Republic of Ireland Team Talk/News/Rumours 2017

dreamers75

I dont get Mac Clean he has one trick push it by and run, every player in the world now knows to stand off him.

He was like that for Derry and now he is like that for Ireland and whoever he plays for in UK.

GLaDOS

McClean is alright off the bench against tired full backs, against a defender like Piszczek from the start he was always going to struggle to have any sort of impact.

Deedsie

I thought Brady was very poor tonight. By far our worst player, McClean gave away stupid petty frees. Has he any discipline? The delivery from Brady for the set pieces was the most annoying aspect though. Our one chance of grabbing a goal really.

Really annoyed because that was there for the taking. Hoolahan struggled to settle into the pace. I think he should have started Long and McClean on the bench. They always play better when introduced.

sonic85

long was probably our best player up until he got injured. he did well against Germany the other night, deserved a start and was excellent.

the midfield was the main problem tonight. the wrong personnel were chosen and tactically we were sh!te. booting away the ball at every opportunity against an ordinary enough team was just suicide. we kept the ball well at times against the germans but didn't even try tonight.

an opportunity missed

Laois_Man

Not being funny, but I actually don't know which would be worse;
- the depressing thoughts of us not qualifying
- or the depressing thoughts of us qualifying but then us playing absolute muck football like that in France.

GLaDOS

On a brighter note, I thought Coleman was fantastic tonight. Dealt with anything that came down his side very well for the most part. Didn't get forward an awful lot but that's symptom of playing hoofball.

Ferris_Bueller

Ferris_Bueller wrote: »

I agree that Irelands problem generally seem to be against teams who are on a similar enough level to them, going back over the past 15 years or so we have gotten some good results against the bigger nations; Holland & Portugal ('02 WCQ), 0-0 in France ('06 WCQ), 0-0 with Germany (ECQ '08), two draws vs Italy and getting unlucky v France in the playoff (WCQ '10) and then obviously the two good results vs Germany in this campaign. That is not too bad of a record against the major nations in qualifiers in fairness, we generally seem to raise our game against these teams.

But the disappointments we have had over the years have been against teams on a similar level to us; losing to Switzerland twice in 2002/03, two draws with Israel in 2005, under Trap we struggled against teams we should be looking to beat at home such as Bulgaria and Slovakia, the results v Austria were disappointing too, then Scotland in this campaign under O'Neil.

We're fairly consistent at beating the bottom two seeds in the group in fairness, which other similar teams often slip up against. It will be very interesting to see us in the qualifiers for the World Cup 2018 because there are 4 teams in our group who aren't exactly miles apart in Austria, Serbia, Wales and ourselves. They are the kind of teams we have struggled against in the past few years, not being good enough to beat them yet not being the underdogs and being able to hit them on the break like we have against some of the bigger teams. If we don't beat Poland tomorrow it's very likely that we'll come up against a team like this, so I think it's important that O'Neil comes up with some kind of game plan to take on teams who are on a similar level to us.

A post I made in the Germany thread. Tonight kind of backs it up, we always under perform against teams on a similar level to us. Not going to blame O'Neill too much as another poster said earlier in the thread he would have been doing very well to achieve our biggest home result in 14 years and then go on to achieve one of our biggest away results in a few years within the same week.

I'd be worried we are going to face similar problems in the play offs whoever we get. Hoolahan, despite his age, is such a crucial part to the team and how we play, yet it will probably be a case again of him not being able to play two huge games in such a short space of time. Would also drop McClean who was poor tonight and is generally better off the bench, Brady looked very good on the wing against Germany and was poor tonight at left back. If you slot Coleman and Wilson in at full back then the team we played against Germany seems like our strongest eleven at the moment, Walters and O'Shea will be big losses in the first leg however.

Deedsie

So to be seeded we need Ukraine to beat Spain tomorrow night and Italy to beat Norway Tuesday. And Croatia to beat Malta Tuesday. So all eyes on Kiev tomorrow night to shout for Ukraine and all eyes on Rome Tuesday shouting for Italy.

