Ireland v England

[BroadstairsR 2,135]

I am quite looking forward to this match this afternoon. I don''t know if others are as well?

 

These England friendly games don''t normally excite my interest much, especially since Sven perfected the art of playing three sides in one game.

 

This game has an edge, no doubt because most of the players are familiar to us and there is some old rivalry there in any case. We also have the Martin O''Neill connections.

 

I hope Wes gets a show, for his sake, but I wouldn''t want it to be for overmuch of the game. We have to preserve his dinky little legs for the real battles to come, and, also, an unfortunate injury would be a disaster.

 

I am also quite interested in seeing the Ipswich duo, McGoldrick and Murphy  in action on a bigger stage. Town fans are quite chuffed about their inclusion but the downside is, again, the risk of injury and, to a lesser extent, the interruption to the summer break.

 

McGoldrick is, IMO, the only genuine class player they have, and by a mile, and there have been times when I would have fancied him in the yellow shirt. he seems to be a bit more injury prone nowadays though, which makes this run out slightly risky. Another lay-off for him would be as disastrous to them as an invalided Wes would be to us. 

 

The atmosphere should be lively and there is a real risk of further trouble. Let''s hope it''s negligible.

[morty 0]

I''m painting my kitchen, I may just stick with that.Not sure why this trouble thing has been built up so much, to be honest. Woy was really labouring the point in a presser yesterday.

[BroadstairsR 2,135]

"I''m painting my kitchen, I may just stick with that.Not sure why this trouble thing has been built up so much, to be honest. Woy was really labouring the point in a presser yesterday."

 

Because of last time no doubt, along with the lout element amongst some English fans and the sensitivity of many of the Irish.

[/http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/republic-of-ireland-vs-england-police-fear-return-of-hooligans-ahead-of-dublin-clash-10298620.html]

 

I don''t think it will be entirely trouble free

[morty 0]

[quote user="BroadstairsR"]

"I''m painting my kitchen, I may just stick with that.Not sure why this trouble thing has been built up so much, to be honest. Woy was really labouring the point in a presser yesterday."

 

Because of last time no doubt, along with the lout element amongst some English fans and the sensitivity of many of the Irish.

[/http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/republic-of-ireland-vs-england-police-fear-return-of-hooligans-ahead-of-dublin-clash-10298620.html]

 

I don''t think it will be entirely trouble free

[/quote]Yes I''m fully aware of all the facts, but that last match, where there was trouble, was 20 years ago!Very different times now. I just feel that them making such a big deal out of it in the press is probably doing more to stoke it up, than prevent it.

[Barclay seats 4849 the 3rd 0]

Agree with Morty ,,, not painting my kitchen ,,,, the 20 years ago and talking it up bit .

[Katie Borkins 1]

No offence to Irish football but the Jack Charlton era is over and they are a poor side these days - I would expect Wales to qualify for a tournament before Ireland manage it again.  I am a big Wes Hoolahan fan but no player with his technical limitations should be able to play international football unless the pool of talent has all but run dry.

[BroadstairsR 2,135]

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/republic-of-ireland-vs-england-police-fear-return-of-hooligans-ahead-of-dublin-clash-10298620.html

Should be a better link.

There is clearly some general concern, but as you suggest, time heals.

Any excuse for some though.

[morty 0]

[quote user="BroadstairsR"]http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/republic-of-ireland-vs-england-police-fear-return-of-hooligans-ahead-of-dublin-clash-10298620.html

Should be a better link.

There is clearly some general concern, but as you suggest, time heals.

Any excuse for some though.[/quote]Did you see Woy''s press conference?He mentioned it - fine, no problem with that. But then he went on, and on, and on. And it left me thinking "Hang on Woy, isn''t football your department, not crowd control?"I have no doubt there will be trouble though, but not instigated by the Irish, anyone Irish I know has long since done their healing.

[Johnny Stump 1]

Thought the same thing about Roy going on this morning.

Surely that was a different time, different era.

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 3,773]

Part of me wants to see a little trouble (although not on the scale of last time, obviously). These friendlies are normally tepid, dull affairs and it could do with a spark to liven it up.

[BroadstairsR 2,135]

Perhaps we''re all now in danger of doing a Hodgson ie. talking up the troubles at the expense of discussing the game.

It should be quite an interesting affair and should be a combatative game.

It will be interesting to assess England''s faltering progress towards World Cup qualification and to cast a careful eye on our suspect defence.

