Hendrickās great trick is to trot into a position where it looks like he is an option for the man on the ball but he often manages to put himself in a position where the passing lane is blocked. I watched him closely v Bulgaria and he was at this all the time.
Wtf?
Passing lane
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I like McClean, and think he has consistently done well for Ireland despite his limitations. But if Kenny wants us to pass the ball around, his first touch is just nowhere near good enough.
His pace, fitness and work rate are still valuable assets and against a team who would dominate possession, I think heād still be a very useful option on the break.
Has scored some huge goals for us too.
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Yeah I was fairly concerned (if thatās the right word) by Irelandās lack of shape and cohesion with and without the ball.
I completely accept the difficulties of a new manager trying to implement a new system with limited preparation time, but the extent of how ragged we were worried me.
I think in the second game when Arter was the base midfielder the midfield was dragged all over the place. We were killed on transitions (cc @mickee32) when we cheaply gave away the ball. Midfielders out wide and then the opposition breaking on our back four (or three with Doherty standing hands on hips in the opposition half).
Thereās also the issue of trying to get a reactive team to play on the front foot and pushing much higher up the pitch as a unit. We were completely strung out at times. Duffy not comfortable leaving space in behind so having the back four drop back, Doherty AWOL leaving a gap beside him, the midfield marked absent and the members of the front three pressing in an uncoordinated way so that they were easy to play around and then taken out of the game.
A shit opposition like Finland having a load of 3 v 3 and 2 v 2 runs at our defence.
Hopefully weāll see major improvement by having a solid experienced player like McCarthy back in midfield with Hendrick in there too, more time for Kenny to get his game plan across and the Slovakians being decimated by COVID-19.
Yeah the high line and press wasnt coordinated. A recipe for disaster. You saw what happened with liverpool when the press broke down and villa had time to pass over or through the high lineā¦
I think Ireland will sit in a bit more tonight. He tried things in friendlies. This will be more orthodox
But but but but what will Kennyās media cheerleaders say if we revert to Duffy marshalling the defence on the edge of the box and a general game plan of keeping it tight with no real focus on controlling the game via possession?!
Depends on the result
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Iām not sure what will be more nauseating after the game, if we lose the journos who make out its McCarthyās fault for finishing third in a group with two teams that are much better than us or if we win and they make it out to be a massive achievement against an already fairly shit team without their 3 best players
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Is he talking about Formula 1?
Jack Byrne in the match-day 23 for the game against Slovakia.
Kevin Long and Josh Cullen the 2 players from the squad of 25 that miss out.
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5 years ago today
A winner takes all clash up in Windsor Park would be unrale.
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Saw some lad on here had Christie before Doherty. Jesus weeps.
Doherty lacks moral fibre. A spoon would be better than him.
If this Didsy chap is the saviour Iād fear we are royally fucked.
Still get goosebumps watching that and listening to the roar
To be fair you donāt slice bread with a Spoon.
Everything would be kicking off on the Royal Victoria wards that night.
There is no spoon
With ICU capacity already in doubt