Martin O'Neill...

Trap junior wrote: Citizen wrote: Trap junior wrote: SuperDave84 wrote: I would rather have a general who was lucky than one who was good. Napoleon Bonaparte. I would rather have a general who attempts to play the game of football underneath the stratosphere - Trap Junior you were a trap fan though, he was far worse than o'neill Ireland had 34% possession against Spain in Euro 2012. The best international side ever with 3 major wins in a row. In 2017 under MON we had 31% possession to the giants of Georgia. 5th seeds. We had 29% possession against Wales last week.  These are not the big nations of world football. MON plays far more hoofball and its uglier imo. https://www.balls.ie/football/stats-georgia-v-ireland-will-make-eyes-bleed-372740

Trap junior wrote: Germany were all over us. Their strikers couldn't hit a barn door that night. They would have won 5-0 if they were.  As Lowe said ''Ireland kicked the ball long 100 times and got lucky 1 time'' "We knew Ireland would be defending with nine and sometimes 10 men," the World Cup winning coach said. "We knew they'd get men behind the ball and try long hopeful balls up-front." "We avoided 99 of those long balls, but the 100th was one too many."

Trap lost 6-1 at home to Germany.

Trap junior wrote: Germany were all over us. Their strikers couldn't hit a barn door that night. They would have won 5-0 if they were.  As Lowe said ''Ireland kicked the ball long 100 times and got lucky 1 time'' "We knew Ireland would be defending with nine and sometimes 10 men," the World Cup winning coach said. "We knew they'd get men behind the ball and try long hopeful balls up-front." "We avoided 99 of those long balls, but the 100th was one too many."

Lenny82 wrote: That Italian 11 would walk in to any Irish team and they were all trying to play for a place in their National team.

None of that Italian team would get into our team. Besides the fact they are all ineligible, they were also crap, every one of them that played in Lille without exception, was absolutely crap. They played that game because their betters having already won them the group, (amazing actually winning a group!!!) were given a few days more rest before beating the then European Champions.

Beating the Italian B side in the last 5 minutes led to wild celebrations. Sadly, we were already on our way home before that next Italy game even took place.

I don't wind people up. I tell them the truth and they don't like it. Not my problem.

trapsringpiece wrote: I don't wind people up. I tell them the truth and they don't like it. Not my problem.

Match Stats Ireland v Germany 2012 v 2015  Stats courtesy of ESPN for both games.  Cant find stats from Uefa or BBC for both games, only one. You will find slight variance in stats depending on which site provides it so wanted to do it from the same website as they will collect the data with the same methods for both games.


2015

Goals:         Ireland  1         Germany  0
Possession:  Ireland  34%  Germany 66%
Shots on goal:   Ireland 5    Germany 16
On Target:       Ireland 2       Germany  7
Corners:         Ireland  2        Germany 11






2012

Goals:              Ireland  1      Germany  6
Possession:     Ireland 30%  Germany 70%
Shots on goal:    Ireland 5     Germany  9
On Target  :           Ireland 3     Germany 6
Corners :               Ireland  3    Germany 6


All I see is the same long ball football, being completely dominated in both games but having the rub of the green in one game and not the other.  In fact in 2015 Germany had 16 shots at goal and only 9 in 2012. In 2012 all their shots that were on target resulted in a goal.  In 2015 they had 7 on target and none resulted in a goal.  The difference that night was Germany were ultra clinical in 2012 and way off form in front of goal in 2015. We attacked the same in 2012 as 2015 both with 5 shots on goal during each game.

Now forgive me all you 'feel good factor ole ole ers; out there but its the same sh*tshow just somehow with a different result.  If we had defended way better in 2015 as claimed the Germans would have had less shots on goal and less on target.  The difference was the quality of their finishing in 2012 v 2015.

Baldrick wrote: The only stat that matters in football is thr final score.

And are prepared to ignore things like the opposition taking strikes from distance and getting infuriated as the game went on, and treating two shots on target the same, even when one goes in and one doesn't, because it doesn't suit your agenda.