France vs Ireland, International Friendly, Live on RTE 2 (k.o. 8pm)

Mr.Nice Guy

Football action this evening from Paris as World Cup-bound Les Bleus take on the not so World Cup-bound Green (with envy) Brigade.

Who will come out on top in this clash?

France

Team news:

France XI: Mandanda; Sidibe, Rami, Umtiti, Mendy; Tolisso, N'Zonzi, Matuidi; Mbappe, Giroud, Fekir.

Ireland XI: Doyle; Coleman, Long, Duffy, Williams; O'Dowda, Browne, Rice, McClean; Walters, Long.

Don't see us going 4-4-2 in this so reckon it's 4-5-1 with Long up top on his own. Blackburn's Derrick Williams makes his debut at LB.

Hope we can be somewhat competitive but plenty of France's players will be staking a claim for a World Cup spot and they have a formidable attack and midfield. Their weaks spots I'd say come from Mandanda who has had errors the last weeks of the season, and Rami, who imo is not on the level of the other players in this side and pretty fortunate to be going to the World Cup.

Just hope we don't finish on the end of a thrashing.

Mr.Nice Guy

RTE saying the kick-off has been delayed until 8 minutes past 8 due to a request from the French broadcasters.

ctrl-alt-delete

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

RTE saying the kick-off has been delayed until 8 minutes past 8 due to a request from the French broadcasters.

Is it anything to do with the lightening they showed?

Mr.Nice Guy

ctrl-alt-delete wrote: »

Is it anything to do with the lightening they showed?

I think it's for a tribute to a French player.

Omackeral

The best anthem in the world?

ctrl-alt-delete

Omackeral wrote: »

The best anthem in the world?

Easily

ctrl-alt-delete

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

I think it's for a tribute to a French player.

That was a great tribute.

Didn't realise Henri Michel died. Who didn't root for France in Mexico '86?

pjohnson

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Didn't realise Henri Michel died. Who didn't root for France in Mexico '86?

Anyone born after '87?

The Backwards Man

Enzo Scifo wasn't all that ecstatic for them either.

sligeach

Omackeral wrote: »

The best anthem in the world?

Definitely. The French anthem isn't bad either.

Mr.Nice Guy

Well we made it to the half-hour mark without conceding but France are knocking on the door. Mbappe looking in the mood for goals.

TheRiverman

Love Ireland's 10-0 formation so far.

munsterlegend

Hard to see us holding out for much longer.

Mr.Nice Guy

Nice turn of pace there from the pitch invader.

munsterlegend

Deleted User wrote: »

Didn't realise Henri Michel died. Who didn't root for France in Mexico '86?

Denmark were popular too especially the way they knocked us out.

Dempsey

Colin Doyle looks wrecked

kopite386

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Nice turn of pace there from the pitch invader.

Yeah but then he ran straight into one of the stewards he had so many places to go but he went straight into the steward :pac:

Mr.Nice Guy

1-0 France. Giroud with the goal. It's been coming. Shame we conceded from a set-piece.

munsterlegend

Concede from a corner that Williams should have got rid of.

Duff

The Irish jersey is like that basketball in Space Jam that takes all the players qualities.

Omackeral

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

1-0 France. Giroud with the goal. It's been coming. Shame we conceded from a set-piece.

It's the type of goal we'd usually score ourselves.

Dempsey

Dempsey wrote: »

Colin Doyle looks wrecked

probably the first game hes played in a decade

Corholio

Surprised at France looking a bit one dimensional despite having all the ball. Quite workmanlike more than anything.

Mr.Nice Guy

Oh ffs. Doyle has done a Karius.

Fekir makes it 2-0.

spock.

A Karius moment

Dempsey

Doyle does a Karius...

Omackeral

Right, bring on Bohs keeper Shane Supple now please.

irishguitarlad

This could get ugly.

Omackeral

Dempsey wrote: »

Doyle does a Karius...

Thank god it's just a friendly.

