Ireland vs Croatia - Match thread

tdv123

Stinicker wrote: »

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

Well they only have a point each so neither team can really afford to rest there best espically Spain.

wonderfullife

the subs tonight were weird to say the least.

We are set up to be solid, hard to break down, and to try use Duffer/McGeady to feed Doyle/Keane. Both wingers had little impact, so either of them coming off was fair. Of the front 2, who offered more today - Keane or Doyle? i genuinely do not remember Robbie doing a thing all game, bar being hacked down for a stonewall penno. Doyle at least ruffled Corluka all 1st half. (im a big fan of robbie, so not bashing him).

All that being said, he takes off McGeady and Doyle. If he genuinely wants Cox and Walters to have an impact, then they need to play where they can make an impact.

Cox as a left winger. NO.
Walters as a target man. YES.
Walters as a targetman with no supply even possible from leftwing where a centreforward is marooned out there? NO.

If he was hellbent on Cox/Walters, surely shift Robbie back into midfield, stick the 2 boys up top, push duffer infield. The wingers were getting absolutely no joy, not to mention we were going route one so often, having 2 wingers hugging the touchline like tits 30 yards from a possible flick on, is stupid.

So he either went with the logical step of putting McClean and Walters on to proceed as normal (i.e. straight swaps) or switched the formation. The fact he did neither is slightly worrying.

Also, if you are James McClean and you see Simon Cox going on in left wing, that tells you right away you need Duff/McGeady to break a leg before you will get a sniff of the pitch this tournament. It's a confidence blow to both McClean and Stephen Hunt, both will be training all week now knowing deep down they havent a prayer of being called upon.

sonic85

El Spearo wrote: »

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

playing an open game against spain would be suicide though. id do it against italy but trying to attack spain is playing to their strengths and the likes of iniesta xavi etc would just rip us to shreds.

tdv123

jayteecork wrote: »

lol there were a bunch of fat middle aged English guys in the pub earlier, they were ordering pints of LARGER(sic) and bottles of MAGNERS. lawl.

complete arrogant *****, they still think they're in England, can't seem to realise that there's a world beyond Great Britain.

One of em goes "so who's managing Ireland these days then?"
another goes "Pissin' rain eh? I wonder about all this global warming nonsense - I really do" - complete annoying bastards.

So basically about as annoying as those fat middle aged Irish guys you see in most pubs.

devotional1993

jayteecork wrote: »

lol there were a bunch of fat middle aged English guys in the pub earlier, they were ordering pints of LARGER(sic) and bottles of MAGNERS. lawl.

complete arrogant *****, they still think they're in England, can't seem to realise that there's a world beyond Great Britain.

One of em goes "so who's managing Ireland these days then?"
another goes "Pissin' rain eh? I wonder about all this global warming nonsense - I really do" - complete annoying bastards.

Jesus buddy
Dont knock it-at least they are spending money in our country. I work in a bar and most foreigners sit over a half pint for the night. The English people in my bar spend money and usually decent people

BKC

donfers wrote: »

my team against spain

westwood

kelly dunne st ledger duff

mclean andrews mcgeady walters

long doyle

Why are you dropping Given?

G.K.

I don't think Given can be blamed for any goal.

For the first he only moved to the right to see the ball, because one of the defenders was blocking his vision. If he'd not seen the ball at all it would have looked worse when it went in.

sonic85

G.K. wrote: »

I don't think Given can be blamed for any goal.

For the first he only moved to the right to see the ball, because one of the defenders was blocking his vision. If he'd not seen the ball at all it would have looked worse when it went in.

i said something similar earlier - you cant blame a keeper for being unsighted there was nothing else he couldve done. yet some people are saying he shouldve been better for the first goal. dont understand that at all

kevohmsford

Forgot to say earlier, congrats Croatia on your win. Fully deserved.

To everyone that's feeling a bit despondent after todays result.

The match today against Croatia had too much pressure heaped on it as it was generally considered our best chance at a win considering the group we got. I believe the occasion got to the players, and we had some bad luck too.

