Ireland v Georgia Euro Qualifier RTE 2 and SS2 7:45pm

TheCitizen

billymitchell wrote: »

Does having the ball in our court suit us? Usually its the kind of thing that goes against us. Poland really the make or break for us.

Also, if we do qualify, what are the chances we do better than last time? I honestly think we are a worse team now than we were back then. Would another humiliating xampaign set us back further?

Do ya not think you could make a better effort at being more negative there???

Billy86

obezyana wrote: »

I think the Trap mentality is still ingrained in the players minds so MON or any other manager would face difficulty with this group.

Nothing to do with this being a similar style of play to almost every other team MON has ever managed then? :pac:

Kermit.de.frog

Hendrick done so well here. It's a pity we don't see this endeavor more often because we all know deep down MON does not favor this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMbRt3KeOwk

Iused2likebusts

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

An embarrassing sequence of posts here after Whelan, our best player on the night, was booked to miss the next game. He and McClean will be big losses for that tie.

I was annoyed at half time, very annoyed, but in fairness we did up the intensity in the second half and fully deserved the three points in the end. Yet again, we take 12 of 12 points against the bottom two seeds. You can underestimate that all you like as something we "should" be doing, but Scotland have been unable to do it and it might be the difference.

We should all get behind the team for the Germany game. It is in our hands and, who knows, it's sport - anything can happen.

Whelan had a very good game tonight. He is always solid for Ireland. There are 5 players in front of him whose job it is to be creative.

The_Kew_Tour

Delighted.

Result is all that matters tonight. We played well in 2nd half I have to say. We were much more professional and organised and hats off to O Neill there.

I have probably been O Neill biggest critic, but credit where its due. Not getting ahead of myself as still 2 huge games, but I'll take it.

Billy86

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

Our points against Gibraltar don't count so we only have 9 points

WTF? So point earned against Gilbraltar don't count because they are a tiny minnow with barely even any professional players... but points earned against the likes of Malta, San Marino are A-OK because those teams are so much better?

That's a farce if it's the case, but then again the whole 3rd place finish was a bit anyway, since the team who finish 3rd in the smallest group basically cannot win by default. It should be based on points-per-game (e.g. if Albania finish 3rd from 8 games on 12 points that is 1.5 per game, which would be better than any other team finishing on 14 points from 10 games, or 1.4 per game).

Mushy

Billy86 wrote: »

WTF? So point earned against Gilbraltar don't count because they are a tiny minnow with barely even any professional players... but points earned against the likes of Malta, San Marino are A-OK because those teams are so much better?

That's a farce if it's the case, but then again the whole 3rd place finish was a bit anyway, since the team who finish 3rd in the smallest group basically cannot win by default. It should be based on points-per-game (e.g. if Albania finish 3rd from 8 games on 12 points that is 1.5 per game, which would be better than any other team finishing on 14 points from 10 games, or 1.4 per game).

Points don't count in relation to any bottom seeded team in a 6-team group, and only for determining who qualifies automatically out of third placed teams.

Nalz

Iused2likebusts wrote: »

Whelan had a very good game tonight. He is always solid for Ireland. There are 5 players in front of him whose job it is to be creative.

He was great tonight but he's not always solid for us.

KungPao

First half was as bad it gets, and some play was awful in the second...must have just kicked it out of play 4 times in 5 minutes. Well done Hendrick though, great stuff...that movement and confidence is exactly what we lack.

No point parking the bus against Germany to steal a point...you just know Tommy Muller will still get one. May as well have a go.

obezyana

Billy86 wrote: »

Nothing to do with this being a similar style of play to almost every other team MON has ever managed then? :pac:

MON is not as defensive minded as Trap. I think he will go at the end of this campaign if we don't qualify he will stay on until after the Euros if we do. We must ask, who else is out there that has the qualities to take this team forward.......Nobody is my thought.