Deise_2012

Deedsie wrote: »

I thought Brady was very poor tonight. By far our worst player, McClean gave away stupid petty frees. Has he any discipline? The delivery from Brady for the set pieces was the most annoying aspect though. Our one chance of grabbing a goal really.

Really annoyed because that was there for the taking. Hoolahan struggled to settle into the pace. I think he should have started Long and McClean on the bench. They always play better when introduced.

Start Long on the bench? Are you serious? He was playing well until he got injured, putting pressure on their backline and winning a peno. Tell me what Robbie Keane did when introduced? He doesn't have the legs anymore, nice sub to have in the last 10mins of a game but other than that he's pretty ineffective at this level

homerjay2005

Thought we gave it everything, played decent enough in second half but our final 3rd play was awful once long went off. Keane was brutal.

Was a very frustrating game overall, very stop start with a lot of diving and cheating but nothing we can do about that. Some strange decisions with team selection, they didn't work and it backfired. Couple of the polish lads got away with murder too, thought O Shea first yellow was very soft though I ain't seen any replays and it was a good bit away from where we were.

Onwards to the play off but it's going to be very tough now without o Shea and Walters. Set piece deliverys were shocking and got the ball wide on several occasions and never got good ball into the box like Poland did for both goals.

Omackeral

Someone in the Poland match thread suggested Richie Towell could be worth looking at. Anybody else agree with that? I reckon having him in the squad wouldn't be a bad idea. He's been very consistent the last two years and I'd say he's better than he's ever been. I know he plays for Dundalk in the LOI but he's head and shoulders above the rest. Wouldn't expect him to feature as such but would a call up and some training be out of the question? Or would he have to move across the water like James McClean and Keith Fahey for it to be legitimised? They weren't at their English clubs all that long before getting a nod. Don't get me wrong, I don't want a token domestic player added for the sake of of it, that would be actually worse than anything.

Just wondering what other people's opinions are, preferably if you've seen him play.

Kirby

It's modern football. Admire somebody like Lewandowski for his ability sure but he is such a big faker and diver you just want to strangle him every time he does the lewa-flop.

TheDoc

Omackeral wrote: »

Someone in the Poland match thread suggested Richie Towell could be worth looking at. Anybody else agree with that? I reckon having him in the squad wouldn't be a bad idea. He's been very consistent the last two years and I'd say he's better than he's ever been. I know he plays for Dundalk in the LOI but he's head and shoulders above the rest. Wouldn't expect him to feature as such but would a call up and some training be out of the question? Or would he have to move across the water like James McClean and Keith Fahey for it to be legitimised? They weren't at their English clubs all that long before getting a nod. Don't get me wrong, I don't want a token domestic player added for the sake of of it, that would be actually worse than anything.

Just wondering what other people's opinions are, preferably if you've seen him play.

The squad has a pure lack of creativity and players who can actually play football. As usual when the team are required to play football and try secure a result, they are left massively wanting. Having Towell in the squad should be a given in fairness. The fact he is not just screams of management picking players based on reputations and the clubs they play for.

Hardly a surprising development in Ireland, since its partially the problem with our youth development.

One of the few points Dunphy made last night that I agree with, but its hardly a new thought or rocket science. If you want to compete in the games that matter you need a ball player. We have Wes Hoolihan at what, 33 years of age. And literally nothing apart from him.

There has been this rush to secure O'Neill a new contract especially after the Germany win, which is typically Ireland and typical FAI. This campaign spun around quickly, but there was the same old problems.

What we have achieved now is what we should have expected as a minimum before the groups were drawn. That we got a tough group shouldn't really change those circumstances.

Wales and NI have been a good example of teams and especially managers, who have been able to combine both premier league and championship level players( and in some cases, lower standard) and make them the sum of their parts. O'Neill has failed to do this dramatically I would say, continuining to play players based on reputation and the clubs they are with, rather then what actually creates a good team.

