Rep. of Ireland v Andorra, Tue 7 September 2010 [RTE2: 7pm, KO: 7.45pm]

Dublin_Gunner

tolosenc wrote: »

Anyone else think the ref was rubbish? 2 terrible refs for the first 2 matches. Hopefully decent ones next month...

Yep.

I thought he started ok, was well on top of things, but then went into a 'safe' mode. Could have easily given us a penalty, and iven us a few more yellow cards, and could have had one of them sent off, and another couple booked.

Doesn't matter anyway, 3-1 is decent, and by the looks of things, its Slovakia we need to look out for now.

~Rebel~

Was happy enough with McGeady tonight to be honest. We all know his flaws at this stage, so its no major surprise when he gets into a good position and delivers a poor ball. What I liked tonight was that he kept his head up and kept attacking and harrying for the full game, caused a lot of problems and dragged the Andorans around so they lost shape when he was on the ball. In the past he's faded if things weren't going his way, but tonight he didn't, so Kudos Mr. McGeady.

Absolutely delighted the Slovaks beat Russia in Russia. Up until the world cup playoffs, the Russians were unbeatable at home, but now it looks like that home confidence has been seriously dented so when we visit them hopefully they'll be a lot more edgy than they were during their last qualifying campaign's group stage.

Dublin_Gunner

~Rebel~ wrote: »

Absolutely delighted the Slovaks beat Russia in Russia.

Draw would have been better. All this does is suggest its Slovakia, not Russia we need to be more wary of. It makes this a LOT more difficult IMO.

tolosenc

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

3-1 is decent

1, 2 maybe 3 penos denied to us, as well as what should have been a red for Lima. I could have been 7-0 with a decent ref...

Leiva

tolosenc wrote: »

1, 2 maybe 3 penos denied to us, as well as what should have been a red for Lima. I could have been 7-0 with a decent ref...

Is that you Robbie ?

tolosenc

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

Draw would have been better. All this does is suggest its Slovakia, not Russia we need to be more wary of. It makes this a LOT more difficult IMO.

Absolutely. To be better than Russia, we need a point at home against the Slovaks, but to equal the Slovaks, we need to win in Moscow...

newballsplease

Can someone explain to me why McGeady is being slated on this thread?
I thought he looked our most lively player for a lot of the game, especially first half. Created few chances. Didnt think he had a bad game so to speak.
Doyle was again immense. Im Annoyed that we got the 2 goal cushion and settled for it. Could have been 4 or 5-1.
Cant understand how someone wasnt thrown on for the last 15-20 mins into the left back role to give them a run out. Thats the most worrying thing.

johnmcdnl

ColeTrain wrote: »

He was our only creative player there tonight, ran at them well and forced them back, created chances and got an assist for himself. He will be an important player in this campaign.

He ran at them alright and that's the problem :rolleyes: surely an international footballer worth 10 million should be able to run AROUND some lads from the top of a mountain on the Spainish/French border... there entire team pretty much plays in the 7th tier of the Spanish football league...

that's 2 divisions below the Confrence in English football - McGeady tries the FIFA street way too much and just looses it - any lad of the street can do the flicks and tricks but a lot of them might get around some of the lads from Andorra - McGeady couldn't get around Andorra - what hope has he against a middlen decent team with actual professionals playing for them in defense rather than insurance brokers and postmen or whatever they are with all due respect to the Andorrans...

If he'd stop the flicks and just try to be more direct maybe he'd be a lot more effective - we're slating McGeady because he's trying to do FIFA street or something like that and constantly failing - if it worked out for him even half the time and he got a good cross it'd be grand but every time he gets the ball he starts to run at the defenders which is grand but then he looses it which is the problem - if it worked out every now and then and made a chance then fair enough but it rarely if ever does anything bar loose the ball

Augmerson

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

Draw would have been better. All this does is suggest its Slovakia, not Russia we need to be more wary of. It makes this a LOT more difficult IMO.

