Germany v Ireland - Post match

**Tipp Townie** · 04/09/2006, 4:58 PM

I was watching the game on BBC3 in a pub, and our fans were coming across loud and clear! I often think thats because the tv station puts loads of microphones near the fans they want to hear, but seem as though the feed was from German tv, it must be that we outsung em! Well done all the lads that travelled over.

I had written a fairly long repsonse with my own thoughts on saturdays game, but by the time i'd finished, the site had logged me off and i lost the whole thing

So, i shall try again. On a very basic level, i figure Stan had two major tactical choices:
a) go with the well known albeit underperforming names (O'Shea, Kilbane, Carr), and some out of position, and try to play it tight and relatively defensive; Pro's- attempts to counter the very strong German midfield, maybe sneak a draw or a 1-0 win, or worst case scenario keeps the score down in the event of a defeat bearing in mind this is our toughest game and morale; Cons- no creativity in the middle, not attacking the german weakspot. or...
b) go mad at Germany from the off, with McGeady on the right, Finnan in his correct position, a passer like Stephen Ireland in the middle with Steven Reid; Pro's- we might aswell try something new coz the old stuff aint working, attack german weakspot in defence; Cons- its possible the strong german midfield ouverruns us and we get another 4-0 tonking, the morale destroyed further, not to mention our goal difference at start of campaign.

Stan went with Plan A. And i think we were very unlucky to not come away with 0-0. No doubt that their goal was flukeyness of the highest order. But half-chance headers aside, we never really looked like scoring at all. Lehman had to do next to nothing.

But when are we going to get a chance to try out new things? Although Cyprus are weak(ish), we all know how much we struggled there last time. Can we afford to experiment with the midfield even there? (for the record i havent seen much of Stephen Ireland, but yous lads that have say good things bout him).

So yes i am disappointed, but i'm nowhere near as suicidal as some of the other posters on here! We're still in it (how the hell could we be out of it after an opening fixture 1-0 defeat to germany away?!?!) but we have lots of work to do.

**German_Tim** · 05/09/2006, 12:06 AM

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Any fault in this team's performance is down to lack of quality central midfield - again.

That was my impression, too. We Germans played with the expected "worst defence" in our history and with a Michael Ballack out of shape after his injury...nevertheless you couldn't create much pressure on us (except for the beginning). I think you need a creative player behind the strikers for the next games!

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

During the build up I thought we were lambs to the slaughter. The noise and the sheer wave of nationalism on display was amazing. With those big 20 foot flags being held on the pitch and all the Germans in their colours and singing their songs I wouldn't have been surprised if the Fuhrer himself took to the pitch to address the crowd.

Thankfully we Germans don't yearn for that "Führer" idiot anymore...

I wouldn't call that a "wave of nationalism" but a real enthusiasm about a young team which won the Germans' hearts by playing an offensive football style! This team is totally different to many other German national teams in the past...and that's what makes us Germans to be proud of these guys and giving them such a great support!

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

This was a better team than the French 2 years ago & the home crowd effect came into play this time. The pocket of Irish at the diagonally opposite end of the ground to me were drowned out at will.

I don't think so as I could hear them very well during many parts of the game, especially in the first 25 minutes, when the German fans were slightly silent. IMO that was the expected good support of those 12,000-15,000 Eire fans at the stadium!

I hope you enjoyed your time in Stuttgart and please don't forget: it's no shame to lose to Germany away! :-)

Slainte.

PS: Here a few pics & small video-clips from the game (please klick on the "Germany vs Ireland" links):

http://www.deutschlandfans.de/fans/h...unterwegs.html

**craigdublin** · 05/09/2006, 7:35 AM

Some of you need your heads examined. You dont have to actually take Dunphy seriously you know. He's a joke. He tries to shock. You should be seriously worried if you agree with him. Of course there are positives and negatives from Sat, but you have to be balanced. His comments are polemic. "Eamon - any positives from tonight?" "NO" Thats just a joke.

At the end of the day, our team has played Germany who are on a high and could easily win the whole tournament. We played with passion. No footy fan can ask for more. OUr midfield isnt good enough in the middle. We need all our players to perform to the highest which they didnt... but it was Germany. Stan shouldnt get sent off like that. But he's under pressure and needs time. He hasnt had the start McLaren got at England.

Bobby Robsons comments on FAI.ie are really welcome... He answers Dunphy's comments on the set up of the team. Who would you believe on team structure - Dunphy or Robson..?Its Cyprus next then home against Czech. Who knows how things can begin to look up with one great result somewhere...

**Stuttgart88** · 05/09/2006, 7:46 AM

Originally Posted by German_Tim

Thankfully we Germans don't yearn for that "Führer" idiot anymore...

I wouldn't call that a "wave of nationalism" but a real enthusiasm about a young team which won the Germans' hearts by playing an offensive football style!

Agrred. By the way I hope you didn't take it as an insult, but I kind of think you know what I was getting at. It was a very strong display of enthusiastic patriotism, in the most benign way possible.

