Thread title updated for the Greece game.
Festy is IN
1 Like
Not with the structures there. Football has to sort its shit out…or you may as well burn the money. It’ll just go into a blackhole.
2 Likes
They are giving monies for clubs to build bettwr grounds and academies mate
And its working beautifully. I wouldn’t give those headbangers a bob. Making ten year olds do trials for places at their club…lol…
3 Likes
Waste of money.
That devastating first half showed how mad it is to fantasise that a return to some kind of Jack Charlton tactics could be effective in today’s international football. Sure, there’s always the slim hope you’ll force a defender into a mistake, but it’s much more likely that you get piggy-in-the-middled. This is why Stephen Kenny believed Ireland had to become a side who knew how to play with the ball.
Put ‘em under pressure football still exists, but now it looks like what Atalanta did to Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League final last May. The Italian team pressed man to man all over the pitch. When any Leverkusen player was on the ball there was an Atalanta player hunting him down. Whoever he might pass to would have another Atalanta player hunting him down.
Matching up man to man all over the pitch obviously meant that Atalanta were playing one on one at the back. This defied the conventional wisdom that you should aim to have one more defender than the opposition has attackers. Atalanta accepted that risk as a price worth paying for the ability to enforce their pressure game further up the pitch.
Compare this to what Ireland were trying to do on Saturday. We played a back five, including three centre backs who, most of the time, had nobody to mark. This meant that England had at least two and often three spare players in midfield. They played around the outnumbered Irish midfielders like they were training cones.
Yet the supposed increased defensive solidity brought by the extra defenders was illusory. Trent Alexander-Arnold played a 50-yard pass right through Ireland’s centre for the first goal. “Should never happen, at any level,” said Hallgrímsson.
2 Likes
Greece will be a proper test of where we are. They played through us like we weren’t there under Spock (I’d say they could have gone another 90 mins again it was so easy). That was recently too. Hopefully we can improve on that
1 Like
the oirish manager has been in charge for 1 match
Gasperini has been in charge for 8 years
So how did Iceland have such success?
Ireland’s problem is they’ve been pulled from Jack to Billy and back to Jack tactics wise by different managers. The team must rightly disorientated. The new fella only met the players last Wednesday or whatever and the match on Saturday was pretty much a meet and greet for him rather than him being the actual manager.
3 Likes
Ah lads
FotF Gav Cooney lambasting the new man already yet was seeing encouraging patterns of play in Ireland’s defeat to Armenia 2 years into Spock’s reign.
10 Likes
The KPI for an Ireland manager should be Didi’s “good Irish play” segment last 2 minutes. Get Canham to track this on his PowerPoint presentations
He’ll surely go 4 at the back tomorrow.
Will he lads?
Even if we have no central midfielders of note, you can’t just play 2 in there these days.
That 5-4-1/5-2-3 that Spock & Sheasy rolled out needs to be put out to pasture.
Kelleher
O’Shea, Collins, Omobamidele, Scales;
Ogbene, Knight, Smallbone, AN Other
Szmodics, Ferguson.
Sammie would need to drop into midfield & onto their holding player when we don’t have the ball to make it a three. Let’s see what he can do from a more central role, he’s been played off the left so far.
Dunno who could play on the left of midfield but it would need to be someone who can work up & down the flank. You couldn’t really get away with playing Parrott or someone, as that front 6 offers fuck all without the ball really.
Actually we’re a bit fucked irrespective of what way we line up tbh.
I think Ireland will win on Tuesday night, big Evan off the bench for a late winner after latching on to a pass from midfielder Andrew Obamidele.
We’ve no left-back either though.
And centre-backs in full-back positions is even more of an abomination.
I think we’ll probably start with the 3-5-2 that finished the game against England.
Kelleher
Collins O’Brien O’Shea
Ogbene Knight Molumby Browne Brady
Szmodics Ferguson
Ideally, you’d be swapping out Brady if we had someone else but for set-pieces alone, I suppose you keep him.
I do actually like Omabamidele, anytime I’ve seen him, he’s been impressive on the ball but he’s barely played football in the past year?
When did Robbie Brady last deliver a set-piece that made him worth his place? I dont think he was ever really a full-back anyway. I think we urgently need pace out there
3 Likes
I was at the game on Saturday and we went to a 4-2-3-1 after the uucoam Doc got hooked.
My team fwiw
Kelleher
Collins O’Brien O’Shea Scales
Omobanidele Smallbone
Ogbene Knight Szmodics
Ferguson
3 Likes
Also, Brady, the Doc, Coleman are done, finished. Put them out to pasture, good luck and thanks for all the service and the memories*
*That’s for Coleman and Brady, not that cunt Doc.
4 Likes
I’d be inclined to play Ogbene and Idah up front. Greece play a high(ish) line against us the last time. Ogbene’s pace would keep them very honest and give Idah a foil. Smodiczczczsss behind, with a three in midfield all reasonably deep-lying, maybe even including Obomadamidele (no way I’ve spelled that correctly) as he looks good with the ball at his feet. Then a flat back four behind them. So a 4-3-1-2. Not a huge amount of width except for maybe the full-backs, but solid in the middle.