Ulysses Gaze

Typical caveman football by an O'Neill team. He has to go.

justshane

Supple is a class above Doyle, just as well we have decent gks whom are just injured.

pjohnson

Ulysses Gaze wrote: »

Typical caveman football by an O'Neill team. He has to go.

Here we go again

Mr.Nice Guy

Ulysses Gaze wrote: »

Typical caveman football by an O'Neill team. He has to go.

We're out of our depth. This is the international equivalent of PSG vs Burnley.

mewso

Good to see O'Neill persisting with the defensive style. Vital not to concede in these friendlies particularly when you are trying out lots of new players to see if they can hoof it as well as previous players.

Ulysses Gaze

pjohnson wrote: »

Here we go again

This is the same ****e they played against that World Power Turkey.

The buck stops with the manager.

pjohnson

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

We're out of our depth. This is the international equivalent of PSG vs Burnley.

Theres a few levels below Burnley to find Doyle and Williams tbf.....

mewso

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

We're out of our depth. This is the international equivalent of PSG vs Burnley.

or France vs Luxembourg. Oh wait.

Dempsey

Maybe its time to start playing Shane Long at CB

super_furry

Watching Ireland play is so disheartening.

Not sure when or how it's ever going to improve.

lawred2

Long ball muck

Aimless

I know France are in a different league but we could at least try to pass the ball to each other.

Ulysses Gaze

super_furry wrote: »

Watching Ireland play is so disheartening.

Not sure when or how it's ever going to improve.

When O'Neill goes

Mr.Nice Guy

mewso wrote: »

Good to see O'Neill persisting with the defensive style. Vital not to concede in these friendlies particularly when you are trying out lots of new players to see if they can hoof it as well as previous players.

Yeah we could easily take this average French midfield with our technical starlets like...eh...

TheRiverman

Duff wrote: »

The Irish jersey is like that basketball in Space Jam that takes all the players qualities.

The Manager,not the jersey is the problem.

super_furry

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Yeah we could easily take this average French midfield with our technical starlets like...eh...

There's got to be a better way than, well not trying.

Our current tactics are to sit back, defend and hope for a miracle. There's no attempt to actually win the game, only to stop the opposition from scoring for as long as possible.

mewso

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Yeah we could easily take this average French midfield with our technical starlets like...eh...

I have never bought this argument. They don't need to be technically better just able to pass the ball. The long ball game requires accuracy just as much as any "on the ground" philosophy. Granted under O'Neill it doesn't seem to be a requirement. Ultimately if you have a squad of professional footballers you can get results with a variety of approaches. Forgive me if I think that it might be worth trying something different if the "make up for lack of technical ability" approach results in losing 5-1 to Denmark.

pjohnson

I'd love Pep in charge. Just to dispel the notion that its O'Neill stopping them becoming the Galacticos they truly are every time they aren't playing for Ireland.

tayto lover

We have very poor players lads. They can't put two passes together. France are in first gear.
Long must be 40 yards ahead of the nearest Irish player. No hope against these. They have 83% of the ball. They attack and we just hoof it up the field and it's back again in a jiffy.

super_furry

pjohnson wrote: »

I'd love Pep in charge. Just to dispel the notion that its O'Neill stopping them becoming the Galacticos they truly are every time they aren't playing for Ireland.

No-one thinks that Ireland are a team of superstars being held back, but it'd be nice to see them go into a game with an approach that actually tries to win a game.

France had 82% possession after scoring.

While its not our best team we're a second tier nation.

That stat would embarrass the likes of San Marino playing France.

Anyone who doesn't see how O'Neill is the problem is deluded.

There's only one result to playing everyone behind the ball and thats the other team dominating the ball and being forced to kick it back until they invariably score.

Why they gave him more time I'll never know... not arsed watching the second half.. few things to do so no point waiting an hour.. I've seen this movie before I know the ending.

Dots1982

Against a midfield of players from Bayern Munich, Juventus, Sevilla and probably a future Liverpool player we haven’t the players to compete.