Turkey vs ROI-- 23rd March

Agreed on the long ball aspect. While not my first choice, it can be very effective, so long as everyone is well drilled and knows their job. It's obvious the current team hasn't a monkeys what they should be doing.

OnTheOneRoad wrote: Exactly. Agree with the point before about how we are a long ball side that doesnt know how to play long ball. we hoof it long to our strikers who are shorter than 6 foot, and we dont press the ball. on the rare occasions we do press it we normally force a mistake because most of the teams we play aren't great either. at the moment we hoof it anywhere (was Doyle even looking for a player with his long kickouts on Friday?) and then sit back and invite teams onto us. That's not a tactic. we seem to have no plan other than hopeful balls to our not very physically imposing strikers, hoping they'll beat the entire defence on their own. For i would say about 8 or 9 goals in 10, we rely on a favourable bounce of the second ball, a set piece, a defensive error or otherwise to score our goals. Apart from McClean in Vienna i'm struggling to think of any other well worked goals we've scored since the Euros. The goal in Wales arguably despite it coming from a defensive lapse. we seem to have no real plan to actually cut teams open and play a game of low percentage hopeful balls.

I think an acceptance that the rub of the green got us to the play offs would help us to understand the we managed to get there in spite of the way we played. Sure, we had a legitimate goal chalked off against Austria in Dublin, but we benefited from route one and defensive mistakes after Austria. That also doesn’t mention the occasional rub we got in Belgrade too. We also should have benefitted from the Wales and Serbian red cards in Dublin. Bale’s injury before the game in Cardiff. Schemichael, Williams, and Georgia’s keeper(and the ref) extended that luck all the way up to the 5th minute of the second leg against Denmark, when it ran out. McClean’s shot going the wrong side of the far post, and Christie’s defensive efforts going the wrong side (again from our perspective) of the post signalled the end, along with the Danes getting wise to our style of play, and MON’s baffling half time substitutions.

In many respects, the way in which our WC qualification panned out was the worst of all worlds. It gave credence to the style of play, which was not necessarily the reason for us falling short of the finals, as opposed to being in Austria’s position. And now it appears that we are more than likely going to continue playing that way, which could make very uncomfortable viewing, as other teams keep it on the turf, or play the ball through midfield, where we seem to have little grit or guile at the moment. Lumping balls and kicking lumps is caveman tactics, and has absolutely no sophistication at all. It is also an absolute eyesore to watch, as even our most important games before far too ugly for even the most ardent football fan.

Matt Doherty has a decent throw on him, surely it's time for him to replace Coleman?

Terzino wrote: Iceland went to Turkey a few months ago and beat them 3-0. They scored from two longballs and a corner-kick. One of the justifications of longball is that even a limited team can create goalscoring chances. However we didn't have a shot on target in the entire game*. And this is against a Turkish team that had conceded 10 goals in their previous 4 games. *We did have the<span style="line-height: 16.8px;"> Hogan chance, but that came from out of nowhere from a wonderful pass on the deck.</span><span style="line-height: 16.8px;"> </span>

You’re right. And when I think of the way we have tried to play football since the Wales game last March it has actually become harder and harder to see where the goals are going to come from. Against Austria in Dublin there was far too much of a disconnect between the midfield and Jon Walters, and we only really started making chances when Murphy joined him up, but before that we seemed to play a flat midfield with no angles, and no clear Number 10. Against Georgia we had two strikers on the pitch, but never once looked like we never had more than one. Wales and Denmark was the same, and but for the Ashley Williams’ brain fart, that game would probably have ended in a draw.

The problem is, we lost to Serbia with an expansive setup, and MON doubled down on the style of play we are now watching. The style of play cannot sustain long ball. No point in long balling it to Maguire and Hogan who are both sub-six foot, or Darryl Murphy or Jon Walters when they have neither a fellow striker or a bespoke Number 10, a role that unfortunately James McCarthy, or Robbie Brady will not be able to fulfil. We either have to pick the team which can play to a long ball game, which may need MON dropping players that he doesn’t want to (Hendrick and McClean spring to mind), or picking players who are not necessarily in favour with their clubs, or change the style of play entirely and vest the necessary trust in our players to do the job. The lack of faith is particularly disappointing and has led to some truly dreadful outcomes. The Denmark result, the Belgium result, the Scotland result all spring to mind, and the way the side has bee
N set up is usually th culprit.

What do you expect when the national team go on four day training camp and the manager didn't discuss or go through tactics. His only input was to pick the team.

Het-field wrote: The choice is either the management style changes, or the management changes. It’s that simple. I feel we are sleepwalking into another Trapattoni situation where the results will be the only think that changes. It can’t be too hard for a quality international team to prepare to play against Ireland, as you can soundly work on the premise that very little football is going to be played, and the midfield will be there for a limited purpose, while the defence will be expected to take on the heavy lifting from the back, with the forwards expected to reach and hold up the ball and allow the midfield into play. Teams can be comfortable in the knowledge that a goal should be enough to see us off, and that playing th ball along the floor like Denmark did. Even teams like Georgia have sussed us out, and know that you can play football without fear of being challenged. What we currently have is almost a reversal of Jack Charlton’s pressing mechanism which worked on the basis that you applied the pressure high, and force the other team into mistakes, while hoping for a drop off, a route one, or a cross to do the rest. At the moment we seem to be relying either on route one, or mistakes, while letting the opposition come deep, and relying on the tough tackle to do the rest. But now that teams know what we are like, they will avoid playing to our strengths. It only took the Danes a weekend to suss us out, and it appears we are still playing the same system.

Spot on

We are so easy to set up against. It's prehistoric stuff.........

Mr. Snrub wrote: Those throw ins are beyond embarrassing. Even Coleman looked poor the other night

France away should lose that, USA at home, we should win based on their performances for WC qualifying, draw or lose that though...and finally we head into the Derby with Norn Iron which has a 0-0 draw written all over it. 

The O'Shea wrote: el2nz wrote: Hans Moleman wrote: Just on Duffy, I don't want to be seen to be hammering him! It's just he doesn't have the abilities to play the long passes he seems to think he can. I'm a big fan of his with us. He's a really good no nonsense defender, and if he was instructed properly by the manager about not hitting those nothing long balls consistently, his performances would be even better for us. It just seems to me that the most basic of instructions aren't given to any of our players. The management must do little to no post match analysis of games with the players do they? Jermaine Jenas did a piece on MOTD2 about him and Dunk, mentioned his long ball passing and I think that that 10 second clip has went to his head and made him think he's Pirlo.  Reminds me a bit of Steven Gerrard. He'll occasionally ping a beauty up to a forward, which makes people forget about the 10 failed attempts that preceded it.