Mac also said Ward’s man scored twice despite the fact that Griezmann wasn’t playing on the wing in the second half.
Ward’s primary job there on the second goal is to communicate with the centre backs about the runner. Obviously it would be great if he could catch him, but he can’t. Griezmann is being marked by McCarthy and he just takes a couple of steps out and then runs back in behind McCarthy. It’s clearly a really poor call from Duffy to go and try and win the header when Keogh is already with Giroud. If Ward can make up the ground on Griezmann then fantastic but he can’t. And the goal isn’t his fault. Duffy is primarily to blame and McCarthy probably second.
Interestingly, I think the first goal is not dissimilar. Giroud makes a movement from the far post to the near post. Duffy is obviously concerned with him and we end up with both centre backs under the ball and nobody in the space to attack the deeper ball to Griezmann. It’s nowhere near as big a mistake from Duffy but he does have a tendency to go towards the ball. I’m not sure he’ll get to it anyway because it’s pulled a bit back but he shouldn’t really leave that area.
hard to see how they were fatigued really when they did the least running of all the teams in the group stages. you could argue they were saving themselves for the last 16 match but they didnt run much yesterday either.
In fairness to Duffy Keogh had got caught on the wrong side of Giroud, so his instinct would have been to cover across. Coleman might have been expected to cover at least some of his ground but he checked out mentally when Giroud made his run across the box and instead of closing the space that Giroud had created he didn’t move leaving this space in the middle which you could drive a coach and four through.
Yeah that’s fair enough. I just think Duffy needs a bit more awareness to see what he’s leaving behind and to know a header out in a wide area isn’t that threatening that we need to go and win it. It was actually quite typical of how we bullied Rami in the first half and lots of ball broke to Hendrick and Brady but they’d more bodies back. Coleman is definitely too wide too.
Simplistic enough analysis but if Coleman had covered across at the same rate as Giroud moved he would have been in position to clear/block. But instead he barely budged.
It’s schoolboy stuff really… And it’s a joke you have to explain it to the likes of @carryharry, @Mac and @myboyblue - but your full back should always be tucking in to cover the centre when play is on the opposite side of the field, especially when he is free like that… It’s fucked up that we have to explain it like you’d explain it to a 8 year old but imagine the back four are tied together with a rope - when the centre halves get puled over the the fullback on the far side should be pulled in to the middle. @Little_Lord_Fauntleroy can you draw a diagram for @Mac please to explain this.
Lovely weekend in Lyon with @briantinnion, @Rocko, @Funtime, @ClarkeyCat and, of course, @Julio_Geordio. Some great Irish moments to savour over the past few weeks but the highlight for me was the FAI’s refinancing deal being completed on the opening day of the tournament. You can’t buy memories like that. Everyone lay off James McCarthy, please.
Basically what we had was a number of players abdicating responsibility, slightly excused by fatigue but the best players/teams don’t make these mistakes. A gaping hole appeared in the Irish defence and Coleman, Hendrick and McCarthy left it to each other to fill which none of them did. The two centre backs take their share of the blame too as they were on different wavelengths and caused the problem in the first place.
Ireland were incredibly brave and gave it all they had, they went down to a team with loads of attacking talent who really clicked and showed good character themselves.
We can be proud of what the lads put in out there. The way they took the game to the opposition in the France, Italy and Sweden was very encouraging.
No way was I trying to absolve Duffy of fault but I thought the attack by Dunphy & Giles on his selection was pathetic. Duffy’s 2 appearances were by far more positive than negative and I think he will be a super player for us.
Again, with regard to McCarthy. His first half performance yesterday was excellent, the best I’ve seen him play. But, his positioning & awareness of Griezmann in the second half was woeful and the RTE panel gave him a free pass but absolutely tore Duffy apart.
Agreed that we need to thank the boys for their strong tournament and move on now. It’s clear we need a thriving domestic game to build a better national team and that’s why I’m thinking of supporting Derby County from now on and buying a season ticket. Playing top flight English football on a weekly basis will push Hendrick and Christie to another level while it shouldn’t do Keogh any harm either.
