Ireland Vs. Romania

bizmark

Id pay money to have clinton subed i really would

thejollyrodger

come on lads, only 6 minutes left !! we need a goal robbie

SUB McGeady and say adios to scotland !!

2059: The Republic of Ireland continue to pose the greater threat, but Romania's defensive unit has so far held firm.

bizmark

Originally posted by thejollyrodger
come on lads, only 6 minutes left !! we need a goal robbie

SUB McGeady and say adios to scotland !!

6 minutes ? theres 20 minutes left of normal time

Villain

Originally posted by thejollyrodger
only 6 minutes left !!

Really???

bizmark

Theres 73 minuets of time gone

Villain

Originally posted by bizmark
Theres 73 minuets of time gone

I was think there was more than 6 minutes left.

Come on Lads

bizmark

Ah ffs kerr took off reid :rolleyes: for rowland (Sp)

Pacifico

Rowlands on for Reid. 77 mins.

Villain

WTF is Kerr is at by the text commentary I have seen Reid seemed to have been having a great game!!

Why not take off Morrison and give McGeady or Connolly a go???

ShriekingSheet

Originally posted by bizmark
Can you answer me wtf do we play clinton ? to me hes like irelands version of heskey tbh

The tragic irony of that statement is Heskey would prolly get in our team!

bizmark

YES JUSTISE! 1-0 holland

Villain

Originally posted by bizmark
YES JUSTISE! 1-0 holland

Go on Ireland, thats they way to do it.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Villain

Originally posted by ShriekingSheet
The tragic irony of that statement is Heskey would prolly get in our team!

NEVER:rolleyes:

DRakE

gwan the ireland

bizmark

Honest to god there would be no justise in this world if we didnt win the game

we where by FAR the better team

thejollyrodger

2116: GOAL: Republic of Ireland 1-0 Romania

ahhhhhhhhh that feeels GREAT come on IRELAND

KEAN OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO:D

Big Nelly

Class goal and class game by Ireland! playin very well! Keane has made the differnece in midfield that was lackin in a few games!! SWITHERLAND game for one!! Miller looks like a bargain for Utd

Big Nelly

Miller MoM......class

bizmark

MOM : Miller

ya great player tbh

bizmark

just need to hang on for 3 more mins and we win (4 mins stopage time was added)

bizmark

Oh ya thats the way it should be

1-0 should of been 2-0 at least but clintons played/is crap

Go on ireland !!! and welcome back roy

Villain

Great result, looking forward to watching the game when I get home.

Go on Ireland!!!

thejollyrodger

is it on tv?

Villain

Originally posted by thejollyrodger
is it on tv?

Yep TV3 10pm

Pepe LeFrits

Originally posted by bizmark
Oh ya thats the way it should be

1-0 should of been 2-0 at least but clintons played/is crap

Go on ireland !!! and welcome back roy

jesus would you ever stfu about Morrison, in case you didn't notice he made that goal and did a lot better than golden boy Robbie 'i think i'll dribble the ball into the net' Keane. He worked his ass off (as did Keane), and did reasonably well to hold up the ball from the endless long balls hoofed forward in his general direction. It didn't quite come for him in front of goal but that's how it goes sometimes.

Good performance by Ireland, nearly all positives. The midfield looked good although Holland was invisible once again. Miller showed some nice touches and link-ups, Keane kept things ticking over and Reid was pretty positive going forward. Kenny Cunningham looked badly exposed for pace in the early stages but was solid after that. O'Brien/Finnan/Maybury all did well.

Big Nelly

For once in a few years I have a smile on my face with the Ireland team! think that the football they(didnt want to say we cause I couldnt kick a ball straight) played was great! great play in midfield but Holland's goal covered up for a poor game for him! Morrison wasnt the best but I think at this stage he should move from Birmingham!! didnt score enought last season and if he was scoring goals he wud have tucked away a few! But as Bruce says he makes goal!!! Keane(Roy and Robbie) and the goal he created.......

Solid display from Ireland!! was very impressed and I think Kerr is doing a great job so far!! as you can guess Im happy!! haha

For the WCC

Given

Carr O'Brien Cunningham O'Shea

Miller Keane Reid Duff

Keane Morrison

Wat u tink?

