half time thoughts

GoneShootin

fookin disgrace. defence ??

Johnny_the_fox

theres no midfield for Ireland, at all.....
bring in Healy and McPhail for Finnan and Kilbane... move McAteer to right back...




I still think we can do it... COME ON IRELAND

BKtje

Russia are worse. There defence is as bad as ours.

If we tighten up and put away a chance early on i'd say we got a very good chance.

Mr E

Love to be a fly on the wall in the Irish dressing room at half time. Heads'll roll.....

- Dave.

Helix

its like watching an under 11s match at times! players swarming round the pitch like headless chickens

Tellox

They still have a chance, an early goal in the second half will be great..

Neil3030

What is the ****ing story with Morisson? He has fallen over every time the ball has gone near him!

Helix

Originally posted by Neil3030
What is the ****ing story with Morisson? He has fallen over every time the ball has gone near him!

hes doing his emile heskey impression

Tellox

its turned into a joke!
ireland scrape in a goal and russia get one back straight away!
theres no defence whatsoever!

Neil3030

3-2 GWAN the lads. Morisson. What a player. Never doubted him.

Helix

this is possibly the worst match football wise ive seen from ireland in years. absolutely terrible stuff, 3-2 now

Tellox

another goal for ireland....can they do it..

Neil3030

BABB YOU MUPPETTTT!!!!!!!

Helix

ah there wasnt much he could do about it

Tellox

that was the funniest thing I've ever seen

BKtje

lmao@ babb. Felt sorry for him but i had to laugh.
First thing he does is score an OG.

i think im losing my sanity tho.
Robbie Keane was the only player on that picth worthy of an Irish shirt.

conZ

It wasnt Babbs fault at all - he was just caught badly in the wrong place - no fault of his own.
It's the whole defences fault tbh. That was about the fourth (if not fifth) time since 80 mins gone that the russian forward (pure ****e) had gotten past them and it was just their ****ness that they didnt score.
The whole team needs to be looked at again and their style of play is laughable.
Get rid of McCarthy - a few lucky draws in the World Cup tbh and get a whole different type of manager in.
Dave O' Leary tbh.. He came in to Leeds when they were doing crap and introduced a new, practically twenty year old team and they finished top 5 every year (i think).
Currently, McCarthy is trying to do the same - bring in a load of young players and hes doing pure ****e with them - trying to be great cos all his half decent players have either left or are too old now.

wahey 300 posts.

BKtje

Dont get me start on those officials.

BKtje

o i know it wasnt Babb's fault. Poor man was just in the wrong place.
But thats his first game since start of WC qualifyers and the first thing he does is OG it

Edit: Lets not jump the gun and start lookin for his sacking ffs. He and the team did great in the qualifyers and in the world cup he did decent enough.

The team needs a collective kick up the backside. The midfield was a sham, the defence was laughable and Morissey. Gah. Who said he was good? on that performance e fell over more than anything.

Keane was doing his upmost and was running circles around a , lets face it, ****E russian defence.

I could not feel more gutted. We lose a couple of influential players and suddenly it didnt seem like there was much leadership. Im not slagging Cunningham but thats the way it seemed to me.

Helix

match only over 5 minutes and already theres people lookin for mccarthy sacked!

conZ

whats the bets we wont see him for a while .

gandalf

Pathetic game from the Irish team!

Well I think McCarthy needs to re-examine his use of Breen, Hart & Finnan in defense they were pure muck. Cunningham didn't impose himself as captain. Kilbane should never play for Ireland again, he even looks like he has lost his pace which was his only asset.

Why was McAteer subbed he was actually playing with some purpose.

Considering how the Irish team played in Japan they should have beaten that Russian team easily. There was no organisation and McCarthy is to blame for that.

I hope to god McCarthy learns from this and culls all the deadwood on the team. He has some very gifted players in the form like O'Brien, O'Shea & Healy who he should pick in the 1st team for the next game.

Gandalf.

BKtje

Finnan looked nervouse from the start. Harte looked decent enough for a change.

Did they swap abilities or something? did i miss something?

Breen and Cuningham didnt work together. Kilbane's crossing...
no more needs to be said on that matter. Holland and Kinsella didnt seem to be in the game at all.

The defence was ****e yet he didnt doa thing to try and fix it. He prob just gave em a bollocking and thought that would be enough. We needed Cunnigham to give the team a bollocking from the start. If you **** up that often that early your captain needs to sort it.

kaimera

Wonder will Mick go after that farce...

His tactical thinking was brutal. I mean he left Kilbane on for 85 odd mins and then brought on Babb who in turn scored a og within a minute o coming on. [poor him tho..first game in 2 yrs]

Reid should have been on long before that.

The central defence pairing was a disaster. Breen in particular.

O' Shea will have to play asap.

Cunningham doesn't appear to be captain material.

We seem to be living off the memory of the WC. I believe it was Dunphy who said on tv that there is a HUGE difference betwixt WC games and qualifiers.
Players are more likly to put more effort in during the proper competition rathe than some qualifier in autumn.

Hope this isn't gonna be a preview of these qualifiers...:(

BabyEater

Taking Mc Ateer off was a bad decision , our defense sucks but i dont think Mc Carthy has too many choices with the defence unless he plays O'Shea who hasn't that much experience.
Keane played well , Duff would have helped but Morrision and Healy didn't do too bad and Morrision doesn't go down too much more than Duff.

Difficult

"Pathetic game from the Irish team!"

Agreed

"Cunningham didn't impose himself as captain."

You mean give out, moan, complain and push his team mates around?

Why was McAteer subbed he was actually playing with some purpose.

McAteer shouldn't be in the starting 11 anyway.

