Republic of Ireland -v- Bulgaria (WCQ) Group 8- 28/3/09 MATCH THREAD

everdead.ie

Trilla wrote: »

sweet jesus

Hunt

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Andrews

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Gibson/Whelan

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Keogh

:eek:

I don't know what's going to happen now but it don't look good could we coax Keane out of retirement i'd say he'd wipe the floor with the four of them on his own.:(

Kingp35

Has it been confirmed that Duff is actually out of the game on Saturday? I know it looks as if he is but until it's confirmed there's always hope.....

ScholesyIsGod

Kingp35 wrote: »

Has it been confirmed that Duff is actually out of the game on Saturday? I know it looks as if he is but until it's confirmed there's always hope.....

Just heard on Newstalk that either Trapatoni or one of the managment team are set to make an announcement about it in the next couple of hours

everdead.ie

i don't want to start this discussion again but what are the odds andy reid could be called up although there confident that mcGeady will be fit to play.

mayordenis

Am I the only person who rather see hunt in there anyway?

newballsplease

yea its a fairly straightforward swap imo. Hunt in for Duff.
If only hunt would put his head UP when running with the ball!!

PCros

TV3 confirm Duff has a muscle strain. - Scrap that

Which has now been confirmed as a hamstring injury.

Also they confirmed that McGeady and Given will be starting on Saturday.

vote4pedro

how can people seriously suggest Hunt should be the preferred option?! The guy's just been booed off the pitch for his performances by Reading fans. Duff is crucial to the whole way we set ourselves up, our whole attacking system runs off he and McGeady's pace and trickery. How is that not plainly obvious?

newballsplease

dont get me wrong, its a big blow for us. Im just saying Hunt imo is the obvious replacement for him in the team/squad.

allybhoy

Its not the worst injury we could have, like if Dunne got injured it would be worse, its just the fact that Duff offers us a lot going forward which I think we will need against Bulgaria who might just come and shut up shop. Hunt is also a great man to have on the bench to bring on around the 60\70 minute mark when we need a little bit of industry rather than ingenuity, now we dont have that option.

Duff is out for the Italy game aswell....DOH!

Kingp35

It's not such a big loss for the Bulgaria game as Hunt can come in and do his trademark head down runs and unsettle the Bulgarians but he can't do that against the Italians so Duffer is a big loss for that game.

Hunt is a decent player but for me he isn;t good enough to start for Ireland. He isn't clever enough and just kicks the bal ahead and runs after it. Great tactic after 70 minutes when the opposition is tired but not so much at the start of a game.

Tom65

A year ago I might not have cared, but Duff been brilliant for us recently. He's important in that he brings a lot of experience. Hunt seems to only before for Ireland in fits and spurts, usually when he comes on as a substitute.

Pighead

vote4pedro wrote: »

how can people seriously suggest Hunt should be the preferred option?! The guy's just been booed off the pitch for his performances by Reading fans. Duff is crucial to the whole way we set ourselves up, our whole attacking system runs off he and McGeady's pace and trickery. How is that not plainly obvious?

Hunt was poor when he came on as a sub on Saturday but to be fair to him he was playing as a left back. The booing was a bit harsh.

Mr.Nice Guy

Duff's been one of our most promising players the last couple of games. I think this is a huge blow. Hunt is the obvious replacement but it's hard to know if he'll produce the goods on the day. Duff generally has done his stuff for Ireland. Damn it anyway.

Mgoraf

Can N.Hunt not play on the LW...?

missingtime

According to Matt Coopers show McGeady is a doubt (bruised foot) and Paul McShane will be playing right back.

noodler

F-sake Trap. This is where Andy Reid would hav proved useful.

Petrov versus Mcshane scares me.

mayordenis wrote: »

Am I the only person who rather see hunt in there anyway?

A joke surely? Duff is regularly one of our best players.

el_tiddlero

noodler wrote: »

Petrov versus Mcshane scares me.

Martin or Stylian??

Martin is definitely out. Not even in the squad. Stylian has a hamstring injury and might not play.

noodler

Really? Good stuff. Silly me what was I thinking?

Diabhal Beag

Sorry I didn't read through the whole thread. Is Duff just out for the Bulgaria or both matches?

el_tiddlero

Little Shyte wrote: »

Sorry I didn't read through the whole thread. Is Duff just out for the Bulgaria or both matches?

both..

Diabhal Beag

****e. Andy Reid will be happy

PCros

Heres a good article just put up on the indo website, pretty much up to date regarding whos playing whos not etc.....

http://www.irishtimes.com/sports/soccer/2009/0326/1224243515662.html

noodler

Is Finnan injured?

I am on a serious downer all of a sudden about the match.

How on earth is Andy Keogh a better bet than Andy Reid on the right?

