Republic of Ireland V Brazil - Wednesday, 6th February 2008 - Friendly

[Armando]

I thought Kilbane might be our best bet for Left Full, but he was absolutely atrocious tonight defensively. Can anybody explain why Duff was played on the right and he's left footed and vice versa with mcgeady....MADNESS

Not really madness at all. McGeady plays on the left cutting inside. Best to keep him there for Ireland too and on tonights evidence it was the right decision.

Hunt 9 did more in 18 minutes than the rest of the team combined.

Laughable comment.

Pretty much made the wrong decision every time he got the ball...and I'm fed up with a large proportion of fans hailing his introduction into games as if he's our great saviour and then hollering at him to run with it every time he gets the ball - he's becoming a sort of freakshow!

He has a contribution to make to this Ireland team and i actually think he's in the very top bracket of crossers of the ball in the premiership...he was brutal tonight though.

Edit: And on Robbie Keane, who I think gets ridiculous abuse from Ireland fans (I actually heard a few muppets boo his name at the team announcements), twice tonight he got in good positions unmarked darting in from the back post with an Ireland player in full possession just outside the box and on both occasions the early ball was not played across and no chance materialised. At Spurs that ball is played into him every time...and he gets a shot on goal, invariably scoring

[kingdomkerry]

same old problems for me. Central midfield. we really need a creative midfielder and someone who can make a few tackles. our backs were solid enough, wingers good enough, midfield was poor and as a result forwards were poor.

Anyone for centre midfield lads thats our real problem

[geysir]

I was very pleased with Duff, Keane and McGeady
We did miss a great opportunity for Morrison to return. In fact if he is anywhere near his best form I´d have him with Keane.

It's the Foot ie mantra repeating itself, centre midfield.
If we played anyone else, who was available to play in midfield, instead of Carsley, we would have been swamped.
We are fécked without Andy Reid, we havent a hope of being able to play the 2 Reids together and will be fortunate to have one of them fit at any one time. It´s time to make a serious decision over the new seniors coming through.

Givens did well considering.
Minus points for not having Morrison on the bench.

[tetsujin1979]

Given - Solid without being spectacular, thought he was unsighted for the goal, or might have thought Carsley was going to block the ball

Kelly - Actually thought he was decent enough, especially going forward

Dunne - One slack pass does not a bad game make

O'Shea - Pass marks, just

Kilbane - Like I said in the build up thread, his positional sense as a left full is woeful, there was frequently an amount of space for the opposing right winger to move into. He'll be telling his grandkids about how he skinned a Brazilian full back though!

McGeady - For the first ten minutes and most of the second half he was the best Irish player on the pitch

Carsley - Why was he taking frees with Duff and McGeady on the pitch?

Miller - Was good in possession, but needs to learn when to release the ball

Potter - Not as good as Miller, not as bad as Carsley

Duff - Anonymous in the 1st half, vastly improved in the second when you could see him growing in confidence. If he kept having to come on to his left foot to pass, why was he not just started on the left?

Doyle - Worked hard with little pay off. His clearance from a corner was the best thing he did in the game

Keane - Worked even harder, dropped deep, moved out wide, could have equalised

Hunt - Worked hard to try and make something out of nothing, but never really got to grips with the game

[Serb]

I thought we weren't great tonight, but the team seemed solid enough all the same. A few points on what I thought of tonight:

• McGeady obviously made some really good runs throughout the game and was probably our best performer over 90 minutes.
• Duff was rubbish in the first half, didn't look comfortable at all on the right-hand side (skewing a couple of right-footed crosses behind the goal). However, he looked twice the player in the second half and was really impressed by his second 45 minutes.
• You could be forgiven for thinking Doyle was never on the pitch
• Kilbane, while not the worst, tended to tuck in right beside the two centre backs leaving a lot of space for the Brazilian right-back to explore.
• Carsley, O'Shea, Dunne and Kelly all looked reasonably solid, looked like Carsley was caught a bit square for the goal, but it was a good hit all the same.
• Given, could he have done more for the goal? I'd need another look at it, but on first impressions I felt he could have saved it. Granted, he may have been unsighted as Carsley was right in front of the ball and there were a couple of other players in the general vicinity.
• I thought Miller was ineffective tonight, Potter didn't really improve things
• Hunt was ok, but I felt taking off Doyle was taking off the player most likely to benefit from his crossing. I would have replaced Doyle with another striker and put Hunt on for Duff / McGeady maybe. The team looked unbalanced with Hunt, McGeady and Duff all on the pitch at once.

[eirebhoy]

Kilbane - Like I said in the build up thread, his positional sense as a left full is woeful, there was frequently an amount of space for the opposing right winger to move into. He'll be telling his grandkids about how he skinned a Brazilian full back though!

Yeh spot on with that and it really shows Staunton up that we can spot his terrible positional sense yet he plays him as the main man in midfield away to Cyprus.

If he kept having to come on to his left foot to pass, why was he not just started on the left?

This one is open for debate. Messi plays right midfield for Barca but has to drift inside all the time. Just gives him more options for a shot or a through ball. Obviously playing as an out and out winger means he can get a cross in but we're not seeing very many goals scored from crosses in open play these days.

[RivaldoBabb]

I thought both Duff and McGeady played well on the wings, both those along with Hunt as an impact player means we are pretty much sorted in the wide areas for the qualifying campaign.

Still a massive problem in central midfield, an area where Ireland have historically always been strong is p1ss poor at the moment, Carsley is too slow, Miller isnt strong enough and Potter probably not good enough. If we are to have any chance of qualification then we need the passing and guile of Andy Reid and the running power of Stephen Reid...if only they could stay fit.

