Republic of Ireland Team Talk/News/Rumours 2017

Mantis Toboggan

Nice impact from o'dowd and Horgan.

mada999

bread and butter these crosses for the Iceland CB's....need a couple of one-two's on the floor to beat them....

gormdubhgorm

Has Horgan ended McGeady's international career?

A player who can cross the ball and run with the ball in a green shirt.

mada999

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

Has Horgan ended McGeady's international career?

A player who can cross the ball and run with the ball in a green shirt.

Hopefully.... dont know how he has over 80 caps. :eek:

Duff

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

Has Horgan ended McGeady's international career?

A player who can cross the ball and run with the ball in a green shirt.

He's Damien Duff 2.0. Said it from the first night I seen him in Oriel Park. Even looks a bit like him :pac:

gormdubhgorm

mada999 wrote: »

Hopefully.... dont know how he has over 80 caps. :eek:

87 caps according to the net. :eek:

I would not have guessed that!

In fairness to McGeady he has had his moments (every 25 games or so) but it is all the stupid things in between that is annoying.

gormdubhgorm

Duff wrote: »

He's Damien Duff 2.0. Said it from the first night I seen him in Oriel Park. Even looks a bit like him :pac:

When I saw Horgan I thought he could be McClean's brother.

Gavlor

Mars Bar wrote: »

Have you been living under a rock?

Nope, but I have a life that doesn't involve championship football. I will confess to having seen Horgan play before

mada999

It's crazy how much more intelligent and technical Iceland are with the ball...

Mars Bar

...have we had a shot on target yet?

Kerrydude1981

super_furry wrote: »

He was alright. Nothing special but he was obviously told to play deep.

I think we started with two lads in CM that would play better in a three man midfield,we have looked a lot better since the changes,O Kane is a tidy player on the ball.

Mars Bar

Ah there we go, a tame header on target.

Alfa Quadrifoglio

Horgan was superb for Dundalk in the Champions League games and Europa League group stage matches against quality opposition so no surprise hes impressing against Iceland

Faugheen

Not enough love for Eunan O'Kane here. I thought he was involved in everything since he came on.

gormdubhgorm

mada999 wrote: »

It's crazy how much more intelligent and technical Iceland are with the ball...

Yeah, they showed up England big style as well.

I am not sure what Ireland's problem is, we should be related to a lot of the Iceland players if you go far enough back!

mada999

Dinasaur football in fairness.... I refuse to believe we have less technical players than Iceland but that's what it looked like.... players are being told to play a certain way.. crazy...

Stevecw

That was a bad performance overall, hard to think of anyone who impressed there. Also a loss at home to Iceland will badly impact our rankings. Iceland were 1 ahead of us before this. Won't help with seedings in future.

Duff

I really don't understand why the players aren't told or let play the ball on the ground. Especially in a friendly. There's no way Iceland have better technical players than us, even though it looked it tonight.

Kerrydude1981

Was hoping Brady would be released to a more attacking position in the second half,hopefully we will see him on the left wing or in the No 10 role for the big games coming up.

gormdubhgorm

Stevecw wrote: »

That was a bad performance overall, hard to think of anyone who impressed there. Also a loss at home to Iceland will badly impact our rankings. Iceland were 1 ahead of us before this. Won't help with seedings in future.

They said on the radio that Wales don't play many friendlies at all for this reason, as if they are not there to lose games they won't go down the rankings so quickly.

gormdubhgorm

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

Was hoping Brady would be released to a more attacking position in the second half,hopefully we will see him on the left wing or in the No 10 role for the big games coming up.

I think No 10 is probably where he will end up especially when Hoolahan retires.

briany

Ireland passed the ball around a fair bit in the middle of the park, it's just in the final third the only idea going was to whip in a cross, which Iceland handled consummately. Nice to see a few fresh faces get a game, though. Disappointing to lose, but Iceland didn't exactly create a whole lot, either. The difference was in a well-taken free kick, and a defensive wall that momentarily forgot how to be one.

CurryFlavoured

Duff wrote: »

I really don't understand why the players aren't told or let play the ball on the ground. Especially in a friendly. There's no way Iceland have better technical players than us, even though it looked it tonight.

I wouldn't be so sure, we don't produce many technical players and we play even less of them. We're a direct, power team and have been for years and years. I agree we should be a bit more expansive though, especially against Iceland who will defend crossers all day.

johnnyryan89

mada999 wrote: »

It's crazy how much more intelligent and technical Iceland are with the ball...

