Republic Of Ireland Euro 2012

[carmine]

<deleted> Guys,

Lets get back on track here. Red Tops are suggesting Walters will start against Spain in place of Kevin Doyle but McClean will not start. I think he could be a good impact sub for McGeady who by and large promises but rarely delivers.

Hear Hear there is a lot of stupidity on this thread about Ireland/England and lets stick to the football, We all read English papers and follow English teams so lets all cop on. I thought Hodgson did well last night, blooded a few players and we should have done the same............

Seems to me Ireland just have to tighten up at the back. Theres definately goals in them.

I'd be expecting , well hopefully antway, a very different performance for the next game.

A must win, which is not far off for england too.

[spongeman]

Roy Keane is no Irishman for leaving us in the lurch after we had got out of a qualifying group with Holland and Portugal, under the stewardship of McCarthy.

A little mixed here Spongy, 2002 was the group with Germany, Cameroon and Saudi.

McCarthy/ Keane split Ireland awfully and I remember it well, I was disgusted with keane's attitude, but to be fair, professionally he was right in a lot of cases, but his rant was mindless and altogether pointless.

I still believe that with him, we would have beaten Spain who were down to 10 men in extra time due to injury and McCarthy didn't notice, we would then have met RoK, we would have won and then Germany in the semi final, we had played them off the park in the group game.

Brazil in the final, anything can happen in a final.......................ahhh Sweet dreams

Cant disagree with any of the above Mossy, and it does show the difference between the World Cup and the Euros......the Euros has many more strong teams.

Although has anyone been surprised by the lack of quality of Greece/Sweden/Czech ? Very poor.

[salty]

Sky are hinting that Simon Cox will play tonight instead of Kevin Doyle. As they used to say about Drogheda United's old ground Lourdes Stadium I fear they will be no miracle tonight.

[Mossfinn]

He who sings, scares away his woes

- Saavedra

The fans, whether they support football or rugby, are undoubtedly the best in the world

[spongeman]

No guts, no guile, no hunger.

Ireland put to the sword. Did'nt expect them to win but that was a shocking performance.

McGeady was a disgrace, Cox was a donkey.

What a shambles.

[salty]

Outclassed but hardly a surprise. Could have defended better but we were so much inferior it was merely trying to keep the score down.

[LucidLucifer]

My commiserations......it was always going to be a tough ask in your group. Hopefully you can pull it together and take Italy out with you.....

[salty]

LL, The Italians looked very good on Sunday and in the 1st half yesterday. Looks like more humble pie for Paddy on Monday.

[spongeman]

My commiserations......it was always going to be a tough ask in your group. Hopefully you can pull it together and take Italy out with you.....

We have absolutely no chance against Italy.

[SantiSuk]

Hope you guys can take some solace from the performance of your boys in green with the egg-shaped ball. 5 mins to go and they're scaring the $hit out of the All-Blacks in Christchurch.

Edit: drop goal for the Kiwis in the final minute - pity - but great comeback form their previous test drubbing

[salty]

Yea the chaps ran NZ very close. I do not feel depressed in any way after our 2 games. Well aware that we were very limited in quality of personnel compared to 1988/90.

Very likely we will finish with 3 defeats. Would hope for a fighting performance against Italy and no concession of soft goals. Even spongeman thinks we have no hope.

[spongeman]

Yea the chaps ran NZ very close. I do not feel depressed in any way after our 2 games. Well aware that we were very limited in quality of personnel compared to 1988/90.

Very likely we will finish with 3 defeats. Would hope for a fighting performance against Italy and no concession of soft goals. Even spongeman thinks we have no hope.

"no concession of soft goals" that sums it up. Am I expecting us to play like Germany ? Of course not. However we can do a bit better than this, giving the ball away, absolutely no build up of play from back to front, etc etc.

WE ARE NOT PLAYING SOCCER.

[Mossfinn]

I think we do have a chance against Italy, the odds are against us admittedly, but I feel there is something there.

I guess we are all in agreement about soft goals, but lets put this in perspective, World class players against Championship try hards, when you are under so much pressure leaks will inevitably ensue.

[salty]

Trap is taking plenty of flak from the papers. Love proposed lineout for the Italian game.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/euro-2012/irish-news/euro-2012-we-deserve-better-than-this-3140399.html

[jombom]

For those with an interest i football tactics. The Ireland v Italia game to night could be fascinating.

Italia have to attack and search for a big GD. Ireland could play catenaccio, in the Italia style, or not, of course.

Yep, potentially fascinating.

[bkkmick]

On GMM? I can't see it...got it

[salty]

As expected another loss but a better performance tonight. We were just as good as the Italians for the first half an hour but they began to turn the screw in the last 15 minutes of the first half. Once again we succumed from a corner which Given gave away by not holding a shot which he was right behind.