KdjaCL

Maybury was out of his depth there , Cunningham looked sleepy but on the whole we played well.

Think with Harte at left back and Duff instead of Holland ,Reid and Duff switching wings as they see fit to.
We could have a decent team ,decent enough to carry Morrision.

keane played well and the whole team had shape due to his influence, he even made some runs forward!

/me hugs me plane ticket to Brussels and match ticket for France game in Paris.

kdjac

red-not-blue

I thought the reception Roy Keane got was fantastic not a single boo for the first 10 or 15 minutes anyway. Hopefully this is the first of many more appearances by him for Ireland. He wasted no time showing the crowd why he has been missed and even without the armband he behaved as if he was the captain.

I thought the team played a much better keep ball game and Roy giving out to Given for wanting to kick the ball up the field shows the effect he had.

It looks like the booboys - Roy betrayed us - lot are in the minority after all.

A good not great game with a deserved win for the team. Miller deserved the award of man of the match.

RNB

AngelofFire

A great reception for roy keane. made the atmosphere so much better. they were even chanting his name moments before the kickoff

AngelofFire

An excellent performance by young miller. he truly deserved man of the match.

individual ratings

Given 6 Finnan 6 O`brien 7 Cunningham 5 Maybury 5 Miller 9 Holland 8 Keane 7 Reid 6 Morisson 5 Keane 4

eirebhoy

i'm delighted with the teams performance tonight. Its amazing to think that if you took Keane out of that midfield (even though he could have played better) tonight and replaced him with someone like Kinsella we wouldn't have played half as well. I'm delighted only a minority of the fans booed Keane and he settled in very well considering what had gone before.

The defence didn't look the strongest tonight but the quality of the midfield play made up for that. I don't think Finnan has been performing to his standards since his move to Liverpool and tonights performance was average. Carr still owns that spot but he also needs to raise his game if we want to go to Germany. The Cunningham-O'Brien partnership now looks certain to be the no.1 for the qualifiers. Maybury again didn't have he best of games but he was forced into giving long balls a lot of the time as Reid was playing inside a lot.

There wasn't a lot of width in midfield but that suited the team and forced them to play short passes (We're slowly moving away from the Jack Charlton era). We have a history of getting goals from set pieces or long balls but tonight we seemed able to break the Romanian's down and get in a couple of through balls. Miller played excellent out on the right and I think he could make that position his own, he's no winger but he has played on the right of midfield for Celtic a few times and always impressed. He doesn't get the chance to run with the ball as much playing in the middle. We have about 5 players in with a chance of partnering Roy and I really hope its not Holland. He plays so much better for Charlton and I don't think we need a player who doesn't give 100% for 'his' country. I also don't think he is the type of player that should partner Roy, Kavanagh would be my preference.

Morrison worked very hard tonight and unless McGeady shoots onto the stage he will partner Robbie for the qualifiers. I couldn't care if he scored 1 goal in every 10 games, he holds the ball up well and spots the right passes. The only other option is to play Duffer up front, a lot of people slated McCarthy for it but with Reid and Miller now in the team I think it would work. When McCarthy was in charge he would play Kilbane, Keane, Holland/Kinsella, McAteer in midfield. I think the team we have now would suit having Duff up front or just behind Keane.

Ratings: Given (6) - Nothing much to do, I always feel nervous when the ball is rolling to him and he stops it giving players time to attack him.
Finnan (6) - Nothing special but good defensively.
Maybury (5) - He passed the ball backwards to much and put Given under unnecessary early on.
Cunnigham (6) - Caught out on pace a couple of times but otherwise good.
O'Brien (7) - He was the best of the back four, worked hard and won nearly everything in the air.
Miller (9) - Every pass was spot on and many of them were long balls into the box. Was always in the right place at the right time.
Reid (7) - Gave the Romanians a bit of trouble and a few of his passes went astray but otherwise worked hard and had a positive effect.
Keane (8) - He played a lot more forward than usual and it nearly paid off on a few occasions. He could have put in more work but he wasn't 100% fit and not to be risked in a friendly.
Holland (6) -I would be repeating what I say after every match, he got the 6 rating for his goals and a few tackles.
Morrison (6) - If I was to rate him by his standards he'd probably get an 8 but he's not international class. He falls over too much and he never (ever) wins a header. His wide play was good and the assist was well taken.
Keane (6) - He got a lot of supply but didn't put it to good use. He should have passed it to Miller on one occassion but never even looked up to see him. But, worked hard and at 23 has a lot to learn.