It should be noted Croatia are actually ranked higher than Italy at the moment and now that the weight of expectation will be lifted the matches against Spain and Italy can be enjoyed more, by us and the players.

When you come to these tournaments you want to play against the best and Spain are definitely it. It's a moment to relish and I really think we will step up against them. I know the team will be itching to show how much better they can be than they were today and we'll see a response in the next couple of matches.

Sure Aprés match's first sketch back wasn't great but they stepped it up today, lets see the boys in green do the same :pac:

wonderfullife

sonic85 wrote: »

i said something similar earlier - you cant blame a keeper for being unsighted there was nothing else he couldve done. yet some people are saying he shouldve been better for the first goal. dont understand that at all

seems to be a very popular opinion these days that if a keeper gets a hand on the ball "he maybe could have done better"

Hear it from Jim Beglin, in particular, all the time. I LOL'd when i heard it said of Petr Cech on Pav's goal. That was an absolute bullet from 15 yards. A ball going 60mph from 15 yards, keepers do an amazing job even getting close to saving these.

It was highlighted on ITV how Shay had completely no line of vision to the ball. Personally i think he made an amazing attempt to save it. Wrong footed and unsighted.

Anyone calling for Shay Given to be dropped needs their head examined.

firemansam4

Sacramento wrote: »

To everyone that's feeling a bit despondent after todays result.

The match today against Croatia had too much pressure heaped on it as it was generally considered our best chance at a win considering the group we got. I believe the occasion got to the players, and we had some bad luck too.

It should be noted Croatia are actually ranked higher than Italy at the moment and now that the weight of expectation will be lifted the matches against Spain and Italy can be enjoyed more, by us and the players.

When you come to these tournaments you want to play against the best and Spain are definitely it. It's a moment to relish and I really think we will step up against them. I know the team will be itching to show how much better they can be than they were today and we'll see a response in the next couple of matches.

Sure Aprés match's first sketch back wasn't great but they stepped it up today, lets see the boys in green do the same :pac:

Totally agree, all the talk before this game was how we must get some kind of result against Croatia to stand any chance... hell of lot of pressure on the first game, would have far more like to have been playing Spain in the first game, much better team but less pressure on us to get a result

wonderfullife

I think the true reason for our defeat is simple.

Guilleme Ballague tipping us to get out of the group.

He's wonderfully consistent at being very wrong. As soon as he said it, i knew deep down!!

Samich

First time online since about 6.

Not sure what has been said but I'll say.

We got no luck. First goal was unlucky, 2nd goal should have been a free kick, 3rd could have, if our luck was in, bounced out.

• Dunne & O Shea were poor. The 2 I'd expect to be reliable let us down imo. It was outrageous the amount of times Croatia played the long ball & Jelavic won the header comfortably.
  
  
  Thought Dunne didn't win much and gave some silly frees that weren't needed. O Shea was aimless with his passes and was poor for the 3rd goal. St Ledger & Ward were pretty good imo.

Francie Barrett

wonderfullife wrote: »

Anyone calling for Shay Given to be dropped needs their head examined.

He's a hero, but his reactions to the first goal seemed sluggish. If he isn't fit (dunno if he is or isn't) then we need to consider his position.

devotional1993

wonderfullife wrote: »

seems to be a very popular opinion these days that if a keeper gets a hand on the ball "he maybe could have done better"

Hear it from Jim Beglin, in particular, all the time. I LOL'd when i heard it said of Petr Cech on Pav's goal. That was an absolute bullet from 15 yards. A ball going 60mph from 15 yards, keepers do an amazing job even getting close to saving these.

It was highlighted on ITV how Shay had completely no line of vision to the ball. Personally i think he made an amazing attempt to save it. Wrong footed and unsighted.

Anyone calling for Shay Given to be dropped needs their head examined.

What was the reaction from ITV-Who was on panel?

allthedoyles

Yes - I may need my head examined -

But in my opinion , Given was at fault in all 3 goals - too slow to react .

