Rep. Of Ireland vs. Latvia 15/11/13 7:45 SS4

Francie Barrett

Lots of reasons to be postiive about the result tonight. We all had the fear that O'Neill might try to inflict caveman football on us, but I have been pleasantly surprised at how expansive we were. We controlled the game and did all the right things. Have been a big critic of McGeady in the past, but he was excellent, probably our best player. McCarthy was also brilliant in midfield, he controlled the game for the entire time he was on the field. Coleman was a decent offensive threat and it was great seeing him get the assist. Lots of reasons to be quietly confident going forward.

_Kaiser_

.jacksparrow. wrote: »

Come on, he was delighted every time they scored, he knows his role he held back and let Martin do his job tonight.

Stop looking for things that aren't there.

Don't get me wrong.. I'd like to see him succeed .. but just a few times the Sky cameras caught him he didn't look too pleased.

tayto lover

Francie Barrett wrote: »

Lots of reasons to be postiive about the result tonight. We all had the fear that O'Neill might try to inflict caveman football on us, but I have been pleasantly surprised at how expansive we were. We controlled the game and did all the right things. Have been a big critic of McGeady in the past, but he was excellent, probably our best player. McCarthy was also brilliant in midfield, he controlled the game for the entire time he was on the field. Coleman was a decent offensive threat and it was great seeing him get the assist. Lots of reasons to be quietly confident going forward.

Yes we'll be way up the rankings after that.

homerjay2005

Lennonist wrote: »

Good start this for the MON era.

always great to win and it should start to repair the problems with the players and the fans connection with the team, BUT we need perspective and realism and its only Latvia - they are a 5th tier team and well below the level of Germany, Sweden, Austria and ourselves.

Poland however would be on a par with Austria, even slightly above them and just a bit off Sweden so will be a good test for us.

Tuesday will tell us a good bit more than tonight, but even at that, its far too early, it will be another 8 or 9 months before we can fully see an impact.

.jacksparrow.

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Don't get me wrong.. I'd like to see him succeed .. but just a few times the Sky cameras caught him he didn't look too pleased.

Can't be smiling all the time, noone does in life!

ThunbergsAreGo

Not getting carried away, remember Ireland 3 Sweden 0, but the malaise seemed to be slightly lifted

The_Kew_Tour

In fairness nobody is losing run of themselves after this.

Most of us are just happy to see us play some football rather then seeing hoof ball for past few years.

Kirby

tayto lover wrote: »

Yes we'll be way up the rankings after that.

We will actually. Greece beat Romania so that's us assured of a 2nd seeding for the euro's.

TheBunk1

Francie Barrett wrote: »

Lots of reasons to be postiive about the result tonight. We all had the fear that O'Neill might try to inflict caveman football on us, but I have been pleasantly surprised at how expansive we were. We controlled the game and did all the right things. Have been a big critic of McGeady in the past, but he was excellent, probably our best player. McCarthy was also brilliant in midfield, he controlled the game for the entire time he was on the field. Coleman was a decent offensive threat and it was great seeing him get the assist. Lots of reasons to be quietly confident going forward.

It's all about the template we used tonight. If use that going forward, it will improve game on game. So refreshing to see us try and pass, be patient in the build up, have confidence in our ability.

Obviously some games we're gonna see a lot less of the ball and that's where the real tests will come, so organisation and concentration will be key then. Without getting carried away, tonight was... good.

yabadabado

tayto lover wrote: »

I said we should be trying the young lads. I didn't say they were going to be good enough but we won't know until they're tried. I gave you the list of every Irish lad in English football by the way.
Maybe you think the lads out there tonight are good enough and should be there for the Euros. Did we not learn anything in Poland?

You didn't give anything because those links don't work. You gave a link(that doesn't work) to a list of names yet you cant name one player who should be starting tonight, after the crap you posted earlier. No point calling lads up if they aren't ready .There has been plenty of changes since Poland . Brady Mccarthy Coleman and Wilson are all starters now, didn't make team for euro's.
Finished with this now.

