Ireland -v- Brazil

A Dub in Glasgo

McGeady was one of our best players tonight and yet we have people on here slating him. WTF is that all about

Unearthly

Thought McGeady was our best player, fair play to him

pickarooney

eirebhoy wrote: »

O'Shea - I was impressed with this guy who I've given so much stick that it's hard to give credit to. I'm actually starting to believe he's tactically intelligent and it's his poor football ability that lets him down. He was organising our players in the box at set pieces which is a good sign.

We may have a new candidate for manager.

MrJoeSoap

eirebhoy wrote: »

What in the name of Chirst am I reading here? Again I have to mention the bias thing, I try to be realistic, but are you guys for real??? He was fantastic tonight. The word fantastic has to be taken in the relative context of course. I could call Kaka fantastic or my mate playing Sunday league fantastic. The standards I judge McGeady by though are Celtic standards which at this moment in time is about level with Ireland. If a very good McGeady performance is good enough for Celtic it's good enough for Ireland imo. Anyway...

Given - As usual his kicking was poor but he pulled off a fantastic save to keep it at 0-0. Other than that didn't have much to do.

Kelly - I thought he did well other than the unnecessary hard challenge. He wouldn't be used to playing a team like Brazil where the player he's mainly marking is also the full back. Looked confident on the ball.
Dunne - Very dominant. Can't remember Fabiano being involved much at all. Won whatever there was to be won in the air and showed his excellent pace when chasing Andersen back from the Brazil half.
O'Shea - I was impressed with this guy who I've given so much stick that it's hard to give credit to. I'm actually starting to believe he's tactically intelligent and it's his poor football ability that lets him down. He was organising our players in the box at set pieces which is a good sign.
Kilbane - It was mentioned before the match but in the first half he was literally a 3rd centre half. He left McGeady playing wing back and the Brazilian right back was having a lot of joy. You can't fault Kilbane on the ball tonight though, he was very inventive. What a run to skin 2 players and send in an excellent cross!

Carsley - Ahh. Way too defensive. He was our most involved player which really isn't a good sign. He did keep possession well, played a few good long passes and even got forward a bit. It was an above average Carsley performance but he's simply not suited to a 4 man midfield with wingers. I like him as a defensive midfielder but only in a 4-5-1. In a 4-4-2 Miller/Potter feel like they have to go deep with Carsley and it meant we had our entire team in our own half for large portions. In terms of pure effort he was man of the match but again he's not suited to a 4-4-2.
Miller - In our top 3 players in the first half imo. It was a bit of a lucky performance in that all the bounces and 50-50's fell to him but it won't do his confidence any harm at all.
McGeady - I'd go with him for motm (Dunne being the other contender). He beat the Brazilians with ease and rarely failed to find an Irish player with a pass. Without doubt his best performance for Ireland.
Duff - Very poor first half. He looked like the clueless Duff we've all known recently. 2nd half was a different story though and they couldn't get the ball off him. Had a decent shot saved. He was a marked man too.

Keane - I can't really say a bad word about him. His movement was top class. His link up and work rate as good as always. Pretty much a typical Keane performance, just needs to be playing in a well organised team.
Doyle - Not great unfortunately. He was most effective defending set pieces. Not in great form.

Potter - Kept things simple. He needs to dominate games more.
Hunt - Certainly not a starter for me. He really showed himself up tonight as a Kilbane mark II imo with a lot more confidence. I don't like to be critical of our players but he's nothing special at all. He has an excellent cross though. Great power too. Great energy and work ethic. No attributes that'll help us pass the ball succesfully when 1-0 up away to Montengro. He's an impact player, simple as that. I'm delighted to have him on the bench but he's marked off my list as a potential starter.

Overall thought the U21s last night showed more class than us and that was down to central midfield. Andy Reid will sort that out as well as the emergence of a half dozen central midfielders coming through.

Have to say I actually agree 100% with this. McGeady was the only stand-out player for us on the night. Plenty of so-so performances and ropey moments, but certainly not our worst performance ever.