If we got in somebody who had us playing high tempo football which led to us being beaten soundly and finishing lower down the groups people would still complain. We have average players that are no better than 3rd place in most groupings and maybe 2nd in others, those are the very spots that are still available to us in our final two games so I don't see why people are so negative all of the time.

A top quality manager will get the best out of average players but we wont ever get hold of a top quality manager so we will be stuck in this cycle until we get a better youth system in place which will produce better players and then we will be a better proposition for better managers.

For now lets just get behind the team and manager and pray to whoever that we get 2nd place.

JP Liz V1

Good 2nd half display by Ireland, delighted with the win

Wilberto

obezyana wrote: »

For now lets just get behind the team and manager and pray to whoever that we get 2nd place.

Let's not get too greedy!! All we need to do (:pac:) is match Scotland's result against Poland and we have 3rd.

Billy86

obezyana wrote: »

MON is not as defensive minded as Trap. I think he will go at the end of this campaign if we don't qualify he will stay on until after the Euros if we do. We must ask, who else is out there that has the qualities to take this team forward.......Nobody is my thought.

If we got in somebody who had us playing high tempo football which led to us being beaten soundly and finishing lower down the groups people would still complain. We have average players that are no better than 3rd place in most groupings and maybe 2nd in others, those are the very spots that are still available to us in our final two games so I don't see why people are so negative all of the time.

A top quality manager will get the best out of average players but we wont ever get hold of a top quality manager so we will be stuck in this cycle until we get a better youth system in place which will produce better players and then we will be a better proposition for better managers.

For now lets just get behind the team and manager and pray to whoever that we get 2nd place.

I generally agree with a lot of what you are saying, but my point is that we were never going to play any different style of football to this under MON, maybe at most we could pray for a little more invention on the wings but that would be about it. It's just funny because I remember people moaning endlessly after the first Georgia game that it was a disgrace we only won by a single goal (they're quite tricky at home, Georgia) and weren't playing inventive, technical stuff throughout. Of course, this led into an argument about how easily superior our players were to the Scots and Poles if I recall - so hopefully in that sense, this campaign has been a wake up call for some fans: our team isn't as talented as we like to think.

MON will get better results than most given I reckon, although ideally I would like to see a complete overhaul plan from the FAI, similar to what Germany (or for a better example, Belgium) did ages ago and are now getting the rewards for. I would like to have a thoroughly vetted coach who we felt would do the best job at implementing this, and ensuring it was implemented at younger age groups as well - whether that guy was the most famous manager in the world, or currently slogging away at a semi-professional team would be very much secondary.

That would take work though, and work is tough. And it would take money, and who wants to spend what you could just throw into your own pocket? Hence the reason why when MON goes, we will likely get an out-of-favour, long-out-of-work, or over-the-hill manager from the lower end of the Premiership, upon which fans will rejoice because of how much better we will be now that a manager can work with "all the talent" we have to offer.

Sad state of affairs, but it is what it is.

noodler

We should be going all guns blazing for the four points which would probably get us second.

A play off does not inspire confidence.

briany

Assuming Ireland lose to Germany, what are we hoping happens in the Scotland/Poland game? At this stage, no matter what happens, Ireland will be in it until the final game. A Scottish result would allow Ireland to possibly catch Poland, but Scotland losing would guarantee 3rd to Ireland, so a bird in the hand or two in the bush? I think, given the Irish performances we've witnessed thus far, having 3rd sown up would be the best scenario. I would have little confidence of Ireland pulling off a big result in Poland.

Wilberto

briany wrote: »

Assuming Ireland lose to Germany, what are we hoping happens in the Scotland/Poland game? At this stage, no matter what happens, Ireland will be in it until the final game. A Scottish result would allow Ireland to possibly catch Poland, but Scotland losing would guarantee 3rd to Ireland, so a bird in the hand or two in the bush? I think, given the Irish performances we've witnessed thus far, having 3rd sown up would be the best scenario. I would have little confidence of Ireland pulling off a big result in Poland.

