FAI...June 2024 Friendlies v Hungary and Portugal

[rodney trotter]

what is it with all this love in on the board for mclean? I like him, he's a decent player but he's far from being first name on the team and as for him playing left back, you must be joking, no chance.

If Stephen Ward can play there anyting is possible, McClean plays left back as it is , rarely attacks.

[ONeill]

what is it with all this love in on the board for mclean? I like him, he's a decent player but he's far from being first name on the team and as for him playing left back, you must be joking, no chance.

At International level, McClean will take the wrong option 6-7/10.

[lynchbhoy]

Not for his attacking ability, he is pretty headless.

I wouldn't say headless but he is still learning IMO
But offers a lot more to the team - I'd have expected we would have been destroyed on that wing if Brady was there instead!
If ward plays then McLean must play - how often was McLean defending the left wing with ward nowhere in sight!!!!!

I'd actually like to try McLean at lb with Brady in front of him

Or see McLean  at l wing back in a 352

Agree about  McLean at lb and Brady left wing. Brady is more of a natural winger,

Not sure why you think Brady would have been destroyed last night had be been playing in front of Ward, he has played left back before and done well there for Hull and also for United., so his defensive game plan would be of no worries.

Wouldn't really disagree with you
But
Robbie Brady has actually done nothing of note yet.
He has great potential and I hope he can recapture the form he had prior to his injury last season as he was starting to look good
Prob a bit light yet but he is still young and learning

A mixture of him and McLean would be perfect for left wing

[rodney trotter]

Not for his attacking ability, he is pretty headless.

I wouldn't say headless but he is still learning IMO
But offers a lot more to the team - I'd have expected we would have been destroyed on that wing if Brady was there instead!
If ward plays then McLean must play - how often was McLean defending the left wing with ward nowhere in sight!!!!!

I'd actually like to try McLean at lb with Brady in front of him

Or see McLean  at l wing back in a 352

Agree about  McLean at lb and Brady left wing. Brady is more of a natural winger,

Not sure why you think Brady would have been destroyed last night had be been playing in front of Ward, he has played left back before and done well there for Hull and also for United., so his defensive game plan would be of no worries.

Wouldn't really disagree with you
But
Robbie Brady has actually done nothing of note yet.
He has great potential and I hope he can recapture the form he had prior to his injury last season as he was starting to look good
Prob a bit light yet but he is still young and learning

A mixture of him and McLean would be perfect for left wing

The next Qualifier is March, i was looking to that , hopefully he gets a chance against USA.

McClean is very good at the hussle and bussle, but need more then that at International from a winger.

[Lamh Dhearg Alba]

Strachan has Scotland attempting to play football, while even Michael O'Neill has Norn Iron playing a better passing game than the republic. Don't know what Martin's attempting to do, but at the moment it's ugly and ineffective. To borrow a line from Gary Lineker, the best way of watching this Ireland team is on teletext.

It didn't work on Friday but it's obviously been effective on other occasions. Scotland went to Germany and played some nice football, scored a lovely goal and might have had another but lost the match. Ireland went there and shitfested it and got a point. If Ireland end up qualifying I doubt there will be too many complaints at all about the style of play used.

Looking over the last couple of pages there would appear to be a few posters who are seething about losing to Scotland. Enjoy  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GccPPnee-4I

[Main Street]

Not for his attacking ability, he is pretty headless.

I wouldn't say headless but he is still learning IMO
But offers a lot more to the team - I'd have expected we would have been destroyed on that wing if Brady was there instead!
If ward plays then McLean must play - how often was McLean defending the left wing with ward nowhere in sight!!!!!

I'd actually like to try McLean at lb with Brady in front of him

Or see McLean  at l wing back in a 352

Agree about  McLean at lb and Brady left wing. Brady is more of a natural winger,

Not sure why you think Brady would have been destroyed last night had be been playing in front of Ward, he has played left back before and done well there for Hull and also for United., so his defensive game plan would be of no worries.

Wouldn't really disagree with you
But
Robbie Brady has actually done nothing of note yet.
He has great potential and I hope he can recapture the form he had prior to his injury last season as he was starting to look good
Prob a bit light yet but he is still young and learning

A mixture of him and McLean would be perfect for left wing

The next Qualifier is March, i was looking to that , hopefully he gets a chance against USA.

McClean is very good at the hussle and bussle, but need more then that at International from a winger.

