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The Football Show

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on Off The Ball With Sky,

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all the football you love in one

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place across Sky Sports, BT

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Sport and Premier Sports

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This is News Talk I'm

0:13

prepared to end this in my can, the same thing as a chicken Do it

0:15

then, do it then What about your start to the game? It wasn't

0:17

bad was it? We should have been an

0:19

honest dancer being mistaken How can a modern

0:22

day manager not have a mobile phone? Why

0:24

should he?

0:25

Oh! So,

0:30

Scotland are good. That's some

0:32

headline news. If you haven't seen it, they

0:34

beat Spain 2-0. Robert Greve of The Scottish

0:36

Sun is going to join us and

0:38

explain all of Scott McTominay with both goals,

0:40

no less. Meanwhile, Dan McDonald

0:43

of The Irish Independent, who was alongside

0:45

me at the Aviva Stadium on Monday evening, is now

0:47

here in studio. Daniel, hello. Joe,

0:50

it's a pleasure to be close to you again.

0:53

If you want cutting-edge pre-match analysis

0:56

off the ball on Monday evening was the place to

0:58

be believe it or not Let me just play you

1:00

a brief snippet. Here we go

1:09

The French mindset towards

1:11

the game Are

1:14

you saying this is a Greekish

1:16

statistical anomaly, Pavard, or it's

1:19

happening to us. What's the highest ranking we've conceded

1:21

a goal against like that, Joe? I

1:23

don't think we're gonna have that problem. Listen,

1:26

play this back to me. You

1:28

did hear Pavard in the middle of that to be clear. I

1:30

did give the answer. Yeah. Play this

1:32

back to me. I don't think we'll have that kind of problem. You wouldn't even

1:35

answer my question initially. I'm just saying.

1:37

I'm just saying, Pavard. I'm gonna

1:39

sort of do the politician here. I'm gonna focus on

1:41

the positive line in the press release. It's like

1:43

I'm just going to drive it home. It's like, who else

1:45

would have picked Pavard, right? Everyone would have just picked

1:48

your sort of marquee French

1:51

names. I was like, no, it's going to be Pavard.

1:53

That's who it's going to be. It's always a fullback.

1:55

Yes. And that type of game. And your press conference or

1:57

your press release would exclude.

2:00

saying I don't think that's gonna be a problem play

2:02

it back to me yeah that was slightly

2:05

problematic but you know I can

2:07

I can get around it and I didn't

2:09

think it was gonna be a problem I mean it was it was

2:11

it was a different type of long-range concession

2:13

that I didn't it wasn't a slow 15 second

2:16

buildup or like you know players

2:19

tracking back and think oh you might have a crack here

2:21

no

2:22

no it was it was it was instant

2:24

death and but it did strike

2:27

me straight away this One,

2:29

it was brilliant that I did pick Power

2:33

Fire, but two, I did say Power Fire basically

2:35

in the event of it not being anyone

2:39

at all. My phone did beep. Yeah. Dan McDonald

2:41

appeared on my home screen a message from Dan. I

2:44

wonder what he's texting about.

2:47

So there we are. It was very unfortunate. I don't think, I agree

2:49

with your point by the way, it's not necessarily in keeping

2:52

with the build-up to the previous long-range goals where

2:56

part

2:57

however it was just

3:00

so demoralizing

3:02

and the cullen of all players who is pretty

3:05

careful on the ball in fairness to him. I

3:07

think I'd also said last week that you know

3:09

Cullen not being there was an issue with some of these

3:12

long-range shots so him

3:14

providing the assist for one was a sort

3:17

of a just not the way you might

3:19

have expected that

3:20

to happen. To be fair to Pavard,

3:23

anticipation, sharpness and strike

3:25

to match. I mean you're talking about high quality players

3:28

everywhere in this French team. Give us the

3:30

overview on Ireland. We've obviously talked with

3:32

Vinnie Perth and Kevin Cuny. Yesterday people

3:34

might have heard the podcast. I would say in

3:37

broad terms they were very positive with

3:40

how Stephen Kenny set the team up. They were

3:42

pretty positive in terms of the application.

3:45

Certainly Vinnie felt we could have done more in

3:48

terms of creating chances and been been a bit more aggressive

3:50

in our passing at times but he did

3:53

concede France are very scary it's

3:55

easier said than done. On the whole yeah

3:58

perfectly acceptable first start with

4:00

the general verdict? Yeah, I mean

4:02

it's hard to get away from just, for me personally

4:04

anyway, it's hard to get

4:06

away from a general sense of deflation

4:09

because that

4:12

lingering sense of having been here before

4:14

after the encouraging, if

4:17

only, defeat. And I'm clear this is probably

4:19

the best one of them because it's the best team more than have

4:22

played by some distance, you

4:25

know, having got to watch a lot of France

4:27

at the World Cup. And the thing about Francis as well. I

4:30

know people would say,

4:32

and I understand it,

4:34

and I did hear your chat with the lads, I think

4:36

Gavin was quite impressed by France. I do

4:38

get that. I think they're not a team even at the

4:40

World Cup that blew people away. They're more

4:42

sort of, they're

4:45

pretty clinical. Even some of those games

4:47

in the World Cup against Poland, it's

4:49

not as if they're wearing you. I don't think in the

4:51

World Cup, I could be wrong, it was more sense

4:55

of respect for France, like even

4:57

in the England game, yeah, you know, but

4:59

they had their let offs in that game too. You

5:01

know, Morocco caused them loads of problems,

5:03

but it was more the sense of these are the killers. So

5:06

the fact that they,

5:08

they came to Dublin and did that, it's not a sense

5:10

to me that France were miles off their levels.

5:13

I think it's more a case of that's what they

5:15

do. And Ireland actually probably neutralised

5:17

elements of what they do very well. So I think

5:20

that's good. And it's

5:22

just for me, is that small bit of knowing that

5:25

like it when you have no points on the

5:28

board like it was bonus point territory of Ireland got

5:30

anything I really you know speaking with the Dutch situation

5:32

I was like one point could be so important

5:34

you don't have that you're back to

5:37

Greece game being everything which is where

5:39

we were and beforehand but so

5:41

it's one thing I think about a lot of these heroic

5:43

Irish defeats there's been a game three days later

5:45

where the kills the buzz straight away there's now like three

5:48

months to to sort of deal with

5:50

this at least it means there'll be full

5:52

focus on the next match where sometimes

5:54

the games that have killed Ireland

5:55

have been the secondary focus in a

5:58

week and that's a... what's

6:00

hurt them.