This is ridiculous.

PCros

noodler wrote: »

Is Finnan injured?

I am on a serious downer all of a sudden about the match.

How on earth is Andy Keogh a better bet than Andy Reid on the right?

This is ridiculous.

Yeah he suffered a recurrence of a hamstring injury last week and pulled out, doubt he'll ever fully get back into the Irish squad.

noodler

I don't see anyone forcing him out fo the squad in the immeadiate future.

Kelly, Kilbane, Mcshane.....

Delaney at LB maybe? No Duff, Finnan or McGeady is a scary prospect.

monkey9

Duff is a massive loss. The best we're gonna get in Bari is a nil all draw which i would take right now. That would be a brilliant result actually.
As for Saturday, Hunt should be ok. But i prefer him coming on as an impact sub!

el_tiddlero

noodler wrote: »

How on earth is Andy Keogh a better bet than Andy Reid on the right?

it was either Ronnie Whelan or Graham Souness on RTE who put it best:

"Andy Reid seems to become a better player every time he doesn't play."

Keogh is a willing runner, has an eye for goal, and as he's been involved in every squad so far under Trap, will know exactly what his role is. The idea is that with every player knowing exactly what to do, you can control the game - to a certain extent. I know it's not pretty, and maybe it's not fair on Reid, but so far we've been getting results and that's what counts. To be honest, I don't see much of Wolves so I don't know how Keogh has been performing, but from what I've seen of Sunderland with Reid playing, he's not setting the world alight.

I don't think there's any need to panic with Duff's withdrawal. Sure, it would be better to have him, but Hunt will come in and do a job. What we'll lose in attacking nous, we will gain in defensive steel. By the sounds of it, they're really nursing McGeady through the week, so I expect him to play 50-60 minutes only, and possibly not at all on Wednesday (when a draw will be a good result).

The game will probably be a little more even now, seen as both teams are missing players, but we're still at home and we still have confidence from our start in the group, and Bulgaria are still a bit of a rabble. It's looking like it's going to be a tight match, and so long as we don't concede I'd be confident that we can nick one late on - Andrews as the scorer anyone??

Does anyone know how good/bad the Bulgarian keeper is?? We've seen some comedy keepers come to Dublin before, perhaps we'll be lucky enough to get another one..

Vokes

noodler wrote: »

How on earth is Andy Keogh a better bet than Andy Reid on the right?

Well, he plays there sometimes for Wolves - A Reid doesnt for S'land. He's naturally right footed - Reid isn't. Makes sense tbh. Would be good though to have Reid as an oprion in the squad. Esp for the Italy game.

MementoMori

noodler wrote: »

I don't see anyone forcing him out fo the squad in the immeadiate future.

Kelly, Kilbane, Mcshane.....

Delaney at LB maybe? No Duff, Finnan or McGeady is a scary prospect.

Finnan is 32 years old and has played just four games for Espanyol this season - a meagre 223 mins since his move from Liverpool. I just think the combination of constant injuries this season and his age, mean he there is a good chance he could be at the end of the road as regards international football. :mad:

The worry is that the RB spot looks like one of the weakest spots in the squad, with very little in the way of decent competiton. Most of the possibles in the squad are players whose preferred position would be CB (Bruce, O'Shea, McShane) as opposed to specialist RBs which I don't like.
The only proper full-back who has regularly played RB is Stephen Kelly and he doesn't look to be getting a regular game at Stoke.

monkey9

MementoMori wrote: »

The worry is that the RB spot looks like one of the weakest spots in the squad, with very little in the way of decent competiton.

It's ironic, but right back was one of our strongest positions for the last few years!

everdead.ie

remember when midfield was one of our strongest areas it's just a cycle should come full circle in a couple years be nice for everything to work out about 2010 presuming we qualify

eirebhoy

mayordenis wrote: »

Am I the only person who rather see hunt in there anyway?

I feel Duff is our link between midfield and attack, especially with Steven Reid out. Without those 2 we have a midfield who's job will be to get the ball to the wide players who's job is to get the ball into the box. At least Duff drifted all over the place. Allowed us to hold onto the ball for periods.

A huge loss.

noodler

Honestly, Finnan was old before this campaign started and our RB prospects haven't got any better since. This coupled with the song and danceTrap went through to get him to come out ofretirement makes me doubt that he will retire.

We have seen Keogh play there for Wolves and Ireland but for Ireland he hasn't looked outstandng but thats not the point, our midfield without Duff and maybe McGeady completely lacks a player who can pass a ball well and our creativity will be stifled even more. Reid has played on the right for Ireland a bunch of times but I can't say I care where he plays if I am honest.

We really have to score first, I don't see Trap's team being able to come back and win against Bulgaria, Georgia maybe and with a dodgey peno but not Bulgaria.

