International Friendly at Croke Park on November 17th. As a social/cultural exercise - it is going to be very interesting to see the balance of the crowd that turns out - how many Poles vs how many Irish? But here, we are to talk about the match itself. And there's certainly lots to talk about based on the squad selection - it is becoming increasingly clear that club form is not particularly relevant to this Irish management team. They have their system, they have their players who fit into that system. At this point, that doesn't look like changing too radically between now and 2010. Republic of Ireland squad (v. Poland, 19/11/2008): Goalkeepers: Shay Given (Newcastle United), Dean Kiely (West Bromwich Albion), Joe Murphy (Scunthorpe United). Defenders: Paul McShane (Sunderland – on loan to Hull City), John O’Shea (Manchester United), Richard Dunne (Manchester City), Kevin Kilbane (Wigan Athletic), Alex Bruce (Ipswich Town), Damien Delaney (QPR), Kevin Foley (Wolves). Midfielders: Aiden McGeady (Celtic), Keith Andrews (Blackburn Rovers), Darron Gibson (Manchester United), Glenn Whelan (Stoke City), Damien Duff (Newcastle United), Stephen Hunt (Reading), Liam Miller (Sunderland), Andy Keogh (Wolves). Forwards: Robbie Keane (Liverpool), Kevin Doyle, Shane Long (both Reading), Anthony Stokes (Sunderland – on loan to Sheffield United), Caleb Folan (Hull City).
Do not be too hard on this "management team". I would have them any day over what preceded them. I simply think that the Irish media need to do a reality check in relation to the amount of quality players that are available. There are not too many. I think that Trappatoni is like the late Brian Clough who would put out a team that looks mediocre but is full of spirited hard workers. Forest won the old European Cup in '79 & '80. Andy Reid is regarded as Ireland's best player by many in the media but the fact that he moved around from club to club tells a lot about him. He really passes the ball very well but he can not run. He is overweight too. A player in his mid twenties should have that under control. Trappatoni knows this better than anyone.
Poland vs Rep. Ireland will be a massive match in my area. I live in Levenshulme, South Manchester, and my family is irish, and so is like 50% of Levenshulme, the other 50% is polish, haha, should be a great match!
With McGeady out, I'd love to see Stephen Hunt get the start, he's been playing great for Reading in the last few months. Hopefully Gibson takes the form he showed last week for United and puts it into this game to try and shut Dunphy up.
Given, McShane, Dunne, O'Shea, Kilbane, Keogh, Gibson, Whelan, Duff, Folan, Doyle. Interesting XI. On paper it looks quite weak down the right side, but Keogh has done well in the green shirt recently - deserves a chance to impress. Folan/Doyle will be interesting. Big night for Gibson and Whelan, they have to silence their critics after Cyprus. Both have played well for their clubs in the last week and a half. 6 our of XI are not regular starters for their clubs. That is not encouraging. Dunne only got back to Dublin this afternoon after returning to Manchester to be with his pregnant wife, but should be able to take his place. Shay Given captains the side in Robbie Keane's absence.
Poland up 1-0 after a few minutes. Header from a free kick. Have to say that Folan and O'Shea should have dealt with it.
Half Time and we're 1-0 down. The two sides have been quite even so far I thought. Both defenses look a bit shaky, there are goals here for Ireland if we can take advantage. Duff should have scored twice. Folan looks quite bright, some really good touches. We are playing well, but I have a feeling this won't be our day. Hopefully I'm wrong. Keogh, though I would love to see him do well, has been generally poor. Is this a match crying out for Andy Reid?
Well, after an exciting finish we still end up on the losing side 3-2. Hunt a penalty and an injury time volley from debutant Keith Andrews. I'll need to watch this one again to post more insightful comments, but Ireland were very poor second half. Really disjointed at times. Most of the subs who came on did quite well, especially Long - I wish people would stop complaining about his inclusion. Steve Hunt was bright as ever and gave the whole side a lift. Folan will definitely be an option up front, showed some excellent flashes. Jury is still out on Whelan and Gibson; Andrews hardly touched the ball bar his goal (which was excellent). The backs were dodgy, though I was impressed with Alex Bruce, even though he got turned for Poland's third. We need Richard Dunne to rediscover his form by February. Anyway, a home loss is disappointing but I refuse to let it ruin my night.
The end was fun. Some of the defending was shocking though, probably Dunne's worst game in a long time for Ireland. Long was definitely a positive when he came on and Folan showed some excellent touches and got an assist for his effort. Keane was really missed tonight.
Three great goals from Poland, not much Given could of done with any of them. Do agree that O' Shea and Folan should of handled the first better. Even though we were one down early, I thought we were the better team in the first half, Duff looked great (bar his finishing), Folan and Gibson showed some great touches, and Doyle held the ball up well. I think the early goal in the second half along with the subs disjointed us, but there were some positives, Whelan finally got into the game (after been a spectator in the first), Long showed his great promise, and the entire Team pulled together in the last ten minutes in a way that suprised the crap out of me and had me believin' we were going to tie it, damn that leg that got in the way of Kilbanes goal. Every time Poland went forward we looked stretched, and this will have me chewing me nails when we meet Bulgaria & Italy in the new year. Did this game need Andy Reid? I say no...it needed Duff's shooting boots and maybe Stephen Ireland, but Andy Reid wouldn't of added much more, at least to our first half performance.