Subject: Ireland Vs...

Some much tougher games being arranged than i would have wanted but unfortunately the U-21 world cup means you have to take what you're offered.
As for the formation on Saturday, there may be a suprise or two.

Tough matches are the best one. I don`t care about winning, loosing or ranking points. I like tough challenges, for example yesterday I played against strong Österreich, and we lost only 2:6 - first half was equal. We lost second half due to poor stamina.
:)

The world ranking matters to us though. We need to be in a good position to avoid the tougher teams.

I liked what you did vs Russia.

I think you were unlucky.

The important thing in the next game will be to make sure not to puh your players too far forward.

I'm not a huge fan of attcking on wings myself so i would suggest a solid centre midfield lineup. Not pushed to far forward. Leave one OM and Two Strikers do most of the work up front.

I think a centrally orientated 4-2-1-2 should create plenty of chances.

4-2-1-2?
You want us to play with 10 men?

Why not? I'm fairly confident of victory.

that or i could have hit a 2 instead of a 3 ?

as in 4-3-1-2.

This chilean knows his stuff.

He's been around a while and he'll do his home work.

From his club games and National games it looks like he plays very offensively.

You might even thnk of putting 5 at the back .

I had a look at them before the elections and some of their games. They're well set-up and change between formations i'm guessing that they've had designed for a while. I think Peru outplayed them last night and i'll be taking another look at that game for tips.

congratulations !!!
I know the Nt of Rossiya and his tattics are very good, so i think you will do great things for Ireland!!!
Ireland-Rossiya
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1-1... bad luck:(

@nin - nice tactic, congratulations:)

i didn't watch the game(i've just back form weekend), but from stats i see that Ireland was better.

I think the idea behind the tactics was fine but i didn't implement them well enough. I think we're good enough to beat them and probably should have. We also spent too long in our own half and didn't win posession.

i will look at this game when i will find some free time:) maybe i can sugest something :)

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PS - posession isnt important for me. i have some games where posession was 50/50 but i win easly:)

Ireland vs Chile

Formation - 3-5-2
When I was looking for teams to use the 3-5-2 against I wanted a team that didn’t play with so many men forward and looked solid enough to give us a challenge. Chile are pretty well suited to the formation I’ve picked. The only slight problem is they tend to change between 1 upfront with wide players or a 4-2-2-2. For that reason we’re playing with 2 defensive mids incase they do switch to a narrow setup. This game has the potential to be a dream or a nightmare because of the risks I’m taking but I’d rather take the risks now than later when it matters most.
After last week I thought it was important to work more on the linkup between the rest of the team, and in particular the forwards. We had problems with the forwards coming to pick the ball up in the middle of the field and inevitably losing it so it made sense to add an attacking mid to prevent it.
This is the 2nd formation I wanted to test out and I’ll most likely be trying a different one next week. As I said when I started, I want 4 set formations to cover all opposition and with the leftover tactical space we’ll adapt them to suit.

The Team
There is 1 very noticeable absence this week. Armstrongs form has now gotten too low for me to be comfortable picking him. MacKeamish replaces him.
Gilchrist is in, mainly due to the lack of form in other mids but will be replaced by Treanor at some point depending on how the game is going.
Sanabria regains his place purely because we have no other inform wingers.
Chaudet will be replacing Cashin on 60 minutes. I don’t feel that Cashin and Matthews are well suited to each other and want to test out other combinations. Keenan remains first choice but misses out again due to form.

Game on!

I'm going to need the rest of the weekend to take all that in.
Bloody hell

Ok

Reidy - Outstanding. Saved my arse from a massacre

Kukureka - Had an absolute nightmare and justified me not picking him last week. I wont be in a hurry to play him again.
Chawla - Just about held things together but got caught out of position a few times.
Hanrahan - Largely unemployed.

Lizrraga - Another poor game from him. He kept running into a roadblock and wasted the ball when he didn't.
Gilchrist - Suffered for a lack of pace and never got into the game.
Treanor(Sub) - Was a far better option and worked reasonably well.
Freyne - Got overran most of the first half. Largely anonomous but still provided an assist.
Sanabria - I wish i'd had him last week. Form or no form he was great today and a constant threat.
MacKeamish - Linked up play well when he had the ball, which wasn't much.

Cashin - Another poor performance with no goal to save him this week. Looking at time on the bench.
Chaudet(Sub) - Never got into the game but his presence seemed to help.
Matthews - Saved the day. For all the times he lost the ball, he was quick enough to beat the defender for the 1st goal and the keeper for the 2nd. Still under threat from Keenan.

Overall
The defence was entirely my fault. It seems i placed them too wide which is a rookie mistake that they took full advantage of. The midfield worked pretty well apart from Gilchrist and Treanor did a pretty good job as a replacement for Armstrong who will be moving backwards now that MacKeamish has proved his use attacking. Cashin is a problem, we never looked threatening with him on the field.
I think i can look at that game two ways. Either it was a lucky escape or it was a missed chance because i think we could have won. It's another draw regardless an i'm not too happy about it.

After the second goal went in and the ball hit the post for a possible third i was already writing your obituary notice...

especially after what i advised you to do regarding the defensive formation.

Anyway, lesson learned i think. You were lucky to get a result.