Ireland starting 11 for tomorrow.

cournioni

daveym wrote:

how can u not be happy that we won? stan should go, no more now than before , he doesn't know what he is doing. still want us to win anyway we can though..

The team lacks any drive or determination. Playing square balls all night, losing the ball, slow tempo, everything about Ireland was just awful tonight. I feel sorry for San Marino, and I am not happy that we won. We played like my local pub team out on the beer all day.

Who is that down to? The manager. Ireland is a country that needs a motivator managing the team. Not someone that will put you to sleep like I would imagine Staunton would do. Charlton and as much as I dislike the man, McCarthy were good at motivating the team. That is what brings success to Ireland.

I look forward to hearing what Staunton says...

The1337_Stephen

*Takes hat off to seansouth*

d22ontour

At the end of the day 3 points is 3 points regardless of the oppositon.

Can't say i ever thought we would need an injury time winner against San fookin Marino. :eek:

GuanYin

Actually its days like this you miss Niall Quinn the TV pundit, smiling away on Sky telling us all is well and the lads are all great.....

Ruu_Old

Wow..forgot about the game today. The highlights will probably make me sick if I watch them. That said, its 3 pointe.

tdv

Stephen Ireland has just extended are torment of having lets face it an idoit for a manager. I mean the man can't even speak proper.

That was worse than the game against Cyprus. Cyprus have a few players who were in the Champions League this season but San Marino are the lowest ranked team in Europe, they have a population of 30,000 people, they had 2 full time players on the pitch & there very ****.

I don't blame Staunton tho. We all know its John Delany's fault Ireland has become the laughing stock of Europe.

Balfa

I'm not trying to defend Staunton, but any team with Ireland's reputation should be able to score 5 goals against San Marino even if they had no manager at all!

Sad.

Mad Dog

Ruu wrote:

Wow..forgot about the game today.

Aren't you the lucky one Ruu, I wish I had forgotten about it now :eek:

Kojak

d22ontour wrote:

At the end of the day 3 points is 3 points regardless of the oppositon.

Are you Steve Staunton's press officer, by any chance??

OK so we won, but the performance was ludicrous. When we lost to Germany lats Autumn, there was at least a bit of fight/determination/pride (call it what you will) but tonight ..........

IMO, Staunton's position is untenable now. If he starts talking up San Marino in the after-game press conferences, then we might as well forget it altogether.

Chardee MacDennis

whats the point in having 3 of stauntons mates on the panel....

rose coloured glasses anyone?

whiskeyman

Kojak wrote:

The last goal, in a strange kind of way, was the worst thing that could have happened.

Too right.
Sure, the team and manager will take a deserved bashings, but it's (yet) another kick up the arse and leaves us still in with a chance.
I'd rather they feckin thrashed us tonight and put us out of our misery!

~Rebel~

Im happy we got the 3 points IF and only IF Staunton still gets fired or quits. At least theres still a bare tiny sliver of hope that someone else might somehow get us through (again ill stress how unlikely that is) but at least its something, as if the draw stuck it would be an impossibility.

If Stan stays ill be wishing Stephen Ireland hadn't popped up. He seriously has to go to give us any chance of qualifying either for this or the next world cup.

We need someone competent in charge of the rebuilding process, not someone who's only doing slightly better then a retarded toadstool. (and that at a push!)

junior2412

well i used to find the long ball technique deployed with quinn (n cascarino) boring, bland and annoying. but now i appreciate those players, watching us deploy those tactics without anyone over 6 ft.

i wouldnt be surprised if the FAI "supported stan through these tough times". As a Dundalk fan I would wholeheartedly support the whole country toting petrol and protesting at the gates, Maxi McAlester-style.

Now Im on a rant.

leninbenjamin

as much as i yearn to see Ireland win i really felt sorry for San Marino, they really deserved that point a lot more than we deserved the three. I feel ashamed now that i actually cheered when Ireland's goal went in. A draw would probably be a lot better for Ireland in the long run though, the win just gives the current establishment more excuses...

LeperKing

Possible dumb question but... do we have an alternative to Staunton? Who would want it? The position isn't highly paid either AFAIK.

LK

joe316

I wonder how many people wont be applying for tickets for croker now, id say there are fairly worthless now, should be paying us to watch more of that drivel.

get him out now, it pains me to say i wish it stayed 1 all, he would never be able to show his face in this country again if it ended like that.

BRING BACK EOIN HAND

Chardee MacDennis

LeperKing wrote:

Possible dumb question but... do we have an alternative to Staunton? Who would want it? The position isn't highly paid either AFAIK.