Good match overall and I learnt a lot from a match a lot of people call(ed) meaningless.:)

BTW - About the qualifiers, I said this on another board today. I really believe we will win our group and the reason is because the Frence midfield is getting weaker. By the time we play them in Dublin, Zidane will be 33, Pires will be 32, Makelele 32 and Vieira 29. They haven't got a lot of midfielder coming through that will be able to replace these players so that is a very ageing midfield. In defence, Desailly and Lizarazu won't be around and Thuram will be 33.

vorbis

those are strang ratings angeloffire. reid was easily about a 7. made a good couple of passes in the first half. Morrison despite the appalling miss did very well as a holding striker, won a lot of headers. He also set up the goal. 5 is unbelievably harsh. He's also a seven. Roy Keane had an average first half but got a bit better in the second. 6 to 7 is fair for him. Robbie was about a 6.

he never (ever) wins a header

I saw Morisson win plenty of headers.

btw france will probably find some good players somewhere. Theres that guy rothen as well as guily at Monaco.

eirebhoy

Originally posted by vorbis
I saw Morisson win plenty of headers.

btw france will probably find some good players somewhere. Theres that guy rothen as well as guily at Monaco.

we're talking about replacing Zidane or Pires though. Rothen and Giuly are both very good players but Reid and Duff are just as good IMO.

Morrison won headers when there was noone around him obviously but I can't remember him winning a header from a kickout when he had a Romanian defender behind him. i could be wrong though.

bizmark

Originally posted by kaids
jesus would you ever stfu about Morrison, in case you didn't notice he made that goal and did a lot better than golden boy Robbie 'i think i'll dribble the ball into the net' Keane. He worked his ass off (as did Keane), and did reasonably well to hold up the ball from the endless long balls hoofed forward in his general direction. It didn't quite come for him in front of goal but that's how it goes sometimes.

Meh hes not good enough tbh he might work hard but what does it matter when he misses sitters in front of goal like tonight.

But what ever football is football i might dislike him today but love him come the holland game

BaZmO*

Originally posted by red-not-blue
It looks like the booboys - Roy betrayed us - lot are in the minority after all.

The reason why you didn't hear too many boos last night is because, and Kerr said it himself last night, is because any “real” fans of Irish football understand and appreciate the difference it makes to have someone of Roy Keanes stature in your team.
He’s world class, plain and simple!! The controversy that happened during the World was a strange one because it seemed to polarise the country into two camps, those who loved Keane and those who despised him. However, if you looked deeper into the two opposing groups you would see that the majority of people in the “Keane’s a Traitor” camp weren’t particularly football fans, i.e. the people that couldn’t even name the full Irish squad, let alone the positions that any of them played in! And people that only have a passing interest in football when a big tournament is on and they have an excuse to go to the pub.
I do agree that there was a small minority of true football fans that felt that Keane just let his country down and that he should’ve played no matter what circumstances and that it was a matter of loyalty to his country and tbh I think they have a point there. But a lot of his choices were later vindicated.
But I think that we all should move on, and most people have, what’s done is done and we can’t change the past. The most important thing at the moment is to move on and learn from the past and concentrate on what’s good for the team and imo I think the inclusion of Keane is vital to our success. The players don’t seem to have a problem with him returning nor should the fans.

Just on the note of Clinton, he might be very “Bling, Bling” but he’s not very “Good, Good” I honestly think his days are numbered. With Heskey going to Birmingham and with the form Forrsell is showing a don’t think that he’ll get a look in!

B.

thejollyrodger

watched the match on TV3, it was defintely a great game, I forgot how much Roy Keane brings to the side. As everyone says, good performance all round and Brian Kerr is a god send.

Everything thats good has seemely come through the underage set up and the man has a great understanding of tatics. he is defintely our best manager yet!!

Im not a big fan of friendlies but Kerr is defintely putting together a deeper squad with different formations. The invovlement in the Unity cup seems like an excellent idea.