6:01

Did you like how Kenny set up the team? Yeah

6:05

I definitely could understand that. I don't think, I wasn't

6:08

particularly surprised by it in the sense

6:11

that I think the Old Benny one met, it was a natural

6:13

one for this type of game. The one question

6:15

mark I still have and it lingers what would have happened

6:18

if Odeda was there because it was very

6:20

clear that Odeda was going to

6:22

play from the comments. I could be wrong but

6:24

it seemed pretty clear to me that he would and

6:27

And would that have impacted, would that have

6:29

had a domino effect on other

6:31

situations? I mean, it looks to me like I

6:34

would imagine that Seamus Coleman was tasked for that

6:36

job, given how diligently carried it out.

6:38

But we don't know for sure. Would Matt Daugherty

6:40

just have been dropped? Possibly that's the case. Did

6:42

that take away a degree of pace on that

6:44

side of the pitch that you would have wanted? And it

6:47

sort of tallies like Kenny last week after the Latvia

6:49

game before Oded was injured, was talking about how

6:51

speed was going to be so important in this game. And

6:56

the Irish side say it wouldn't have been packed with

6:58

speedy players. And O'Dowd would have been

7:00

one more. I mean, O'Benny excelled because of that.

7:03

Knight is quite quick. But

7:06

would it have been as

7:08

conservative and passive O'Dowd had been

7:10

there in terms of breaking out? I'd

7:13

imagine Coleman wouldn't have been going too far with Mbappe.

7:16

But would they have been a bit braver

7:18

on the other side at times? And Daugherty did try

7:20

to be on one or two occasions. but

7:22

he's more of a build-up player rather

7:24

than an outlet player, you know what I mean, that provides

7:27

a run. So I think

7:29

the Subs were fine. The Subs have been a question mark under

7:31

Kenny in recent games. We've probably talked about them here.

7:34

I think the Eta change was a good one. A lot of people are probably

7:36

not sure about this because Ferguson's coming off, but Eta

7:38

did stretch them a bit. And one

7:41

thing I've taken away from it is I think I might

7:43

have thought that Eta and Ferguson would

7:45

be head-to-head, but actually they could be a partnership

7:47

at some stage too. So there

7:50

was a lot of good to take away from it. It's

7:54

just that sense now again of, okay,

7:57

it's making that conversion to. orchestrating

8:01

a game plan that effective for a game harder need

8:03

to win which has been the

8:06

issue so far they've been very good at creating

8:08

game plans for games where there are

8:10

people going in going which is what happens if they get

8:12

hammered here it's

8:13

never happened like that has not happened at

8:15

all like not losing a more than one goal and

8:18

Bush

8:20

becoming the sort of the clinical killers like France

8:22

are that are going to do a job in the group

8:25

I don't think anything you've seen on Monday answers

8:27

that question for you to be going well that's

8:29

that corner turn. That's the big question mark

8:31

that's still there.

8:32

So your logic on Ferguson,

8:36

either partnership is you got the hold

8:38

of play Ferguson and he'll be better for having

8:40

experience Monday night and either with that

8:43

running thread in behind which was so visible even on Monday

8:45

night

8:46

there's a balance there which works. I'm not

8:48

saying it's the most natural partnership you would say that the

8:51

Ferguson of a family one might have the most

8:53

potential in a game where

8:55

you would maybe pink,

8:58

I don't have more of the ball, and the strikers would be a

9:00

bit closer together, and in terms of like maybe

9:02

their technical skills and how they could complement

9:04

each other. But maybe for

9:06

a particular,

9:08

I suppose a grade down from that type

9:10

of game, you know, you could see that

9:12

being an option. And like, I think Kenny likes Eda generally,

9:15

and like sometimes the football move rolls

9:17

on very quickly from a player who

9:19

comes as long as a young player has a little bit

9:21

of a dodgy patch and then they tend to be sort

9:24

of written out of discussions.

9:26

I mean Adam Ida, what, 18

9:29

months ago, was exceptionally good in Farro

9:32

against a decent Portugal

9:34

side and in the home game of Dublin as well. And

9:38

that January February was playing very well for Norwich

9:40

in the Premier League, scored a goal against Everton, looked

9:43

like he was going to play the rest of the season and then, as

9:45

has been the case with him, got a bad injury. He tend

9:47

to forget about him very quickly when he's only 21, 22. And

9:51

has attributes there that

9:54

can make him a feature in certain

9:57

games. And I think there is probably

9:59

the war. positive, the major positive

10:01

you could you could argue out the last

10:04

last year and

10:05

even if there's been low points within it is

10:08

that there probably does feel like there's a certain

10:10

depth within the squad now like

10:13

there's there's clearly a couple of players who got injured

10:15

who would you know if they got injured before June you'd

10:17

be like

10:18

pretty stressed but there are other areas of the team

10:20

where you could probably go okay

10:22

he's gone but

10:24

we have him you know and I think and

10:27

there's still like when Josh Coddle ironically met the State

10:29

to Illinois, he's probably still the hardest player to replace,

10:32

he could argue. But

10:34

in other positions, there's good options.

10:36

And I think that's probably one of

10:38

the encouraging things that you would take from it. Kenny

10:41

did go on about this, about building a squad for

10:43

the Euros. To be fair, I think he's done that. But

10:47

clearly, that squad now just needs

10:49

to go on and just

10:51

change the story of their

10:55

arc, which is again, so

10:56

near but yet so far. What was Kenny saying

10:58

in the press conference? I

11:01

think after actually he was,

11:03

I think before and after the game, I

11:06

know, I

11:07

think sometimes with Kenny, after

11:09

a game, it feels like even some of the punditry

11:11

varies into analyzing his press conference words.

11:14

Like if the performance has been reasonably good, then

11:16

it varies into, what did he say in his

11:18

press conference? How does this relate to what he said in his

11:20

press conference? Maybe that's always the way. under

11:23

trap and previous managers we

11:25

all talked about what they said. Steve

11:28

Staunton, you know, a win is a win. Like managers

11:30

lines, okay, they always get thrown back at

11:32

them. But it does feel

11:34

like with Kenny then that things

11:37

went reasonably well and then there's a sense of, well,

11:39

as he said beforehand, they were going to have a go and this

11:42

is almost like an issue, you

11:44

know? Whereas, we've been

11:47

here a lot, I've always been at the point that Kenny

11:50

is more pragmatic than sometimes

11:53

his own utterances. What have

11:55

you now? know like league

12:00

never lost but more than one goal. It was actually huge

12:02

parallels, you know, some great performances

12:05

but not wins, you know, in some cases.

12:07

So his teams are always competitive and you have

12:09

to be pragmatic to be competitive. If you're not, you'd

12:12

have a track record of getting opened up three or four

12:14

regularly. So there is a pragmatism there.

