Ireland vs Croatia - Match thread

TaosHum

Really disappointed with the defending tonight and thats with Croatia not firing on all cylinders either. I shudder to think what could happen against Spain if thats the level of performance Ireland put in defensively.

I didn't expect much more from Ireland going forward, we only have one gameplan and its very limited at this level, so no surprises there.

mufcboy1999

Set pieces and long balls are all we are about, not good enough. Can't keep going on coaching the kids (our next generation) the way we are !

Might take a few years to do but we have to blood them early like other country's because technically on the ball we are just not there, it has to start from the ground up otherwise we are screwed for another 20 years

Trust Apres Match to put a smile on our faces after that

"Free speech as in you dont get paid Eamon?"

Nuri Sahin

Leiva wrote: »

It's one thing to agree with Dunphy, but it's another thing to keep ones mouth shut until/waiting til things go wrong .

As Brady said why didn't he say all this before kick off?

I know what you're saying mate, but he has mentioned it in the past in fairness to him.. and I hate defending him here. I certainly agree with his point about youth. Post-Euros, I hope we see in a new era in that regards with Coleman, McClean and co leading it.

kryogen

Very uncharacteristic defensive errors, the timing of the goals killed us, particularly the second one, the third was the final kick in the nads and we never looked like getting back into it after that.

Cox was very poor I thought when he came on and don't understand the substitution, there were two left wingers on the bench, made no sense at all. The first goal set the tone, Given was sluggish, the defending leading up to it was very poor also.

I swear to God the first person I meet tomorrow who says the words, "ah sure they tried their best, they were unlucly" etc I will smack in the face. Eamo was spot on with his analysis, as usual when he isnt trolling.

Croatia did nothing special tonight that I saw, the players will have to come away with regrets because they were such poor goals to concede and thats a shame, Dunphy has brought up his views on the Trap philosophy a few times btw to anyone saying why didnt say this before

gilmour

RayCon wrote: »

Oh **** off will ya ... here's the baby , where's the bathwater so you can **** them both out.

You were naive if you thought we'd walk Croatia ... I still believe we can draw with Spain and beat Italy ... unfortunately I still think that wont be enought but **** off with you're ****e-ology

Holy Smokes

keith16

John Delaney spotted throwing his tie toward the Croatian fans.

mufcboy1999

mufcboy1999 wrote: »

Set pieces and long balls are all we are about, not good enough. Can't keep going on coaching the kids (our next generation) the way we are !

Might take a few years to do but we have to blood them early like other country's because technically on the ball we are just not there, it has to start from the ground up otherwise we are screwed for another 20 years

if right was right every primary school boy and girl from 4 up should be coached after school for 2 hours a week in soccer (or 2 hours in hurling and football also as i believe you cant play enough sport )

Since the 2 lessons off the Dutch in the 90s, soccer has been crying out to be thought the proper way instead of our kids being at the mercy of egomaniacs without any knowledge of the game and who only want to win things

tdv123

gilmour wrote: »

Holy Smokes

Can't beat a bit of ****e-ology in fairness.

G.K.

I thought Doyle was the best Irish player out there tonight, he put in a good shift.

Renn

Those saying that they were uncharacteristic defensive mistakes clearly haven't been watching Ireland over the past year. You can make mistakes like that and still not concede.

Xavi6

G.K. wrote: »

I thought Doyle was the best Irish player out there tonight, he put in a good shift.

Andrews by a mile

_Kaiser_

Renn wrote: »

Those saying that they were uncharacteristic defensive mistakes clearly haven't been watching Ireland over the past year. You can make mistakes like that and still not concede.

Only if you're playing against opposition that won't hammer you when you do.. which we weren't tonight and so we got our asses handed to us

Whatever about the first one - ok it was unlucky - but we were just asking them to score the 2nd and after the 3rd we just gave it up

aindriu80

wow we were really BLOWN out of the water. Hard luck Ireland !!!!

Looking at that performance you cant help but notice we simply don't have the players. I can't see us getting to the World Cup in Brazil. Its really damage limitation with the final 2 games against Spain and Italy.

eh i dunno

Nothing to lose against Spain so hopefully they give it a good go like France away in 09. We looked tired tonight and maybe carrying too many 30+ plus players. I'd make a few changes for Spain and start with this
Given
Kelly Ledger Dunne O Shea
McGeady Andrews Gibson McClean
Walters Keane

cardwizzard

G.K. wrote: »

I thought Doyle was the best Irish player out there tonight, he put in a good shift.

