MUCH OF THE English reaction following yesterday’s stalemate between Ireland and England has centred on how utterly boring the game was.
ITV Sport reportedly risked the wrath of the FA after they issued a series of tweets mocking how sterile the English performance at Lansdowne was.
Under a heading of ‘five things we learned’ they left five blank spaces before saying ‘we’re sorry’, once they had finished broadcasting the game.
The Daily Mail didn’t hold back in their condemnation of Roy Hodgson and his team saying that England had returned to the darkest days of Hodgson’s regime.
The Mail Online‘s reporters seemed at a loss to describe Jack Wilshere’s performance as one reporter labelled him as the only bright spark who was ‘showing initiative’, but that only earned him a rating of 5 in Rob Draper’s separate player ratings following the game. Apparently he was ‘out of sorts’ and ‘ineffective’.
Draper gave Seamus Coleman the highest player rating out of both teams, 7.5, for his shackling of Raheem Sterling and his decent showing going forward.
The Guardian also ran the same line on how dull the game turned out to be, but also had quotes from Roy Hodgson about the reception Raheem Sterling received at the Aviva from Irish fans.
“You can’t expect people just to shrug off the criticism he has been receiving. He does ever so well and tries to shrug it off, let his football do the talking.
“But he needed this game to realise that, if he is going to get it out of his system, he’s going to have to work harder still and get a thicker skin than he has at the moment”.
The Daily Telegraph were somewhat conservative on their criticism of their national team compared to other newspapers, but they had plenty to say about Ireland.
Jeremy Wilson wrote about how John Delaney must be feeling a huge amount of pressure and is fighting for his future as head of the FAI.
“With the on-field action providing little first-half interest, John Delaney must have been shifting uncomfortably in his seat as the focus turned to his role in the FAI accepting €5million from Fifa.”
“‘Sepp Blatter, he paid for your ground,’ chanted the England supporters, to applause from the Irish fans. They themselves sung ‘Delaney out’ amongst other chants.
The Sun were almost condescending in their report of the game, saying ‘the Irish love Premier League football and had waited 20 years for an England team to return’.
According to the Sun, we were treated to 90 minutes of the international equivalent of Leicester v Hull or West Brom v Sunderland.
They also earmarked Raheem Sterling as someone who achieved something for the Anglo-Irish peace process after he ‘did absolutely nothing to upset anyone in a green shirt’.
John Cross bemoaned the lack of atmosphere at the Aviva in his column for the Daily Mirror. “The Republic played a behind-closed-doors friendly with Northern Ireland on Thursday. Maybe they should have spared everyone the aggravation by locking the fans out this time as well.”
Unfortunate for them with the injuries, would have been great to see them fully loaded having a crack at Europe.
Glad McCabe is back, good player, thought it was a poor decision in the Summer to let him go.
Wonder what Conan O’Donnell is up to this weather
@ScewMadd: He was togging out for Counties Manukau in the mitre cup, prior to that he was at the sunwolves. Since the mitre cups completion I am not sure where he’s at. He put in a few 80min performances for Counties and he looked v solid. They played him at lh for all but one of his starts. Connacht could do with him now that’s for sure.
@Ian Verdon: I thought O’Donnell and Kenny would be starting for Connacht as a duo for 10 years when they first came on the scene. Both looked serious prospects but O’Donnell didn’t work out for some reason and Kenny’s taking more time do come through that I thought he would. His technique needed a good bit of work but a serious specimen.
@Eddie Hekenui: O’Donnell impressed me for counties this season, granted I only saw 3 of his performances. He seems comfortable playing either side of the scrum and his skillset is good. Kenny at 133kg is certainly a specimen, for me he needs to shed a few kg’s. His athleticism isn’t bad for a lad of his weight but I think with an added injection of acceleration he could be more of a weapon with ball in hand and get around the park more. He’s only 23 which is still young for a prop. He could well be on the bench this weekend I’ll be keeping an eye on him if indeed he is and does get on.
@Ian Verdon: Having seen him in action last season he’s definitely trimmed down since he was an U20 so I doubt he’s still 133 but you’re spot on that he could still do with tightening things up a bit. Still looks to be carrying a bit of bad weight. He’s some engine on him considering his size too. He got through a mountain of work in the game I saw him live and he did a number on his opposite number in the scrum which was a bit of a weakness for him at U20 level.
Yeah O’Donnell was a lad I was really surprised got let go. He was a huge prospect at underage levels and it’s an area Connacht have very little depth. But the coaches saw him in action everyday so are sure to have had good reasons. Hopefully he can continue his career somewhere else and maybe work himself back into contention somewhere in Ireland.
@Eddie Hekenui: it states on Connacht’s team page he’s still 133kg but that may not have been updated. For his size he does have a impressive engine but even cutting down 5kg can make a world if difference to ones athleticism just look at Healy and killer.
O’Donnell is still only 23 himself maybe he’ll do a thornbury and try educate and develop his game in Nz playing m with likes of counties and come back in a year or so better for it. Wether that be with Connacht or indeed another province.
@Ian Verdon: I wouldn’t place much stock in figures listed on the clubs websites. They’re never updated. They get put in after the players initial testing and that’s it. I’d be less concerned with a weight figure than a composition one too. He looked like he’s lost a lot of the bad weight he was carrying and turned it into muscle.
This could be a massacre, as could every other Connacht match in the tournament