Miller looked great last night and so did reid(maybe a bit tired?), I would like to see Duff on the pitch at the same time:)

I would like to see what Mc Geady can do. If he is any good by the way, because we have to see what he can actually produce for Ireland !

Robbie up front should have scored at least once, I wonder whats up with him ?

BaZmO*

Anybody else notice that Robbie doesn't seem to be as wasteful with the ball when Duff plays up front with him? I think Eirebhoy is dead right when he said that Duffer might be playing up front in the future unless McGeady breaks into the team!


There's a good picture of Keane on the front page of the Irish Times this morning.

redspider

So, the prodigal Roy returns to the fold and his orchestrated re-introduction is complete. I didnt watch the match live but I had the full 90-mins recorded on video so got a chance to watch it later. I was in a pub at the time of the game and they were showing it but I was amazed at the complete lack of interest in the match by the punters.Granted it was a friendly and the bar wasn't a sports venue, but the game and Roy’s return in general didnt have widespread public interest. It seems the media and the "football fanatics" are the only ones with any interest.

One big question beforehand was whether Roy would get booed or not. The answer: he got booed and cheered at the same time! Each time Roy got the ball, not only in the first half, but also in the second half, there was a reaction. In the end, the positive responses drowned out the negative responses but I was amazed that there were still a few boos to be heard all the way late into the second half. Of course this needs to be recognised for what it is - I dont think there has ever been a case of booing towards an Irish player before and it is clear that Roy did not redeem himself with many people, and most of those people didn’t boo! Roy, Brian Kerr and the media concentrated very heavily on the positive side and the “amazing/rapturous” reception from the crowd, but like politicians they have selective hearing. Neither RTE nor TV3 mentioned any booing, nor did the Irish Times today. The Sporting Life did. I heard it with my own ears. I have it on tape!

Ok, so that was the reaction, but, how did Roy perform? Was he a god, the best player for us, better than the rest of the team put together (like some people propose), the player that would bring us success and without whom we would be nothing? Well, the answer is clearly NO. I scanned about 6 or so reports that assessed the game and which gave player rankings. Not only was he not better than the rest of the team put together, Roy wasn’t even the best player on the field. That honour fell to several candidates, from the likes of Miller and Reid. Any neutral (not easy) analysis of the match would come up with the same conclusion – Roy was not the best player.

I promised to watch him very closely and that I did, although I haven't done a kick-by-kick analysis (yet) so I dont have his or other players stats. The midfield formation was Roy and Holland in the middle, inter-changing quite freely left and right, and on the outside Andy Reid (a stodgy-looking winger-ish player) and Liam Miller. Reid and Miller did a lot of running and most of the trouble and link play came from them. Mattie Holland also got up and down well. Roy did not play his usual (Man U) playmaker role, ie: picking up the ball from the backs (Cunningham, who was slow at times and caught for pace and O'Brien who was safe) and making telling passes. Roy didnt come looking for the ball in the first half and I'm not sure whether this was due to chosen tactics by Kerr and Roy to mitigate the possibility of any booing or Roy's choice alone or Cunningham’s.

There was also a coolness between Cunningham and Roy. Cunningham didn’t pass the ball to Roy. He had plenty opportunities to do so, a 20-yard pass but instead played across to O’Brien or out to Maybury (he had an ok game, not spectacular). Roy didn’t do any shouting at players or giving out. Roy was playing his part by being on good behaviour no doubt strongly suggested by Kerr. Roy was so good that he didn’t get involved in hardly any tackling, unlike his display in the FA Cup Final a few weeks ago where Roy played very well I thought and is a player that would seem to have a few years in him yet. Roy hung around the centre circle, and at times could be found at wide right and even at wide left. The midfield positions were inter-changing dynamically and Miller could be found inside as well as Reid and then both could be found outside. It was far from a fixed diamond formation and I guess this was either due to tactics selected by Kerr or else the players just trying out several positions themselves, probably the former as Kerr wanted to test their positional capability. If we didn’t know otherwise, the feeling of play from Roy was that he was playing a testimonial match for himself. You could tell that he was glad to be back, glad not to be making any mistakes, glad just to do the simple things.

