Georgia vs Ireland - Group D Euro Qualifier - 07/09/2014 - 17:00

Banjaxed82

Germany just will the ball into the net. Unreal

derm0j073

Man that's a sloppy one to give away , its a pity cos I think the Scots deserve a result tonight .

.jacksparrow.

briany wrote: »

Great goal. The Scots look like a handy side. A point for them in Germany is something Ireland wouldn't even dream of. What the f*** has happened with Germany though?! They looked sharp to begin with. I suppose it shows that complacency can bring down even the mightiest of them.

How hungry are they after winning the biggest trophy in the world.

Will take them a while to get it back but they will.

briany

Banjaxed82 wrote: »

Germany just will the ball into the net. Unreal

I like the way the Germans celebrate a goal. A cheer followed by a round of polite applause as if to say, 'Ja ja. That goal was expected.'

keeponhurling

A lot of changes tonight for Germany and they look a bit disjointed.

kildare75

come on Scotland....great performance...... ( my wife is Scottish)..roll on parkhead in November

jester77

briany wrote: »

Great goal. The Scots look like a handy side. A point for them in Germany is something Ireland wouldn't even dream of. What the f*** has happened with Germany though?! They looked sharp to begin with. I suppose it shows that complacency can bring down even the mightiest of them.

They are missing Hummel's, Schweinsteiger, Khedira & Özil. That's a serious core to be missing.

Utopia Parkway

Probably best time to play Germany. Straight after World Cup, players missing and half their defence having just retired. Have to imagine they will improve as the group goes on.

SlickRic

That result suits us but I feel for Scotland.

The ref completely fúcked them over for most of that match.

ebbsy

Christ I thought the ref was going to start taking the frees for the Germans as well.

billymitchell

The performance was poor, and the lads in the studio said as much, yet everybody is calling for their heads

Corholio

billymitchell wrote: »

The performance was poor, and the lads in the studio said as much, yet everybody is calling for their heads

If you just watched the analysis you would think Georgia had a comfortable 3-0 win. We know what we'll get with them though, they are there just for tradition sake. Well past the actual analysis value worth.

delaad

Pravda in overdrive in the editing of O'Neill's post-match interview with Tony "I'ld love to be Peter Shreeves" O'Donoghue.

Rezident

Twas Not wrote: »

Disgraceful attitude by O'Neill in post match interview with o'donoghue. It's like Trap Mk II except worse as he has his little boot boy beastie roy in tow

I think O'Neill's right to tell them to shup up, they're awful depressing whiners sometimes. Bill was able to inject some badly needed levity but without him eamon and giles are just depressing. They were part of the golden age of punditry but maybe it's time for them to go, i don't want to listen to another year of always looking on the dark side of life and how Ireland with our Championship players don't play like Germany. Muppets!

Back in the real world we dominated away from home (where france drew nil all) and scored two good goals, one of which was a last minute winner absolute stunner! Where did it all go wrong!?

Pro. F

Result was in line with reasonable expectation, but the performance was woeful. O'Neill bottled it, playing a hard working target-man on the wing and leaving out both Hoolahan and Meyler. If he'd only done one of those things then you could justify it, but doing all three just because we're away from home is self defeating cowardice. He was blessed that McGeady pulled the win out of nothing for him.

I hope that performance was all the wake up call that O'Neill needed and he doesn't carry on with that bollocks. If he sticks with that mentality we could be worse off than we were under Trap.

delaad

Rezident wrote: »

I think O'Neill's right to tell them to shup up, they're awful depressing whiners sometimes. Bill was able to inject some badly needed levity but without him eamon and giles are just depressing. They were part of the golden age of punditry but maybe it's time for them to go, i don't want to listen to another year of always looking on the dark side of life and how Ireland with our Championship players don't play like Germany. Muppets!

Back in the real world we dominated away from home (where france drew nil all) and scored two good goals, one of which was a last minute winner absolute stunner! Where did it all go wrong!?

Excellent post.

They're just grumpy old men now.

LuckyLloyd

Fudge You wrote: »

You think Tony bullied Trap??? I dont think you remember the interviews at all. I completely disagree with you, hard questions does not equal bullying...

