Turkey vs ROI-- 23rd March

McCarthy used that system when he first took over, that being the fashionable system at the time and the one he used at Millwall, only abandoning it after the Macedonia debacle, and we never looked comfortable using it.

The other problem is that it would almost necessitate using Rice as a centre-half when, if we learnt nothing else from the other night, it's that, for the time being at least, Rice needs to play in midfield for us.

Duffy is a solid defender and I'm a fan of his. He was appalling on the ball the other night though. This isn't new though. Duffy is, and always will be awful on the ball. For some reason this gets overlooked by most. It's as if it is totally acceptable now to watch our players punt the ball out over the stands, or straight onto opposition defenders heads at all times. Worse again, Duffy and others do this when there is no pressure at all on them from the opposition.

If this team was being coached, which it clearly isn't, Duffy would never ever be allowed to hit a ball over 30 yards, unless its' a clearance under pressure. He is an abysmal passer of the ball. Any coach worth his salt would knock that out of Duffy straight away.

The issue with the likes of Duffy hitting passes that he simply doesn't have the skill set to do, is only one element of a totally incompetent coaching set up. There are things going on in our games in the past 12 months that if an under 10 team were doing those things, an average schoolboy coach would knock that out of players in a training session or 2. 

Why do we throw every single throw in back to the opposition? Our coaches do realise that we are actually in possession of the ball when we have a throw in, don't they? Why do we take every free kick from within 70 yards of the opposition box and punt it away to nothingness? Do our coaching staff actually think that we'll regularly score goals as we did away in Georgia, where the referee allowed one of our players to assault the keeper so the goal could be scored?

There are so many more basic issues, like our lack of ability or a simple plan to clip balls into a corner for forwards to chase, instead of punting it into the stands. Our keeper never ever playing short to build up an attack from the back. Our midfielders never ever playing quick frees. Our midfielders constantly turning their backs on the play. The most basic of basic stuff. It has now become acceptable to a lot of fans which is the saddest part.

Our performance in Turkey was shambolic and soul destroying to watch. Those hoping for some change in attitude or style of play, well that didn't last long did it. Don't be fooled by our change of formation to 3-5-2, that was just dressing over the real issues and a way for MON to show how he is adapting and changing (btw what an absolutely comical attempt at playing this formation, were the coaching staff in the Turkish pubs in the build up to this game or on the training pitch?). I see the term long goodbye used above. That's exactly what this is. The next 2 years are an absolute write off. MON will pocket his money for that time and leave after a grim Euro qualifier campaign. If we aren't even going to attempt to play the sport of football in a meaningless friendly against Turkey, and with no pressure at all on us, imagine how disgusting our performances will be when the bigger games roll around.

MONs time is well and truly over. If he had a shred of dignity he would have walked post Denmark game. If the FAI had a shred of brain cells they wouldn't have given MON the new contract. In all of the years I've watched Irish football, I think we are in a far darker place than we've ever been (yes including Stans tenure) and I can see the damage of the upcoming campaign being something that will set us back plenty of years more on top of this written off campaign.

I'd agree that international friendlies provide an opportunity to try out new systems and look at new players, and should be used as such. However, we looked totally disjointed the other night, with players looking uncomfortable and not seeming to know their roles. It's hard to make a case for this formation being something we should persist with going forward, on that showing at least.

Under MON, we have become more and more reductive, we set out to make a game of football where nothing at all productive happens for either team. We are just hoping to wear teams down mentally like this and nick a goal from somewhere then. The problem is that any team who are patient enough, as the Danes were, will eventually tear us to shreds. We have no counter to going behind either, as we are so full of fear, so without any attacking structure to our play, that we just panic.

This is all on the coaching staff. The basic situations in a game where midfielders turn their back to play, where we take throws in and just lob them straight to the opposition (do we take 20 or so throw ins in a game on average?), all those kinds of scenarios can be rooted out on the training pitch. We are not even attempting to solve these issues.

We are in a much darker place than under Stan or Traps last campaign imo. The only hope is that MON goes well before the Euro qualifiers kick off, which is obviously highly doubtful.

these are things that surely should be worked on and hammered home by the management? i could be wrong but the whole set up seems extremely sloppy and outdated