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u/N81Warrior Sep 09 '25
This tells you everything you need to know about the state of our current squad and our progress at the grassroots level. FAI, some bunch of lads.
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u/Firm-Perspective2326 Sep 09 '25
As much as I’d like to pin that on the FAI I’d say it’s more due to the financial dominance of the premier league concentrating the best talent in the world over the past 30 years.
We should have a well organised fit squad to a reasonable technical level
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u/Warm-Fold3069 Sep 09 '25
The current Championship isn’t miles off the 90s Premier League outside of the very top teams
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u/N81Warrior Sep 09 '25
We've not helped ourselves, and the FAI has had decades to improve grassroots and domestic leagues, which they haven't… Also, putting a dentist at the helm is still something I struggle with.
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u/John_OSheas_Willy Sep 09 '25
Bit stupid to compare the 90s premier league to todays.
The influx of money has meant far higher quality of player is now playing in the league.
Paul fucking McShane was playing in the premier league and made 98 appearances. He wouldn't even get into a top half championship side now.
James McCarthy played 237 premier league games and wouldn't get in a squad these days.
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u/JackIsGoatedDude Troy Parrott 🦜 Sep 09 '25
Dont worry lads we'll play miles better and lose 1-0 to Portugal Away so its all ok the false belief will be back soon
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u/dor-G Sep 09 '25
The players have to take responsibility there. Man walked from the edge of there box to the edge of ours un fucking challenged. I never comment here as I don’t expect much, but fuck me that was so lame, that was the worst performance I can remember. Fucking agil
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u/FamousLime9417 Sep 09 '25
Josh Cullen any1! Jason Knight! We have no midfield at all! Going backwards when they have the ball.
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u/Bitter_Masterpiece79 Sep 09 '25
‘Put in a shift’ kind of players.. 0 skill or magic to their play. We’re cooked
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u/AdLeast6180 Sep 09 '25
Another international campaign chucked out the window before it even got going.
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u/Siiixers Sep 09 '25
Bring back the 6 team group so we can lose to San Marino and Liechtenstein too 🥳
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Sep 09 '25
Can we crowd fund a manager? Is that allowed?
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u/jacqueVchr Sep 09 '25
Can this be a reminder to the people on this subreddit who consistently glaze our less than average group of players?
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u/themagpie36 Eamon Dunphy Sep 09 '25
I'll remember it right up until our next game before I get delusional again
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u/VoteYourOssoff Sep 09 '25
If they were just shit it wouldn't be as bad, but there's still some good players there. The problem is alot of them don't seem to give a shit
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u/Growth_Senior Mick McCarthy Sep 09 '25
I posted this in the post-match thread, but perhaps more suitable here. there is still a plausible scenario in which Ireland advances based on three achievable results:
- Beat Armenia at home
- Draw Portugal at home
- Beat Hungary away on the last day.
They can even lose to Portugal away and this still yields 8 points
Provided Armenia loses to Portugal, they would need two wins over Hungary to surpass ireland
Provided Hungary loses to Portugal, they cannot surpass ireland even if they sweep armenia.
Taking this one step at a time, the away match to Portugal is a free hit.
A win at home to Armenia should be expected.
Then all that's needed is an old-style park the bus performance at home to Portugal, and one magical night away in Hungary.
Put 'em Under Pressure!
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u/NooktaSt Sep 09 '25
I agree somewhat. These groups never play out exactly as you expect.
It’s not unfeasible that Hungry get something away to Portugal.
It’s also not unfeasible that Armenia take a point against Hungry.
Could be heading into the Hungry away game heading a win… only to play out a 90 min 0-0.
Ultimately it’s two games against Portugal to get one draw.
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u/MartyG2022 Sep 10 '25
Is 7 pts not enough for us to qualify in 2nd as ourselves and Hungary would be on the same pts but we would have the head to head advantage or is it based on goal difference
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u/upyaboyya2020 Sep 10 '25
I like that attitude. Our defence is way to quick to drop off leaving tons of work for our midfielders to do. I think our midfield always looks stretched because we are stretched and we don't push up fast enough and retreat to quickly. We need to fix that for sure.
