The hangover after the high

by Eoin Ryan

After the recent Grand Slam heroics of the Irish rugby team and Bernard Dunne’s world championship victory, it was perhaps inevitable that the Irish soccer team would bring us crashing back to earth.

On the face of it, a one-all draw at home to Bulgaria is not such a bad result. They’ve got some Premiership players, and have been a decent team over the last couple of years, missing out on a play-off place for Euro 2008 by a single point.

What was most disappointing was the one-dimensional awfulness of the Irish performance and the fact that, yet again, we let a lead slip away late in the game.

WOEFUL

Ireland’s passing was woeful, with the team unable to string two passes together at times. Our central midfield duo of Glenn Whelan and Keith Andrews were totally anonymous, rarely leaving their own half or looking to play the ball forward.

This resulted in Ireland’s play becoming extremely predictable, as long balls were hoofed up by the backs, or fed wide to the wingers. Kevin Doyle and Robbie Keane did excellently, considering they were receiving service more suited to Peter Crouch, but too often they were left isolated up front to do it all on their own. Doyle looked so comfortable on the ball it’s amazing he’s still playing in The Championship.

TOOTHLESS ATTACK

The wingers had on off day, with Stephen Hunt in particular looking toothless. The Reading man works tirelessly, and brings great aggression to the play, but his ability to beat defenders and cross the ball is nothing compared to the badly missed Damien Duff. It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that Hunt is better used as an impact sub.

Aiden McGeady had a few nice touches but yet again from the Celtic playmaker there was little end product. He wasted a couple of good opportunities but admittedly, at least he had the skill to make them in the first place. If he stays fit for the Italy game and shows a bit more composure he could make a difference.

At the back, Richard Dunne and John O’Shea continue to look solid, Paul Mc Shane continues to scare the life out of us every time he gets on the ball, and Kevin Kilbane is not quite convincing at left back. In fairness to McShane, he avoided any notable howlers but his passing simply doesn’t cut it at right back. Pray for a swift Finnan recovery. Kilbane was unlucky for the own goal but his midfielder’s instincts tend to leave him out of position at times.

FLAWED TACTICS

Ultimately, what the game did most of all was to expose Giovanni Trappatoni’s tactics as flawed. By choosing average players to fit his defensive system, rather than accommodate more talented mavericks like Andy Reid, he has turned Ireland into an inferior version of Jack Charlton’s team.

Are we really doing players like Robbie Keane and Kevin Doyle justice by lumping it forward to them? That’s what we’re going to get as long as Trap persists in picking Andrews and Whelan in midfield, and especially by instructing them both to play as holding midfielders.

HUMBLE PIE

If we’re going to make it to South Africa, it make be a good idea to swallow some humble pie and recall Andy Reid, or perhaps hire whatever combination of witch doctor and psychiatrist is needed to ensure the return of Stephen Ireland, in the form of his life for Manchester City.

Assuming we can continue our form of not playing particularly well but coming away with reasonable results, the most likely scenario is a play off place. Stephen Reid might hopefully be fit by then and he would be ideally supplemented by his namesake Andy or Stephen Ireland. Time to make the calls Giovanni.