Roy didnt always track back to cover his defenders and it seemed as if Holland got up and down the pitch much more than Roy. Mattie was definitely doing more cover for the defence, blocking shots, getting tackles in, etc. Some people said that Holland doesn’t play his heart out for Ireland but his performance yesterday evening was better than Roy’s. Roy did cover back though on occasion and he did make several forays forward, also drifting into very far forward positions and he should have scored that chance from 6 yards. He is no Van Nistelrooy (who was it that said he scored goals!).

It was a pleasing performance from Ireland’s point of view. The Romanians didn’t seem up for the game and were missing some of their stars such as Mutu and Chivu. But they were no pushover either. Ireland created most of the scoring chances and deserved their win. Robbie should have done a lot better in general. He is not a team player, and needs to realise that two forwards linking up together produce a lot more compared to one striker never looking up. Miller could have easily scored if Robbie would have passed it across. Morrison and Keane need a lot of coaching if they are ever to become the Toshack/Keegan combination.

Roy had that great chance to score and it kept him humoured for a good few minutes and he had a big smile. If that would have gone in it would have been a fairy-tale ending to the Saipan disaster. Roy played better in the second half, he got on the ball more, not as much as the other midfielders though and was still only prepared to trot around the middle of the park for most, although he did drift into good positions quite a few times. His passing was exemplary, picking good passes and not giving the ball away. He had a good performance. Its funny how the crowd reacted at times, giving a cheer if Roy made a five-yard pass which any 4-year old can do. The crowd went well out of their way to appease and welcome Roy back into the fold, chanting Keano spontaneously and fr no reason other than Roy was on the pitch. I guess that is god-like worship. We are still the land of 1000 welcomes.

The next question that needed to be answered was whether the team would have performed as well without Roy. They probably would have, and with a player like Duff coming back into the team either playing in midfield for home games and playing in the hole (behind Robbie) for away games, and the likes of Kilbane also available, Kerr is in a way blessed with midfield options. Miller has staked his claim for a place, and Holland has staked his claim to keep his place. Kinsella looks like being the loser. You may have noticed that when Holland scored, and it was a great strike, that Roy reluctantly took part in that celebration. A small but interesting observation [btw: I really do recommend recording matches on video and using rewind/re-play when necessary to really understand all the nuances. Its impossible to absorb all the variables in a single live sitting as all you will be left with are a selection of perceptions]. Mattie was against Roy’s actions in Saipan but has welcomed him back into the fold but Roy at that moment seemed to remember and linger.

Of course, the squad still didn’t have some of the old “ghosts” from Saipan. McAteer (who has just been released by Sunderland) and Breen weren’t there and neither was Harte, Kilbane nor Carr. Robbie couldn’t give an f about Roy and wasn’t affected and Duff also doesn’t care. So Roy’s re-introduction has worked out well so far. He will no doubt miss some of the remaining friendlies. I think he did very well to come back after the FA Cup to play in this match although his pull-out of the Poland match seems to have been totally orchestrated to allow a slowly-slowly re-introduction.

So, overall, it was interesting and good to see Roy back in a green shirt, a pity that he blew his top in Saipan a couple of years ago and missed a few great games and the world cup “party”, but I don’t think his return will have a material difference on whether we qualify for the world cup or not. It’s a team game and takes 11 players.

Even the “hand of god” knew that!

KdjaCL

BTW - About the qualifiers, I said this on another board today. I really believe we will win our group and the reason is because the Frence midfield is getting weaker. By the time we play them in Dublin, Zidane will be 33, Pires will be 32, Makelele 32 and Vieira 29. They haven't got a lot of midfielder coming through that will be able to replace these players so that is a very ageing midfield. In defence, Desailly and Lizarazu won't be around and Thuram will be 33.

Honeslty we should start a pool on who WILL actually be playing for france after 2004 from this lot.

I think Thruam be still about and others will retire for club reaons or old age.

kdjac

BaZmO*

Fúcking Hell!! I thought my posts were long sometimes!!

Tell me redspider, you wouldn't happen to be a fustrated sports journalist would you??

Originally posted by redspider
It’s a team game and takes 11 players

Yeah but more often than not it takes 2 or 3 players to win the match!



B.

yop

Thought it was a very solid experience.
Keane was quite, what he did he did well, seemed to have a calming effect on the team. Eased himself back into it, nothing more.
There was a bit of booing but not as much as I would have expected. As said previously the people who did not agree with Saipan still have the brain to know a good player and that his presence be it in the squad or team can only be good for the young players.

