Georgia vs Ireland

Duff

2-1 whooo...:|

roryc

F*ck...

Xavi6

Good finish from a really good player

String

Meh

eagle eye

That is a fantastic goal to be fair.

Sherifu

Jaysus.

~Rebel~

thank fuk we got the 2nd!

Kenia possibly deserved his goal, poor defending though,

kryogen

he looks to have a bit of talent that kid alright, bit too one sided perhaps but a definate spark there

3 points is 3 points i guess, it was good for the most part

The1337_Stephen

two goals, first game win and an "away" fixture out of the way at that. sure we conceeded, but we played well enough.

Job done, just need to play a good bit better come wednesday

Duff

FT 2-1.

genericgoon

2-1. Good to get a tough away match out of the way.

delija_sever029

At the end the most important thing for Ireland,they started good, with 3 points

SantryRed

TBH, I thought we were muck for at least half of that game tonight.

Ruu_Old

Just caught the last 30 mins of the game. Pity about the goal conceded so late. On to Montenegro.

PHB

I'll take that 5 more times please.

Xavi6

SantryRed wrote: »

TBH, I thought we were muck for at least half of that game tonight.

+1

Second half was piss poor

Adamcp898

a little bit fortunate tonight

Vokes

Damn, that goal was annoying as hell :mad:

Doyle, S Reid and Kilbane the best performers i think.

McGeady was better, smarter even, in the 2nd half i think when he didn't always try to beat his man on the outside. Instead he'd check back inside sometimes, and take 2 defending players out of the games.

3 points in the bags at least but much to improve upon.

eagle eye

Great performance overall. I think Steven Reid was Man of the Match closely followed by Kevin Doyle then Glen Whelan.

The most important thing about this is the confidence it will give this team going forward to Wednesday. We seen really organised football, we did not see headless football, for instance Kevin Kilbane shooting down the left with no purpose.
Overall I'm very happy with the improvement in this team.

Edit to say what I mean by no headless football is that everyone knows their job on the pitch.

GuanYin

Have Ireland ever NOT conceded in the last 5 minutes of an away Euro game?

SantryRed

eagle eye wrote: »

Great performance overall. I think Steven Reid was Man of the Match closely followed by Kevin Doyle then Glen Whelan.

The most important thing about this is the confidence it will give this team going forward to Wednesday. We seen really organised football, we did not see headless football, for instance Kevin Kilbane shooting down the left with no purpose.
Overall I'm very happy with the improvement in this team.

Edit to say what I mean by no headless football is that everyone knows their job on the pitch.

Great performance? Never.

It's great to see Trappatoni has a way he wants us to play though. You wouldn't of been able to see that with any of our past managers.

There was a few great performances today but on a whole we need to be a hell of a lot better on Wednesday. I hope to God McShane gets no where near the starting 11. Vucinic would destroy us if he's in the back four.

eirebhoy

SantryRed wrote: »

I blame McShane.

That's an embarrassing comment.

Tom65

I thought we did well. Not great, but enough. I think we deserved the win. Having said that, we'll have to improve to do well against Montenegro. I'd rate them above Georgia (who, by and large, were really poor). If we can cut out a wastefulness (not taking advantage of our superiority at times, conceding in the last few minutes), we should be able to win.

FrankGrimes

Good performance overall though the manager should realise his tactics backfired in the 2nd half: sitting back causes more problems than it solves. I'd like to see this team get rid of the mental fear instilled by McCarthy, Kerr, and Staunton and when they get a lead start believing in their ability to get another instead of fearing they will lose it so sit back.

It was crying out for Andy Reid to come on and hold onto possession and pull the strings but my take on that is Trap doesn't really know where to play Reid and there's a part of it which is him asserting his authority too - no way he genuinely ranks Andy as the 4th choice sub. If he uses this match to make that point and if Andy takes it on the chin and Trap then gives him a run on Wednesday, I think it's a smart enough move.

On the upside the organisation in play was much improved and every player clearly knew what was asked of him and many played with a real sense of purpose. I liked our patterns while in possession a lot - players making plenty of short bursts off the ball to be in a position to accept a pass, classic signs of good coaching.

Defensively we were quite solid overall and I have more confidence in that back 4 than any in the past few years. If you look at it objectively, it's hard not to say O'Shea is playing very well for Ireland at centre-half lately.

Over the past few years it's seemed that our only chance of creating lots of chances has been through the wingers, but tonight for me it looked like they were carrying lots of ball but rarely making clean breaks. With our improved setup down the middle it's only a matter of time before the wingers get much better passes to them to allow them really take on defenders. For me Hunt needs to put a bit more thought into it when in possession (and use his right foot) - he's not fleecing his man enough at the moment. He has it in him though and is great working back and is a far better option than Duff at the moment.

