Italian squad for Ireland match (2 Viewers)

[ratmonkey]

Gilesy has the same thing to say about every game ever.

That doesn't make it any less valid.

 

[Moods For Mallards]

That doesn't make it any less valid.

Ah it does.
He's like a broken record. The guy refuses to believe that tactics (said in scornful Gilesy voice) have anything to do with football. That means he doesn't believe that there are cautious teams or adventurous teams, narrow teams or teams with width, teams who hit long balls or teams who play it in 'the right way'. But he does. He's a talking contradiction in the body of a mafia stooge.
And he says this for every match.
Also, he has never seen any player or team play ever, other than Premier League teams. According to himself, all the time.

 

[Vinnie]

Which is why I said he'd earned his money. Dunphy wouldn't even give him credit for that, saying that he was a gambler who got lucky with his substitutions/tactical decisions.

Im sort of with Dunphy on this one - not that Folan was a bad substitution but that Trappatoni is playing tactical lottery in this campaign. We are beyond lucky to be sitting where we are in this group. Im ecstatic that we are - I'd sacrifice a few specific friends & family to get to another world cup - but it looks like the wheels are ready to come off at any second. Reid & Ireland in central midfield with McGeady & Duff on their game would transform that team beyond recognition.

 

[Moods For Mallards]

Reid & Ireland in central midfield with McGeady & Duff on their game would transform that team beyond recognition.

Absolutely. And so Trap has a crappy hand to play with. It's very hard to expect anything with that entire midfield absent and bad players in their place. It will be an absolutely incredible achievement to qualify without that central midfield in particular. I presume you mean S Reid.

 

[Vinnie]

Absolutely. And so Trap has a crappy hand to play with. It's very hard to expect anything with that entire midfield absent and bad players in their place. It will be an absolutely incredible achievement to qualify without that central midfield in particular. I presume you mean S Reid.

S Reid. For sure. Although Andy would be a vast improvement on any one of last nights midfield. Having said that, for the first time since Trap started showing such baffling faith in him I thought Darren Gibson showed some unlikely leadership last night and depsite some occasional clumsiness on the ball I thought he played pretty well.

 

[evil bandit]

Ronnie Whelans is there for one reason and one reason only to comment on the lost art of scoring with your shin.

As bad as McShane/Kehoe were for the Italian goal it all started from a John O'Shea defensive header that dropped about a metre infront of him right at an Italian player.

 

[Richie]

I think Darron Gibson may eventually turn into the deputy/replacement for Steven Reid that we so badly need.. he was invisible in the game against Cyprus but last night he was clearly being allowed to push forwards more and showed some promising signs of play-making ability. The crossing & set-pieces from the whole team were a definite low point, so many balls either skied over everybody's head or failing to beat the first man.

 

[Unicron]

Im sort of with Dunphy on this one - not that Folan was a bad substitution but that Trappatoni is playing tactical lottery in this campaign.

I suppose playing the long ball game in a way is a lottery because you're always waiting for the ball to break the right way for you but a the same time there's no doubting that it can be and was last night an effective tactic but at the same time Trap did make some shrewd decisions during the game, most obviously swapping McShane and O'Shea.

As was pointed out earlier Italy conceded the midfeld to us but especially down their left hand side. O'Shea offered more going forward and with just Iaquinta to deal with on his own McShane was far less likely to be exposed than he's normally liable to be. Then later in the game he swapped Hunt over there too which pinned Grosso back even more.

But no, according to Dunphy it was all luck.

 

[Wheels]

I'd sacrifice a few specific friends & family to get to another world cup - it looks like the Wheels are ready to come off.

That hurts Vinnie. You said we'd go to the World Cup together. You SAID.

 

[Luther Blissett]

There's a hilarious comment on the Italian coverage of Ireland's goal last night. The co-commentator starts whinging: 'That's just not football. You can't just play long balls up front.' Yes you can my friend. Cannavaro was moaning about it too as if you have to play like Arsenal in their prime to score. No mention of his hack on Zinedine late in the second half or De Rossi's persistent diving anytime an Irish player looked at him. Granted the sending off was harsh, but we should have had at least one peno maybe two. The Italian press are raving about Stephen Hunt too. Who knows, he might be playing for Juve next season!! With Folan!! Haha.

 

[Hector Grey]

why not start with ten men, says giles. love him as we do, i think he's quite removed from the modern game, they both are. ronnie's right, it can be harder against ten because they defend, expecially if they've just scored. it can be harder for ireland because we don't want the ball that much, it scares us!

if fat andy was on the bench and came on, he would have had the entire field to spread play, and he could have delivered soem decent dead balls. our dead ball delivery, gibson especially, was woeful. mind you, we had some throw in's in handy places. bring back delap.

 

[Luther Blissett]

if fat andy was on the bench and came on, he would have had the entire field to spread play, and he could have delivered soem decent dead balls. our dead ball delivery, gibson especially, was woeful. mind you, we had some throw in's in handy places. bring back delap.

