Russia V Ireland

Luck of the Irish? We certainly got lucky to get anything out of this game.

 

Phenomenal performance from Richard Dunne! Credit to Given and O'Dea as well.

 

Some result for Ireland there I thought youd have got beat. Is that 7 clean sheets in a row?

 

* borefest

 

happy to have the point but I cant help but feel that traps poor team selection and porr subsitutions prevented us from getting more

 

7th clean-sheet in a row. National record.

It's down to Slovakia or Russia to win or lose the group, now. We've two 'easy' fixtures that should be enough for us to secure 2nd spot.

 

Russia have Slovakia and Andorra mate. They beat Macedonia on Friday night.

 

I think we will qualify now.

 

If Slovakia win tonight at home to armenia, i cant see it.

 

Why,just because there was no goals ?

That was one of the best 0 - 0 games i ever watched.

In no way was it boring.

 

If Slovakia draw the night and beat Russia next month, we can top the group.

 

We were battered, I’m amazed it finished 0-0.

 

Do Ireland get atleast 2nd if they win their two games?

Two wins and Ireland have 21 points.

Slovakia win their two they have 20 points, Russia win their 1 they have 20 points. That means when Slovakia play Russia if they draw Ireland go above Slovakia and if one team wins Ireland are above the other?

am I right?

 

Corrected.

Slovakia will be playing Russia. We'll be playing Andorra. I know which I'd prefer to face. It's between us and them. They've also got Macedonia in their final game, whereas we have Armenia.

 

whats the thoughts on mcgeady? to me he just gives the ball away and makes mistake after mistake (i.e wrong option everytime)

 

Think he gets isolated the same as Duff.

Ireland play very much like Strachans Celtic, two boring centre-mids who dont get forward with two attacking wide players and two strikers who have little pace and look to get on crosses. Play quite defensively too.

Ireland would probably be better playing with 1 striker like

Given
O'Shea Dunne St.Ledger Clark
Gibson Whelan
Duff McCarthy McGeady
Keane

Try and play more possession based football and getting more players going forward and able to play through the middle even Long could play the lone striker instead of Keane. Ireland have a good enough team to qualify for a tournament.
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Ward was absolutely terrible. Dunne & Given were outstanding. Think we'd have to settle for the play offs.

 

Whelan is one of Stokes important midfielders and Andrews has moved to ipswich last month and has scored 3 goals already. The point is they are decent midfielders playing alongside a playmaker, but trap doesnt allow them to do * all which is why they are playing so badly. He has it drummed into them to hoof the ball up instead of passing it. its the same with the full backs. Wish trap would just get to *. Most negative manager ever.

 

Given - was outstanding today , amazing performance. 9/10
Kelly - Decent performance, everyone in the back line played their part. 7/10
Dunne - Absolutely amazing performance by a true Irish legend of the current era. 10/10
O'Dea - Heading was dodgy. Still great performance by the bhoy at Centre Back. 8/10
Ward - End product awful again.. keeps drifting into the centre backs. 6/10
Duff - Was quiet, didn't do much, made no mistakes though. 6/10
Whelan - Why he still starts I'll never know I guess.. 4.5/10
Andrews - Poor yet again. played off the park in midfield. 4/10
McGeady - Outstanding defensive performance. Ok in attack. 8/10
Keane - Did little up front but did his fair share as a striker at the back and in midfield. 7/10
Doyle - Same as Keane really. 6.5/10


* - Came on and lightened the game up for Ireland. Gave us a bit of hope about snatching a winner. 7/10

Hunt - Didn't do a lot when he came on but lighten up Ireland's play none the less. 6/10

There's no doubt about it, Ireland were played off the park. However, an amazing defensive performance proved vital.

Man Of The Match : Richard Dunne.