Republic of Ireland vs. France WC Playoff Sat/Wed 14/18 November **K/Os 8 PM/9 PM**

Kent Brockman

Bloody media hyping our chances all week (to lift us from our depression:rolleyes: )
Though all neutrals gave us little or no chance and on paper it was a walkover.

Fair play to the lads, they gave their best and we can ask no more.
Sometimes the other team is just better. Gutted:(

Raskolnikov

Will Trap change tactics now?

Jax Teller

Rte need new analysts . Giles an dunphy haven't a clue they haven't played football for 30 years . Bring some Recently retired footballers in I say

Bobalicious93

Gutted to lose to a goal like that after the effort the lads put in. Very harsh on them.

But all it takes is for us to nick a goal on Wednesday, and we're back in the tie. It's not over yet by any means.

cson

Found another gear? - France never got out of 3rd.

OPENROAD

Spot on Souness imo

allybhoy

OPENROAD wrote: »

We don't know that in fairness.

Eh you do, did you not see the footage afterwards. Dunne went to shake his hand, Diarra said something then turned away and Dunne went mad, Andrews heard it aswell and was bulling for him aswell

CCCP^

What was the story near the end? What was the bust up?

Earthhorse

Kent Brockman wrote: »

Bloody media hyping our chances all week (to lift us from our depression:rolleyes: )

Nice combo of post and username.

dreamers75

CCCP^ wrote: »

What was the story near the end? What was the bust up?

Lass Dunne and Gourcuff wouldnt shake hands and some handbags were used.

CCCP^

allybhoy wrote: »

Eh you do, did you not see the footage afterwards. Dunne went to shake his hand, Diarra said something then turned away and Dunne went mad, Andrews heard it aswell and was bulling for him aswell

I thought that happened, and I must say, I am not impressed. Not impressed at all.

Paleface

DeVore wrote: »

To be honest, my opinion is that professional players of any sport should be physically fit enough to play their sport hard for 90 minutes and not gas. France did and we didnt. Basic fitness questions should be asked...

DeV.

When the opposition has 65% of possesion your going to be knackered chasing them down. If this game had of been played in tense heat Ireland would have conceded a few goals towards the end.

spacecoyote

the lads worked their a$$es off all match, and were very unlucky to concede, but the two main problems we have are:

1: Robbie Keane spends more time moaning and trying flicks then he does playing football

2: We have no-one who can play football in the middle of the field. Whelan & Andrews are tryers but we've no support in the middle of the pitch when we have the ball. Its depressing having to see O'Shea & Dunne boot a long ball every time they have the ball, and then when they manage to win a ball, theres no support coming through from midfield.

Overall, i'm feeling miserable!

Will Trap be willing to take any chances with team selection and tactics for the 2nd leg???

allybhoy

Henry is a class act on and off the pitch.

ntlbell

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

RTE panel taking sh*te as usual.

"We stepped down" says Giles. Total nonsense.

I don't know about stepping down.

but it's like all teams that have class/skill/fitness

e.g. united; teams come out and they can put pressure for so long at some point you get worn down

but at the end of the day we created some great chances we were beat by a lucky deflection and nothing more

it's half time and a long way to go

leninbenjamin

DeVore wrote: »

To be honest, my opinion is that professional players of any sport should be physically fit enough to play their sport hard for the duration and not gas. France did and we didnt. Basic fitness questions should be asked...

DeV.

Not as simple as that. Ireland's game depended on working harder than the French, making the interceptions and covering more ground. Very, very difficult to pull that off against a technically superior team like France over 90 mins.

Greyham

Deleted User wrote: »

Cant believe that Ireland sat back so much in the second half and make no mistake about it they were told by the negative Trap to do so.

Ah stop, they were not told sit back, they were simply exhausted.

You could see ireland were giving it their absolute all during the first half , and you could see it wasnt even phasing france , they were quietly confident , and very composed, that was so obvious in the second half , the atmosphere totally changed, france became very composed , very collected , and ireland were outdone, sadly

i think ireland put up a great fight for alot of the game, and well done to them , there was some good football , but in the end , france were just more collected ,and very tight , they won , they deserved it

Necronomicon

Wp to the lads. Nothing but admiration after the performance, particularly in the first half, but France's quality shone through. We were always depending on an off-night for them, and from the first half it looked like we might get that, but on the balance of the second half it's hard to argue with the result. It was always going to be hard to keep up the energy levels from the first half, and with tired minds and legs we seemed to have difficulty keeping possession and in truth we were on the ropes. It's going to be a long night in France but let's not give up the ghost yet.

allybhoy

ntlbell wrote: »

I don't know about stepping down.

but it's like all teams that have class/skill/fitness

e.g. united; teams come out and they can put pressure for so long at some point you get worn down

but at the end of the day we created some great chances we were beat by a lucky deflection and nothing more

it's half time and a long way to go

Fair assesment

johnnyboy4711

Doyle man of the match,give me a break!
Anelka was all over the place and deserved his goal.
we cannot score without the ball and defending inside our own half for the majority of the second half.
cannot see on this and 3-4 displays previous to this game how we can overcome the french.
Souness is bang on the money,very limited in options outside plan A.
very little light at the end of the tunnel
slan
john

OPENROAD

allybhoy wrote: »

Eh you do, did you not see the footage afterwards. Dunne went to shake his hand, Diarra said something then turned away and Dunne went mad, Andrews heard it aswell and was bulling for him aswell

He looked over at him all right as for what he said, who knows

Sherifu

DeVore wrote: »

To be honest, my opinion is that professional players of any sport should be physically fit enough to play their sport hard for the duration and not gas. France did and we didnt. Basic fitness questions should be asked...

