Forde my man of the match but McCarthy, Coleman and Long were all very good too. Those four weren’t in the team a short while ago and they weren’t always even in the squad. Maybe change came to late in the context of the Euro finals nut we’ve certainly evolved since then.
Looked like we deliberately tried to close out the game at the end with Sammon coming on and sitting deeper. That may have partly been an exercise to test ourselves after the same tactic failed against Austria. Because otherwise we were ambitious and creative and that was good to see.
Still lacking a couple of defenders. Centre backs were mixed, O’Shea managed to hide again - always just walking towards the ball, never the last line of defence or even pressing with urgency, just ambles out of his zone. Kelly unfortunately didn’t look great back there.
Brady would add a bit of something on one wing there, though playing he and McGeady might be too much. If we are looking at a 4-4-1-1 ever then he looks like he could play off the striker.
Also thought Whelan was poor enough in midfield but it’s good to see McCarthy’s maturity because he’ll start every time now and that’s been our biggest problem area so to solve half of it is good.
Has Kelly ever had a a decent game for us at left back? He looks a far more assured player on the other side.
With Meyler and Garvan hopefully playing week in week out in the EPL next season and Hendricks continued development hopefully Whelan will be transitioned out of the starting team sometime in the near future
Decent performance, but hard to shake the belief that 1. England are fairly average and 2. England didn’t give much of a shit about this game. Still though, Coleman and McCarthy have both improved a lot this season and it was good to see them bringing that to the national team. Forde excellent too, and I would be in the camp of being positive about the threat McGeady poses. Long is definitely our leading striker now. I know Robbie didn’t travel until late, but I remain with my view that he would be a better option off the bench at this stage. He hasn’t looked on the pace for us over the last 12 months. Disappointing but not surprising that Sammon was brought on ahead of Hoolahan.
[quote=“Sidney, post: 779121, member: 183”]I’m officially returning to the pro-Giovanni Trapattoni camp and I appeal to other flip-floppers and disssenters to do likewise.
We will qualify for the World Cup.[/quote]
Welcome back Sidney. Unfortunately, we won’t.
I presume there will be wholesale changes for Sundays friendly v Georgia with the likes of Westwood, O’Dea, Brady, McClean, Cox, Hendrick and possibly Houlihan starting
Good, battling display by Ireland. New contract for Mr Trapattoni please. I thought Coleman, McCarthy and Long were superb and Forde was excellent too, particularly with the second half saves from Oxlade-Chamberlain and Walcott.
Disagree strongly with any O’Shea and Whelan criticism. O’Shea defended very well, I felt, and Whelan got through a lot of good work. St Ledger displayed a lack of composure for the goal - it was rash/sloppy but he was good otherwise. Would be looking at Brady and other options instead of the ineffective McGeady for a wing position.
Our goal was one of real beauty. Great reception for our players by the Irish support at the end too. Overall, Coleman and McCarthy were the main positives - you could see McCarthy barking out instructions and showing lots of authority so Trap will be happy.