It will be good if we get a cameo from Wes and interesting to see just how well the Ipswich players do on their rare exposure to the big arena.

Finally, plastics and their haters can all come together as armchair fans and may even swap views on the beer of their choice. No doubt those who continually insist that you can never assess a game properly from the television screen will express their opinions about this game with expertise.

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 3,773]

Murphy and McGoldrick up front for the Paddies...*sniggers*

[BroadstairsR 2,135]

Quote, "England''s faltering progress towards World Cup qualification."

It''s the Euros and we are currently top of our table having won all games.

Is this indicative of the general indifference to the national game these days or does it further expose me for the plastic that I am?

[King Klose 0]

McGoldrick seemed to know the National anthem well lol! Keep chewing that gum fella.

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 3,773]

[quote user="BroadstairsR"]Quote, "England''s faltering progress towards World Cup qualification."

It''s the Euros and we are currently top of our table having won all games.

Is this indicative of the general indifference to the national game these days or does it further expose me for the plastic that I am?[/quote]I thought that was a strange thing to say when I read it the first time.I think it sums up the attitude that we, as fans, have towards the England side nowadays, which is to automatically presume that we''re crap, even though we generally breeze through the qualifiers without a problem. We''re a bunch of flat track bullies really, and Rooney is the epitome of that- look great in the qualifiers against lesser nations, but then flop massively as soon as we play a bigger side.

[morty 0]

Chants of "Sepp Blatter, he paid for your ground"Excellent[:D]

[Herman 9,692]

Why play Hart in goal? Try someone else in a fwiendly, Woy.

[wcorkcanary 4,329]

Shane long, on the pitch 5 mins ,looking sharp as usual, a much underrated player IMO.

[FCC 76]

Quality is so poor!

[BroadstairsR 2,135]

I hope that Wes gets ten minutes.

The two binners are now off having not made too much of an impact.

Murphy was decent and troubled the defenders a lot. One good shot well saved and one good header well missed.

Didsy (???) diddled around didn''t he or did he not? Diddums. Never looked remotely like the £12m player some on TWTD mooted him as.

Overall, it is a dsappointing affair.

[morty 0]

Yeah, back to painting my kitchen ceiling, methinks.

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 3,773]

I think the only thing we are getting out of today is further proof that international friendlies are rather pointless.Neither team looks like they can be bothered and I can''t really see what either manager is learning from this.We really could do with substituting England friendlies for semi-competitive football such as a new version of the Home Nations. Even though they won''t provide the quality of opposition that we face in World Cups, at least there would hopefully be some degree of competition involved.

[BroadstairsR 2,135]

Moment of the match.

Wayne Rooney was set free on goal, just the ''keeper, the pass to him was perfect. His first touch was so poor it amounted to a gentle pass back to the goalkeeper.

Compare this, from our so-called star player, with some of the sublime skill exhibited last night by Barcelona and you have, in one brief incident, the reason in a nutshell why England won''t come anywhere near winning the Euros or reaching the later stages of the next World Cup.

[king canary 7,558]

Not totally sure what else anyone expected- end of season warm down between two teams without much interest.

[CANARYKING 634]

[quote user="king canary"]Not totally sure what else anyone expected- end of season warm down between two teams without much interest.[/quote]

I gave up watching England friendliest years ago, to be honest the full matches aren''t much better, City any day.

[TCCANARY 263]

[quote user="morty"]Yeah, back to painting my kitchen ceiling, methinks.
[/quote]

 

I like the way that you literally chose to watch paint dry.

 

 

[morty 0]

[quote user="TCCANARY"]

[quote user="morty"]Yeah, back to painting my kitchen ceiling, methinks.[/quote]

 

I like the way that you literally chose to watch paint dry.

 

 

[/quote]I watched about ten minutes while I was having a break.Yeah, I think I made the right choice!

[TIL 1010 4,717]

I had completely forgotten the game was taking place yesterday until I saw the result on the news last night.

[True Grit 26]

An excellent lesson in defending by both teams. A complete shut out. I hope AN was watching this match as it was a masterclass in how to defend. The game isn''t always about attacking prowess. I hope AN gets his back 4 to watch this game pre-season.

[lappinitup 629]

[quote user="True Tit"]I hope AN gets his back 4 to watch this game pre-season.[/quote]He will if he thinks they need to catch up on some sleep.........