LK

100,000 p/y at least - i'll take it...

Chardee MacDennis

jesus he's full of sh1t...

therecklessone

San Marino FA e-mail address: fsgc@omniway.sm

I'm sending them an apology now.

The1337_Stephen

*3 points, delighted* - Staunton

Pox, pure pox. That performence was an absolute disgrace, end of.

junior2412

good point leperking!

As for the "Id rather we drew" stuff, i do disagree. if we'd lost we would never have forgotten it, english fans would never have forgotten it, it would follow you around for the rest of your life.

here goes staunton, first line "3 points".... hold up did he just say... "Delighted"???!!!!:eek:

mike65

Stan = Legend!

Did I hear him say 'we controlled the game'?

Mike.

cxcully

Dampsquid wrote:

"3 points... job done" Stan

Dampsquid.....you were spot on 30 mins before he came out with this.What an interview.Unbelievable.Delaney and Staunton out.

d22ontour

StantheManStaunton wrote:

San Marino are going to be a handful for the rest of the group.

:eek:

Eh Germany fookin 13 San Marino 0 :rolleyes:

That was a great statement , really it was , best laugh i had in a while.

radiospan

~Rebel~ wrote:

Im happy we got the 3 points IF and only IF Staunton still gets fired or quits.

I can't see that happening soon. Stan hasn't the balls to quit, and the FAI have even less balls to sack him less than half way through his first campaign.

Pighead

Fcuk the "Get Staunton Out" campaign. Pighead proposes a "Get Bazmo Out" one instead.

He promised us all that we'd win this at a canter. "Loads of goals" he cried. "It's gonna be a walk in the park" he shrieked.

Fair enough the older users didn't fall for his crap but theres young kiddies who post on here and they're naive and impressionable and those poor wee lads are probably bawling their eyes out right now and possibly questioning Santa Claus' existance.

Stan may be many things but he never ever came on to boards soccer forum promising free flowing football and goals galore. So once again I cry:

"BAZMO OUT"

threebeards

"I knew they were going to create 1 chance"

"San Marino are going to be a handful as the group progresses"

"Delighted with the result"

Classic Staunton Stuff!! How can anyone take this man seriously.

Brian017

Stan, stop embarrassing yourself with stupid statements and go.

~Rebel~

LeperKing wrote:

Possible dumb question but... do we have an alternative to Staunton?

Ordinarily id agree wholeheartedly. Not a fan at all of firing someone without a proper replacement lined up, but in this case it would be tough to do much worse. Im sure many on this board for instance both have more experience and would do a better job. Any manager of any club in the entire world is technically more qualified then him.

Brian Robson would be a possibility id say. Again Im not a fan but he's out of work and he's better then stan.

Kojak

The1337_Stephen wrote:

*3 points, delighted* - Staunton

I've heard of putting a positive spin on things, but that's down right insulting to the supporter's intelligence.

At least if he said we were very poor and extremely lucky, then he would be telling it honestly and we could take him seriously. If Steve is delighted with the 3 points tonight, given the performance, will he be delighted if we give the same perfromance against (say) Wales - they'd pummel us.

Pigman II

The1337_Stephen wrote:

*3 points, delighted* - Staunton

Just to clear things up, Stan was refering to the results of a recent IQ test there.

county

Pigman II wrote:

Just to clear things up here, Stan was refering to the results of his recent IQ test there.

classic:D ,but most probably true

junior2412

It's ridiculous he just takes us all for fools.

one second he says "we're delighted with the result", then he says "no one's more disappointed than us in there". if he was any kind of a man he'd say things need to change for the future blah blah.

complete coward.

kaisersose77

~Rebel~ wrote:

Brian Robson would be a possibility id say. Again Im not a fan but he's out of work and he's better then stan.

he's out of work for a reason, he has a great track record of getting sacked.

What irish born player in the squad atm has any respect for steve staunton? Anybody I knew when I was growing up just laughed when he was mentioned. I dont think you would have seen duff etc pretending to be staunton when they were having a game of ball when they were younger.


Mcshane was in the papers during the week saying he asked staunton for some housing advice in the birmingham area. He's probably in a tent in stauntons backgarden....

joe316

I suppose its petition time again

http://www.petitiononline.com/stanout/petition.html

Dave!

Worst match I've ever seen.