Tony O' Donoghue's treatment of Trapp was disgraceful and unprofessional. They were not hard questions, they were outright adversarial interviews delivered in a deliberately disrespectful manner. If O'Neill or Keane want to put O'Donoghue back in his ****ing box I'm all for it tbh.

Pro. F

I challenge any of those in here tonight complaining about Giles, Brady and Dunphy to quote one single thing they said that was incorrect or over critical.

vidor

I zoned out after the comical Pirlo clip tbh.

padd b1975

Pro. F wrote: »

I challenge any of those in here tonight complaining about Giles, Brady and Dunphy to quote one single thing they said that was incorrect or over critical.

Didn't get to see it, but I presume Brady still says McEddy.

LuckyLloyd

Pro. F wrote: »

I challenge any of those in here tonight complaining about Giles, Brady and Dunphy to quote one single thing they said that was incorrect or over critical.

I genuinely commend you for the consistency of your analysis with the new regime, fair play.

Arghus

The result was fantastic. An away win achieved with a great goal in the final few minutes. It's amazing how one strike of the ball can change the complexion of everything. A few moments earlier I had been throwing my hands up in dismay as Shane Long floated another aimless cross into the box or behind the goal line.

Ireland didn't play well for large parts of the game and it had the initial feel of a smash and grab but, on reflection, it feels much better than the last time I can remember us pulling it out of the bag in similar circumstances. Kazakhstan away springs to mind- an identical result also with a winner right at the death . On that particular night Ireland were awful and totally undeserving in victory. Even though we got the points the manner of the performance coupled with the Euros hangover cast a pallor of doom over everything to come. The picture does seem a bit healthier this time around.

We had the majority of possession. How many times has that happened away from home recently? Without looking like a slick outfit the team showed endevour and a will to win. Most refreshing of all was not completely shutting up shop after scoring. Over the past few years an early Irish goal, instead of filling me with hope for the outcome of a game, set me off in mental preparation for the patented Trappatonian siege that would ensue until the bitter, farcical sucker punch was delivered. Austria at home being the example par excellence, that one hurt because it was coming for a long time. Ireland were still trying their damnedest to win late in the second half tonight, no rubbish settling for a point. It wasn't always pretty, but marks for application are due. Not to say there isn't room to improve. There always is but at least this time I can allow myself to hope that improvement might actually happen, as opposed to praying we don't get worse.

I was in agreement with the boys in the studio when they were bashing the crap performances of the last two campaigns but I do think they were off the mark tonight. They were entitled to criticize what they thought to be poor but they really over did it in terms of negativity. Ireland were a lot better tonight than in a long, long time. That coupled with the fact that it was the very first competitive game of the new era means that they should temper their scorn with praise. If all you have to say positively, when there are many examples, is the "of course we're delighted with the win" line then you might as well be saying water is wet and night follows day. Or, best of all, say nothing at all.

Maybe though we should think of the panel-team relationship as being symbiotic. The team seems to be readjusting to life out of the footballing dark ages, it's understandable that they might falter and stutter on the field from time to time. Old habits die hard. The same thing the panel are finding out, in this scary and unfamiliar Billoless world. With no levity and just Darragh to look at they retreat into their default setting of grumpy old men far too easily. Maybe if things do genuinely improve on the pitch, the sages off the field might in time also find their endevour and guile. Joy might be found, once again, in a plucky win or a lucky decision. Darragh might learn how to fake charisma. Craggy features might once more bear a smile.

Arghus

Pro. F wrote: »

I challenge any of those in here tonight complaining about Giles, Brady and Dunphy to quote one single thing they said that was incorrect or over critical.

John's response to Darraghs question if he wasn't pleased with the performance- “oh yeah”.


Eamonn saying it was a mess of a performance- “Very, very poor indeed”.


Brady thought you couldn't pick a single player who had a good performance. Even McGeady.

simongurnick

Coleman skinned their left full a few times in the first half. In the second half I don't think he attacked him once.
Keane is getting old and travelled half way around the world to get to the game, yet he's thrown up top as the lone striker.