Gilberto Silva was so much better than anyone else on the pitch it wasn't funny. He just stayed dead centre and pinged balls left, right and centre. Diego was trying to lift little balls over the top too much. Robinho is a bit of a diving whingebag, but took his goal fairly well.

estebancambias

RTE showed tonight why they have the best football punditry. Dunphy and Giles were on top form, with a quite emotional tribute to Liam Brady. I ****ing love Dunphy and Giles.

Giles was dead right it was decent in a limited sort of way.

herbieflowers

Stephen Hunt's post-match comments were hilarious. Perhaps he could be utilised in the centre of the pitch, I think he may be have been used by Reading there a few times this season...

Guy:Incognito

Just re the Given save being hailed as fantastic. I see a lot of similar saves being called brilliant and the like too. Thing is though, if it went in it would have went right over his shoulder. I guarentee if it went in people would have been calling it a shocking goal to conced. I just see how a save that any professional goalkeeper should be making can be seen as brillaint when if it goes in its a shocker.

Not saying he didnt do well but its a save he has to be making.

herbieflowers

Stekelly wrote: »

Just re the Given save being hailed as fantastic. I see a lot of similar saves being called brilliant and the like too. Thing is though, if it went in it would have went right over his shoulder. I guarentee if it went in people would have been calling it a shocking goal to conced. I just see how a save that any professional goalkeeper should be making can be seen as brillaint when if it goes in its a shocker.

cos football fans have agendas and opinions to maintain!

MrJoeSoap

Stekelly wrote: »

Just re the Given save being hailed as fantastic. I see a lot of similar saves being called brilliant and the like too. Thing is though, if it went in it would have went right over his shoulder. I guarentee if it went in people would have been calling it a shocking goal to conced. I just see how a save that any professional goalkeeper should be making can be seen as brillaint when if it goes in its a shocker.

Not saying he didnt do well but its a save he has to be making.

Stekelly wrote: »

We drag otherwise good teams down to our level like this all the time, it was to be expected.

I think the idea of us hosting a Brazil - Argentina game should really be looked into.

Stekelly wrote: »

Ireland games are just so ****.

Feeling very positive tonight aren't we! It was a good save but nowhere near amazing.

estebancambias

herbieflowers wrote: »

Stephen Hunt's post-match comments were hilarious. Perhaps he could be utilised in the centre of the pitch, I think he may be have been used by Reading there a few times this season...

Me and the mother were in stitches listening to him. You just know he is likely to say anything. Dunphy was loving it.

chilli_pepper

pickarooney wrote: »

We may have a new candidate for manager.

That made me laugh !

MrJoeSoap

dublindude wrote: »

I was at the match tonight in the Brazilian section. What super fans!

We'd a couple of crackers on our row, posed for some nice pics and all. I love Brazil.

Woohoo! Presumptive posting is alive and well!

AARRRGH

I was at the match tonight in the Brazilian section. What super fans!

The match was ok. Kilbane was surprisingly alright. McGeady did very well. Duff had a great second half. Carlsley and Kelly were brutal...

estebancambias

Was Kelly brutal?I thought he looked promising.

AARRRGH

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

We'd a couple of crackers on our row, posed for some nice pics and all. I love Brazil.

Yeah! There was a serious amount of seriously good looking women around me too! Good stuff

AARRRGH

estebancambias wrote: »

Was Kelly brutal?I thought he looked promising.

He seemed so nervous on the ball, and he made some terrible passes...

eirebhoy

Stekelly wrote: »

Just re the Given save being hailed as fantastic. I see a lot of similar saves being called brilliant and the like too. Thing is though, if it went in it would have went right over his shoulder. I guarentee if it went in people would have been calling it a shocking goal to conced.

How many saves can't you say that about though? Not many at all. Then you have Ugo Eighuoguoes (Sp?) goal vs Celtic. Boruc dived to his top left corner but tried to save it with his right hand. He was critisised for not going with his left hand. I personally couldn't believe he got a full hand to the ball in the first place.

I do agree that it wasn't a spectacular save after seeing it again. A very good save which slow motion doesn't do justice.

estebancambias

eirebhoy you would have been impressed by Dunphy's comments tonight..did you see it? I feel so good now, roll on Trappa roll on September.

Mr.Nice Guy

What did Stephen Hunt say in his interview? I missed it.

