well the future doesn’t look too bright after ireland u-21’s were beaten 4-1 away to Armenia tonight…
Absolutely nothing coming through at underage but that aint acceptable and im off to set up a new thread
To name 4
[LIST=1]
[*]When you take corners
[*]When you take free kicks
[*]When you take penaltys
[*]When you are part of a defence that is conceding no goals through no actions on your part
[/LIST]
didnt andy reid play in that fateful game vs cyprus- wasnt he the midfeild playmaker that night at the bigotdome - ?
:rolleyes:
He was with Joey O’Brien in the centre.
Reid was man of the match v Germany in Croke Park also. Outplayed Ballack and Frings.
[quote=“KIB man”]He was with Joey O’Brien in the centre.
Reid was man of the match v Germany in Croke Park also. Outplayed Ballack and Frings.[/quote]
wasnt that basically a friendly:rolleyes: i recall him underperforming v the swiss in the crucial game a few years ago when it really mattered
No was a European qualifier if I remember correctly :rolleyes:
Don’t want to get bogged down in debate about Andy Reid as its our most important game in many years in 20 hours but if he were to have been brought on centrally when we were 1 down on Saturday I think we would have been overrun. He is in good form all right and can pick a pass on occassion but I couldn’t see him matching Lawrence’s workrate and can’t beat a player like McGeady, Hunt or Duff. Think he should certainly have a future in the squad though if his attitude is right.
All media seems very negative about our chances tomorrow. I give us a decent chance. Our away form in group has been good and will suit us in a way to be playing away from home where onus will be more on them and pressure off us. Other than outwide our options on bench are limited which is a concern if things go wrong. That said I am genuinely pretty confident we will go through. Don’t want a glorious failure anyway.
There’s no onus on France, larry - they’re leading the tie.
[quote=“larryduff”]Don’t want to get bogged down in debate about Andy Reid as its our most important game in many years in 20 hours but if he were to have been brought on centrally when we were 1 down on Saturday I think we would have been overrun. He is in good form all right and can pick a pass on occassion but I couldn’t see him matching Lawrence’s workrate and can’t beat a player like McGeady, Hunt or Duff. Think he should certainly have a future in the squad though if his attitude is right.
All media seems very negative about our chances tomorrow. I give us a decent chance. Our away form in group has been good and will suit us in a way to be playing away from home where onus will be more on them and pressure off us. Other than outwide our options on bench are limited which is a concern if things go wrong. That said I am genuinely pretty confident we will go through. Don’t want a glorious failure anyway.[/quote]
I think there is a bit to be honest. Onus/moral courage can be in terms of having to retain possession, retain a high line, pass the ball forward and not purely in scoring. Always more pressure on home side and in some ways that can work against in two legged tie where there are groans etc from crowd when passes don’t go forward etc.
In addition our style of play can suit playing away from home. We played very well in Bulgaria for good part of the game for instance.
If it’s still 0-0 with 15 minutes to go it’ll be some finish, something is guatanteed to happen. That might sound like the stuff of minnows but fuck it, should be exciting anyway 
[quote=“larryduff”]Don’t want to get bogged down in debate about Andy Reid as its our most important game in many years in 20 hours but if he were to have been brought on centrally when we were 1 down on Saturday I think we would have been overrun. He is in good form all right and can pick a pass on occassion but I couldn’t see him matching Lawrence’s workrate and can’t beat a player like McGeady, Hunt or Duff. Think he should certainly have a future in the squad though if his attitude is right.
All media seems very negative about our chances tomorrow. I give us a decent chance. Our away form in group has been good and will suit us in a way to be playing away from home where onus will be more on them and pressure off us. Other than outwide our options on bench are limited which is a concern if things go wrong. That said I am genuinely pretty confident we will go through. Don’t want a glorious failure anyway.[/quote]
Thought we were overrun a bit centrally after France scored though. Andrews kept getting caught ahead of the ball and Whelan even pushed on a good bit. It was Whelan remember who Lloris made a great save at the end. We struggled to use the ball during the period though. As the game opened up I would suggest Reid would have been suited in getting the ball to our wide players. I thought our back four looked very strong during that period when they were being run at it or caught for numbers. The only true other chance the French created was due to Kilbane’s fuck up.
Sure if we scored first it will be exciting. O’Shea should definitely push forward a bit more though. The only cleansheet we have kept away from home is Montenegro and unfortunately I can see them scoring. We wont score two.
That’s definitely the hope anyway. People get a bit carried away at home and the lads urging us to put on a fat fuck in the middle of the park so we could go for a goal then miss the point completely - a goal tonight is far more important than a goal on Saturday would have been to us. A late equaliser on Saturday night and we’re still behind, a goal tonight and we’re on different terms altogether.
I’m glad we have a manager who understands difference and realises that it’s more important to keep things tight at home. Unfortunately they got their deflected goal but that didn’t mean we needed to change the whole system “when the game opened up” - which it never did anyway.
Keep this at 0-0 for 70 minutes if we can and then we can go toe to toe for the last 20. For all the talk of conservatism the best two Irish performances in this campaign have been away to Bulgaria and away to Italy (probably followed by “away” to Georgia). Against all expectation we’ve actually been quite good when chasing the game. Trap does have us setup defensively but we have been behind a couple of times before and we have clawed it back well.
It won’t be easy tonight but I have hope.
[quote=“Rocko”]That’s definitely the hope anyway. People get a bit carried away at home and the lads urging us to put on a fat fuck in the middle of the park so we could go for a goal then miss the point completely - a goal tonight is far more important than a goal on Saturday would have been to us. A late equaliser on Saturday night and we’re still behind, a goal tonight and we’re on different terms altogether.
I’m glad we have a manager who understands difference and realises that it’s more important to keep things tight at home. Unfortunately they got their deflected goal but that didn’t mean we needed to change the whole system “when the game opened up” - which it never did anyway.
Keep this at 0-0 for 70 minutes if we can and then we can go toe to toe for the last 20. For all the talk of conservatism the best two Irish performances in this campaign have been away to Bulgaria and away to Italy (probably followed by “away” to Georgia). Against all expectation we’ve actually been quite good when chasing the game. Trap does have us setup defensively but we have been behind a couple of times before and we have clawed it back well.
It won’t be easy tonight but I have hope.[/quote]
Have you seen Reid this season? Dont understand the negativity towards him, did his old lad boot you out of his cab before or what?
That goal argument is truly ridiculous - seems to be your attitude that Ireland should have held onto a 1-0 defeat because an away goal means more:rolleyes: Epic level of bollocks there. Has it ever occurred to you that if we did score in Dublin and drew 1-1 then win in Paris means we go through. Saying Ireland should have written off the last 20mins approx in Dublin because a goal in Paris means more is idiot of the month stuff.
We had a major stroke of luck in Bari with the red card early on. Logic doesnt always work out in life generally and sport particularly. Diarra might crack, we could scare an early goal, we might get a penalty due to a mistake, Gallas has a new defensive partner they could be disastrous etc etc But these are major strokes of luck and something not to be relied on.
In terms of what we control, we still look dangerous from set pieces but I think the ball needs to be whipped in better something Reid and Hunt do. Duff certaintly needs to give more. He hopefully cant be as ineffective again. I’d argue that O’Shea should push forward more and Andrews also. I’d prefer if Lawrence/Mcgeady tucked in more to give us more numbers in the centre. Initially i would drop Robbie Keane deeper like in Bari. He looked sharp on the ball last Saturday so get him onto it early. Instead of hoofing the ball aimlessly if we are forced to play it long can we hit diagonal balls behind their full backs. Get them turning.
Come on Ireland.