We need to match Scotland's result in the next round of fixtures to guarantee third.

KungPao

Billy86 wrote: »

I generally agree with a lot of what you are saying, but my point is that we were never going to play any different style of football to this under MON, maybe at most we could pray for a little more invention on the wings but that would be about it. It's just funny because I remember people moaning endlessly after the first Georgia game that it was a disgrace we only won by a single goal (they're quite tricky at home, Georgia) and weren't playing inventive, technical stuff throughout. Of course, this led into an argument about how easily superior our players were to the Scots and Poles if I recall - so hopefully in that sense, this campaign has been a wake up call for some fans: our team isn't as talented as we like to think.

MON will get better results than most given I reckon, although ideally I would like to see a complete overhaul plan from the FAI, similar to what Germany (or for a better example, Belgium) did ages ago and are now getting the rewards for. I would like to have a thoroughly vetted coach who we felt would do the best job at implementing this, and ensuring it was implemented at younger age groups as well - whether that guy was the most famous manager in the world, or currently slogging away at a semi-professional team would be very much secondary.

That would take work though, and work is tough. And it would take money, and who wants to spend what you could just throw into your own pocket? Hence the reason why when MON goes, we will likely get an out-of-favour, long-out-of-work, or over-the-hill manager from the lower end of the Premiership, upon which fans will rejoice because of how much better we will be now that a manager can work with "all the talent" we have to offer.

Sad state of affairs, but it is what it is.

So...another Martin O'Neill?

Benimar

Wilberto wrote: »

We need to match Scotland's result in the next round of fixtures to guarantee third.

...which means if Scotland lose we are guaranteed 3rd. I'd take that and take our chances over 2 legs in a playoff over having to win in Poland.

the whole year inn

Billy86 wrote: »

I generally agree with a lot of what you are saying, but my point is that we were never going to play any different style of football to this under MON, maybe at most we could pray for a little more invention on the wings but that would be about it. It's just funny because I remember people moaning endlessly after the first Georgia game that it was a disgrace we only won by a single goal (they're quite tricky at home, Georgia) and weren't playing inventive, technical stuff throughout. Of course, this led into an argument about how easily superior our players were to the Scots and Poles if I recall - so hopefully in that sense, this campaign has been a wake up call for some fans: our team isn't as talented as we like to think.

MON will get better results than most given I reckon, although ideally I would like to see a complete overhaul plan from the FAI, similar to what Germany (or for a better example, Belgium) did ages ago and are now getting the rewards for. I would like to have a thoroughly vetted coach who we felt would do the best job at implementing this, and ensuring it was implemented at younger age groups as well - whether that guy was the most famous manager in the world, or currently slogging away at a semi-professional team would be very much secondary.

That would take work though, and work is tough. And it would take money, and who wants to spend what you could just throw into your own pocket? Hence the reason why when MON goes, we will likely get an out-of-favour, long-out-of-work, or over-the-hill manager from the lower end of the Premiership, upon which fans will rejoice because of how much better we will be now that a manager can work with "all the talent" we have to offer.

Sad state of affairs, but it is what it is.

Yea your dead right, people want Spain German style football,and this will never happen,as you said we are a 3rd place team right now but we could have lost that game tonight and we wouldnt have much chance getting to the euros.There is no fun in that,id rather support my team at the Euros with a smile on my face then being miserable how Whelan didnt get a screamer.


Basically as long as we get there!!

By the way your 100% on the youth development but I wont be holding my breath for anything like that happening anytime soon!

cson

Fairly disgraceful attendance there tonight; 27,100 officially I think. It's not as if you were priced out of it either; to get in the door would have set you back €25, they'd student tickets for €15 even.