As harsh as it may sound, I would hope we do not qualify for the tournament if it meant that the FAI would finally start owning their responsibilities, and put in place a proper long term development plan for the national team and game. Although this is just a pure pipe dream, as I've stated numerous times, when the chairman of your football assosiation is quoted on national radio claiming "The senior team is less then a percent of my responsibilities to the organisation "

We are watching countries all around us reaping benefits of plans they put in place years ago. We are yet to do anything. With an easier qualification for the Euros, and a potentially easier qualification for the World cup coming down the line, when is the penny going to drop with the FAI, and the fans, to assert pressure onto the powerbase to ensure we are developing and safe guarding talent here.

TheDoc

Kirby wrote: »

It's modern football. Admire somebody like Lewandowski for his ability sure but he is such a big faker and diver you just want to strangle him every time he does the lewa-flop.

As a nation that hails Damien Duff as one of the all time greats I don't get all the outrage over Lewandowski last night. Sure it was obvious and it's always grating to see, but it is no different to what Duff did in a ten year career, just that Duff was much better at it.

Nalz

TheDoc wrote: »

just that Duff was much better at it.

Duffs drawing fouls to diving was a lot different to the big Pole's imo. Duffer was a ledge at the cute free winning. I don't think we should frown upon it in any way.

For all the diving Lewandowski did, John O Shea fouled him about 6 or 7 times last night (twice in the box) and nothing was done... that's why we shouldn't complain much about him

Ferris_Bueller

Omackeral wrote: »

Someone in the Poland match thread suggested Richie Towell could be worth looking at. Anybody else agree with that? I reckon having him in the squad wouldn't be a bad idea. He's been very consistent the last two years and I'd say he's better than he's ever been. I know he plays for Dundalk in the LOI but he's head and shoulders above the rest. Wouldn't expect him to feature as such but would a call up and some training be out of the question? Or would he have to move across the water like James McClean and Keith Fahey for it to be legitimised? They weren't at their English clubs all that long before getting a nod. Don't get me wrong, I don't want a token domestic player added for the sake of of it, that would be actually worse than anything.

Just wondering what other people's opinions are, preferably if you've seen him play.

Realistically he probably is our next best creative midfield player after Hoolahan, so for that reason alone he might be worth a call up to the squad. The only thing is it would be some step up from playing LoI to playing against international teams like Germany and Poland, hard to know how he would fare against them but I suppose we won't know until we try. He has been the standout player in the league the past two seasons, arguably standing out more than any player who has gone over to England in the past 10 years or so.

TheDoc wrote: »

As harsh as it may sound, I would hope we do not qualify for the tournament if it meant that the FAI would finally start owning their responsibilities, and put in place a proper long term development plan for the national team and game. Although this is just a pure pipe dream, as I've stated numerous times, when the chairman of your football assosiation is quoted on national radio claiming "The senior team is less then a percent of my responsibilities to the organisation "

We are watching countries all around us reaping benefits of plans they put in place years ago. We are yet to do anything. With an easier qualification for the Euros, and a potentially easier qualification for the World cup coming down the line, when is the penny going to drop with the FAI, and the fans, to assert pressure onto the powerbase to ensure we are developing and safe guarding talent here.

This is stuff that is repeatedly said in relation to the national team and while it was certainly true at one stage, over the past few years there have been changes brought in to improve player development such as smaller sided games, better coach education, underage national leagues. Obviously we aren't going to see any improvements from it yet as it will take probably 5-10 years to see any benefits from it, but to say the penny hasn't dropped isn't true IMO. Not trying to single this post out but this is something that is often said with regards to player development in Ireland.

Pro. F

Scoring goals is a problem for this team, Towell scores goals from all sorts of angles. Give him a chance I say. Maybe it would be too much of a step up in level for him at the moment, or maybe he would be able to raise his game. There's also the added bonus that giving him a run out would raise his profile and improve his career prospects.