Xavi6

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

What did Stephen Hunt say in his interview? I missed it.

He just basically confirmed that himself and Des are now officially an item

Dave!

goin steady?

_blank_

shane86 wrote: »

"she said the atmosphere is deadly, doin the Mexican Wave and all that"

:rolleyes::rolleyes:

shane86 wrote: »

I read that and thought of a few heads on this board

mike65 wrote: »

DesF, calling DesF!

Rockee wrote: »

Thats it Shane youve gone and done it. The anti-Olérs will be saying 'told ya so'

Told you so.

Xavi6 wrote: »

He just basically confirmed that himself and Des are now officially an item

:o

DaveMcG wrote: »

goin steady?

yep...

shane86

eirebhoy wrote: »

What in the name of Chirst am I reading here? Again I have to mention the bias thing, I try to be realistic, but are you guys for real??? He was fantastic tonight. . .

I take it back, McGeady played great last night bar that awful corner.

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

We'd a couple of crackers on our row, posed for some nice pics and all. I love Brazil.

Pics or it didnt happen.

Please?

Villain

I was at the match last night in the Hogan stand, very quite atmosphere. My thoughts on the match:

Kilbane, please please retire, he kept ball watching and getting dragged into the middle only for Brazil's number 2 to constantly get the ball with Kilbane a mile away, ok he made one good run but he's a one trick pony, kick the ball ahead and if the player is slow to react run past him or else run into and get a free.

Kelly was very good, made some good tackles and tracked his man well, he also made some great runs overlapping Duff but Duff didn't use him enough.

Duff and McGeady couldn't cross a ball in the first half and guess why??? Because Givens in his obvious wisdom played them on the wrong wings, now obviously the reason was for them to turn in side rather than cross but when they are used to taking the man and crossing the ball it takes a while to get used to the other wing which is what happened in the second half and Duff looked very lively as did McGeady once they got used to to playing on the wrong wing.

Brazil played 4-5-1 and Carsley and Miller and then Potter just couldn't get control of the ball, Keane should have dropped deeper to get the ball and then feed Duff and McGeady as it was Doyle and Keane didn't get any supply, its never a great idea to change your formation to suit theirs but sometimes you have to adapt and we didn't we just left Keane and Doyle isolated up front with Carsley and Miller chasing shadows.

It took about 55 minutes for someone to make a decent tackle, Kelly got booked for it but when your playing teams like Brazil you need to let them know early that they are in for a tough game, I remember Keane doing it against Holland in the first 2 minutes some years ago, if they want to dance around the ball thats great but man and ball over the line take the yellow card and see if they try it again.

Good game with the big positive been Duff coming back, looks like he could get back to the form which could see him become one of our best players.

~Rebel~

Villain wrote: »

Duff and McGeady couldn't cross a ball in the first half and guess why??? Because Givens in his obvious wisdom played them on the wrong wings, now obviously the reason was for them to turn in side rather than cross but when they are used to taking the man and crossing the ball it takes a while to get used to the other wing which is what happened in the second half and Duff looked very lively as did McGeady once they got used to to playing on the wrong wing.

Thought this was an excellent decision tbh. Both prefer being on the left, but its McGeady that needs the confidence. He has always been at his best for Celtic when played on the left, and has now had his 2 best games in an Ireland shirt playing there too.

homerjay2005

my thoughts on last night -

overall, a good game, second half was great, first half was terrible.
brazilian defence was very cycinal, and fouled everytime we went forward.
our set pieces are terrible.
we need 2 more defenders.
carsley should retire.


given - 8 - 2 good saves and overall

kelly - 6 - went missing for the goal and was only ok. went to sleep for the goal, robinho was free for ages at the start of the attack. not good enough.

o shea - 7 - did his bit, few shaky moments

dunne - 7 - solid, without being spectacular

kilbane - 6 - should not bein the team, is useless and its time we moved forward and left the likes of him behind. was nowhere to be seen for most of the game at LB and together with mcgeedy, they could not exploit a right full who couldnt defend but subsequently distroyed us and set up eerything.