We're the best fair weather bandwagon fans going; you can guarantee the session moths will be back in force should we scrape a play-off game.

obezyana

Billy86 wrote: »

I remember people moaning

MON will get better results than most

overhaul plan from the FAI

we will likely get an out-of-favour, long-out-of-work, or over-the-hill manager from the lower end of the Premiership, upon which fans will rejoice because of how much better we will be now that a manager can work with "all the talent" we have to offer.

People are always going to moan irrespective of what is going on, so many experts on this thread is a prime example.

MON does not have a bad record. I think it is Won 7 Lost 4 Drew 7. I maybe wrong on this.

Overhaul plan from FAI....it will never happen they cant do forward thinking.

I agree I think our next manager is going to be poor maybe even another Stevie the Gaffer Staunton and the some will love it first until they realise we are still playing average football for an average team and that Trap and MON weren't as bad as they thought.

Wilberto

noodler wrote: »

We should be going all guns blazing for the four points which would probably get us second.

A play off does not inspire confidence.

Which of the two scenarios do you see happening that will get us four points?
A draw against Germany, and then go and beat Poland away? Or beat the World Champions at home, and then draw in Poland?

Personally, I think both of these scenarios are borderline daydreaming! :pac:

I can see the draws being slightly possible, but not the victories. I'm more than willing to be proven wrong though!

Panthro

The country will need a month off if we actually get second spot!

obezyana

Wilberto wrote: »

Which of the two scenarios do you see happening that will get us four points?
A draw against Germany, and then go and beat Poland away? Or beat the World Champions at home, and then draw in Poland?

Personally, I think both of these scenarios are borderline daydreaming! :pac:

I can see the draws being slightly possible, but not the victories. I'm more than willing to be proven wrong though!

A draw with the Germans and a win in Poland......Yes im dreaming.....but seriously tho that would be ideal.

noodler

Wilberto wrote: »

Which of the two scenarios do you see happening that will get us four points?
A draw against Germany, and then go and beat Poland away? Or beat the World Champions at home, and then draw in Poland?

Personally, I think both of these scenarios are borderline daydreaming! :pac:

I can see the draws being slightly possible, but not the victories. I'm more than willing to be proven wrong though!

I don't see your point.

Don't try and hope we scrape the play offs?

I don't see us holding our nerve against turkey, or the Dutch, or. Denmark, etc etc. In a play off.

Winning in Poland will give us a great shot of automatic qualification and we should be trying for it.

Nalz

cson wrote: »

Fairly disgraceful attendance there tonight; 27,100 officially I think. It's not as if you were priced out of it either; to get in the door would have set you back €25, they'd student tickets for €15 even.

We're the best fair weather bandwagon fans going; you can guarantee the session moths will be back in force should we scrape a play-off game.

It was a Monday night let's be fair. Take that into the equation. Plus would you want to go out to watch them after the Gibraltar game? It never stops at 25 euro either when you take the transport and boozing into account... Plus electric picnic was on.

Pudsy33

cson wrote: »

Fairly disgraceful attendance there tonight; 27,100 officially I think. It's not as if you were priced out of it either; to get in the door would have set you back €25, they'd student tickets for €15 even.

We're the best fair weather bandwagon fans going; you can guarantee the session moths will be back in force should we scrape a play-off game.

15 euro tickets were long gone and the 25 ones were mostly sold. I agree though, I was there and was shocked by the attendance.

Idbatterim

wouldnt be too surprised with us getting a draw against germany, i would puts odds of 50/50 or thereabouts on us getting win or draw. Pity about losing McLean and whelan. Germany were a stronger team when we played them in the last campaign. This is coming from someone with a german dad, hence I am a german supporter and I put E500 on germany to win world cup!

Can we beat germany, yes 100%, will we, well that a totally different question. We beat ourselves psychologically...

noodler

After the season ticket that ended with the Scotland game I cant blameblame ppl too. much.

It's been so poor since mon took over. Football as ugly as under trap but with weaker results.

