Republic of Ireland Team Talk/News/Rumours 2017

wonga77

No reason we shouldn't be going all out to beat Serbia and take control of things. I know a huge improvement is needed but we're at home and surely can't play any worse. It's not like we're going out to face Brazil or anything. Austria should beat Georgia the next night so they will be back within touching distance too.
Watching Martin O Neills interviews are cringe worthy altogether. At least Mcclean was honest about things

polarbearhead

We set up to play for a draw tonight which beggars belief . We will do the same on Tuesday. Probably concede and mount a spirited fight back in the last 25 minutes to draw 1-1.

Corholio

The Talking Bread wrote: »

Well McClean was part of the Northern Ireland youth and then Under 21s when he was at Derry (and when he first started at Sunderland) so you can't bring him into that argument. The moment there was any hint that he may be interested in Ireland, Trap got onto him and a few months later he was in a squad heading to the Euros.

He had rejected Northern Ireland before Trap came calling to be fair to him. I fully believe him, being from Creggan, that he never had much interest in playing for NI.

clsmooth

polarbearhead wrote: »

We set up to play for a draw tonight which beggars belief . We will do the same on Tuesday. Probably concede and mount a spirited fight back in the last 25 minutes to draw 1-1.

This is what I see happening, we don't lose many games. We just don't win that many

Dempsey

The fundamental problem is that players are shirking responsibility and not looking for the ball under pressure. There is certain scenarios where this happens more like getting an early lead in an away match. Its horrific to watch and there is no leaders on the field to call out the lads that are acting like junior b players. It doesnt take UEFA coaching badges to see that the management are clueless when they continually defend the problem

Cake Man

Awful, awful night for us. Horrendous performance and Wales now right back in the mix with momentum on their side. They'll pick up another 3pts against Moldova on Tuesday and we'll likely find ourselves behind them after the next game. We'll have to hope Georgia do us a favour when Wales go there next month as it's starting to look like that last game of Wales v Ireland will determine who'll get a runner up spot.

Really can't see us beating Serbia on Tuesday, based on tonight we'll be doing well not to lose to them. They'll know well a win will effectively win them the group but I think they'll come happy with a draw. Don't think they will have any issues getting it as we offer nothing going forward so I don't see them having any trouble absorbing the little pressure we will apply.

pjohnson

marno21 wrote: »

Would like to see whoever replaces MON be a manager with LOI experience or at least someone who respects the league. Maguire, Horgan, and before McClean etc can be world beaters in Ireland and no call up and yet they fly over and they're national team material all of a sudden.

That's aside from the fact of sitting back against Georgia today of all teams. That's really pathetic stuff. Top of the group with 4 games to go and manage a draw with Georgia. Deary me.

Richie Towell be our national saviour aswell then?

prettyboy81

Still wide open Group with a lot of possible outcomes. Only positive is we have 2 home games on the bounce before Cardiff.

We have to go all out to beat Serbia & we go into pole position in the group with remaining fixtures. If we don't win then we rely on other teams.

ionadnapokot

prettyboy81 wrote: »

Still wide open Group with a lot of possible outcomes. Only positive is we have 2 home games on the bounce before Cardiff.

We have to go all out to beat Serbia & we go into pole position in the group with remaining fixtures. If we don't win then we rely on other teams.

There is always hope!
After an abysmal performance comes the reaction.
Evidence suggests the following:
MON changes up the team, with a view to "going at them"
(that translates into No G.Whealan)
1 it'll be all guns blazin from the off
2 Serbia will look "rattled"
3 After "relentless pressure" Ireland score (prob from set-piece)
4 Ireland "drop back"
5 Serbia "dominate possession"
6 Serbia score
7 Ireland stuck in 1st gear
8 Serbia score
9 Hoolahan comes off the bench
10 Ireland start to pass the ball
11 Serbia "drop back"
12 Ireland score
Peep

Oct 17:
Ireland beat Moldova 2v0
Results go our way
Ireland "only need to draw" with Wales to secure playoff
Glenn Whealan starts in Cardiff
Repeat sequence of events 5-12 from above

It's the hope that kills us lads

Rekop dog

MON is a complete victim of his own success. We are where we are in this group i.e ahead of two better teams than us because of his shrewd tactics. We didn't execute his plans very well yesterday, but it's not easy when likes of Walters and Long both aren't starting at club level, we had a look of a side lacking in match fitness to carry out his tactics. Also conceded a goal done the middle which is very unlike us and missed a good few handy chances to win the game.

