Impressive that NI put Germany under real pressure at times tonight. They had to do better with the chances though - too many almost straight at the keeper.
If they had strikers as good as Hume and Ballard are as defenders ... ... they'd have beaten Germany. What great players we have at Sunderland, I'll applaud both of them in particular on Saturday.
Didn't watch all of it, but from what I saw both Ballard and Hume were immense. Second half NI gave the Germans a good go, but lacked enough quality up top to hurt them. The referee was definitely fussy and I'd like to see that incident again at the end, as it looked like an NI player was pulled down on the goal line. Overall I'd be hopeful that NI can get the results in the last two games to get a play off place. And from what I saw, I wasn't very impressed with Germany.
I really like them. They’ve got a really good young team who fight for everything and play decent footy. If they beat Luxembourg by a couple of goals, they’ll probably only need a draw at Slovakia to make the playoffs.
Ballard played well last night, man of the match. Shame the big German couldn’t be stopped, match winner…
Ironically the German goal was much like Ballard’s against Coventry … … a mistimed header that came off his back. The Mags keep saying he's not just a German Crouch, I’m not so sure.
I think hes very poor tbh, regardless of how many times some people want to lick his hoop. I wouldnt be swapping any of our strikers for him personally.
People keep talking about his wonderful footwork, I must be missing something … … I may be proven wrong but he looks like he’s worth half what they paid.
First time I’ve watched him live,and tbh don’t get the hype,might be doing the lad a disservice judging in a one off game but he looked ordinary and got lucky with the goal,and by the way Ballard wasn’t marking him for the corner,should probably make a judgement over the months but usually players who command that transfer fee give you snippets in every 90 minutes that make you think” aye he’s got something “ but never happened in my view
