The aftermath [Ireland v Russia]

Tellox

Good game, Bad result.
Now we have to beat switzerland away, and thats quite a task..
Duff's goal was good, but Russia's goal was an absolutle shambles. Went through one of our lads legs n'all..

Does anybody else here think we're not going to portugal next summer?

PHB

Our centre midfield was a joke, Healy was terrible.

Kilbane was really good, Duff and him we're the only thing had going in that attack.

Emboss

Here we go again

Armchair Managers unite

The Muppet

Kilbane was really good

To what effect? I dont know how he got motm didnt they see duffers? I dont think we had our best available 11 on for the
whole match. Finnian didnt appear at all not good for someone heralded as the best LB in the prem. Carsley was muck and out of position why didnt reid play the 90 mins? Lets hope other results go our wat and we have robbie available for the nest match or we wont be off to potugal for our hols next year.

kmart6

It was crap should have done way better.

Carsly shuldnt have been in the squad only back from injury.

Finnan should have started left-back,with O'Shea center-back with Cunningham.

Its going to be tough trying to beat the Swiss away from home

ShriekingSheet

Kilbane WAS good!

Along with Duff he was the only player on the pitch playing positive football and looked relatively exciting on the ball. He made few mistakes and made a good impression on the game.

Most dissapointing, I felt, were Carsely and Holland.

mike65

Did'nt see all the game but what stuck me was the lack of
"togetherness" there did'nt seem to be any great idea of how to arrive at a goal scoring position. Finnan should have played on the right wing with Duff on the left. Morrison and ahem, Doherty should have paired the attack (little an' large style).

Mike.

super_furry

Here we go again

Armchair Managers unite

Well what else is this forum for then?

Anyway I think Russia played the perfect away game, defended comfortably throughout and were probably the slighly better team. A draw was a fair result, but Ireland just had no creative ideas other than give it to Duff and see what happens. The fact the Gary Doherty played (and I use that term losely) up front for and that Kevin Kilbane was probably our best player says it all really.

Dooom

what was the finishing score? was it still 1-1?

ShriekingSheet

Originally posted by super_furry

Anyway I think Russia played the perfect away game, defended comfortably throughout

Definitely!

So many men behind the ball

Crowded out our midfielders so well - This made us look worse than we actually were

ella minnow pea

i thought reid was weak actually, we missed duff, the crowd was good but after half time we lacked that spark

Lennoxschips

Given: 6
Didn't have much to do, but flapped the corner that led to the goal.

O'Shea: -
Not on long enough to judge. Looked his usual effective self though.

Breen: 6
Did okay, but often drifted out of position, luckily the Russians didn't take advantage.

Cunningham: 8
Good solid performance, will be missed in Switzerland.

Carr: 7
Competent, strong performace, if a little unimaginative going forward.

Kilbane: 7
Once again, strong performance and worked hard, but lacking that bit of magic going forward. Would make an excellent left back.

Healy: 6
Looked out of his depth today.

Holland: 6.5
Put in some crunching tackles, but didn't pass the ball as well as I would have liked and was generally chasing in midfield.

Carsley: 5.5
This guy isn't a winger.

Morrisson: 7
Did as well as he could do up front, was good when he was on the ball, but unfortunately he didn't get the ball enough.

Duff: 9
Wonder goal, excellent attacking work, good defensive work, worked all over the pitch. What more can you ask for? Man of the match. Future captain?

Harte: 6
Didn't do much attacking-wise and left Kilbane do his defensive work. His magic left foot disappointed today.

Reid: 6.5
Patient on the ball, and gave good simple passes instead of trying to take on the whole team. Held up the ball well to give other players a breather. Looked a bit rusty though, hopefully he can get some games under his belt before Switzerland.

Doherty: -
I don't think he was the right player to unlock the Russian defence. Perhaps a small, tricky player like Connolly would have been the better option to bring on.

qwertyup

I think that it was a fair result, as neither side deserved three points thanks to the paucity of real penetrating attacks on either side.