Pleasantly surprised by Whelan's contribution, but not by Steven Reid - I've thought for years that he will be a crucial player for us and he showed glimpses of why tonight. I'd like to see the coach giving him clear instruction to get forward more - that's when you'll see the box to box action that he is capable of.

Overall very positive and nothing feels shambolic about this team or manager, which is a very nice change.

We're all part of Trappi's army, we're all off to [insert South African venue name that ends in an 'ee' sound here].......:D:D:D

SantryRed

eirebhoy wrote: »

That's an embarrassing comment.

Clearly taking the piss.

:pac:

Villain

GuanYin wrote: »

Have Ireland ever NOT conceded in the last 5 minutes of an away Euro game?

All too often but at least we had a 2 goal cushion, oh and it was a World Cup qualifier

eirebhoy

SantryRed wrote: »

Clearly taking the piss.

:pac:

I wouldn't have guessed since you've mentioned him about 3 times in this thread when he hardly had anything to do.

Anyway, I'm glad RTE highlighted McGeady's pass to Keane for the 2nd goal. Superb pass and I think it was with his left? Not that he has a weak foot.

SantryRed

eirebhoy wrote: »

I wouldn't have guessed since you've mentioned him about 3 times in this thread when he hardly had anything to do.

Anyway, I'm glad RTE highlighted McGeady's pass to Keane for the 2nd goal. Superb pass and I think it was with his left? Not that he has a weak foot.

Fair enough. But I really don't like the chap as a footballer.

My god he's rubbish. If we try to pass a ball in any way over in Montenegro with him in the team, we will give away the ball endless times. He's such a headless chicken.

eirebhoy

Come back in 4 or 5 years. I'm fed up arguing for him. I'll just put my name down as one of the very few that think he'll make it.

newballsplease

dunphy just said 'bullsh*t' on tv!! brilliant

bill didnt know where to look

newballsplease

SantryRed wrote: »

Fair enough. But I really don't like the chap as a footballer.

My god he's rubbish. If we try to pass a ball in any way over in Montenegro with him in the team, we will give away the ball endless times. He's such a headless chicken.

he set up our 1st goal. with a perfect cross.

SantryRed

newballsplease wrote: »

he set up our 1st goal. with a perfect cross.

Eh. He came on the pitch when we were two up.

PHB

He can make it. He clearly has the quality. His cross for the goal was a peach. But his general play in the first half was utterly shocking, and resulted in us being put under more pressure than we needed to. He needs to shape up, he's clearly got the potenial, I hope he moves to a higher standard league because he needs to push on, he's stagnating.

herbieflowers

he loses it far too much by trying to do too much. Did anyone feel that Irlenad lacked a bit of bit? Seemed to be outmuscled quite a bit

newballsplease

SantryRed wrote: »

Eh. He came on the pitch when we were two up.

what?

thought you were talking about mcgeady

SantryRed

newballsplease wrote: »

what?

thought you were talking about mcgeady

McShane:p

Het-Field

Pleased with the result. I believe it was back in 2003 when we last won a game like this, i.e. away from home against a respectible yet limited team. Coincidently that was also against Georgia.

There are limitations to the team, and they need to play for 90 mins. But this is a start.

My Ratings
Shay Given 6 Rarely tested. Comfortable for thew most part
Steve Finnan 7 Energetic and Alive
Kevin Kilbane 8 MOTM Contender. Strong and Slick with some nice tackles
Richard Dunne 7 Up to any challenge which posed him
John O Shea 6 Less sluggish then we have come to expect
Aiden McGeady 7 Nice Assist and Full of Running
Steven Reid 9 MOTM More of the same please
Glenn Whelan 8 Fortunate Goal. Integent passing and tackling
Stephan Hunt 6 Stong running but failed to establish a platform for Keane
Robbie Keane 6 Starved of Service
Kevin Doyle 9 Good Goal, and much energetic play

Replacements
Liam Miller 6 Interested in getting involved
Paul McShane 5 NOT A FULLBACK
Andy Keogh 4 No Chance to make an impact.

Individually I think the players were excellent. The problems seem to emanate from the team's ability to play as a team. Once that zeal is created I think we will improve

leninbenjamin

so 3 points; not bad.

there were quite a few positives; McGeady's contribution for the goals. Whelan looked quite good, and S. Reid and Kilbane were their usual selves. overall the shape was much better than in recent years, and each player had his individual role defined, which is a positive.

I still think the result overall had more negatives than positives. we were quite fortunate with the two goals, they both came from unforced errors really. outside of Georgia's constant state of being near collapse in defence, we failed to really create much. once again we struggled to retain possession and made things are lot more difficult for ourselves than they should have been. plus we fell asleep in defence a few times, better teams would have scored 2 or 3 more on us tonight.

still, we got the result. it's early days in Trappa's career with us and he does seem to be making inroads. but on the back of today's performance i can't see us qualifying for a major tournament any time soon.

