Ireland v Greece 10.09.2024 Match Thread - UEFA Nations League

Hopefully not.

I reckon Connolly will be playing LOI soon enough.

No club at the moment, Celtic was mentioned lately but more like the Tallaght hoops he will be playing for.

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not correct. The ‘Big Two’ in Belfast are not “one for the nationlists and one for the unionists ( got to play that riverly off another)”, as you claim. They are both in very unionist areas but certainly have players from both communities.
the episode in Aviva the other day demonstrated the problems with an all island league. That was the anthem held dear by most teams in ni that was widely disrespected. So some work to do first.

I think Ferguson was bring hyped up beyond belief for a while, and then a dip in form, coupled with injuries, have hampered his career of late.

You have to remember he hadn't played a competitive game since March 31st before these 2 Ireland games. He is very rusty, and add being put into a team that is generally terrible, and you wondered expect him to shine.

He will regain match fitness hopefully and get back to playing and scoring in the EPL, bur I can understand the concerns. There was talk of the top EPL team buying him for big money a year back, but if he is hindered by reoccurring injuries it could really damage his career. He needs to be a regular starter for Brighton to begin with.

Let's hope he's not another young player showing signs of burn out at an early age, a la Ansu Fati and the like. He's been playing top level football since he was 15, and often when you are playing like that, you can pick up injuries.

It was a proposal to shake up the leagues. dublin could have two "big" sides and play the north south dublin riverlry while belfast could also have two to do an east west riverly there. That would be 4 sides. Then another 6 scattered around Ireland. Atm Dublin has too many small clubs for it to ever really have a big side that could get into the champions league regularly.

Btw the booing at english game was amied at the english for the way thier fans carry on rather than the lyrics of an antem. Scotland or wales would not get booed if GSTK was played at the Aviva. People up north are not English so they dont need to worry about that. Anyway anthems are not played before league matchs anyway.

I think that was moreso for AFCON where players would be injured until after the tournament started and then recovered to play for their club WHILE AFCON was being held. If they were injured for AFCON they were to be unavailable until the end of AFCON. I dont think it comes into it for international breaks with no league fixtures.

Browne is bound to say that though isn't he? There are different kind of captains. Ireland need a vocal one that is not afraid to shout organise and cajole. Bar Coleman who is there beyond that?

They have such timid temperaments from what I see. Types who you like your daughter to marry.

Badly need to change that and increase the intensity of play for a start. It is the only way this group can get results.

HH is probably wondering what he got himself in for. He has inherited a broken team with broken boys not men.

The second half was bitterly disappointing, and you can't get away from the reality in the stands - people are clearly fed up. Another clear loss to Greece was hard to take.

Personally I think I've seen enough of Molumby and Knight at this point to know they aren't good enough to be part of a team winning matches at this level. They aren't good enough technically to take control of the ball and make things happen - but similarly they tend to be very easy for opponents to play through.

I think the first half was something to build on, and Sammie Szmodics was a bright spot.

But you look at Collins struggling and Ferguson so miserably off the pace and you are left deflated - it seems any player we have been excited about over the past half decade has had the wheels come off their career. We are bitterly short of technical quality, so I think a consideration should be made of reaching much deeper into the pool and giving players a chance. Or considering Collins in midfield maybe.

We MUST become more difficult to play through, it is an absolute necessity.

We lack patterns of play to progress the ball up the pitch. It's like developing your pieces in chess. It's very important as you can't play direct all the time.

I'm not sure if HH can coach that. His CV isn't that impressive. I'd have gone for Big Sam.

We've a decent group of players but lacking full backs, pace (besides Ogbene), a goalscorer and a creative AM/no 10.

So we're missing a lot so have to work with what we got.

Will you stop.

Anyone who is not already interested in going to Bray Wanders will not get interested just because they are now also playing Crusaders or Cowdenbeath as well as Cobh Ramblers or Cork City.

The league needs to make sure that the teams already there can survive and possibly grow their numbers, improve their facilities etc.

English and European soccer will always draw the greatest interest and will always dominate, but there is a place for the LOI, it's just up to the LOI to make sure they are sustainable.

I thought Smallbone did well against Greece, some nice creative passes from him, he made the passes then his teammates messed up the move. It was through Smallbone I actually saw a glimpse of what HH was trying.