None of the RTE panel mentioned him , in the aftermath , which I found weird .

Trap has an eye on Westwood , as he has played him i recent friendlies .

Why not give WWood a opportunity

murpho999

Still very disheartened by tonight's result but no complaints as Croatia totally deserved it.

Worrying aspect is how few big or star players we have in our squad.

Look at Croatia though they have been big players almost since they became a country which got me thinking.

Their population is 4.2m which is less than the Irish Republic's. They do not have a league that is highly competitive but their national team has been a major force in Europe for years.

This may be controversial but has GAA actually taken talented athletes from international games like soccer and rugby? I can't help but think it has!

MisterAnarchy

Samich wrote: »

O Shea was aimless with his passes and was poor for the 3rd goal.

O' Shea is only a shadow of himself since coming back from his serious leg injury after the France match in 2009.
He has no threat going forward now and his passing /choice of play is appalling.

As for Ward on the other side,he was a liability,as expected.
Most of the Croatian attacks were down that side and while McGeady gave him no support ,he was poor in defence and useless on the ball.

Trapattoni has been a very lucky manager over the last few years (bar the France match) and Ireland have ridden their luck and it was going to end sometime,that time was tonight.

kryogen

devotional1993 wrote: »

What was the reaction from ITV-Who was on panel?

Keane Southgate and em, I forget

They said a lot of what the Rte lads said, that the goals were sloppy etc and Keane said you couldnt fault the effort, but the lapses and timing of the goals was a killer.

BKC

allthedoyles wrote: »

Yes - I may need my head examined -

But in my opinion , Given was at fault in all 3 goals - too slow to react .

None of the RTE panel mentioned him , in the aftermath , which I found weird .

Trap has an eye on Westwood , as he has played him i recent friendlies .

Why not give WWood a opportunity

Given was not at fault for all 3 goals.

I genuinely think Westwood is an excellent keeper and should be starting in the Premier League. However, I don't see the point of dropping Shay and throwing him in now. Shay Given is 36, he won't be Ireland's number one for much longer. In fact, the Italy and Spain games could possibly be his last two games.

I'm all for giving Westwood his chance, as he has performed excellently whenever he has deputised for Shay, but I think we should just wait until the World Cup qualifiers and give him the starting position then.

SirDelboy18

kryogen wrote: »

Keane Southgate and em, I forget

They said a lot of what the Rte lads said, that the goals were sloppy etc and Keane said you couldnt fault the effort, but the lapses and timing of the goals was a killer.

Carragher too.

wonderfullife

devotional1993 wrote: »

What was the reaction from ITV-Who was on panel?

Roy Keane, jamie carragher, gareth southgate.

Keano said we were unlucky to be denied penno; that the croats were more tecnhically gifted in possession but it was just one of those days basically.

Carra singled out our defence dropping too deep after 1-1.

Southgate singled out nobody getting tight to Mandzukic for either of his goals.


In general, vibe was Croatia were the better side but all 3 goals sloppy and preventable and we should be kicking ourselves for those goals. Didn't get the vibe they thought we were outclassed.

sonic85

after watching the highlights it really hits home how poor the goals conceded were. all sloppy all preventable. to even have a slight chance against spain we have to up our game massively

Francie Barrett

wonderfullife wrote: »

Didn't get the vibe they thought we were outclassed.

I think they were just being polite.

chips1234

allthedoyles wrote: »

Yes - I may need my head examined -

But in my opinion , Given was at fault in all 3 goals - too slow to react .

None of the RTE panel mentioned him , in the aftermath , which I found weird .

Trap has an eye on Westwood , as he has played him i recent friendlies .

Why not give WWood a opportunity

i actually cant beleive this post really ?? no way would i drop shay given never ever EVER !!

cantgetright

SirDelboy18 wrote: »

Carragher too.

Carra made a tumbleweed joke comparing Traps rage rant when he was at B.Munich to the Rafa rant. Iam nearly sure Kryogen knew that Carra was on the panel.

cantgetright

Second goal was horrible in so many ways but I would blame McGeady for not getting up of his arse to prevent the corner

wonderfullife

Francie Barrett wrote: »

I think they were just being polite.