GLaDOS

No reason Towell shouldn't be getting a run out in a friendly, see what sort of impact he has on the squad.

Thowing him straight into the playoffs would be a bit much though.

TheDoc

Ferris_Bueller wrote: »

This is stuff that is repeatedly said in relation to the national team and while it was certainly true at one stage, over the past few years there have been changes brought in to improve player development such as smaller sided games, better coach education, underage national leagues. Obviously we aren't going to see any improvements from it yet as it will take probably 5-10 years to see any benefits from it, but to say the penny hasn't dropped isn't true IMO. Not trying to single this post out but this is something that is often said with regards to player development in Ireland.

Can't say I'm seeing anything at underage level, or schoolboy level that is going to improve anything regarding the future of the national team.

I'd first hand experience myself as a schoolboy who finished playing ten years ago at this stage, but the interest has stayed there with family members and nephews going through the same stuff. The latest nephew is the latest example. Somewhat fearful for his him. His father was a really good player who spent a number of years in England. His hope, is that an English academy catch him early, so negative is he about the development systems and policies here.

My grandfather had big involvement in irish youth development, and my fathers friend was heavily involved with Home Farm for a number of decades. They've provided me great insight in how it's normally one step forward two steps back, and nothing proper is really being done.

Appears evident to me the FAI don't have the leadership to actually execute such a change. And I don't think they really want to, when they can publish reports saying how revenue has grown here and there, pockets get fatter, all the while the game gets weaker.

Nalz

Adam Rooney and Daryl Murphy scoring from all angles last season too - but its not as simple as that. Captain Obvious I know but the truth nonetheless

astonaidan

TheDoc wrote: »

Can't say I'm seeing anything at underage level, or schoolboy level that is going to improve anything regarding the future of the national team.

I'd first hand experience myself as a schoolboy who finished playing ten years ago at this stage, but the interest has stayed there with family members and nephews going through the same stuff. The latest nephew is the latest example. Somewhat fearful for his him. His father was a really good player who spent a number of years in England. His hope, is that an English academy catch him early, so negative is he about the development systems and policies here.

My grandfather had big involvement in irish youth development, and my fathers friend was heavily involved with Home Farm for a number of decades. They've provided me great insight in how it's normally one step forward two steps back, and nothing proper is really being done.

Appears evident to me the FAI don't have the leadership to actually execute such a change. And I don't think they really want to, when they can publish reports saying how revenue has grown here and there, pockets get fatter, all the while the game gets weaker.

I agree Irish football from a young age is all about winning, which has always meant the big strong lads will always get played over the small talented ones. I think a big part of this is because the coaches are usually involved in some way with GAA aswell

Ferris_Bueller

TheDoc wrote: »

Can't say I'm seeing anything at underage level, or schoolboy level that is going to improve anything regarding the future of the national team.

I'd first hand experience myself as a schoolboy who finished playing ten years ago at this stage, but the interest has stayed there with family members and nephews going through the same stuff. The latest nephew is the latest example. Somewhat fearful for his him. His father was a really good player who spent a number of years in England. His hope, is that an English academy catch him early, so negative is he about the development systems and policies here.

My grandfather had big involvement in irish youth development, and my fathers friend was heavily involved with Home Farm for a number of decades. They've provided me great insight in how it's normally one step forward two steps back, and nothing proper is really being done.

Appears evident to me the FAI don't have the leadership to actually execute such a change. And I don't think they really want to, when they can publish reports saying how revenue has grown here and there, pockets get fatter, all the while the game gets weaker.

As far as I know (could be wrong here), the FAI have no direct control over the SFAI so therefore can't force any changes in the schoolboy league. That is a huge problem within Irish football, but aside from that there have been changes such as 5v5, onto 7v7 onto 9v9 in a lot of under age leagues, no competitive leagues until a certain age group to focus on development rather than results, the national under 17s and 19s leagues are definitely a step in the right direction too. They intend on bringing in an under 15s in the near future too. Coach education has improved a lot too over the past couple of years in fairness although we still probably lack in terms of number of coaches, but how do the FAI fix that?