There's always a hardcore but you generally need either results or quality to attract the remainder.

obezyana

noodler wrote: »

After the season ticket that ended with the Scotland game I cant blameblame ppl too. much.

It's been so poor since mon took over. Football as ugly as under trap but with weaker results.

There's always a hardcore but you generally need either results or quality to attract the remainder.

It has been that way for a long time so it is unfair to stick the blame on MON. It was going downhill even before Trap.

ben.schlomo

cson wrote: »

Fairly disgraceful attendance there tonight; 27,100 officially I think. It's not as if you were priced out of it either; to get in the door would have set you back €25, they'd student tickets for €15 even.

We're the best fair weather bandwagon fans going; you can guarantee the session moths will be back in force should we scrape a play-off game.

Hard to blame people given how poor the fare on offer is in most of our games, its no surprise that people will turn up to see the likes of Germany as they are a pleasure to watch, Georgia, Gibraltar less so.

Idbatterim

a monday night is probably the worst night of the week you could get for attendances...

KingdomYid

cson wrote: »

Fairly disgraceful attendance there tonight; 27,100 officially I think. It's not as if you were priced out of it either; to get in the door would have set you back €25, they'd student tickets for €15 even.

We're the best fair weather bandwagon fans going; you can guarantee the session moths will be back in force should we scrape a play-off game.

Were you there yourself? genuine question. I had a season ticket up until the Scotland game but travelling to games during the week means taking a day off for me and doing the 7 hour round trip is also not easy. The weekend games are far better for me.

Wilberto

noodler wrote: »

I don't see your point.

Don't try and hope we scrape the play offs?

I don't see us holding our nerve against turkey, or the Dutch, or. Denmark, etc etc. In a play off.

Winning in Poland will give us a great shot of automatic qualification and we should be trying for it.

Where did I say that they shouldn't try? That's a fair ridiculous comment tbh. As far as I'm concerned every team should go out with the intention to win a football match. What's the point otherwise?

I'm talking about managing your expectations. We just struggled to beat a tired Georgia at home, yet your planning on us getting four points against Germany and Poland? I reckon you're setting yourself up for a disappointment to be honest. Don't get me wrong though, I'd love for you to be right.

Before Scotland's game in Tiblisi, if you offered us third place we'd have taken your arm off. So let's just secure that first and foremost.

Billy86

KungPao wrote: »

So...another Martin O'Neill?

More likely a downgraded version of MON, though as I was alluding to MON is quite over the hill himself, as was Trapp before him. Saves the FAI having to really do much of anything about changing the game because these old lads still know enough to keep us somewhat competitive, while the shiny (albeit dusty) name gets a maddening number of fans thinking we'll be moonwalking into the next WC/Euros with [whoever] in charge.

Backstreet Moyes

Clark really has massively improved the past year. I really hope Lecscott signing for Villa doesn't mean he loses his place.

cson

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Hard to blame people given how poor the fare on offer is in most of our games, its no surprise that people will turn up to see the likes of Germany as they are a pleasure to watch, Georgia, Gibraltar less so.

You should support your country regardless imo.

KingdomYid wrote: »

Were you there yourself? genuine question. I had a season ticket up until the Scotland game but travelling to games during the week means taking a day off for me and doing the 7 hour round trip is also not easy. The weekend games are far better for me.

Yeah I was there, I appreciate Monday nights are difficult for people from any of the west coast counties but its frustrating to see the place half empty.

KingdomYid

cson wrote: »

You should support your country regardless imo.




Yeah I was there, I appreciate Monday nights are difficult for people from any of the west coast counties but its frustrating to see the place half empty.

Yeah can see where you are coming from, if I lived closer would have been there for sure and would have renewed my season ticket regardless of the opposition or quality of football.

Wilberto

cson wrote: »

You should support your country regardless imo.

Yeah I was there, I appreciate Monday nights are difficult for people from any of the west coast counties but its frustrating to see the place half empty.