Match Stats:
Ireland Croatia
Total shots 13 14
Shots on target 5 8
Corners 1 7
Offsides 2 1
Fouls committed 12 18
Yellow cards 1 2
Red cards 0 0
Ball possession (percent) 45 55


Look you obviously want Trap out and think we were useless. But other than 3 sloppy goals, this was not an onslaught where we were bombarded for the whole game a la Russia away.

They were the better side but take away 3 very sloppy goals and i think we had a similar amount of clear cut chances. i.e. not many for either side. They were better in possession, as most teams are against us, but we were not pulverised by any means.

Vincent Vega

cocaine is a hell of a drug

Amirani

wonderfullife wrote: »

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.

I agree strongly with you. Our problem in a footballing sense is that we're too similar to the English. This likely stems from the infatuation Irish people have with English football and the fact that most of our international players grow up in English academies and/or play junior football in an English way.

The English have always struggled to be progressive in a footballing sense. Whether this be their reluctance to use a passing system in football's early days or sticking with the 2-3-5 "pyramid" formation for the first few decades of the last century. Their development of footballers is all wrong and it's only lately that they've shown any interest in changing it.

Samich

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

O' Shea is only a shadow of himself since coming back from his serious leg injury after the France match in 2009.
He has no threat going forward now and his passing /choice of play is appalling.

As for Ward on the other side,he was a liability,as expected.
Most of the Croatian attacks were down that side and while McGeady gave him no support ,he was poor in defence and useless on the ball.

Trapattoni has been a very lucky manager over the last few years (bar the France match) and Ireland have ridden their luck and it was going to end sometime,that time was tonight.

Now that you mentioned it I agree, I don't know what McGeady was at. He was infield most of the time. Ball was sprayed out wide and he had to sprint out. Very bad positioning.

Oh and another point I had to add, Keith Andrews was brilliant for us imo.

SirDelboy18

Calmed down a bit now. Fully believe all I said earlier, about the need for change and about the players and system being wrong.

But, I've waited 10 years for an international tournament and I will support the team regardless. No more negativity. If we can get anything off Italy and Spain we can restore some pride and who knows, we have performed well when we are up against it before.

We don't do things the easy way, never have. Anything is possible. I personally am going to leave the arguments for change until after the tournament.

For now, COYBIG

Francie Barrett

wonderfullife wrote: »

Look you obviously want Trap out and think we were useless. But other than 3 sloppy goals, this was not an onslaught where we were bombarded for the whole game a la Russia away.

You obviously don't know a lot about football. The reason why the stats don't look so bad is because the Croats shut up shop after they scored the third in the 48th minute. Even when the Croats dropped a gear, they still looked comfortable against us. The Russian game was completely different as they had to press for the full match to try and get a goal, it was blind luck that kept them from scoring that day.

wonderfullife

murpho999 wrote: »

Still very disheartened by tonight's result but no complaints as Croatia totally deserved it.

Worrying aspect is how few big or star players we have in our squad.

Look at Croatia though they have been big players almost since they became a country which got me thinking.

Their population is 4.2m which is less than the Irish Republic's. They do not have a league that is highly competitive but their national team has been a major force in Europe for years.

This may be controversial but has GAA actually taken talented athletes from international games like soccer and rugby? I can't help but think it has!

wonderfullife wrote: »

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.

It's got little to do with other sports. Every country has competing sports. In Ireland it's GAA and rugby, in England it's rugby, cricket, in places like Croatia it's basketball, ice hockey........

It's how we look after our own sport. Sticking 9 year olds out on full sized goals with parents screaming at the ref from the sidelines and the manager picking the big lads for their age up front and at the back. It's **** like that which is damaging our ability to produce the technically gifted talent.

We should follow Englands recent decision.

I'd be all for:

1. Limiting it to 7-a-side matches until u-14 age group.
2. Proportionate goal sizes to kids heights.
3. Scrap league tables.
4. Give a kid a run in every position on the pitch.