We really don't play to our strengths

kevinroche3333

Twas Not wrote: »

Disgraceful attitude by O'Neill in post match interview with o'donoghue. It's like Trap Mk II except worse as he has his little boot boy beastie roy in tow

With the negative attitude that some parts of the media display towards the national team recently I can understand where management come from if they treat the media with more contempt than is the norm.
The pundits on rte are a prime example.
It's become almost fashionable to criticise the team.
I feel like shouting "f**king hell we just won a tricky first away game and had a up-to-now underperforming midfielder score 2 lovely goals, but noooooo bitch moan complain that we didnt totally outplay them as well!!!"

simongurnick

kevinroche3333 wrote: »

With the negative attitude that some parts of the media display towards the national team recently I can understand where management come from if they treat the media with more contempt than is the norm.
The pundits on rte are a prime example.
It's become almost fashionable to criticise the team.
I feel like shouting "f**king hell we just won a tricky first away game and had a up-to-now underperforming midfielder score 2 lovely goals, but noooooo bitch moan complain that we didnt totally outplay them as well!!!"

They're just full of their own importance at this point. Who wants to hear Dunphy spout off about the media's right to have an opinion? I want to hear an analysis of the match.

simongurnick

Just watch McGeady's 2nd again. Arguably one of the best goals scored for Ireland in years. The double touch was incredible.

kevinroche3333

simongurnick wrote: »

Just watch McGeady's 2nd again. Arguably one of the best goals scored for Ireland in years. The double touch was incredible.

Definitely! And he was a constant outlet for our team going forward even if not everything worked for him!
But i cant help but get the impression that if one of his crosses gets cleared then its automatically a bad cross! Even if we have a relatively small player up front and limited support playing away from home.
I mean the likes of Ward has very limited gametime at a decent level in the last couple of years, we have stoke subs on the team and a goalkeeper who half the fans dont even know what club he plays for! Yet when the pundits are asked who played well for Ireland they dont offer any names! McGeady just scored 2 away from home from midfield!
And if anyone who thinks Glenn Whelan is useless i challenge them to watch full replay of the match and focus soley on Whelan for the 90minutes. I think they will see a guy who offered himself 110% for the match, did his best to control the pace and keep possession and was well worth a place on the winning team on the night.
But no he is crap and a guy who couldnt get a game for Norwich last year should have been playing because he is good playmaker etc when the midfield role is about so much more as his managers have shown with their selections.

Twas Not

padd b1975 wrote: »

Didn't get to see it, but I presume Brady still says McEddy.

That's actually the correct way it's pronounced. Aidan says it that way himself.

.jacksparrow.

You're surrounded by great players, football men, like Liam Brady and johnny Giles.

Does one game go by that eamon doesn't spout this out.

Giles just believes his own hype now, only the other day he received the freedom of the city although in fairness he did say he doesn't understand what he got it for!

death1234567

simongurnick wrote: »

Who wants to hear Dunphy spout off about the media's right to have an opinion? I want to hear an analysis of the match.

Who wants to hear Martin O'Neill spout off about the media's right to have an opinion?
Its typical O'Neill though he can't handle criticism at all.

Overall it was a terrible performance full of fear. No belief they could go and win the game despite all Keane's words during the week. MON showed all his old tactical failings again and it's amazing he has got this far in management without being able to use substitutions properly.

Adrift

The studio panel are really working off a tired old script at this stage. Dunphy practically campaigned for Martin O'Neill and because Martin (correctly) got a bit thick with Eamon's pal Tony O'Donoghue he throws the toys out of the pram.

Make no mistake, that was a fantastic result last night. Aside from Georgia being a tricky place to play (See France & Spain for recent examples) but the conditions were harsh last night. 30 Degrees + 80% Humidity, I think the lads did very well myself. Sure, there were passages of really sloppy play but the team largely held on to posession and tried to build things up patiently.

An away victory against Armenia in Yerevan kicked off the campaign for the Euros last time, and the boys were equally unimpressed. Look what happened there, no team in the group managed a victory there, Russia drew and were lucky to do so and Slovakia were battered. Bit of perspective lads, Ireland can play better and I'm sure they will do so over the coming games.

noodler

It was a pathetic performance.

The worst since Kazakstan.

45 minutes showing a complete lack of urgency.

We got extremely lucky.

