Im not in the least bit surprised. McCarthy picked a ridiculous line-up, and likes of himself and Breen who have flattered to deceive for some time have finally shown ther true colours (sticking on Babb when a goal down: it compares with Keegan playing his masterstoke of putting Southgate in midfield for his last England game.) I hope all you Keane-hating ignoramuses will finally eat your words and realise how absolutely atrocious we were today without him, and that we need a manager who doesn't need to show loyalty to the assorted donkeys that were on show today (kilbane, kinsella, harte, etc.) A very sad day for Irish football. (Bring back David Kelly, ho ho) UP THE CITY!!!!!!
yip. the defence were asleep (perhaps dead) the midfield non-existent, and only robbie keane seemed to possess any spirit at all. Kevin Mahon for manager. Go on. Just for a laugh.
Well, tactical genius that Mick is does this. "We're a goal down and looking like equaliseing, I know, I'll sub off our left winger for a centre half, that'll work!" low and behold that centre half if Babb and he scores an own goal, though, to be fair, he was unlucky and the own goal wasn't his fault, but wtf was he doing on when we we're loseing anyway? Ranks up there with Houllier subbing off Hamann for Smicer in the champions league last year.
I didn't get to see the match, wasn't Duff injured? I cant believe he'd bring him off for Babb whilst we're losing..
Erm, actually no, I still hate the ************. And even if we lost our next 10 games I'd not see him in the team.
Clinton I do not think Clinton played particularly well. Perhaps he is still a bit rusty having just come back for Birmingham. He still managed to get on the score sheet though and I think in future he should play along with Robbie and Duffer. Robbie Keane was our best player by far. The reason Duff is not playing on the left wing is our lack of a reliable left back. Finnan had his worst game for Ireland ever. All the backs were poor and lacked pace. Why was Babb brought on at all?. Replacing a defender with a winger when we needed a goal. Why?. Why take Mac off ???? he was playing much better than some of the others, Kilbane and Holland for instance. Holland had a bad game. He should have been relplaced by Carsley. Healy is not playing first team football at the moment and would have been too big a risk. This will of course fuel the whole Keane/McCarthy row anew with the pro Keane camp calling for Mick's head. I believe that even if Mick goes Roy should not be asked to play again for Ireland. How could any new manager trust him to behave and what would it so to squad morale.
Finnan was suprisingly poor alright, but he's proven quality. I thought Morrison played well and did what Duff and Keane can't do, held up the ball and played others in, as well as having pace, skill and finishing ability he's a stronger lad then most people give him credit for, won a few free kicks and, I'd say, would have scored the chance Duff got when Keane went on a Maradona-esque run and beat about 6 men early on.
I thought Morrison did fairly well and he scored too, which is all you can ask of a striker. The backs were bad, Finnan had a poor game and I think Breen is over-rated, but who else is there to bring in? Richard Dunne?!? Andy O'Brien?!? Not exactly blessed with talent back there. Kilbane is terrible and should be dropped. I mean, he can't even get into the Sunderland side these days. Play Duff on the left with Keane and Morrison up front, there's much more of a goal threat there. What has been overlooked here is that Russia are a decent side, who while not being world beaters, were good technically and very good on the counter. At the end, the forward left Babb standing, but it was unlucky for it to go in off Babb like that after Given had made a good save. Roy Keane is missed and the team will be poorer for it, but he's not bigger than Ireland (or Man Yoo for that matter, which I think Fergie will set him straight about in double quick time), so we'll just have to get on without him. A bit more fire in the belly from Kinsella and Holland wouldn't go amiss, they were pretty anonymous yesterday.
I agree that this was a disaster waiting to happen. If you look over the highlights of our qualifying games for the World Cup we were lucky not to concede a LOT more goals. I just can't understand McCarthy's thinking. - Why play Kevin Kilbane? He is extremely limited technically and can't even get on the bench for his club. Did anyone notice how many times he just couldn't control the ball and failed to deliver a decent cross?? -Why play Duff up front? He is a world class left winger and can crack any defence from there - but is unsure and unproven as a centre forward - his talents are wasted there... When playing up front he rarely gets the ball without being clobbered by a centre half... - Why make numerous, ridiculous, defensive substitutions when we are in need of a goal?? At the end we only had two midfielders (Holland, Kinsella) on the pitch and the formation was all over the place... I thought Kinsella had a good game and was tidy with his passing. Holland was ridiculous. Does anybody notice that he doesn't actually do anything when he plays? He tends to pass the ball backwards and then make an aimless run forward... Kinsella is always involved and much the better player although he did get caught in possession for the 4th goal. I am SOOO disappointed because that was an extremely poor Russian side who were abysmal at the back and were there for the taking. Unfortunately though, our pathetic defending cost us dear and most of our attacks broke down with Mr Kilbane and that swinger which seems to be regarded as his strongest foot...