What does it teach kids if we have them in full sized goals with parents screaming their heads off on the sidelines calling the ref a wanker or the manager a tosser for not picking their kid?????

We need our kids to have fun, f*ck winning or losing, play the game, have fun. It should never be about who can kick the ball furthest or hardest as a 9 year old or who is tallest to head the ball. It should be about being able to pass the ball from A to B, being able to run with the ball from A to B, expressing themselves having fun.

Population has little to do with all this.

Paully D

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

O' Shea is only a shadow of himself since coming back from his serious leg injury after the France match in 2009.
He has no threat going forward now and his passing /choice of play is appalling.

O'Shea is a centre half and should be played nowhere else. It's the same at club level. He's been poor for us at right back but excellent at centre half.

jmayo

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

WTF is Ward playing at?

He thinks he is back at Molineux.
The guy is not good enough and O'Shea again showed some of his form that caused us to miss out on qaulification before.

SirDelboy18 wrote: »

Keane has done absolutely nothing in this game. I know he can nick a goal, but Shane Long would offer us that and much more.

How keane was not subbed and Doyle who at least was getting something off their stand in centre half was another mystery?

The other one is why leave one of the Premiership best new wingers sit on the bench and put on a striker as a winger instead.
Me thinks someone has Alyzeimers.

Deleted User wrote: »

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

I think the English may have finally copped onto this.
My 11 year old nephew has been playing on full size pitch with over a year AFAIK.
That is a fooking joke and just means the stronger faster kids dominate and there is no room to develop pure ball skills.

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.

This is the result we should have gotten in Moscow.
I am sacred what the Spanish and Italians will do us unless the back 4 put in a huge shift and the 2 gobsh**es in midfield learn to get tight.

Xavi6 wrote: »

Andrews by a mile

This is the Andrews that was in the centre of midfield that from my view of the match didn't defend nevermind ever get on the ball.
He had 4 chances all of which he manged to divert to the Castrol advertising hoarding to the right of the goal.
But I suppose he at least tried.

Everytime Whelan got injured I prayed he wouldn't get back up.
Oh for the days of even Kinsella and Holland nevermind Keane, Townsend, Lawerence or McGrath.

BTW I thought the ref was sh**e.
He missed a clear penalty, he allowed the Croatian centre half shove people all night, he gave free kicks and cards for perfectly good challenges and he let real foul tackles slide.

jmayo

wonderfullife wrote: »

It's got little to do with other sports. Every country has competing sports. In Ireland it's GAA and rugby, in England it's rugby, cricket, in places like Croatia it's basketball, ice hockey........

It's how we look after our own sport. Sticking 9 year olds out on full sized goals with parents screaming at the ref from the sidelines and the manager picking the big lads for their age up front and at the back. It's **** like that which is damaging our ability to produce the technically gifted talent.

We should follow Englands recent decision.

I'd be all for:

1. Limiting it to 7-a-side matches until u-14 age group.
2. Proportionate goal sizes to kids heights.
3. Scrap league tables.
4. Give a kid a run in every position on the pitch.

What does it teach kids if we have them in full sized goals with parents screaming their heads off on the sidelines calling the ref a wanker or the manager a tosser for not picking their kid?????

We need our kids to have fun, f*ck winning or losing, play the game, have fun. It should never be about who can kick the ball furthest or hardest as a 9 year old or who is tallest to head the ball. It should be about being able to pass the ball from A to B, being able to run with the ball from A to B, expressing themselves having fun.

Population has little to do with all this.

I think GAA is a much bigger competitor for would be footballers than say basketball in some countries.
But I do agree on the rest.