Noted alright that Cunningham did not pass, he was badly caught for pace, worryingly so.
Did Robbie Keane pass to him?? cannot remember him doing so. Saw the "pat" on the head from Keane to Holland, great finish.

All in all was a good performance, I would hope Keane plays in a few more friendlies it will help the team to gel in better.

Pepe LeFrits

Originally posted by eirebhoy
we're talking about replacing Zidane or Pires though. Rothen and Giuly are both very good players but Reid and Duff are just as good IMO.

Add to that Robbie Keane on his day is as good as Henry, and there's not much between Morrison and Trezeguet anyway... both typical centre forward types!!

PHB

The difference between Keane/Reid and Henry/Pires is not nessacarily skill its consistancy.

If Henry/Pires is having a bad game he is still gona score/provide a good cross, while if Keane/Reid has a bad game they will have abad game, where nothign will happen.

And if Keane is playing his best, he is as good as Henry on a normal day, however if they are both playing their best, Henry is a mile ahead of nearly every striker(cept 5) in the world.

Three world class players in the squad are Duff, Roy Keane and Given.

eirebhoy

Originally posted by redspider
Neither RTE nor TV3 mentioned any booing, nor did the Irish Times today. The Sporting Life did. I heard it with my own ears. I have it on tape!

I can only assume that the main microphone for Sky was beside a few of the booers because the sections of the media that didn't mention the booers were at the match while Sporting life would have been watching it on TV.

Originally posted by redspider
but I don’t think his return will have a material difference on whether we qualify for the world cup or not. It’s a team game and takes 11 players.

I'd say he gave about 60% last night. When we go into the France match with Keane in the team it will make so much difference. Also, I am 99% sure that Holland wouldn't have gave his all last night if Keane wasn't playing because he now knows he has competition for a place. Duff could have replaced the presence of Keane last night but if you take them both out of the team its not much better than average. Duffer will probably miss the first two qualifers against Cyprus and Switzerland and he's very injury prone so we need to have at least one world class player to give the team a lift when we fly over to Basel.

eirebhoy

Originally posted by kaids
Add to that Robbie Keane on his day is as good as Henry, and there's not much between Morrison and Trezeguet anyway... both typical centre forward types!!

I think you read my post wrong. I didn't say Duff and Reid were just as good as Zidane and Pires but I did say they were just as good as Rothen and Giuly.

/edit actually maybe you did read my post correctly. Henry and Trezeguet may be good but if you think about it, 11 members of the current 23 man French squad are at least 30 years of age (Bartez, Coupet, Desailly, Lizarazu, Thuram, Dacourt, Makelele, Pires, Zidane, Marlet, Wiltord). At least 6 of those players will start at Euro 2004. We are playing them in Dublin in 16 months time, how long did it take McCarthy to get rid of the player from the Charlton era? There's no point having a world class forward line with an ageing or average midfield.

Pigman II

You may have noticed that when Holland scored, and it was a great strike, that Roy reluctantly took part in that celebration.

Speaking of taping matches - if you have a tape of the Ireland v Holland in 2001 you will see that Roy reacted with the same feigned well-wishing to McAteer after his goal as he did with Holland(Matt that is) yesterday.

It is clear from this at least that Roy is (as he reportedly was pre-Saipan) is still a player who doesn't have any interest in his Irish teammates beyond an on-field capasity. Whilst this has to be accepted it certainly isn't something that can be beneficial to squad morale.

And to those who just say 'its his way' compare that yet again to his usual exhuberance when a goal is scored at United (I have vague memories of his jumping on huddles with glee.) and it's clear that it simply isn't just down to his nature.

Even now with him back I have the feeling that Keane doesn't want to be in the Irish set-up and is only here to paper over the cracks and try and restore public opinion in him before it's physically too late for him. That's great arangement for him I'm sure but I don't think it's doing the team any favours with his presence. As such I think it would be best for all concerned if he just backed off before he inevitably causes more trouble (either public or private) amongst the ranks yet again.

