We must make something happen to forget Georgia
Ireland have laboured in a number of games in this World Cup qualifying campaign yet, through our spirit and commitment, have still managed to get points on the board. But even though we ended up with another on Saturday, the display in Tbilisi was far worse than laboured – we looked paralysed with fear and lack of confidence. You’d have to go back a long time to find an Irish performance as inept as this was in the first half. As I said on television, it was like the Alamo – and this against a team that had three points on the Group D board.
Despite what should have been the confidence boost of getting that early goal, it was obvious after ten minutes that the back four were sitting too deep and that the midfield three were getting the runaround. They couldn’t get a tackle in or close the ball down or intercept passes and, because they were also playing deep, they were unable to provide any support for the ball forward, leaving Shane Long a hopelessly isolated figure upfront.