12:17

So I actually thought while there was one or two lines

12:20

before the game that were seized upon,

12:22

I thought his general tone actually before

12:24

and after was pretty straight

12:26

down the line. You know, it wasn't too

12:29

bigger a picture in a way. Yes, we'll be lines, but yeah,

12:31

this is, you know, we have built a good team now,

12:33

but not as bullish as we've seen previously,

12:36

you know, coming in after the Qatar friendly and talking

12:38

about winning the Nations League and that type of

12:40

thing. It was a little bit more between the lines. He

12:44

did speak about Evan Ferguson,

12:47

that would have been carried in the papers today, would

12:49

have maybe offered the view that he felt actually

12:52

Ferguson made life hard for himself

12:54

by dropping deep a little bit too much. Anyone

12:58

who watched Ferguson on the pitch, and I'm sure

13:00

some people would have been just tracking him, scouts,

13:03

and people having a look at him, would have noticed that

13:05

he spent a lot of time probably in between the

13:07

halfway line and the Irish penalty

13:11

box, or certainly the 35 yards from goal. Kenny's

13:14

point was that they

13:18

ideally wanted Ferguson higher up. Now, of course,

13:20

that can be communicated and

13:23

clearly Ferguson felt he

13:26

was needed back there and that was the

13:28

nature of the game. Maybe you're just forced back, that you

13:31

feel like you need to be there. But that was one of

13:33

the more interesting observations

13:35

about it. Because Ferguson's probably never played in a game like that before.

13:38

Well I felt he was conscious of Cam Bovinga and

13:41

quite rightly so. Yeah, sitting on top

13:43

of him. It's understandable. Now I agree

13:45

with you. It's not the most complicated message to get onto him

13:48

if you want him a bit further up the pitch either so

13:50

yeah I mean Kenny's point about the he

13:52

did like last week the most animated Kenny probably was

13:54

this week was talking

13:56

about Brighton system last

13:59

week and he got re-

14:00

into the Brighton system, he's never seen anything

14:02

like this 4-2-4 and sort

14:04

of said that the job for Ferguson is

14:06

to just sit to the left or the right

14:08

of their number six, which I suppose in the

14:10

French case was kind of a vinga. So there's an element

14:13

of habits. It's

14:15

just when Ferguson does that

14:17

for Brighton, he's got Matoma

14:20

and Marich two wingers bombing on either side of him and

14:22

clearly not with Ireland. But I think

14:25

Kenny in general knows, He

14:27

knows that there's a big focus

14:29

on Athens. There always was going to be a big focus

14:31

on Athens. There's parallels with last

14:33

year where the first game, it was

14:36

a bit different because there was four games in that big window, that

14:38

sort of mad nation's league window, whereas this

14:40

is probably built around one and then the Gibraltar one

14:42

as the afterthought, but the preparations

14:45

weren't right last year. I think instantly

14:47

for Armenia, I think instantly he's

14:49

jumped on to how do you get that right.

14:52

But he was saying behind the scenes last week

14:54

was the best week so

14:57

far in his time. He didn't really elaborate

14:59

on why that was, but

15:01

he did suggest that the week

15:04

and how it had panned out had gone better

15:06

than ever, which just adds the extra frustration that

15:08

he just didn't get that little cherry on top of

15:11

just getting that point that could be so

15:14

important later down the line. It

15:16

was an incredibly organized performance. They

15:18

were all exceptionally drilled. They all

15:20

knew what they were about and what they were trying to do, and they

15:22

carried it out to the nth degree, you would

15:26

definitely have liked to touch more aggression in the passing for

15:28

sure, and the left-hand side didn't offer anything,

15:30

and

15:31

what was asked of Knight possibly didn't suit him, certainly

15:34

not with Daugherty behind him. Their minor-ish

15:36

quibbles, I think, in the face of how good France just

15:39

so obviously were.

15:40

That more defensive shape made

15:44

perfect sense against France. So if Grease

15:46

Away is being talked about already as a defining

15:48

game early on in this campaign, What kind of

15:50

shape does he go with in Athens? Yeah, well

15:52

there's a couple things about Athens. I think there's been a big chat

15:54

around, and it's been pointed out in a few places, like a big

15:57

chat around the heat for that game but it

15:59

doesn't appear to game

16:00

at 9.45 p.m. local time, so

16:02

I think it would be considerably cooler than the daytime

16:04

temperatures. Now it's still going to be warm, but

16:07

again predicting weather a long way off is

16:11

dangerous. That's

16:14

so when it happens in the summer. Well, well I get

16:16

you, yeah, and we can get Johnny Wharton about time

16:18

it if you want as well, but

16:20

I think like the air van last year was a five

16:23

o'clock game, it was two o'clock Irish time, it was a TV

16:25

thing. This is

16:28

late at night local time. Well,

16:30

it just means it's not gonna be, I'm sure it's still gonna be

16:32

demanding, but it's not gonna be that afternoon

16:35

heat which killed them in the air van

16:37

and exposed players who hadn't played in a long

16:39

period of time. But I would imagine

16:41

that there will be elements of the game plan that could

16:44

be similar enough in

16:46

the sense of, I

16:50

suppose, needing to conserve your energy serve your energy

16:52

and not run yourself into the ground needlessly.

16:56

What you don't do, it's the condition of going to

16:58

be warm enough. I'm just saying it's not going to be like nothing they've ever

17:00

experienced before. So

17:02

there's an element of managing

17:05

your workloads and sort of knowing,

17:08

I suppose, when to press and when

17:10

not to press. I think the other

17:12

night they obviously weren't chasing around the

17:14

place, like tearing around the place just

17:17

to get caught up in the occasion. But yeah,

17:20

I think you would imagine in

17:22

that game, though, you're not

17:24

going to be telling your wingbacks,

17:27

you know, you're not going to have a wingback sort of reluctant

17:30

to cross the halfway line because of a superstar.

17:33

Like in that system, like that are

17:35

in play. And I think they'll retain that system for sure

17:38

for Greece. Like the width comes from your

17:41

wingbacks. And if they're not actually providing a

17:43

threat, then you end up becoming sort

17:46

of quite one-dimensional in the sense of when you're being

17:48

stuck through the middle and you're looking for people to

17:51

pick Hollywood passes to try and get things going.

17:53

Do you think just Ferguson up top in his own?

17:56

No, no, no, he could switch to the 352.

