John as always is right.
Nothing captures the publicās imagination in this country more than a successful Irish soccer team
John as always is right.
Nothing captures the publicās imagination in this country more than a successful Irish soccer team
That was just brilliant last night.
Longās finish was just class. Heās a very good player who has delivered for us a good few times now.
Jon Walters must be one of the most likeable Irish players ever. I still recall him at the end sprinting back to defend the right side as an Irish attack broke down.
Of course Hoolahan is never as good of a player as Dunphy says but I really like him. He tries to play football rather than out muscle people yet he still works really hard as well.
Cyrus Christie looks a player. Keogh was very good too. Probably the best I have seen McCarthy play for us.
I have criticised OāNeill in the past but his stamp is all over that team. Held them out for the first half and then said fcuk it, letās go for it. The improvement in recent matches has been hugely apparent. I thought we were really good in the match against Georgia in Lansdowne Road. They were not a bad side at all, well organised but we took the game to them and continue to do the right things and showed great heart - and that is a great sign of the manager. Bit of brilliance from Hendrick and we took the 3 points.
There is nothing like a big Irish football result! Except maybe an FBD League win for Leitrim.
Beat the WORLD CHAMPIONS. Get the fuck in there!
I wouldnāt be OāNeillās biggest fan and I wouldnāt be a huge fan of his team selections or constant chopping and changing for the sake of it which has happened a lot under his tenure and this craic of naming the team in the dressing room 90 minutes before a match but we do seem to be going in the right direction under him and whether we qualify or not he does deserve a new contract and two more years to continue what he is doing with the side.
We have really rode our luck in this group and three late goals against Georgia, Germany and Poland painted over some very flat performances early on but a win and performance like last night could well do wonders for all involved in the set up and you would hope that we will build on it.
will be some honour to be among the top 24 teams in Europe this summer. #COYBIG
Remember that orange cunt SFA CEO Stewart Regan jibing Mr Delaney in the press, bhoys? Wahey! Fuck the jockos!
@StewartMRegan on twitter.
Signing in with the small part of my being that remains sentient and intact. What a fucking feeling last night was. Iām still emotional thinking about it.
+1.
That will live long in the memory. It was rabid, feral, frenzied and other such synonyms as it reached a crescendo late on. People screaming, going berserk and gurning at German players when they had the ball. The Sherriff YC ball boys gave an absolute exhibition in being lazy in the second half too. Streetwise kids.
The massive cheer when we won the corner near the end was great. I was a nervous wreck for the last 20 minutes. My voice is fucked after it.
Haha!
For those lucky enough to be off work today last nights game is just being shown again now in its entirety on Sky Sports 5. :
This was a sensational turn on a six pence by Ozil last night
I see there were fights in hampden yesterday as the polaks didnāt get enough tickets and sat in amongst the home fans
Give our friend a bit of traffic - Irish fans on Camden Street last night
Sad to arrive at the 51 after and not see a familiar face. Only bit of taint on the evening for me.
@Nembo_Kid, as the forumās foremost football analyst, could you please expand on Irelandās tactical shape and formation last night? What was the reason behind Brady playing quite narrow? Did we āsacrificeā the flanks somewhat as Chippy Brady said? It didnāt seem to be a linear (is that the right word?) formation. It was fairly lopsided with different players taking turns to press them and certain players having to shuttle around/over to cover. Plotting out the formation would be helpful for those who donāt understand football.
We put em under pressure.
The passing and ambition of the team was what struck me the most last night.
When we got it, we got it down on the floor and moved it intelligently most times we had it. It was great to watch and begs the question, why canāt we do it all the time? In games against far inferior opposition, we have looked dreadful. Ireland were a different machine last night to the one weāve seen for most of the campaign thus far. A dud showing in Poland after that win would be a terrible let down.
Go for broke, thereās nothing to lose. Approach it with the same attitude to playing the game as last night and weāll be fine.
Fuckin fair play to them all.
Yes, I feel we did. I havenāt re-watched the game back but it looked to me like we played a diamond formation with Walters and Hoolahan dropping back but both still remaining quite narrow. I guess we didnāt really feel much of a threat from the Germans on the wing - the likes of Reus and Gotze like to cut inside and the two full backs are not the most adventurous so there was a good logic to it. We looked like we were happy to clog the middle and force them to go wide, their lack of an out and out striker played into our hands too.
Our pressing was very impressive though, good energy to it and it looks like something that had been trained on well in the build-up to the game, we seemed to hunt in packs and McCarthy in particular was brilliant in getting himself into covering positions when the midfielders pressed. He was absolutely immense last night and above all the players really set the tone. Iām a big fan of Hendrick too, very dynamic player and looks pretty composed on the ball. Tactically he has come on leaps and bounds since his erratic performance against Scotland at Celtic Park.
I think OāNeill never really gets the credit for his tactical calls, throughout his whole managerial career he has been flexible in the formations and systems he played. He was never one to shy away from making ballsy calls for big games and they proved to be spot on a lot of the time.
Glad to see him back to his passionate best.