Ireland v Erdogan, Mussollini and Salazar (2 Viewers)

[Jerry Twig]

If O'Neill intends on starting Keane come September then it'll be interesting to see how he works the formation to use him without reverting back to good ol' 4-4-2.

MON has already been quoted as saying he sees no reason why Hoolahan and Keane can't play together with Keane alone up front. It's very likely that Keane/Long will become interchangeable for the qualifiers depending on the opposition.

I'll be at the game. Looking forward to it - good crowd expected.

 

[Cormcolash]

Portugal tonight in New York.. so who's going to poleaxe Ronaldo? Great chance for Stephen Kelly, Alex Pearce or somebody to become the most hated man on the Iberian peninsula. Glen Whelan's gone home so hopefully we'll see more of Hendrick & Meyler or Quinn. If O'Neill intends on starting Keane come September then it'll be interesting to see how he works the formation to use him without reverting back to good ol' 4-4-2.

BRING PAUL MCSHANE ON AND GET HIM TO DESTROY RONALDO!!! It would be the greatest shit EVER.

 

[Richie]

We are getting blitzed at the back.. In fairness it's a lot to ask an all-Championship back 5 to deal with these lads.

 

[Unicron]

We are getting blitzed at the back.. In fairness it's a lot to ask an all-Championship back 5 to deal with these lads.

No team should let a Portuguese centre forward get 2, they're chronically weak there.

 

[Richie]

I suppose O'Neill wanted to give everybody game time but switching to 4 strikers and making the team even more porous just allowed Portugal to complete the rout when it had looked like we had a glimmer of hope of getting back in the game with McClean's goal and Ronaldo going off. We looked reasonable going forward but the defence was powderpuff, a lot of work to be done on basic defensive organization and we need to pray that our first 11 stay fit, basically.

 

[CinnamonBoy]

we need to pray that our first 11 stay fit, basically.

This. I'm going to get my granny to light a few candles when she's over at mass.
With Coleman, Dunne, O'Shea, McCarthy, Hoolahan, Keane, Long, McGeady, Sledge and to a lesser extent Wilson, Brady, Meyler, Hendrick, Clark we have enough players to match Poland and Scotland. If Gibson returns even better. Take out a few of those lads though and I'd find it hard to see us getting the results needed as lads like Kelly, Ward, Keogh, Whelan, Sammon, Quinn and McShane are not good enough, imo.

MON has had plenty of time now to see everyone so unless he's hamstrung by lots of injuries or rank bad luck or dodgy refs, he can have no excuses.

 

[washingcattle]

This. I'm going to get my granny to light a few candles when she's over at mass.
With Coleman, Dunne, O'Shea, McCarthy, Hoolahan, Keane, Long, McGeady, Sledge and to a lesser extent Wilson, Brady, Meyler, Hendrick, Clark we have enough players to match Poland and Scotland. If Gibson returns even better. Take out a few of those lads though and I'd find it hard to see us getting the results needed as lads like Kelly, Ward, Keogh, Whelan, Sammon, Quinn and McShane are not good enough, imo.

MON has had plenty of time now to see everyone so unless he's hamstrung by lots of injuries or rank bad luck or dodgy refs, he can have no excuses.

Dunne won't last a full PL season and a qualifying campaign. Keane has, even by his standards, been inconsistent since he moved to the states, Long isn't clinical enough and we don't have one completely solid back four amongst any of that list.

The problems are fucking huge but to be fair the match last night was over with 20 minutes left. We'd huffed and puffed for 25 minutes in the second half and actually looked okay at times but once the shape went out of the game completely, they brushed us aside.

For the future, It's a case of scrapping better and at least trying to play actual football. Perhaps heroically scraping a few results through sheer determination. Yeah we've done it before but I wouldn't be expecting an improvement in results.

Scotland looked pretty decent from what I saw against Nigeria and Poland are pretty fucking solid, shite away form but solid enough.


I'd back MON and Keane to stay until the WC qualifiers. I can't see them having a huge effect on results in this one. It's just too soon for this side. So many players or on less than 10 caps because of Traps inability to bring players through. You could see that a bit in the last few friendlies.