This is a tough group, Slovakia and Russia are the threats. It's not a case of one or the other, it's both sides we should be wary of. I'm not sure you were suggesting most people see Russia as the major obstacle but that the real worry is Slovakia, for me it's both, plus teams like Macedonia and Armenia, Macedonia in particular. They have the potential to take points off us over in Skopje.

tolosenc

mixednuts wrote: »

Is that you Robbie ?

Yes.

Jayob10

tolosenc wrote: »

Absolutely. To be better than Russia, we need a point at home against the Slovaks, but to equal the Slovaks, we need to win in Moscow...

I wouldnt write the Russians off either, they will prob have sacked their coach and be greatly rejuvenated by the time we play them away.
In hindsight, it would have been better to have had Russia away in one of our first 2 games.
On the flip side, Armenia away is not a place in which many teams in this group will win.

Mr.Nice Guy

I think Lawrence has done great for us this campaign. If you count the Doyle goal tonight which he had a hand in then he has 2 assists from tonight and could have also got a goal in the first half. He also played well against Armenia. I can't recall him having a bad game in a green jersey and he's an asset at set pieces too. I'm very surprised he struggled to find a suitor during the transfer window. I hear Pompey may get him on loan but I could see him doing a good job at a Premiership club that was lower half of the table. He's a player I have a lot of faith in now when I see him in the starting line-up. I would say him and Doyle have been the standout performers in the campaign thus far.

L'prof

Hell yeah, great to see. Two tough games coming uo next though, home to Russia and away to Slovakia. If we could remain top after those two, it'd be fantastic!

dyl10

McGeady did well enough tonight. Andorra gave him loads of space and pissing by part-timers was handy for him, with that kind of pace.

tolosenc

L'prof wrote: »

Hell yeah, great to see. Two tough games coming uo next though, home to Russia and away to Slovakia. If we could remain top after those two, it'd be fantastic!

2-1 over the Rooskies, 1-1 in Slovakia.

Dolph Starbeam

johnmcdnl wrote: »

He ran at them alright and that's the problem :rolleyes: surely an international footballer worth 10 million should be able to run AROUND some lads from the top of a mountain on the Spainish/French border... there entire team pretty much plays in the 7th tier of the Spanish football league...

that's 2 divisions below the Confrence in English football - McGeady tries the FIFA street way too much and just looses it - any lad of the street can do the flicks and tricks but a lot of them might get around some of the lads from Andorra - McGeady couldn't get around Andorra - what hope has he against a middlen decent team with actual professionals playing for them in defense rather than insurance brokers and postmen or whatever they are with all due respect to the Andorrans...

If he'd stop the flicks and just try to be more direct maybe he'd be a lot more effective - we're slating McGeady because he's trying to do FIFA street or something like that and constantly failing - if it worked out for him even half the time and he got a good cross it'd be grand but every time he gets the ball he starts to run at the defenders which is grand but then he looses it which is the problem - if it worked out every now and then and made a chance then fair enough but it rarely if ever does anything bar loose the ball

A bit over the top again, he's getting stick because some Irish people always need something to complain about, and without McShane on the pitch and Kilbane scoring there is nothing else for them to complain about.

McGeady got past his man at nearly every attempt so i'm not sure what you were looking at and was by far our most creative player.

el dude

I thin k we've looked relatively decent in the last two games. Much better than we looked against the no-hopers of the last campaign imo.

Doyle really has been smashing altogether. He's been leading the line well and playing between the lines perfectly too. First touch has been superb, and he's got his mind made up before he gets that first touch on the ball. Great stuff.

Slovakia and Russia are going to be tough tough games though. Slovakia are as dogged as they come, and moved the ball very efficiently. Russia will cause us problems too, in both games they are going to have far more possession of the ball than we will and i'd worry about Kilbane in that game where their right back, Anyukov, is going to be galloping up and down the wing the whole game.

