"Gatland, pompous, biased and bitter" .... a new biography on sale in an Easons near you next christmas

He's after getting awful soft and pretentious after that nike deal....

will twelvetrees be wearing trunks as part of his kit?

unlucky that long is suspended, would have been a great addition to the side, i've always rated him highly and think he is undaunted by playing any side, he really puts it up to the big boys! Long live long!

who's Louise?

I thought some of mc geadys decision making was quite poor last night, he can run and beat players quite skillfully but theres no end product to the hard work he puts in. He needs to get a little bit more confident on goal against big opposition, and also I agree with the other comment that his crossing could be better.

Few positives to take from the game, notably the performances from long and coleman, were really good. Forde was also quite good in goal keeping the english at bay. Hopefully this can drive other members of the team to push on in the green shirt.

I never knew the population of Ireland consisted of well.... three Tims?

A bit off topic here, but the reasons why we aren't in any way a force in soccer, well compared to the standard what we were used to is because :

1.We in general spend to much time complaining, nothing is constructive, its just the good aul moan about the Irish team, too many preconceived expectations from so called "fans"

2.We don't put enough resources into the airtricity league and at a local level and the talent simply isn't coming through. Combining this with Irish youths competing with more exotic talents which are being recruited from further afield makes it a lot more difficult for Irish players to make it in the current day.

3. We dont cut remuneration in the FAI significantly relative to prize money available for Irish competitions. This is a reason why clubs go bust, they simply cant survive its unsustainable.

4. Overeliance on old staples who have served their time, but are simply not the players they were, beloved as they are.

Realistically this should be a period of evaluation for the growth of our Association. Talking to a colleague there the other day he feels we should adopt a portugese model of football development. Portugal in size is not a million miles away from us, they are bordered by another driving force in football Spain. Population or cachement population is about double of what ours is however they do have a good league, competitive domestic and international sides developing top talent. How is this possible?

The association has a few key ethos' about the game, in terms of efficiency of football investment both professionally and locally and generally has a better attitude and outlook on the game. Something we don't have.

Currently not being pessimistic I do not see the association going anywhere in its current state of affairs. I have no confidence in how our association and how its being managed, and this is where I see a real drive for change happening. The FAI really needs a shake up and we simply cannot allow these gangsters ruin the beloved game in our country.

We finally know where Mourihno is going! He's going to sculpt the potters a magnificent side