mcgeedy - 6 - had a bright opening 5 minutes, however, was up against a man that just could not defend. the brazilian rightfull back distroyed us going forwawrd and this was down to mcgeedy not tracking back. a few fancy runs and everybody suddenly thinks he was class, he wasnt, all huffing and puffing and no end product. put the ball into the box man ffs and stop being a glory Hole and then loosing it.

carsley - 5 - simply terrible and gave the ball away the whole time, and who is the bright sprk that leaves him take all the set pieces? terrible terrible display and like kilbane, we need to be mving forward and replacing his likes.

miller - 6 - did ok but got injured. looks very light, but had 2 or 3 great pieces of skill. a squad player at best.

duff - 8 - its great to have him back and overall, his was our best player on the night IMO.

keane - 7 - tried hard, but nothing really went his way.

doyle - 6 - not one of his better days.

potter - 7 - thought he did well

hunt - 5 - poor, its displays like that mean he is not a regular starter, he needs to get consistent at international level.

Benedict XVI

What is the deal with the temporary seats on Hill 16 at the game last night?
I presume that they were also there for the Rugby Union on Saturday, I did not see that game.

I was of the opinion that the IRFU were able to use standing and that soccer could use standing at friendlies.

I reckon the attendance (which was not actually announced last night) was about the max you could get in the current FAI climate but I was curious about the seats on the Hill.

jameshayes

homerjay2005 wrote: »

duff - 8 - its great to have him back and overall, his was our best player on the night IMO.

Are you having a laugh? He could just about get down the tunnel with the size of his ego. Everyone is saying give him a chance because he's just back.. He's been back with NC for weeks ffs!

Him, Doyle & Keane need a swift size 10 up the ars€

pd101

The Brazilians didn't look interested at all. Leonardo Mauro seemed to be the only one who did any running. If they had of raised the tempo they could have easily embarressed us. Still though, our performance gives me some hope for the Qualifiers.

Its not big teams that worry me though, it's the likes of Montenegro, Georgia etc that do.

_blank_

Did Anderson play?

Villain

DesF wrote: »

Did Anderson play?

He came on with about 15 minutes to go and Lucas came on 5 minutes later

_blank_

Right.

Did either do much?

Villain

Not really but the Brazilians were just counting down the clock at that stage really

_blank_

OK, thanks for the info

homerjay2005

Villain wrote: »

He came on with about 15 minutes to go and Lucas came on 5 minutes later

both players got warm welcomes, with a few boos, prob from celtic fans.

Villain

homerjay2005 wrote: »

both players got warm welcomes, with a few boos, prob from celtic fans.

LOL I think Liverpool fans booed Anderson and Man U fans booed Lucas actually

MrJoeSoap

shane86 wrote: »

Pics or it didnt happen.

http://soccerlens.com/images/WC2006Babes/Babe3.jpg

I cut myself out of the picture for personal security reasons. And yes it is the same girl from the cover of YBIG.

homerjay2005

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

http://soccerlens.com/images/WC2006Babes/Babe3.jpg

I cut myself out of the picture for personal security reasons. And yes it is the same girl from the cover of YBIG.

she was at the boardeaux game there 2 weeks ago. think her name is Mariana. she looks better in the team jersey though according to des. i aint seen it myself.

Mr Alan

Villain wrote: »

LOL I think Liverpool fans booed Anderson and Man U fans booed Lucas actually

Idiots.

MrJoeSoap

Mr Alan wrote: »

Idiots.

I booed both.

Mr Alan

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

I booed both.

good work

MrJoeSoap

Mr Alan wrote: »

good work

I was trying to create a Galatasaray-esque, "Welcome To Hell" style atmosphere. Unfortunately Mr. Three Cars, two kids, paying-off-the-mortgage beside me didn't take too kindly to it. :eek:

homerjay2005

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

I booed both.

i clapped both. proper fans will admire good players and not begrudge them because of where they are from or who they play for. like whe ronaldo got a hat trick against united for madrid, he got a standing ovation off the field. would that happen at an irish game with our "fans" in their green and white striped jerseys sitting in the crowd, wud it f**k. for years, we have been disgraced booing rangers players in landsdown road when it has nothing to do with is, nothing. i was also there, when andy cole and dwight yorke got booed constantly at the paul mcgrath testomonial.