Massive game and we need captain Keane to have a big performance. Not to worried about Kevin Doyle's drought as you know the shift he will put in irregardless of goalscoring form.

newballsplease

everdead.ie wrote: »

remember when midfield was one of our strongest areas it's just a cycle should come full circle in a couple years be nice for everything to work out about 2010 presuming we qualify

surely this should be moved to the philosophy thread!!

newballsplease

is it to late for trap to call anyone else into the squad to replace duff?

Xavi6

newballsplease wrote: »

is it to late for trap to call anyone else into the squad to replace duff?

Like who? Is there anyone realistically available who could have an influence on either game?

newballsplease

Xavi6 wrote: »

Like who? Is there anyone realistically available who could have an influence on either game?

better to have anyone, then nothing. lee carsley for the italian match... because i can see our midfield been destroyed against them.

Xavi6

newballsplease wrote: »

better to have anyone, then nothing. lee carsley for the italian match... because i can see our midfield been destroyed against them.

I don't agree. Unless the player is a certain to start one of the games then there's no reason to bring them in the day before the first one. Systems have already been decided upon over the course of the week and Trap is not going to go fitting someone in unless he absolutely has to. We have plenty of cover for Duff as it is so calling someone else up would be pointless imo.

newballsplease

Xavi6 wrote: »

I don't agree. Unless the player is a certain to start one of the games then there's no reason to bring them in the day before the first one. Systems have already been decided upon over the course of the week and Trap is not going to go fitting someone in unless he absolutely has to. We have plenty of cover for Duff as it is so calling someone else up would be pointless imo.

allways expect the unexpected... what about a few injuries....or a straight red card. Ofcourse its better to have a replacement if you can.

Xavi6

newballsplease wrote: »

allways expect the unexpected... what about a few injuries....or a straight red card. Ofcourse its better to have a replacement if you can.

But that again comes back to my original point - in any of those situations who that is available for squad selection is not already included?

You've only said Carsley and he isn't a viable selection with regards to Traps previous squads.

newballsplease

Xavi6 wrote: »

But that again comes back to my original point - in any of those situations who that is available for squad selection is not already included?

You've only said Carsley and he isn't a viable selection with regards to Traps previous squads.

well even if its not that they play, atleast calling up someone for the future,to have them get familior with the international senior squad.

its a waste to have a free spot available and not call anyone up.
*im still not sure if its possible at this stage.

Xavi6

newballsplease wrote: »

well even if its not that they play, atleast calling up someone for the future,to have them get familior with the international senior squad.

its a waste to have a free spot available and not call anyone up.
*im still not sure if its possible at this stage.

Now that I do agree with. I'm sure someone like Owen Garvan would benefit greatly from a week's training with the big boys.

RE: Still being able to call someone up, not sure for the Bulgaria game but I don't see why not for Italy. Isn't the cut off point something like three days before a game?

redout

Looky here...........

Something to play with for 5mins

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/3497095.stm

woodyg

well that ended the debate.
Stokes called up http://breakingnews.ie/sport/eyaueycwidkf/

"Sunderland striker Anthony Stokes has been called into the Republic of Ireland squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Bulgaria and Italy.

The 20-year-old, currently on loan at Crystal Palace, flew into Dublin last night after Newcastle winger Damien Duff was sent home with a hamstring injury which has ruled him out of both games.

With Celtic winger Aiden McGeady also battling against a foot problem, manager Giovanni Trapattoni has moved to strengthen his options.

Assistant boss Liam Brady has already confirmed Reading’s Stephen Hunt will take Duff’s place in the team against Bulgaria at Croke Park tomorrow evening.

The Irish camp are hopeful that McGeady, who has a badly-bruised right foot, will be available, although that will depend on whether he is able to join in training with his team-mates today.

If he does not make it, the Italian will have to assess his options, and Stokes’ arrival will give him more cover. "

He's still only 20? thought he was older my self.
Was gutted to hear Duff was out as he would have enjoyed running at an ageing Italian side.

Xavi6

redout wrote: »

Looky here...........

Something to play with for 5mins

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/3497095.stm

Jeez it's tough to pick a right back.

stovelid

redout wrote: »

Looky here...........

Something to play with for 5mins

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/3497095.stm

Having to physically assemble the squad (and see how thin it is) has actually depressed me even more.

Quint

McShane at RB against italy is a scary thought. We'll probably play 6-4-0 formation there

NabyLadistheman

Quint wrote: »

McShane at RB against italy is a scary thought. We'll probably play 6-4-0 formation there

6-4-0 and not bein able to pass the ball! Ahh the joys of International football!

Nalz

Fahey, Rowlands, Carsley and Garvan