18:00

it'll keep the same shape. No, sorry, sorry, what I mean

18:02

shape, you're right. I have more something to

18:04

back three, back four thing. You know, there is this debate

18:06

of will they at any point pivot away from that,

18:08

but I don't think they will for that game. You know,

18:11

against Gibraltar in one of these games, will they might try

18:14

it, who knows. They might, you know, grease a home later

18:16

in the year, might you want something different, who knows. But

18:19

I think when I'm talking about, I think within the system, they

18:21

mix it up anyway. Like the thing is, it's

18:23

no guarantee, for example, someone like Beni, who

18:25

was fantastic to the night, will play in grease. I

18:28

would say that now. And

18:31

like he was exceptionally good the other night. And

18:33

Malumbi also very good the other night. But

18:36

is it possible that like they're

18:38

just subject of dilemmas around

18:40

start and place for Greece? I

18:42

would say possibly so. Because you might

18:44

suddenly, someone you want to get a small bone in there who's

18:46

maybe a little bit more creative. So who comes

18:48

out? Okay, it could be Jason Knight, right? That's another option.

18:52

But Albené, is it a case of no, no, maybe, Maybe

18:56

it's more about the Ferguson or Befemi

18:58

for this particular game and Albeni

19:01

would lose out because he's not going

19:03

to be a right wing back, but he's not going

19:05

to be one of your midfield three if you tweak things. Even

19:08

Albeni and his quotes afterwards were very good.

19:11

He almost alluded to it. This isn't to say, I'm sure privately

19:13

he's like, it was brilliant, of course I should be playing. But

19:16

he did acknowledge that it could be different things

19:19

for different games. Whereas again,

19:21

like Ireland go to France in September, there's

19:23

no way out, but he wouldn't play in that one. I'd imagine he

19:26

could actually end up playing maybe in the

19:28

Dutch games as well, but Greece could

19:30

be a

19:31

slightly different one. Yeah. It's

19:33

one of the great skills and management to try and gauge

19:35

the opposition. France, it's

19:37

a no brainer. We can all gauge where France are perfectly.

19:40

We need to be solid

19:42

beyond belief. Greece away.

19:45

How do we pitch up against them exactly? How aggressive

19:48

do we approach it? That is

19:50

the skill and that's what Stephen Kennedy will be doing

19:52

in the intervening months. Certainly

19:55

I would say,

19:56

Darny Night just doesn't really work if

19:58

they're going with that formation. Well, I think

20:01

that actually played a lot of football when he

20:03

was younger, I'd left back at Wolves, but

20:05

he was very good in Portugal when

20:08

at that stage would have been, I think, Jamie McGrath

20:10

inside him actually. And

20:13

the nature of the game, you

20:16

know, he can cut it and build, play, but I don't know, like,

20:19

yeah, I know what you're saying about it. Like, I think Knight is a

20:21

good player, but he is one

20:24

that he's sort of maybe, like, he saw me

20:26

come off the bench in Luxembourg when the game was very,

20:28

being very congested and he really opened it up and

20:31

was very effective. And maybe if there's

20:33

a game where you're looking for a little bit more control

20:35

on the ball, he is one that becomes,

20:38

he could have that darkly small bone link on the other side

20:41

that you had last year. I can do lots of things and he

20:43

can also, as he showed against Ukraine, I remember

20:45

the greatest

20:46

opening 15 minutes in that home game

20:48

against Ukraine, where he must have had two or

20:50

three brilliant runs and beat players and started so well.

20:52

So he can take the ball and he can run with players if

20:55

he's feeling good. And I think he could pick a pass,

20:57

like I could have imagined for instance, if

20:59

it was O'Dowda behind Knight. I could have imagined Knight

21:01

getting on the ball and a little flick here

21:04

or a pass there for O'Dowda on the overlap.

21:06

He did it once for Daugherty. It was beautiful.

21:08

It was really difficult. It was a high tariff

21:10

outside of the foot. First time flick for Daugherty and

21:13

it worked. But I'd

21:15

never felt Knight

21:16

had Daugherty bombing by him for obvious

21:18

reasons all that often. One, because

21:20

of the opposition, but two, because I don't know. I'm

21:25

not sure on Daugherty a lot of the time. I

21:28

feel like there's more in them.

21:30

But anyway, regardless, whatever's going on there, I

21:32

think Knight

21:33

needs a bit of pace around him

21:36

in that kind of an environment. Yeah, I mean, the

21:38

other thing I suppose I would say, again,

21:40

Ireland were chasing the game late on, so it's

21:43

a bit, not to analyze it

21:45

too much, but even that little change, that Coleman went

21:47

to the right of the tree

21:48

and Nathan Collins went to the other side. And

21:52

it wouldn't surprise me if there was any issues with

21:54

anyone in the back tree, that Coleman went into the right

21:56

of the tree, very easily. In

21:59

fact, Could he end up playing the right of

22:01

the three in Greece regardless and then you have

22:03

the game three days later Or maybe you make

22:05

things up that it could be Coleman Egan

22:08

and Collins potentially Even though that'd be pretty harsh

22:10

and Darrow Shay But it could be and then

22:12

you have authority on the right wing back and then it is

22:14

just out of it And and

22:16

that is that is possibly a scenario.

22:19

I I think it's it's they

22:21

are the little marginal ones You're talking about all

22:23

things been equal if everyone's fit. I don't think you're talking

22:26

about a radical and dramatic

22:29

change in approach. But the team again, this

22:31

has been the problem for Ireland. The games where they probably have to

22:33

impose themselves on it against

22:35

the team that are similar-ish

22:38

ability, lesser ability by the rankings.

22:42

If you look at Greece's

22:44

record in recent years, it does seem to be

22:46

not dissimilar to Ireland in that you can find positive

22:48

evidence from some very good results against some

22:50

good teams like draws with Spain, but

22:53

then they They seem to have some very

22:55

good in the Nations League last year, but prior to that,

22:58

they will have some bad results on their CV

23:00

against average enough teams. And

23:03

as we know, they will be seized upon as

23:05

evidence. You should be beating these. And then from

23:07

the flip side, it's like, well, they drew it Spain. This

23:09

is a proper team. But,

23:12

you know, they're no Scotland. Coleman's

23:14

in a good place. He is. I

23:16

was writing about that today. I

23:18

taught Coleman. I didn't think he

23:21

was done in an Irish context, but I certainly

23:23

thought the idea of

23:25

him being a starter

23:28

all the time was probably

23:30

gone. And I'm not convinced he'll start

23:32

every game for the remainder of this year, but

23:35

I certainly found myself coming out the other night

23:37

going, God yeah, got

23:40

bought into that a little bit too soon because you step

23:42

back from it. The only

23:44

Irish-Edfield players between now

23:46

and the rest of the Premier League season who will definitely

23:49

play. I'm probably

23:51

ashamed of it, as in every week, the first choice for

23:53

our clubs at the moment, will

23:55

probably come in and have an Ferguson. Nathan Collins is

23:58

not playing regularly for walls. coming off the bench.

24:01

And on form, he

24:03

should have been in the team the other day, not just because of his

24:05

presence or his experience or whatever.