Lennonist

Francie Barrett wrote: »

Lots of reasons to be postiive about the result tonight. We all had the fear that O'Neill might try to inflict caveman football on us, but I have been pleasantly surprised at how expansive we were. We controlled the game and did all the right things. Have been a big critic of McGeady in the past, but he was excellent, probably our best player. McCarthy was also brilliant in midfield, he controlled the game for the entire time he was on the field. Coleman was a decent offensive threat and it was great seeing him get the assist. Lots of reasons to be quietly confident going forward.

Speak for yourself mate. Only pity for me is that there wont be a competitive game 'til next Autumn. Still, gives O'Neill and Keane plenty of time to get the team well drilled for the Euro 2016 qualifiers. It'll be a slow burner 'til then, but will be well worth the wait I'm sure.

BNMC

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Don't get me wrong.. I'd like to see him succeed .. but just a few times the Sky cameras caught him he didn't look too pleased.

Yeah agree.

I was expecting cartwheels and fist pumps galore during a friendly in the middle of November against the mighty Latvia.

Also, Greece beat Romania tonight, that means we are now a second seed for the Euro 2016 draw.

Great night all round.

Panthro

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

In fairness nobody is losing run of themselves after this.

Most of us are just happy to see us play some football rather then seeing hoof ball for past few years.

We're better than Spain..:pac:

tayto lover

yabadabado wrote: »

You didn't give anything because those links don't work. You gave a link(that doesn't work) to a list of names yet you cant name one player who should be starting tonight, after the crap you posted earlier. No point calling lads up if they aren't ready .
Finished with this now.

http://eurorivals.net/abroad/irish-players-in-england.html

http://greenscene.me/player-lists/irish-players-in-the-premiership/

Your use of the word "crap" says a lot about you.
If someone disagrees with your opinion it seems to be crap.
Maybe your own opinion is crap.

ThunbergsAreGo

Kirby wrote: »

We will actually. Greece beat Romania so that's us assured of a 2nd seeding for the euro's.

As nice as the win is, this is the biggest result for us tonight second seeds is massive, look at Greeces group this time around for example

We pressed them, we were in control, we passed the ball well with no hoof tactics. MON and Keane had the players picked for them so did the best with what they had. Yes Latvia are a poor team but we put them away as we should have and could have scored even more. Not something we could have said about Ireland in a long long time.

roanoke

Good game. We're not going to beat the world playing like that but I'm convinced we can do just as well (points and place-wise) or maybe even slightly better playing with expression & freedom , as opposed to what we were doing under the previous 'method'.

Also it was positive to see the crowd and the players actually enjoying themselves for a change. It's felt like a long time coming.

homerjay2005

anybody know what the attendance was? probably around 30k id assume, but would like to know the official figure.

Augmerson

homerjay2005 wrote: »

anybody know what the attendance was? probably around 30k id assume, but would like to know the official figure.

35,000.

yabadabado

tayto lover wrote: »

http://eurorivals.net/abroad/irish-players-in-england.html

http://greenscene.me/player-lists/irish-players-in-the-premiership/

Your use of the word "crap" says a lot about you.
If someone disagrees with your opinion it seems to be crap.
Maybe your own opinion is crap.

Maybe my opinion is crap but at least I presented something to back up what I posted.

you said we should be starting the hordes of young lads who play in the English leagues and a number of people called you up on that and you weren't able to give us one name of a player who could have been called up/ started tonight.

Stevecw

around 35,000

tayto lover

yabadabado wrote: »

Maybe my opinion is crap but at least I presented something to back up what I posted.

you said we should be starting the hordes of young lads who play in the English leagues and a number of people called you up on that and you weren't able to give us one name of a player who could have been called up/ started tonight.

Can you not read? I gave you a list of lads.

Mr.Nice Guy

It was a good win against a team that didn't fancy it. The Poland game will be much more of a challenge and a lot more fascinating to behold.

I don't think Keane in front of Hoolahan is the way forward against better opposition so I'm eager to see how O'Neill deals with this in future.

Augmerson

tayto lover wrote: »

Can you not read? I gave you a list of lads.

Which lads from the list would you call up?

zarquon

homerjay2005 wrote: »

anybody know what the attendance was? probably around 30k id assume, but would like to know the official figure.

Sky sports said it was 40k

OwaynOTT

tayto lover wrote: »

Can you not read? I gave you a list of lads.

Who should have played instead of whom?

Awesomeness

tayto lover wrote: »

Can you not read? I gave you a list of lads.