DeV.

Sloppy passes and tired minds in the second half alright. One almost costing us a second goal.

They gave it their all but France do have the better players.

Still have hope for Wednesday but we'll need to take any chance we get.

sternn

dunphy wont let graham sounesse talk...unprofessional

GO'S

lads twas a great performance from a not so talented irish side.The disrespect out of diarra at the end will have us fighting on wednesday night.

Corcs001

As entertaining as Dunphy is, the man does not have a clue what he's on about.

OPENROAD

Giles letting the result get to him imo, sparks starting to fly

Paleface

Jaysus the analysis now has shifted to Souness bashing!

cson

spacecoyote wrote: »

2: We have no-one who can play football in the middle of the field. Whelan & Andrews are tryers but we've no support in the middle of the pitch when we have the ball. Its depressing having to see O'Shea & Dunne boot a long ball every time they have the ball, and then when they manage to win a ball, theres no support coming through from midfield.

On the contrary, Whelan and Andrews played some super football on the ground through the middle in the first half.

What Souness said there is absolutely spot on - we can't take them on man for man, we have to set up to counter them.

Btw, Henry is the consummate gentleman in that interview.

allybhoy

Gilles + Souness + Dunphy = Comedy gold

Pity they havent a clue what they are on about

soma

A lot of people here need a reality check - a very average group of players went toe to toe with France for a long time and put it up to them, and were exhausted.

France may get cocky and it is NOT over. One goal from us and there is a sh*t load of pressure for them in Paris.

TheJesusWarrant

some job by the media all week convincing us we ever had a chance.
we're not good enough, simple as. Given is our only player that would make their side and their keeper is good so that would be only just.

Jax Teller

allybhoy wrote: »

Gilles + Souness + Dunphy = Comedy gold

Pity they havent a clue what they are on about

Souness does . Them other two don't

OPENROAD

cson wrote: »

Btw, Henry is the consummate gentleman in that interview.

I love Thierry.

Agent Smith

18/11/09 - the Republic Must Strike back

OPENROAD

keysersoze_88 wrote: »

Sounds does . Them other two don't

Why did they have to take an ad break :mad:

big_show

allybhoy wrote: »

Henry is a class act on and off the pitch.

Someone liked his smooth interview i see..:)

Fizman

My money is on Souness being the only one with Bill in the studio when the program returns.

Requiem mass for both Mr. Giles and Mr. Dunphy to be held in St. Patricks church, Tuesday 17th November.
:pac:

OPENROAD

TheJesusWarrant wrote: »

some job by the media all week convincing us we ever had a chance.
we're not good enough, simple as. Given is our only player that would make their side and their keeper is good so that would be only just.

Thought the media went ott all week.

johnnyboy4711

yeah right!
showed in the second half how disjointed they are.
slan
j

ShamoBuc

We played reasonably well - as well as we have played in the last two years imo - but that was not good enough. Nil all would have been a fair result. Diarra is a right muppet for not shaking hands and you never know, an early goal on Wed and the jittery French might not be as sleak as they think, wishful thinking ...?

cson

DeVore wrote: »

To be honest, my opinion is that professional players of any sport should be physically fit enough to play their sport hard for the duration and not gas. France did and we didnt. Basic fitness questions should be asked...

DeV.

When you only have ~30% of the possession for the match you're always chasing it. It's a lot easier stay fresh and keep your legs when you have 70% and can let the ball do a lot of the work for you.

soma

cson wrote: »

Btw, Henry is the consumate gentleman in that interview.

For those of us who cant see it, care to summarise please?

Greyham

soma wrote: »

For those of us who cant see it, care to summarise please?

He basically said nothing ,didnt gloat , didnt act modest , just basically stood there and acted as his usual coy , aloof french self

Earthhorse

Man, wish I had RTE right now. Sounds good.

Sherifu

soma wrote: »

For those of us who cant see it, care to summarise please?

• Didn't see what happened at the end
• Wasn't a dirty game, no yellow cards
• Went over to Dunne to see everything was ok
• Va Va Voom
• See you on Wednesday
• It'll be tough in Paris

allybhoy

big_show wrote: »

Someone liked his smooth interview i see..:)

Yeh he comes across well in any interview ive seen him in, very gracious in victory aswell as defeat, didnt get involved with the handbags after the whistle and went over to see if Dunne was ok and try and smooth the water.

Headshot

iv heard alot of good stuff about Gourcuff, but he really disappointed me tonight, thought he was very poor

cson

soma wrote: »

For those of us who cant see it, care to summarise please?

Very professional in the interview, talked up our lads, tie is only half way there. When asked about the end of match incident, said he didn't know what happened but he did go to Richard Dunne to find but its all ok now. He's a very likeable guy.

OPENROAD

Earthhorse wrote: »

Man, wish I had RTE right now. Sounds good.

gone crap now, they shouldn't have taken the ad break when they did.

spacecoyote

cson wrote: »

On the contrary, Whelan and Andrews played some super football on the ground through the middle in the first half.

Can't say I agree, they won plenty of ball alright, but they didn't play alot of super football that I noticed. Andrews in particular was quite sloppy with his passing throughout the match