I wanted to puke.

kaisersose77

from that petition posted aboved lol:

24. John Delaney Hang in there Stan. San Marino are a handful for anyone.

cashback

Missed the match due to training.
Walked in the door.... 93.35 on the clock. Score: 1-1.
Oh MY God. Oh my God. Oh My God.
I sat there saying that over and over for one minute till Ireland scored.
That team does not deserve to play in Croke Park.

Chucky the tree

The players shouldnt avoid the blame either. The only thing robbie keane is fit to captain is a team entering a pie eating competition.

aidan24326

cashback wrote:

That team does not deserve to play in Croke Park.

That team (and their manager) do not deserve to play in Dalymount never mind Croker. An embarassment.

Staunton's interview says it all. The guy hasn't the faintest idea what he's doing or what he's talking about. A coward who hadn't even the balls to admit the truth that we were awful and got out of jail in a big way.

Like some posters here I was hoping Ireland wouldn't score the winner, it was completely undeserved and only gave Staunton the chance to bullsh1t his way out of it. For tonight anyway. It would have been interesting to see what he'd say if it ended 1-1. No hang on, it wouldn't have now I think of it, the guy is incapable of saying anything interesting.

"I'm the Gaffer".

Indeed.

cournioni

Chucky the tree wrote:

The players shouldnt avoid the blame either. The only thing robbie keane is fit to captain is a team entering a pie eating competition.

Of course not, but the manager is supposed to be there to guide the players. Which is something that Stan most certainly isn't doing, or isn't capable of doing.

He hasn't got a clue. I for one cannot wait to see the end of his reign.

eirebhoy

After a little time to reflect I’m probably the only one that is thinking of analysing any match atm. Anyway, we missed a brain on the pitch tonight. Andy Reid would have strolled through it. The front two were very poor. At one time Duff had the ball in a great position, all Keane had to do was stay on the edge for Duff to chip it to him and he was clean through. Instead he ran towards Duff to get the ball. This is something Stokes is fantastic at. He has an excellent football brain and always gets into great positions, staying on the edge of the offside trap.

Ian Harte was woeful. That’s the last time I’ll defend him. Henderson has it all to prove. He could arguably have saved the 2 goals he conceded in the games he played. The rest of defence and midfield were pretty much as expected. Stephen Ireland is nowhere near the standard of Andy Reid.

The thing with Stan is he won’t notice any of this.

Stan is without doubt the most tactically inept manager at any decent level of football at the current time. That’s not a statement of opinion, it’s pretty much fact and the FAI have to realise this. Why is it that every single manager at the top level plays a holding midfielder or deap playing playmaker, someone in front of the back 4? Surely there’s a big reason for it if every manager is doing it in the modern game. Stan not only didn’t play a holding midfielder in Cyprus but he didn’t play a central midfielder. He played an attacking playmaker with similar attributes to play central midfield as Aiden McGeady and a left winger with no football brain. That was the worst decision ever made by an Ireland manager imo.

I’m sorry but if you don’t know the basic things like that then you’re not fit to manage a football team. To make matters worse he didn’t even figure out what was wrong with the team that night. He blamed the defence. Almost every time Cyprus got the ball they got into the final 3rd of the pitch. That’s not the defence’s fault. The defence was rubbish that night in fairness but the main reason we lost that match was down to the midfield that Stan put out.

San Marino’s European Championships qualifying record before tonight was:
Played: 37 – Won: 0 – Drawn: 0 - Lost: 37
Goals scored: 4
Goals conceded: 168

We were 1 kick away from drawing with them. We could easily have given San Marino their first point in their 17 year history. That is not acceptable with the players we have at our disposal. Most of us actually underestimate the players we have. Yossi Benayoun said before we played Israel that Ireland were the best team in the group. He's going a bit far with that but he's hardly going to say that about a poor team.

We have one of the best goalkeepers in the world.

A centre half that has won his mid table premiership club’s player of the year award for the past 2 years and was 2nd the year before. He’s currently up there with the likes of Woodgate and Campbell as the form central defender in the premiership this season again.

A champions league winning right back playing constantly in the premiership’s most solid defence.

A left winger that was once voted by over a million people as the best left winger in the world. He hasn’t been great recently but he sets up most of our chances and there’s no way he’s lost his ability at the age of 27.

A right winger who is a fantastic prospect. By far and away Celtic’s best player up until he got injured against Cyprus. There’s no doubt in my mind he will be a great player.

A solid enough holding midfielder who does the dirty work and keeps things simple. Every team has one.

A playmaker with a fabulous range of passing and extremely intelligient and creative.

A striker who won 3 of the last 4 player of the year awards for Spurs. 16 premiership goals last season. He has the ability.