As for Kilbane, if he could only pass/cross he would be a handy player when in form, but that is not the case. I think he got managed to play in all of three or four balls from his runs.

Oh well, here's hoping for a draw between Russia/Switzerland, and for us to put away the Swiss on their home ground.

<HOLDS BREATH>

UbahOne

Ireland deserved the three points in my opinion. We had more possession but lacked the bite up front...

Reid was ****e. He does not know how to run with the ball. Healy was woeful. It was Duff and surprise surprise Kilbane where anything was coming from.

The Muppet

As for Kilbane, if he could only pass/cross he would be a handy player when in form, but that is not the case. I think he got managed to play in all of three or four balls from his runs.

Exactly. Made some great runs but too many of the came to nothing . No Effect, he tried his heart out and is to be commended for this but he just doesnt posess the skill to penetrate the defence or deliver a killer ball from his many runs.

Dr. Dre

Originally posted by mike65
Did'nt see all the game but what stuck me was the lack of
"togetherness" there did'nt seem to be any great idea of how to arrive at a goal scoring position. (Sic)
Mike.

Agreed. However, I appear to have been watching a different game than anyone else here, I thought Ireland sucked a$$, Duff was our only hope, but he only got the ball about 10 times such was the quality of service to him. His goal was very fortuitous lets be honest, it was going nowhere before it deflected off the defender, but we'll take what we can get. On that performance they don't deserve to get to the business end of the tournament.
I've learnt my lesson about betting on them anyway, a nice €100@Evs loss.
Shower of useless *@!& ...........etc. etc. ad nauseum

Big Ears

i was watching the Wales V Italy match last night and the commentater said if italy and wales finish level on points italy will win the group because of their better record of the 2 wales V italy games. Does this mean if ireland finish level with russia russia will get the playoff place.

The Muppet

Does this mean if ireland finish level with russia russia will get the playoff place.

Yep, we needed to win by 2 clear goals to reverse the situation.

Lennoxschips

If the Swiss win on Wednesday then they've won the group and we'll only need a point in Basel to secure second place. Seeing that the Swiss will already have qualified then it seems likely that that point will be achieveable.

Playoff against England, anyone?

colster

I think we got what we deserved yesterday. Russia played well.
We didn't have a strong presence in midfield.

I think it is wrong to think that this is still a 3 horse race. Georgia are only 4 points behind ireland with albania and russia away to play.
If Georgia win their last 2 games and Switzerland beat Russia we will need to beat Switzerland to get to the playoffs.
the fact that Georgia are still in with a shout may be a good thing for ireland provided we get a result in Switzerland.

The Muppet

We didn't have a strong presence in midfield.[/QUOTE

Lets be honest Ireland is lacking in midfield and we have one of the best midfielders in the world who would still walk into any national squad but will not play for us because the Gobsh!ts that run our national game are more interested in perks than looking after the players. If they had any shame they would all resign.
I know thats old ground but i,m truly pissed off with the shower of ***** who have ruined the national Squad.

I think the running of the national squad should be removed from the FAI and given to an independant management group who will actuall represent the country and let the FAI run the shambles that is the Eircom League after all none of their players ever features in the Internationals except for the odd Token Gesture.

Brian Kerr is a good manager but in the week that Ireland was preparing for our most important match instead of having his full concentration on the game ahead he found himself mediating in a squabble between members of the FAI. Its time these shower were removed from their Lofty Positions and let someone with and interest in football take over.

eirebhoy

I just can't believe that we are still in with a chance of winning the group. We got beaten by 2 teams placed around 40th in the world and we drew against Albania and at home to Russia.

In the World cup qualifiers we drew twice with Portugal, drew away to Holland and beat them at home and won the rest of the matches. We ended up coming second and had to play a playoff.

We don't deserve to be where we are and we should be grateful that luck is on our side.

DundalkDuffman

Originally posted by super_furry
Well what else is this forum for then?