In the 2nd half we fought well and the Italians looked some what nervous given they had to win. But the only really troublesome moment for them was a blistering free kick from Andrew which Buffon got down well to block. Andrew was sent off near the end for a 2nd yellow and Italy clinched it when Balotelli on as a sub lashed in from yet another corner kick. Much better display tonight but we leave the tournament pointless.

No doubt the post mortems will begin in earnest. It was good to qualify for the tournament but you cannot escape the feeling that Trap's mindset did not always do us a favour tacics wise and personnel wise.

[spongeman]

Cannot see the system being changed in the near future, although looking at the other teams attacking football we may well need to modify our style.

Anyway Wicklow got a home draw in the qualifiers so that lessens the pain somewhat.......

[salty]

It will be interesting to see which of the Old Guard will depart the scene. No official homecomings this time I fear.

Wicklow v Waterford. Mind the blood pressure spongeman.

[spongeman]

It will be interesting to see which of the Old Guard will depart the scene. No official homecomings this time I fear.

Wicklow v Waterford. Mind the blood pressure spongeman.

I actually think a few of them might stay on. Id say Dunne will keep going anyway. With Germany in the next group it looks like we will be battling it out with Sweden for second place. Euro 2016 in France has 24 teams so we have a better chance of getting there.

[salty]

Interesting to note that the 2 finalists have come from our group. It puts into stark perspective our prospects beforehand of getting out of the group, though the manner of our "challenge" will always remain a huge disappointment.

[carmine]

Interesting to note that the 2 finalists have come from our group. It puts into stark perspective our prospects beforehand of getting out of the group, though the manner of our "challenge" will always remain a huge disappointment.

I think the media has been way too critical of Ireland. England would not have made it through that group yet we are been credited with playing quite well. Truth is, we were lucky with the draw, you were not.

[Abrak]

Interesting to note that the 2 finalists have come from our group. It puts into stark perspective our prospects beforehand of getting out of the group, though the manner of our "challenge" will always remain a huge disappointment.

I think the media has been way too critical of Ireland. England would not have made it through that group yet we are been credited with playing quite well. Truth is, we were lucky with the draw, you were not.

Yes, well the seeding for Euro 2012 is actually a farce.

Poland and Ukraine get seeded number 1 in two Groups despite having the lowest UEFA coefficients by virtue of the fact they are hosting the competition. Spain and Holland get seeded number 1 in the other two Groups by virtue of the fact they have the highest UEFA coefficients. So not altogether surprisingly you end up with a seeding process with two very difficult groups and two very easy groups.

[Mossfinn]

I have always stated that Roy Keane is a little bitter, you cannot beat Spain with Championship players, the days of Houghton, Aldridge, Whelan etc are dreams of yesteryear, however

"If suffering brings wisdom, I would wish to be less wise". WBY

[salty]

Moss, I hope you are not forgetting the great ooh ah Paul McGrath.

[salty]

The end of an era as Shay Given retires. Though Euro 2012 was hardly the pinnacle of his career he has been a staltwart for Ireland over the years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19250787

[salty]

Dreadful performance by all accounts by the ROI who snatched an undeserved win over the might of Kazakhstan with goals in the 89th and 90th minute. I bet that has the Germans worried coming to Dublin next month for next Group game.

Meanwhile we have a friendly on Tuesday night in Craven Cottage against Oman. I don't think I will be able to stand the excitement.

[Chicog]

They were absolutely woeful to be honest. But still better than Scotland.

[salty]

Republic of Ireland 1 Germany 6 ;

Germany crushed a dreadful Irish side by the above scoreline. After an encouraging opening 15 minutes by the home side Germany began to dominate possession and were constantly a threat. The breakthrough came from Reus after 31 minutes and he added a 2nd shortly after to lead 2-0 at half time. Just before the first goal Germany were denied a blatant penalty when John O' Shea was caught dawdling on the ball and clearly fouled Reus. Instead of a penalty the ref booked Reus for driving. The reprieve did not last long.

Ireland showed a bit of fight early in the 2nd half but Germany increased their lead from a penalty mindlessly conceded by O'Dea who dived in on Klose. Germany put in 3 more 2 from Kroos on as a sub. In injury time Keogh on as a sub scored for Ireland. Trappatoni can expect to take a lot of flak over this. The feeling here is that the team has been on a steady downward path since qualification for Euro 2012. The team seems to be hamstrung by both poor selections and lack of fighting spirit.

We are away to the Faroe Islands on Tuesday and it not difficult to imagine another disaster.

[spongeman]

The way we were set up...it was like Andorra or San Marino etc. And Trap has to take the blame for that. Thing is there is no point in getting rid of him now, Austria could'nt beat Kaz and Sweden scraped by the Faroes. So in real terms everybody else is very average and fighting for 2nd place.

However at one point I thought it was going to be 8 or 9. The worst performance Ive ever seen from them ? Yes. We were missing players but Cox on the wing ? Come on. Very little tackling or effort. We were not set up properly. Why not go out and give it a go ? There was a 5 minute period where the Germans had 98% possession.

Ireland are not Brazil but it could be a bit easier on the eye.