Which of them would you have played though. Instead of a list pick 3 or 4 who you think would have a shot at improving the team for the next campaign.

It is not all about whcih players, it also about how they play as a unit, the way they are set up and how they are instructed to play.

IF you want to name young players - Clifford and Henderson could do a job in midfield in a couple of years - are they ready to play yet - not a chance.

We have only recently had Wilson, Coleman, Mccarty McLean and Brady come into the team. You need to build a unit and progress and add to it over time which this win sets us up with a platform to do

cson

zarquon wrote: »

Sky sports said it was 40k

Not a chance.

35k at a push.

tayto lover

Awesomeness wrote: »

Which of them would you have played though. Instead of a list pick 3 or 4 who you think would have a shot at improving the team for the next campaign.

It is not all about whcih players, it also about how they play as a unit, the way they are set up and how they are instructed to play.

IF you want to name young players - Clifford and Henderson could do a job in midfield in a couple of years - are they ready to play yet - not a chance.

We have only recently had Wilson, Coleman, Mccarty McLean and Brady come into the team. You need to build a unit and progress and add to it over time which this win sets us up with a platform to do

Exactly and we should be looking hard for a new left back too as Ward is not the answer. I know we have Wilson but we need lads to come in if we have injuries. These game should be used to find replacements.

wotzgoingon

Good win for Ireland, could have been 6-0 or even more but poor oposition. Ireland were all over them.

Augmerson

tayto lover wrote: »

Exactly and we should be looking hard for a new left back too as Ward is not the answer. I know we have Wilson but we need lads to come in if we have injuries. These game should be used to find replacements.

Which players would you have picked from the list you provided.

wotzgoingon

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

It was a good win against a team that didn't fancy it. The Poland game will be much more of a challenge and a lot more fascinating to behold.

I don't think Keane in front of Hoolahan is the way forward against better opposition so I'm eager to see how O'Neill deals with this in future.

Yes the Poland game will be a good test, especially with Lewandowski up front, he can be a real threat but saying that Poland lost 2-0 tonight against Slovakia.

yabadabado

tayto lover wrote: »

Can you not read? I gave you a list of lads.

Yes I can read,no need to be childish.
Goes back to the original point ,very easy to throw up a list but who would you have picked ?

tayto lover

wotzgoingon wrote: »

Yes the Poland game will be a good test, especially with Lewandowski up front, he can be a real threat but saying that Poland lost 2-0 tonight against Slovakia.

And they were at home. Maybe they tried out young lads though.

wotzgoingon

tayto lover wrote: »

And they were at home. Maybe they tried out young lads though.

Yeah maybe. I don't know I was chatting to this Polish girl I know and she told me.

Nalz

passing! yay!

JP Liz V1

Good win for Ireland

allthedoyles

37,100 attendence -

First time I've seen this team play as a unit in a long time

Alfa Quadrifoglio

Great feeling to leave the Aviva with some hope instead of despair, Latvia are no world beaters but neither were Kazakhstan and we laboured against them in the World Cup qualifiers. Thought the tactics and team selection were spot on we pressed high up the pitch, held the ball well and got in behind the Latvians on countless occasions. James McClean was a very deserved man of the match. Huge crowd for a friendly against Latvia, official attendance of 37,100. I will be there for the Euro 16 qualifiers. North men South men comrades all. Eire Abu.

Dolph Starbeam

tayto lover wrote: »

And they were at home. Maybe they tried out young lads though.

How many times does it have to be said that MON didn't pick the squad? I agree that it would have been no harm trying out a couple players, but there isn't that many that were available that deserved a call up. Plus add to the fact that this is the managers first game in charge, perfectly understandable that he is picking his strongest 11 available.

Fizman

Apparently we're going to be in the second group of seeds for the Euro qualifiers!

Dolph Starbeam

Fizman wrote: »

Apparently we're going to be in the second group of seeds for the Euro qualifiers!

Yes. Romania needed to win both playoff matches against Greece for us to bumped to 3rd seeds. Greece won 3-1 so that guarantees us to be 2nd seeds.

wotzgoingon

YayaBanana wrote: »

Yes. Romania needed to win both playoff matches against Greece for us to bumped to 3rd seeds. Greece won 3-1 so that guarantees us to be 2nd seeds.

