Teams been confirmed, as expected bar O'Shea seems to have gotten a late injury so Maybury () is in for him... Given Finnan Maybury Cunningham O'Brien Reid Holland Keane Miller Keane Morrison is how we line out, should be a good match I think.
Great to have Roy back. He's oozing class and the younger fellas are loving it having him around them. What a muppet McCarthy truly was....
Well my thoughts are that Roy keane played great, about 8/10 i'd say. I was gutted for him when he was certain to score early in the second half and that romanian blocked it, but to be fair it was a very good piece of defence by the romanian. Liam Miller was man of the match, played very well, played a great ball to morrison who then passed to holland. Where is Liam Miller from anyway[county that is]? Keane got a fairly good reception didn't he? A few clowns booing but there's always been a few idiots in Dublin. Glad to have Keane back anyhow. Robbie Keane was at the centre of most of our attacks weren't he? But i thought he was a bit greedy with a few chances though but still had a decent game.
Any thoughts about Rowlands debut? And I his challenge that saw a Romanian lad pretty badly hurt? Heard that it was a bit over-zealous.
Anyone willing to do a player by player breakdown for those of us unable to see of even hear the game? If not, anyone know a good web source for such info? I'm trying to get a better feel for how we stand going into WCQ. It be nice to get some info with Euro 2004 coming up. Thanks.
Here's a minute x minute from Sportinglife http://www.sportinglife.com/footbal...STORY_NAME=soccer/04/05/27/manual_203218.html
well pleased with that win,keaneo was superb and really should have scored,i thought miller looked very composed and collected and had a blinder of a game,well deserveing his man of the match award,and matty holland's volley was top class,fair play robbie keane for getting out of the way so he could smash it home...
I'll do a player ratings for you if you like... Given - 6 - Quick and alert but had very little to do. Maybury - 5 - Wasn't ever put under much pressure, but still offered very little. Not upto it at this level. Was covered very well by Andy Reid Finnan - 7 - Linked up very well with Miller, which helped his preformance a lot, wasn't pressured much defencively. Cunningham - 6 - Looked to be lacking sharpness, let people in behind him a lot and that was one of his poorer preformances for us. I suppose he was due a poor preformance eventually. O'Brien - 8 - Outstanding, I thought. Dealt with everything defencively and class on the ball. A contender for MOTM, and is finally staking his claim for the place along side Kenny. Reid - 8 - Brilliant in the first half. The guy just oozes class in a way that's very rare, everything he does. Unfortunately, he's also overweight, and as such faded a lot later in the game and eventually came off. Early on though he was immense, both in going forward and in helping Maybury. Miller - 9 - MOTM preformance. Like Reid, he just oozes class. Passing and running forward was class, movement was good and not afraid to tackle by any means. Holland - 7 - Finally got a goal in Lansedown, and what a goal, both in his volley and in the build up. Otherwise, defended very well, got in some great blocks and passed the ball well. Benefits from playing alongside someone like Keane I think, I'm one of his bigger critics but he preformed like we know he can today. Keane - 8 - Controlled the mid field, burst forward and was very very unlucky not to score on more than one occasion. What we've missed in mid field, roll on the qualifyers now. Keane - 5 - Robbie, this time. He was both stunning and useless at times. Missed a lot of chances, gave the ball away alot but was also a threat. Looked to be really lacking sharpness and fitness, but his skill is such that he is still always a threat. Can do a lot better. Morrison - 7.5 - Very impressive, lost a half mark for missing a sitter. Challanged for every 50/50 and won nearly them all, a real energetic preformance from Clinton and what we need beside Keane. Rowlands - 6 - Looked very slow but not too bad. Can't judge him too much on the time he had on the pitch. The atmosphere was a lot better than it's been in a long time, the impact of Keanes return maybe a factor. A very enjoyable match and one we could and probably should have won by more.
Slash, Have to disagree with your assessment of Maybury in this game , I agree with Kevin Morans comments on Sky as regards his performance , that he performed very well considering Reid left him exposed / without support a lot of the time due to his tendency to drift into the centre of midfield a lot. To balance that I felt he was the weakest link when I first saw the lineup , but was pleasantly surprised/relieved to see him put in a much improved performance from last time.
He was barley put under pressure, which is good considering we all saw what happens when he is put under pressure against Poland.
keane is a dirt bag.he doesnt deserve the chance to play for his country (his country when it suits him) roy keane is a traitor, he wears a traitors hat, and when he went to saipan, he didnt fancy that, he could have played for ireland in korea and japan, hes just a cork knacker, hes not an irishman. edited by Father Ted: go away roy keane
You really are a "bad person" (edited by Father Ted). The nightmare of the McCarthy era has finally been layed to rest. Justice has been seen to be done. Well done Brian Kerr for having the vision to realise that in order to succeed in this game you need your best players in their best positions. Bring on Viera...
Well it has happened, he came back and he played the full game for Ireland. That should really put an end to the debate and we shouldn't see too much in the way of the anto/silvio type remarks from here on. I was against allowing Roy Keane back without an apology and an admission that there was (at the very least, some degree of) wrong on his side, but Brian Kerr picked him, he is the manager and that's his decision to make. It was clear that there are pockets of resentment within the team and also he picked & chose who he shook hands with and congratulated - eg. the barest of taps on the back of the head for Matt Holland after his goal - but it didn't have an effect on the performance and at the end of the day (as a footballer might say) they are all highly paid professionals who should not let personal matters interfere with their performances on the pitch. The BBC are carrying a story this morning that Keane's return was met with a chorus of boos - not true. Equally, the Irish media is largely reporting that he got a wonderful reception with the majority of fans cheering, this is not accurate either. There were 42,000 people there last night but 21,000 + were not cheering his return in the manner that some are suggesting. The truth is he got a very good reception from a lot of the fans, as one would expect, there was also a minority, a significant number at times, who booed him, but the majority - where I was certainly - did not go out of their way to either boo him or to afford him any additional cheer to what he received pre-Saipan. I must add that a friend of mine, in another part of the ground, heard very little boo'ing. You were always going to hear the pro-Keane side very vocally, whereas the majority of fans who were against his return were never going to shout abuse or boo him. I myself did not participate in the boo'ing, although I did deliberately make a couple of localised anti-Keane comments for the benefit of the 'mouthpiece' in front of me who constantly spouted unnecessary "Keane is great the rest are ********e" type nonsense in a loud voice for the benefit of others. I was quite pleased with, when Keane was tying his lace in the first half - "Fail to prepare, prepare to fail, could he not have sorted out his shoelaces before the game?" Bottom line for now: he is back, he played well, he added to the team and will be a major influence in our quest to qualify for World Cup 2006. Others who did well : O'Brien (won a lot of ball), Miller (his best performance since playing in Europe for Celtic), Holland (good game even without scoring, but a cracking finish with power behind it). Reid and Finnan did okay but I was expecting more from both, Finnan looked very reluctant to move forward. Morrison did okay & held up possession well at times. Maybury proved he can be a reasonable squad player and offers flexibility of cover. Cunningham and Robbie Keane were off form and Shay Given could have stayed at home for all he had to do. Martin Rowlands is certainly not the worst player I've ever seen in a green shirt, a little over-enthusiastic (understandable) but worth another look in the upcoming friendlies.
LOL. Very creative, BUT I believe your being a weeeeee bit harsh with Keano. Let it go, before it eats you alive.