But still with 3 games to go our very weak squad is still there punching in 2nd position all down to management. I'll be cheering us on loudly in Aviva on Tuesday anyway, hoping we can slay Goliath once again.

TheCitizen

Rekop dog wrote: »

MON is a complete victim of his own success. We are where we are in this group i.e ahead of two better teams than us because of his shrewd tactics. We didn't execute his plans very well yesterday, but it's not easy when likes of Walters and Long both aren't starting at club level, we had a look of a side lacking in match fitness to carry out his tactics. Also conceded a goal done the middle which is very unlike us and missed a good few handy chances to win the game.

But still with 3 games to go our very weak squad is still there punching in 2nd position all down to management. I'll be cheering us on loudly in Aviva on Tuesday anyway, hoping we can slay Goliath once again.

We will see a reaction on Tuesday night and hopefully a win, but Serbia are hardly goliath. Also I watched Wales last night they're no goliath either and were lucky enough to get the three points.

fyfe79

Rekop dog wrote: »

MON is a complete victim of his own success. We are where we are in this group i.e ahead of two better teams than us because of his shrewd tactics. We didn't execute his plans very well yesterday, but it's not easy when likes of Walters and Long both aren't starting at club level, we had a look of a side lacking in match fitness to carry out his tactics. Also conceded a goal done the middle which is very unlike us and missed a good few handy chances to win the game.

But still with 3 games to go our very weak squad is still there punching in 2nd position all down to management. I'll be cheering us on loudly in Aviva on Tuesday anyway, hoping we can slay Goliath once again.

Don't agree with this at all. All 4 teams are similar. There are no top teams in our group. Serbia? The same Goliath who finished 4th behind Portugal, Albania and Denmark in their last qualifying campaign? This sort of inferiority complex is why MON, and Trap before him, get away with awful gack like we witnessed last night.

noodler

Rekop dog wrote: »

MON is a complete victim of his own success. We are where we are in this group i.e ahead of two better teams than us because of his shrewd tactics. We didn't execute his plans very well yesterday, but it's not easy when likes of Walters and Long both aren't starting at club level, we had a look of a side lacking in match fitness to carry out his tactics. Also conceded a goal done the middle which is very unlike us and missed a good few handy chances to win the game.

But still with 3 games to go our very weak squad is still there punching in 2nd position all down to management. I'll be cheering us on loudly in Aviva on Tuesday anyway, hoping we can slay Goliath once again.

We've been very fortunate tbh.

The constant sitting back against Serbia, wales and Georgia is hard to portray as tactics.

Austria away he got it spot on with the midfield mix. We didn't just hold on, we played our way out of trouble from the back in the last 20.

Rekop dog

TheCitizen wrote: »

We will see a reaction on Tuesday night and hopefully a win, but Serbia are hardly goliath. Also I watched Wales last night they're no goliath either and were lucky enough to get the three points.

The Goliath comment was half tongue in cheek but we don't get a player in the Serbia XI starting line up, so it's probably not far from true.

For me that was MON's first bad result as a manager in a competitive fixtures, and the hoards of people there to jump down his throat and lose faith in what he's being doing right with a poor squad for a decent spell of time now is a bit pathetic.

fyfe79

Rekop dog wrote: »

The Goliath comment was half tongue in cheek but we don't get a player in the Serbia XI starting line up, so it's probably not far from true.

