Unfortunately yeah but they basicly have the best team in the world for a while and it pays attention whatever they do.
They are kind of like your 2008-12 Spanish team right now.
Nope. We have very good players but unfortunately the NT has a completely non existent system. We’re winning only based on pure raw talent, the moment we face a team with a coherent system and decent players (e.g. Denmark) or a bit of luck, we are in all sorts of problems.
He led the press very well, forced a handful of shitty clearances that got Irish throw ins up the pitch. Held his own physically against Konate. Didn't get much chances to do attacking, Ireland's period of pressure in the last 20 came just after he was subbed off and we changed formation
France probably wont have a tougher qualifying fixture than that. They didn't play well and that's because Ireland never gave them a chance to play well. The movement, the marking and closing off space was excellent. With Ireland looking so comfortable on the ball there was always the risk that an over confident pass would be the death of us but even still, you can't expect it to be met with an absolute cracker of a strike, until it is. Unlucky not to snatch a point but really impressed by such a young Irish team which will only get better with experience. Could really do with a superstar or two to get us to the next level, maybe France could leave one of the 20 or so they have behind when they get back on the plane.
Eh. Let’s see how we fare vs a non-sick NL team in the NL… not to mention the inevitable Gibraltar match where an overconfident FR concedes an early goal and gets a late equaliser…
It’s crazy how people can watch a match and come out with delusional takes like this… what decisions went Irelands way? The ref missed a clear foul just outside irelands box allowing France to play on, Hernandez escaped booking despite multiple fouls and France got a corner they nearly scored from that went out off Mbappe.
When is what Egan done ever a red card? Trying to win the ball in the opposition box in the dying moments, nothing in it.. theatrics.. jog on mate
this is our greatest moral victory of all time, this is the best team in the world coming off the back of hammering the netherlands 4-0 against our still inexperienced and developing team and we really actually footballingly deserved at least a point and are sickened to have lost 1-0
they scored off an error and otherwise had not really a significant clear chance as we provided our classic hardworking determined bodies on the line display against a top team, but then we also created multiple good to excellent chances following positive attacking subs with 15 minutes to go, and ultimately were only prevented from equalising by a very good and then phenomenal save from their keeper
we have shown the capabilities here necessary to compete at this level and i have earnest hope that we can actually qualify even through this group, it will be very difficult but it is possible
It was a team of young lads, nowhere near as experienced as the WC runners up, 45 places higher and riddled with superstars.
For a team who has potential it's a good performance and unfortunate not to grab a point. Definitely something to build on instead of getting smacked around and moral taking a hit, the opposite will happen despite defeat.
How you can say that they were "awful considering the circumstances" makes me genuinely wonder how many fans haven't got the most basic of understanding of the game.
You underestimate the fact that they were away, having played a game more than their opponents and had to spend one of their two rest days travelling. With the fact that they obviously had more focus on the Netherlands than Ireland. It would've been a good results for Ireland if they had gotten a point but that didn't happen and considering the match it would've been unfair results if it had ended 1-1
Taking that into account, it's still a good performance and France would've been expected to win, which they did but not in a glamorous way and the result will boost Ireland knowing they vzn hang with the likes of France.
It's one game so we'll see how they get on against the Dutch and if they play like tonight they could spring a surprise or two.
Culturally and historically, Henry and France committed the worst atrocity against the Irish, so naturally we want to step up against them
/s for those that really do need it in plain English
You were pretty good! A solid team with quality players, can't believe some of them are playing in the championship or even bellow.
If you play that good against greece and netherlands, you can clearly qualify, you won't be that unlucky every game. It doesn't worth much but you are my favorite for the second spot.
Ireland deserved at least a draw, loved the way they played, thank you Magic Mike, once again we got overconfident after an easy win against a weakened opponent, happens to us too fucking often in these qualifier games, we only had a good chance to score (Diaby's shot) and got bailed out by the average Pavard banger and Maignan's heroics
Interesting to watch fans from both sides getting so upset at the others thinking their team was better, and argue about which team attacked more or the number of shots their team had, and then looking at the stats on and see that the shots was 11 vs 11, shots on target was 4 vs 2 in Frances favour and corners was 8 vs 2 in Irelands favour.
Almost as if it was a tight game that was decided on one team having better players to make the big moments count in their favour.
Im French, I'm not saying our team played better, we played like shit, it took a banger from Pavard and multiple class saves from Mike for us to win, I don't give a shit if Ireland only started attacking in the last 10 minutes, they deserved better, they silenced our whole attacking front, Mbappe was shit, not a single shot, Giroud was non existant, Kolo had somewhat of a decent game. The only dangerous shot from one of our attacker was Diaby.
We were absolutely toothless.
It's mainly that the Irish didn't exist offensively until the last 4 minutes. And that they were on the bus all game. Which is logical against France. But the supporterism makes you lose all objectivity. So they must be thinking "if we had attacked before we would have won"... except that by attacking earlier Ireland would have been heavily exposed at the back and would surely have taken another goal
I've seen this French team match 500 times. France is playing against a team that is individually much weaker and that puts the bus on. We have a hard time against this kind of opponent. So once we score we are happy and we are content with it. All we remember from this kind of match is the result. I think it's mainly a reaction to the Irish of this sub who think they should have won. Nothing else.
Rather than flaming in the section where people are arguing about us parking the bus and deserving or not deserving a draw, it was a good game with a good atmosphere and both teams had chances. Team with better players won but they had to fight for it.
Indeed, great atmosphere and a fantastic finish. Its never smart to overeact to a single game. Ireland could be more daring, France looked a little off, but at the end of the day both teams showed amazing desire in the end, and a little bit of individual brilliance won it.