Another striker who has been scoring consistently for 2 years now and is up there with the best of them in the premiership scoring charts.

In my opinion those eleven players are definitely good enough to be qualifying for European Championships, not drawing against the worst team in the world. We’ve also got more strength in depth than we’ve had in years. We’ve always had excellent prospects but the likes of Stokes and Long are more than just prospects. Just because these guys aren't playing well for Ireland doesn't take away from the fact that they're good players. You're hardly going to be playing 100% under bad management, that's the point of a manager.

Anyway, lets make sure we salvage whatever we can from this campaign and that means good bye Stan Staunton. He got the sympathy vote by many after the Cyprus match but tonights interview was pathetic.

LostinBlanch

It can't some soon enough. The only question is how much damage will he do in the meantime?

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Of course Stan is delighted with 3 points. Why wouldn't he be? 1-1 with San Marino in the 94th minute and you get three points, you'd be ****ing over the bloody moon.

Still think we have no chance of actually qualifying, so no idea what difference it makes in the long run other than giving Stanton a lifeline. And, as someone else pointed out, if not him, who?


Niall Quinn?

_blank_

seansouth wrote:

If Ireland win 2-1 Staunton will be slaughtered on here, in the media, and rightfully so.

therecklessone wrote:

Well done that man.

The1337_Stephen wrote:

*Takes hat off to seansouth*

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

WTF did I tell yiz?

Now, there were two or three posters who attacked me in the day leading up to the match. I said I'd come on here and hold my hands up if I was proved to be a doom and gloom merchant.

Will you hold your hands up to me and accept that all I said was correct?

Staunton HAS to go. Keane needs to stripped of the captaincy.

Delaney should resign.

therecklessone

eirebhoy wrote:

A striker who won 3 of the last 4 player of the year awards for Spurs. 16 premiership goals last season. He has the ability.

2 of those POTY awards were in a sh*t Spurs side, the most recent was for at most 4 months of decent performances for the team. Both Ledley King and Michael Carrick deserved the award ahead of him, and Edgar Davids, Mido, and Aaron Lennon put in runs of form that matched Keane's.

He has natural talent, but no footballing brain. He strays offside too often, doesn't seem interested in getting into positions to score from, and crowds out other players. His arm flapping convinces people that he's hard working, never wins headers, and rarely performs well in big games.

He's played under 3 international managers and at least 8 club managers, something tells me the problem is Keane and not the people coaching him...

eirebhoy

therecklessone wrote:

He has natural talent, but no footballing brain. He strays offside too often, doesn't seem interested in getting into positions to score from, and crowds out other players.

Milan Baros? In fairness, if Baros can be such a success with the Czechs there's no reason why Keane can't be the same for us. Stokes has the football brain. Obviously Doyle will score plenty too but Stokes is an incredibly intelligient, arrogant, talented striker. Can't believe Arsenal let him go tbh. Anyway, Stokes, Doyle, Keane - 2 from those 3 should be good enough.

Call Me Jimmy

Stan was takin the pi$$ with that interview yea? someone please tell me that was a joke... I knew he wasn't the best in terms of handling the media but that was just plain dumb.

And the yes men on tv3 should be ashamed of themselves, they should have been layin into him bigtime. I was actually annoyed when we scored because we will have to suffer this crap for another year at least...

actually now that I think about it, if they don't fire him after this then he's got the job for life, no?

YeatsCounty

Does anyone here know if there's some medium quality highlights for those of us who missed this match for the ages?

With this stirring victory, Staunton's brave boys in green have definitely turned the corner to oblivion, probably.

kippy

Great post Eirebhoy, I agree with the majority of it.
Ireland has the players and we've seen against the Germans and the Czechs that they can play a hell of a lot better. There were a lot of players last night who didnt play well at all. I agree with the Keane being captain remarks. I believe Given should be team captain, last night he would have had a big impact on the game, although we may still have played crap. Stan aint going to change his captain now.
He obviously has some serious problems motivating the players for the "smaller" games. Perhaps the players have lost all respect for him (I believe they didnt have much in the first place as he had no record or pedigree as a manager)

Anyway, sadly I dont think Stan will leave anytime soon. There is one former international that is out of a job that could replace him, David O Leary - as much as I dont like the guy he has some serious experience and would be a hell of a lot better and in my opinion is the only manager with decent experience who would go anywhere near the job.

Anyway-I see a lot more tough times ahead with Stan at the helm, it could be a while before we qualify for anything again even though I believe we have the players coming though.

Kippy