EURO 2012

theory being that mcgeady is ireland's most skilful player and might as well bring him into attacking mid

especially if his crossing is as iffy as regular ireland watchers attest

i just think ireland needs to get beyond game lads and gameladism

Trap is there for two more years and showed little inclination to change a losing formula after Croatia. The whole setup looked so amateurish, it really embarrassed me. (Actually, amateurish is insulting as roughly 100% of hurling matches I've watched have displayed more skill,better fitness and backbone. Retracted.) It can't be stated enough. Keane was as right as he was after the waffling about how "lucky" we were to get a 2-2 draw against the Dutch in Amsterdam, when we were leading that game 2-0 for 70 minutes and squandered two points.

*in 2000, for WC 2002 qualifying.

i just think ireland needs to get beyond game lads and gameladism

definitely

oh yeah, there's no hope for the WC qualifiers whatsoever

yeah its gonna be grim

the clamour for hoolahan and andy reid before him is not the solution to gameladism

they are charlie adam type players who will hit one great 40 yard pass a match but end up with 55% passing accuracy

mcgeady is one of spartak moscow's best players, he has good control and a turn of pace, ireland don't have anyone like him

mcclean looks good but he is more of a krasic/valencia type who will power down the outside and get a cross in

prolonging the agony on the beeb....andrews has been our best player in this tourney (gulp)

howard webb being shit again

he doesn't fucking hate Ireland, he thinks we shouldn't be happy to roll in, play like shit, and make up the numbers. fairly obvious point, and one that needs making.

that's the keane trademark of total rubbish. he's a fucking moron who failed repeatedly as a manager and bought irish players incessantly to the point where it was funny. that was a point in the past but no way is it one now. this is one of the worst irish teams ever, and credit to trap for us being there, even with his wild contrarian decisions.

theory being that mcgeady is ireland's most skilful player and might as well bring him into attacking mid

mcgeady is just crap.

what is paul green then?

he's below any level but overall this side have underachieved hugely, even under trap. you look at how teams are prepared for a summer tournament and ireland look so fucking lethargic in this tournament. a goal conceded in first 3/4 mins of each half so far.

so different to the team that qualified. keith andrews the only player who stood up.

this is not one of the worst irish teams/squads ever, but even if it were we`ve still not seen anything like the best from the players trap can be bothered to run his stubbornly limited and inflexible rule over from his dvd selection

this attitude of "he got us here" sickens my hole. the attitude of "we`ve only got shit players" sickens my hole. hid arrogance, his contempt for irish football and his sheer retirement gig `couldnt give a fuck for ye` response to very valid criticism sicken my hole.

he`s doing huge damage to irish international football

xp this is exactly the tem that qualified. any cunt can get draws in qualification by refusng to play football. come the contest proper you best have a bit more about you.

it's all pointless

i`d rather my pointlessness try to play football, using footballers

I agree with you, to an extent. Whatever preparation he's done has been dire. My point was that they're far less vigorous and fit even within the confines of trap's tactics.

It is a terrible pool of players though.

And I do think you have to credit trap with something for qualifying.

Would love to see what Harry would do with Ireland.

Repeated "sicken my hole"s - are you sure that wasn't the Euro 2012 cuisine btw?

Trap barely deserves credit for qualifying. He took one point from six against the only decent team in the group. Had they been drawn against anyone else in the play-off, they would have struggled. They were thoroughly outplayed for large stretches against Armenia and Estonia - it was pretty clear that they couldn't take the same attitude (and starting line-up) into matches against Croatia and Spain and not expect to get a hiding.

I think Keane was harsh on the players, none of them performed to their best but they'd still probably have been beaten comfortably if they did. It's a limited pool of resources, undeniably, but Trap's stubbornness and inflexibility needs to change before the WC qualifiers start.

I think Keane was harsh on the players, none of them performed to their best but they'd still probably have been beaten comfortably if they did. It's a limited pool of resources, undeniably, but Trap's stubbornness and inflexibility needs to change before the WC qualifiers start.

agreed. he has a rafa level of stubbornness. he would pick james mclean if everyone was telling him not to.

i dunno, i just don't feel comfortable totally berating him. we were in a fucking heap before he took charge.

What's the difference between Spain and Fidel Castro?

Spain were helped by more than one Shay Giv' error.

I am actually physically appalled that I just typed that.

