So close yet so far....
Another night of mediocrity for the Irish football teamOn reflection, last night’s performance from Ireland can be described as nothing more than dire continuing on from our previous dire performance, the smash and grab 2-1 win against Georgia. Last night we took a very early lead and after that were dominated by the Bulgarians in terms of possession and class, you really would’ve thought the team in white were the home team. So as Trapp faces his biggest test yet against the Italians on Wednesday I feel there are huge issues that need to be resolved otherwise this promises to be yet another doomed campaign:
Why can’t Ireland win a game comfortably?
So far this campaign Ireland have drawn twice and have won three games, all of those three games were won by the narrowest margin of one goal, usually with tense endings with us camped in our own box. It is the usual story with Ireland, you nick a goal and then you sit on it and hope to God the other team don’t have enough quality to score. Why is it that when Ireland goes a goal up they can’t go for the jugular and get a second goal, allowing them and the fans to relax? After Irelands early goal last night they didn’t do a single thing in the first half, Bulgaria surged at them and had four good chances with Given called into action. The second half continued in the same vein, the sense of impending doom realised when Bulgaria got their goal and you couldn’t say the bastards didn’t deserve it. In the 96 minutes of football that was played last night Ireland had no sustained pressure, not even ten minutes camped in the opposition half, chances were scarce and the fans were left to cheer for corners and throw ins high up the pitch. There is an attitude problem that seems to run through Irish teams, when Bulgaria scored their equaliser the urgency returned to Ireland briefly but why wasn’t this urgency there when we were 1-0 up and could’ve killed the game and secured a vital three points.
Are Kilbane and Mc Shane really our best fullbacks?
I have a lot of time for Kevin Kilbane, he’s as honest as they come and has been very loyal to the Irish cause. Likewise Paul Mc Shane is a brave defender with a big heart BUT the bottom line is these guys are really shit footballers. These days’ full backs are becoming more and more important to a team; good fullbacks will be seen overlapping wingers high up the pitch and also remain solid in defence. Our Hull City duo cannot offer us that and we need to find somebody who can. Usually you can at least say Mc Shane is solid but last night he was nut megged, skinned down the line and beaten for pace with ease. Every time Mc Shane got the ball he shirked responsibility and looked to give it to someone else, that meant going backwards a lot of the time. When he did get into advanced positions and McGeady gave him the ball in a couple of yards space instead of getting a cross in the box he looked to give it straight back to McGeady, at international standard you can’t afford to have a guy so uncomfortable on the ball. Kilbane will of course be remembered in this game for calmly slotting Petrov’s centre passed a hapless Given but I wouldn’t really blame him for that. What I would blame him for is a lack of ambition, I never saw him in the opposition half and every time he got the ball he simply pasted it as hard as he could up to Keane and Doyle, it wasn’t good enough.
Why the fuck doesn’t Trapparoni make substitutions?
Last night as in other games, a change was desperately needed. Bringing on Andy Keogh on the 90th minute is absolutely useless. Why not do it twenty minutes earlier. McGeady was ineffective the whole game, what’s there to lose? I get the impression there is a very cautious approach from Trappatoni that probably also explains why Ireland don’t win games by more than one goal, but if ever there was a game that needed a shake it was last night. Granted our bench wouldn’t strike much fear into any team but some of the players on the pitch were spent and fresh legs could’ve brought some urgency to our performance.
Where is the creativity going to come from?
Last night we really missed Duff, who has been our most creative player this campaign. So in his absence it all lay on the shoulders of Aiden Mc Geady who once again had a stinker in an Ireland shirt. Hunt was willing and did well for Ireland’s goal but for all his running and enthusiasm often very little come from it. The gruesome twosome in the centre of the park can’t open teams up. Who else can we turn to? Stephen Ireland would be what’s needed but he won’t play so it’s back to the most overplayed argument in Irish football, bring back fat Andy Reid, the only Irish player who can pass the ball with conviction.
Was Glenn Whelan on the pitch?
Good oul’ Glenn Whelan, ‘the invisible man’ I hear his Stoke team mates affectionately call him and if they don’t they should. His central midfield partner Andrews wasn’t a whole lot better but at times he did show some adventure with a chip just over hit to Kevin Doyle and his cross to the same player in the last minute. He also got a few tackles in. To put it simply Whelan is just not up for the job, not good enough. I watched about twenty minutes of England last night and you see Lampard and Gerrard on the ball so often, they WANT the ball, they show for it, they pass it and they move. Glenn Whelan on the other hand managed to go the whole game without getting his name mentioned. The purpose of a midfield player is to link the backs with the strikers, pick up ball and pass it off. If you have an invisible man in centre midfield your only option is what happened repeatedly last night, long ball after long ball was lumped up field, by-passing the midfield and being easily dealt with by the ‘Bulgar’ defence. It’s an insult to Andy Reid that this man is accumulating caps at his expense and we can’t afford to have invisible men when we play the World Champions on Wednesday night.
posted by Shane @ 12:06 AM
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