24:08

On form, if you go off form, and sometimes

24:10

people can be too

24:12

much of a form, George, with the Irish stuff. He needed a degree of

24:14

continuity. But I think there's big arguments

24:16

for Coleman being involved for the

24:18

rest of the year, because Kenny has said himself

24:20

he's probably overcome the injury problems that inhibited

24:23

him last year. He feels like he played through the pain barrier

24:25

a lot. He limped off in the air event

24:28

last year he probably played half injured and

24:30

looked a shadow of himself and that maybe makes you think

24:32

oh god maybe this is this is the end.

24:35

But I'm looking at this now going Coleman

24:40

okay I mean I don't know how long he's going to go for but

24:42

I don't think it's unfair to suggest

24:44

like this is his last crack at a major tournament. So

24:47

he has that real sense of desperation that

24:50

sense of want not that they all have it but

24:52

he also has the experience of winning

24:55

big international games that not a huge amount

24:57

of that team do. Like even some of the older

24:59

players like Dr T

25:01

and Egan really haven't had too many big

25:03

wins in an Ireland church. What age is

25:06

Coleman? So Coleman is 35 later this

25:08

year. He's 1988 I think.

25:10

Yeah

25:12

he is. Yeah he would be. You

25:16

look at his body type, I would suspect

25:18

he's lived a very professional lifestyle. I

25:22

wouldn't be shocked if he's still hanging around for another

25:24

campaign after this at all. Yeah,

25:27

I wouldn't. You'd go 35, 36. I wouldn't

25:29

rule it out. I'm just saying that, I guess,

25:33

I'm sure it has to be apart from when he sees

25:35

all his contemporaries. Like, when you

25:37

think of it, Coleman and Euro 2016, like, he's

25:39

actually a couple years older than Robbie Brady,

25:42

Hendrick, Shane Duffy. McLean

25:45

is obviously still there. But the other ones that have

25:47

been sort of phased out or are still

25:49

around the squad, Even though I said, kind of heroin

25:51

gone from this squad, but there has been a sort

25:53

of a, you know, Darren Randolph, Shane

25:55

Long, like there's just been this sort of not

25:59

necessarily just

26:00

then with a knife on one day

26:02

and that's it. But it's been steady and Coleman is still

26:04

going and he's still there. And

26:07

he's a big presence. I was struck by him.

26:10

Vocally, even the other night, you know, even off the

26:13

pitch, I'll be any at halftime, like I think I'll be in his

26:15

performance. I'd say he was influenced by Coleman

26:17

behind him a bit, too. And if they were in big debrief

26:20

walking off at halftime. And I think

26:22

it just points to saying, you

26:24

know what? When it comes to these big games this year

26:26

and

26:28

you want to have them there. Now if he's not playing for his club

26:30

at all, which has been the case at times

26:33

in recent camps, well then you probably

26:35

can't just justify someone being there

26:37

on the basis of their presence. But

26:40

I think, like I said, the form argument is there. He

26:42

did a good job in the game the other night that reminded

26:44

you. You have players in that Ireland squad

26:46

who have never played in the Premier League.

26:49

And Seamus Coleman may not be the Seamus Coleman

26:51

he was, but he's still playing in the Premier League.

26:54

And that counts for a lot. the nature of Ireland's group

26:56

and the teams they have to play, where you could

26:58

easily be intimidated by some of them, than

27:02

someone who's played whatever,

27:05

hundreds of top flight games,

27:07

and is doing so at the moment.

27:09

I think it has to be. And I've probably changed

27:12

my view a little bit on that. I wasn't quite right in

27:14

the met of it, but I sort of thought,

27:16

no, it's going to be Daugherty. Whereas now, I think there's

27:18

a real argument of you just have to find a way

27:21

to accommodate Coleman. I'd have called him Noah

27:23

Daugherty at the moment, for sure. Yeah, no, I can see that. for

27:25

sure. Football show coverage

27:27

brought to you by Sky Cash, the biggest live

27:29

Premier League games every weekend on Sky Sports. Short

27:31

outbreak, we're talking Scotland's winner of Spain next.

27:52

sports.

28:01

This is News Talk.

28:07

Now you're welcome back. Dan Mcdonald of The Irish Independent is here.

28:09

Scotland 2, Spain nil

28:11

was the story last night. Have a listen. In

28:13

steps, Tierney does well. He'll

28:16

be chased down by Carvajal but

28:18

he's got some engine on him. Kieran Tierney,

28:21

he timed that perfectly. Now can

28:23

he pick out the killer pass? This

28:25

is McTominay! Oh,

28:28

what a heck from Scott McTominay! What

28:33

a number from Kieran Tierney! But

28:35

what a finish once again from McTominay! Listen

28:39

to this place! Hampton

28:42

Park is rocking once again! This is

28:44

turning in to a very, very special night!

28:51

Uh, certainly was a special night, Scott McTominay. I

28:55

think he's a good player. But again, we ridiculed

28:58

someone who plays for Manchester United. I

29:00

think we'd be quite happy with a Manchester United squad

29:03

player. We sure would. Goals

29:06

on 7 and 51 minutes. Very happy to say Robert

29:08

Greve of the Scottish Sun is with

29:11

us. You've put your top back on, you've calmed

29:13

down, all

29:15

the rest, you come back down to Earth. Robert,

29:18

where are you? Pete,

29:19

firmly in a bit, when the ground Joe were there,

29:21

we're all really relaxed here in Scotland, no problem at

29:23

all. So a routine victory for Scotland that

29:25

last night, but we can't. Well, on to the next game,

29:28

on to the next game of course. Tyler, I spoke to Robert.

29:30

Of course, of course.

29:31

Yeah, I spoke to Robert. Dan

29:33

goes my feelings in Scotland, all was very calm when

29:35

it comes to the Scottish national team. I

29:37

was beating the ground, Dan. Is that right? Oh,

29:39

listen, I spoke to Robert before the Ireland 3

29:42

Scotland nil. Don't talk about that game, Dan.

29:44

Come on, with that. Give me a minute. You

29:46

predicted it. I'm not sure about this

29:48

and I'm kind of wondering how Scotland have gone from being that

29:51

Inconsistent team you couldn't trust and now being

29:53

these

29:54

these are this ruthless rolling

29:57

around the pitch wasting time efficient

29:59

winning. machine that does a job on

30:02

another strength but still like

30:04

God's Spanish side. Yes, the

30:06

listen still tense in the world. I think

30:08

Roger had a bit of explaining to do after the game

30:10

and that was how it's out to say that Scotland but time

30:13

wasted and described as there's rubbish. Listen Scotland

30:15

does you have to win at hand and last night I don't think

30:17

there's any doubt about it. The team played

30:19

really really well when you're right there's been a transformation

30:22

in the team

30:23

since Steve Clark's come in he's been in the job a few years

30:25

now and he's slowly but surely getting

30:27

these players playing in a fashion that

30:29

makes us competitive in these games against the

30:31

best teams we've played well against Denmark.