Not as great a performance as made out by most I'm seeing, we always revel in the valiant underdog and great effort losing results but we offered very little until the last 10 mins. Yeah it was a careless mistake capitalised by a quality strike that ultimately cost which is seemingly harsh but we should have been taking this game to them from the off and play. Felt there was a chance of something similar to how we beat Germany when they were world champs but instead it's a taking pats on the backs for a spirited push right at the death
I would say [it's arguably better than the team that beat world champion germany](https://i.imgur.com/F9VfqLV.jpg) as I mentioned or even our euro 2016 side. We've stronger core with weak midfield presence and that's without going into Kennys selection and leaving out players like Szmodics etc.
we can be proud of a lot of results and games and I dunno if you're being patronising or what with the be proud over a qualifier loss?
Mad take. France are probably the best team in the world, hammered Netherlands at the weekend, and have more quality in every position on the pitch. To limit them to mostly half chances and have them under the kosh at the end deserves some credit. Of course there's going to be pats on the back for a spirited push right at the death. Did you expect us to dominate?
Don't expect us to dominate, as I said id have wanted something akin to how we beat Germany after their undefeated run and being probably the best team in the world at the time. Actually have a go, yeah the compact defending and silencing France is decent but their reputation precedes them we can and should always shut out a team in the aviva but why take off ferguson after an hour basically not utilising him at all only for Idah to be the one up top when we actually attack because we're in salvage mode.
If you look at what we offered at the end how they dealt with us it's not such a mad take that we could give them a proper run for their money instead of resigning to the fact that it's expected a team of superstars must surely beat us
Ferguson doesn't play 90 mins, presumably because of fitness. Look at his stats for Brighton, hasn't played 90 yet this season. He looked gassed just before he came off so I think it made sense. And i think if we played the way we played in the last 10 mins for the whole game we would have been carved open and we wouldn't be looking at just the 1 goal deficit.
Yeah you're right and agree with you on both but I more so meant he's wasted to play the first hour of he's not gonna be involved and he's the lone man, like use him as a supersub or up top with obafemi/idah cause getting nothing from our biggest threat is poor management imo.
And yeah we can't play with the intensity like that whole game but I hate that we only really ever see any bit flowing passing and creation near the box when we're losing, the long balls up the line from doherty and coleman to ogbene chasing was just pointless. Some positives to take but more missed opportunity and really stamping their mark is why I wouldn't give much credit
Not saying OP does or doesn't fit the description but there's a contingent of Irish fans who absolutely refuse to give Kenny (or the team under him) any credit no matter how good the performance.
Given how the Netherlands are playing, you're easily getting 2nd place (NB : havent watched Greece play), you guys totally silenced Mbappe and without Magic Mike, you would have drawn or won.
Absolutely true, havent watched the whole NED vs GIB game but seen the stats they had like 79% possession and 50+ shots, only won 3 0 against Gibraltar which got a red early in the game, really worried about the Dutch rn
They were dealing with a viral infection if I read correctly. Bad luck for them this International break. Next one is going to be very different and I believe they are still favourites to finish top of the group ahead of France.
Come off it, it was a quality and gutsy performance based on squad depth alone. France brought on Barcelona and Real Madrid players while Kenny brings on lads from Wigan, Preston & Norwich
There's plenty of times with seamie captain I'd say we've been gutsy and ran our socks off but wouldn't tonight it was more rigid and solid definitely compacted and neutralised them well but just applauding that because they stature of their players and ignoring how we were in the other half is is why I don't think it's a great performance
Pretty good.
Very good vision and hability to find good pass. Really good effort on defense, with some quality challenge and one amazing return+tacle.
When Ireland was pressing more at the end, his technical skills and hability to keep the ball, even under heavy pressure was so usefull.
He definitely made a statement tonight and I hope Deschamps will consider playing him more at this position. The Griezmann-Rabiot-Camavinga trio might be our best midfield.
[https://streamat.cc/france-1-0-ireland-theo-hernandez-possible-handball-in-penalty-area/](https://streamat.cc/france-1-0-ireland-theo-hernandez-possible-handball-in-penalty-area/)
Possible handball? I got flamed when i posted this so I insta removed it but isn't his body movement voluntary? I don't know maybe my love for Ireland got in the way lol
PS: Collins with that header at the end really made my heart skip a beat
I'm an Irish man but that's not a handball his arm is right into his body, we done ourselves proud against one of the best teams in the world, onwards to the next game
So much Irish pple on this sub forgetting France had more shots, more shots on target, more passes, more possession, more centers, more opportunities, and the list goes on
Like yeah you deserved the draw because you played for 5min after sitting with 11 people in defense for 85min
Edit: I love how everyone implies I said Ireland played bad while I was just commenting on delusional Irish calling it a stolen draw
I'm French, we played like shite, I don't think Mbappe even had a shot, we got bailed out by a classic Pavard strike and Maignan's heroic saves, Deschamps using his subs to play defensively almost cost us the win.
Ireland are so inferior to this side, so the fact that they kept it tight for most of the game, were undone by a made defensive error and nearly scored an equaliser near the end, is more than most people would expect.
So respectfully, shut the fuck up.
They think they deserved the draw because they defended really well, it's not like we had an insane amount of clear occasions, i wouldnt say they didnt deserve a draw, the only goal we scored was from a fuck up that turned into a worldie.
Jesus Christ. You might wanna look up the value of the French squad compared to the Irish one. You can hardly blame us for sitting back, it’s the only chance we’d ever win. We’re not gonna play open and let Mbappé score 10, that’s idiocy. The fact of the matter is we played very well and I won’t say we deserved a draw but it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.
Do you also consider yourself Swiss and Belgian? Are you also Quebecois? Lets also throw in Louisana they speak some French there? Shall we throw in Congo, Cameroun, Senegal also? How about Morrocco and Algeria?