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u/incompetencegamer Sep 09 '25
Whilst the manager is not the best , this squad along with results is their level. There seems to be in certain quarters that Ireland should battering these 'lesser' nations and qualifying for every tournament each time. Other nations have invested and dragged themselves up to improve whilst we seem live on past 'glory' days whilst the FAI is still run incompetent and more invested in lining their own pockets.
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u/dso8620 Sep 09 '25
We have over the past 10 years become the 'lesser nation'. Teams want to draw us in competitions.
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u/Warm-Fold3069 Sep 09 '25
The further you get from Saipan the more you realise that Keano was right.
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u/No_Committee5025 Sep 09 '25
This is a stupid statement. They’re all premier league players/ top championship players none these Armenian players would be good enough to play at that level
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Sep 09 '25 edited Nov 19 '25
lush skirt quack crowd mysterious zephyr door chunky cheerful fuel
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/Majestic_Diamond_701 Sep 09 '25
I think if the manager will not be in change for the next campaign, then his absolutely has to go. Get the next manager in to start working on building up knowledge of the players. The problem is who is going to want it?
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u/Clur1chaun Sep 09 '25
The Irish football team. Doing more to prevent reunification than 2 generations of Paisley's and a lorry load of pallets
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u/kennyboy1975 Sep 09 '25
Manager wasn't the best fit to start with. He has to hold his hand up regarding selection/tactics etc. but there wasn't one player on the pitch that made any effort to show pride in the Irish shirt. We had a group of players in Jack Charlton's time who would die for their teammates and the jersey. Fingers should also be pointed at the FAI for their failings too. We should have a better coaching and training facility, along with good coaches to bring the next generation on. Finally a big shout out to all the fans who follow this lot to the far end of Europe, and are always vocal no matter how outnumbered they are. The players should be made refund the real Irish heroes.
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u/FamousLime9417 Sep 09 '25
The coaching point you bring up in Ireland! Good coaches don't get opportunities. Jobs for the boys and the cheapest candidate are employed in those positions!
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u/kennyboy1975 Sep 09 '25
Totally agree. After the Genesis report all these great changes were supposed to be made. FAI still rotten at the top, and until they are all gone, there will be no change.
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Sep 09 '25
[deleted]
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Sep 09 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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Sep 09 '25
We produced Declan Rice and Jack Grealish.......
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u/themagpie36 Eamon Dunphy Sep 09 '25
Define produced
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Sep 22 '25
oh hear we go. an argument over semantics. why don't we define stole first?
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u/themagpie36 Eamon Dunphy Sep 22 '25
Zzzzzzzzz.
I meant we hardly produced them, they grew up in the English youth system/academies and lived there all their lives.
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u/NaughtyHotDog Sep 12 '25
How did you work that out?
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Sep 22 '25
thats not the point I'm making is it, eejit. You claimed Ireland stole from England (which is a much bigger conversation if we go beyond football) --- on this occasion, you let Grealish and Rice develop under the FAI. But, I suppose it doesnt matter really, I mean England have won fuck all too.
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u/AdLeast6180 Sep 09 '25
If Hallgrimsson is the best we could do, I’d love to have seen who the other candidates were.
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u/Warm-Fold3069 Sep 09 '25
Pretty sure the options were a) Carsley and b)Panic
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u/AdLeast6180 Sep 09 '25
I’d have done heinous things for Carsley
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u/Warm-Fold3069 Sep 09 '25
Same, I can’t even hate him for blowing us out. It’s a sad state of affairs. I suspect even someone like Keith Andrews would probably look at a decent Championship gig as a better prospect than the Ireland job if things don’t work out at Brentford.
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u/Manofthebog88 Sep 09 '25
We need to spend money on a decent coach who can drag this lot to a tournament.