30:34

Previously we beat them at Hamden, we've gone

30:36

on a road and won in place in La Osteria

30:38

and here we are last night beating Sp

30:48

was

30:57

a bit rubbish. They were his exact quotes.

30:59

For me it's a bit rubbish. Always time wasting,

31:02

they provoke you and they always fall. Cynical,

31:06

the Scots, Dan, I've always said it. There's just

31:08

a nasty underbelly to those boys. They know

31:10

how to win. I mean, like, this is the thing. Like,

31:13

they haven't been in a tournament since what, 1998

31:16

until the Euros. And now

31:19

they've just gotten the hang of the whole thing. I mean,

31:21

listen, in all seriousness, we obviously-

31:23

Sorry, it was been very serious. Oh, I know. Sorry, sorry.

31:26

We played like Scotland twice last year. I

31:28

know, OK, there was that win in Dublin. And

31:31

then you had that game in Hamden, which was actually

31:33

a good game. It was a good contest. But

31:35

you are looking at Scotland going, yeah, they're

31:37

just a little bit ahead of where

31:39

Ireland are. And you're thinking, yeah, I know. It's

31:42

obviously different when you're covering your own international

31:44

team. And I'd imagine like even Steve

31:46

Clark, I think, has had a lot of criticism even in

31:49

the last 12 months at times. sense that a little

31:51

bit of a mixed vibe but

31:54

you sort of do look at them and they're in a

31:56

good place where presumably Robert even the

31:59

taste of...

32:00

into one tournament, I don't

32:02

know, does that just remove some kind of weight from the shoulders

32:04

of that group as well? That there's just a

32:06

more natural expectation now

32:08

that's not just this craving the

32:10

end of this famine, it's something a little bit more different

32:13

at this stage. Yeah, absolutely. Listen,

32:15

the weight for getting back to a major tournament

32:17

was so long that

32:19

it has to take a weight off the shoulders when we

32:21

get there. The thing about that tournament time

32:23

was that Scotland didn't perform,

32:25

barring the win game against England

32:27

at Wembley, the team were terrific that night. We didn't

32:29

win, but the team were terrific that night. But

32:31

other than that, I think the players

32:34

and the manager I know came away from the

32:36

Euros

32:37

with a real tinge of disappointment

32:39

at how the team performed because we were better than

32:41

I think we showed. It was like the

32:43

way the tournament as you know went with Hamden

32:46

Park, it was kind of half empty, didn't

32:48

suit,

32:49

didn't help us either. But

32:51

I think coming out of that tournament, I think the players

32:53

about a real kind of determination

32:56

to get back to that level

32:57

and to get back to a major tournament again and

32:59

to make sure it wasn't just a one-off after

33:02

all those years of us trying to strive to get back to that

33:04

level.

33:04

So listen, the thing about

33:07

this campaign so far, this group so far,

33:09

is Scotland have got off to a good start. Obviously that's

33:12

not usually what happens with Scotland. We're usually

33:14

up against the kind of fighting against

33:16

it from early on in a tournament campaign

33:19

and here we are back to back wins

33:21

against Cyprus and Spain and the real

33:24

mood of positivity around the squad now getting

33:26

into the games in the summer against Norway and

33:28

Georgia. And it must be said as well

33:31

Robert

33:32

again to draw the the natural comparison

33:34

with Ireland similar population

33:37

size we would look at the Premier

33:39

League and and be really scratching

33:41

around the fringes obviously very excited about Evan

33:44

Ferguson's emergence and Seamus Coleman

33:46

is still hanging on and there's Bazouno

33:49

and Goll and then it starts to dry

33:51

up very very quickly and at a glance even

33:53

at the Scottish 11 last night you're

33:55

talking Kieran Tierney, you're talking Andy Robertson,

33:58

you're You're talking McTominay, you're talking McGinn-

34:00

you're talking around Christie. That

34:02

is a very decent Premier League showing for

34:05

a country of Scotland size. Yeah,

34:06

absolutely. Listen, these guys

34:08

aren't playing every week. I think it's fair to say McTomally

34:11

could probably be playing more football, certainly Keaton,

34:13

could be playing more football. But when you look

34:15

at these guys in the clubs, the environments

34:18

they're in, when they're lining up against a Spain,

34:20

they're not over the road, but these guys are

34:22

kind of facing these players weekend and week out

34:24

down in England. Or they're certainly even playing

34:27

with them or training with with some of them. So I

34:29

think there's been a change of kind

34:31

of mentality within the group that they

34:33

feel as though they belong and they're quite comfortable

34:36

in that environment. Rodry spoke

34:39

before the game. He was a player, the Spanish player who

34:41

spoke before the game on

34:43

Monday night and he was talking about Scott McTomery

34:45

and having been up against Scott McTomery in the Manchester

34:47

Darby's. Now

34:48

Scott McTomery lined up in that game. He wasn't overrode

34:51

about who he was facing

34:52

and that spread throughout the team with the guys,

34:55

UC, Keira Tierney,

34:57

McTomery,

34:59

other players, Cal McGregor's played champions

35:02

like football, so we've got guys now who

35:04

are playing at the highest level, competing at the highest

35:06

level and don't go over it.

35:08

So how is all this going to blow

35:11

up horribly in your face then? What's going to go

35:13

wrong? Yeah, we're going to feel in Georgia obviously.

35:15

Georgia, yeah, has to be Well,

35:18

we're talking about it, but

35:21

the fact that Norway didn't win yesterday either

35:24

was

35:24

another great... Even before Scotland kicked

35:26

off last night, we had that boost

35:28

that Norway had failed to win in Georgia. That

35:30

was always going to be a tricky game for us. But the way it's shaping

35:33

up now,

35:34

you expect that Sweden are going to get a finger out, they're going

35:36

to get an act together. But we're looking at Scotland

35:38

that can win in Cyprus, which you'd expect them to win.

35:40

Then

35:41

if they can win our home games, they

35:43

might not have to go to Norway and win, when they'll

35:45

have to go to Spain to win,

35:47

or even Georgia for that matter. Getting these six

35:49

points in the board after two games puts us in such

35:51

a strong position that it takes the pressure

35:53

off and as I said in previous European

35:55

Championships and we've been

35:58

behind it, we've been chasing a tail.

36:00

after the first couple of games because we

36:02

don't usually go off to a good start.

36:04

I think the Cyprus victory in Saturday was

36:06

the first time we've won an opening game

36:08

in a group

36:09

since 2006. We tend to

36:11

go off to a slow start. So the players

36:13

have got off to a positive start, they've got the victory

36:15

against Cyprus, the victory against

36:17

Spain and suddenly there's so much positivity.

