Republic of Ireland Team 2023/24 [old thread]

Compared to the previous time Ireland played Qatar it is night and day.

10/10 performances for everyone on the pitch tonight, except for Duffy and Robinson who get 11.

I like the Jerseys as well St Patrick’s blue and big fecking shamrock, that’s the job. They should bring back that Shamrock Logo, full time.

Callum Robinson on 22 or so caps and is now looking the part.

an extreme example of my theory that players, especially young players, are basically on work experience until they get to the 20 mark.

I’ll judge Parrott, Idah and Connolly after that 20 cap mark.

So we're all agreed then, we have to keep wearing blue.

Duffy again, though. I keep saying it but what a turnaround in form!

Decent contribution I thought.

They guy who designed it just does the same design every time and Fs off with the cash.

Israel and I think Slovakia and Montenegro are identical to ours just with a different symbol instead of a shamrock.

As for Qatar (not Dubai) do they have enough time between now and the World Cup to naturalize some better Brazilians ?

Dubai is in the United Arab Emirates, I think you mean Doha :)

On the ball both were excellent especially Hendrick. When Qatar had the ball they were a little too easy to get through which lead to Qatar getting to run at our defense a few times. In fairness Hendrick tracked back well most of the time but we wouldn't want to allow a better team than Qatar get as many chances to run at the backline.

Otherwise that was a fantastic performance tonight. Always looked a threat and the defense was super. Controlled the play in midfield most of the game.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Newcastle made a move for Kenny.

Qatar are the Asian Champions

We need a hurricane to push us to Far East

It should be some sort of clear shamrock something that even foreigners would say - oh thats that Irish ☘️ one. Kept simple. Even my phone tells me to use ☘️ for Irish!

Might get 6 (wins) in a row! 😉

It was a fantastic performance last night, even the most cynical individual would find it hard to criticise any aspects of that performance, maybe quality of opposition aside.

By far the most complete performance we've put in under Kenny and I would go as far as saying it was the most positive performance in the Aviva stadium since we bet Bosnia in 2015. Robinson tore their defence apart, he dropped deep, ran at them, threatened in behind. Hendrick was unbelievable. I've given him so much criticism in the past, but if you never saw him play before and watched him last night you'd think he was a world class player. Duffy made defending look easy and was delighted to see him score and be heavily involved in the build up to Robinson third.

Above everything else it was such an enjoyable game to be at. Good football on display, young players on the pitch who were delighted to play for their country. Lots of young supporters in the stands and I'm sure they will be itching to get back to watch their team play. You'd forget it can feel that nice to watch Ireland play.

Kelly was at pains to point out how poor Qatar were. Ireland played very well against a team that looked jaded. Scored a bunch of goals and created loads of chances. I don't think Kelly insinuated anything more.

Some people just want any angle to give out about the team/performance.

What are you on about? The post was in relation to Kelly, not the team or performance. He was like a giddy schoolchild and has next to nothing insightful to offer. Lisa Fallon is a thousand times better as a contributor. The bit about Hourihane was an example of Kelly going OTT on any and everything, Hourihane was fine last night but listening to Kelly you'd think he was talking about Ballack, Gerrard et al.

Like i said Kelly was at pains to say how poor Qatar were. Maybe I should have said 'some people want any angle to complain'.

Think barring LWB the back six picks itself. Think Doherty might actually get the nod again against Portugal if Coleman is fit. Cullen and Hendrick have those midfield two positions locked down. Feel Jamie McGrath has played himself into the starting XI and Callum Robinson has cement his position of being undroppable. Idah will probably come back in next game but Robinson looked good in that CF position last night and was given freedom to roam.