Nah thatâs what Glenn was doing for 70 odd games
And that line by you was far more mean spirited then me jokingly wishing an injury on Glenn bloody Whelan.
Its like the Dublin hurling job nowâŚall about profile.
He wouldnt take it but Kenny would make a serious job of an underage side ala Kerr. He would appear to be able to get a lot out of and develop young players well
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Some really damning statistics for Eire and Martin OâNeill here.
During the 2018 World Cup qualification campaign:
Eire were 34th in Europe in terms of average goals per game.
28th for average goal attempts per game.
41st in terms of average attempts on target per game.
Eire were 41st in Europe in terms of possession percentage - it almost goes without saying that that is the lowest of any team that finished in the top two of their group.
Eire were 38th for average corners won per game.
On average only 11 teams conceded more corners per game than Eire.
Only Andorra, San Marino, Liechtenstein and Gibraltar averaged fewer passes per game than Eire.
On average, only Andorra, San Marino, Liechtenstein, Gibraltar and Luxembourg completed fewer passes per game than Eire.
Only seven teams had a worse average passing accuracy than Eire: Andorra, San Marino, Liechtenstein, Gibraltar, Luxembourg, Malta and Moldova.
Those last 3 are just shocking.
Only 10 or 12 countries take soccer seriously and Eire is clearly not one of them.
Name these ten or twelve mate
It will be very very very very interesting to see attendances over the next few years when results get worse and worse. The debt on the stadium will look bigger and bigger ans sadly there may be further paycuts for FAI staff below CEO grade
You seem to know a bit about Soccer can you tell me something, is there any Irish player under the age of 25 playing regulalrly in any of the top leagues in Europe?
A âsoccer manâ told me during the week that this season had the lowest number of irish players in the top league in england in historyâŚ
He has Ipswich one up after 6 minutes. Shockingly underused by OâNeill while that fud Long gets opportunity after opportunity
"The Craic Was Ninety In Copenhagen"
Not written by Christy Moore
Werenât we the rare oulâ stock
Spent the morninâ gettinâ locked
In the Airport bar
Where the high stools were engaging
Flew to Hamburg, Germany
Whackerâs stomach was carried carefully
Had a look around
And then four more pints, well they went down
Sure heâs an Irish football fan
Oh the craic was ninety in Copenhagen
Boarded the train at platform five
Oh what a time to be alive
Opened up a bag of yokes
Near some unsuspecting Danish folks
Then the boat train it did reach the dock
The boat she sailed at three oâclock
âAh look at thisâ says Whack
"A train on a boat, sure thatâs some craicâ
Carry him if you can
Oh the craic was ninety in Copenhagen
Before we reached the Danish coast
Well Whacker he did raise a toast
On the deck of the boat, we had great sport
As the ship she sailed out from the port
Landed back on the train again
With all the drunken Irishmen
The journey didnât take too long
As we belted out the rebel songs
Bate that if you can
Oh the craic was ninety in Copenhagen
That night we went to an Irish pub
The place was heaving, full of Dubs
All went in for a mighty session
In the pub they call the Rover
Whacker went searchinâ for a fight
He punched a Mayo lad twice his height
And before he fled the scene
The Mayomanâs colours changed to red and green
Whacker left and ran
Oh the craic was ninety in Copenhagen
Next morning went for a ramble round
To see the sights of Copenhagen Town
Oh the Palace was a lovely sight
But the Mermaid statue it was shite
Walked to the hippie commune then
We got talkinâ there to two strange men
Got out a wad of cash
Before Whacker knew it heâd a lump of hash
âLads hide that if you canâ
Oh the craic was ninety in Copenhagen
Took a journey out to the Carlsberg too
The place was full of horseâs poo
Had a load of pints there
And we got them for no money
Came back into the town for more
We stood outside a knickers store
As the women came out on their own
Whacker took pictures with his phone
Oh keep it secret, man
Oh the craic was ninety in Copenhagen
Whacker fancied his good looks
With a Copenhagen woman he was struck
A Belfast lad was by her side
And he throwinâ the jar into her
Whacker thought heâd hit the stage
He asked her for her Facebook page
Round the street they stepped it out
To Whack it was no bother
Everything was goinâ to plan
Oh the craic was ninety in Copenhagen
That eveninâ âfore we hit the ground
There were girls and fellas fallinâ round
There was an awful stink
Off the Irish with too much to dhrink
The place it looked like a battle zone
Three hours to kick-off still to go
Whacker was holdinâ up his shoes
As he drunk out of a can of booze
You wouldnât get it in Iran
Oh the craic was ninety in Copenhagen
Some had a ticket and some of us not
So Whacker thought heâd take a shot
He had a look around
As he strolled about outside the ground
Got talkinâ to a Danish tout
200 quid it was the shout
And before we could shout âup Irelandâ
Whacker had a ticket in his hand
We all drew up our plan
Oh the craic was ninety in Copenhagen
Well the stewards they said no colours green
In the Danish end could they be seen
But Whacker said âto hell with thatâ
As he wore an Ireland shirt and hat
He waited up at the turnstile queue
And said to the steward âlet me in tooâ
But the Danish man turned him away
Said âNo Irish allowed in here todayâ
His ticket wouldnât scan
Oh the craic was ninety in Copenhagen
Whacker flew into a rage
Said âthis ticketâs cost me weekly wageâ
But Whacker was banned from the place
Then he threw a punch in the stewardâs face
Then whack, the stewards whacked into Whack
Poor Whack was landed on his back
Ended up in the Danish jail
Until the Dublin plane did sail
Deported the poor man
Oh the craic was ninety in Copenhagen
Now five goals later Whackerâs out
At the World Cup he wonât act the lout
Like the Viking plunderers of old
Oh the Danish plundered Lansdowne Road
Still, heâll always have the memories
Though he canât recall too many of these
Whackerâs dream it has been sunk
And the truth is Whacker still is drunk
Oh jaysus, what a man
But the craic was ninety in Copenhagen
Fucking hell
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Genius
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Way too short, needs another 12 verses.