36:20

The team playing all the way next in June in

36:22

Oslo, it's a huge game. But with

36:24

no fear going over to Norway, they might be battling

36:26

hard, Hamline might be back for them, they'll

36:29

be a different proposition from what

36:31

they've been

36:32

in their game so far.

36:34

But, Scotland will go there with no fear. And

36:36

you see, it might, listen, we know we've not qualified,

36:39

Steve Platt was, it pains to point out last

36:41

night that no team's ever qualified

36:43

with six points.

36:45

That's all we've got is six points just now. But,

36:48

there's

36:48

a real feeling that this could be a

36:50

real

36:52

positive campaign for Scotland,

36:55

given what we saw last night? I'll

36:58

bet. And it's not built on nothing. I know last

37:00

year it ended in disappointment with the defeat to Ukraine

37:03

and the play-off. However, it was

37:06

quite striking looking in from afar.

37:08

There was such a vibrancy about Hamden, there was an

37:11

energy about the place, there was a feel-good factor.

37:13

Everybody loves Ali McCoy's done co-commentary.

37:15

Who knows why these things

37:17

are important but somehow they play into it but there was just

37:19

a sense of this is not a

37:22

miserable

37:22

Scotland scene anymore there is a vibrancy

37:26

to it what aside from good

37:28

results I guess do you put that down to Clark

37:31

do you put that down to this generation of players

37:33

got something about them as people or what?

37:36

George I'm actually a boss, Clark's come in

37:38

and he's not the most he

37:41

can be quite do it he says himself he can be quite

37:43

a doer character so it It doesn't come from

37:46

that side of things, but he's a very,

37:48

very shrewd manager, he's a very shrewd coach,

37:50

the player's like working with him,

37:52

he gets the team set up

37:54

in a way that each player

37:56

in the squad, not just the guys who start the game,

37:58

but each player

38:00

to the detail. So

38:03

that's a huge part of it. But as we touched on before,

38:05

we've got guys playing at a good level now. We've got guys

38:07

who have amassed a decent amount

38:09

of caps in the last few years. We've

38:12

got a mixture of a few of the experienced players,

38:14

Ryan Portis played,

38:15

I think his third cap against Spain last night.

38:18

He's yet to concede a goal on a Scotland jersey.

38:21

He came in and he played against the Austria

38:24

game, I think it was. He's yet

38:27

to concede a goal. He's gone down to Watford. He's

38:29

taken his career on a bit in the last few months.

38:32

So we've got younger players there, but as I say,

38:34

we've got guys here who've been over the course in distance

38:37

before for the last number of years. Jordan

38:39

McGinn's picked up a serious amount of caps

38:41

and the Robertson's picking up a serious amount of caps.

38:44

We've

38:44

got Juicy McTormery's getting into those kind

38:46

of numbers. So that spreads

38:48

right through the team and that gives the, and

38:51

Juicy as well, these guys are playing that tournament also.

38:53

So there is no reason why they

38:56

shouldn't be confident they're playing against these bigger

38:58

teams.

39:00

Very good. We'll look with thrill

39:02

for you. Yeah,

39:04

I know Dan isn't. I'm actually

39:07

not unhappy. No, I don't. Come on, tell the

39:09

truth. I actually am telling the

39:11

truth now. I think since the

39:13

Scots, actually, bizarrely, I think the Scots,

39:15

since they've qualified for a tournament, they've developed

39:17

a little bit more humility.

39:18

So I actually don't feel as... D, wait for

39:20

Dan. You're always going over this humility because

39:23

we talk our team up. I think you have to have

39:25

a little bit more confidence, you know, team maybe, to...

39:27

That's

39:27

all we are. We just back your boys to

39:30

get themselves. A bit of humility.

39:32

Yeah, you don't have a track record of getting carried

39:34

away early in the campaign and booking flights

39:36

to France in 2016 and stuff like that. But

39:38

no, actually, I think Scotland's major

39:41

tournament weight was a real anomaly. Like,

39:43

it shouldn't... Like, for a football mad country

39:45

to be that long away from the top

39:47

table is absurd, really.

39:50

Like, it was. I mean, there was a sort of like,

39:52

from the outside, you could sort of laugh at it sometimes

39:54

because it seemed to be this tragic comedy all

39:56

the time. It's just, what can go wrong? but

39:59

now they're in their sorter.

40:00

their winning phase.

40:02

I don't find it that. No,

40:04

and you know, I came to

40:06

ourselves in a way, there were probably

40:08

an unlucky generation of Scotland fans who

40:11

came of age just after 98 and went from bright-eyed,

40:15

bushy-tailed and into middle age

40:17

without getting to have their big fun experience away.

40:20

Yeah,

40:20

listen, you're joking aside,

40:22

there's a generation of Scotland fans who just don't

40:25

know what it was like to get to tournaments. When

40:27

I was growing up, we got it to almost every time.

40:29

I woke up, I think we got to

40:31

five in the bounds

40:33

in the 80s and 90s. That was the norm. Five

40:35

in the bends. That's extraordinary. Even England

40:37

didn't do that around that time, did they? No, they missed 94. And 74, 78.

40:40

Yeah. Yeah. Incredible.

40:43

Five in the bends. Wow. OK. And

40:46

as a final thought, did the Scottish Union or the

40:48

Scottish FA, excuse me, we can talk about Scottish

40:50

rugby another time, Robert. Another

40:53

bastion of humility. Did the

40:55

FA get a thumbs up credit?

40:58

Did they take huge credit for bringing

41:00

through this, let's not call it a golden

41:02

generation, but very, very solid generation, or where

41:05

are they in the eyes of observers

41:08

and this success?

41:10

I don't think you can give the

41:12

FA too much credit for what's going on, if I'm

41:14

being brutally honest with you. I think Steve Clark

41:16

and the players, deserve all the credit for what's

41:18

happening with the results at

41:20

the minute. As I say, it's been a slow,

41:22

steady progress. clark him

41:24

in, it wasn't overnight success,

41:27

he's had to work at it.

41:29

But I put it entirely down to him,

41:32

his staff and the players, most of all actually.

41:35

I think some of our underage results haven't been

41:37

terrific in the last five or so. Yeah, I've been put at

41:39

that level, Dan, doing good at that level. Based

41:42

on what we're saying is,

41:43

our underage results are okay, five, six years' time,

41:45

we're coming for you Scott. So we're saying

41:47

Dan, this is a one-off,

41:50

unsustainable, lucky, golden-ish

41:53

generation. We have foundations

41:55

in place. Oh, it's coming, yeah. I understand.