For real? Thought he had a stinker, like most of them. Haven't seen Doyle play like he can in 12 months. Lacks confidence IMO

Renn

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Only if you're playing against opposition that won't hammer you when you do.. which we weren't tonight and so we got our asses handed to us

Whatever about the first one - ok it was unlucky - but we were just asking them to score the 2nd and after the 3rd we just gave it up

They made similar mistakes vs Russia, Slovakia, Armenia...no surprise about tonight really.

IamtheWalrus

kryogen wrote: »

Eamo was spot on with his analysis

What was his analysis? Haven't got RTE.

edgecutter

eh i dunno wrote: »

Nothing to lose against Spain so hopefully they give it a good go like France away in 09. We looked tired tonight and maybe carrying too many 30+ plus players. I'd make a few changes for Spain and start with this
Given
Kelly Ledger Dunne O Shea
McGeady Andrews Gibson McClean
Walters Keane

Thought duff played well tonight. Don't think he should be dropped, but I like the rest of the line up.

G.K.

Xavi6 wrote: »

Andrews by a mile

He was certainly up there.

luckyfrank

I dont really think we were that bad, there 2nd goal should never have stood and there first was terrible defending by us, we should have had a stone wall penelty too, on fine margins games are won and lost

Listen if we can get an early goal against spain then do a chelsea on them with a bit of luck we owed now, were not out of this tournement if you can say one thing about irish teams is they never give up

Dare to dream

eh i dunno

edgecutter wrote: »

Thought duff played well tonight. Don't think he should be dropped, but I like the rest of the line up.

Didnt think Duff was great and will he be able for 90 mins again on Thursday? 33 now

dsmythy

eh i dunno wrote: »

Didnt think Duff was great and will he be able for 90 mins again on Thursday? 33 now

He can start and be subbed.

TaosHum

eh i dunno wrote: »

Nothing to lose against Spain so hopefully they give it a good go like France away in 09. We looked tired tonight and maybe carrying too many 30+ plus players. I'd make a few changes for Spain and start with this
Given
Kelly Ledger Dunne O Shea
McGeady Andrews Gibson McClean
Walters Keane

I'd be amazed if he even made one change. But would actually like to see that team though, with maybe the exception of Duff for McGeady.

edgecutter

eh i dunno wrote: »

Didnt think Duff was great and will he be able for 90 mins again on Thursday? 33 now

He seemed the most likely to deliver a dangerous cross. I wouldn't mind him slotting in at left back and allow McClean the left mid slot. Duff could do a job back there as I think ward was just awful tonight.

eh i dunno

I've been saying for months Ward isnt good enough. A forward playing left back? Any decent manager is gonna look at the Irish team and see him as the weak link. Unfortunately he will play the 3 games and will be exposed in each of them. O Shea, Wilson and even Hunt would possibly be better there

tdv123

luckyfrank wrote: »

I dont really think we were that bad, there 2nd goal should never have stood and there first was terrible defending by us, we should have had a stone wall penelty too, on fine margins games are won and lost

Listen if we can get an early goal against spain then do a chelsea on them with a bit of luck we owed now, were not out of this tournement if you can say one thing about irish teams is they never give up

Dare to dream

Only difference being no Irish player won the champions league or even played in it this season.

BorneTobyWilde

we need to park the bus agaisnt spain, be very boring and annoying,
we need a pt, and who knows might score from a set piece, but we need to pack midfield, change things at this stage ??????????????

YES, Its tactics, Without them you lose, it would not change how we play if we add one to midfield, We still would fight and work hard,
Not as if we would relax as there is another man in there

Julez

G.K. wrote: »

He was certainly up there.