There are over 1 million people in Dublin City and County. Your comments should be aimed at them!! :pac:

Nalz

cson wrote: »

Yeah I was there, I appreciate Monday nights are difficult for people from any of the west coast counties but its frustrating to see the place half empty.

But not Midlands and South counties...people with jobs and kids etc. Would ya ever cop on.

Backstreet Moyes

Is McCarthy being told me to be more defensive for Ireland because he shows much more on the ball for Everton.

I can't have the he doesn't put in the full effort for Ireland. He put everything into tonight.

Corholio

Nuts102 wrote: »

Clark really has massively improved the past year. I really hope Lecscott signing for Villa doesn't mean he loses his place.

I've always liked Clark and defended him when he was having a poor time. he had a great season last year despite Villa's plight, but he hasn't started this season well, made poor mistakes against Palace and Sunderland. His next game for Villa will be very important, if he doesn't have a good game, I would say Lescott will be in.

KungPao

cson wrote: »

You should support your country regardless imo.




Yeah I was there, I appreciate Monday nights are difficult for people from any of the west coast counties but its frustrating to see the place half empty.

In fairness our population is fairly small, and obviously the crowds will swell during the good times...especially when a big important game is on with a big team...and suffer during dreary campaigns.

Many people would have planned to see (or not see) this before the surprising Scotland loss in Georgia too, so that must be taken into account. It looked like a lost cause before that.

+ the big GAA stuff, EP festival over the weekend...

newballsplease

cson wrote: »

Fairly disgraceful attendance there tonight; 27,100 officially I think. It's not as if you were priced out of it either; to get in the door would have set you back €25, they'd student tickets for €15 even.

We're the best fair weather bandwagon fans going; you can guarantee the session moths will be back in force should we scrape a play-off game.

If you live in dublin

Billy86

I live in Toronto so it would be much quicker and much cheaper for all of you to go than me. I don't care where in the country you are living, you're all fairweather bollix's for not being there tonight! :mad:

As for anyone potentially reading this from Australia, I am sorry for being such a fairweather bollix!

tastyt

The attendance was terrible whatever way you look at it. Yes it was Monday night and a lot of people have genuine reasons not to be there.

With 3 games to go of a qualifying campaign and with Ireland still right in the mix it's not a good sign that we could only half full the stadium. I was there and it was a very strange atmosphere.

It's hard to argue though when you see the quality that was served up. Tonight certainly won't entice any fairweather fans. Great to get the 3 points but goalkeeper is an issue. O Shea and Whelan very good tonight and fair play to walters, got himself in the danger area and never stops working.

PTH2009

Do they actually show the match on the big screens in the aviva when it's on. ??

A_Sober_Paddy

Its pretty strange that a LOI game is better to watch than an Irish international.

Been highly entertained at the last 4 LOI games I've been to seen. And the football is generally more positive...

But tonight, we looked grand, way too negative at times, but at least we were a tad more positive in tge second half, until we scored and then it was 4-5-1 retreat to the edge of the box and defend...fairly desperate stuff, we don't have a great pool of players, but we have a pool that is better than that no?

Omackeral

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

Its pretty strange that a LOI game is better to watch than an Irish international.

Been highly entertained at the last 4 LOI games I've been to seen. And the football is generally more positive...

Better atmosphere at LOI games in my experiences too. Anyone (within 45mins or so travel) who blames GAA or EP as their reason for not being there is copping out. Just say you didn't wanna go!

Also, it's Hendrick, not Hendricks! Smashing goal that he helped create. If a more prestigious player had have done that in a different setting, it'd be talked up as a thing of genius and beauty. We've gotten out of jail with the Georgia v Scotland result, need to make that count.

The_Kew_Tour

I have to say while we went 4-5-1 we were very organised and never looked like conceding. The team have to be applauded for that. Yes they were down to 10 men but still, it was no Austria.