FAI...New Manager Hunt continues

[T Fearon]

Dunphy Giles and Brady talking absolute bollix tonight.You'd think Houlahan was a mix of Neymsr,Messi and Rinaldo

[An Watcher]

Seeding seems to be very close.  By my reckoning only Slovenia,  Turkey and Norway are below us in the rankings thus leaving us as 2nd seeds. Although if turkey win their final game they will finish above us too! Our only hope is for turkey to draw their final game and qualify on head to head over Holland then for Cyprus to beat bosnia at home and pip them to third.  Think this is correct based on the following http://m.footballseeding.com/national-ranking-uefa/

[Captain Obvious]

http://www.sportsjoe.ie/football/irelands-hopes-of-being-seeded-for-the-play-offs-rest-in-luxembourg-and-cyprus-hands/43769

[screenexile]

Dunphy Giles and Brady talking absolute bollix tonight.You'd think Houlahan was a mix of Neymsr,Messi and Rinaldo

Jesus its not often I agree with Tony but you've hit the nail on the head. Lads in the studio think we should be f**king Germany or Spain and play at the top level all the time. Our team is better as a whole than the sum of our parts which O'Neill and Keane should get credit for.

Instead we have f**king dinosaurs questioning selections/tactics of a team who have achieved the most we could have contemplated when we set up on this journey. Dunphy's a ****!

[rodney trotter]

A world class player makes a serious difference to an average enough team in international football. Zlatan with Sweden, Alaba with Austria, Bale with Wales, Arda Turan with Turkey. Lewandowski with Poland. A few other decent players  in  those teams too. but they are genuine world class.

[blewuporstuffed]

Stamp racism out of football, how about stamping diving out. That was embarrassing

100%,  puts you off bigtime

The diving from lewandoski was pathetic tonight,and a very poor referee to buy that every time.
A really poor Ireland performance though, really found lacking when they have to throw everything at a game and actually create something.
McGeady must be the most frustrating player I have ever seen in an Ireland jersey

[ballinaman]

No shape in midfield compared to Thursday night. McCarthy and Whelan together is bad news. McClean seems to close his eyes and just hopes it'll open up for him when he starts dribbling.

Walters will be a serious loss for the 1st leg of the play off.

[imtommygunn]

I thought McGeady did ok, all things considered, when he came on. Only guy who looked like he could beat a man. He is about as frustrating a footballer as you will ever see though.

Brady had a nightmare last night. Gave the ball away so many times. I know O'Neill etc have done the tactics to get them where they are etc but I really thought they were poor last night. The midfield worked so well on Thursday night I really don't know why they brought Glen Whelan in. It was a bit harsh on the right back but you can see why they changed it as Coleman the best player - though he clearly wasn't fit. McClean and Long are much better subs. McClean looked limited and predictable. He will go at players all night long and this is a better approach for tired legs.

Qualifiers will be tough especially without Walters and O'Shea for the first legs.

[Billys Boots]

I think Martin O'Neill is too fond of the 20-min game - frustrate and harry and physical for 70 mins, then bring on some subs, change the shape a bit and go at them for the last 20.  So teams will go at us early and try to build something to protect late.  Poland are no better than us but they have Lewandowski, who is superb, and they know how to use him.  And we could have stolen it had the header fallen to anyone but Keogh.  All kind of predictable, really. 

The panel on RTE really are poor, nothing to offer except criticism of the manager (irrespective of the game, result, score) - I can listen to Brady who at least knows something about football, but Gilesy should be retired, and Dunphy is pathetic. 

[JoG2]

No shape in midfield compared to Thursday night. McCarthy and Whelan together is bad news. McClean seems to close his eyes and just hopes it'll open up for him when he starts dribbling.

Walters will be a serious loss for the 1st leg of the play off.

Has it ever worked? My heart sinks everytime I see Whelan's name on the teamsheet. I wouldn't be Giles, Dunphy and Brady's biggest fan, but they have a very valid point re Hoolahan. Hoolahan is far from world class, but he is the only midfielder we have with vision and an ability to hold the ball and bring others into play.  Himself and McCarthy (best match in an Irish shirt by a country mile against the Germans) work well together. As Packie said this morning on 909, there was plenty of graft but very little craft. Hoolahan brings the craft.