Something like a national academy would be ideal obviously but that would cost millions, so unfair to expect them to do that. I think the FAI have put some foundations in place and it will take a while to see the results, well hopefully anyway.

TheDoc

astonaidan wrote: »

I agree Irish football from a young age is all about winning, which has always meant the big strong lads will always get played over the small talented ones. I think a big part of this is because the coaches are usually involved in some way with GAA aswell

True. From even my days playing, and what I'm watching every weekend now. There is too much emphasis on speed and power, and not enough on technique and ability.

A team I watch a lot that a nephew plays in. Two lads sit on the bench week in week out because they are small. Now we are talking about ten year old kids here. So there will be spurts of growth in the coming years. But these two kids sit on the bench week in week out, and are by far ahead of the rest of the team in terms of how they play the game.

Obviously part of it is that so many coaches/managers are just parents volunteering. And that is totally fine. That is really important to keep teams going and players playing. but there needs to be something created centrally, county level, catchment area, that identifies good players and provides them somewhere to go get specialist coaching etc.

Still appears to be a big culture of who your Dad knows, or if your Dad is willing to ring around and ask around and operate as your agent from the age of 10.

keeponhurling

There should be a mandatory friendly every year, Ireland v Best XI from LoI.

Good chance of recognition for LoI lads, plus would attract local fans.

Also gives then experience and chance to compete at international level.

Advantage for Irish team is they'd be kept on their toes, and be playing a highly motivated opposition rather than the usual friendlies
Another friendly v Oman is never the answer

Pro. F

Nalz wrote: »

Adam Rooney and Daryl Murphy scoring from all angles last season too - but its not as simple as that. Captain Obvious I know but the truth nonetheless

Just because Murphy hasn't worked out doesn't mean we shouldn't try other players from outside the PL who are showing good form.

Pro. F

TheDoc wrote: »

True. From even my days playing, and what I'm watching every weekend now. There is too much emphasis on speed and power, and not enough on technique and ability.

A team I watch a lot that a nephew plays in. Two lads sit on the bench week in week out because they are small. Now we are talking about ten year old kids here. So there will be spurts of growth in the coming years. But these two kids sit on the bench week in week out, and are by far ahead of the rest of the team in terms of how they play the game.

Obviously part of it is that so many coaches/managers are just parents volunteering. And that is totally fine. That is really important to keep teams going and players playing. but there needs to be something created centrally, county level, catchment area, that identifies good players and provides them somewhere to go get specialist coaching etc.

Still appears to be a big culture of who your Dad knows, or if your Dad is willing to ring around and ask around and operate as your agent from the age of 10.

That's been done in Britain but it ends up meaning more time for these talented kids spent sitting in cars/buses being brought to and from these special locations and less time for them to kick footballs.

Improve the coaching and set up under age league rules so that the games promote contact with the ball (smaller teams and pitches) and so that the coaches can't involve their egos (for the younger ages no league tables and no scores recorded) and that will make the world of difference imo. To be fair the FAI and the leagues are making some good moves in this direction. Hopefully that will continue and improve.

Deedsie

astonaidan wrote: »

I agree Irish football from a young age is all about winning, which has always meant the big strong lads will always get played over the small talented ones. I think a big part of this is because the coaches are usually involved in some way with GAA aswell

Ah ya it's all the GAA's fault... :rolleyes:

Hercule Poirot

Brady was terrible

Whelan was terrible

It was hard to believe that this was the same team that were disciplined and structured enough in one game to keep out Germany and in the other to fall apart so easily against Poland

I was very p1ssed off with the overall performance, if O'Neill calls that "going for it" then we are in a lot of trouble

The smash and grab against Germany was beautiful to watch (not literally of course), but we had to back it up with something and we were a disaster last night - as another poster said above, there is the potential for embarrassment in France

TheCitizen

Deedsie wrote: »

Ah ya it's all the GAA's fault... :rolleyes:

:pac:have to say that one made me laugh.

