Enjoyable game for what it was and there was actually a half decent atmosphere in the ground.
Good points:
Shane Long - fast, lively, dangerous
Aiden McGeady continuing his fine form in his cameo role
Keith Fahey
Bad:
Every tim Westwood got it he hoofed it forward. I’m not asking him to be a playmaker or anything but a bit of variety would be welcome. Lawrence was at fault for their third goal, stood and waited for the ball to come to him. Did ok otherwise. Car crash defending all round for Ireland though. Cavani finished well for the second goal. McCarthy not in it.
Gibson’s ttempt at shot late on - holy shit, Keogh’s attempt to head the ball in from one yard :blink:
Have to say that I enjoyed last nights match more than saturday night. On the defence last night I thought O Dea was bad, was in line with the defence in the second half and you could see that O Dea had no intention of marking his man which was causing Clark to come more infield to help out which the left the space on that wing. On Clark I thought he did well.
Keogh is not a winger and I have question marks about him being a striker as well. I thought Keogh had taken McCarthy out of it for the penalty and it was soft penalty but on seeing the replay the Uruguayan defender took them out of it. Speaking of McCarthy the game seemed to pass him by but I think he worked hard, got in some tackles but this hoofing the ball forward meant the game passed over him. Green is lost in midfield, he made me wish for Whelan in the middle. Thought Fahy did well. Another couple of good saves from Westwood again to keep us in the game, he needs to work on his distribution and the length of time he takes for a goal kick.
Overall it was a good response from the lads especially after going a goal behind. A few of the lads I thought have given Trap something to think about. Is there anyway we can wrap Richard Dunne in cotton wool or at least clone him?
Interestingly, Emmet Malone has McCarthy down as “one of the night’s real success stories with the 20 year-old a little understated perhaps but still showing considerable maturity and an impressive capacity to influence the tempo of the game by switching between quick, accurate first-time passes and rather more patient build-up play.”
Most reports on message boards have him down as being fairly anonymous
I’d be happy if we could just dry him out. The end could come very quickly for Dunne. It wasn’t long ago he was a laughing stock at international level. He’s on his way back there lifestyle wise.
The stats, which Rocko / Nerdo is no doubt finalising, showed he had 20 touches of the ball. Probably not enough in that for Malone to be able to conclude so positively.
Was at this last night. Have to say it was one of the more enjoyable matches I’ve attended, nice atmosphere around the place even though it was half deserted.
Singing section were having great craic with the stewards playing keep away with any ball that ended up there. At one stage there was more people watching that than the match.
Westwood. Two great saves at the death. Sid said he should have passed it more but no one was looking for it. We were getting plenty of change out of the high balls anyway.
Clark. Was alright. A lot of their attacks came down his wing in the 2nd half. Did a few turns at one stage in the first half which got a great reaction around the place. Not a left back IMO.
Foley. Did fine nothing special.
Kelly & O’Dea did reasonably okay considering they’ve never played together before and kelly isn’t a centre half.
Hard to see who was to blame for the goals without having any replays, but the whole back four were a shambles at times especially for their first. They were left fairly exposed at times by a suprisingly attacking setup.
Lawernce. A nice option to have played okay without doing anything spectacular.
Keogh. His height upset the Uruguayians (is that a word?) at times. He’s fairly shit overall though.
Fahey. Said it after Saturday but he needs to start from now on. He actually looks for the ball which is something none of the rest of em do.
Green. Could’ve passed for a footballer at times. There was one stage he looked up and saw Lawernce I think on the wing fully twenty yards away in plenty of space. He then played a 5 yard pass to fahey and shouted at him to pass it out. I don’t know what it was about but I can only conclude he didn’t trust himself to make the pass. Better than usual but hopefully thats the end of him now.
McCarthy. Didn’t see a whole pile of him infairness they were kicking it over his head alot.
Long. Hungry even for a Tipperary man. Out jumped, out fought and outchased the Uragays. Super stuff from him. MOTM.
McGeedy. Super Cameo from him. If he played for whole matches like he did for that 15 mins he be up there with the best in the world. Finally progressing into the player we hoped?
Gibson. Adds nothing to the team imo. In direct contrast to Fahey he never looked for the ball.
Treacy was very indecisive when he came on. He won two frees but it was more to do with his unwillingness to pass the ball.
Stokes & Delaney weren’t really on long enough to do anything.
We were actually very attacking last night and it was great to watch. All in all fairly enjoyable night and worth every penny*
i am not a soccer expert by any stretch but the clamour for faheys inclusion seems to be skipping over two minor details
one uruguays first goal where he simply headed the ball into an opponent in some sort of bizarre star jump type excercise and two
uruguays second goal where he nodded a greeting to the winger as he passed him on the way into the box.
for a side like ireland stopping goals against is always critical to qualification because we simply don`t have the firepower to outscore anyone in a goal fest
I thought the Army band last night played much better than the Garda Band on saturday night. Dont what it was maybe the Army boys were a bit louder than the Grada band. Felt sorry for the Uruguayans when they faced the wrong way for their national anthem and just had to stand looking into the North stand wondering where the fuck was their flag.
Enjoyable game last night and some encouraging stuff emerged from it. Few matters of concern also mind though considering we were missing so many the good points outweight the bad points for me.
Westwood 7.5 Did the crucial jobs well. Distribution and communication were poor however.
Foley 7 Caught out of position little too easily good. Neat and tidy otherwise
Kelly 6 Looked rusty which is understandable given his lack of football and new partnerhsip with O’Dea
O’Dea 5.5 Is a very good footballer with ball at his feet so I wouldn’t criticise him for hoofing it when he deemed it necessary but unfortunately he is way too slow for and while better defenders can get away with a lack of pace O’Dea can’t
Clark 4.5 Bit of a shocker in truth. Caught with ball in behind a few times, defended poorly and just had an all round poor game. Like his attitude though. Has bit of fight in him
Lawrence 6.5 Lovely ball in for Long’s goal. Looked for the ball short once or twice to often but that is down to his lack of pace I suppose. Caught in possession for their third goal
Fahey 7 Mixed the good with the bad. The good was his passing. The poor was his defensive responsibilities
Green 5.5 Not really up to it. Slow with the ball and not great without it
McCarthy 5.5 Struggled to impose himself
Long 8.5 Excellent performance. Battled well and looked a threat all night
Treacy Looked poor
Gibson Very poor
McGeady Touch of class
Had to laugh at Dion Fanning on Off the Ball after the match last night suggesting Trap changes his tactics-he was advocating a Kevin Keegan style “we’ll score more than you even if we concede plenty” type game. I’m not 100% satisfied with the style of football under Trap but I think I’ll trust him ahead of the likes of Fanning thank you very much.
Id have to agree with you here. Fahey was at fault for their three goals. Absolutely shocking for the first two. Clark was also caught upfield for their third. With McCarthy anonymous if reports are to be believed then the game only justified Traps approach of having stronger players in midfield and keeping the full backs behind the play.
Super ball in from Lawrence for the first goal while Long did great for the second.
The ball never got near McCarthy to get on the ball. It was lumped long for the entire match. Players in midfield aren’t much use when they aren’t given the ball, whether they are strong or not.
What about those who have a deep knowledge of the game who criticised him previously based on his lack of impact at international level in the 35 odd caps previously? Good to see him put two good performances in a row together I must say. I had huge doubts about him but he seems more mature now on the ball.
Thought Fahy did well. Another couple of good saves from Westwood again to keep us in the game, he needs to work on his distribution and the length of time he takes for a goal kick.