I'm appalled for you. And also at myself for laughing.

I'm not really sure what that Ireland squad could have done that wouldn't have resulted in a whipping by Spain.

I mean they gave away some soft goals but most of these players are either old and off the pace or just not that good in the first place. And Spain are one of the best teams ever, in midfield at least.

fucking spain... i stay up till 3am to watch the first half hoping to see tons of goals and those fuckers decide to score only once before HT, keeping the other three for afterwards. bastards! not doing anything to make me like them one bit

You want them to give a good account of themselves though xp, give it a bit of a go. Two things really - carry some sort of threat of winning the game (not too bad here as had a couple of threatening attacks, should probably give McClean and Long a shot at it), but above all not to give it up cheaply. If you do that and still get beaten you can't complain.

I mean they gave away some soft goals but most of these players are either old and off the pace or just not that good in the first place. And Spain are one of the best teams ever, in midfield at least.

they played particularly badly and looked v unfit to me. but i agree with you mostly. i think conceding goals in the opening 3/4 mins of every half so far does suggest a lack of concentration though, even against top sides you'd expect a bit more resistance.

xpost otm

also on the fans stuff, fuck roy keane tbh, i was pleased with the fact they were singing at the end, support is a part of sport.

the way he goes on you'd swear he wants the fans to boo the team off

otm on the fans stuff. the press in france is in awe of the irish support and them singing till the end etc. apparently even the most annoying commentators shut up to listen to singing. coming from a country where the team is booed and whistled off the pitch if they are losing, the irish fans are dawesome and def not to be angry at.

he wants the fans to run on and kick the players until they buck their ideas up

i have sympathy for his "losing is not a joke" shtick but he's wrong

of course we overdo the brave losers thing, but still.

surprised to see Ireland as high as 18th in the FIFA rankings. if you look at the teams around them - Sweden, Mexico, Colombia, Cote d'Ivoire, you can maybe see some models for having a go with limited resources and support not revolving around it all being a huge laugh.

nb i wd take "it all being a huge laugh" over "God Save the Queen" jesus that song makes me wanna kill

I didn't think Keane criticised the fans (I maybe need to see it again) - I thought he criticised the players for coming out and giving it "the fans have been brilliant" when they haven't given the fans anything worth watching.

"the fans aren't just here for a sing-song" isn't the same as criticising them for singing.

i thought andrews spoke well, but i dunno, i am a big fan of him in general. the only one trying to get a goal against croatia.

surprised to see Ireland as high as 18th in the FIFA rankings. if you look at the teams around them - Sweden, Mexico, Colombia, Cote d'Ivoire, you can maybe see some models for having a go with limited resources and support not revolving around it all being a huge laugh.

zlatan, yaya, falcao, hernandez.....

ireland just don't have the players

Keane otm about it being right to have elevated expectations. Denmark is a small place without huge stars, but they usually manage to make the knockout stages.

I associate Scotland's nosedive with 'just pleased to be here' taking over as the sentiment, sometime around Craig Brown. It's maybe as likely the cause-and-effect is the other way round but still, I'm sure there used to be genuine annoyance at always going out in the first round. Now still having a mathematical shout of a playoff place come the last game is seen as a relatively successful campaign.

Denmark doesn't have huge stars but the base quality of those players is better across the board.

Problem with Ireland is that most of their players come up through the Premiership which isn't adequate training for getting even good English players to play decent international football.

Problem with Ireland is that most of their players come up through the Premiership which isn't adequate training for getting even good English players to play decent international football.

this is otm too. there are definitely better guys not getting a run though, v similar to the england prob except our gerrard/lamps etc are robbie keane and duffer, and john o'shea.

yeah that seems true

plenty of otm but i gotta go bbq and gokart laters

absolutely gutted that our early concession cost us the chance of getting my cherished 'shit without messi, you're only shit without messi' chant off the ground, has bemused spaniards from montecasino to the amber arena that one

i do think you can pick out zlatan falcao yaya as isolated players and try to make it look as if thats the company we`re in but that`s no more an average measure of the player in the teams around us than glenn whelan is of our first team. and zlatan`s shit.

Also FIFA Rankings are bullshit because there's no way that the Ivory Coast aren't way better than Ireland.

the rankings are iffy but the point is about belief in yr ability i think

plenty of otm but i gotta go bbq and gokart laters

busy man