Youâre equating possession football with an ultra high defensive line. I wouldnât advocate that either. I donât think our midfield is skilled enough to take possession under pressure and advance. Iâd like to see us play a lower, slower spread out possession game at the moment, looking for opportunities in behind for Connolly and to work for set pieces. It would be slower and less exciting but hopefully more pragmatic and successful.
McClean tries his heart out but his first touch is a second touch. Has to be phased out.
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Long has been better as a sub lone striker if that makes sense. He relishes running at lads later in games. Iâd be very wary of playing a lad who has barely played for his club in the last 18months though, particularly up front.
If you want to play possession football you canât have huge gaps between your defence and midfield and midfield and attackers with your cente backs sitting deep. They have to move up and down the field as a unit and have bodies around the ball. You canât try and keep the ball and pass around teams and then have a large gap between your midfield and centre backs, otherwise if you are pressed and lose the ball you will be opened up at will.
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In terms of saving tackles and headers yes. And in fairness in terms of general defending.
But he struggles on the ball. He was a major culprit of launching it during those horrible occasions under OâNeill and McCarthy where I have never seen us play as badly.
Yes I did a post here a while ago detailing Shane Longâs goals for Ireland. He has 17 international goals and only 1 came in a competitive game which he started
If Jim Beglin isnât on co commentary tonight then we can forget about getting any kind of positive result.
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This is essentially whatâs happened in his reign to date. Weâve been strung out and totally exposed when we cheaply lose the ball. Or equally as annoying when we donât have the ballâŚa front two or three pressing the opposition high but itâs uncoordinated and not backed up by the midfield and defence moving up in unison. So the opposition with a couple of one twos take out the front three and get moving forward at an overstretched midfield and back four.
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Disagree, you can spread the game out as much as possible in possession to buy your players an extra yard or two each time. Itâll greatly enhance their chances of actually finding a teammate with the next pass. We donât need to press or close down in their half too much. Hit them as soon as the get close to the half way line. You do need a defensive midfielder for this strategy, because there is more space between the lines. But at least youâre not sitting on the edge of your box in 2 lines of 4 and 5 for 90 minutes. Because then you are waiting for the fuck up.
I think the point being made is that we are neither here nor there yet and stuck between the two, kind of a half press with a deep back 4 and no mans land to run into for the opposition. It looks like there is a breakdown somewhere.
The most annoying thing for me is when Hourihane and Hendrick both play in midfield. One wants to be a left full and one wants to be a right mid so they basically stand 40 yard from goal or deeper on the wing killing all our space for the full backs (our only real attacking weapon) and leaving a gap inside for a counter. Itâs fucking infuriating watching it happen time and time again the last few games.
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I simply think we should shoot every time we get within 25 yards of the goal.
Langer it at 'em - one might go in.
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You must have loved Stephen Hunt. The ultimate effort player.
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I know that this has been said before. I do think that with the players that we have that wing-backs would give us a little bit more attacking threat.
Doherty is not very good defensively, but he is actually a very good attacking wing-back. Stevens on the left can definitely offer a threat too. It also gives us the option of two up top; although in the absence of McGoldrick, none of the options are inspiring.
However, it doesnât seem like Kenny likes this option, he seems fairly stuck with his 4-3-3. Hourihane has been doing well at Swansea in terms of goals/assists and is arguably worth carrying for his set-piece delivery; although he is out tonight. Generally do, if you want to play possession football, you need to pick players who want to play that style.
But realistically, our best chance of a goal is from a set-piece and therefore, you need to pick someone who can deliver a dead ball. Does that mean that Brady has to start?
I personally would much rather play counter-attacking football with a midfield who can pass a bit when they have to. I hope Browne stats anyway, heâs our best midfielder atm.
Too young to remember but didnât we have a lad called Tommy Coyne start up front in the 94â World Cup when we beat Italy. Niall Quinn was injured apparently? A quick google search suggests Coyne was playing for Motherwell at the time. I suppose we still had ageing Aldridge and Cascarino off the bench though.
We were blessed with Robbie Keane for so long.
Quinn should have been brought to USA '94. Man City effectively blocked him from going as he was in recovery from a knee injury.
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Think heâd done his cruciate around Christmas â93 and recovery back then was more 9 months than 6 so realistically he was always going to be kept back by his club.
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Talk it could be 3-5-2 tonight. I hope so.
There is a cadre of Irish soccer hacks that are obsessed with âgood footballâ & âplaying the right wayâ .
The reality is most just want good results and qualifying for tournament finals .
Serbia are no great shakes currently but they are probably the best team we play yet under Kenny . It will be interesting to see how we do .
Surely we deserve better football than the tripe over the last 10 years? Playing some decent football against teams we are superior than would be a start.
The team has broadly overachieved over the last 10 years
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