The only Serbian who'd walk onto the Irish team is Matic. The rest are much of a muchness and could interchange with the Irish team. Their most well-known names are past it (Kolarov, Ivanovic etc).

Rekop dog

Also anyone saying there's not much between us Serbia and Wales in squad quality based on results is just giving MON a huge compliment without them realising. Because there's a huge disparity in quality between our squad and there's but yet we've been mixing with the likes of those teams since he took the job.

Rekop dog

fyfe79 wrote: »

The only Serbian who'd walk onto the Irish team is Matic. The rest are much of a muchness and could interchange with the Irish team. Their most well-known names are past it (Kolarov, Ivanovic etc).

Lol watch more football imo.

fyfe79

Rekop dog wrote: »

Lol watch more football imo.

I've seen Serbia enough to know they're tidy players on the ball who pass and move. Are they world beaters? No. And that's kind of my point - they're decent players who have the freedom to play football.

IMO, Ireland have decent players too but they're not allowed to play football. I blame MON for that.

irishman86

Rekop dog wrote: »

Lol watch more football imo.

I know right
Matija Nastasić & Nikola Maksimović or Clark & Duffy :pac:
Thats pretty much the recurring theme through the team besides maybe goalie where Westwood/Randolph are up against one of the upcoming goalies in football so maybe as of this moment are better

TheCitizen

Rekop dog wrote: »

The Goliath comment was half tongue in cheek but we don't get a player in the Serbia XI starting line up, so it's probably not far from true.

For me that was MON's first bad result as a manager in a competitive fixtures, and the hoards of people there to jump down his throat and lose faith in what he's being doing right with a poor squad for a decent spell of time now is a bit pathetic.

As Ireland manager MON has traded heavily on the big spectacular result against a stronger team on paper, like the win over Germany, the win v Italy, the draw away to Germany, the performance v France. He can get away with poor performance and result like last night so long as he pulls off another 'spectacular' v Serbia on Tuesday and wins the game.

However if he doesn't get his spectacular performance and win on Tuesday, yesterday becomes unacceptable.

He'll know that and his players will know it and they'll be looking to ram the criticism and moaning down the throats of the RTE panel and any other critics. I'll be delighted for him and his team if they can do that again.

fyfe79

irishman86 wrote: »

I know right
Matija Nastasić & Nikola Maksimović or Clark & Duffy :pac:
Thats pretty much the recurring theme through the team besides maybe goalie where Westwood/Randolph are up against one of the upcoming goalies in football so maybe as of this moment are better

I give you Marksimovic ahead of Duffy, for sure :P

Drumpot

fyfe79 wrote: »

I've seen Serbia enough to know they're tidy players on the ball who pass and move. Are they world beaters? No. And that's kind of my point - they're decent players who have the freedom to play football.

IMO, Ireland have decent players too but they're not allowed to play football. I blame MON for that.

Who was the last manager to allow Ireland players to play football ? I blame the FAI for choosing certain managers who nearly always think Irelands best chance of winning is with long ball stuff. . Should Irish fans not expect the FAI to discuss the way they want the national team going forward (including style of football)? Its not like long ball football is new to Ireland.

Even the extremely talented squad Charlton had played putrid stuff. What do people think that the Irish team will all of a sudden be able to change its culture from game to game ?

If we really want change we should be looking at Quatar 2022, forgetting about qualifying for anything and getting a manager in with the idea of blooding players and working on our playing style. An Eddie Howe or somebody like him would be good.

Ireland do not have the quality IMO, to expect blooding of players and qualification and decent football. There is so much assumption made about our teams, "If they played possession football, it would be better" . . How do people work this out ?

Is football that predictive that we know that Ireland players would of played better with a more possession based game against Georgia? Is there no chance MON felt the team or squad of players were better served playing defensive for some reason not obvious to those not working with the players ? Of course this is improbable because online Hyperbole, coupled with over reliance on pundits throwing stones makes people absolutely sure they are 100% spot on about what happened and why it happened.