Anyway I think Russia played the perfect away game, defended comfortably throughout and were probably the slighly better team. A draw was a fair result, but Ireland just had no creative ideas other than give it to Duff and see what happens. The fact the Gary Doherty played (and I use that term losely) up front for and that Kevin Kilbane was probably our best player says it all really.

Russia will be very happy with that result. I thought that we were very average and that it didn't help some of the reputations of the players. FOr openers, Healy was terrible and Reid wasn't much better. Doherty still doesn't seem to know whether or not he is a defender or a forward and Spurs don't think that he is either. Healy and Carsley in midfield were poor. There was some booing on the south terrace when Kilbane got MOTM but other people were saying tht it was his best game for Ireland.
Whatever about the disappointment of the two points lost and for Dr Dre €100 lost, we weren't good enough to break down the Russians. The guy Onopka just laughed all day and dictated what happened in front of him. For a player like Morrison, he should have been looking to get behind the centrebacks.
On the whole too many off days for the Irish.

Caesar_Bojangle

So if russia and switzerland draw on wednesday and ireland happen to beat the swiss, Ireland will top the group?

So realistically a russian - swiss draw on wednesday is what we should be hoping for.

ChumpStain

We deserved to win espeically during the second half I think we really missed Robbie Keane. But whos to say that we won't beat the Swiss? We have a good enough team and I still think we can go through, hope so anyway.

smemon

was at the match, in my celtic jersey as usual surrounded by tons of other hoops. anyway, we were pretty poor, midfield was all over the place, carsley was a disgrace.

russia are a poor side, at home they battle hard and can nick points but away from home ireland should have beaten them. kilbane played excellent with a few tricks down the left side although duff ran the show as usual.

the team were crying out 4 roy keane, it was a typical game were he would have given everyone a kick up the backside and got that second goal. i still dont believe we've got a captain or a voice on the pitch.

however we still struggle through on one engine. but kerr has yet to get a good performance from the side.

MisterAnarchy

UEFA have repeatedly stated that teams that finish level on points will be judged on their results against the top four teams in the group .
It isnt limited solely to Irelands results against Russia if we finish level with Russia.
Bill O Herlihy kept on stating that we need to beat Russia by two clear goals.
This was nonsense.
I cant see us getting anything in Basle.
Our midfield is bereft of creation.
We''ll need the Swiss to do us a favour in Moscow.

manic_monster

Here are the exact regulations from uefa site

http://www.euro2004.com/newsfiles/19079.pdf

Equality of points

6.06 If, on completion of the group matches, two or more teams are equal on
points, their position within the group will be established according to the
following criteria:
a) Number of points obtained in the matches among the teams in question
b) Goal difference resulting from the matches among the teams in question
c) Number of away goals in the matches among the teams in question
d) Results of all qualifying-competition matches:
−Goal difference
−Number of goals
−Number of away goals
e) Fair play conduct of the teams in question
f) Drawing of lots

Qualification for the final tournament

6.07 The ten group-winners qualify directly for the final tournament. The ten group
runners-up will take part in five play-offs (home-and-away basis according to
the knock-out system - cf. 6.09 and 6.10) on the set international dates
(15/16.11 and 18/19.11.2003 - see Article 8). The five winners of these play-
offs qualify for the final tournament. The Executive Committee will decide on
the draw procedure for these play-offs.
6.08 Should it be necessary to determine the ranking of the group runners-up,
only their results against the teams in first, third and fourth place will be
taken into account, and the following criteria will be taken into consideration
in the order given:
a) Number of points obtained in the matches against the teams in first, third
and fourth place in the group
b) Goal difference from these matches
c) Number of goals scored in these matches
d) Number of away goals in these matches
e) Fair play conduct of the teams in all group matches
f) Drawing of lots[/B]

anthonymcg

Was at the game meself too. Have to say that I thought Duff and Kilbane were our only stand out attacking players. We just didn't look like a team who would go and take the game to the Russians. They did an ideal job of holding us off and I reckon they could have really come at us if they wanted to.

It's gonna be a tough job to turn it around and play like we have over the past couple of years. Here's to a draw between the Russians and the Swiss.