Brady is not a winger, he's a wide midfielder, there is a big difference. He looked the part before he got injured last season. And after injury setback after setback, he looks to be finally on the way back, but still a good way off his pace.
If we use him in a game in the future, it means we will only use one so called winger, on the other side. Personally, that option is more to my liking.

[ballinaman]

The pitch side interviewer on RTE called the game extraordinary. I couldn't he used such a term to describe what I'd watched of the game.

Saw that.... Strange choice of word from Tony O'D.

Watched the match back there, grim stuff. I was in Row B behind the goal so view was shite last Friday. Wasn't much better viewing on RTE player.

All over the shop in midfield, Gibson/Hendrick out numbered every time with Naismith and Maloney dropping back.
Keogh had a stormer. Ward a liability yet again, as lads have pointed out McClean was covering him the whole game.

In all fairness, we've been fairly muck since O'Neil has taken over. Probably the best performance we've had was the 0-0 with Italy in Craven Cottage and you could account some of that to the Italians being afraid of the lives after the lad breaking his leg, just before the world cup.

Chatting to a few Celtic supporters after the game and the main issue that they had with O'Neill towards the end of his reign was that he never changed the system, would only change the players mid game.

If  it wasn't for the late goal in Tbilisi and Germany we'd be swimming with the fishes in this group. Going to take a massive turnaround to beat Poland and Scotland and home now. 

[AZOffaly]

Well, it will, but it's very doable. I think 'big picture' he's probably around where he thought he'd be in the group. I'd imagine he planned for a draw away to Scotland, and a loss in Germany.

[ballinaman]

Well, it will, but it's very doable. I think 'big picture' he's probably around where he thought he'd be in the group. I'd imagine he planned for a draw away to Scotland, and a loss in Germany.

Aye but it's actually worse now because it goes by head to head rather than GD.....you'd have to think Germany will get their act together when get players back from injury

[AZOffaly]

Yeah, but if they beat Scotland, I think they'll finish ahead of them on points anyway, based on that point in Germany at least.

[ballinaman]

Yeah, but if they beat Scotland, I think they'll finish ahead of them on points anyway, based on that point in Germany at least.

True, all conjecture at this stage but Scotland are perfectly suited to play away from home, breaking team with serious pace.
Anyway, Poland game in March is a long way away now.

[From the Bunker]

Well, it will, but it's very doable. I think 'big picture' he's probably around where he thought he'd be in the group. I'd imagine he planned for a draw away to Scotland, and a loss in Germany.

Yeah, but I'd rather those results. I'd rather Germany had won and drew with the Scots. We'd be two points better off than our main rivals Scotland. 

[SHEEDY]

why is roy keane wheeled out to answer questions at every bloody press conference? you don't see any other assistant manager having such a role. think he's needs to start keeping a lower profile as everything seems to be about him at the minute. the man is starting to become a distraction and its not going to end well.

[muppet]

why is roy keane wheeled out to answer questions at every bloody press conference? you don't see any other assistant manager having such a role. think he's needs to start keeping a lower profile as everything seems to be about him at the minute. the man is starting to become a distraction and its not going to end well.

The tabloids smell blood.

The question is whose blood will it be?

[mouview]

The pitch side interviewer on RTE called the game extraordinary. I couldn't he used such a term to describe what I'd watched of the game.

Saw that.... Strange choice of word from Tony O'D.


All over the shop in midfield, Gibson/Hendrick out numbered every time with Naismith and Maloney dropping back.
Keogh had a stormer. Ward a liability yet again, as lads have pointed out McClean was covering him the whole game.

In all fairness, we've been fairly muck since O'Neil has taken over. Probably the best performance we've had was the 0-0 with Italy in Craven Cottage and you could account some of that to the Italians being afraid of the lives after the lad breaking his leg, just before the world cup.

Chatting to a few Celtic supporters after the game and the main issue that they had with O'Neill towards the end of his reign was that he never changed the system, would only change the players mid game.

If  it wasn't for the late goal in Tbilisi and Germany we'd be swimming with the fishes in this group. Going to take a massive turnaround to beat Poland and Scotland and home now. 

Is Ward seriously the worst player ever to play for Ireland?

Really not much point in getting too worked up about our results, no point in qualifying for a tournament that we'd stink the place out of a-la Poland in '12. We've a dreadfully poor squad and have been very poor for a decade at least now.