The Spanish and the Dutch have been working on building skill for years.
I think the Germans revolutionised their youth coaching after coming 2nd in 2002.
In small towns and villages in Spain you will see games on small pitches were even the small kids can show their trickery and it is not a game where the big kids can outrun the small weaker kids over 30 yards.

wonderfullife

Francie Barrett wrote: »

You obviously don't know a lot about football. The reason why the stats don't look so bad is because the Croats shut up shop after they scored the third in the 48th minute. Even when the Croats dropped a gear, they still looked comfortable against us. The Russian game was completely different as they had to press for the full match to try and get a goal, it was blind luck that kept them from scoring that day.

Look.....stats can be misleading i accept that....

After our equaliser, were they bombarding us for 25 mins? Raining in shot after shot? Shay and Richard producing heroism?

No......they were passing it around neatly in midfield causing very little trouble on our goal.

I will never dispute the fact almost every nation at the euros have more technically gifted players. My point, and opinion, is that they weren't exactly running riot at 1-1. We conceded 3 sloppy goals at virtually the worst possible times to concede a goal - start of match, just before half time, just after half time.

Other than that, the Croats were the better side in possession for the full 90 mins but i can't subscribe to the idea that we were over-run, battered and outclassed. On top of that ,we can play better. We'll need to but we can.

If you want to see an example of outclassed, re-watch Denmark v Holland. Even before Denmark took the lead, they were being peppered from all angles. The difference is, they did not concede sloppy goals and the Dutch couldnt finish.

delw

wonderfullife wrote: »

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.

I agree with most of this but do European countries have to compete with the GAA when at certain ages a choice has to be made by talented soccer players of which sport should be played & pressure is put on them by schools & parents to play the national game

kryogen

cantgetright wrote: »

Carra made a tumbleweed joke comparing Traps rage rant when he was at B.Munich to the Rafa rant. Iam nearly sure Kryogen knew that Carra was on the panel.

Nope, had completely forgotten, sure why would I not just say he was there, couldn't think of the guy in the middle at all

SirDelboy18

RE Training.

Only have done the Kick Start 1 and 2, but it is clear the FAI want to change to making it about fun.

However, that will take a long time to happen. In specific, games like Piggy in the middle do wonders for a persons short passing game and it is a game used all the time by Spanish/Dutch underage coaches

Tellox

Awful performance from an awful group of players, as was to be expected. Oh well, two more days of drinking.

Pudsy33

Tellox wrote: »

Awful performance from an awful group of players, as was to be expected. Oh well, two more days of drinking.

What a pathetic attitude to have towards your own team.

carbon nanotube

it was a spirited performance from an average bunch of players.

stone wall peno we should have got but the croats were clearly miles better.

leaving coleman at home is a joke, he would be useful to bring on for sure.

devotional1993

Tellox wrote: »

Awful performance from an awful group of players, as was to be expected. Oh well, two more days of drinking.

yeah-great shame we arent a really top team like Man Utd or Barcelona
We could wear the jersey and everybody would think we are cool

This is your country-dont put it down!

Id hate to have you beside me in the army.

BKC

carbon nanotube wrote: »

leaving coleman at home is a joke, he would be useful to bring on for sure.

He has done nothing this season to warrant a place in the squad.

Fair enough, neither have a few of the lads, but it's hardly a "joke" of a decision.

jmayo

jmayo wrote: »

I think the English may have finally copped onto this.
My 11 year old nephew has been playing on full size pitch with over a year AFAIK.
That is a fooking joke and just means the stronger faster kids dominate and there is no room to develop pure ball skills.

Hear Hear +1.

I was told once that Juninho, the former Brazil and Middlesborough never played on a full size soccer pitch until he was around 16. It was all Futsal and im sure alot more of his peers were in the same boat growing up.

If our exposure to the world stage these past twenty four years has taught us 1 thing, it is that technically gifted teams (Greece 2004 the exception ) are always in the running for the prizes but in their early football education, the game wasnt all about just going out to win.

Spread

There was an element of luck in Croatia's 3 goals. Having said that, I think Given was a bit late off the mark for the first one. The penalty should have been given. But our fellows lack the fire in the belly of Charlton/McCarthy's lads.
All is not lost but even if we get results, the old goal difference is the divil.

CSF

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

The most ridiculous post. On any forum. Ever.