Ireland have qualified or been on the cusp of qualifying for the last 4 tournaments (if we include this one). Given the squad of players I don't think we could ask for much more in terms of qualification. But to progress in a football perspective , we need to decide to focus on long term changes to our strategys, instead of blaming managers. If Dunphy and Co focused more on the state of the game, instead of what the manager is doing with our resources, we might actually see change. But it looks like we are stuck in a loop. Get manager, Manager qualifys but playing awful football. Fans happy to qualify. When team doesn't qualify fans go mad, "why don't we play better football" . . Rinse and repeat . . Nothing changes if the strategy of Irish football doesn't change from the top.

SomethingElse

Here are the two squads with players removed that are not playing in Champions League/Europa League this season:

Serbia:

Vladimir Stojković
Predrag Rajković
Branislav Ivanović
Aleksandar Kolarov
Antonio Rukavina
Ivan Obradović
Nikola Maksimović
Jagoš Vuković
Uroš Spajić
Zoran Tošić
Nemanja Matić
Ljubomir Fejsa
Andrija Pavlović

Ireland:

James McCarthy
Jonny Hayes

Apologies if I've made any errors, blame wikipedia!

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

pjohnson

Drop Long put Walters up top and McGeady right.

Arter offers nothing despite the hype like McCarthy drop him for Meyler.

SomethingElse

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Even Georgia have more players playing at the top level in Europe than us. Our real problem lies at grassroot level. We are not developing players at a sufficient level and are plugging gaps with recruits from the 'granny rule'. Unfortunately, the only players that will declare these days are ones that have little chance of ever making the English team

TheCitizen

Drumpot wrote: »

Who was the last manager to allow Ireland players to play football ? I blame the FAI for choosing certain managers who nearly always think Irelands best chance of winning is with long ball stuff. . Should Irish fans not expect the FAI to discuss the way they want the national team going forward (including style of football)? Its not like long ball football is new to Ireland.

Even the extremely talented squad Charlton had played putrid stuff. What do people think that the Irish team will all of a sudden be able to change its culture from game to game ?

If we really want change we should be looking at Quatar 2022, forgetting about qualifying for anything and getting a manager in with the idea of blooding players and working on our playing style. An Eddie Howe or somebody like him would be good.

Ireland do not have the quality IMO, to expect blooding of players and qualification and decent football. There is so much assumption made about our teams, "If they played possession football, it would be better" . . How do people work this out ?

Is football that predictive that we know that Ireland players would of played better with a more possession based game against Georgia? Is there no chance MON felt the team or squad of players were better served playing defensive for some reason not obvious to those not working with the players ? Of course this is improbable because online Hyperbole, coupled with over reliance on pundits throwing stones makes people absolutely sure they are 100% spot on about what happened and why it happened.

Ireland have qualified or been on the cusp of qualifying for the last 4 tournaments (if we include this one). Given the squad of players I don't think we could ask for much more in terms of qualification. But to progress in a football perspective , we need to decide to focus on long term changes to our strategys, instead of blaming managers. If Dunphy and Co focused more on the state of the game, instead of what the manager is doing with our resources, we might actually see change. But it looks like we are stuck in a loop. Get manager, Manager qualifys but playing awful football. Fans happy to qualify. When team doesn't qualify fans go mad, "why don't we play better football" . . Rinse and repeat . . Nothing changes if the strategy of Irish football doesn't change from the top.

That's all fine but MON is choosing to play unattractive football. It's all are nothing with him. Because his team play unattractive football they have to qualify, he won't get a pass from the pundits or public if he comes up short.

In a funny kind of way his approach is riskier, he has to qualify or he gets slaughtered. Whereas if a manager came in with a more adventurous approach, giving younger players or better ball players a chance, he's more likely to get away with a close run failure to qualify because a manager like that would be deemed to be "going about things the right way" or laying foundations for a future way for Ireland to play football.

O'Neill has to qualify or he's out the door. Also he (and Keane) are expensive and can only justify that expense with qualification.

noodler

Strawman posts suggesting that what people are asking for is total football or barca style possession need to stop.