Banjaxed82

noodler wrote: »

It was a pathetic performance.

The worst since Kazakstan.

45 minutes showing a complete lack of urgency.

We got extremely lucky.

+1

All you have to do is check out Scotland last night. Putting the Germans under pressure, harrying them. A real sense of urgency and determination in their play. Why weren't we doing this against an inferior team? Really worrying. I hope it was an off day, but there's a sense that O'Neill has bottled it a bit, parked the style of play seen in the friendlies and defaulted to the lowest common denominator.

We were lucky this time. A stoke of genius saved us. But if play like that against anyone else, we're talking a Euro 2012 outcome.

GLaDOS

Fairly poor performance and have to question MON tactics. James McCarthy played too far forward, Walters on the right who offers nothing creatively and Keane isolated up front in a role he's not suited to. We looked dodgy as hell at the back at times, Wilson in particular seemed very shaky. The midfield 3 did very little offensively, though at least Quinn tried to make things happen.

Don't get me wrong, I'm delighted with the result, Georgia will be a tough place for the others to go and and I can see them getting something out of Poland and Scotland, but we have to remember if not for a piece of absolute magic from McGeady we'd be sitting here with one point and an entirely different complexion on the game. If MON learns from this, makes changes and we see improvement then fantastic. It is his first competitive game with the team so there will always be teething issues so it's great to get the 3 points, once he's not happy for us to perform like this every game. Cause Scotland and Poland, and most definitely Germany, will punish us if we do.

noodler

I had noted Georgia's previous home results before the game and also thought other teams might struggle.

However, based on what I actuall saw last night I wonder how many questions they will pose of Scotland and Poland.

They offered so little in an attacking sense and gave us so much ball that I cannot undertsand why we kept playing as if we were one up rather than drawing.

Backstreet Moyes

Delighted for McGeady sitting in a pub listening to people shouting all game about how bad he is. He could be vital for us this campaign he was fantastic yesterday two great finishes.

newballsplease

Very poor performance last night. Think the panel wernt far wrong in their opinions. And remember, thats what theyre there for. Opinions, and everyone has their own.
I normally cant stand to see Glenn Whelan in the team but he played well yesterday. Id say probably our best player. Coleman should have been told to run at the backs more and take players on. Keane is wasted up top on his own. They got a freak goal and maybe im harsh but think Forde could have at least raised him arm to it?! Ward backed off him to allow the shot when he should have been alot tighter.

There are certain things that you just cant blame the management for and its completely down to the players. The awful crossing last night was schoolboy stuff.
Think Ireland players seem to lack confidence. They need to be told to have a proper go at teams.
Same old Ireland in that, we are often to afraid to lose a game, rather then to try and go to win it.

ionadnapokot

noodler wrote: »

It was a pathetic performance.

The worst since Kazakstan.

45 minutes showing a complete lack of urgency.

We got extremely lucky.

It was very close to been as bad as the Kazak game. And that was Abysmal.
Very disappointed with O'Neil's starting team, team set-up and the performance.
Whelan? Surely McCarthy should have played that position. No Hoolahan? was he injured?
Robbie as a lone forward?
Just very disappointed.

Ferris_Bueller

I don't think the panel were being harsh at all yesterday, an incredibly poor performance, I'd agree the worst since Kazakhstan. I am delighted with the result though, a win is a win and I can see one of Poland or Scotland dropping points there, which could ultimately be the difference.

Watching Ireland yesterday I honestly found myself thinking is this team good at anything? Under trap we were good defensively (for a good while), but this team doesn't even seem solid at the back, nor does it have any creativity going forward. Despite the 3 points I am more worried about this campaign than I was this time yesterday, O'Neills first competitive game and I'm hoping he will learn a lot from it, but he has had a lot of friendlies to get to know his squad and he still chose a very strange team, unless there are significant improvements made I can see us really struggling in this group.

The_Kew_Tour

Yesterday did put out more questions then answers.

But it still a big 3 points and with Gibraltar next we should be going into Germany game with little more confidence. Dont expect to get anything in Germany but hopefully good performance.

Scotland is huge in November.

Lord Trollington

I really don't know what some people are expecting out of Ireland at this stage.

