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

[paul_oshea]

He tried a cross in the first half which he scuffed low into the box but that's the only time he didn't find an Irish player with his final ball from what I can remember. You can't just ignore Duff's poor first half and say he was better overall.

Ya that could be true, cos he kept doing too much and lost it and didnt get a chance to pass!!! running inside in a diagnoal, though some of this may somewhat be down to the lack of running from other players.

[jbyrne]

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

some people just can see past their one sided pre-conceived view of players. kilbane had a fine game last night and was more than adequate at full back. brought mcgeady into the game very well at times with accurate passing.

mcgeady is two footed we are told but prefers his left. he is not predominantly right footed though

[eirebhoy]

mcgeady is two footed we are told but prefers his left.

Prefers his right. When he plays on the right he'll play more as a winger. On the left he'll come inside more which is best in terms of shooting, through balls and link up.

[paul_oshea]

Saw the highlights on rte after, looks like the rte boys are very keen on a Trap and Brady management team.

do ye think thats why he isn't on the panel at the moment?! or at least last night?!

[eirebhoy]

do ye think thats why he isn't on the panel at the moment?! or at least last night?!

He was commentating.

[Billsthoughts]

Agree to a large extent but what many here have pointed out that it's a dearth of central midfielders that is the root of the problem. Central midfield is so sub-standard that the rest of the team struggles to function. CM should be a conduit from the back 4 to the front 2 or the wide men. I also think that speculative rather than measured passing is far too common in our game. Full backs chipping the ball 30 yards up the touchline, Carsley thinking he's Tom Brady picking out Robbie Keane from 40 yards etc.

Bill, did you see the U21 game? From the start Ireland set about playing a crisp, up-tempo passing game and having seen the drivel we've seen from the senior team in the last few years it was really good to see. You might even have liked it.

As for the atmosphere: it was an exhibition match with even less meaning than the usual friendlies as there was no manager in place. When the Bulgarians or others come to town with something for us to play for it'll be a different story. You don't tend to get an atmosphere at club friendlies either and I'll bet there wasn't much atmosphere at many of the other friendlies last night.

Croker is too big for us in my opinion anyway. Many have criticised the capacity of the new Lansdowne as beeing too small, I think it's just right.

I didn't realise Neil was joking. I was putting Tuesday nights into my diary

No didnt see the U21 game. Dont have sky. Atmosphere poor at most games bar the Czech Republic home one. Who played in midfield for U21s? any chance of them coming thru in this campaign?

If a lad from San Sebastien is shocked at the lack of technical ability of the Irish team("they dont seem to play with...." and then he tapped his head and made a confused expression!) what is trappatoni going to make of them?

Oh I didnt think Neil was an actual person? I thought he was just a comic creation..

[eirebhoy]

Reid, Garvan and Ireland would make a huge difference to us in terms of technical ability to add to Duff, McGeady and Keane. I wouldn't worry about that.

[Billsthoughts]

Reid, Garvan and Ireland would make a huge difference to us in terms of technical ability to add to Duff, McGeady and Keane. I wouldn't worry about that.

I think Cyprus away proved that alrite...

[eirebhoy]

I think Cyprus away proved that alrite...

Cyprus away is the answer for every argument. We played a central midfield of Ireland and Kilbane against Cyprus. I predicted before the match that it was doomed to fail. Between them they've got none of the positional sense needed to play central midfield. Kilbane doesn't do a bad job when he's following someone elses lead but when he has to figure out by himself what positions he should be in he's lost.

[geysir]

some people just can see past their one sided pre-conceived view of players. kilbane had a fine game last night and was more than adequate at full back. brought mcgeady into the game very well at times with accurate passing.

Most will root for Kilbane regardless of opinions and his 15 seconds was well deserved. I thought he did a little better last night but as his club manager said, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to work out that he is not a natural full back.

[geysir]

do ye think thats why he isn't on the panel at the moment?! or at least last night?!

I interpreted Brady's co commentating for RTE last night as a diplomatic move to take Brady out of the inevitable studio debate on the new manager.
I'm always looking for signs

[Billsthoughts]

Cyprus away is the answer for every argument. We played a central midfield of Ireland and Kilbane against Cyprus. I predicted before the match that it was doomed to fail. Between them they've got none of the positional sense needed to play central midfield. Kilbane doesn't do a bad job when he's following someone elses lead but when he has to figure out by himself what positions he should be in he's lost.

You give the ball away cheaply and sooner or later you will be exposed. In Cyprus we were exposed big time. But it had been coming for years. We really nead to look at what we do when we have the ball as opposed to what we do when we dont.

[Stuttgart88]

Garvan, O'Toole and Quinn were superb on Tuesday. Your mate from san Sebastien would have been impressed. McCaffrey deserves credit for telling them how to go about it and the lads played with a confidence and willingness to pass until they just got knackered.

I know I look at things through green tinted specs and a strong dose of valium but these lads have what it takes, Quinn maybe lacking the physique but certainly not the energy and mobility. Both O'Toole and Garvan are proper athletes.

[Billsthoughts]

I dont doubt they were good on tuesday. Fond memories of watching Ireland under 20s in malaysia(on telly). first time I had ever seen an Irish team play football the way the rest of the world does.
Who is O Toole? who does he play for?

[John83]

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


Discuss

He also got one of the biggest boos of the night for the same reason. It's pathetic.

[Ozymandias]

I dont doubt they were good on tuesday. Fond memories of watching Ireland under 20s in malaysia(on telly). first time I had ever seen an Irish team play football the way the rest of the world does.
Who is O Toole? who does he play for?

Watford

[Stuttgart88]

Fond memories of watching Ireland under 20s in malaysia

yeah, but the atmosphere was crap

[Billsthoughts]

yeah, but the atmosphere was crap

your sig....

[paul_oshea]

I interpreted Brady's co commentating for RTE last night as a diplomatic move to take Brady out of the inevitable studio debate on the new manager.
I'm always looking for signs

exactly what i was thinking, i saw him up commentating alright, and was pleasantly surprised to see him there!!!

[Bondvillain]

He looked a bit embarrassed about being on the big screen alright.