TheCitizen

noodler wrote: »

Strawman posts suggesting that what people are asking for is total football or barca style possession need to stop.

Who are you referring to?

Bounty Hunter

I don't like Brady at LB nor do I dislike Whelan and yet here are the changes I would make


.....................Randolph

Christie......Duffy.......Clark........Brady

................Meyler......Arter
....................Hoolahan
McGeady.............................McClean
.....................Walters

Long comes on at the 60m mark for either McGeady or Walters
Whelan is ready to be brought on if we need to solidify midfield, hold a lead or Wes's legs go (he's 35)

Guffy

noodler wrote: »

Strawman posts suggesting that what people are asking for is total football or barca style possession need to stop.

I dont think people are realistically asking for tiki taki or total football. There a gulf in distance between playing good direct attacking/counter attacking football and what we saw yesterday afternoon. We had 3 centre mids sitting on top of the centre backs ffs. Id love to know what the actual plan was last night because they seemed devoid of any, and two chances doesn't paper over that.

This nonsense people have of we cant play like barca so we should play like trap or MON lines us out 85% of the time needs to stop. There is a balance there. It starts with selecting form players and players who fit what you want to do. Square pegs round holes and all that.

noodler

TheCitizen wrote: »

Who are you referring to?

There's a fair few of them I won't name names.

Basically anyone who says something like "do people think we can really play like Barcelona?" etc etc as if asking for some measure of improvement in the poor passing and ball retention we have seen this campaign was akin to such a thought.

Guffy

noodler wrote: »

There's a fair few of them I won't name names.

Basically anyone who says something like "do people think we can really play like Barcelona?" etc etc as if asking for some measure of improvement in the poor passing and ball retention we have seen this campaign was akin to such a thought.

Misread initial post but point still stands. Agree with you completely

Paully D

There's still a lot of good feeling around O'Neill from qualifying for the Euros, but it has to be noted that in any other campaign it would not have been good enough for qualification and the only reason we had a shot is because of the expansion of the European Championships. He was extremely lucky in that sense.

Only once in his Ireland reign has O'Neill been really brave. That was against Italy. He made a number of big calls with his selection, really went for it, and we had one of our most famous victories ever. The key factor - he had no choice but to do it. Bottle jobs against Poland at home and Scotland x 2 in qualifying for the Euros, crapping his togs when we took the lead against Sweden, setting up to be beat by as little as possible against Belgium, the Georgia game last night, giving up the lead against Serbia and the bottle jobs against Wales and Austria when we had the chance to grab the group by the throat. That and almost every single time we take a lead or equalise it's the same - retreat into a shell.

I said this in 2013 when he was about to be appointed:

I can predict exactly how it will go.

Very good start as we get a few results we don't expect, not long later teams will find out how to play against him and the players will start retreating further and further in games, looking like a shadow of their former selves until they're barely able to cross the halfway line.

I think that's pretty accurate.

I admittedly was completely against the appointment but I have praised O'Neill when deserved too, but he's the 9th highest paid international manager in the world as of the latest figures being released. With his current deal, it's more likely that he has jumped further up the table than backwards.

It is clear that Georgia would have folded if we had gone at them after the opener. The fans were destroying them and their mentality was extremely fragile.

Not good enough.

Banjaxed82

noodler wrote: »

There's a fair few of them I won't name names.

Basically anyone who says something like "do people think we can really play like Barcelona?" etc etc as if asking for some measure of improvement in the poor passing and ball retention we have seen this campaign was akin to such a thought.

Have to agree. There are posters who seem to think you play hoof ball or Barcelona level Tika taka and there's nothing in between.

Yesterday's game involved zero tactics. It was just a masterclass in hoofing the ball aimlessly up the field.

Richard Hillman

Unless you are completely on level above every team around, "nice football" rarely comes off in tournaments.

I have no problem with us playing dog rough football because that is the type of football that prospers at tournaments, especially for smaller countries.