1. Morrison did very well, he is a goal scorer, his record says that, one start three goals. He doesn't go the all round stuff that Keane does, but when you have a Keane you need a Morrison and they will help each other. 2. Only the best young centre half in England, John O'Shea, the man McCarthy figured wasn't good enough to get on the bench. 3. You know the worst part there is? He lost his place to an Irishman, left winger Thomas Butler, who can't make our squad. Pathetic. Kinsella was far better then Holland, all my worries about Holland came through today, he hides from the ball, doesnm't dominate nearly enough and is just not aggressive enough to realise his potential, Colin Healy was a must, that was easily spotted at half time by a manager with a brain. This is a guy who gets on the ball, drives it forward, is creative, puts himself about and sticks the foot in. Everything we lacked yesturday, and after his cracking goal against Finland he showed he has a powerful shot and would be brimming with confidence. But it would take a good manager to notice that.
Exactly, that is by far the most frustraiting thing. This was a very poor Russian side and if we had a good manager they would have been beaten easily, they we're awful yesturday, we were worse.
I'm not under estimating them, I looked at that preformance again, and Russia were poor and we were worse, we gifted three of the four goals through our own stupidity and the other was bad luck, if that's your best preformance and we can get ourselves sorted out then the lansedown leg will be a complete reversal.
When you look at the players that were not playing: Mostovoi, Karpin (retired/injured??) and Titov for example, then you have to say that this wasn't the best Russian side - seeing them play confirmed this. The defense was at best shakey - I would hazard to say that Duff would have had a field day if fit, and on the left wing, but alas we never got to find out. The most irritating thing about all this is that for us to get rid of McCarthy its going to mean that Ireland will have to do so badly that qualification will be impossible. Unfortunately I don't think he will go any other way... I agree that O'Shea could be our defensive saviour - we will have to be patient though as he is certainly still too young and inexperienced to be consistantly reliable at international level...
That was my point, aswell as that handy 18 year old striker. For the home match the line up definitely should be.... Given, Finnan, Carr, O'Shea, Doherty, Duff, Reid, Kinsella/Holland, Healy Keane, Morrison. Alot of change but it is needed, I picked Doherty as O'Sheas partner simply because he is a goal threat, there's not much between them defencively, Doherty is more commanding anyway, but even as a centre half he's liable to get a goal, he would have scored that goal even if he was a centre half as it was a set peice, O'Sheas a must and so are Finnan and Carr, two of the best full backs in Europe. Reid showed that he could do, ironically against Russia aswell as Nigeria, and Mcateer is playing central all the time for Sunderland now so should be considered there first. Healy is a must, first team football or not, the Holland Kinsella mid field pairing is toothless and lacks creativity and drive, both Healy has in abundence. Morrison is the strong goal scorer foil that is made for Robbie Keane and Finnan is a good enough full back to have Duff playing off him, yesturdays preformance was a one off, he's proven class.
Try to learn a bit about your opponent, will ya? Mostovoi & Karpin are done, period. I might think they have something to add in a reserve role, but the coach thinks otherwise. They would be a stopgap measure, in the least. Titov may be the captain, but in name only. You faced the 4th best striker that Russia has (Beschastnykh) to start the game; when Kerzhakov got into the game, he continually exposed the Irish back line for what it was -- fraudulent, at best, at least in this game. If Sychev or Izmailov would have been available, and if Kerzhakov would have been allowed the full 90, I can only imagine what the final outcome might have been. So you are somewhat right --the better Rusisan side would include Sychev, Izmailov, Kerzhakov, Titov, Smertin, and Dayev in the starting XI, with Pimenov and Popov off the bench. Look at the lineups from yesterday -- how many of them did you see? And yet you still got paddled.... I always love when someone comes along and says "Oh! the opponent was so crap! I can't believe we were worse!" I watched the Irish at WC -- they are hardly a crap side. The Irish, like their supporters, went into this game fully expecting a win and fully believing in their role as favorites. That is the players fault, not the coach. The team you played yesterday is entirely different from what was at WC 2002 -- yet neither the Irish nor their supporters seemed to notice the difference, to their ultimate misfortune. A week ago, I told you guys that Gazzayev would try the push the attack & try to exploit the Irish back line right from the start, instead of rolling over and succumbing to the supposedly superior side. This is exactly what the coach did. I also told you if Kerzhakov got in the game, he would completely gas the Irish defenders. He did. I was hoping for a draw. The result was a win. I'm feeling fortunate right now that the team was able to get such a good result against a quality side. Slash/Ed, like I said before-- keep thinking you are the superior side (without actually earning it on the pitch), and keep denigrating your opponents -- see where it gets you.
Why stop with throwing 6 established players out for current fringe players? What about a few more of the u21s for good measure? The less experience, the better. Just look at Scotland! If this is the case, I am starting the official BigSoccer "Wes Houlihan for Ireland!" campaign. Slash/ED, I mean this good-naturedly, but I suspect you are forever seeing those green faraway hills!
Re: Re: The Inevitable Happens I think that is an exageration. There was a few bullish comments posted to this board about winning last week, but most Irish fans knew a draw would be a fine result to get in Moscow. The big difference in how we perceive this Irish team is that, two years ago, we would have hoped against hope for a draw. Now we dare go to somewhere as daunting as Moscow thinking we CAN achieve a result. However, in terms of tactics, the Russian manager was the winner on Saturday and got the result his strategy merited in comparison to Ireland's. P.S. I admired how Beschastnykh played. You have a good set of forwards, if he is fourth-choice.