Mr.Nice Guy

I thought it was a good performance and a fair result. I would have to share the reservations of the RTE panellists about the substitutions. I'm sure I wasn't the only Irish supporter who got anxious upon hearing McShane was coming on. I thought we had some very good passages of play mixed in with some very lacklustre patches. With a bit more clinical finishing it could have been much more comfortable but we got a big slice of fortune with Whelan's goal. I'm also a bit uneasy about players being played out of position but it's early days so I'm not going to complain about that too much.

I had my doubts about Whelan (and still do) but he did a good job tonight. Steven Reid was our best player. The defence did pretty well although it looked more shaky when Finnan went off and we then conceded. Shay didn't look too troubled. Nice to see Kevin Doyle getting on the scoresheet.

Overall I'd say there were more positives from the display than negatives. I think Montenegro will be a tougher game but if we can use the ball better and show the same spirit then we can get a result.

Well done to the fans too who I thought where excellent (with the exception of the knob who ran on the field).

Good start anyway. Three points in the bag. Let's keep the faith.

newballsplease

montenegro will be a tough tough test for us.

draw i reckon.
its 1-0 to bulgaria at halfime at the moment.(s.petrov)
cyprus v italy just 10 mins gone. 1-0 to italy(d.natale).

Vokes

Lippi looks to have the Azzuri playing a 4-4-2.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/world-cup-qual-/2008/cyprus-italy-249436.html

Looks a strong and experienced line-up. I'd be delighted with a point in Rome come April.

noodler

Overall am pleased enough. Angry about the goal conceded tho.
Worried about his reluctance to play Andy Reid as is everyone else.

I hope he doesn't get darn stubborn about it.

Het-Field

noodler wrote: »

Overall am pleased enough. Angry about the goal conceded tho.
Worried about his reluctance to play Andy Reid as is everyone else.

I hope he doesn't get darn stubborn about it.

I am very concerned that the manager doesnt like Andy Reid very much. One doesnt know whether he is a likable guy or not. Obviously I open to people telling me the true traits if the Andy Reid they know.

However, personal relationships can be crucial, and can predicated selection or deselection

newballsplease

100% there is something wrong between management and andy reid.

you dont bring a player of his quality along, and not use him.
if he doesnt have a say on wed night, there could be big issues ahead.

unless he wants to use reid for home games, i dont know, but imo, somethings wrong.

cyprus 1 - 1 italy:eek:
31 mins gone

shane86

Het-Field wrote: »

I am very concerned that the manager doesnt like Andy Reid very much. One doesnt know whether he is a likable guy or not. Obviously I open to people telling me the true traits if the Andy Reid they know.

However, personal relationships can be crucial, and can predicated selection or deselection

Indeed. tbh I didnt think he should at all play Whelan above Reid, but we got the 3. But, again, it was a very very lucky goal he scored, and Andy Reid certainly deserved his game. MOTM my arse. While not wishing to take away from a guy scoring on his debut, Kilbane was the clear winner. He turned up with an injury and gave 110%, was sharp as **** when he had the ball. Kilbane is approaching the last few years of his club career, so it isnt as if he plays his arse off for Ireland to convince top clubs, he knows he is too long in for Fergie or Big Phil to sign. But he plays his arse off for Ireland out of a genuine pride in his dads country, and despite the stick he gets he is ****ing consistent.

McShane coming on was another mistake, we didnt need him and he is not ready. My subs would have been C Morrison for Doyle (like Kilbane, Morrison has displayed 110% when he plays) and A Reid for Whelan. I backed giving Keogh his game at that stage in the match, but the other two.....poor descisions IMO. As a manager who has won so many I hope Trap made his descisions based on what he saw on the training pitch and what he thinks they can do, but on PL form....no, Miller and McShane shouldnt have been there.

darkman2

OMG Please may Cyprus do to Italy what Cyprus have done to us (and probrably will do again):pac:

Vokes

Nonsense, there's nothing wrong between A Reid and management.

This just wasn't right game for him. Come the home games, he'll be important when we need to unlock tight defences.

newballsplease

montenegro 1 - 1 bulgaria 64min
cyrus 1 - 1 italy 37 mins

HOW GOOD WOULD THOSE TwO BE IF THEY WERE RESULTS!!:D

please god!:eek:

newballsplease

SofaK wrote: »

Nonsense, there's nothing wrong between A Reid and management.

This just wasn't right game for him. Come the home games, he'll be important when we need to unlock tight defences.

wasnt the right game? how exactly, hes the one player we have who can get the ball, hold on to it, and create excellent passes, aswell as control passes around midfield.

thats exactly what we lacked at times during the game tonight.

shane86

tbh I am nearly more worried about Montenegro than Italy. Italy are absoloute cat right now and are not particularly anything to fear.