The belly putter analogy was hinting that if you're not sinking your putts, then maybe you should change your instrument.
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The belly putter analogy was hinting that if you're not sinking your putts, then maybe you should change your instrument.
Russia lost home today to Belgium down in Voronezh, ended 2-0 Lukaku (young Belgian Congain striker at Anderlecht) caused the Russians all sorts of trouble at the back, Akinfeev was sloppy for the first goal. Pretty much a full strength Russian team, Pogrebnyak started ahead of Kerzhakov upfront but even then there is little to choose between those two.
Slovakia also lost, this time 3-2 to Bosnia.
And Macedonia drew 1-1 away to Albania.
That Belgian guy who scored twice looks at beast. Greenscene has reports and highlights of all the matches here:
http://greenscene.me/2010/11/euro-20...endly-reports/
So, the top three seeds lost in their respective friendlies. Maybe things aren't as clear cut as we once thought...
Friendlies mean nothing. The good teams win when they need to, and yes that doesnt include us because as we have shown time and again we cant win when we should and/or need to.
Hand on heart do any of you think we can qualify for Euro 2012?
I'm usually an optimist but this time around I don't think we'll make it.
Shaker I was thinking the same yesterday when I saw this thread pop up. People on here are usually over optimistic, there is certainly a pattern, as pointed out by crosby on the prediction thread for Norway game, from users of this forum before, during and after games that ranges from cautious optimistic before, to mellow, downbeat pessimistic during and shortly afterwards, and then "with hindsight/retrospect" an optimistic(lately blindly) outlook is the norm.
I don't think we will qualify for Euro 2012, in fact im 90% sure we wont. And that's being a realist.
With a bit of luck (no injuries, best players playing regularly, Russia and Slovakia dropping points), I believe we can do it. We have talented players to return from injury (McCarthy, Meyler, Andrews etc.) and new faces staking their claim for a place in the team (Coleman, Wilson etc.). The Russia game will hopefully be proven to be an anomaly.
I think if we do it, it'll be because we have a reasonably weak group. I think we're in for a decent spell in the doldrums - the spine of our team is not only 30+ (Given, Dunne, Duff, Keane), but is also from a time when we could still rely on the Premiership to develop Irish players with reasonable regularity. A lot of the new players now are either from the LoI (which can't develop as much as we'd like because of the barstoolers problem) and/or aren't anywhere near as good as we've been used to. And there seems to be much less depth there as well. I'd be fairly pessimistic for the future unless we can get the LoI much improved.
Of course it is there for the taking but so it has been for many of the campaigns since '88. We will do our utmost to ensure its difficult and more than likely lose in a playoff.
Beating Macedonia and/or Russia away is a must. We need to get this 'away win' monkey off our back (EDIT: I meant against a top seed and I suppose hindsight says that Armenia might actually be competing for 2nd spot but hopefully you knew what I meant!). We need to get back to being solid and getting slim wins at home.
Macedonia H - Win
Macedonia A - Win
Russia A - Lose
Slovakia H - Draw
Andorra A - Win
Armenia H - Win
That probably wouldnt secure us second spot would it?
I think we have a good chance of making the playoffs, because we are at a similar level to Slovakia. I don't think we're anywhere near as good as Russia. We have too many weaknesses. We have a top class striker who isn't getting any games at his club, and we have a highly rated striker who doesn't score goals, certainly not enough goals anyway. There'll be a lot of points dropped in the group. The biggest problem we have is our home form, which is pretty brutal. You're always going to struggle to qualify if you don't pick up close to the maximum at home.
It'd get us very close. Slovakia could only drop one draw in the rest of their games to stay ahead of us. Russia will be gunning for them in Bratislava and Armenia and Macedonia could easily take points off them.
This group is pretty weak. I can't see us winning it but second place is very achievable; we'd need a nice draw and some luck in the play off to get through though.
I don't think the group is weak, but it is inconsistent. On their day Russia are one of the top teams in the world but they don't seem to have many days.
Its a tirsesome cliche - but we just have to take each game as it comes.
The initial focus needs to be on overcoming Macedonia before we do anything else.
Its pointless trying to look beyond the Macedonia games. I think both of these games are pivotal now.
If we can win both Macedonia games, we stand a fantastic chance of qualifying.
Not sure I agree. If several players - McCarthy, Coleman, Wilson, Clark, Cunningham, Foley, Westwood, Long, Duffy et al - come close to their potential I think we have the makings of a very decent side. And there's others bubbling under too. Most of them are looking like getting Prem time, if they arn't already. Plus a lot of these guys haven't had much to do with LOI so not sure the fortunes of national side and domestic league are intwined. Not that I wouldn't want both very much on an upward trajectory of course...