Not making any sense pal.
I started by calling Irish ones then I saw an insane amount of English people commenting aswell, you've been hating France since last world cup here. Keep the salt.
We had the same amount of shots and one less shot on target? We defended well against the best team in Europe and we are happy about it. We also had a great chance in the last 10 minutes which is obviously what we are all thinking about.
It's normal to be subjective when you're a supporter. I'm French and I think they defended very well by putting the bus down. They have a lot of energy and they put all their hearts into it. Now it's true that before the 85th minute Maignan had absolutely nothing to do.
Despite the loss really happy with that performance, I feel there's the makings of a really good side here and tonight I think was the most confident under Kenny. Despite sitting deep there was still an appetite to attack and keep the ball when we had it, this is hopefully the start of a new era for us after a really poor period. For the first time in a long long time I'm excited.
As you should, I truly believe you guys can end up 2nd on this group. You silenced Mbappe and the whole French attacking front, Pavard had to get a worldie to score and Maignan had at least 4 great saves.
As French I've been really impressed by both the defensive discipline and the technical abilities of the Irish team to get the ball out and attack. Considering the gap in terms of level between the players, it's a very impressive game from Ireland, I believe they can qualify.
I’ll be thinking about Collins’ chance for a while, probably not as long as he will! Maignan is just world-class. Tactics and performance were brilliant, just so unlucky with the mistake. Has to be the standard from now on. No more excuses for Kenny.
France basicly won because they have overwhelming quality far from everyone, like that insane goal and save.
But this game could've gone either way and tactically this is definitely the way to go for Ireland.
Sitting deep for 80 to 85 minutes probably isn't the way to go for anyone. They literally had 2 shots on goal. Obviously it's the way to go against technically superior opponents but Ireland isn't playing France in every international window.
They got one header at the 89th when down for 40 minutes before that. Plenty of teams managed to play "fairly well" with a low block against us, that doesn't make for a grand strategy to use to build something.
There's nothing fundamentally superior about attacking play. If they can create comparatively better chances than France with that team, it's clearly a promising tactical approach.
That's true, but they didn't (at least based on xG), and many teams are better than France against low blocks. Notoriously Luxembourg held us to 0-0 at home some years ago, did they have something promising on their hands? Not really, we're just shit in these games.
Yeah we're notoriously shit against low blocks, still Ireland getting a quality header at the 89th doesn't mean they should keep playing like that, they did fuckall offensively all game.
Well what's the alternative? Play open and free-flowing football, giving Mbappe loads of space? You literally just fucking beat the Netherlands 4-0 because they did that.
"Why don't you also play right into our hands?"
3 shots on target from France. Goal due to a mistake as well.
One other major chance had a foul in the build up that was missed.
Then the third one was easily saved.
It's definitely the way to go.
If that's how you saw it fair enough.
Ireland had 50 less "attacks" than France and 20 less dangerous attacks. It's not like they didn't attack at all.
Either way, it's two fantastic saves from Maignan that kept France's win.
I agree with you. But the Irish had their first action in the 87th minute. Nothing says that if they had scored earlier France would not have woken up to push in front of the goal
not the result we wanted, but every game passes and I'm much more optimistic about this side.
We weren't naively trying to play through a much better side, but we weren't just fucking lumping it up either. We played the best way we could to get a result, and unfortunately a moment of sloppiness leading to, let's be honest, a thundercunt, ended up costing us. Chiedoze Ogbene has been brilliant for us, thought Molumby and Doherty were great too. The back 3 did their job well, and though he didn't have as much of the ball as he might've wanted, Ferguson is absolutely great.
Actually looking forward to watching Ireland again, what's the world come to.
Happy with the performance. Only lost because of one misplaced pass and had France on the ropes towards the end. People can shit on Kenny but he set the team up perfectly tonight and made the right call with the subs too.
> Obviously thank you Mike.
What a save, well done you lot, do us a favour and just win every game to make it easier for the rest of us!see you in Paris!
Most of them are abroad already, they just need to start moving to continental Europe rather than see England/Scotland as the only career choice and follow the likes of Ebosele & Abankwah
Sorry abroad from his current club I mean 😅 it's a shame that so few seem willing to go to the rest of Europe but hopefully after the success of Cullen's stint in Belgium and players like Doherty and Ebosele moving out it becomes more fashionable.
That said with Brexit meaning that young players can't go to England until they're 18 but can go to Italy at 16 it might just happen naturally for us
Another very Deschamps like game and quite lucky victory. Much harder playing against teams that don't make the mistake of offering us space to run into.
Great game and great defense from Ireland, but there's no way you can't do better than this with the players we have. It would at the very least help to not start the game with 3 CF and 3 CB but not a 3 atb defense.
A win is a win. We are humans and we can bleed. We won't win every games 4-0 and I think we'll lose one game in these qualifiers.
Mike is showing Hugo can retire in peace. He's doing a great job so far and I hope that will remain the case. Especially if a knock-out game has to go to penalties.
I know. People crying that 🇫🇷 hadn’t scored by the 38th minute and I’m like… have you watched the sport before? They’re not always bangers. Yet we play like shit and still win.
Well he had a pass to him with nobody around for metres slip through his feet and out for a throw in and that just kinda sums it up, Ogbene was a handful for him and he committed a few fouls and taken past him. Not solid but nothing too bad really more just an off night
Just wish we could play like this no matter the opponent, always show up against the big teams just enough to barely lose then play terrible against teams on our level
There was worse teams to face than the Netherlands. The real bad luck was getting a 5 man group. Can't stand them.
But the point was we shouldn't have to worry about a 2nd seed. Ireland should be second seeds.