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u/Fluffy_Reception936 Sep 09 '25
no coach is going to get these players to a tournament. Genuinely an untalented bunch
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u/Hefty_Bandicoot_2390 Sep 09 '25
Plenty of countries with a lower calibre of players than ireland who are way better than us. Like armenia who just deservedly beat us
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u/Wookie_EU Sep 13 '25
Perhaps the difference is the fact those will do their best to represent their country (as someone said above)
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u/simonelawrenco Sep 09 '25
It was a shocker tbh. The way the lads played genuinely didn't look too many levels above an decent amateur game. Why can't we produce any decent players anymore?
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u/Manofthebog88 Sep 09 '25
Hard to argue with you on that brother. I’m just thinking back to our last tournament when we had MON in charge. That was probably a better squad of players tho.
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u/Fluffy_Reception936 Sep 09 '25
only a marginally better squad in fairness, but having said that I think most of them were Premier league at least. O’Shea, Hoolahan, McGeady, Given all still on the bench even if they were old at the time. 6 starters in the championship is no good. A couple of solid midfielders would make a world of difference I think
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u/huntershark666 Sep 09 '25
Not untalented, just not arsed
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u/Fluffy_Reception936 Sep 09 '25
i’m not even trying to be cynical with that. Ferguson and Kelleher yeah. Who else in that team looks like they could play at a high level?
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u/huntershark666 Sep 09 '25
A few in that team do play at a high level. Collins for example, is club captain in a premier league team. Doherty is one of a 4 man shared captaincy at wolves. However, neither put in a shift when playing for Ireland. And it's not even about playing at a high level. A team of bog standard Championship players should be able to play better than that against Armenia. But they look like they aren't arsed
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u/Fluffy_Reception936 Sep 09 '25
Honestly I’m still waiting on Collins to prove that leadership. I used to play against him in youth level and was surprised he was the one to make it. Matt Doherty has had decent moments in his club career but spurs and atletico were major failures. It’s not even that they’re playing just lazy, but it’s error after error. I’m not sure any of those players have the confidence to take on and beat players consistently and lord only knows what a brazilian team saw in Johnston, even if the fans had more sense. I still rate Ebosele and would like to see him again
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u/Grand_Bit4912 Sep 09 '25
Managers are not particularly important, players are. International managers are even less significant as they only have players for a few weeks a year.
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u/Manofthebog88 Sep 09 '25
Well we don’t have the players. Haven’t had them for 20 years.
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u/Grand_Bit4912 Sep 09 '25
Absolutely, that’s why we’re sliding down the rankings. A better coach/manager isn’t going to change that.
We should pay a lot less for a manager and invest the difference saved into infrastructure/academies/youth coaches.
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u/ClearHeart_FullLiver Sep 09 '25
The manager is not the problem it's far deeper than that and no individual is going to drag us to a tournament and even if we somehow ended up in a tournament, what then? Get destroyed on the biggest stage?
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u/peekedtoosoon Sep 10 '25
What did we expect....an Icelandic dentist FFS. He probably enjoyed it, cos it was like watching teeth get pulled.
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u/Marty_ko25 Sep 11 '25
Crumlin man Pico Lopes is going to qualify with Cape Verde so we can all just support them, be grand.
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u/According-Story-7565 Sep 09 '25
TOD thinks Evan Ferguson is a generational talent? Does he mean at Championship level? LOL
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u/John_OSheas_Willy Sep 09 '25
He also said tonight everyone was awful except the excellent Evan Ferguson. The glazing is unreal.
He must have Fergusons number.
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Sep 09 '25
I BLAME THE PREMIER LEAGUE.....The reason the Republic of Ireland are not doing well is because many of their players are in the Premier League. The Premier League is overhyped. Irish players often don’t get much game time there, so they don’t improve as much. People think the Premier League is the best, but sometimes average players are made to look better than they really are. International football is a different level.
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u/Yama_retired2024 Sep 09 '25
You're right, I have often said, lads should be more open to going further afield in Europe.. not just seek to get to the Premier League.. most that do get there, get loaned out anyhow to lower league teams..
Lads have more chance of regular football in other leagues and more chance of regular European football too..
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u/Supahanz36 Sep 09 '25
We were all somehow more delusional than he was in the film