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I think you overestimate your concentration span, which is better illustrated by the shortness of the post I quote here.
Probably by about 24 verses.
Stock up on the jam rags to give you the strength you need for the next few nights âworkâ.
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Youâve been showing terrible signs that youâre going all menopausal lately, mate, actually you have been for a long time now.
Your friends are here for you.
Agreed on Kerr.
Martin OâNeillâs main strengths as a manager are not his playing career. His managerial record is excellent. There are very very few managers who have his experience and his success rate. Heâs not perfect, but he has earned his reputation as a manager over a really long time.
Also, he was a successful club manager. Too much is made of anecdotes about his tactical details etc. He didnât just motivate Celtic to a European final or motivate Leicester to two cups or motivate his teams to promotion or motivate Aston Villa to those league finishes. Of course thatâs a strength, but he knows how to organise a team too.
He got it wrong on Tuesday. We definitely went for it too early. The second goal we conceded was unfortunately reminiscent of our concessions against France and Belgium at the Euros. If we try and play further up the park and get our back 4 to the halfway line weâll get ripped apart unfortunately. Thatâs because of the quality of our defenders and of our midfielders, though McCarthy has been a big loss from that defensive midfield role. I think we could be better against counter attacks but the initial solution was to defend deeper and that makes us hard to break down until we give away a stupid first goal.
Anyway Iâm not sure where this Northern Ireland play âfar better footballâ comes from. They barely kicked a ball at the Euros - they just camped out at the edge of their own box. They tried to do the same for a couple of games against the Swiss and were torn apart but Switzerland missed a glut of chances. Heâs done a very good job with them obviously, but theyâre not playing expansive football and they were completely outplayed in their playoff too.
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The job OâNeill did with Leicester was quite reminiscent of the job several other managers have done with similar clubs over the years. Curbishley with Charlton, Allardyce with Bolton, Pulis with Stoke. All are good motivators and could/can organise a team and make them tough to beat. But itâs ultimately primitive enough football and usually relies on having a good complement of big, strong, physical players, and OâNeill has always gone in for that type.
With Celtic it canât be overstated how valuable Larsson was. What Larsson did with Celtic was like what Suarez did with Liverpool in 2013/14, except it carried on for four straight seasons under OâNeill. Everything hinged on having a player of the genius of Larsson. As well as that OâNeill was lucky to inherit some other really good signings by previous managers such as Petrov, Lambert, Mjallby, Morvacik etc. who backboned the team.
That said, he did a good job with Celtic for sure. But he struggled badly in the last season without Larsson and got out when he felt he wouldnât be able to bring Celtic back to the heights of 2000-2004.
The jobs he did at Villa (apart from a decent first season) and Sunderland showed he was falling behind the game in terms of tactical thinking, especially in a creative, attacking sense, and thatâs always where he has struggled.
Eire were being outplayed from very soon after Duffyâs goal. They had a mini-decent period around the 20 minute mark when Murphyâs and McCleanâs chances came in quick succession but it was all quick one touch stuff and not once in the first half did they get the ball and slow things down and try to take a bit of the sting out of Denmark. Without another goal that was always going to be necessary. The players might not be the greatest in the world but most are established Premier League players. They have to be capable of better than what theyâve shown in this regard and indeed theyâve shown it in the past, against Bosnia, Sweden, Italy, France and Austria in Vienna. But there isnât a culture of it from the top, OâNeill has retreated into his late Aston Villa/Sunderland mode, become paranoid and fearful, and the stats in that article are absolutely damning in terms of the negativity of the football. Georgia away was the nadir of this.