I think this group is going to be a far tougher one than our last.

newballsplease

Their Goalkeeper has no club and according to wikipedia(Yes I know :rolleyes:) He works in Argos in Derbyshire!!

Dempsey

johnmcdnl wrote: »

He ran at them alright and that's the problem :rolleyes: surely an international footballer worth 10 million should be able to run AROUND some lads from the top of a mountain on the Spainish/French border... there entire team pretty much plays in the 7th tier of the Spanish football league...

that's 2 divisions below the Confrence in English football - McGeady tries the FIFA street way too much and just looses it - any lad of the street can do the flicks and tricks but a lot of them might get around some of the lads from Andorra - McGeady couldn't get around Andorra - what hope has he against a middlen decent team with actual professionals playing for them in defense rather than insurance brokers and postmen or whatever they are with all due respect to the Andorrans...

If he'd stop the flicks and just try to be more direct maybe he'd be a lot more effective - we're slating McGeady because he's trying to do FIFA street or something like that and constantly failing - if it worked out for him even half the time and he got a good cross it'd be grand but every time he gets the ball he starts to run at the defenders which is grand but then he looses it which is the problem - if it worked out every now and then and made a chance then fair enough but it rarely if ever does anything bar loose the ball

You slate McGeady because they are part timers and because of the fee that Spartak paid to Celtic. What about the fact that he's not match fit and just moved country?

Why arent you slating the defenders for conceding, why arent you slating Robbie Keane for only scoring one goal (it should have been ruled offside too) etc etc etc.

McGeady's performance is one of the last things that's bothering me about tonight's snorefest.

JerryHandbag

6pts from 6, mission accomplished. Looking forward to Duff getting back in that team.

IRISHSPORTSGUY

el dude wrote: »

I thin k we've looked relatively decent in the last two games. Much better than we looked against the no-hopers of the last campaign imo.

Doyle really has been smashing altogether. He's been leading the line well and playing between the lines perfectly too. First touch has been superb, and he's got his mind made up before he gets that first touch on the ball. Great stuff.

Slovakia and Russia are going to be tough tough games though. Slovakia are as dogged as they come, and moved the ball very efficiently. Russia will cause us problems too, in both games they are going to have far more possession of the ball than we will and i'd worry about Kilbane in that game where their right back, Anyukov, is going to be galloping up and down the wing the whole game.

I think this group is going to be a far tougher one than our last.

Terrifys me that. Sorry Zinedine fanboys, but even though he scored he still shouldn't be in the in the starting XI. Could someone please alert Trap to the life of Stephen Ward?

Laois_Man

Seamus coleman captained the U21s against Turkey today. It's his last ever game at that level as he turns 22 before the next game.

Time to call him into the senior squad. Massively impressive while on loan at Blackpool last season, and in the Premier League appearance against Spurs. More of the same in his couple of appearances this season so far.

We may see his Everton team mate Shane Duffy back too after THAT injury. Although Trap is so cautious about new players, something tells me they won't get a look in until the next friendly

Laois_Man

My opinion on McGeady is no different to what it's always been. Will get around a full back well sometimes. But what good is it when he has to absolutely no clue what to do next?

GLaDOS

IRISHSPORTSGUY wrote: »

Sorry Zinedine fanboys

:pac::pac::pac::pac:

Doubt you'll find anyone who wants him to keep his place, goal or no goal.

flahavaj

ScienceNerd wrote: »

:pac::pac::pac::pac:

Doubt you'll find anyone who wants him to keep his place, goal or no goal.

Well I for one think the current back four, that started tonight, is our best one.

newballsplease

flahavaj wrote: »

Well I for one think the current back four, that started tonight, is our best one.

maybe....as in..... Given, O'Shea,Dunne and StLegend.

flahavaj

I'd understand all the Kilbane hate if Ireland regularly got torn apart down the left hand side of their defence or Kilbane regularly dropped clangers that cost us points in our groups. But they don't and he doesn't - so whats the problem? The alternatives are hardly world beaters and are unproven at this level and I certainly wouldn't like to see them thrown in against the Russians or Slovaks.