**Over the post** · 05/09/2006, 5:58 PM

Now the priority must be to get things right for October. I think the vast majority of people agree that the major problem is central midfield. There are several players on the edge of the squad who will hopefully be getting a lot more first team action in the coming month: I'm thinking of Miller and Kavanagh at Sunderland, possibly Quinn at Sheffield United, A. Reid at Charlton, Ireland at Man City, Douglas at Leeds and McPhail has already started well at Cardiff.
With the exception of Reid, most of these lads play in the Championship or are on the fringes of Premiership teams so we won't be expecting miracles, but the important thing is for them to get a run in the first team, get fully fit and get a bit of confidence.
Hopefully in a month's time we'll have more candidates for a central midfield berth either forcing their way into the first eleven or forcing the incumbents to raise their game.

**German_Tim** · 06/09/2006, 1:05 AM

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Agrred. By the way I hope you didn't take it as an insult, but I kind of think you know what I was getting at. It was a very strong display of enthusiastic patriotism, in the most benign way possible.

Don't worry, I don't take it serious and understand what you mean.

Waving the flags is quite normal in Germany, that's part of a good home support and quite usual in nearly any stadium before, during & after the Bundesliga games. The BL clubs have got a strong Ultras scene and the national team gets supported by diverse DFB fan clubs, who organise such things. Nevertheless the national team support is totally different from the Bundesliga support! In BL you have hughe standing curves with great atmosphere & lots of diverse singings...whereas the national team support is based on more "show" and fewer singings.

As you seem to be so impressed by the "wave of flags" and PA "action", I wonder if & why you don't have that at Landsdowne Road, too.

I don't think it would be wrong to sway thousands of Ireland flags (especially the hughe ones on the pitch) and make a good PA "noise" before, during & after the game.

However you shouldn't need such an "organised" support as I know that you have got a different support tradition without that much of choreo effects but great singings instead!

And don't forget that you normally should be better patriots than we Germans who still have got severe doubts due to our dark Nazi history.

Good night.

**Dallasirish** · 06/09/2006, 12:50 PM

Just got back last night and am a little shocked reading some of the posts. The teams commitment on Saturday was 100%. We do not have a central midfield --- (they were giving 100% but there just not quality midfielders!) How can Keane be slated when we dont have a midfield? A striker cannot make a mark on a game when there is no support or supply from midfield. People need to remember that we just got bear 1-0 by a german team who came third in the world and we played them at home!! We need to change our tactics and i think against these weaker teams we need to play Robbie just in front of midfield and Doyle and Morrison up front. Goal difference is going to be a factor at the end of all this and Im afraid if we settle for 1-0 against Cyprus or 2-0 against the faroes it will come back to haunt us!

**NeilMcD** · 06/09/2006, 1:25 PM

I agree we need to be positive like Scotland were at home on Sat. They played 3 forwards and 3 attacking midfielders bascially, only really Hartley was sitting back and he is hardly a negative player.

**Block G Raptor** · 06/09/2006, 3:08 PM

Originally Posted by Plastic Paddy

We were hardly helped tonight by a real "homer" of a ref...

and I'm yet to be convinced that Schweinsteiger is anything other than German for "pig f*cker".

PP

Its actually Pig Farmer beleive it or not

**German_Tim** · 08/09/2006, 12:32 AM

Here 3 pics from Stuttgart, a Celtic friend sent to me last night:

http://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bild020sd4.jpg

http://img228.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bild035db0.jpg

http://img85.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bild030ny9.jpg

**cheifo** · 08/09/2006, 1:46 AM

Thanks German Tim, great pics.

**mypost** · 08/09/2006, 1:56 AM

Originally Posted by Kingdom

Only back late last night and I'm fcuking fuming. I wasn;t too optimistic before I travelled over.

You have to feel sorry for those who paid up to €700 to go and watch that rubbish from our side/boss last weekend.

There are better ways of blowing €700.

**NeilMcD** · 08/09/2006, 10:24 AM

Great trip and well worth the money I paid for the trip about €300 not including spending money for 4 days.

**Packie88** · 08/09/2006, 3:22 PM

Originally Posted by Dallasirish

Just got back last night and am a little shocked reading some of the posts. The teams commitment on Saturday was 100%. We do not have a central midfield --- (they were giving 100% but there just not quality midfielders!) How can Keane be slated when we dont have a midfield? A striker cannot make a mark on a game when there is no support or supply from midfield. People need to remember that we just got bear 1-0 by a german team who came third in the world and we played them at home!! We need to change our tactics and i think against these weaker teams we need to play Robbie just in front of midfield and Doyle and Morrison up front. Goal difference is going to be a factor at the end of all this and Im afraid if we settle for 1-0 against Cyprus or 2-0 against the faroes it will come back to haunt us!

I personally agree on your comment about commitment: the Irish gave it loads in Stuttgart and there are a lot of people being very harsh on the team after the German game. There are a lot giving Duff and Keane a hard time, but what is Duff going to do when he has three Germans smothering him up front without the midfield? He is not a magician!! We have very good players, but it is obvious that the team tactics let us down once again and too many times in the past. I also think that goal difference will be a factor in this group and it will not be easy to match the goal tally of the Germans so far.

**DmanDmythDledge** · 08/09/2006, 4:46 PM

Originally Posted by mypost

You have to feel sorry for those who paid up to €700 to go and watch that rubbish from our side/boss last weekend.

There are better ways of blowing €700.

What sort of fan would you be if you only chose to go to games that we would be certain to play well?