Poland are a very average team with a brilliant (albeit cheating, diving, simulating ) striker. For O'Neill to put out a team without Hoolahan, a team that continuously coughed up possession (as we all knew would happen),  allowing Poland to continuously counter with Lewandoski as the target was madness.

When you have a central midfield pairing who can retain possession, our wide men like Brady, Walters, Christie etc get involved more in an attacking, retaining sense, and dont play the whole game on the back foot allowing panic to set in.

A disappointing night, but we're in the hat for the qualifying draw. The worry is though, O'Neill will persist with his usual workhorse midfield and every game will be an absolute stress fest. If we do manage to get through, France 2016 will mirror 2012 for our boys unfortunately.

[Declan]

I think Martin O'Neill is too fond of the 20-min game - frustrate and harry and physical for 70 mins, then bring on some subs, change the shape a bit and go at them for the last 20.  So teams will go at us early and try to build something to protect late.  Poland are no better than us but they have Lewandowski, who is superb, and they know how to use him.  And we could have stolen it had the header fallen to anyone but Keogh.  All kind of predictable, really. 

The panel on RTE really are poor, nothing to offer except criticism of the manager (irrespective of the game, result, score) - I can listen to Brady who at least knows something about football, but Gilesy should be retired, and Dunphy is pathetic. 

+1 - You'd swear you knew something about the game Billy

[illdecide]

Really frustrating here...from diving from that bastid Lewandowski to shit players to listening to them 3 twats in the studio and then lads here blaming in on McGeady...FFS. Trap & MON both know the limited ability of the players we have and if we go out and play silky football against the big boys they'll tear us a new arse hole. Most of the players are playing in the Championship in England and we've some players who can't even get a game with their clubs.

23 Randolph (Was decent)
02 Coleman (Was decent)
05 Keogh (Average and should have scored)
04 O'Shea (Average Judo performance)
19 Brady (Terrible)
08 McCarthy (Poor)
06 Whelan (Brutal))
14 Walters (was poor but gives his all)
21 Hendrick (brutal)
11 McClean (BRUTAL )
09 Long (Only threat we had )

R Keane (Never touched Leather)
A McGeady (1 good Cross & at least one terrible one)
Hoolahan  ( the Messi love child of Dunphy didn't do much when he came on either)

[Bingo]

Anyone think that Dunphy got a telling off during the game after his prematch rant. I didn't see it live but watched the rant back afterwards after the twitter postings on it. He was away out of line and I think Daragh handled it well live but I'm sure he was fuming afterwards.

How many times does Dunphy play the "we played the game card" during a game. He's been out of the game longer than he played at this stage. I thought he was more reserved afterwards.

In the prematch analysis I don't think they showed a single clip of the game but maybe that was a ploy to get people to watch the highlights show.

On the game itself, the first 20/25 minutes where crazy and unpredictable which didn't suit Ireland. When the game settled Ireland done a lot better but still lack that creativity. When the chance fell it came to the wrong man.

Will take too massive efforts now in playoffs. I hope its one of Nordic countries that we get rather than a Baltic state.

[imtommygunn]

No shape in midfield compared to Thursday night. McCarthy and Whelan together is bad news. McClean seems to close his eyes and just hopes it'll open up for him when he starts dribbling.

Walters will be a serious loss for the 1st leg of the play off.

You quash half the effectiveness of McCarthy by playing Whelan. Really really bad move in my book and we were so much more offensive when he went off.  McClean is entirely predictable too. He goes at players. After the 3rd or 4th ball they have him sussed. At least coming from the bench he can go at tired legs.

illdecide are you Eamon Dunphy in disguise lol

[Bingo]

No shape in midfield compared to Thursday night. McCarthy and Whelan together is bad news. McClean seems to close his eyes and just hopes it'll open up for him when he starts dribbling.

Walters will be a serious loss for the 1st leg of the play off.

You quash half the effectiveness of McCarthy by playing Whelan. Really really bad move in my book and we were so much more offensive when he went off.  McClean is entirely predictable too. He goes at players. After the 3rd or 4th ball they have him sussed. At least coming from the bench he can go at tired legs.

illdecide are you Eamon Dunphy in disguise lol

Couldn't believe that McClean started. He is either running down bling alleys or giving away cheap fouls. Better off the bench alright.

Robbie Keane has had his day at this stage and the pace of the game is too much for him. Don't think he had one contribution of note when he came on.