L'prof

Laois_Man wrote: »

Seamus coleman captained the U21s against Turkey today. It's his last ever game at that level as he turns 22 before the next game.

Time to call him into the senior squad. Massively impressive while on loan at Blackpool last season, and in the Premier League appearance against Spurs. More of the same in his couple of appearances this season so far.

I'm pretty sure he can continue to play for the U21s for the duration of the campaign.

LeeroyJones

flahavaj wrote: »

I'd understand all the Kilbane hate if Ireland regularly got torn apart down the left hand side of their defence or Kilbane regularly dropped clangers that cost us points in our groups. But they don't and he doesn't - so whats the problem? The alternatives are hardly world beaters and are unproven at this level and I certainly wouldn't like to see them thrown in against the Russians or Slovaks.

It's not Kilbane hate! It's merely suggesting that he should not be selected for the high profile fixtures anymore. Superb attitude and an ideal rolemodel for any aspiring footballer, however that can only go so far.

Kilbane, if I recall correctly, scored an OG and misplaced a backpass which ultimately cost us 4 of the 6 points on offer against Bulgaria in the last campaign.

Stephen Kelly is a solid right-back and while he may not have Kilbane's experience, he does have more pace which in this day and age is crucial for the modern day fullback. There is a risk that Kilbane would get burnt down his wing by higher quality opponents. Kelly, for me, is a decent consistent performer and has a few caps under his belt. For this reason he would be my choice for RB with JOS moving to LB.

Other alternatives like Coleman and Cunningham are talented but lack any experience internationally and at their clubs. So while they may be the future, they are not the immediate present.

me-skywalker

I dont know what game people where watching Mc Geady had a good solid gave. Nothing spectular but not ordinary or crap. It was a good 7/10 game and thats good enough for me when he's not match fit and delivered when he was needed.

Dodgykeeper

Set of pics from tonights game here



Ireland V Andorra7_09_10036 by fergus.mcnally, on Flickr


Ireland V Andorra7_09_10041 by fergus.mcnally, on Flickr

flahavaj

LeeroyJones wrote: »

It's not Kilbane hate! It's merely suggesting that he should not be selected for the high profile fixtures anymore. Superb attitude and an ideal rolemodel for any aspiring footballer, however that can only go so far.

Kilbane, if I recall correctly, scored an OG and misplaced a backpass which ultimately cost us 4 of the 6 points on offer against Bulgaria in the last campaign.

Stephen Kelly is a solid right-back and while he may not have Kilbane's experience, he does have more pace which in this day and age is crucial for the modern day fullback. There is a risk that Kilbane would get burnt down his wing by higher quality opponents. Kelly, for me, is a decent consistent performer and has a few caps under his belt. For this reason he would be my choice for RB with JOS moving to LB.

Other alternatives like Coleman and Cunningham are talented but lack any experience internationally and at their clubs. So while they may be the future, they are not the immediate present.

Fair point on the Bulgaria errors. I'm not sure Kelly is much of a better option though, he's a fairly mediocre player and I have a distinct recollection of him dropping an unreal whopper for Ireland in the not too distant past (the opposition escapes me at the moment). He has reasonable pace but his positional sense is suspect and he's nowhere near as good as Kilbane in the opposition half.

At the moment for me Kilbane and JOS represent our best two options of a pretty bad lot at fullback.

briany

This group could turn into a real dogfight for the top spot if we're all going around taking points off each other. No one's even really considered Macedonia either. I'd be really impressed if Ireland could go there and get a win, never mind Bratislava or Moscow! What's it been, like 20 years since Ireland got a significant away win in competitive play (not counting France)? That must be some kind of record for a team that once was as high as 8th in the world rankings.