The_Kew_Tour

Any of Cork Lads know the story with Acamedy being set up near Glanmire?

Is it still being set up?

Nalz

Pro. F wrote: »

Just because Murphy hasn't worked out doesn't mean we shouldn't try other players from outside the PL who are showing good form.

He hasn't worked out? How many games has he got, 2? Of course we should try him again and others similar... but not in the playoffs

Pro. F

Nalz wrote: »

He hasn't worked out? How many games has he got, 2? Of course we should try him again and others similar... but not in the playoffs

He hasn't worked out so far.

I wasn't suggesting that we should be trying players in the playoffs. I don't think anybody was suggesting that.

Corholio

I think in the modern game fans patience for deciding whether players are 'good enough' is as ridiculously short as it ever was too. One average, quiet half from a new player and some would already be deciding that they weren't good enough for international football. The players who stand out should be given chances, Towell has certainly done that the past few seasons. I don't think the national team over the past few years has given such players enough chances in friendlies etc, too many times has 90% of a the strongest squad been called to play. If we were choc full of quality players I'd say something but we simply aren't, the sad thing is that a lot would automatically say that Player A is better than someone like Towell just because they are playing in England, regardless of division.

homerjay2005

Hercule Poirot wrote: »

Brady was terrible

Whelan was terrible

It was hard to believe that this was the same team that were disciplined and structured enough in one game to keep out Germany and in the other to fall apart so easily against Poland

I was very p1ssed off with the overall performance, if O'Neill calls that "going for it" then we are in a lot of trouble

The smash and grab against Germany was beautiful to watch (not literally of course), but we had to back it up with something and we were a disaster last night - as another poster said above, there is the potential for embarrassment in France

Ah come on, fall apart???? This is a team who beat Germany 2-0 at home themselves and lost no games at home, scoring 18 goals. I doubt many teams who finished second have a better record. we had a chance to get to 2-2 with a few minutes to go, but we missed it.

Ireland played ok last night, gave it 100% and didn't let the country down. We conceded from a corner and a cross that should have been cleared about 5 times before it was sent in. Poland have a player who currently is playing at a level no other striker in world football is playing at, he was the difference.

Sick of reading about constant bulls*hit about our national team, if people aren't happy they should f*ck off and support the rugby team.

The_Kew_Tour

I'm all for bringing in new faces and giving them a go, but tbf I can't blame O Neill or any other Irish manager for picking decent squads for friendlies.

Players need time to gel together etc too.

Corholio

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

I'm all for bringing in new faces and giving them a go, but tbf I can't blame O Neill or any other Irish manager for picking decent squads for friendlies.

Players need time to gel together etc too.

Not the same tired faces though. The likes of Keogh, Green, McGoldrick etc etc were picked in squads constantly and not given much time or shown to be not good enough. Theres also the fact that there isn't a lot of players that you can say should definitely be starting. For me, Coleman, McCarthy, possibly O'Shea for a little while longer and possibly Brady too, are the only ones that should be definitely starting. Every other position is open because of lack of quality, so picking a decent squad is in itself a very general term.

TheDoc

homerjay2005 wrote: »

Ah come on, fall apart???? This is a team who beat Germany 2-0 at home themselves and lost no games at home, scoring 18 goals. I doubt many teams who finished second have a better record. we had a chance to get to 2-2 with a few minutes to go, but we missed it.

Ireland played ok last night, gave it 100% and didn't let the country down. We conceded from a corner and a cross that should have been cleared about 5 times before it was sent in. Poland have a player who currently is playing at a level no other striker in world football is playing at, he was the difference.

Sick of reading about constant bulls*hit about our national team, if people aren't happy they should f*ck off and support the rugby team.

How would you react if after you post all your negative stuff about United, I told you to **** off and support City?