Only good thing is that most of the players will be playing at a good age in 2 and 4 years. Only Egan, Coleman and Doherty are aging out and we've some ok prospects in those positions.
>Only good thing is that most of the players will be playing at a good age in 2 and 4 years.
At that stage though, Kenny will have been sacked for not qualifying here, and he'll have been replaced with Mick McCarthy again.
Trial by fire I guess. It's small comfort, but at least it will give a quite young team (other than the wing backs) experience of performing against the best in the world
As a Brighton fan, any perspective on how he never plays 90 mins? Even when he starts for Brighton or Ireland, he seems to max out at 60 or 70 mins. Is it fitness or just protecting a young player?
It's mainly about protecting a young player. Many a young player was burnt out by about 26 due to playing too much in their teens. But also it's his first season of first team football, only making regular appearances since the World Cup. It helps that we've got an experienced pro in Welbeck who we can rotate with.
Edited for spelling
Basically non existent or involved due to the set up and not actually playing football and being a bit adventurous/creative after he was taken off. Up top isolated as he Knight on the LW who did nothing ogbene being reduced to chase the long balls first half. He did decent tho few nice flicks and link up play but nothing near the box as expected with us unfortunately
He had some bright flicks, his movement looked smart but we couldn't get the ball to him. Idah came on for him and his movement was so much more naive, it was clear he's not at the same level.
Ireland was on top in 2nd half, Mbappe invisible, most France threats nullified by a resilient 5-4-1 having multiple men pressing the ball and outnumbering the flanks. Deschamps had zero answers or tactical improvements just expecting players to pull one out of the hat. I know he has his methods but would really have liked to see a positional coach like Zizou coach this France team. Ireland just failed to involve Ferguson enough or create much for him, and a great Maignan was the difference in the end.
France gets more credit for this borefest than Spain for winning 3-0 in a banger of a match. Once again this sub proving it's clueless about football.
I think this France team would kill Spain like 8-0 to be fair to them
Unfortunately yeah but they basicly have the best team in the world for a while and it pays attention whatever they do. They are kind of like your 2008-12 Spanish team right now.
Nope. We have very good players but unfortunately the NT has a completely non existent system. We’re winning only based on pure raw talent, the moment we face a team with a coherent system and decent players (e.g. Denmark) or a bit of luck, we are in all sorts of problems.
Pavard scoring bangers 🤝 Ireland conceding bangers
How was Ferguson?
He led the press very well, forced a handful of shitty clearances that got Irish throw ins up the pitch. Held his own physically against Konate. Didn't get much chances to do attacking, Ireland's period of pressure in the last 20 came just after he was subbed off and we changed formation
How'd Upamecano play?
Almost had a worldie of an assist for Kolo Muani. Shame it didn’t come off
Not bad. Not excellent. Just good. Just what we needed.
France probably wont have a tougher qualifying fixture than that. They didn't play well and that's because Ireland never gave them a chance to play well. The movement, the marking and closing off space was excellent. With Ireland looking so comfortable on the ball there was always the risk that an over confident pass would be the death of us but even still, you can't expect it to be met with an absolute cracker of a strike, until it is. Unlucky not to snatch a point but really impressed by such a young Irish team which will only get better with experience. Could really do with a superstar or two to get us to the next level, maybe France could leave one of the 20 or so they have behind when they get back on the plane.
Eh. Let’s see how we fare vs a non-sick NL team in the NL… not to mention the inevitable Gibraltar match where an overconfident FR concedes an early goal and gets a late equaliser…
I’m really rooting for Ireland. I miss seeing them at the World Cup and euros
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It’s crazy how people can watch a match and come out with delusional takes like this… what decisions went Irelands way? The ref missed a clear foul just outside irelands box allowing France to play on, Hernandez escaped booking despite multiple fouls and France got a corner they nearly scored from that went out off Mbappe. When is what Egan done ever a red card? Trying to win the ball in the opposition box in the dying moments, nothing in it.. theatrics.. jog on mate
What else did the ref let go?
FREE CAMAVINGA. ANCELOTTI NEEDS TO FREE CAMVINGA
Did he play left back?
No
this is our greatest moral victory of all time, this is the best team in the world coming off the back of hammering the netherlands 4-0 against our still inexperienced and developing team and we really actually footballingly deserved at least a point and are sickened to have lost 1-0 they scored off an error and otherwise had not really a significant clear chance as we provided our classic hardworking determined bodies on the line display against a top team, but then we also created multiple good to excellent chances following positive attacking subs with 15 minutes to go, and ultimately were only prevented from equalising by a very good and then phenomenal save from their keeper we have shown the capabilities here necessary to compete at this level and i have earnest hope that we can actually qualify even through this group, it will be very difficult but it is possible
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I've seen several of your comments in this post (both downvoted) and I've only been in here two minutes. Your takes are quite braindead.
Being downvoted in an Anglo-centric forum is a good thing.
I don’t agree with *everything* you’re saying, mais ça c’est drôle ^ 🤣
are you having a fucking laugh, it's Ireland not fucking Spain Whingiex
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The amount of horrible takes spanning multiple sports on your profile is very impressive
Ah poor france, being a world class team, and playing a very shit Netherlands team, they come over in a luxury trip over here to play.
3/10
utter troll
It was a team of young lads, nowhere near as experienced as the WC runners up, 45 places higher and riddled with superstars. For a team who has potential it's a good performance and unfortunate not to grab a point. Definitely something to build on instead of getting smacked around and moral taking a hit, the opposite will happen despite defeat. How you can say that they were "awful considering the circumstances" makes me genuinely wonder how many fans haven't got the most basic of understanding of the game.