People get far too bogged down on possession stats and style points. Apart from the most important stat of the scoreline, the best indicators are chances created and territory.

The best way to win a game is to keep the ball in their half and let them pass it about until they mess it up, then strike.

Saying that, Ireland don't even seem to look interested in strike counter-attacks.

TheCitizen

Paully D wrote: »

There's still a lot of good feeling around O'Neill from qualifying for the Euros, but it has to be noted that in any other campaign it would not have been good enough for qualification and the only reason we had a shot is because of the expansion of the European Championships. He was extremely lucky in that sense.

Only once in his Ireland reign has O'Neill been really brave. That was against Italy. He made a number of big calls with his selection, really went for it, and we had one of our most famous victories ever. The key factor - he had no choice but to do it. Bottle jobs against Poland at home and Scotland x 2 in qualifying for the Euros, crapping his togs when we took the lead against Sweden, setting up to be beat by as little as possible against Belgium, the Georgia game last night, giving up the lead against Serbia and the bottle jobs against Wales and Austria when we had the chance to grab the group by the throat. That and almost every single time we take a lead or equalise it's the same - retreat into a shell.

I said this in 2013 when he was about to be appointed:



I think that's pretty accurate.

I admittedly was completely against the appointment but I have praised O'Neill when deserved too, but he's the 9th highest paid international manager in the world as of the latest figures being released. With his current deal, it's more likely that he has jumped further up the table than backwards.

Not good enough.

When I was referring to a clique on here who was against his appointment from the start, you were one of those I was referring to. The Euro 16 qualification and performance in the Finals renders your views on O'Neill null and void. You have an agenda, you always did. I think it's something to do with being a Sunderland fan, like anybody cares about Sunderland. You and the others in the clique will always be waiting in the long grass to attack him just so you can make out you were right all along - you weren't, you were and still are wrong.

Yesterday was poor. He needs to get a spectacular performance and win on Tuesday to wipe out yesterday. If he gets the performance and win he's back on track, if he doesn't his position can become untenable very quickly. No matter what happens from here on the qualification and in particular the general performance at Euro 16 has justified his appointment and proved you to be wrong in your judgement and prediction.

As for this campaign, he and his team can get back on track starting on Tuesday.

pjohnson

Richard Hillman wrote: »

Unless you are completely on level above every team around, "nice football" rarely comes off in tournaments.

I have no problem with us playing dog rough football because that is the type of football that prospers at tournaments, especially for smaller countries.

People get far too bogged down on possession stats and style points. Apart from the most important stat of the scoreline, the best indicators are chances created and territory.

The best way to win a game is to keep the ball in their half and let them pass it about until they mess it up, then strike.

Saying that, Ireland don't even seem to look interested in strike counter-attacks.

Without Hendrick we were missing someone to come through the middle to try and help Long. Walters and McClean will do what they do every match be it Italy or San Marino. It took me about 5 minutes to remember Brady was the midfielder ahead of Arter and Whelan. Hendrick is extremely important for us.

Rekop dog

A good few of our goals have come from hoofed long balls over the top that Long or Walters have got on the end of. It's an agricultural tactic but it is one that has reaped rewards in the past. Most of all its low super risk because you're commiting so little players forward and keeping defensive shape, we conceded very little over the past few campaigns mainly due to this.

With our limited squad I truly believe this is the best way to proceed. Only problem with fans it's only acceptable when we get results, the odd occasion like last night when it goes wrong that sort of style will always come under huge scrutiny.

We've have squads in the past where I've been frustrated by the football tactics we employed because we genuinely had players with technical ability to play attractive football and still get solid results but with this squad an ultra negative approach is definitely the smartest tactic and continue to play the percentages on long ball/set piece goals.

noodler

TheCitizen wrote: »

When I was referring to a clique on here who was against his appointment from the start, you were one of those I was referring to. The Euro 16 qualification and performance in the Finals renders your views on O'Neill null and void. You have an agenda, you always did. I think it's something to do with being a Sunderland fan, like anybody cares about Sunderland. You and the others in the clique will always be waiting in the long grass to attack him just so you can make out you were right all along - you weren't, you were and still are wrong.