On another point regarding Kerr this time - couple the Keane-molly-coddling with the Stephen Carr bust-up rumours and the abrupt 'retirements' of Kiely and Gary Kelly and it all leads me to believe that something is rotten in the land of KerrMark. No one can deny Kerr was a great under-age manager but I feel he currently is a man who is out of his depth at this level and man who doesn't have the ear of dressing room with anyone who didn't come thru his underage ranks. As such I don't look forward to the WC qualifers with much optimism.

BTW to anyone who points out that Kerr record is an impressive (9-5-1) it should be noted that nine of those matches were (mainly home) friendlies against (exceedingly) disinterested opposition and that his competitive score is just (3-2-1) of which those three wins would have been expected (nay demanded) under any Irish manager. So let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Pepe LeFrits

I read it perfectly. France's midfield may be getting on, but their forward line isn't.

eirebhoy

Originally posted by kaids
I read it perfectly. France's midfield may be getting on, but their forward line isn't.

Sorry, previous post edited.

Originally posted by Pigman II
BTW to anyone who points out that Kerr record is an impressive (9-5-1) it should be noted that nine of those matches were (mainly home) friendlies against (exceedingly) disinterested opposition and that his competitive score is just (3-2-1) of which those three wins would have been expected (nay demanded) under any Irish manager. So let's not get ahead of ourselves.

If you left it by saying 9 of those matches were friendlies it would have been OK but against "disinterested opposition"? Turkey and the Czech's tried just as hard as us (maybe Nedved didn't) as did most of the Brazil team (Ronaldinho and Ze Roberto probably didn't but the rest were there usual self. I have a picture in my head of Dida roaring at his defence on one occasion). Norway and Australia (who had recently beaten England) tried hard as did Canada and Romania. The Scotland and Poland matches were away from home which meant they would have tried their best as you do when playing at home.

smemon

great performance to shut the anti-celtic and manu fans up.

miller was superb on the right and keano was even better imo in the centre, a classy performance from 2 great players. morison was poor up front, robbie was his usual selfish self and tries to take the whole team on, just play it simple.

cunningham, maybury etc did well. was a solid performance defensive wise, limited romania to 1 or 2 scoring chances.

the midfield won us the game and there's no doubt roy's no nonsense, simple approach filtered through to a few players around him. great to see him getting a huge reception when he came in.

deserved motm and showed why kerr wanted him back. handled all the hype superbly as usual, just got into the game from kick off.

Pepe LeFrits

okay, lets have a look at the french team.

edit actually maybe you did read my post correctly. Henry and Trezeguet may be good but if you think about it, 11 members of the current 23 man French squad are at least 30 years of age (Bartez, Coupet, Desailly, Lizarazu, Thuram, Dacourt, Makelele, Pires, Zidane, Marlet, Wiltord). At least 6 of those players will start at Euro 2004. We are playing them in Dublin in 16 months time, how long did it take McCarthy to get rid of the player from the Charlton era? There's no point having a world class forward line with an ageing or average midfield.

first of all, who the french manager is after euro 2004 will be significant, as Santini seems overly loyal to certain players (Desailly...), and a new manager would probably bring in more fresh talent than Santini who would probably only make changes where he was forced to.

but on the current players in that squad - the majority of them are in there on merit, not because there is no alternative. They are a little dodgy in goal. Desailly is well past it, Lizarazu and Thuram a little too, but they are still excellent players. Pires is playing the best football of his career at present, Zidane is Zidane, and the rest (bar Makelele who is also very good) are squad players.

Sub-30 French players I can think of - Landreau, Frey, Evra, Gallas, Silvestre, Boumsong, Mexes, Mendy, Sagnol, Rothen, Giuly, Vieira, Kapo, Pedretti, Govou, Henry, Trezeguet, Anelka, Saha, Cisse.

I'd imagine the French team playing Ireland will be something like...

Goalkeeper(?), Evra, Gallas, Silvestre, Sagnol, Pires, Vieira, Pedretti/Zidane, Giuly, Henry, Trezeguet.

That midfield may or may not be streets ahead of Ireland's, but there is a big difference between the attack/defence. Gallas vs Keane? Henry vs Cunningham? (who will be 34? he's not exactly the quickest right now). Doesn't inspire me with confidence. If Ireland played extremely well and France extremely poorly they could be toppled, but turning them over across 2 matches and the rest of the group games seems a LITTLE bit optimistic...