Mr Alan

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

I was trying to create a Galatasaray-esque, "Welcome To Hell" style atmosphere. Unfortunately Mr. Three Cars, two kids, paying-off-the-mortgage beside me didn't take too kindly to it. :eek:

i hope you werent swearing in front of the children!?!?!? Or standing up bloking views?!?! (except, of course, during the super duper mexican wave!)



edit: homer, pretty sure he is taking the mick.

MrJoeSoap

homerjay2005 wrote: »

i clapped both. proper fans will admire good players and not begrudge them because of where they are from or who they play for. like whe ronaldo got a hat trick against united for madrid, he got a standing ovation off the field. would that happen at an irish game with our "fans" in their green and white striped jerseys sitting in the crowd, wud it f**k. for years, we have been disgraced booing rangers players in landsdown road when it has nothing to do with is, nothing. i was also there, when andy cole and dwight yorke got booed constantly at the paul mcgrath testomonial.

Thats complete BS. I was in the Canal End last night and when Robinho celebrated his goal he ran over to us and got nothing but applause and respect. There is nothing wrong with booing opposition players to create a bit of a hostile environment whilst playing at home. Intimidating oppositions is what all good crowds do. It doesn't mean a lack of respect.

The Lovenkrands incident was a moronic minority of "Celtic" supporting dickheads* intent on exposing themselves as morons, everyone will agree with that.

* Not insulting Celtic here, just the idiots who thought they were booing Lovenkrands.

OhNoYouDidn't

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

The Lovenkrands incident was a moronic minority of "Celtic" supporting dickheads* intent on exposing themselves as morons, everyone will agree with that.
.

Steady on. Rangers have a strong anti-Irish tradition, booing a currant bun is far more acceptible to be than booing a Liverpool player, because at least giving Lovenkrands the treatment has something to do with Ireland, right or wrong.

It also says a great deal about how weak the fan culture is around the Irish national side that that this minor incident is brought up Joe Duffy style 5 years later.

d22ontour

Villain wrote: »

LOL I think Liverpool fans booed Anderson and Man U fans booed Lucas actually

I wonder what club the knobs who booed the minutes '30 seconds' silence were from ?

Villain

d22ontour wrote: »

I wonder what club the knobs who booed the minutes '30 seconds' silence were from ?

They were Brazilians who didn't realise what was happening imo all the noise came from the Hill where the away fans were sitting

eirebhoy

homerjay2005 wrote: »

mcgeedy - 6 - had a bright opening 5 minutes, however, was up against a man that just could not defend. the brazilian rightfull back distroyed us going forwawrd and this was down to mcgeedy not tracking back. a few fancy runs and everybody suddenly thinks he was class, he wasnt, all huffing and puffing and no end product. put the ball into the box man ffs and stop being a glory Hole and then loosing it.

When did he lose the ball? He put in a dodgy cross early in the game but other than that I can't remember him failing to find an Irish player. End product? Where was the end product from anyone? That's not a rhetorical question btw. It's nothing more than a cliche now with McGeady. "no end product". What ignorance.

I was delighted with McGeady's performance last night because Irish fans got to see McGeady on form for the first time. A performance like that for Celtic would probably win him motm, in the SPL or the CL. Celtic fans must have much lower standards than Ireland fans if that performance last night wasn't good enough.

I've had to listen to him getting critisised after plenty of Ireland matches when he deserves it. Now he's getting critised when imo he was our best player. I'd say his pass success rate last night was higher than any other Irish player. A pass to Robbie Keane isn't good enough though. It must be a defence splitting through ball or a fabulous cross.

There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that that late pass to Duff put him from an 8/10 in many people's ratings straight down to a 6/10. The negatives are remember by everyone. He got abuse by the people around me after that late pass. "Typical McGeady, never has his head up".

You can be sure the Brazilian football fans were impressed with him. You can also be sure he was very, very happy with his own performance and will have a spring in his step running out for Celtic at the weekend.

dereko1969

they weren't booing anyway they were just not being quiet and it was definitely from the hill where the brazilian fans were. it might have helped if there had been an announcement in portuguese.