Ireland v Greece 10.09.2024 Match Thread - UEFA Nations League

Apologies, I need to come and vent emotionally a bit. Why oh why did I spend €300 for myself and my son to go and watch this ….. Why did I think things would be any different to the Portugal, France, Wales and Serbia matches. Why do I put myself through this again and again. I no longer travel with hope. Of the 4 of us who go to the matches together, 3 of us predicted a Greece win in our pre-match sweep. There was no hope. The hope is gone. If it was ever really there. Maybe we believed that Kenny could fashion something given enough time. Maybe we had hope then. The only excitement from an Ireland attack these days is wondering where it's going to break down. Every time I get frustrated with the players on the pitch, I feel regret when I remember that they are doing their best. This is their level. Can I blame the new manager? No, he can only work with the squad of players he's got, essentially the same group as Kenny. And they play very like they did under Kenny. Passing around at the back until it makes its way back to Kelleher who boots it long and at least then we have the excitement of a 50-50 or a bit of a chase. One of our full backs tried an overlap in the match today. Notable just because he tried it. It's very limited. First 30 minutes, neither team risking anything. But if I wanted to watch a 60 minute game of football I'd go watch an u12 match at the club. And it would be a lot more exciting. And not nearly as much of a waste of money. I don't have any suggestions about how it can be fixed. Bring in this guy or play that lad I saw playing in the u45s last week against Kazahkstan, or play a 2-6-1-2 bearing in mind the players we have. I'll leave that to the lads who know more about football than I do. I only came here to say that once the Finland match is over I can't see myslef spending big notes watching this dross any more when there's way more fun and interesting football to watch down in my local park every weekend. Vent over.

Yes €150 a head, but fo 3 matches for the tickets we got, so €50 a match. May not have been the cheapest available, but not the most expensive either. Lovely day there on Saturday, back to normal tonight. €7 for the curry chips was excellent value compared to the football on offer. A lot of people left after 70 minutes. I don't remember seeing as bad as that under Kenny.

Very loud booing for the Smallbone MotM. Not sure whether they were booing the choice or just the fact that they had a MotM. It would have made more sense to give it to one of the Greek lads or just not give one. Either way, it wasn't nice, the lad was only doing his best and in the 1st half he'd gotten applauded for some of his passing. A bit less booing at the final whistle, but very noticeable all the same.

Very different to the start of the Kenny days. Kenny began with way more credit in the bank, people were prepared to be patient with him to see would it work out. HH doesn't have any of that credit, and after 2 matches a lot of the supporters patience is already gone. If Finland beat us in November, he's going to start getting some of the blame for the shambles.