Sadlier: Points total justifies approach

The return of seven points from three Euro 2016 qualifiers for the Republic of Ireland has been labelled "as much as you could ask for" after last night's 1-1 draw in Germany.

Wins over Georgia and Gibraltar and a point in Gelsenkirchen have raised hopes of Ireland qualifying for the tournament in France in 2016.

While manager Martin O'Neill's selection and tactics were questioned both before and after the game, despite such a fine start to the group, RTÉ soccer analyst Richie Sadlier opined that the points total justified O'Neill's approach.

He told RTÉ Sport: "I know it's a cliché but a goal changes a game. You have to change your approach when you go a goal down away from home because if nothing changes, you go home with nothing. There was a change and positive substitutions.

"In this scenario, I would praise O'Neill for the substitutions he made and praise the players that came on for the impact they made" - Richie Sadlier

"In this scenario, I would praise O'Neill for the substitutions he made and praise the players that came on for the impact they made.

"This game was always going to be dominated by Germany in terms of possession.

"You have to remember that we are not talking about two evenly-matched teams that had the same preparation and the same skills and strengths and the same managers who are going head-to-head.

"We are talking about a huge mismatch in the standards the Germans have set for themselves and what we are used to.

"We were all very critical of how Ireland played against Georgia. They were always going to win on Saturday and here we are [with a point tonight].

"I don't think we can be too critical, knowing the level our players are at and knowing the players we were missing, that we went out and drew against Germany.

"Of course Germany were not as good as they were in the summer. There were loads of areas of that performance that the German media will criticise. The manager will probably be criticised too for failing to bring in players.

"But from our point of view, we weren't the better team but I don't know who in this country, who knows anything about football, should expect that Ireland XI and the subs that we had to outplay the German players and the subs that they had."

"One of the lessons to be learned from tonight is that Robbie Keane cannot play as a lone striker" - Richie Sadlier

Wes Hoolahan was dropped by O'Neill despite a man-of-the-match display against Gibraltar last weekend.

Sadlier felt it was the wrong call, as was the selection of Robbie Keane, but Ireland's overall game had all the tools necessary to get the point.

"There was a couple of occasions where [Hoolahan] was pushed off the ball and one when he picked the wrong pass or delayed and lost possession. But every player that we have, you can look at them and say that 'this is an area of their game that they are weak on or not 100% on'.

"It's not enough of a reason to exclude him from the team in my view.

"We questioned O'Neill's selection of the front two prior to the game. But in the main areas, we said we needed a big performance from your goalkeeper and we got that.

"Defensively we said we needed to be very organised and concentrate and we got that too.

"In midfield, they ran around as well as they could and closed down space as well as they could.

"The midfield were up against some clever movement at times. It was a lot of the boxes that you need ticked to get a result that we got.

"We will look to the Scotland game now and reflect on this and go 'we got seven points'.

"You hear the phrase, and often when teams lose games, a manager will say there are lessons to be learned from that.

"One of the lessons to be learned from tonight is that Robbie Keane cannot play as a lone striker. He demonstrated it again tonight and against Georgia. I can't think of a game that he showed he can."

Goal: Germany 1-1 Republic of Ireland

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