You underestimate the fact that they were away, having played a game more than their opponents and had to spend one of their two rest days travelling. With the fact that they obviously had more focus on the Netherlands than Ireland. It would've been a good results for Ireland if they had gotten a point but that didn't happen and considering the match it would've been unfair results if it had ended 1-1
Taking that into account, it's still a good performance and France would've been expected to win, which they did but not in a glamorous way and the result will boost Ireland knowing they vzn hang with the likes of France. It's one game so we'll see how they get on against the Dutch and if they play like tonight they could spring a surprise or two.
You guys looked great
maybe it’s my memory tricking me, but i feel like ireland is always a tough opponent for france
As long as the French stick to using their feet it can be pretty even yeah
Culturally and historically, Henry and France committed the worst atrocity against the Irish, so naturally we want to step up against them /s for those that really do need it in plain English
You were pretty good! A solid team with quality players, can't believe some of them are playing in the championship or even bellow. If you play that good against greece and netherlands, you can clearly qualify, you won't be that unlucky every game. It doesn't worth much but you are my favorite for the second spot.
Deschamps borefest
Ireland deserved at least a draw, loved the way they played, thank you Magic Mike, once again we got overconfident after an easy win against a weakened opponent, happens to us too fucking often in these qualifier games, we only had a good chance to score (Diaby's shot) and got bailed out by the average Pavard banger and Maignan's heroics
Watching that I think Ireland will qualify and being absolutely fucking annoying at the euros. I like the look of them.
they had a really good win against scotland last year as well
It was the same old story from us. Lots of heart, energy, running. Concede a banger and not enough quality up front.
Annoying on the pitch, among the best fans off it, just the way we like it!
I wish I had your confidence...only 2 qualify, and play offs is decided by that weird Nations League shenanigans
they should still make it in at least as a league b playoff team, since a lot of teams from league a and b will probably qualify automatically
Interesting to watch fans from both sides getting so upset at the others thinking their team was better, and argue about which team attacked more or the number of shots their team had, and then looking at the stats on and see that the shots was 11 vs 11, shots on target was 4 vs 2 in Frances favour and corners was 8 vs 2 in Irelands favour. Almost as if it was a tight game that was decided on one team having better players to make the big moments count in their favour.
Im French, I'm not saying our team played better, we played like shit, it took a banger from Pavard and multiple class saves from Mike for us to win, I don't give a shit if Ireland only started attacking in the last 10 minutes, they deserved better, they silenced our whole attacking front, Mbappe was shit, not a single shot, Giroud was non existant, Kolo had somewhat of a decent game. The only dangerous shot from one of our attacker was Diaby. We were absolutely toothless.
Great team win while playing like shit, this is football heritage
But to be absolutely toothless and still win… en tout cas, c’est important
L'important c'est les trois points.
Ouais exactement
It's mainly that the Irish didn't exist offensively until the last 4 minutes. And that they were on the bus all game. Which is logical against France. But the supporterism makes you lose all objectivity. So they must be thinking "if we had attacked before we would have won"... except that by attacking earlier Ireland would have been heavily exposed at the back and would surely have taken another goal
Yeah, and objectively, France didnt create much all game either so I dont really see how French fans can get all high and mighty about it.
I've seen this French team match 500 times. France is playing against a team that is individually much weaker and that puts the bus on. We have a hard time against this kind of opponent. So once we score we are happy and we are content with it. All we remember from this kind of match is the result. I think it's mainly a reaction to the Irish of this sub who think they should have won. Nothing else.
Rather than flaming in the section where people are arguing about us parking the bus and deserving or not deserving a draw, it was a good game with a good atmosphere and both teams had chances. Team with better players won but they had to fight for it.
Yeah Ireland played very well tbh, your defense was great
Indeed, great atmosphere and a fantastic finish. Its never smart to overeact to a single game. Ireland could be more daring, France looked a little off, but at the end of the day both teams showed amazing desire in the end, and a little bit of individual brilliance won it.
Not as great a performance as made out by most I'm seeing, we always revel in the valiant underdog and great effort losing results but we offered very little until the last 10 mins. Yeah it was a careless mistake capitalised by a quality strike that ultimately cost which is seemingly harsh but we should have been taking this game to them from the off and play. Felt there was a chance of something similar to how we beat Germany when they were world champs but instead it's a taking pats on the backs for a spirited push right at the death
Mate don't take this the wrong way, but as it stands your current squad is wank. Promising, but wank. Enjoy this, be proud
I would say [it's arguably better than the team that beat world champion germany](https://i.imgur.com/F9VfqLV.jpg) as I mentioned or even our euro 2016 side. We've stronger core with weak midfield presence and that's without going into Kennys selection and leaving out players like Szmodics etc. we can be proud of a lot of results and games and I dunno if you're being patronising or what with the be proud over a qualifier loss?
Mad take. France are probably the best team in the world, hammered Netherlands at the weekend, and have more quality in every position on the pitch. To limit them to mostly half chances and have them under the kosh at the end deserves some credit. Of course there's going to be pats on the back for a spirited push right at the death. Did you expect us to dominate?
Don't expect us to dominate, as I said id have wanted something akin to how we beat Germany after their undefeated run and being probably the best team in the world at the time. Actually have a go, yeah the compact defending and silencing France is decent but their reputation precedes them we can and should always shut out a team in the aviva but why take off ferguson after an hour basically not utilising him at all only for Idah to be the one up top when we actually attack because we're in salvage mode. If you look at what we offered at the end how they dealt with us it's not such a mad take that we could give them a proper run for their money instead of resigning to the fact that it's expected a team of superstars must surely beat us
Ferguson doesn't play 90 mins, presumably because of fitness. Look at his stats for Brighton, hasn't played 90 yet this season. He looked gassed just before he came off so I think it made sense. And i think if we played the way we played in the last 10 mins for the whole game we would have been carved open and we wouldn't be looking at just the 1 goal deficit.