It's not really, Iceland pumped alot of money into youth football and especially into coaches for the youth players. To coach an under tens team you need to have your UEFA B licence, coach below 10s you need to have the next level down from B and they've built a number of indoor pitches so kids can play all year round. They've also got Lars Largerbeck to thank whose done alot of good work during his spell in charge.

DJIMI TRARORE

That's 5 hrs I've lost since Friday, MON is far too cautious and predictable. The way we r playing Austria or Serbia can play without a goalie

Brock Turnpike

The sooner, the better that we get Wes, McCarthy and Arter back into the squad. Players that the management team seem to be willing to allow pass the ball.


Slight positives from tonight:

Horgan (done more in 30 mins than McGeady managed for the whole time on the pitch. Horgan should be ahead Of McGeady in the pecking order). O'Dowda also promising again.

O'Kane lively when he came on, seems to always make an impact when he comes on. A decent squad option.

Egan and Boyle should both be part of the squad, ahead of Pearce, based on tonight.

Jonny Hayes worked hard and has a nice touch. Not sure he'll ever be at the level of starting for us but he looked to make an impact on fairness to him.

Apart from that, We really need to unearth a striker. Doyle is physically shot. Can't run, can't jump. Murphy is 33. Long and Walters good options, but we need another one to come from somewhere.

We're going to miss Coleman big time. Christie is OK but his delivery is very flaky. Coleman much more assured in possession high up the pitch.

The_Kew_Tour

That was fantastic wasnt it

gormdubhgorm

Brock Turnpike wrote: »

Apart from that, We really need to unearth a striker. Doyle is physically shot. Can't run, can't jump. Murphy is 33. Long and Walters good options, but we need another one to come from somewhere.

Will Mclean be given the striker role more often?

Considering Brady and Horgan can do jobs on the wings.

yabadabado

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

It's not really, Iceland pumped alot of money into youth football and especially into coaches for the youth players. To coach an under tens team you need to have your UEFA B licence, coach below 10s you need to have the next level down from B and they've built a number of indoor pitches so kids can play all year round. They've also got Lars Largerbeck to thank whose done alot of good work during his spell in charge.

What Iceland have done over the last 15 years is brilliant ,it would be great if we could attempt something similar here.
They have a huge amount of coaches with the B license,which is something we could do here if the price wasnt as prohibitive.I believe Iceland funded it by the money they received from their UEFA tv cut.

irishman86

Surely there is better strikers out there than Doyle at this stage. We keep clinging to the past both football and player wise

dr.kenneth noisewater

Was at the the game and was very disappointed with some players. Egan, Pearce and Hourihane looked out of their depth imo. Doyle is gone, no legs. Thought Horgan, O'Dowda and O'Kane played well when they got on.
Waste of time playing Brady at LB, this is the sort of game he should be given a go at playing at 10. Cant understand Cunningham not being given a run.

yabadabado

sugarman wrote: »

They copied Norways model, in building several big indoor training facilities in the biggest cities around the country and have kids from ages 8 upwards take part in training session up to 6 times per week, 11 months of the year.

That is insane. And the results are showing with a country of a population of just 330K, how many are turning out to become professional footballers.

Where as the FAI have a half arsed "Emerging Talent" program, where kids get an hour or two max once a week for several months of the year. They also use other clubs sub par facilities as opposed to their own dedicated ones.

I think the standard of coaching makes a huge difference,they have highly trained coaches in basically every town in the country.That is something we could copy,as I doubt there will be many facilties built here and in fairness our weather isnt as harsh.
Get the standard of coaching up to scratch would make a huge difference and is something that could be achived fairly quickly.

Anyone know what it is to complete the full set of courses/badges here?It used to be around 12k, a lad I know has them.Around 12k and then all the other added expenses,travel accom etc make it near impossible for many people to get.

johnnyryan89

yabadabado wrote: »

I think the standard of coaching makes a huge difference,they have highly trained coaches in basically every town in the country.That is something we could copy,as I doubt there will be many facilties built here and in fairness our weather isnt as harsh.
Get the standard of coaching up to scratch would make a huge difference and is something that could be achived fairly quickly.

Anyone know what it is to complete the full set of courses/badges here?It used to be around 12k, a lad I know has them.Around 12k and then all the other added expenses,travel accom etc make it near impossible for many people to get.

A poster on here is doing their UEFA B at the moment so they might know if they see your post.

Improving the standard of coaching would be the main thing that's needed but also the number of hours coaches get to work with kids. Another interesting fact about Iceland is in the top two leagues in the country clubs are fined if they don't fulfil the mandatory coaches education which is set out in the club licensing system.