 

[CinnamonBoy]

Dunne won't last a full PL season and a qualifying campaign. Keane has, even by his standards, been inconsistent since he moved to the states, Long isn't clinical enough and we don't have one completely solid back four amongst any of that list.
.

Ah, I'm not so pessimistic.

We need less than 18 months out of Dunne, I think he can do it. He played almost 50 games for QPR this season and was MOTM in the last and most important one. Keane is on the wane, of course, but I still fancy him to do the business and get a few goals. Doyle seems to have had a resurgence too, which is good. Agree on Long but jaysis he surely can't keep missing chances.....can he? As for the back 4, I think we could surely fashion a decent one out of Coleman, O'Shea, Dunne, Sledge, Delaney, Clark, Wilson, O'Brien if he gets an opportunity and possibly Duffy, if he kicks on.

Ireland for France 2016!

 

[Jerry Twig]

It was a joke last night, apart from Hoolahan, who was very creative and solid, and to a lesser extent Meyler and Hendrick, who didn't shame themselves at least.

But, as said, you cant expect much from a Championship back four against Ronaldo and co. gearing up for the World Cup. Ward is so out of his depth it's painful. Kelly was just as bad, looked terrified, and Keogh's limitations were brutally exposed.

But I think we do have more than a good enough back four in Coleman, O'Shea, Delaney and Wilson (Dunne for the odd game would be a bonus but I think MON is planning for life without him) to deal with Poland and Scotland and good options in the middle of the park with Hoolahan nailed on to start.

So small mercies, but I think playing against Oman with a decent side is a good idea. Fucking Georgia away though, uuugh.

 

[Jerry Twig]

I'd add that we actually did play well for patches, and it's refreshing to see Ireland try to play possession football, on the ground out from the back. If MON can build on that with our best 11, I'm not too pessimistic.

 

[washingcattle]

I'd add that we actually did play well for patches, and it's refreshing to see Ireland try to play possession football, on the ground out from the back. If MON can build on that with our best 11, I'm not too pessimistic.

From the third up until the fourth goal we were bossing it.

 

[Jerry Twig]

Another take away from being there - Keane made a beeline for Meyler after the whistle to tell him he did well. I reckon he's a starter alongside McCarthy for the qualifiers if Gibson's not fully fit, match ready and on board.

 

[washingcattle]

Another take away from being there - Keane made a beeline for Meyler after the whistle to tell him he did well. I reckon he's a starter alongside McCarthy for the qualifiers if Gibson's not fully fit, match ready and on board.

After the injury he got he won't be fully Roy Keane level match fit for a long time. He could barely run before hand.

 

[Jerry Twig]

After the injury he got he won't be fully Roy Keane level match fit for a long time. He could barely run before hand.

He'll be back for pre-season right? Him and McCarthy in the middle for Everton and Ireland would be great
Roberto Martinez excited by Darron Gibson return - Sports Mole

 

[washingcattle]

He'll be back for pre-season right? Him and McCarthy in the middle for Everton and Ireland would be great
Roberto Martinez excited by Darron Gibson return - Sports Mole

He's in the pecking order behind Gareth Barry now, so depending on how his form is we'll see.

The injury he had is one of those where even if it doesn't recur the chances are that he'll have problems with the muscles around that area. In most players cases that's a problem but in Gibbo's it could be nightmare because he had a permanent thigh problem before hand.

I really hope he does come back for Ireland and us, because he was instrumental in us actually passing it from back to front under Moyes so god only knows how he could improve under Martinez.

 

[Jerry Twig]

So Barry is sticking around for sure?

 

[washingcattle]

So Barry is sticking around for sure?

It would seem so. Unless he goes for the big money again and ends his career on the bench at QPR.

If he does that, sure, we'll all call him a whore and not give two fucks about him again.

 

[Cormcolash]

Sure we don't need to Gibson to move much, remember, his video game controls just say shoot

 

[Richie]

Richie Dunne has called it a day with Ireland apparently.

I'm going to start bawling here..

 

[Jerry Twig]

Oh no. Ah well, not too much of a surprise. One of the greats for Ireland. I was at that match in Russia - it was almost comical how all-in he was for that, while we were getting BATTERED.

He'll never have to buy a drink in Ireland, that's for sure