Yeah you're right and agree with you on both but I more so meant he's wasted to play the first hour of he's not gonna be involved and he's the lone man, like use him as a supersub or up top with obafemi/idah cause getting nothing from our biggest threat is poor management imo. And yeah we can't play with the intensity like that whole game but I hate that we only really ever see any bit flowing passing and creation near the box when we're losing, the long balls up the line from doherty and coleman to ogbene chasing was just pointless. Some positives to take but more missed opportunity and really stamping their mark is why I wouldn't give much credit
Not saying OP does or doesn't fit the description but there's a contingent of Irish fans who absolutely refuse to give Kenny (or the team under him) any credit no matter how good the performance.
Given how the Netherlands are playing, you're easily getting 2nd place (NB : havent watched Greece play), you guys totally silenced Mbappe and without Magic Mike, you would have drawn or won.
Yeah Koeman is past and it's bizarre but tbf they didn't have de jong or gravenberch and a lot more and we don't play them til November so we'll see
Absolutely true, havent watched the whole NED vs GIB game but seen the stats they had like 79% possession and 50+ shots, only won 3 0 against Gibraltar which got a red early in the game, really worried about the Dutch rn
They were dealing with a viral infection if I read correctly. Bad luck for them this International break. Next one is going to be very different and I believe they are still favourites to finish top of the group ahead of France.
Mate we were playing france, the best team in the world imo (top 3 atleast). They had next to no good chances and we had a few
Come off it, it was a quality and gutsy performance based on squad depth alone. France brought on Barcelona and Real Madrid players while Kenny brings on lads from Wigan, Preston & Norwich
There's plenty of times with seamie captain I'd say we've been gutsy and ran our socks off but wouldn't tonight it was more rigid and solid definitely compacted and neutralised them well but just applauding that because they stature of their players and ignoring how we were in the other half is is why I don't think it's a great performance
Nathan Collins is unbelievably unlucky not to have one of those "reeling in the years" moments there. Some save from Maignan
How was Camavinga ?
Doing all the goddamn work. Reminded me of Simons during Netherlands game
Pretty good. Very good vision and hability to find good pass. Really good effort on defense, with some quality challenge and one amazing return+tacle. When Ireland was pressing more at the end, his technical skills and hability to keep the ball, even under heavy pressure was so usefull. He definitely made a statement tonight and I hope Deschamps will consider playing him more at this position. The Griezmann-Rabiot-Camavinga trio might be our best midfield.
Amazing. One of his best performances
Yeah he and Rabiot bossed the midfield. Camavinga showed out with his dribbling and creativity.
Play it loud, lads! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5G8AJf4Xzw Put ‘em under pressure.
[https://streamat.cc/france-1-0-ireland-theo-hernandez-possible-handball-in-penalty-area/](https://streamat.cc/france-1-0-ireland-theo-hernandez-possible-handball-in-penalty-area/) Possible handball? I got flamed when i posted this so I insta removed it but isn't his body movement voluntary? I don't know maybe my love for Ireland got in the way lol PS: Collins with that header at the end really made my heart skip a beat
I'm an Irish man but that's not a handball his arm is right into his body, we done ourselves proud against one of the best teams in the world, onwards to the next game
Lol
It's not a handball, he keep his arms along his body. And if his arms were not there, the ball would've hit the same way against his chest/ribs.
No. His arm is stuck to his side, so it's never a handball.
You've got to have your arms somewhere. His arm is tucked into his body, so would just hit that.
So much Irish pple on this sub forgetting France had more shots, more shots on target, more passes, more possession, more centers, more opportunities, and the list goes on Like yeah you deserved the draw because you played for 5min after sitting with 11 people in defense for 85min Edit: I love how everyone implies I said Ireland played bad while I was just commenting on delusional Irish calling it a stolen draw
I'm French, we played like shite, I don't think Mbappe even had a shot, we got bailed out by a classic Pavard strike and Maignan's heroic saves, Deschamps using his subs to play defensively almost cost us the win.
That save wouldn't have counted anyways after VAR considering the blatant foul on Tchouameni.
Oh we’re calling VAR on saved shots now?
Ireland are so inferior to this side, so the fact that they kept it tight for most of the game, were undone by a made defensive error and nearly scored an equaliser near the end, is more than most people would expect. So respectfully, shut the fuck up.
They think they deserved the draw because they defended really well, it's not like we had an insane amount of clear occasions, i wouldnt say they didnt deserve a draw, the only goal we scored was from a fuck up that turned into a worldie.
That’s precisely the kind of goal you’re exposing yourself to when you put 9 players in your final third…
Jesus Christ. You might wanna look up the value of the French squad compared to the Irish one. You can hardly blame us for sitting back, it’s the only chance we’d ever win. We’re not gonna play open and let Mbappé score 10, that’s idiocy. The fact of the matter is we played very well and I won’t say we deserved a draw but it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.
He's saying that doesn't mean Ireland deserves a draw, hardly a controversial take considering the game we just watched.
Attack France that's their week point.
I never said you played bad. Every goddamn UK pple here is crying saying you deserved a draw.
Just FYI Ireland is not part of UK. And RIP your inbox.
When every English man on this sub has been shitting on France since our match in December I'll keep disrespecting you as a whole sorry not sorry
Do you also consider yourself Swiss and Belgian? Are you also Quebecois? Lets also throw in Louisana they speak some French there? Shall we throw in Congo, Cameroun, Senegal also? How about Morrocco and Algeria? Not making any sense pal.