One or two players aside we lack real quality all over the pitch. We have at best a very average bunch of players and our World Rankings and results suggest as much.

It was O'Neill's first competitve game, I'm sure he'll earn more from that game than he has out of all the friendly games so far. We never looked like losing the game and were caught by a wonder strike before half time by Georgia.

Hyzepher

Can we all agree that Whelan is the worst commentator ever? That guy has no clue.

ThunbergsAreGo

Hyzepher wrote: »

Can we all agree that Whelan is the worst commentator ever? That guy has no clue.

Dunno Houghton is worse for me! had nowhere to turn last night!

The_Kew_Tour

Hyzepher wrote: »

Can we all agree that Whelan is the worst commentator ever? That guy has no clue.

I have tbh I agreed with much of what he said yesterday

noodler

Lord Trollington wrote: »

I really don't know what some people are expecting out of Ireland at this stage.

One or two players aside we lack real quality all over the pitch. We have at best a very average bunch of players and our World Rankings and results suggest as much.

It was O'Neill's first competitve game, I'm sure he'll earn more from that game than he has out of all the friendly games so far. We never looked like losing the game and were caught by a wonder strike before half time by Georgia.

Expect to try and win important football games basically.

They didn't try at all in the second half despite Georgia offering almost no threat. Keane up front wasn't working, Walters wasn't working and the midfield wasn't working. It was obvious a change was needed but MON waited until the 77th minute and even then the players on the pitch still didn't seem to think we needed a second goal.

The lack of urgency was baffling. One of the commentators (maybe Ronnie) said that maybe the players had been reading the newspapers and got it in their head a draw was a good result and that it what it felt like.

ionadnapokot

Lord Trollington wrote: »

I really don't know what some people are expecting out of Ireland at this stage.

One or two players aside we lack real quality all over the pitch. We have at best a very average bunch of players and our World Rankings and results suggest as much.

It was O'Neill's first competitve game, I'm sure he'll earn more from that game than he has out of all the friendly games so far. We never looked like losing the game and were caught by a wonder strike before half time by Georgia.

We are expecting progress. We are expecting tactical nous. We are expecting that players get picked in their correct positions.
We expect the best for Irish football.

LuckyLloyd

From what I can gather some people seem disappointed at some of the seeming continuity between a Trapp competitive selection and yesterday - I.e. Whelan, Ward and Keane starting ; Hoolohan not selected. There also seems to be surprise and disdain that we had to labour to victory and struggled to push the tempo throughout the second half.

Now maybe I'm crazy or maybe I'm a hopeless Trapp apologist but if we're seeing consistencies then maybe:

- these are the players we have and different coaching set ups see eye to eye on rating Whelan and Keane higher than you do and Hoolohan lower;
- our players are limited and under pressure and, particularly in the absence of any world class stars, they struggle to escape those limitations irrespective of who the coach is and whether he speaks English or not;

Just a thought. It might also be worth noting that things take time. It was O'Neill and Keane's first competitive game. Maybe things will change as more games come along.

I thought it was a great result, and that should be the big takeaway. I'm going to struggle to see the doom and gloom when a bunch of Irish lads found a last minute winner to take 3 points from a hostile atmosphere. You'll have to excuse me on that point.

ROCKMAN

I'll run for cover after this ...

A lot of people are getting caught up in the panel /media v O'Neill debate and not addressing the elephant in the room and that]is the standard of the Irish team at the moment. We are IMO no way near the level needed to get out of this group and yesterday's performance reflected this, Unfortunately I see us struggling to compete against Scotland and Poland for the runners up spot ,

God I hope I'm wrong and that I'm made eat my words in 18 months time.

Twas Not

ROCKMAN wrote: »

I'll run for cover after this ...

A lot of people are getting caught up in the panel /media v O'Neill debate and not addressing the elephant in the room and that]is the standard of the Irish team at the moment. We are IMO no way near the level needed to get out of this group and yesterday's performance reflected this, Unfortunately I see us struggling to compete against Scotland and Poland for the runners up spot ,

God I hope I'm wrong and that I'm made eat my words in 18 months time.

That is nonsense. We have more premiership players in the team/squad than Scotland.