Hello all.
Managed to get to the Aviva for the first time last night and I have to say it was a damn pretty stadium, such a dramatic change from Lansdowne Road which to be honest was on a par with the mighty Martin Keown in the looks department.
Was in the upper east stand and was perfectly in-line with Simon Cox's goal which was a lovely finish.......didn't fancy him to score from that angle at all but when it crossed the line the reaction around me was fantastic as was the reaction when McClean came on for his debut.
Haven't been to a game for quite a while now but it was great to be in the middle of it again.......we have so much coverage of games on TV now with a multitude of camera angles but you'll never get the buzz of being in the thick of it which yesterday reminded me of despite only being a friendly.
Getting there was a pain though and I won't even get into my journey back which involved going about thirty miles on fumes as there was no open petrol stations and praying that the car would keep going.
I also won't get into what the big bald bloke in-front of me said when Paul Green came onto the pitch as this is a family website.
All in all the Aviva is a stadium to be proud of but those flipping stairs nearly killed me and my dodgy knees after a long walk.
The Aviva and Late Cox Drama!
posted on 1/3/12
Out of curiosity how much where the tickets last night? I think it’s a shame we don’t try and fill the stadium for friendlies by giving free tickets to schools or football clubs. Anytime the camera turned to the upper tiers last night all you could see was empty seats.
Also doesn’t help when your team are playing a style of football that’s about as exciting as watching paint dry
posted on 1/3/12
Anytime the camera turned to the upper tiers last night all you could see was empty seats.
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??? I was in the upper east stand and all around me was packed, the west stand even more so. South stand was a bit sparse looking, granted.
Was that the biggest attendance we've ever had for a friendly in the Aviva?
posted on 1/3/12
20 for adults and I think it was 10 for kids. I thought 37,000 was pretty decent for a fairly low key friendly on a Wednesday night.
Didn't think that the upper tiers were too bad but there was certain areas that were barren if you're looking at things from the camera angle from the west stand.
The style of football wasn't breathtaking was it? Started well and when Whelan went off to get seen to things seemed to get a bit stale. Only got back into the game after conceding.
posted on 1/3/12
It was as dire a first half of football as I've seen in a long time. We did seem to get a kick up the backside after conceding though, some of the passing and closing down was very good after that.
I'm just afraid that's more a tactical than a mental thing. Sit off the opposition and play hoofball hoping to catch a goal, and then only become proactive on the attack when conceding. It's a dangerous game to play, and it's deployment puzzles me sometimes. We're a fairly solid defensive team even when attacking positively, as I think we showed last night. I can't remember a clear cut Czech chance from when we started chasing the game?
posted on 1/3/12
The lack of invention in the middle of the park is an issue as we play limited players there. Getting to just keep on eye on Robbie's movement was great but unfortunately he's unlikely to be threaded through by either Whelan or Andrews.
We're totally dependant on the wide men to create.