Bit of a n00b question but what is this 2nd seed, 3rd seed stuff?

cson

Thoughts on the match
Nice passing and ball retention throughout. We had spells where we dropped the tempo a bit but for the most part we recycled it well and kept them penned in. That being said, we lack a little bit of composure and the oft mentioned clinical-ness in front of goal. They pretty much parked the bus and came over on a damage limitation exercise, they offered absolutely nothing. The worst outfit I've seen in the Aviva ever I think. Some good play, we all got the side we wanted out there and they did themselves justice

Thoughts on the players
Amazed that McClean got man of the match tbh. Thought he was good, tracking back and creating space for himself when we had it, but some of his decision making and crossing was shocking. James McCarthy was our best player on the park tonight, McGeady not far behind him and Robbie is Robbie. We'll miss him when he's gone. Seamie was decent too. Lacks a little composure when he gets himself into space sometimes but his combination with Walters for the Long goal was fantastic. Also good to see some strong options off the bench too for a change (i.e. no Sammon or Cox).

Thought the crowd was subdued until we scored the second. Section 113 was decent but again, quieter than they usually are. Its a strange crowd coming to matches these days, more an alternative to the Cinema crowd rather than actual supporters unfortunately. The amount of Ireland-Latvia souvenir scarves being sold is testament to that unfortunately.

I think we're in a good place with the two lads in charge, we'll definitely qualify after that Romania result placing us as second seeds. I think the lads will have enough about them to know that we can play that type of football tonight against Latvia et al but against the bigger sides we'd be crucified with Weso (who was good tonight) or Reid (again, effective too) playing in midfield. I'd love us to draw Spain as top seeds, to see them in the flesh would be great but mainly cos they'd flog every other team in the group meaning it'd be us versus the 3rd seed for the last automatic spot.

First Ireland match I've properly enjoyed since we flogged Estonia. Happy.

Dolph Starbeam

wotzgoingon wrote: »

Bit of a n00b question but what is this 2nd seed, 3rd seed stuff?

Means we will be the second highest ranking side in the group. With 2 teams qualifying it gives us a great chance of qualification.

cson

I'd love to see possession stats too; gotta think we we're in or around the 60% mark which is great to see.

cson

Found them.

18 Shots 2
10 Shots On Target 0
0 Saves 8
6 Corners 3
1 Offsides 3
5 Goalkicks 11
9 Fouls 16
15 Throws 18
64 Ball Possession 36

Despite the fact that Latvia are one of the worst sides we've played in recent memory, they are pretty incredible stats for an ROI team compared to Trappatoni's reign. Hard not to think there's a corner being turned here. Bigger tests ahead notwithstanding.

Banjaxed82

cson wrote: »

The worst outfit I've seen in the Aviva ever I think.

The funny thing is we've played far worse teams in the last few years. A sad testament to the football we were playing.

It's nice to watch an Ireland match and make a team look as poor as they actually are. :D:D:D

COYW

cson wrote: »

Thoughts on the match
Nice passing and ball retention throughout. We had spells where we dropped the tempo a bit but for the most part we recycled it well and kept them penned in. That being said, we lack a little bit of composure and the oft mentioned clinical-ness in front of goal. They pretty much parked the bus and came over on a damage limitation exercise, they offered absolutely nothing. The worst outfit I've seen in the Aviva ever I think. Some good play, we all got the side we wanted out there and they did themselves justice

It was a gem of a start for MON. Latvia were really poor and had a total lack of urgency in their play. They were happy to sit back and let the midfield have the ball.

Amazed McClean got MOTM. He is a poor crosser of a ball. That miss in the second half was awful, he should have hit the target. Lovely play by Hoolahan to set him up. Genuine quality. McClean worked hard but the same can be said for all the players tonight.

I thought McCarthy played really well; Hoolahan is a really classy footballer and McGeady had a really good game. I think we will learn more about the team from the Poland game but overall you can't complain, a win is a win and it builds confidence.

cson

Banjaxed82 wrote: »

The funny thing is we've played far worse teams in the last few years. A sad testament to the football we were playing.

Seriously; name them?

At least the Faroes try to play football. Latvia didn't even try to play out there tonight, they came out to stop us putting 5 or 6 on them.