Yesterday was poor. He needs to get a spectacular performance and win on Tuesday to wipe out yesterday. If he gets the performance and win he's back on track, if he doesn't his position can become untenable very quickly. No matter what happens from here on the qualification and in particular the general performance at Euro 16 has justified his appointment and proved you to be wrong in your judgement and prediction.

As for this campaign, he and his team can get back on track starting on Tuesday.

For all your accusations of agendas, it could easily be argued that you are, and have been, so pro-MON, possibly because of the Celtic, connection, but nobody is dismissing your opinions or posts as "null and void".

pjohnson

Some of Brady's deliveries are beyond p*ss poor yesterday. Shoving him in Left Back might be the only place for him.

TheCitizen

noodler wrote: »

For all your accusations of agendas, it could easily be argued that you are, and have been, so pro-MON, possibly because of the Celtic, connection, but nobody is dismissing your opinions or posts as "null and void".

I have been critical of last nights performance and result, and he and his team is up against it now on Tuesday. There was and is an agenda against his appointment with a select few on here, that's a fact. That poster I quoted there is most certainly one of them. His performance and results overall to date have justified his appointment and proved the critics and the clique to be wrong.

noodler

pjohnson wrote: »

Some of Brady's deliveries are beyond p*ss poor yesterday. Shoving him in Left Back might be the only place for him.

One game in fairness.

His deliveries and contributions for Ireland have often been decisive.

Versus Bosnia twice, Italy, France and probably more I can't recall.

He even set up an equaliser for Burnley against Spurs last week with outstanding through ball.

I can see the wisdom of having him further up the pitch in a must win game.

pjohnson

noodler wrote: »

One game in fairness.

His deliveries and contributions for Ireland have often been decisive.

Versus Bosnia twice, Italy, France and probably more I can't recall.

He even set up an equaliser for Burnley against Spurs last week with outstanding through ball.

I can see the wisdom of having him further up the pitch in a must win game.

Hes best on the left and I wouldnt drop McClean for him so hes in at LB. Central he isn't as good.

Drumpot

For all the talk of other teams, wales scraped a home win to Austria thanks to a 17 year old.

I think the dynamics of the group and the fact that all teams are closely matched adds a pressure to results, that takes its toll on players.

I also haven't seen a remotely reasonable explanation or much acknowledgement as to why Irish players played so bad last night but were more defencively competent against better teams..

tigger123

Drumpot wrote: »

For all the talk of other teams, wales scraped a home win to Austria thanks to a 17 year old.

I think the dynamics of the group and the fact that all teams are closely matched adds a pressure to results, that takes its toll on players.

I also haven't seen a remotely reasonable explanation or much acknowledgement as to why Irish players played so bad last night but were more defencively competent against better teams..

It was obviously the game plan last night; hang on to the one nil lead and sit back. Hoof it long. It was managements instruction.

Drumpot

tigger123 wrote: »

It was obviously the game plan last night; hang on to the one nil lead and sit back. Hoof it long. It was managements instruction.

I am not disputing that, I am saying the players didn't do the management instructions well and the team played poorly. The team are capable of winning games playing that way and the team have gotten good results with those tactics, I don't see why they couldn't perform well agaisnt weaker opposition.

Banjaxed82

Drumpot wrote: »

I am not disputing that, I am saying the players didn't do the management instructions well and the team played poorly. The team are capable of winning games playing that way and the team have gotten good results with those tactics, I don't see why they couldn't perform well agaisnt weaker opposition.

Maybe there were no instructions or tactics. Certainly looked that way.

pjohnson

Would those who despise O'Neill be happy if we could get LVG?

Banjaxed82

pjohnson wrote: »

Would those who despise O'Neill be happy if we could get LVG?

Why would Ireland want LVG?