France v IRELAND Match Thread, 28/05/18

Terzino wrote: Nobody expected Ireland to beat France last night. I, and probably some others, expected a bad defeat, but the weather intervened and the French were happy with a couple of goals. However what we hoped to see was a decent performance to give us a bit of hope for the future. The result didn't matter, we just wanted to see a few passes made, a clever set-piece, a couple of shots on target even. Anything at all! The best forward pass we made in the game was Burke to Judge. So maybe that's the little bit of hope. A LOI player getting a chance and not looking out of place. But overall we got the exact same as we've gotten for a while now, with perhaps the exception of Serbia at home. Long balls to an isolated forward. We conceded from a corner kick for the third game in a row. We passed the ball out of play alot. Trying to win territory with throw-ins. Our traditional one shot on target.  The only thing we didn't do that we normally do was a Duffy long range pass into the stands. And I agree with whoever said put Duffy up front. Long is not a target man. If we are going to keeping lumping the ball forward, then do it right. Let Duffy play that role and have Long make runs off of him. The big man, quick man combination. And this game was not a nothing game. There are too few games in international football to think that friendlies are pointless.

This in unfortunately something we haven't had since Quinn retired in 2002

FREEWHEELER wrote: Just cos the likes of Brady, Hendrick, Ward (on the way out anyhow), McCarthy are absent doesn't mean we can't at least try to play some constructive football.   We don't and I'm sick of having my eyes burned by opt-out tactics.  Most of the long(ish) balls went out to touch or to nobody, we can't even do that right.    I was actually almost hoping Burke wouldn't get on in case the same experience befell him as Jason Byrne in Poland.  Thankfully Burke got a good few touches and used them reasonably well.   I've watched Hourihane several times now for Villa and Ireland, he doesn't convince me at all.  Rice has great promise, Derek Williams might be a replacement for Ward, Duffy is now a stalwart, O'Dowda has talent, Arter proved he can do a job in the past, but for Jaysus sake what's wrong with allowing them to play the ball on the fooking ground a bit?   McCarthy came in with massive shoes to fill in Charlton, inherited some ageing stars and mostly young pups.  Mick's philosophy was to play football on the deck and the team was a very easy one on the eye.  Our underage teams seem to playing in a similarly progressive way recently.  Why then is O'Neill getting away with this abomination of style?   If we see the same sh*te on Saturday against the Yanks..............

Edited by Banjaxed - 29 May 2018 at 4:01pm

He's picking young pups but he's not encouraging them to pass the fooking ball, that's the difference.

FREEWHEELER wrote: He's picking young pups but he's not encouraging them to pass the fooking ball, that's the difference.

Banjaxed wrote: FREEWHEELER wrote: Just cos the likes of Brady, Hendrick, Ward (on the way out anyhow), McCarthy are absent doesn't mean we can't at least try to play some constructive football.   We don't and I'm sick of having my eyes burned by opt-out tactics.  Most of the long(ish) balls went out to touch or to nobody, we can't even do that right.    I was actually almost hoping Burke wouldn't get on in case the same experience befell him as Jason Byrne in Poland.  Thankfully Burke got a good few touches and used them reasonably well.   I've watched Hourihane several times now for Villa and Ireland, he doesn't convince me at all.  Rice has great promise, Derek Williams might be a replacement for Ward, Duffy is now a stalwart, O'Dowda has talent, Arter proved he can do a job in the past, but for Jaysus sake what's wrong with allowing them to play the ball on the fooking ground a bit?   McCarthy came in with massive shoes to fill in Charlton, inherited some ageing stars and mostly young pups.  Mick's philosophy was to play football on the deck and the team was a very easy one on the eye.  Our underage teams seem to playing in a similarly progressive way recently.  Why then is O'Neill getting away with this abomination of style?   If we see the same sh*te on Saturday against the Yanks.............. These 2 guys have been dining out on their Euro 2016 displays the last 18 months and have made no real difference to the team whether in or out,  so their inclusion is a moot point.  **to continue my O'Neill bashing, I do think the magnification of their underwhelming displays is (like most Irish players) inextricably linked to not having a bull's notion what their job should be**

randydaza wrote: el2nz wrote: Bob Hoskins wrote: the utter indifference everyone has for these upcoming friendlies. I'd say the American game will be really low unless the weather is cracking The FAI know this, which is why they're wheeling John O'Shea out for a farewell game and trying to market it that way.   Whats with the kick off time of 8:08 for the USA game? would have thought a 5 o'clock kick off would have got a better turnout. Not many folks would fancy driving back down the country after the game on a bank holiday weekend, or is kick off time still TBC?

pre Madonna wrote: 35k? Will there be anywhere near that? Or do you mean the official figure given? I would have guessed at half that.

pre Madonna wrote: FREEWHEELER wrote: He's picking young pups but he's not encouraging them to pass the fooking ball, that's the difference. Can they? They can't even hoof it right, what makes you think they can pass it?

Its depressing stuff to watch. Nothing inspirational, nothing to get the fans going, nobody really driving the team on, demanding a higher standard. It reminds me of what James McClean said about Pardew recently. He said that under Pulis, they were well drilled and knew exactly what was expected of them and what their role was, where to be. He said all Pardew did was tell them to go out and express themselves, play with freedom and it backfired, no tactics so to speak. Then when Moore came back in after Pardew, he said they worked hard and are far more drilled, everyone knows their role again and their end of season results speak for themselves. If what we hear about MON is true with regard to not telling the team a formation, just handing out jerseys 45 mins before kick off, not working with the starting 11 and subs on the training ground, then I don't see this getting any better. We look clueless out there.

Edited by DonkeyOatey - 29 May 2018 at 5:48pm