With leagues around the country switching to summer soccer it's now time for the FAI to invest in futsal in this country during the winter months.

weadick

irishman86 wrote: »

Surely there is better strikers out there than Doyle at this stage. We keep clinging to the past both football and player wise

Sadly there is not.

noodler

Fair bit of McGeady abuse but he has been outstanding for Preston, significantly more so than Horgan who has also been good. No surprise he got Championship player of the month. Horgan got some nice balls in though.

Felt for Doyle, he's game but it's a tough job being isolated up front.

Both pundits on the rte highlights felt Ireland should have had a bit more about them at home to Wales and Iceland and that we should take a chance or two in such games.

Kermit.de.frog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh5swCCunO8

Trond

dr.kenneth noisewater wrote: »

Was at the the game and was very disappointed with some players. Egan, Pearce and Hourihane looked out of their depth imo. Doyle is gone, no legs. Thought Horgan, O'Dowda and O'Kane played well when they got on.
Waste of time playing Brady at LB, this is the sort of game he should be given a go at playing at 10. Cant understand Cunningham not being given a run.

Agree completely. I was there myself, disappointing night.

Doyle should never play for us again. Id give Hourihan another chance.

We should also never ever play Brady out of position again. He has to start in midfield.

Im also delighted with Horgan's progress.

Corholio

Terrible type of match to be judging players imo. Was surprised it was such an inexperienced starting lineup. I've no doubt many of the current certain starters didn't have great debuts, no doubt in friendlies as well. It's how they develop playing more than once and in more competitive games than just after 1 game with a mish mash of players just saying 'Not good enough' etc.

Minderbinder

yabadabado wrote: »

sugarman wrote: »

They copied Norways model, in building several big indoor training facilities in the biggest cities around the country and have kids from ages 8 upwards take part in training session up to 6 times per week, 11 months of the year.

That is insane. And the results are showing with a country of a population of just 330K, how many are turning out to become professional footballers.

Where as the FAI have a half arsed "Emerging Talent" program, where kids get an hour or two max once a week for several months of the year. They also use other clubs sub par facilities as opposed to their own dedicated ones.

I think the standard of coaching makes a huge difference,they have highly trained coaches in basically every town in the country.That is something we could copy,as I doubt there will be many facilties built here and in fairness our weather isnt as harsh.
Get the standard of coaching up to scratch would make a huge difference and is something that could be achived fairly quickly.

Anyone know what it is to complete the full set of courses/badges here?It used to be around 12k, a lad I know has them.Around 12k and then all the other added expenses,travel accom etc make it near impossible for many people to get.

The reality is Norway had a few talented players emerge at the same time and now Iceland has a decent team.

We would be kidding ourselves if we think that Robbie and Roy Keane came through some great system we have in this country.

I think facilities and coaches can only do so much but it isn't going to produce brilliant footballers or turn Glenn Whelans into Pirlos.

Most top players have natural ability and a strong mentality which can't be coached. Presumably Norway still have the same model but they're worse than us by a distance. Iceland have done great but let's just see if they can sustain it beyond their current team before we go copying them.

We have plenty of football pitches and parks that are green all year round. If kids want to play football there is nothing stopping them.

The_Kew_Tour

Our u17s are into Euro Finals and our u19s beat Italy and Belgium in space of a week.

I have said it before, but the Irish progression seems to stumble between 19-21 yo age group.

Brock Turnpike

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

Will Mclean be given the striker role more often?

Considering Brady and Horgan can do jobs on the wings.

He shouldn't be. He's not suited to the role.

Kingp35

Incredibly poor stuff last night. Our entire game plan consisted of crossing the ball into the box. That's it. Even when it's blatantly obvious that Iceland will win every cross we still keep doing it as we have no plan B. It was same against Wales, cross it in and hope.

O'Dowda was the only player that tried anything different when he had that one driving run through the middle and had a shot that was blocked. Horgan did ok when he came on but it was still the same tactics, beat your man and cross it in.

Friday and last night were two terrible football matches. 1 attempt on target in each of the matches. I'm hoping it's more to do with the fact that Arter and Wes were injured but attacking wise it can't get much worse.

josip

Kingp35 wrote: »

Incredibly poor stuff last night. Our entire game plan consisted of crossing the ball into the box. That's it. Even when it's blatantly obvious that Iceland will win every cross we still keep doing it as we have no plan B. It was same against Wales, cross it in and hope.

O'Dowda was the only player that tried anything different when he had that one driving run through the middle and had a shot that was blocked. Horgan did ok when he came on but it was still the same tactics, beat your man and cross it in.