RE:Andrews
Have to say I don't agree at all, a lot of our best chances fell to him but in general I think he was poor. We needed options in midfield when in possession and he just seemed to be standing around and not looking for the ball.

donfers

feel sorry for the fans, they deserve better from both the ref and the Irish manager who let them down tonight

I have a brother and some friends going out there for game 2 and 3, they work hard, save some cash and then one of the two games could well be a dead rubber after that

it's such an anti-climax, we wait 10 years and we get that muck (despite the 2 key decisions that went against us Croatia were better)

given - 5
jos - 3
dunne - 5
st ledger -6
ward - 4
duff - 6
whelan - 5
andrews - 6.5
mcgeady - 5
doyle - 6.5
keane - 5

subs:
cox - 5
walters - 6
long - 7

one thing i am curious about is this

would you guys prefer an irish team that gave promising youngsters and tried to play football and maybe take a few hidings and have a lesser chance of qualifying

or

would you take this low-risk, ultra-cautious kind of anti-football that we play where useless cloggers like JOS are put in there because they are the so-called experienced safe option and we bore and grind our way to a play-off where we hope for a lucky draw all in order to qualify and get our arses handed to us on the world stage

tdv123

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

we need to park the bus agaisnt spain, be very boring and annoying,
we need a pt, and who knows might score from a set piece, but we need to pack midfield, change things at this stage ??????????????

YES, Its tactics, Without them you lose, it would not change how we play if we add one to midfield, We still would fight and work hard,
Not as if we would relax as there is another bitch in there

Well we were hardly exciting & entertaining tonight.

If we park the bus any further the defence & goalkeeper will be outside of the stadium.

edgecutter

donfers wrote: »

feel sorry for the fans, they deserve better from both the ref and the Irish manager who let them down tonight

I have a brother and some friends going out there for game 2 and 3, they work hard, save some cash and then one of the two games could well be a dead rubber after that

it's such an anti-climax, we wait 10 years and we get that muck (despite the 2 key decisions that went against us Croatia were better)

given - 5
jos - 3
dunne - 5
st ledger -6
ward - 4
duff - 6
whelan - 5
andrews - 6.5
mcgeady - 5
doyle - 6.5
keane - 5

subs:
cox - 5
walters - 6
long - 7

one thing i am curious about is this

would you guys prefer an irish team that gave promising youngsters and tried to play football and maybe take a few hidings and have a lesser chance of qualifying

or

would you take this low-risk, ultra-cautious kind of anti-football that we play where useless cloggers like JOS are put in there because they are the so-called experienced safe option and we bore and grind our way to a play-off where we hope for a lucky draw all in order to qualify and get our arses handed to us on the world stage

How can you give long a seven?

briany

We're now into the wave of pessimism that follows that wave of optimism....

The scoreline is no great surprise, the team just had no ideas vs. a superior Croat side. Couldn't keep the ball, getting caught up on the wings and making punishable errors. It's what Ireland did all throughout qualifying but I had hoped, like others, that Ireland would have managed to up their game for these matches. Sadly that looks like it's not to be.

I'm not going to jump on any kind of anti Trap bandwagon though. He seems like a very nice man who has chosen to play a limited game with a limited bunch and it got found out. I do not look forward to the ugly backlash from all those who got on board when they'd heard Ireland qualified.

tdv123

edgecutter wrote: »

How can you give long a seven?

Well we've waited 10 years so now everybody in the country is a qualifed experet on football.

edgecutter

tdv123 wrote: »

Well we've waited 10 years so now everybody in the country is a qualifed experet on football.

Never said I was. I was only asking as I felt he didn't do much due to having only a few mins of game time.

sonic85

briany wrote: »

We're now into the wave of pessimism that follows that wave of optimism....

The scoreline is no great surprise, the team just had no ideas vs. a superior Croat side. Couldn't keep the ball, getting caught up on the wings and making punishable errors. It's what Ireland did all throughout qualifying but I had hoped, like others, that Ireland would have managed to up their game for these matches. Sadly that looks like it's not to be.

I'm not going to jump on any kind of anti Trap bandwagon though. He seems like a very nice man who has chosen to play a limited game with a limited bunch and it got found out. I do not look forward to the ugly backlash from all those who got on board when they'd heard Ireland qualified.

exactly. nothing was going to change. trap was never going to deviate from the style and system that got the team there. the only difference between tonight and a lot of the qualifying games was the luck we had then seemed to desert us tonight

tdv123

edgecutter wrote: »

Never said I was. I was only asking as I felt he didn't do much due to having only a few mins of game time.

Wasn't actually aimed at you personally, more of a dig to the person who was judging the players.

dsmythy

sonic85 wrote: »

exactly. nothing was going to change. trap was never going to deviate from the style and system that got the team there. the only difference between tonight and a lot of the qualifying games was the luck we had then seemed to desert us tonight

Balanced out more like. We really were owed a bad luck game. Hopefully we used most of it in this game!

