Italy v Ireland Player ratings

McShane does nothing wrong!! He was caught out of position several times in the first half. A liability. Trap made a great decision swapping him with O'Shea and putting him out of harms way.

dont get me wrong about mcshane,i dont rate the lad and he shouldnt even be a preofessional footballer,hes robbing a living from the game,but he is an easy target to give out about,he did ok against georgia away and monty and tonight.credit where its due!

Given: Little to do other than the goal, genuinely can't remember him having to make a save

McShane: Can't decide if it was him or Keogh at fault for their goal. Improved immeasurably when given space to roam on the right
Dunne: Rock. Absolute rock
O'Shea: Bloodied but not unbowed. Solid again alongside Dunne, and didn't look out of place at right back. Still has to be first choice centre half though
Kilbane: As you were from Zizou, endless endeavour, possibly could have pushed on more in the second half

Keogh: As above with McShane. His substitution changed the game. Hopefully not the last we see of him, but never again on the right, please
Andrews: Could have equalised in the first half. Puzzling substitution, unless he was injured?
Whelan: Came into the game more in the second half, wanted the ball more and not afraid to take a shot either
S.Hunt: How close was he to emulating Houghton?? Never stopped running, ever. Didn't look out of place on the right, gave Grosso a massive headache. Probably his best start ever.

Keane: Worked hard with little to show for it until the goal. Could have had the winner too. Never scores against big teams? Bite me.
Doyle: Ran himself into the ground, possibly exhausted doing the same at the weekend. Thought he could have stayed on for 10 more minutes, but what do I know?

Subs:
Folan: Introduction changed the game. Gave the Italian defence a whole other headache to deal with. Could have had a goal. Very nearly his "Niall Quinn VS Germany" moment.
N.Hunt: Ran his heart out, quite possibly got the final touch on the goal
Gibson: Came in and sat beside Whelan to keep it tidy in midfield. Not yet the finished article, but showing signs of becoming something special

Ireland finally show what they can do under Trapattoni. I can only hope they continue in this vein in the upoming qualifiers. Effort of entire side improved immeasurably from the weekend. Never stopped working for the deserved equaliser. How Cannavaro stayed on the pitch, I'll never know. That midfield quartet will, in all likelihood, never start together again, but Folan proved his worth as a squad player. The question is now, does he start against Italy at home?

This result, and performance will go a long way to restore the good faith of fans of the Ireland team.

few observations

Whelen...Invisable....Gibson to start instead perhaps.
Andrews....impressed....full of running and always about
Keane....did not a dam thing except for the goal and the near winner...but...that is why he always must play...he will score those  big goals...see Germany 2002
Folan.....this WAS his Nial Quinn 2002 moment.
Trappatoni....shut a lot of people up by making clever subs at clever times....Folan and Hunt....inspired !

Don't want to put a damper on the good mood we're all feeling but Mcshane was awful in the first half and along with Keogh was clearly at fault for the goal. He is simply not a full back whatever about being an error prone centre half. It was obvious the italians  were going at our right side.What I thought was really sad was there were a few times he was in good positions out wide attcking wise and it seemed the irish players didn't want to give him  the ball. We need Finnan back there.

Given-7 Nothing much to do, couldn't have done anything for the goal

Edited by MikeHunt - 02 Apr 2009 at 4:59am