41:58

They'll be covering us again. Yeah.

42:00

You can sense the jealousy here Robert. Oh

42:02

I can hear that, I can hear the voices. Fantastic.

42:05

Thank you so much, appreciate your time, see you. All

42:08

right Robert, please there of the Scottish,

42:10

who you know, you told us get on Robert by the way.

42:12

Yeah, no, no. Keep a sense to certain familiarity

42:14

there. We have a bit of a, well it

42:17

was still that 2016 campaign, there was

42:19

a lot of back and forth around. Did

42:21

he book his flights for French? Not quite but

42:23

I think all the Scottish players

42:25

basically mentally did when they drew in the

42:28

of even at time in 2015. So it was

42:30

kind of funny. There was a few Scottish

42:32

lads, not Robert were sent over for the Ireland-Germany

42:34

game. And we were watching Scotland

42:37

collapse in Georgia, but then Ireland beating

42:39

Germany was not like we remember

42:41

a Shane Long night in Scotland. It was like, how

42:44

has this happened? How have they done

42:46

this? Hamden has an atmosphere.

42:48

It was terrific for even the game in September,

42:50

the nation's like a nation's league game. But it felt

42:53

like, you know, it felt like almost

42:56

not quite at Monday night's level because It didn't have the

42:58

nervous energy, but it had

43:00

the actual energy of a big

43:02

match feel. It's an old venue. Some

43:05

would say the facilities aren't great and they're not, but there's a certain

43:08

sort of

43:11

even the walk up to the ground where

43:13

it's located. The ball is shaped.

43:16

It's actually a bit of a train ride from

43:19

the city centre, but it's just in a built-up area and

43:22

it's obviously probably an established,

43:24

all the businesses around it, everyone goes the football

43:27

stadium. Now the place probably has actually, it's

43:29

a little bit dilapidated or

43:31

it's probably passed its sell

43:33

by date but it doesn't really matter because

43:35

it has that even that bowl shaped atmosphere and it's

43:38

just a really

43:40

good place to go. And as I said, what

43:44

I'm envious of Scotland sometimes is their football culture

43:47

in the sense of the culture of attending games

43:49

that does exist that even

43:51

though we're looking at the Premier League, where

43:54

the players are, you know, even how the game is

43:56

covered there. and it's a proper industry and I think we

43:58

can take a lot from Scotland. in

44:00

some ways. So it was weird,

44:03

you know, when we don't have any of that here,

44:05

really, you don't have any proper... Interesting point, yeah.

44:08

...that are never qualifying for tournaments and they weren't.

44:10

But they have the highest per capita tenancies

44:13

in Europe. Now obviously Celtic and Rangers helps, but

44:16

even like the clubs further down the SPL,

44:19

you know, would have like, you know, hips, hearts,

44:22

you know, big clubs and, you

44:24

know, Slager obviously beat Motorwell last summer, like the European

44:26

results outside the top top would be very good,

44:28

but there's just a great genuine

44:31

sort of passion for the game. Like it is proper

44:33

like football country. And so

44:35

that didn't get like, when you think about it, you mentioned

44:37

the generation of fans who even they

44:39

got to the COVID tournament, I know they had a little bit

44:42

of a half life, but actually, for them to

44:44

get to Germany, you

44:45

know, would be what, 26 years on

44:47

from 98? They would be incredible

44:50

there. They're in a hell of a group by the way as well. Yeah,

44:52

a question actually I should have asked Robert. So I,

44:55

and maybe Scottish viewers,

44:57

if you're on YouTube, you can let us know because

45:00

it's been in effect 1998, since they're at

45:02

a big tournament. I've no sense of what the Scottish

45:04

fans are like. I mean, I'm tempted because they're

45:07

Celtic brethren to say they've got that

45:09

happy go lucky Irish quality,

45:12

but then I don't know, is there a Celtic Rangers thing

45:14

within the clashes or is it

45:16

all a happy family? I don't know. I

45:18

don't want to speculate on that. I think it is one of those

45:21

where, you know, obviously

45:23

Celtic fans would have an affiliation to

45:25

Ireland in some cases, you know, and it's

45:28

probably one where Scottish fans have other

45:30

clubs as well, but not quite like

45:33

England where people would say a lot of the national team

45:35

fans are not fans

45:37

of the big Premier League clubs, if you know what I

45:39

mean. But I'm not qualified

45:42

enough to say, but they are,

45:44

they do have a reputation. This is

45:46

a thing, they've had so many brave near misses

45:48

in terms of playoffs and stuff. It was that time

45:51

where they, I think they beat Holland 1-0 in the first leg

45:53

and got done 7-0 in the return or something.

45:55

that the buzz around generate

45:58

about our fans would have been. Quite

46:00

something and anyone I'm sure there's people listening or

46:02

watching who were in Hamden last year

46:04

and it was like the sense of yeah This is this

46:07

is a good game And in fact there was that that

46:10

that sort of weird thing that After

46:12

Ireland played Scotland we were all in the airport

46:14

the next day flying to go to Poland

46:17

to play Ukraine But

46:19

all the Scots were on the way to Yervan to play Armenia

46:22

And like the Irish and Scots fans were in the airport

46:24

in fact, they're on the same flights over and

46:26

it was all good Yeah, that would be my sense. Yeah,

46:29

it was all good It was all very like, you

46:31

know, you did us three now last night, but

46:34

there was a sort of a shared

46:36

sense, a bit of an affinity there.

46:39

But we played them. I mean, the mad thing about it

46:41

is their group is a tough

46:44

one. I'd say it's probably the, like, we'd like

46:46

to say our group is the best one, but I would say

46:48

probably they've got three really good teams. They've got

46:50

Spain, they've got Scotland and they've got Norway and

46:53

Halland didn't play in the first two games. The

46:55

thing about it is, without going into it in great detail,

46:58

strong chance that a fire and do end up in a play-off,

47:01

they're likely to end up in the same

47:03

bracket as whatever

47:05

team doesn't emerge from that group.

47:08

So it could be Ireland, Scotland or Ireland, Norway. But it would be Stephen

47:10

Kenny's look just to get Spain. So

47:12

it would be less likely to be Spain. I'm thinking

47:15

Spain is going to qualify, but Scotland and

47:17

Norway are quite close. Of course

47:19

it would be, yeah, no, no. Actually

47:21

it's not, yeah. To get France. Yeah, and get

47:23

Spain. But we could be seeing them again. I guess that's what

47:25

I'm saying. OK. We've got to take a short break.

47:27

Don McDonald of the Irish Independent was.

47:30

Football on off the

47:32

ball with Skye, proud

47:34

partner and supporter of the Republic

47:36

of Ireland Women's National Football Team.

47:39

This is News Talk.