Leslie91

I'd drop McGeady for McClean.
O'Shea for Kelly.
Play Duff at left back and put Hunt on right.
Walters for Doyle.

StLeger was my motm and not just because he scored, he did ok.

devotional1993

What wonderful fans we have,-well beaten and the crowd singing like we won. Reminded me off the Anfield match v the Dutch -Jacks last game.

sonic85

dsmythy wrote: »

Balanced out more like. We really were owed a bad luck game. Hopefully we used most of it in this game!

yeah spain will hit each post and the crossbar and ramos will volley an OG into the top corner giving us a 1-0 win! heard it here first......

wonderfullife

Lads just for the record:

Yes, Croatia has a similar population as Ireland.

There is a huge difference though. Yugoslavia had a long tradition of producing supremely technically gifted players. Ireland has no such tradition. It's no surprise 20 years on, Former Yugoslavian states - the likes of Croatia and Serbia & Montenegro - still produce technically gifted players.

I'm sure there are a lot of reasons for this, starting at coaching. Maybe the answer long term for Ireland is to take a similar approach to what the English have recently done and revamp the game at grassroots level.

From personal experience, even at u-10, u-12 level you had this mentality from the Manager and parents that you played to win. The countries who seem to do these things best, don't really care about winning. In a lot of European countries they don't even have league tables in underage football. They focus on developing the kids into decent players.

Population size relative to player pool is only 1 small thing. England have a massive population but struggle to produce technically gifted players. The focus on the size of the country is not right; the focus should be on the way we nurture football in the country. If we get on the right path then 4 million people or not we will produce better, more technically gifted players in the future. Less of them than countries with larger populations but, at some point, at least proportionately.

Leslie91

devotional1993 wrote: »

What wonderful fans we have,-well beaten and the crowd singing like we won. Reminded me off the Anfield match v the Dutch -Jacks last game.

Agree u have to feel for them spending all that dosh to go to a kip that is Poznan to be served up that muck.

donfers

tdv123 wrote: »

Wasn't actually aimed at you personally, more of a dig to the person who was judging the players.

dig away buddy if it makes you feel better

long was excellent when he came on, showed a degree of urgency, pace and enthusiasm that was sadly lacking

my team against spain

westwood

kelly dunne st ledger duff

mclean andrews mcgeady walters

long doyle


by the way if given played tonight despite not being fully fit then he has let us down pretty badly

team selected above is fairly radical but it's the best i can make of our poor squad - duff has played full back at club level, kelly is average but still a much better choice than o'shea, walters has experience playing wide too - only real risk in that selection is mcgeady in the middle of the park but he is on record as saying that is his preferred position and I would certainly prefer to risk him there than choose gibson or whelan

IamtheWalrus

Can anyone please tell me what Eamo D thought about our performance?

devotional1993

pjmn wrote: »

Because you've put that ****in bollix Keane in the team!

What a pig ignorant statement -feck off and support England

Stinicker

I wonder will the Spanish and Italians rest their best players when playing us incase they'd get injured or booked?

El Inho

we face a massive uphill battle now...

would like to see trap just attack spain and italy and hope for the best...

we have to leave on the wingers though...the changes tonight just seemed like a paniced response to what should have been an expected posibility

tdv123

donfers wrote: »

dig away buddy if it makes you feel better

long was excellent when he came on, showed a degree of urgency, pace and enthusiasm that was sadly lacking

my team against spain

westwood

kelly dunne st ledger duff

mclean andrews mcgeady walters

long doyle


by the way if given played tonight despite not being fully fit then he has let us down pretty badly

team selected above is fairly radical but it's the best i can make of our poor squad - duff has played full back at club level, kelly is average but still a much better choice than o'shea, walters has experience playing wide too - only real risk in that selection is mcgeady in the middle of the park but he is on record as saying that is his preferred position and I would certainly prefer to risk him there than choose gibson or whelan

Ah no pace & enthusiasm, thats what was missing.

If any sub didn't have a bit more pace & urgency compared to the players who had been playing for 60 odd minutes shouldn't be on the bench.

Kelly a much better choice than O'Shea? I'd say a slight better choice than O'shea.

McGeady in the middle?........ Yeah okay bye.

briany

IamtheWalrus wrote: »

Can anyone please tell me what Eamo D thought about our performance?

Basically he said that he disagreed with how Trap wants the team to play while commending the effort of the players on the pitch.