What happened in the second half as regards tactics was like what van Gaal did in 2001 here. The team lost all shape and a sense of panic set in. A change needed to be made for sure but one half-time sub would have been enough. We were easy pickings after that.
They werenât completely outplayed. Switzerland had more chances over the two legs alright and thatâs to be expected given they have much more quality but Ireland showed far more initiative in working the ball forward than Eire did, had Switzerland seriously rattled in the second half of the game in Basel, and they did it with a lot of good passing football too, with a poorer team.
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I just texted Gerry Armstrong and he says this is bollox.
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Allardyce is clearly a good manager. He has had sustained success. Curbishley couldnât really repeat his successes and wasnât as much of a long ball manager. Pulis isnât a bad manager either. Theyâre limited enough in their style of play. Theyâre not fantastic managers, but Pulis and Allardyce arenât clueless either.
Larsson was clearly a world class player. So is/was Suarez. But they were lifted to new heights by better managers. I donât see why getting the most out of a world class manager is a negative. Surely that shows thereâs more to OâNeill than motivation. Unless you think Larsson or Suarez donât need coaching.
That was a physically imposing Celtic team but they played excellent football. They didnât hoof their way to the UEFA Cup Final or hoof their way to 98 points in a domestic season.
[quote]
That said, he did a good job with Celtic for sure. But he struggled badly in the last season without Larsson and got out when he felt he wouldnât be able to bring Celtic back to the heights of 2000-2004.[/quote]
I think you mean he âgot outâ when his wife got very ill.
The job he did at Aston Villa was excellent. That was another very mediocre team and he got them contending for Europe. They spent to achieve that but he got results to match the spending. Plenty of English clubs have tried to buy their way to Top 6 finishes and have failed miserably.
I think your familiarity with their achievements is summed up by your âapart from a decent first season.â Apart from that season (11th) he finished 6th twice. Itâs quite the argument to put forward that his best achievement was that 11th placed finish.
Georgia away was very poor. But youâre giving the players credit for showing they can play in Vienna but itâs the managerâs fault that they donât reach that performance all the time. Ireland were fourth seeds and had the fourth best pool of players in that Group. We didnât have an Alaba or a Bale or any of Serbiaâs stars. Our most technically âgiftedâ player is a 35 year-old player who is in and out of his team in the second tier of English football.
Premier League status may give players money but it doesnât actually mean all that much unfortunately. Randolph was fairly brutal in the Premier League last year. Ward is a limited but honest player who had a nightmare on Tuesday after a good campaign. Duffy is a promising error-prone young centre back who wouldnât be starting in the top flight in a less physical league. Clark is the same only worse.
Arter is a classic example of a âPremier League talent.â Billy Big Boots at fucking Bournemouth but now graces us with his presence. Finally started playing well in recent games for Ireland until he just decided to launch everything into the sky on Tuesday when under any sort of pressure. Hendrick and Brady are two regulars at a shitty club. They have talent but theyâve barely contributed in an Ireland shirt in 2 years (Hendrickâs intervention in Wales aside). McClean was a journeyman winger who is now our most important player but probably wouldnât be picked by most EPL managers. Meyler is in and out of the Championship - a terrible league for any sort of technical development (currently in it). OâDowda is marooned there too along with our impact sub McGeady.
And Murphy is a Championship striker at the end of his career, keeping a non-goalscoring tactical ignoramus out of the team.
Iâd have plenty to criticise MON for and I wouldnât be overly disappointed if he called it a day but the idea that he doesnât have any tactical nous is simplistic and ridiculous.
Van Gaal had an array of talents that he didnât know how to use properly against vastly inferior opposition. Thatâs a very different situation from the one facing OâNeill. Iâm not sure you thought through that comparison at all.
The game was lost in the first half. Two really poor goals to concede after two individual errors that compounded poor organisation. But really, the big mistake from OâNeill was putting Arter deep and Meyler to the right so we could try and get more possession. That backfired badly. Arter panicked and Meyler was lost/wasted. But itâs easier to just blame long ball stuff.
Ah thatâs ok. I had assumed you had watched the games. Evidently not.
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I certainly did. Switzerland won the tie by one goal on a disgraceful penalty decision, and despite you clearly getting hurt and offended at Gerry Armstrongâs enthusiasm on commentary, Ireland played some excellent football and Switzerland certainly were hanging onto their lead for grim death at the end the game in Basel.