Deedsie

homerjay2005 wrote: »

Sick of reading about constant bulls*hit about our national team, if people aren't happy they should f*ck off and support the rugby team.

I think most people support both teams.

astonaidan

Deedsie wrote: »

Ah ya it's all the GAA's fault... :rolleyes:

Never said it was at all, my point was guys who do coaching were brought up mostly in GAA/Soccer environments so the GAA side will always be brought over to soccer. How much kids do you know who play GAA in summer, soccer in winter for example

Deedsie

astonaidan wrote: »

Never said it was at all, my point was guys who do coaching were brought up mostly in GAA/Soccer environments so the GAA side will always be brought over to soccer. How much kids do you know who play GAA in summer, soccer in winter for example

The tone of your comment suggested... "Typical GAA head always going for the bigger guy instead of the skilful guy or that their amateur coaching styles are not up to soccer standard" that's the FAI's fault.

homerjay2005

TheDoc wrote: »

How would you react if after you post all your negative stuff about United, I told you to **** off and support City?

Not sure whats this has to do with United but seen as you brought it up...

United are one of the top clubs in world football and in terms of finance, will become the top club in the world in 2016.

By contrast, Ireland are realistically the 122nd biggest country in the world according to population, ignoring our football, hurling and Rugby divisions. I think you will appreciate there is a world of a difference when it comes to reality, expectations and beliefs in how standards should be.

I expect only the best of standards for United and I think you will agree that my criticism of United over the past few years has been justified in a lot of cases. Big difference to criticism of Ireland, our fans think we should be a world super power when the reality is we are pretty much always punching above our weight

Dots1982

A couple of discussion points:
- we produced a performance I personally was happy with and was consisent with the performances we have provided with in the campaign. We have no top level goalscorer and Richard Dunne (our best defender for the past 10 years) is retired. You can nitpick but IMO MoN has done a good job. he has made some big calls and seen them payoff.

- Poland showed how to defend against our long ball football, it helped they had a tall classy defensive mid but any teams watching us in preparation for the playoffs got a tutorial in how to play against us last night by the more tactically astute Poles. Krychowiak and Long were under most of the high balls and Krychowiak won the lion's share of them. Long going off wasn't a big as blow in my opinion as some here seem to think although he was gamey and ran his socks off. Wes and to an extent Keane gave us a little more spark and unpredictability as did mcgeady.

- Our discipline is terrible, cretain players have been a red card waiting to happen in this campaign and its a minor miracle we have only got one. It was a underrated feature of Trap's management that we never picked up cards unless we had to.

- We can't score more than one goal in any game vs a ok, decent or good team. Its just impossible for us home or away and explains why we draw so many games.

- people who are criticising MoN for negative football need a reality check. We bet the world champions last week. Some people need to cop on and stop being mini-Eamon Dunphys.

- McClean has loss his place in the selection pecking order to McGeady

- Brady had a poor game last night but he's young and probably should be persisted with at left back, his crosses are a weapon

- McCarthy is beginning to blossom and stamp his authority on games. Although I would like to see again how much pressure he was under, Poland were stand-offish in the middle as they were more setup to defend against long balls than our midfield.

- Whelan had a poor game, a game that would make you wonder about his use to the team.

- Coleman is being praised for his performance but we need him hitting the byline 5 times a game, if you get that you will probably get at least one goal from it. I would say coleman hitting the byline is a more potent attacking threat than Weso's craft but maybe I'm wrong.

- if we thought Aidan McGeady has a bad end product, well Grosnicki for Poland was McGeady X 5

- Denmark is the team we probably should be aiming for in the playoffs if we are lower seeds which is likely. They are in a major slump and i'd fancy us versus them.

Nalz

homerjay2005 wrote: »

Poland have a player who currently is playing at a level no other striker in world football is playing at, he was the difference.

So if Poland didn't have him it would have been an even game last night? Or most other nights? I find it hard to agree with.

