Still only 1-0. Ireland are definitely still in this. They just need to nick a goal against the run of play and it'll be a battle until the final whistle. Next goal absolutely imperative!
2-0 - Silva. Frank was right, Given to blame for that one. Ireland look out of the competition. Careless keeping.
Torres scores his 2nd... Interesting to see how he gets on next year, seems to be hitting a bit of form recently, although still no where near his best.
Getting fed up with whoever directs the tv coverage & all the slowmos, that's three times I've watched a match that almost missed important moments in the game because of a Ukrainian obsession with slow athletes thighs in HD....
It was always on the cards saint,we gave it our best shot. On a different note the BBC are saying Carroll will start against Sweden. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18181790 If true its all beneficial to LFC.
Yeah, it was tongue in cheek, Page. I don't really blame the Irish team. I was just getting a bit pissed off with the "Torres is back" stuff. We shall see......
Not sure it is possibly to replace quality players like this. You can find alternative that have different fantastic qualities but a direct replacement is near on impossible
IMO it was the early goal and then the Spanish playing their game.In the first half i thought that they played well but could not find a reply The second half was just awful Shane Given was a good goalie at 1 time but now just past it to slow to react My 15month old god son gets quicker on his feet then Given Oh and have to agree with Saint all the talk about lady boy was doing my skull in to
Agree with that However, I also think the pundits are very harsh on Torres, it is like they have a unhealthy obsession with him at times. Leave the lad alone, he's doing the running and getting into the right positions, he just needs a confidence boost. His confidence did seem to be growing towards the end of last season but then Di Matteo dropped him for Drogba for both the FA Cup and Champions League finals, thats bound to kill confidence isn't it...?
Hah just realized of course it's Shay to many drinks last night and still a bit....... Thanks for pointing out my mistake
Last night, I had a dream that I had had a few too many. I highly recommend it... all the fun on the night with the usual blurred memory and not a hint of an hangover!
I've always thought that despite his talents, Torres has suffered from lack of confidence. He always seemed intimidated by the presence of David Villa when playing for Spain, and has the same problem with Drogba. He did so well for us because he was top dog in front of goal, he seems to go all girly in the presence of strong personalities and his game then suffers.
God help him at Chelsea now then with Hazard, Hulk, Marin and Mata alongside him. Although, having said that, Torres will be the experienced player of that bunch so should be the one leading by example too. Guess time will tell... PS - it seems wierd that, despite Torres' actions when leaving us, I still have a soft spot for him that wants to see him do well, just not Chelsea I guess I'd be happy if Chelsea lost 3-2 or 4-3 every week with Torres bagging
If he'd gone abroad it wouldn't have bothered me. Perhaps it's because I'm from a time when players didn't switch allegiance every five minutes, but it still seems like a betrayal when a player moves to a rival club. It's different if they're no longer required, but when they're worshipped like he was- or Rooney, for example- it just seems to stick a bit.
I agree completely GCOR. You can never truly replace quality like Alonso. Other good players would always be slightly different in their approach / talents. What I meant is that we never got in another player who is renowned, and lauded, for his passing skills (Aquilani aside). For example, although he doesn't play in exactly the same way as Alonso (and we wouldn't have got him), I think Sneijder could have come in and offered a similar outlet for us. He is good at set-pieces, has good shooting from distance and provides quality assists. I think we could do with an experienced ball player for the centre of the park (a la Ince and Gary Mac), until our young talent is cemented and given experience, as it would free up Gerrard to create and surge when he can. That's a good inclusion from Hodgson, IMO. The Swedish defense was given a rough ride by Shevchenko, so Carroll should love playing against them. My only worry is that the ref targets Carroll, like the attention Crouch had at international level, and he gets sent off. If he can avoid the book, I think Carroll will wreak havoc on the Swedes - with Young, Welbeck and Gerrard potentially profiting. Should be an interesting game. I'm also interested to see how France do against the Ukraine. I'm not sure it'll be as one-sided as some people (not here) are suggesting.