If Andy Reid wasn't so fond of sing songs and playing the banjo he would have been on the field last night. I blame Tom Waits and the Dubliners.

Delap + Folan = goals!! We could throw our way to South Africa.

 

[snakybus]

Have you seen him play/sing? I have, he's about as good as I am at football. So by that logic, Trap should pick me.

 

[Cormcolash]

Were we lacking Guile or something?

 

[evil bandit]

Have you seen him play/sing? I have, he's about as good as I am at football. So by that logic, Trap should pick me.

He's everything right about the Irish singer songwriter scene

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[Franco]

if fat andy was on the bench and came on, he would have had the entire field to spread play, and he could have delivered soem decent dead balls. our dead ball delivery, gibson especially, was woeful. mind you, we had some throw in's in handy places. bring back delap.

This is it. While i don't see Reid as a panacea to all our ills, to not have him on the bench at least is bananas. Dead ball delivery was wojeous last night. If a team with 10 men is gonna sit back, surely you can afford to bring on one luxury player who may not be as athletic or purposeful when we don't have the ball. I don't see any damascene conversion coming for Trap after last nights game - we'll be back to being as cautious as ever in Bulgaria.

Anyway, who'd have thought Robbie could come up with an even more annoying celebration that his last effort. This 'messiah milking it' job is shite.

 

[Cormcolash]

Well done to the lads last night, getting a draw out of 90 minutes played against 10 men. The only reason I wouldn't be pissed off at that is because Italy basically are the inventors of that brutal defensive football.
Some points:

1. Italy had done their homework on McShane - BOLLOCKS. Every time Grosso plays at left-back for Italy, he spends the whole match trying to bomb forward into the opposition penalty area. He wasn't just doing it because McShane is crap, he was doing it because that's what he does against everyone. He did it against Brazil for fucks sake! It wasn't a case of Italy "doing their homework", it was a case of Ireland not, because they should have fucking known rightly that Grosso is one of Italy's best attacking players, and he should have been hammered every time he went past the half-way line.

2. I agreed with a lot of what Giles was saying. There is a mindset existing that if Ireland go a goal up, they will just start defending it. Italy do the same thing, they are the masters of it. It's the Italian Cattenaccio way. And Giles pointed out something that is bound to happen: We'll go to Sofia in June and just be bollocks and defensive again. It's bound to happen. I fear for that game, because Sofia in June is probably gonna be 30 degrees + and the Ireland players will be wrecked. Lets hope Bulgaria fuck up another one of their matches against the shitter teams.

3. Dunphy is mental. Hilarious, but mental. I agree that Doyle should have stayed on, Noel Hunt is hardly a great substitute for him. Maybe Shane Long instead, that would be a better sub I reckon. The Folan sub was spot on though, and Dunphy is completely wrong about him. Keogh is bollocks as well. I saw Folan play in a reserve match about six months ago for Ireland, and he was pretty much the only decent player on the pitch. He has a lovely touch and is a great target man. The match I saw him in he also scored a lovely goal, and with a bit more experience I reckon he could be a really good target man type player. Also the Gibson sub was a good move, Gibson brought something different although his final delivery was poor last night, but he definitely helped out the midfield and it's pretty obvious he could turn into a great player in a few years. He'll probably be no Daddy Dick though.

4. That was probably Stephen Hunt's best match yet for Ireland, he did very well last night. I wish he would stay on his fucking feet though instead of being a diving cunt. He got so many free kicks because the Italians were stupid enough to touch him when he was already falling over. And he blatantly dived at least once in the penalty area. Spa.

5. We definitely should have had a penalty, and probably should have won the game. We deserved to win on chances and possession anyway. Still, all this nonsense Giles is on about with the 10 men of Italy, if they'd had 11 against us they probably would have fucking hammered us like. Sure they'd probably be just as defensive, but it still probably would've ended up about 3-0.

6. Just fucking imagine if we'd had Ireland, S.Reid, Duff, and McGeady last night, and they'd gone down to 10 men in 3 minutes. Fuuuuuuuccccckkkkkkk

Also, reply to above: Keane should be banned from celebrating goals. Every time he scores, he should just have to walk back to the centre circle with his head lowered.

 

[dAndAn]

mad, mad game. Brilliant. I thought Trap done a great job. He adapted and made some intelligent and positive changes.

and I reckon we'd be a greater threat up front with Folan in the mix. He does a better forwards job than Keane.

Fuck tho, 1-1. Delighted. Was an italy win though with 11 men and pirlo on the pitch.

 

[tombstome]

Groundsman should have been hung.
I have played for both Charleville As & Bs and would have found it difficult out there too.
I did have 4 bottles of Bavaria before the game though.
thought Keano was gonna repeat those 2 crackers against Fulham in the cup a few seasons ago when the ball dropped over his shoulder.

 

[Luther Blissett]

Just watched a replay of the goal on Youtube. Noel Hunt definitely scored it. Not that it matters that much.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNbJaQu1jz8&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fhome.php&feature=player_embedded