IRISHSPORTSGUY

Kelly is a better defender, nimbler, has a better touch and able to get in positions to hoy in crosses. He is a (bottom half) Premier League standard full back. Nowadays Kilbane is a 33 year old winger whose legs have gone and can't even make the Hull team in the Npower Championship. I love Killer but there should be sentiment in football. He's finished at this level, I'm sorry to say. I'm even more sorry to say Trap doesn't seem to share my viewpoint and it's looking increasingly likely he will start against Russia.

But Kevin Foley of Wolves is better than both, IMO. Can't understand why he hasn't more caps. And even more bizarrely why Trap seemingly prefers McShane of all people!

Xavi6

Delighted for Zinedine to score the first competitive goal at the new stadium.

Belter from Doyle, and I see Robbie has brought back the cartwheel

ColeTrain

Laois_Man wrote: »

My opinion on McGeady is no different to what it's always been. Will get around a full back well sometimes. But what good is it when he has to absolutely no clue what to do next?

1. Won the corner that Kilbane scored from with some nice peice of play.
   
2. Played a lovely ball to Keane that he was ruled offside from, replay suggested it was 50/50.
   
3. Set up Kilbane with a lovely flick
   
4. Set up Keane with a beautiful passage from which he scored.
   
5. Crossed the ball into Keane and Doyle which they both failed to run onto.
   
6. Set Andy Keogh up for a great chance at the end.

That's just from the top of my head, I'm sure he contributed more than that but that's chances he directly helped make, not bad for a nights work. Not to mention it was his second game of the season, coming in the space of 5 days but don't let that get in the way of a good rant.

donfers

trap is an inherently conservative coach, he makes his teams hard to beat and he priorities shape and pragmatism over flair and adventure, under his tenureship we may squeeze into a playoff spot (yet again) and lose the play off narrowly (yet again especially if we draw a half decent side). We are hard-working, hard-running, hard to beat and hard to watch. The sad thing is that we are capable of better yet Trap is getting off lightly because by comparison with the previous regime he is a genius. But this is like saying I am a world class footballer because I replaced my granny in your side.

Under Jack Charlton Ireland had a great pool of players to choose from yet he had us playing dire muck football that was an insult to the abilities of the best generation of footballers we ever had. Yet people hailed this guy as some kind of messiah because of the catalogue of failures that had gone before. Let us please not make that mistake again and let's try to judge each situation on its merits. Trap doesn't have the footballers of the calibre that Jack had available to him but we do still have better players not being selected for us. The worrying thing is that as a small nation we really should maximise the resources available to us and that is not happening-Kilbane hasn't missed a competitive international this millenium yet much more talented guys like Andy Reid and Stephen Reid are treated like dog manure by the management. I have less sympathy for Stephen Ireland but the fact is that he is our most talented midfielder and somehow we have managed to disenfranchise the guy. The truly sad thing is that with our best eleven playing the right brand of football we would be more than capable of qualifying for tournaments and winning groups.

We need to pick our best players.

We need to believe in ourselves more.

My Ireland team for Euro 2012

Given
Coleman Dunne St Ledger O Shea


Duff Andy Reid Stephen Reid Mcgeady


Keane Doyle



hopefully by 2012 st ledger will be at a premier league club proving himself, also we can hope Andy Reid is playing regularly and in shape. Finally my concern is that Stephen Reid remains fit, and if that's not the case then the excellent James McCarthy can be drafted in. There are numerous other possibilities like recalling Stephen Ireland or maybe putting Greg Cunningham at left back and O' Shea to centre back and leaving St Ledger out. Options on the bench would include current regulars like Whelan, Gibson, Fahey, Andrews and the returning Stephen Hunt. Let us not forget guys who are not even in the squad like Jonathan Walters at Stoke. Wesley Hoolohan and Alan Dunne at Millwall (the media aren't even mentioning these guys). Maybe Anthony Stokes will have a renaissance at Celtic and score goals and let's hope Shane Duffy can recover from his horrible injury.

