Quotesorry to hear about the cruel defeatFrance were always going to be tough opponents though. Did anyone record the game or knows where highlights will be?
Problem was that they were not thinking at the end, all of them looked absolutely wiped out.
sorry to hear about the cruel defeat
First half, Ireland were really good just the last 5 mins in the half they were under a bit of pressure despite the goal.
Second Half, They were always up against it here, they defended really well upto the goal, it was a silly goal to give away but they were tired at that stage. Just lack of concentration in the last minute cost them.
I think it was a great learning curve for the players, I think they will much better for this game and should do well v Switzerland in the next game.
Very cruel on the lads but only because the goal was so late. I honestly thought they were dreadful in the second half, no composure, no technique, couldn't string 2 passes together and it was just one speculative hoof after the other. The English commentators were very charitable about our set pieces - I thought they were all crap, almost all overhit.
A comment from Billsthoughts after the last senior international, referring to his Basque friend's impression of the Irish team, saying that it wasn't even football he was watching sprung to mind. It wasn't cynical enough to be deemed "anti football" but it was very inept and lacking in structure. Only some solid defending and good goalkeeping kept us in it. I'd have been much happier if we'd lost by showing some good phases of play.
Only saw the highlights on Eurosport 2, and I have to say I was very disappointed. To be honest we were hugely flattered by the score, our lads worked as hard as you could want but the touch and the passing was inept in the second half, the French were light years ahead of us in that regard.
To me what was most disappointing was that our tactics appeared to be to protect the one goal lead by packing the midfield and hoofing long balls up for the frontman to chase. I was hoping at this level there would be more emphasis on skill and effective team movement - surely we need to be teaching our young players to be better than Route 1?
First half I felt we were excellant and kept the ball down and looked the better side according to Eurosport commentators.Last half hour we just stopped passing the ball and looked a bit short of quality.As has been mentioned we constantly over hit the ball at set pieces which was a pity because France looked shakey at the back.The subs France brought on made a huge difference and that dreadlocked guy ran amok.Would'nt be too negative because this Irish side is heralded for its great attitude rather than having star players like some of our side which never qualified.Hopefully the players the will aclimatise better with a game under their belts-they looked really tired last 15 minutes.Need two wins though if they are to have a chance.
It's difficult to be hard on them when they ran themselves into the ground against a team which clicked into higher gears in the second half.
McCaffrey barely made it through the 80 minutes and he was sitting down all the time,
(he looks a bit like Brendan Behan after a bender).
I can see they played simple for much of the second half but despite that I thought they had the point and would have deserved it. It's heartbreaking to see that stupid goal handed to the French on a plate with 4 seconds left, undoing all the previous 80 minutes.
We have a very good goalkeeper there, brave and with a tough nut.
He's still with Salthill Devon isn't he? Hasn't been picked up across the water yet which is surprising. Every time I've seen him he's looked excellent.Originally Posted by geysir
Hi from Antalya
Thought we were unlucky yesterday to cocnede so late Team were out on their feet
I thought we were the better team in the first half but totally outplayed after the break
We are easily the best supported team apart from the hosts with approx 100 fans here albeit mainly family and freinds of the players
It will be tough to qualify now as we will need to beat switzerland and at least draw with spain/
gspain, you are a total legend.
gspain's either truly hardcore or minted (or both)!!!
and self employed
I taught we were better team in the first half after they scored France dominated the game the rest of the way.
But one thing we have too remember was that the heat out there was supposed too have been into 30 degrees the french had massive advantage in that department and were Ireland not missing a couple of players?
I think we are out now as I cant see them getting result against Spain but I think Ireland can beat the Swiss
Is there a semi final or is it just group winners straight through to the final?
The Swiss will be favourites to beat us. We will be doing very well to beat them.
Ripped from MNS
Murphy's goal
http://www.sendspace.com/file/v3x3nt
All Goals
http://www.sendspace.com/file/h8dn9a
My Guarantee
Am looking for old Irish matches on VHS, PM me if you have some and I'll upload them here
So what are our chances against the Swiss? Three players are likely to come into the team for this match; Dunleavy, Hourihane and Towell.
Well the bookies have us as the outsiders but 11/8 is only the best price on the Swiss. They didn't have the hardest of qualifying groups so it's hard to judge how good they are.
The top 2 go through to a s/f.
That makes a change from previous tournaments Ireland were in.
McCaffrey was regretting the absence of a tough tackling defensive midfield general.
That's why they are called 'holding midfielders', their main role is to lead the team to hold onto a 1 goal lead.
Here we go again."Hold" back from attack would be what I would have thought. I've heard Benitez refer to Alonso as a holding midfielder and David Moyes refer to Xavi as as holding midfielder and they wouldn't be great defensively. Anyway, I seem to be in off topic mode today.
Sorry, I thought tongue in cheek was so obvious that I held back from using a smilie.
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