]

I thought the lads did well.

The defence was not helped by the fact that our CM was as leaky as a burst water main. We still need a ball winner with composure - hopefully S Reid recovers fully from his bad injury and can do a job for us next season. I wouldn't classify him as a holding MF player but he has a decent engine and a very good passer of the ball.

O'Halloran impressed once again. Hopefully he breaks into Villa first team next season and stays there. Henderson made some brilliant saves and shows Ireland don't need Paddy Kenny as a number 2/3/4.

Murphy looks the business as well. All in all I'm optimistic for our future - most of these lads will be playing in the PL next season and will only improve.

[Dr. Ogba]

Stokes ran with his head down at times just a slid a pass out to Hunt at one stage instead did not look up to see him. I thought O'Brien was not bad i thought he put it a few decent crosses. That lad Gleeson or however you spell his name from Wolves could be one for the future but overall i thought there were very few young lads that i found myself saying wow he looks good and will make it for sure, bar O‘Halloran who i think we will be seeing more of.

yeah I agree with you on this, I think Stokes has the potential to be one of the most frustrating players I've ever watched (the new Robbie Keane anyone?)...he did the same thing in the u19s game against Germany, held on to it far too long instead of playing it simple...
Hopefully Keane can get the same out of him as with Murphy who I thought looked quite impressive when he came on..

Also what was Babb on about saying Gleeson was attracting interest from Barcelona was that a p!ss take along the lines of Gary Breen to Barcelona 2002?

[GavinZac]

Gamble: Hopeless, let the home based fans on this site down. A lesson to lay off the college kid.

Why was he played on the right? Why, when stan wanted to change things around, did he just tell joe to push up? The lad is a defensive midfielder and spent most of the half he got playing off the strikers. ridiculous by stan, if he was going to do that he called up the wrong cork city player. I mean, roy o'donovan plays up front and on the wing for city, he must have been bemused as to why his teammate was representing ireland in his position.

i agree that joe didnt acquit himself as well as he could have but to base him on a half of football out of position in a nothing match is hardly fair. as usual i guess, it'll take him moving to england and playing in position there for a few weeks before the "experts" on the international scene here start talking him up.

As for the rest of the team, gamble wasn't exactly sticking out like a sore thumb in playing poorly. They hadn't trained the day before and it showed. Stokes wasted far too much and looked like a bluffer half the time, jumping around but not actually creating much. Alan O'Brien was fast but his performance was saved by long converting his best (arguably only) use of the ball all night. Defence again looked suspect but it will if they go into a game never having played together and with no training together. I thought steven kelly did well but we knew about him, and bennett did the better out of the centre backs, although murphy was a big improvement on bruce.

long up front frustrates me. he very much has the potential to be great but if he wastes chances like trying to meg the keeper one-on-one, it will harm his game. hopefully he'll learn from it as he's very young.

[pete]

i agree that joe didnt acquit himself as well as he could have but to base him on a half of football out of position in a nothing match is hardly fair.

If we are to judge other players on a few minutes then its fair to judge Gamble by the same standards.

Gamble did not have a good game. I think the heat & the fact he played in two unfamiliar roles affect his game.

O'Brien may have laid on a perfect cross for Longs goal but you can see he is raw & inexperienced. He does not track back & does not look up i.e. he will always run the line & cross so defenders will figure that out quickly. He may have potential but needs a season or two of first team football before ready for International football.

Stokes can impress with some runs but he also raw & relatively unproven at any decent level of football. He has not played that much for Sunderland since his high profile move. He needs to learn when to pass the ball.

I think Colin Doyle will become backup to Given if he can stay in the Birmingham first team. O'Halloran did well coming forward but looked naive in defence. Without bias i think Bennet did very well considering he had to play with so many different players - he is however currently 5th choice at Reading so will be difficult to break into their team.

I think the only other players that will make move to full strength senior squad are Potter & Daryl Murphy.

[cavan_fan]

i agree that joe didnt acquit himself as well as he could have but to base him on a half of football out of position in a nothing match is hardly fair. as usual i guess, it'll take him moving to england and playing in position there for a few weeks before the "experts" on the international scene here start talking him up.

Anyone else think that if Gamble had played the pass for Long's goal, we'd be hearing fom cetain people how he has to start in the Autumn and it vindicated the entire LOI. Gamble is not going to get many chances and needed to impress. Thats tough but realistic.

[GavinZac]

Anyone else think that if Gamble had played the pass for Long's goal, we'd be hearing fom cetain people how he has to start in the Autumn and it vindicated the entire LOI. Gamble is not going to get many chances and needed to impress. Thats tough but realistic.

i disagree i'd have called it a poor game out of position even if he had supplied the cross, but, succinctly please, why should he get any less chances than alan o'brien?

[Dodge]

Anyone else think that if Gamble had played the pass for Long's goal, we'd be hearing fom cetain people how he has to start in the Autumn and it vindicated the entire LOI. Gamble is not going to get many chances and needed to impress. Thats tough but realistic.

Think only Corkies would be claiming that but agree he missed a huge oppurtunity.

[bohsRap]

In goals, Nicky Colgan could be heard barking orders to the inexperienced defence.

I heard him too. Sounded like he just wanted his defenders to balloon the ball up forward, which would explain why we aimlessly drilled the ball forward only to be scooped up by the opposing defenders or keeper.

On another note Alan O'Brien is muck. Good pace but just kicks the ball in to the box without looking up. Totally useless and shouldn't be called up again unless he develops a decent left foot.

[eirebhoy]

I can barely remember the match tbh. Hopefully Martin O'Neill was watching anyway as we could really do with a left back. I'm not a fan of playing Stokes as a number 10 or on the wing. Play him as an out and out striker and he'll get you goals. At Falkirk he was their main striker with Gow playing off him and Latapy the creater. At Celtic park he was really disciplined. He just stayed up front and didn't have to drop deep. Watching him drop deep is just frustrating.

[theworm2345]

Anyone else think that if Gamble had played the pass for Long's goal, we'd be hearing fom cetain people how he has to start in the Autumn and it vindicated the entire LOI. Gamble is not going to get many chances and needed to impress. Thats tough but realistic.

I don't think anyone who played yesterday (besides Kilbane) should start or even really be on the bench (maybe Potter or Kelly) in the fall. I can think if 4 or 5 strikers I'd rather have than Long or Stokes (in 2007 at least, maybe in a few years...) and Colgan should probably be behind Kenny

[timmy mallet]

Why did Martin O'Neill not allow O'Halloran to stay out on loan at Wycombe? Why did Steve Coppell buy Alan Bennet?

Did O'Neil bring him back in January and play him in the first team? Did he **** , why did he bring him back, brains?

You would have thought that with Reading safe from relegation since January that Bennet might have got a run, not a chance.