IRISH LOSE TO SERBIA WITH SOME POSITIVES TO TAKE FROM IT

IRISH LOSE TO SERBIA WITH SOME POSITIVES TO TAKE FROM IT

D. Ray Morton, 6th March 2014.

The Republic of Ireland fell to a 2-1 home defeat to Serbia in last night's friendly at the Aviva to signify to Martin O'Neill that the honeymoon is over and business starts in earnest from here on in. It was an opportunity to test new players against a capable young side well accustomed to playing neat, possession football.

Opting to set Ireland up in a 4-4-1-1 formation with Wes Hoolahan playing in behind Shane Long, things started positively for the boys in green. Within two minutes, the home side had the ball in the back of the net only for it to be ruled offside. James McClean worked the ball down the left, crossed to Glenn Whelan who volleyed in the direction of Hoolahan who was standing in an offside position. It looked as if Hoolahan had spoiled a perfectly good goal for Whelan although the replay suggested that Hoolahan's slight touch guided it goalwards.

Six minutes later however, Ireland managed to score a legitimate goal. Branislav Ivanovic, Serbia's biggest name player, hesitated at the back allowing Shane Long to get one-on-one with the goalkeeper. His tidy left-foot chip made it 1-0 to Ireland and things were looking very good.

The half wore on and Serbia began to grow into it after their relaxed start. They started to get hold of the ball and created more chances than the Irish. Despite Serbia's growing confidence, they still looked vulnerable to the counter attack. On 30 minutes, Hoolahan managed to play through Long, who had actually been well offside, but the new Hull City signing couldn't finish even after a second bite at the cherry following Vladimir Stojkovic's save from his first effort.

Seamas Coleman had a good first half down the right, bombing forward at any given chance and using his pace well. Marc Wilson looked shaky at centre half however and the Serbians piled on the pressure leading up to the break. Dusan Tadic tested David Forde with a wonderful effort on 40 minutes. Hoolahan picked up a yellow card just on the stroke of half-time for a Paul Scholes-esque challenge which demonstrated that tackling back isn't really part of his game. A central midfield player he is not. He is far better suited to the No. 10 role.

It didn't take long for Serbia to find the net in the second half and it came via an own goal. They had worked the ball into the Irish penalty area with some intricate passes to which James McCarthy had been drawn to. He found himself in the unfortunate position of redirecting a low cross into his own net past the on-rushing Forde. It was no less than Serbia deserved as they had put Ireland firmly on the back foot from the restart.

In the 53rd minute, Long found himself played through on goal yet again after another one of Hoolahan's magnificent slide rule passes. His finish was scatterbrained though, attempting another lob like the one he had succeeded with in the first half but this time getting it all wrong and aiming well wide.

On the hour mark, Serbia finally took the lead after on-going spells of attacking possession and some clever movement. Coleman, in an otherwise decent performance, lost possession on the right as a result of some tenacious pressing. Filip Djordjevic managed to get the final touch on a move that had ripped Ireland wide open exposing concerning defensive frailties.

At this point, the game had been interfered with by both sides introducing several substitutions which is typical of international friendlies. Ireland's only real other chance of note came late on when Jonathan Walters appeared to be through on goal with only three minutes left on the clock. Whether the sub striker hadn't warmed up properly or simply didn't have the pace, we don't know, but he looked very sluggish indeed.

So 2-1 it ended and it marked Martin O'Neill's first defeat as Ireland manager. Considering the experimental line-up fielded, he won't take too many negatives from the game but will understand that there's lots of work ahead in terms of changing this side from a defensive unit to a team that can be proactive and dictate games. Serbia were difficult opposition and made use of the ball very well. Ireland need to take a page out of their book in that regard but the performances of the likes of Wes Hoolahan and Seamus Coleman were quite positive for the most part.

Player Ratings

Ireland

Forde 6.5; Coleman 7, Keogh 6, Wilson 5.5, Ward 6; McGeady 6.5, McCarthy 6, Whelan 6.5, McClean 6.5; Hoolahan 7.5, Long 7. Subs: Clark 5.5, Pilkington 5.5, Meyler 5.5, Quinn 5.5, Walters 5.

Serbia

Stojkovic 7; Rukavina 6.5, Ivanovic 6, Bisevac 6.5, Kolarov 6.5; Basta 6, Fejsa 6.5, Matic* 7.5, Tadic 7; Djordjevic 7, Markovic 6.5. Subs: Tosic 6.5, Llajic 6, Sulejmani 6, Scepovic -.

* = man of the match