Friday and last night were two terrible football matches. 1 attempt on target in each of the matches. I'm hoping it's more to do with the fact that Arter and Wes were injured but attacking wise it can't get much worse.

Completely agree with this, but am ok with bringing down the level of the Wales game to a point where we were likely to get a result considering the depleted team we had and our position in the table.

I was at both games and brought my 7 year old son to both for the first time. He was a bit sluggish for school this morning .
It was very hard to drum up any enthusiasm for what was happening during either game and I was embarrassed afterwards because I'd tried to build up the games beforehand.
Fundamentally it's a sport and supposed to be entertaining for the spectators/supporters.
If results are all that are important, then I'll enroll him in a business course somewhere.
Although he plays soccer, he now prefers to go to GAA (hurling) matches where teams usually try to score rather than try to not lose.

Dots1982

Kingp35 wrote: »

Incredibly poor stuff last night. Our entire game plan consisted of crossing the ball into the box. That's it. Even when it's blatantly obvious that Iceland will win every cross we still keep doing it as we have no plan B. It was same against Wales, cross it in and hope.

O'Dowda was the only player that tried anything different when he had that one driving run through the middle and had a shot that was blocked. Horgan did ok when he came on but it was still the same tactics, beat your man and cross it in.

Friday and last night were two terrible football matches. 1 attempt on target in each of the matches. I'm hoping it's more to do with the fact that Arter and Wes were injured but attacking wise it can't get much worse.

I'm sorry like but what team have you been watching over the past 3 years?
Our attacking plan for the duration of that time has been crosses from Brady, & McClean with Coleman hitting the byeline and flashing balls across the box. Weso adds a little bit of variety by producing a nice through ball once or twice a game but in the games we've played, the goals we've scored have largely came from crosses.

Our Midfield, no matter who is in it, is there to pressure and force their opposite numbers into mistakes. Our midfield does not produce possession football or creative play. Never has done. So you can follow a dream that the same personnel suddenly will become Xavi Alonso or you can comment on reality.

Thought last night was a useful exercise. We capped 4 players and most of the players who played have under 10 caps who have added to their experience and comfort in the system. It told us Mcgeady is an option off the bench but hasn't really changed in terms of final ball. That the lad who started on the wing who is already 29 (name escapes me) isn't much of an option. That Kevin Doyle is finished, if we needed to know.

It shows O'kane and O'dowda aren't far off Hendrick's level and could challenge for a spot the next time our midfield is picked.

The_Kew_Tour

My real concern is the lack of chances we are creating. At home against two good, but nothing more, teams and its not good enough.

Its amazing how Nothern Ireland and Iceland can play decent football when needed, but yet we still look like we have never played short passes to our men at times.

Bandage

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

My real concern is the lack of chances we are creating. At home against two good, but nothing more, teams and its not good enough.

Its amazing how Nothern Ireland and Iceland can play decent football when needed, but yet we still look like we have never played short passes to our men at times.

Northern Ireland and Iceland both play fairly rigid systems and place a huge reliance on set pieces. Ireland have produced decent football on several occasions in the last 18 months and have equally been involved in fairly dour matches. I wouldn't say the other teams mentioned are notably different in that respect.

The_Kew_Tour

Bandage wrote: »

Northern Ireland and Iceland both play fairly rigid systems and place a huge reliance on set pieces. Ireland have produced decent football on several occasions in the last 18 months and have equally been involved in fairly dour matches. I wouldn't say the other teams mentioned are notably different in that respect.

They do, but Iceland in particular still seem be able to score goals more easier then we do.

We have our limits but not been able to string 3 or 4 passes together without losing it is not good enough with the players we had. Our Midfield 3 that played on Friday are all in the PL.

And some Iceland players play for only average lower league clubs.

ricero

Was at the game last night and left shortly after the 70 minute. Utter utter tripe. Will this country ever try play football by keeping the ball on the deck. Iceland looked light years ahead of us in the way they were passing it around. Nothing against o neill he has done well so far but its not a pretty watch

Dots1982

I simply do not see how so many posters can argue that Iceland played good football last night. They defended very well and took their only chance when it came thanks to Hendrick being bad in the wall. Nothing wrong with how Iceland played but don't get the negativity on Ireland.

Anyways it will all be forgotten if we qualify for Russia.

Laois_Man

Speaking of Hendrick - he's the one disappointing me the most. After a very decent Euro's, what's happened to him since his move to Burnley? He needs to be left out against Austria if possible