We weren't ok. Some players did their best and others had an off day. We need a bit of luck and all our players firing to beat the likes of Poland away from home.... or half the European teams to be honest.

homerjay2005

Deedsie wrote: »

I think most people support both teams.

Hmmm a lot do but but majority of the real fanatical soccer people I know have no interest in Rugby

That doesn't mean of course you can't support multiple sports, I played Hurling, soccer, Gaelic football and Rugby myself but I just never warmed to rugby and stopped playing it.

Good luck to everyone who supports all sports.

Nalz

homerjay2005 wrote: »

Hmmm a lot do but but majority of the real fanatical soccer people I know have no interest in Rugby

This has been coming up a lot lately, naturally as the RWC is on at the same time.

A lad in work said to me in the kitchen this morning "your not wearing your jersey today? Was a great day yesterday. I watched the rugby but turned off the soccer at halftime, sure it would put you off wouldn't it, ruin your night like?"

"Nope" I replied. At that was all.

There's a few having a go again at soccer here and there. O Shea gets a 4/10 for last nights fouling and performance and Sean O Brien gets a 9/10 for his punch and performance in the Times. Gentlemen being tough\manly and hooligans being cheats\whimps sorta jazz. Would sicken your arse sometimes

I was delighted the rugby team won and can look beyond a lot of things I think are wrong with the sport of rugby but others can't when our soccer team is in the spotlight.

Here's to a RWC win for Ireland and Euro qualification for the Republic

sky88

homerjay2005 wrote: »

Hmmm a lot do but but majority of the real fanatical soccer people I know have no interest in Rugby

That doesn't mean of course you can't support multiple sports, I played Hurling, soccer, Gaelic football and Rugby myself but I just never warmed to rugby and stopped playing it.

Good luck to everyone who supports all sports.

I support both as its always good to see Ireland do well in any team sports but football would always be the first if the games last night had have been on at the same time id be watching the football. Im just more of a football fan other then the Ireland games i havent watched another game of the world cup as i just doesn't interest me.

Pro. F

Dots1982 wrote: »

- people who are criticising MoN for negative football need a reality check. We bet the world champions last week. Some people need to cop on and stop being mini-Eamon Dunphys.

We did not beat the world champions playing with the negative approach that we used against Poland and in any of our difficult away games during the campaign.

homerjay2005

Pro. F wrote: »

We did not beat the world champions playing with the negative approach that we used against Poland and in any of our difficult away games during the campaign.

We're we negative last night?

I obviously basing my point as somebody who was inside the stadium but from where I was a saw a polish team who played with 5 defenders and then a 6th in the last 15 mins.

They picked us off for a lot of the game and while they had more possession, they were the home team after all.

newballsplease

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Straight back in for me. Exactly what is required for tomorrow.

MON isn't the only manager with a "thing" for him.

Exactly what was required yesterday?? What exactly does he provide that yourself and Martin oNeill saw fit to do yesterday?
As far as i see Glenn Whelan points, chews gum, and passes backwards.
Completly shys away from the play at any stage.
There was a stage yesterday where Coleman was bombing forward and Whelan passed the ball to him so he had to stop and nearly turn around to receive it. That wasnt an accident, that was your standard Glenn Whelan negative game.

Pro. F

homerjay2005 wrote: »

We're we negative last night?

I obviously basing my point as somebody who was inside the stadium but from where I was a saw a polish team who played with 5 defenders and then a 6th in the last 15 mins.

They picked us off for a lot of the game and while they had more possession, they were the home team after all.

Yes it was a negative approach last night. O'Neill started with Whelan in midfield and two CF types. The team were unable to string three passes together for the first hour of the game. It obviously got better when Whelan went off and then better again when Hoolahan came on, but the initial set up, which was used for most of the game, was negative and the performance followed suit.

The facts that the Poles were also negative and that they were at home don't change the fact that MON's approach to that game was negative and quite different to the approach against Germany.