"Considering how the Irish team played in Japan they should have beaten that Russian team easily. There was no organisation and McCarthy is to blame for that. "

Considering 9 of the 11 were in the starting line up against Spain same players how is it Mc Cathy’s fault?

"I hope to god McCarthy learns from this and culls all the deadwood on the team. He has some very gifted players in the form like O'Brien, O'Shea & Healy who he should pick in the 1st team for the next game."

Who was the last team you managed?
The Irish fans are becoming like English supporters who assume they're going to win every time they take to the pitch.

Ireland haven't 1 world class player in their squad, a weak defence a non existence midfield and strikers that like to fall over themselves more than play soccer.

Irelands success is never classy it’s alot of heart and commitment that just wasn't present today I think heart will only get you so far, and without getting to much into the Roy Keane issue without him I think we can safely say that this campaign is going to be a bit of a carry on film.

Gandalf.

BKtje

Week in week out you see Keane organising Man u. Driving em on, urging them to do better if some one makes a mistake. Making decesions which can turn games.

eg Breen goes up front with 5 mins left leaving the defence very expsoed. Keane imo wouldnt have allowed it, just like he didnt allow Forlan to take that penalty. He also .. whats the point really. We should just forget about Keane cos he aint coming back.

Theres no reason for him to.

Difficult

you're right he won't be back

not unless he fancies a bit of school boy football before he retires

gandalf

Originally posted by Difficult


"Cunningham didn't impose himself as captain."

You mean give out, moan, complain and push his team mates around?

No I mean provide leadership you don't have to be a load mouth Cork bullyboy to do that now do you !

"Why was McAteer subbed he was actually playing with some purpose. "

McAteer shouldn't be in the starting 11 anyway.

Well hes ahead of Kilbane in my Irish team and he did play with some heart today.

"Considering how the Irish team played in Japan they should have beaten that Russian team easily. There was no organisation and McCarthy is to blame for that. "

Considering 9 of the 11 were in the starting line up against Spain same players how is it Mc Cathy’s fault?

Well last time I checked McCarthy is the manager. Someone has to take responsibility for that fiasco.

"I hope to god McCarthy learns from this and culls all the deadwood on the team. He has some very gifted players in the form like O'Brien, O'Shea & Healy who he should pick in the 1st team for the next game."

Who was the last team you managed?
The Irish fans are becoming like English supporters who assume they're going to win every time they take to the pitch.

Firstly I have never managed a team I did play years ago (whats your point here)

Secondly whats wrong with expecting your team to do well. If the Irish team performed at 70% of the levels they showed in the WC they would have beaten Russia.

Ireland haven't 1 world class player in their squad, a weak defence a non existence midfield and strikers that like to fall over themselves more than play soccer.

Irelands success is never classy it’s alot of heart and commitment that just wasn't present today I think heart will only get you so far, and without getting to much into the Roy Keane issue without him I think we can safely say that this campaign is going to be a bit of a carry on film.

OK one game doesn't make a campaign !!! By the way I disagree with you. The Irish forward situation is actually the best it has been in years, we have some very skillfull young players about to break into the midfield and we have got 2 good young centre backs in O'Shea & O'Brien.

The only thing we need is McCarthy to realise this and to let the players who are past it go.

Ireland has a good team even without Godhead Roy !

Gandalf.

BKtje

I think i basically agree with every word Gandalf posted there. (which makes a change for me )

I would however give them another chance before calling for sackings and hangings where appropriate.

Pigman

Originally posted by gandalf
OK one game doesn't make a campaign !!!

I'm afraid in this case it very well might!

As Ireland so rarely conceed 4 goals in a match I decided to check the history books to see how significant this result might be. I came up with the following facts.

In the entire history of the European Championship tournement 1960-2000 only four teams have conceeded 4 goals in a qualifier and still made it to the finals.

10/09/1975 Poland 4 - 1 Netherlands*

15/12/1982 Yugoslavia* 4 - 4 Wales

27/04/1983 U.S.S.R. 5 - 0 Portugal*

08/09/1999 Norway 4 - 0 Slovenia*

* = made it to finals

Add to this that Ireland have never qualified for a tournement after conceding more than 3 goals in a qualifier and all signs point to NO!

BTW, this is the first time in 17 years that Ireland have conceded four in a match! The last time happened in a qualifier against Denmark in a World Cup qualifying group that coincidentally also contained Russia (AKA USSR) AND Switzerland!

BKtje

lets hope that we become the 5th team then

Dustaz

Originally posted by Pigman


Add to this that Ireland have never qualified for a tournement after conceding more than 3 goals in a qualifier and all signs point to NO!

WOW!! Maybe McCarthy should use the Magic 8 Ball tactic of managenment too!

BTW, this is the first time in 17 years that Ireland have conceded four in a match! The last time happened in a qualifier against Denmark in a World Cup qualifying group that coincidentally also contained Russia (AKA USSR) AND Switzerland!

Yes, since Charlton took over. Bring back charlton, he never lost by 4 goals. We loved him didnt we?

****sake

Pigman

Originally posted by Dustaz


WOW!! Maybe McCarthy should use the Magic 8 Ball tactic of managenment too!

It's not a magic-8-ball. It's just a metaphorical cold shower to all the mugs out there who think yesterdays result was just a blip and that we are still going to win our next seven matches and qualify.

Originally posted by Dustaz
Yes, since Charlton took over. Bring back charlton, he never lost by 4 goals. We loved him didnt we?

No we didn't but I'm not saying that playing open football leads to defensive disaster either.

I say this because between 1972-2002 Ireland only conceed four or more on 3 occasions (including yesterday) so for Charlton to go through his tenure without conceeding 4 is no major achievement.