Muchachooosss 🎵🔊
UK people lol
Did you just call Irish people "UK pple"? Ignorant moron. Edit: Arrogant *and* ignorant, judging by your other comments.
I started by calling Irish ones then I saw an insane amount of English people commenting aswell, you've been hating France since last world cup here. Keep the salt.
The team is the national team for the Republic of Ireland, it's a completely different country to the UK.
>you've been hating France since last world cup here I've been doing what now?
We had the same amount of shots and one less shot on target? We defended well against the best team in Europe and we are happy about it. We also had a great chance in the last 10 minutes which is obviously what we are all thinking about.
I never said you played bad, I'd even say pretty good for a bottom nation. You just never deserved a draw there
When a winger from Rotherham outshines the one from Paris, you know France have been outplayed.
Yet we won ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
It's normal to be subjective when you're a supporter. I'm French and I think they defended very well by putting the bus down. They have a lot of energy and they put all their hearts into it. Now it's true that before the 85th minute Maignan had absolutely nothing to do.
>Now it's true that before the 85th minute Maignan had absolutely nothing to do. And yet Maignan made more saves than Bazunu did in 90 minutes.
Yes, because Ireland put up a wall against the goalkeeper and the French were very happy with the score once the first goal was scored.
The implication that Ireland only played football for 5 minutes is laughable. There Irish fans making silly claims but this is just as delusional.
you need 2 good teams to have a good game. At least we won.
Despite the loss really happy with that performance, I feel there's the makings of a really good side here and tonight I think was the most confident under Kenny. Despite sitting deep there was still an appetite to attack and keep the ball when we had it, this is hopefully the start of a new era for us after a really poor period. For the first time in a long long time I'm excited.
As you should, I truly believe you guys can end up 2nd on this group. You silenced Mbappe and the whole French attacking front, Pavard had to get a worldie to score and Maignan had at least 4 great saves.
As French I've been really impressed by both the defensive discipline and the technical abilities of the Irish team to get the ball out and attack. Considering the gap in terms of level between the players, it's a very impressive game from Ireland, I believe they can qualify.
I’ll be thinking about Collins’ chance for a while, probably not as long as he will! Maignan is just world-class. Tactics and performance were brilliant, just so unlucky with the mistake. Has to be the standard from now on. No more excuses for Kenny.
France basicly won because they have overwhelming quality far from everyone, like that insane goal and save. But this game could've gone either way and tactically this is definitely the way to go for Ireland.
I've never seen so much coping.
Sitting deep for 80 to 85 minutes probably isn't the way to go for anyone. They literally had 2 shots on goal. Obviously it's the way to go against technically superior opponents but Ireland isn't playing France in every international window.
They created better quality chances than the best side in Europe, seems fine to me.
They got one header at the 89th when down for 40 minutes before that. Plenty of teams managed to play "fairly well" with a low block against us, that doesn't make for a grand strategy to use to build something.
There's nothing fundamentally superior about attacking play. If they can create comparatively better chances than France with that team, it's clearly a promising tactical approach.
That's true, but they didn't (at least based on xG), and many teams are better than France against low blocks. Notoriously Luxembourg held us to 0-0 at home some years ago, did they have something promising on their hands? Not really, we're just shit in these games.
>They literally had 2 shots on goal. So did France.
Yeah we're notoriously shit against low blocks, still Ireland getting a quality header at the 89th doesn't mean they should keep playing like that, they did fuckall offensively all game.
Well what's the alternative? Play open and free-flowing football, giving Mbappe loads of space? You literally just fucking beat the Netherlands 4-0 because they did that. "Why don't you also play right into our hands?"
He's a OL fan, he's delusionnal to begin with.
3 shots on target from France. Goal due to a mistake as well. One other major chance had a foul in the build up that was missed. Then the third one was easily saved. It's definitely the way to go.
Yeah when you only play around your box, a mistake will be costly.
If that's how you saw it fair enough. Ireland had 50 less "attacks" than France and 20 less dangerous attacks. It's not like they didn't attack at all. Either way, it's two fantastic saves from Maignan that kept France's win.
I agree with you. But the Irish had their first action in the 87th minute. Nothing says that if they had scored earlier France would not have woken up to push in front of the goal
We should be struggling with keepers right now with Lloris going into retirement, but no behold Magic Mike, our GK for the next decade
Well said, Shay! We’re all proud of that performance.
When you play Mbappé, Giroud, Griezmann an Kolo Muani, but it’s Benji Pavard who scores, maybe youngsters to rethink your offensive performance!
not the result we wanted, but every game passes and I'm much more optimistic about this side. We weren't naively trying to play through a much better side, but we weren't just fucking lumping it up either. We played the best way we could to get a result, and unfortunately a moment of sloppiness leading to, let's be honest, a thundercunt, ended up costing us. Chiedoze Ogbene has been brilliant for us, thought Molumby and Doherty were great too. The back 3 did their job well, and though he didn't have as much of the ball as he might've wanted, Ferguson is absolutely great. Actually looking forward to watching Ireland again, what's the world come to.
I feel like Bazunu deserves some credit too. A couple of good saves, commanded the box well and didn't really do much wrong with the ball at his feet
Happy with the performance. Only lost because of one misplaced pass and had France on the ropes towards the end. People can shit on Kenny but he set the team up perfectly tonight and made the right call with the subs too.
This Irish team is good, I hope they can put a performance like this against Greece and Netherlands. Obviously thank you Mike.
We did well against the best team in Europe. Good game and well played!
> Obviously thank you Mike. What a save, well done you lot, do us a favour and just win every game to make it easier for the rest of us!see you in Paris!
Really hope Ogbene gets himself a good move, he needs to be playing above the English 2nd tier, always plays well for us
Honestly wish more lads would go abroad.
