Montenegro vs Ireland

eagle eye

Given 7 - Excellent when called upon but did not have much to do.
Finnan 6 - Good game but made one or two errors
O'Shea 8 - Best performance in an Irish shirt
Dunne 8 - Yet another dominant display
Kilbane 6 - Got caught napping a couple of times but overall ok performance
Hunt 5 - Gave 100% as usual but gave away the ball too much and no end product when in possession
Whelan 8 - Getting better and better by the game, the best player on the pitch for me.
Reid 7 - Great first half but seemed to tire in the second but overall another solid display
McGeady 6 - Jekyl and Hyde performance. Did not show up in the first half, but played well in the second half. Poor effort when he had a clear shot at goal
Doyle 6 - Worked hard as usual but hard to assess with not much ball coming to the forwards
Keane 6 - Worked hard as well but apart from one shot on goal he got very little supply. Hard to assess as well.

corban

i must say i've been very impressed with whelan, wasn't sure what to expect before georgia game, but he has put in 2 very good performances...

o shea and dunne look solid, o shea especially putting in some of his best work in a green jersey..

again mcgeady was a bit of a headless chicken, he needs to learn to use his head, look up and maybe consider a first time pass every now and again (mix it up).. you cant fault mcgeady or hunt for effort though..

keane is slowly gettin better for ireland under trap, i expect him to get among the goals again for ireland soon (competitive matches)

most importantly ireland need a fit stephen reid in the middle of the park, the difference he makes is unbelievable....

i'm gonna trust trap for the minute that he knows what he's doing with andy reid, i wouldn't be surprised if he isn't fully fit or if trap only uses him in home games....

also i think every effort should be made to bring back stephen ireland, a great player..bit mad... but he's a good irish player and we could do with him

newballsplease

once again shay given is irelands best player on the pitch. this cant keep happening.
we would be lost without the donegal man.

surely aswell last night the whole country shouted penalty at the same time?!!

eirebhoy

corban wrote: »

again mcgeady was a bit of a headless chicken, he needs to learn to use his head, look up and maybe consider a first time pass every now and again (mix it up)..

He played the simple pass a lot last night. Also, bar his first touch of the game he didn't misplace another pass.

Someone said he was bullied - that's right but he won the freekicks. If he wasn't being fouled so much he might have been beating his man. I can actually think of 2 times he was free from his man and he got hauled down. It's not his fault he was being fouled and nothing he can do about it unfortunately. He didn't let it get to him and it was a good performance overall.

I think most of our chances were from McGeady's deliveries. Keane's chance from a corner. Whelan's dink and shot was after an excellent McGeady freekick into the box. Doyle hit a shot wide after McGeady beat his man and sent a cross into the box. Hunt got to a McGeady cross on the back post but couldn't do much with it and hit it wide.

Trap would be happy with McGeady last night so it's about time the Irish were. Fair enough, he deserves criticism for his first half against Georgia but he's done well since.

eirebhoy

reporter Which player would you recommend to the Italians?

Trap: "Shay Given from Newcastle. He resembles Gianluigi Buffon and I am not exaggerating when I say this. He is a born goalkeeper and there is a vacancy for players like this in Serie A."



“Liam (Brady), Marco (Tardelli) and I all think he is a great goalkeeper. When I saw that deflection going in by the post last night, I thought ‘it’s a goal’ but then – zoom – Given is there and saves. For me Shay is one of the best in Europe. For me, second only to Buffon or even the same as Buffon. He has personality, he is explosive and he is the quiet commander of the team.”

BaZmO*

Yeah I read something in the Irish Times the other day and it commented on an interview Trap gave to an Italian sports paper and when asked about who from the Irish squad he'd recommend to Italian club football he said Given without a doubt. It's good to hear but in fairness it's something we've always known.

Tom65

Trap is right. No offence to Newcastle, but Given could've been playing with the best clubs in Europe. He'd easily fit in at Man Utd, Arsenal etc. Then again, he's shown a loyalty (to Newcastle) that is very, very rare in football.

Mr.Nice Guy

Tom65 wrote: »

Trap is right. No offence to Newcastle, but Given could've been playing with the best clubs in Europe. He'd easily fit in at Man Utd, Arsenal etc. Then again, he's shown a loyalty (to Newcastle) that is very, very rare in football.

I agree with you. He could have handed in a transfer request, and had a lot of top clubs after him I'm sure, but he decided to stay loyal to Newcastle where he is appreciated so good luck to him.

_blank_

Loyal Schmoyal.

There's a couple of reasons Given never got a big move.

Too small. Too injury prone.

Manager talks up player shocker, tbh.

eirebhoy

Des wrote: »

Loyal Schmoyal.

There's a couple of reasons Given never got a big move.

Too small. Too injury prone.

Manager talks up player shocker, tbh.

He could have talked up another player? Do you not think we've one class act? Richard Dunne? Trap rates Given as our best player. Thierry Henry rates him as the best keeper in the world. Germany had him singled out as our best player.

Any goal Given conceded for us in the last 5 or 6 years... I doubt there's a keeper in the world that would have saved them. He regularly makes saves that most wouldn't. His shot stopping is 2nd to none. His reflexes are amazing. His reading of the game excellent. His catching excellent (statistically the best in the premiership the last time he was fit for the season and got goalkeeper of the year).

Fair enough, he's smaller than most keepers so his saves can look better because he'd often have to dive further. But I think Zidane's freekick against Ireland shows that height means nothing to Given. It was heading for the top corner at a fast pace. Given was positioned as any keeper would be. He saved it. Very few would have.

Based on what we've seen, I don't know how any Irishman can say there's a better keeper than Given. If you could find a keeper that does everything Given does and is also a good kicker then you'll have better than him. As it is I just don't think any keeper in the world would do better than Given at what he does.

Xavi6

Des wrote: »

Loyal Schmoyal.

There's a couple of reasons Given never got a big move.

Too small. Too injury prone.

Manager talks up player shocker, tbh.

Sorry Des but that's bollox.

For starters, 6ft 1ins is not small for goalkeeper who has superb agility.

Secondly, he has only had injuries in the past two years or so.

And thirdly, he actually could have gone to Arsenal when Seaman left and probably United as well but the fact is that he was loyal.

I'm the last person to wear green tinted glasses but in Given's case all the praise is more than justified. He is our one world class player.

Pigman II

In a way I'm kinda glad he spent his career at Newcastle. It's the perfect place for a goalkeeper to get heaps of shot-stopping practice.

PHB

Givens problem has always been crosses, he always looks a bit dodgy on them. None of the top 4 ever came into them because he never engineered a move. He shouldn't have signed an extension at Newcastle, hell he never should have moved to Newcastle.

noodler

You hear alot of people harking on about how Newcastle's crap defence makes Given look good. This is cynicism at tis worst for me, assuming that Given would be crap if he had a good defence because he wouldn't be able to keep himself alert for the one or two shots on target a top4 keeper may get per game.

Surely praise should be given out on what we observe, not what might happen under other circumstances.