[mypost]

Little can be taken out of the game. It is a friendly, where the result doesn't matter. Kerr and Staunton started out by winning friendlies, which didn't get us very far in the long run. Better teams than us lose to Brazil, so no harm done.

One negative was the way the goal was conceded, on the break. With Trap in charge, that wouldn't happen. It's good that it happens now, rather than in the autumn.

[eirebhoy]

Still a massive problem in central midfield, an area where Ireland have historically always been strong is p1ss poor at the moment, Carsley is too slow, Miller isnt strong enough and Potter probably not good enough. If we are to have any chance of qualification then we need the passing and guile of Andy Reid and the running power of Stephen Reid...if only they could stay fit.

Owen Garvan deserves a shout too. I'd honestly throw him in now and that was my opinion months ago.

The team tonight was an ideal Trapattoni team btw.

[jebus]

First live game with Ireland in just over 15 years and I have a few comments to make.

Ireland are as hopeless tactically as Limerick 37
It really is run at the opposition and hope for the best isn't it?

Brazil's reserve team wanked on what was nearly a full Irish team and could have scored more if they could be arsed
People will call me a wum for saying it, but it's true, and yet a lot of you expect this team to qualify for the world cup

The atmosphere was equal to Limerick playing away to Kilkenny last year

And that's probably doing last year's Kilkenny-Limerick 37 game a diservice. All in all it confirmed why I couldn't give two figs about international football in general and the Republic of Ireland national team in particular

[jmurphyc]

The atmosphere was equal to Limerick playing away to Kilkenny last year

And that's probably doing last year's Kilkenny-Limerick 37 game a diservice. All in all it confirmed why I couldn't give two figs about international football in general and the Republic of Ireland national team in particular

It was a friendly FFS. There were plenty of daytrippers there. If you're looking for atmosphere, try an away game where the hardcore support goes.

[eirebhoy]

jebus - we'll see. Nothing more to add.

Can I just add. You commented on the atmosphere. The vast majority of people at the match are just like you. Guys that don't feel the need to sing. I find it really hard to find someone in this country to talk about our team that's not slagging the team off. It's pretty frustrating. I simply couldn't do without foot.ie.

[jebus]

It was a friendly FFS. There were plenty of daytrippers there. If you're looking for atmosphere, try an away game where the hardcore support goes.

Not going to bother from the tripe on show tonight. Again I'll probably be called a wum for saying this but the team were as poor as anything I've seen in the Eircom League. As for the atmosphere being poor because it was a home game is all I have to say. If you can't get it right for a home game against Brazil then you won't be able to get it right scrapping past Georgia. Just look at the Brazil support for what it should be like, and they aren't the hardcore before you say it

[mypost]

First live game with Ireland in just over 15 years and I have a few comments to make.

All in all it confirmed why I couldn't give two figs about international football in general and the Republic of Ireland national team in particular

So why did you deprive someone out of a ticket then? What were you expecting, a WC game atmosphere maybe? Maybe you should wait until when(ever) Limerick make the AIH final, before going there again.

[jebus]

So why did you deprive someone out of a ticket then?

Because I felt like it, next

[jmurphyc]

As for the atmosphere being poor because it was a home game is all I have to say.

I was talking about games with the best atmosphere. Generally the support is a lot better away from home with any team because that is where it will mostly be people who truly care go. If you say that's not true, then you're an idiot. And anyway, everyone has been talking about how the atmosphere is much worse at CP. Once the games are back in Lansdowne it will improve.

[eirebhoy]

Not going to bother from the tripe on show tonight. Again I'll probably be called a wum for saying this but the team were as poor as anything I've seen in the Eircom League.

wum or not that's simply deluded. Anyway, that's the last time I'm replying to you because you've a habit of turning threads into heated debates. I'm off to bed.

And btw, replying to a post with "Because I felt like it" isn't a good idea. That should be pretty obvious if you understand how foot.ie and any decent forum works by now.

[jebus]

wum or not that's simply deluded. Anyway, that's the last time I'm replying to you because you've a habit of turning threads into heated debates. I'm off to bed.

And btw, replying to a post with "Because I felt like it" isn't a good idea. That should be pretty obvious if you understand how foot.ie and any decent forum works by now.

Why isn't it a good idea? Ask a stupid question get a stupid answer and all that. And please tell me how the Irish tactics differ from the standard Eircom League hit and hope

I was talking about games with the best atmosphere. Generally the support is a lot better away from home with any team because that is where it will mostly be people who truly care go. If you say that's not true, then you're an idiot. And anyway, everyone has been talking about how the atmosphere is much worse at CP. Once the games are back in Lansdowne it will improve.

I agree that away matches is where the best support is, but I commented on the poor atmosphere at home, you just through that insult in because you couldn't respond to my response, good one though

[NeilMcD]

jebus - we'll see. Nothing more to add.

Can I just add. You commented on the atmosphere. The vast majority of people at the match are just like you. Guys that don't feel the need to sing. I find it really hard to find someone in this country to talk about our team that's not slagging the team off. It's pretty frustrating. I simply couldn't do without foot.ie.

Eirebhoy we are going to meet up every Tuesday in Kates Cottage accross the road from Connolly.

It will be called the positive Ireland football fan. People talking positive about Irish football with a healthy interest in the underage set up and the eircom league as well as Irish players playing in England and Scotland and beyone. Stuttgart 88 can give special appearances ever so often and Tuff Paddy can reports from the pub for Sky etc.

[Tis-smeee]

Anderson getting the biggest cheer of the night coming on, presumably because hes a united player.


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