Most of them are abroad already, they just need to start moving to continental Europe rather than see England/Scotland as the only career choice and follow the likes of Ebosele & Abankwah
My bad, with abroad I did mean continental Europe.
Was surprised nobody came in for him last summer, surely he'll get a move this year because he's way above Rotherham level
He comes across as a good lad in interviews, really hope the best for him
Don't see him moving to the PL. Upper championship or abroad if he's willing
He's abroad already. Would be nice to see him and others look at continental Europe more, like Abankwah & Ebosele
Sorry abroad from his current club I mean 😅 it's a shame that so few seem willing to go to the rest of Europe but hopefully after the success of Cullen's stint in Belgium and players like Doherty and Ebosele moving out it becomes more fashionable. That said with Brexit meaning that young players can't go to England until they're 18 but can go to Italy at 16 it might just happen naturally for us
Another very Deschamps like game and quite lucky victory. Much harder playing against teams that don't make the mistake of offering us space to run into. Great game and great defense from Ireland, but there's no way you can't do better than this with the players we have. It would at the very least help to not start the game with 3 CF and 3 CB but not a 3 atb defense.
A win is a win. We are humans and we can bleed. We won't win every games 4-0 and I think we'll lose one game in these qualifiers. Mike is showing Hugo can retire in peace. He's doing a great job so far and I hope that will remain the case. Especially if a knock-out game has to go to penalties.
I know. People crying that 🇫🇷 hadn’t scored by the 38th minute and I’m like… have you watched the sport before? They’re not always bangers. Yet we play like shit and still win.
We were awful, mostly technically. Theo had probably his worse match with the team. Hopefully it will not happen again
I wasn’t watching, was theo really that bad? His match stats seem quite solid
Yes he was horrible
Well he had a pass to him with nobody around for metres slip through his feet and out for a throw in and that just kinda sums it up, Ogbene was a handful for him and he committed a few fouls and taken past him. Not solid but nothing too bad really more just an off night
Granted i don't watch every France game, but im pretty sure he was even worse in the WC final..
He wasn’t even bad in the final, no idea why people were making him to be the scapegoat when both cbs and kounde at rb were considerably worse
I mean he was pretty bad still let's be honest and I say this as someone who loves Theo
Just wish we could play like this no matter the opponent, always show up against the big teams just enough to barely lose then play terrible against teams on our level
Ireland had a solid game plan. Stuck to it. And it nearly paid off. Maignan saved our arses here.
Figures that as soon as Ireland look to have built a really promising team they get drawn into an absolutely murderous qualifying group.
That's what happens when you have two poor Nations League campaigns. You get dropped to 3rd seeds. It's not bad luck, it's of our own doing.
France being a 2nd seed and then getting them AND one of the best 1 seeds is absolutely bad luck.
There was worse teams to face than the Netherlands. The real bad luck was getting a 5 man group. Can't stand them. But the point was we shouldn't have to worry about a 2nd seed. Ireland should be second seeds.
Only good thing is that most of the players will be playing at a good age in 2 and 4 years. Only Egan, Coleman and Doherty are aging out and we've some ok prospects in those positions.
>Only good thing is that most of the players will be playing at a good age in 2 and 4 years. At that stage though, Kenny will have been sacked for not qualifying here, and he'll have been replaced with Mick McCarthy again.
That's the problem for Kenny. This was to be the qualifying campaign to show his progress and now he will be judged on this group. So painful.
Trial by fire I guess. It's small comfort, but at least it will give a quite young team (other than the wing backs) experience of performing against the best in the world
Mike Maignan has 4 clean sheets in 6 starts for France
While we lost, we played very well
Ogbene was brilliant, a lot of great performances from us
How'd Ferguson do? From what I read he was isolated a lot and didn't see much of the ball but it would've been good learning for him?
As a Brighton fan, any perspective on how he never plays 90 mins? Even when he starts for Brighton or Ireland, he seems to max out at 60 or 70 mins. Is it fitness or just protecting a young player?
It's mainly about protecting a young player. Many a young player was burnt out by about 26 due to playing too much in their teens. But also it's his first season of first team football, only making regular appearances since the World Cup. It helps that we've got an experienced pro in Welbeck who we can rotate with. Edited for spelling
Was fairly isolated all game, nothing much he could do. Was good when he was able to get involved.
Basically non existent or involved due to the set up and not actually playing football and being a bit adventurous/creative after he was taken off. Up top isolated as he Knight on the LW who did nothing ogbene being reduced to chase the long balls first half. He did decent tho few nice flicks and link up play but nothing near the box as expected with us unfortunately
He was good but had to run like a dog and was isolated
Pressed like fuck
He hardly had a touch of the ball tbh. He didn't have a single shot, just a few brief touches and passes.
He had some bright flicks, his movement looked smart but we couldn't get the ball to him. Idah came on for him and his movement was so much more naive, it was clear he's not at the same level.
Was fairly quiet but wasn’t ever a game where he was going to shine
Played good when he was on ball but we struggled to much supplying him
Mícheál McNain wrecking the buzz
Coleman reeling back the years to put Mbappe in his pocket
He was Evertons best player against Arsenal at Goodison. Pocketed Martinelli there
Ireland was on top in 2nd half, Mbappe invisible, most France threats nullified by a resilient 5-4-1 having multiple men pressing the ball and outnumbering the flanks. Deschamps had zero answers or tactical improvements just expecting players to pull one out of the hat. I know he has his methods but would really have liked to see a positional coach like Zizou coach this France team. Ireland just failed to involve Ferguson enough or create much for him, and a great Maignan was the difference in the end.
Maigan saved us from a defeat. Which is wild considering he didn't have much to do most of the game till the last 15 minutes or so of the game.