It wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but Ireland’s first-half performance against Slovakia was as good as they’ve played under Stan and means that we’re still in with a shout of qualification.

To be perfectly honest, my expectations weren’t that high following the 1-0 against possibly the worst Wales side I’ve ever seen.
I couldn’t understand why we started with Damien Duff and Stephen Ireland out of position, and why he played arguably the Premiership’s best right-back, Steve Finnan, on the left. While the dog’s abuse Stan has been getting from the press is out of order, he definitely got his formation wrong against Wales.
Play that badly against Germany at Croker in October and they could easily stick four or five past us.
It was a different story though on Wednesday night, with Damien Duff showing real leadership in Robbie Keane’s absence. I don’t agree that it was stupidity that earned Robbie his one match ban – the referee was right to give a free-kick for grabbing, but it wasn’t a yellow card.
Anyway, Damien grabbed the gauntlet of Robbie not being there, and worked his socks off. Everyone goes on about Slovakia away being a tricky game, but their defence won’t relish another 90 minutes of Duffer running at them with pace.
I’ve no problem with Robbie Keane being captain, but Stan has to tell him, “Stop trying to play in so many positions!” He’ll drop deep, go out on the left-wing and drop inside when really you just want him up front and in the centre. When it’s not happening for him, Robbie goes looking which has a tendancy to make us disjointed. If there’s a lack of service, he has to say to Kevin Kilbane or whoever, “Get out fucking wide, Kev, and whip some balls in for me.” As captain he has to verbally demand what he wants, not run himself into the ground and leave us short of bodies in the box.
A big question for Stan is whether he sticks with Kevin Kilbane who I know he likes in the team because he attacks the ball at the far-post, or go for Stephen Hunt who gets his head down and runs at people. I still feel Damien’s our best option on the left by a mile, but Stephen’s a neat and tidy footballer who has something to offer Ireland. For me, Hunt just shades it over Kevin but I’d keep Kilbane on the bench because with his physical presence you could also sling him on as centre-forward and have a different sort of threat.
I’m no expert on GAA, but even I could have picked out the lads against Slovakia who had a Gaelic football background. Paul McShane is a no nonsense centre-half in the Kevin Moran mould who sticks his foot and head in, and if he gives it away goes chasing to get the ball back. Kevin Doyle’s another one who gives it full throttle, which is what Irish supporters expect of the team. I loved his header because he was prepared to go across the defender and risk getting a smash in the face. He’s not blisteringly quick, but he’s a strong runner, a good holder-upper of play and the best foil we have for Robbie. In fact, I think Kevin’s become Ireland’s most important forward in terms of the lads around him benefitting from his inclusion.
Stephen Ireland had two decent games, although I’m not totally sure where to play him. I’m not convinced he’s a central midfielder or, despite him getting his goal from that position, a centre-forward. He’s not tricky or quick enough to be a right-winger, but is great technically and able to nick you something. What you’ve got to remember is that for all of his match-winning international performances, Stephen isn’t yet a regular for Man City. In another year, it might be a bit more obvious where he slots in.
Roy Keane is claiming that the press made his remarks seem more venomous than they actually were, but I agree with him that David Connolly and Liam Miller’s club form warranted them a recall. I wouldn’t have had either in the starting line-up, but as form players they’d have been good cover.
Another source of controversy was the comments Richard Dunne made in hotpress about Brian Kerr making the players visit a hospital on the eve of a game when he was manager. It’s totally right that Ireland players do that sort of thing, but not 24 hours before a crucial qualifier when they should be focusing exclusively on football.
As for the dossier/DVD debate, I’m of the opinion that they’re only useful if players want to read and look at them. I wouldn’t consider them essential like Brian does. Kevin Moran was renowned for falling asleep during Jack’s team talks, but there wasn’t any question of him being unprepared on the pitch.
Returning to the here and now – qualification’s still a big ask but get a win and a draw out of our trip to Eastern Europe, and its within our grasp again.