I know there are promising players I have forgotten to mention but in an Irish squad where it seems easier to get on the panel than off it I expect much better from the current regime despite the farcical few years before they came along.

Xavi6

Neither of the Reids will be involved by 2012. People need to get over the fact that whatever potential they might have had is long gone and the ship has sailed.

bonerm

donfers wrote: »

Under Jack Charlton Ireland had a great pool of players to choose from yet he had us playing dire muck football that was an insult to the abilities of the best generation of footballers we ever had. Yet people hailed this guy as some kind of messiah because of the catalogue of failures that had gone before. Let us please not make that mistake again and let's try to judge each situation on its merits.

I believe you are entirely wrong in that statement.

8 of Jacks starting XI v England in 1988 were already well established in the squad before he even took over. If Charlton had great players to choose from then so did the manager before him. If anything Ireland had better players before Charlton took over (Brady, O'Leary and Lawrenson being noteable casualties of that formative campaign).

Ireland had tried to play their way into finals using the nucleus of the team Charlton inherited and failed time after time. I'm confident had he let them play football too then the outcome would have been no different.

Same with this current team. Let them play football and they might end up beating the likes of Andorra 5-0 but they'd be found out even more when it came time to play the bigger teams.

LuckyLloyd

donfers wrote: »

Given
Coleman Dunne St Ledger O Shea


Duff Andy Reid Stephen Reid Mcgeady


Keane Doyle

Steven Reid is retired from International football, and has played a paucity of competitive games the past couple of seasons. Andy Reid (the White Pele :rolleyes:) is just not very good. Whelan has been producing a lot more than him in the Premiership over the last year, and the more athletic options Trapp is going with suit the current system and awful lot more. For Andy Reid to work as a starting option, you would need to sacrifice one of McGeady / Duff or Keane / Doyle.

homerjay2005

job done, nothing spectacular, expected a 2 goal win and thats what we got.some thoughts -

Mcgeedy - i would love to see how many times he got the ball and then, the amount of times he successfully did something with it or pass to an opponent. my god, he wasted some amount of ball, the term no end product was invented for him.

2 super goals, one from doyle and one from their number 16, would like to see them again...

atmosphere was better that the last 2 games, but still nothing special. it was ok though.

we have a block booking of 8 seats, 2 of the lads had to move as there was a hole in the roof directly above them and their seats were wet. shocking stuff, and their were more people in the same boat, no pun intended, also.

Green did well, Keane started well but then faded. Lawrence was ok, 2 assists, but gave away the ball alot.

Defence untroubled really.

anyway, on to russia and slovakia, where the going really gets tough. 4 points there and we are well on the way.

JerryHandbag

I forgot Macedonia are in our group, bogey team without a doubt....last minute equaliser that prevented automatic qualification for Euro 2000 And I remember how they celebrated that one in our faces.

Grudge match time!

ctrl-alt-delete

me-skywalker wrote: »

I dont know what game people where watching Mc Geady had a good solid gave. Nothing spectular but not ordinary or crap. It was a good 7/10 game and thats good enough for me when he's not match fit and delivered when he was needed.

I thought he had a good game too, but nothing more than good. I just feel if we had have had Duff playing there last night, and that he had have gotten the amount of ball as McGeady that we would have seen more goals.

The season is still early, the rest of the players on the pitch have played very little more games this season than McGeady so i can't see that as an excuse, I know he has just changed club, but he knows the International set up by now.

He has pace, he can beat players, he can make tonnes of space for himself, but he just cannot cross a ball in the air. He is ok at playing it along the ground. He has been like this for years, I can't see him getting any better at it.

Lets face it this was one of the worst teams in the world we were playing last night - it is easy to look good against them, but when you manage to look bad against them serious questions need to be asked.

At least one of Gibson or Fahey should have been on at half time, they cannot have been expected to make an impression last night when they came on, especially seems as though the rest of the team had settled for the result at that time.

homerjay2005

oh and i forgot to add, the ref was shocking. f*ck me, it was very infuriating at times, he blew for non existent fouls time and time again and i also believe we should have had a penalty for the foul on doyle.

Dublin_Gunner

briany wrote: »

That must be some kind of record for a team that once was as high as 8th in the world rankings.

6th. FFS.


McGeady had an alright game I though, wasted a lot, but created a lot, and looked very lively. He took two defenders with him when he had the ball, that alone is a huge plus.

Kilbane, as much as I love the man, is getting a little past it. I'd like to see him get 8 more caps, as I think that would equal the consecutive games record. Even just put him on for 20 minutes or whatever!

Whoever is suggesting Kelly is good enough to even spit on the same pitch as an Ireland squad is having a laugh.

He is shockingly bad. I've not seen him have a decent first game since his debut against Czech Rep (iirc - same game as McShane...)

His positional sense is awful, his tackling is terrible, and he can't pass.

Foley - now there's a different kettle of fish. Good solid full back.


My Ireland team would be:

---

Given
O'Shea----Dunne---St Ledger----Foley
Lawrence/Duff--Whelan--Gibson---McGeady

---

Doyle---Keane


If anyone thinks the team should be much different than that they should be shot.

Coillte_Bhoy

Trappatono obvipusly doesnt see McGeady in the same light as some of the clueless experts on here...:rolleyes:

'I congratulated him after the game for what he showed us. This is his quality.


'He did what I have been asking him to do. We know he can dribble and cross and shoot, and that he is quick.


'But we have been working on his positioning on the pitch and by playing the way he did, he saw 30 per cent more of the ball.


'We showed him DVDs of the Andorra team yesterday and again this morning, and I am happy that he understood.


'This was one of his best games for us.'

PHB

Gibson I thought was disappointing when he came on. He has the talent, he just needs to demand the ball more. For him to force his way in, he needs to improve his creativity drastically to the extent that its worth the defensive sacrifice.

WallyGUFC

Coillte Bhoy - yes McGeady is quick and he can dribble but my God he can't shoot or cross with any sense of consistency.

People say if we play with style the likes of Russia and Slovakia will beat us. That's probably true. But why not play with style against an infinitely worse team than us who's only skill is mistiming tackles. Surely they can open up just a bit against the likes of Andorra. I accept that we need to play this defensive stuff against the better teams but when the opportunity is there to really stuff teams we just settle for what we have. No killer instinct - yet.

Son Of A Vidic

Once again the usual lack of goals from an Irish team, which will undoubtably come back to haunt us at a later stage.

Dolph Starbeam

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

6th. FFS.


McGeady had an alright game I though, wasted a lot, but created a lot, and looked very lively. He took two defenders with him when he had the ball, that alone is a huge plus.

Kilbane, as much as I love the man, is getting a little past it. I'd like to see him get 8 more caps, as I think that would equal the consecutive games record. Even just put him on for 20 minutes or whatever!

Whoever is suggesting Kelly is good enough to even spit on the same pitch as an Ireland squad is having a laugh.

He is shockingly bad. I've not seen him have a decent first game since his debut against Czech Rep (iirc - same game as McShane...)

His positional sense is awful, his tackling is terrible, and he can't pass.

Foley - now there's a different kettle of fish. Good solid full back.


My Ireland team would be:

---

Given
O'Shea----Dunne---St Ledger----Foley
Lawrence/Duff--Whelan--Gibson---McGeady

---

Doyle---Keane


If anyone thinks the team should be much different than that they should be shot.

I think we need to take Trap out and shoot him so because i can't see him playing that team, i know its only 2 changes really but i still can't see it, i would put my house on it that it will be Andrews and Whelan in the middle next month presuming both are fit. Left back i would be surprised if its not Kilbane again too, if he wouldn't give a younger player a chance last night what are the chances of him playing them against Russia or Slovakia, nil.

I agree on the Kelly point too, when he first came along too i think he showed a lot of promise but i think the step up to international is just too big a step for now.